Angeli Trilogy: Angeli Books 1-3

by Amy Vansant

  Just as he began to feel healthy once more, Michael felt the familiar pain of Keira’s harrowing siphoning technique as the flow reversed. He tried to pull away, but found himself tightly wrapped in her grasp. Keira’s nails dug into his back as she pulled him against the searing bars. Michael screamed in pain as she drained him with furious abandon, his flesh melting against the metal of the cage.

  Michael fell limp when Keira threw herself away from the bars, allowing him to slump back to the floor of the cage. Pale, he watched Keira as she stood, brushed herself off and stared down at him.

  “How stupid do you think I am?” she asked, wiping her mouth.

  Michael turned his head and closed his eyes.

  “I’ll assume that is a rhetorical question,” he said, his voice barely audible.

  Keira flashed a smile.

  “That is quite a talent you have there, though,” she said as she made her way to the basement door. “You are sex-eeee.”

  Michael heard the door close behind Keira and rolled onto his back, deflated. His hair grew dark again, the salt and pepper gray he’d added to impress the Sentinel no longer necessary.

  For the first time in decades, he slept.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Meili, Anne and Con arrived in a sylvan location Anne did not recognize.

  “Michael’s in a forest?” said Anne. They stood in a small clearing surrounded by trees. “This doesn’t look like South Carolina—”

  Just as she finished her sentence, a powerful shove against Anne’s shoulder sent her forward to the dirt. Spinning onto her back, she found Meili standing above her, his energy glowing around his human form and his wings growing on either side of him. While still aged in appearance, Meili no longer moved like an older man. With the speed and prowess of an athlete in his prime, Meili slashed with his wings at an invisible foe. He paid no attention to Anne.

  Ambush? thought Anne, scrambling to her feet. Who could have known we would be arriving at a clearing in the middle of nowhere?

  Meili blocked another invisible blow and Anne watched as a flickering shape materialized beside him.

  Con.

  “He tried to grab you,” Anne heard in her left ear as she watched Meili search for his invisible attacker. The Irishman had pushed her to the ground to save her from Meili’s first attack, and now, in his half-corporeal form, he had the Angelus locked in battle.

  Anne saw a flash of Con appear again beside Meili, but the Angelus sensed his chance. Meili grabbed the elusive Sentinel and tossed Con several feet away. Still ignoring Anne, Meili flew towards Con, the Irishman’s form partially visible on the ground where he landed.

  Anne moved to follow, only to feel a burning sensation drape across her shoulders and midsection. Anne’s feet lost contact with the ground. Her forward momentum veered to an upward trajectory. It was as though a huge bird had swooped down and grabbed her in its burning claws.

  Pain flooded Anne’s body. Whatever had snatched her now siphoned her energy at an alarming rate. It felt as if someone was pulling her very blood through her pores with a powerful vacuum. Her life force ripping away, Anne brought forth her swords and slashed skyward. She felt the blades connect. A brief burst of energy returned, and she began to freefall.

  The twenty-foot drop slammed the air from Anne’s lungs. She lay on her stomach, gasping for air, a dull pain on her left side telegraphing a broken rib.

  Anne rolled to her back. Above her, a female Angelus looked down on her, her wings of blue lightning sparking, and alive with power. The Angelus’ long blonde braids whipped through the air as she snarled and dove towards Anne.

  Anne brought forth two blades and jumped to her feet, ready for battle.

  “Hildr!” Anne heard Meili’s voice carry across the clearing.

  The female Angelus’ head snapped towards the sound of her name.

  “Hildr,” Anne repeated aloud. This Angelus did resemble her namesake, a Valkyrie from Norse mythology, with her golden braids flanking her long, elegant neck.

  With Hildr distracted by Meili, Anne leapt the remaining ten-foot distance between herself and her foe. Anne’s blades extended as far as she could push them. She felt the left deflect harmlessly away as Hildr detected the attack and blocked. The right sword found its mark, sinking deep into the Angelus’ left hip.

