Angeli Trilogy: Angeli Books 1-3

by Amy Vansant

  “She’s the one you fought in New York?”

  “Her name is Anne and I don’t even know if you could call our interaction a fight. She’s got these crazy swords.”

  Rathe waved his hands in the air, pantomiming sword play, his left hand versus his right.

  “Swords?” Mallory put her down and felt her for weapons.

  “Stop pawing her. Not metal swords. Light things. They come out of her hands and then she pushes them into my skull. It’s incredibly painful. You have no idea.”

  The soldier stood.

  “If she’s the one who defeated you, all the more reason we need to keep her. You said the big Angel was her partner.”

  “They worked together, yes. He was like her boss. Michael, she called him.”

  “Good. Then he probably doesn’t want her hurt. She’s our bargaining chip.”

  Rathe rubbed his face with his hands.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know,” he mumbled.

  “Drain her,” said Mallory. “Drain her now as low as you dare but don’t kill her. I don’t know how much longer she’ll remain unconscious and that should keep her out, right? When you’re done, I’ll secure her and we’ll wait for them to contact us. If there even is a them out there. They won’t come storming in; they don’t know how many of us there are.”

  “I—” began Tyannah.

  “What?” he snapped. The girl was on his last nerve. So was the Cherub. It was time for him to take charge.

  “Never mind.”

  “Hold her down,” said Rathe, standing. “Hold her arms. I don’t want her to move. Not so much as a twitch.”

  Mallory knelt down and held Anne’s arms tight against the ground.

  “Seriously, don’t let her go.”

  “I won’t.”

  Rathe crouched and touched Anne to begin draining her energy. After a few seconds, her head moved and a soft whimper escaped her lips. Rathe whipped his hand away from her and scuttled back like a crab.

  “You’re fine! I have her!” said Mallory. “Finish!”

  Rathe inched forward again, wincing as he placed his hand on her bicep. He drained her for a few more seconds. Anne didn’t make a sound.

  “There.”

  He stepped away. He took a deep breath and then released it. “I feel much better. I never should have tried to fly with three of you. It was too much.”

  “What are you looking at?” asked Mallory.

  Tyannah was staring at Anne, her face twisted with concern or fear. As he spoke, her gaze shot to his own.

  “Nothing.”

  “You’d rather we just set her free so she can come back with her friends and kill us all?”

  “No, I…nothing. Leave me alone.”

  “Weren’t you going to do something with her?” asked Rathe, his face turned from the woman as if looking at her might awaken her. “Tie her up or something? Get her out of here.”

  Mallory shot him a look and then threw Anne’s unconscious body over his shoulder. He remembered one of the rooms had spools of steel wire stacked against the wall. Enough of that wrapped around her body, pulled nice and tight, would keep even the strongest Sentinel immobile. The idea of binding her excited him and he spun to hide his expression from the others.

  “You two keep an eye out. I’ll be back.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Con sat up, disoriented.

  Was that a gunshot?

  He rubbed his eyes.

  “Annie?”

  She was gone. He had a vague memory of her talking about a walk. He couldn’t believe how he’d slept or how good it had felt. He stretched.

  Wait.

  Con scowled, again remembering the crack of a gunshot.

  Thunder?

  He scanned what little of the sky he could see through the trees, but didn’t see any clouds.

  Was he dreaming?

  He stepped out of the car and called for Anne.

  Nothing.

  Circling the vehicle, he found a deer path on the far side. Anne could have followed the road on which they entered, or the deer path. She wouldn’t go hacking through the forest. He couldn’t think of any reason she would have to travel the way they’d come, so he plunged onto the deer path and broke into a jog. He called Anne’s name every few steps until he reached a clearing at the top of the bluff. His stomach roiled with nerves. It wasn’t like Anne to disappear like this. Something was wrong.

  A large rock overlooked the valley below and he moved to it, searching the ground for signs. There were a myriad footprints: boots, running shoes…people visited the spot often. He peered over the bluff and saw no body at the bottom. That was good. He’d turned to head back down the trail when an unnaturally square shape on the ground caught his eye. He scooped up the object.

  Anne’s phone.

  Oh no.

  That was not good. Had she left it for him to find, knowing she was in trouble? Had she been about to call for help?

  Con pressed a button to make the phone come alive. It asked for a password.

  He rolled his eyes and typed in the names of her dogs, hitting a winner on the second try.

  That didn’t take a genius.

  He’d been a ghost for a hundred years and even he knew not to use pet names as passwords.

  He went into her phone address book and smiled as he hit “A” remembering how she’d told him it stood for Angel or asshole, depending on how she felt about Michael at any given moment. The phone rang.

  “Anne?” said a voice.

  “Michael?”

  “Con?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you doing on Anne’s phone?”

  “That’s why I’m calling. We parked near where we think the Cherub might be and Anne is gone.”

  “What do you mean Anne is gone?”

  “I mean I can’t find her. I took a nap, she went for a walk, and now I can’t find her. I found her phone on the ground.”

  “You took a nap? You’re kidding.”