  Hildr screamed. Her right wing swept in front of her, slicing at Anne. Anne hung in mid-air by the energy sword, which remained embedded in the Angelus’ hip. Anne felt the agonizing burn and drain caused by the swipe of Hildr’s wing, and reabsorbed her sword to free herself. Once again, she found herself falling. She pressed her arm to her side to protect her broken rib as she hit the ground.

  Hildr grabbed at her hip, holding it tightly where the jeans she wore were now torn and covered with blood. Anne saw Hildr’s form flicker to energy and then return again, the wound in her hip healed. While she could tell Hildr was a Guardian and not another Arch like Meili or Michael, it didn’t make her easy to defeat. If she had Perfidia, it hadn’t weakened her.

  Anne heard Meili call Hildr’s name again from the other side of the small clearing. Hildr looked down at Anne and roared with frustration and anger. With a blur of light, she left to help Meili.

  Across the field, Anne could see Meili on his back on the ground, wildly thrashing as if his web-like wing had caught an angry, attacking fly. Hildr would be there any moment. Con would be outnumbered.

  Anne broke into a sprint.

  Chapter Thirty

  Michael heard the click of the door. A veil of dread fell on him. It had only been a half hour since Keira’s last, unpleasant visit. At this rate, he’d be reaped by morning. He regretted that he wouldn’t be able to witness Meili’s wrath, when the old man realized Keira had overindulged.

  Michael had developed a passionate hatred for the young Sentinel.

  “Too soon,” Michael croaked. “Go away.”

  “Michael?”

  Michael’s eyes flickered open.

  “Napoleon?” Michael asked, struggling to sit up.

  Napoleon moved closer to Michael, staying just out of reach of the Angelus.

  “I want you to know I had nothing to do with this. I had no idea what they were up to. I thought I was helping Meili do good.”

  Michael studied the large man, finding it hard to focus.

  “I think you were in line to be a snack for him.”

  Napoleon paled. “I had no idea.”

  “Then help me.”

  “That’s why I’m here. Keira went to get some food. What can I do?”

  Michael sat with his legs crossed, hands on the floor on either side of him as he tried to keep from falling over.

  “You could start by getting me out of this cage.”

  Napoleon nodded. “I can do that. I helped set it up.”

  Napoleon walked towards an electrical box on the wall at the far end of the room. As he did so, Michael could hear the sound of a door open and close upstairs.

  Keira had returned.

  “I just have to turn off the electricity.”

  He paused to register the sound of Keira’s return, and then continued toward the electrical box embedded in the basement wall.

  “Wait!” Michael hissed. He scrambled to his feet and then stumbled, trying to steady himself on his weakened legs.

  Napoleon stopped in his tracks. “But she’s here!” he whispered as loudly as he dared.

  Michael took a moment to catch his breath, holding out his open palm to make it clear he wanted Napoleon to remain still.

  “Don’t turn it off yet,” Michael said, between gasps of air. “Come here first.”

  Napoleon moved back to the cage, positioning himself just out of reach.

  “No, I mean come here. I need your energy.”

  Napoleon hesitated.

  “For the love of all that is holy, man, I’m not going to kill you, come here!”

  Napoleon jumped forward, compelled by the command in Michael
’s voice.

  “You do believe me, right? You do believe I had nothing to do with all this?”

  Michael nodded. “Yes. But if you hit the lights, and that bitch flies down here with me this weakened, we’re all dead.”

  Napoleon took a deep breath and tentatively slid his arm between the bars to allow Michael to grasp his wrist.

  “Farther,” said Michael. “I don’t want to risk touching the bars.”

  Napoleon grimaced and obliged. Michael took the giant’s forearms in both hands, desperate for the Sentinel’s power.

  “Try not to hurt me, if you can help it,” said Napoleon, screwing his eyes shut.

  “Of course.”

  Napoleon opened his eyes.

  “Wait,” he said, pulling his arm back a few inches.

  “What now?”

  “I was listening the last time Keira visited,” said Napoleon. “I—I don’t want it to feel, uh, too good, either.”

  Michael did his best not to chuckle.

  “Fine. I won’t turn you gay, I promise.”

  Napoleon nodded and gave Michael his arm once more.

  “Though, I could, of course,” Michael added.

  Napoleon made to pull his hand back, but Michael held him.

  “I’m just kidding. Hold still.”

  The Samoan took a deep breath and once more shut his eyes.

  Michael pulled at Napoleon’s energy at a slow steady pace, careful not to cause him pain. After a minute, Napoleon fell forward to one knee and caught himself with his free hand against the cage. The bars that were so painful to Michael caused the Sentinel no discomfort.

  “I guess that’s enough,” said Michael, taking a deep breath. The cage still dampened his power, but he no longer felt at the edge of death.

  “Can you make it to the electrical panel?”

  Woozy, Napoleon took a moment to clear his head, and then stood, making his wobbly way to the panel.

  “Shut it all down and then hide in the far corner over there.” He motioned to an old desk in the back of the room. “I don’t think you’ll be much help at this point and if something goes wrong, you might be able to hide your involvement.”

  With a pop, Napoleon shut down the power and ran behind the desk, barking his shin on a chair as he went. He stifled a yelp and slid into his hiding place.

  The basement fell into utter darkness.

  Seconds later the door flew open and Keira burst into the room. Keira flipped the dead light switch several times and then approached the cage, groping blindly through the bars, feeling for Michael. As her eyes grew accustomed to the faint light emanating from the door through which she’d entered, she could see the cage was empty.

  She cursed.

  “Looking for someone?”

  Keira spun towards the blue light beginning to glow in the corner of the room. She watched as Michael’s wings spread, creating an eerie halo of light around his bare-chested form. The blood drained from her face.

  Faster than Keira’s mind could process the movement, Michael was on her. He gripped her arms like a vice. He wrapped his wings around her, pressing her body tightly against his own and with her skull cradled in his arms, snapped her neck. She fell limp, her jaw slack, her eyes staring at him, her body paralyzed but alive.

  “You don’t deserve it,” whispered Michael in her ear. “But I’ll make this quick.”

  Keira gasped for air like a landed fish as Michael drained her of her energy.

  Only a moment later, Michael eased her ashen, lifeless body to the floor.

  Michael folded his wings, and the basement again fell dark. Napoleon felt his way along the wall until he reached the electrical panel. He picked a switch and the cage began to sing with the low hum of electricity.

  “Turn it off,” said Michael. “Leave it off.”

  Napoleon flipped the switch again and the cage fell silent. He chose a different switch, and with another pop, the room filled with the dull yellow glow of the forty-watt bulb. He walked into the cage to retrieve Michael’s tattered shirt and handed it to him.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Michael slipped on his shirt. Every muscle in his body surged with the power he’d drained from Keira. To receive so much power from a Sentinel not only fully healed him, but left him bursting with additional strength. As he buttoned his shirt, he kicked at the husk of Keira’s body and it crumbled into an unrecognizable pile of ash.

  Napoleon stared at the remains of his fellow Sentinel and swallowed.

  “You killed her.”

  “I saved her. Well, I shouldn’t say I; I like to think I vet potential Sentinels better than whoever’s been doing it lately. But the fact remains she was a dying human when the Angeli gave her a new life. All I’ve done is return her to her original fate.”

  “What about Meili? Can you do that to him?”

  “No, but I’ll worry about him later. We need to regroup.” Michael watched Napoleon rub his shin where he’d banged it on the desk trying to hide.

  “Remind me again why we chose you to be a Sentinel?”

  “I’m just a little clumsy,” Napoleon grunted. “I’m better in a fight than in real life.”

  Michael eyed him for a moment.

  “Hm,” he said, though he made a mental note to review the Sentinel requirements agenda.

  Michael grasped Napoleon’s arm and they disappeared from the room.

  Michael and Napoleon teleported directly to Anne’s hotel room in Annapolis. Michael called for Anne and a second later Jeffrey burst from her bedroom.

  “You’re here!” yelped Anne’s assistant, wild with uncharacteristic urgency. “Leo is dying, come here!”

  Jeffrey ran back into the bedroom, followed closely by Michael and Napoleon.

  Michael’s face drained of color as his eyes fell on the visage of his brother. Leo was gray, his eyes shut, his breathing shallow. Michael passed his hand over the green, foaming wound on Leo’s right shoulder.

  “What is this? What happened?”

  “We don’t know,” said Jeffrey. “Con and Anne found him downtown. He said he had met Seth. That’s all we know.”

  Michael reached forward to touch the wound. Leo’s hand reached up and stopped him, startling everyone.

  Leo opened his eyes.

  “Don’t,” he croaked.

  “What can I do?” Michael’s voice dropped to a whisper.

  “Nothing. I wanted to stay long enough to warn you. Seth has changed. He’s mad. Too much for anyone—too much for you. And Meili—”

  Michael held his brother’s hand. “I know about Meili. He’s heading down the same path as Seth.”

  Leo closed his eyes and nodded his head, the tiny movement barely perceptible.

  Fissures appeared across Leo’s body, a dull light emitting from each jagged line. It reminded Michael of drying lava, the glow of the hot magma beneath seeping through the cracks.

  Jeffrey stepped back, his hand over his mouth in horror.

  Michael put his hands on each of Leo’s upper arms and squeezed toward the big man’s center, trying to find some way to push his cracking form back together.

  “Leo!”

  At the sound of his name, Leo opened his lids, but his pupils grew larger and darker until they appeared nothing more than doll’s eyes. Leo’s remaining clothes, skin and musculature cracked more rapidly as Michael pawed at his brother, desperately trying to keep the pieces from crumbling away from his frame.

  Michael tried to push his own energy into Leo’s form, but it was like trying to charge a broken battery.

  Each part of Leo cracked into smaller pieces until the shards disappeared with a tiny burst of white light. Only two minutes passed before he was gone, a large green stain the only remnant of his presence.

  Michael knelt by the bed, the hand that had so recently held Leo’s, empty. His eyes welled with tears.

  “Michael?” asked Jeffery.

  Michael turned away and wiped his eyes.

  “Where�
��s Anne?” he barked, but even he could hear the crack in his usually commanding voice.

  “She and Con went with Meili to find you. They left just seconds before you arrived.”

  “With Meili?” Michael jumped to his feet and moved to Jeffrey with inhuman speed. Jeffrey fell back against the wall, his eyes wide with terror.

  “Where did they go?” roared Michael.

  “They had coordinates, something they found on the floor of your office.”

  “Those were the coordinates to where Meili took me. How long have they been gone?”

  Jeffery threw up his hands. “Twenty minutes? Half an hour?”

  Michael shook his head. “I don’t think he took them there. We would have heard them, seen them. I would have felt their presence.”

  Michael looked at Napoleon.

  “Do you have any idea where he might have taken them? A home base? A place nearby that he visits often?”

  Napoleon scratched at his head, searching his memory for clues.

  “We haven’t been here long,” said Napoleon. “We visited you, and one or two others in Washington and, of course, Anne, here in Annapolis.”

  “Who were the others in Washington?”

  Napoleon shook his head. “I don’t know, I’m sorry.”

  Michael clenched his fists, unsure of what to do.

  “Great Falls!” said Napoleon suddenly, raising a pointed finger.

  Michael looked at the large man, waiting for the rest of his sentence.

  “Great Falls Park. Meili said he had a meeting there with a woman Angelus who works with him. Hildr.”

  Michael scowled. He didn’t know why Meili would meet a fellow Angelus at a large state park, and that alone was suspicious enough to make the location his best bet.

  “Great Falls it is,” said Michael. “Stay here with Jeffrey. I’ll travel faster without you.”

  Michael blinked out of the room.

  Great Falls Park in Arlington, Virginia had forty-six square miles of forest to search before Michael could cross the location off as Meili’s destination.

  Arriving on the edge of the forest, Michael took a deep breath and concentrated. Extending his energy, he tried to feel for Anne’s presence. He closed his eyes, swirling images flooding his brain. Michael had a fleeting vision of a clearing. He could feel anger radiating from the area. A battle was in progress.