  “I haven’t taken a nap in a hundred years, get off my back.”

  “I’ve gone a thousand years without taking a nap.”

  “Well, you know, I’d love to measure dicks with you, Michael, but I’m a little worried about Annie at the moment.”

  “Sorry. Where are you?”

  “Ohio. We had a tip he was in Zanesville.”

  “A tip from whom?”

  “Seth. He carved it on Anne’s back.”

  “He what?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Michael. She got out of bed and there it was, clear as day, scratched across her back.”

  The phone was quiet.

  “Michael.”

  “You did that on purpose.”

  “What?” Con tried to sound as confused as possible, but thought it might be possible for the angel to hear him grinning through the line.

  “Look, stay where you are. You’re not far. I’ll be there soon.”

  The phone went dead.

  Con paced, calling Anne’s name every few minutes in the hopes she’d just wandered off and gotten lost. He peered over the edge of the bluff.

  A warehouse.

  He stared at the structure, waiting for a sign of life. There were no lights, but there were also no other structures in view. Could they have stumbled on the Cherub’s hideaway? If someone had come up the road, they would have seen the car with him fast asleep inside…surely they wouldn’t ignore a vulnerable, sleeping man just to hunt down Anne?

  He saw another break in the woods to his right that appeared to lead down the hill to the field behind the warehouse.

  What if they came up another trail?

  He peered over the edge again.

  What if they could fly.

  A creature with the powers of an Angelus could come directly up the face of the cliff. The Cherub could have easily spotted Annie and flown up to snatch her. She would never have seen it coming.

  Con punched his fist into his opposite p
alm. He couldn’t just sit and wait for Michael. He had to check out the warehouse.

  He was about to step off the cliff when he spun and threw himself back to the dirt.

  I don’t know if I can fly!

  He’d nearly walked off a cliff like a cartoon coyote. A hundred years of floating about as a disembodied spirit was a hard habit to break. Now that he was solid again, could he even fly?

  Con sat up and concentrated on his hand as he pushed it out towards the large sitting rock. He willed it to phase through the rock.

  It did.

  Okay. Good start.

  He could still phase through things. He hadn’t lost all his Angeli-like powers when he regained his body.

  He walked through a tree.

  Good.

  He hadn’t even tried to concentrate very hard. Phasing still came naturally.

  Next test.

  Con willed himself to the top of a tree. His feet remained on the ground.

  Hm.

  Con jumped, trying to fly towards the heavens. While he leapt much higher than any mortal could, it still wasn’t flying.

  He’d been demoted from flier to good jumper.

  He had an idea. He jumped as high as he could and then phased. Slowly, he floated back to earth like an autumn leaf swirling to the ground in a gentle breeze.

  Ah ha.

  He couldn’t fly, but he could float. That was something.

  He walked to the edge of the bluff and peered downward. He had two alternatives; run down the trail toward the warehouse or jump off the cliff and float to the ground.

  Maybe.

  Probably.

  He was weighing the pros and cons when he heard a scream echo through the night.

  He jumped.

  He’d plummeted half way to the earth before he realized the sound he’d heard had been a vixen’s scream and not Annie, as he’d thought.

  The ground was getting close.

  Stupid foxes.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Anne awoke and allowed her eyes to adjust to the dim light. She felt weak and her head was pounding. The last time her head had hurt this badly was when Jeffrey shot her. Sometimes her lovely assistant found knocking her out easier than arguing with her.

  “Jeffrey?” she mumbled. Her tongue felt large and dry in her mouth. “I’m going to kill you.”

  She heard a chuckle.

  “No, seriously, I’m going—”

  She stopped. Her arms were tied above her head. She jerked at the restraints but they didn’t give. Her breathing felt restricted. She looked down to find wire wrapped around her body.

  Realizing she’d been cocooned in metal, she opened her eyes wide to allow in more light and for the first time, sensed another presence in the room. It felt like a Sentinel.

  She scanned the darkness and made out a human shape crouching in the corner.

  “Look who’s awake,” said a man’s voice. It wasn’t Con’s melodious Irish lilt. It was low and gruff.

  Anne watched the figure. She had no reason to talk. Better to be quiet and allow him to reveal himself. It was a strategy she rarely practiced, but in her present condition, silence was the easier choice. The wire cage that encircled her torso made breathing difficult. A pain throbbed in both of her shoulders and her thighs; the more awake she became, the more intense the pain grew. She wasn’t accustomed to lingering pain. As a rule, her wounds healed and were forgotten. She shifted and felt the ache again, tugging at her flesh like an animal.

  She pieced together that someone had secured her to the wall by threading the wire through her back and around her clavicle. Another wire pierced the meat of her thighs and looped around her femurs, holding her hips securely against the wall.

  How did I sleep through that?

  The man stood. Anne could smell his body odor, his breath laced with coffee. Sentinels usually possessed a naturally pleasing smell. Something was wrong with this one.

  “My name is Mallory.”

  “Like the girl on Family Ties?” she mumbled.

  “It’s my last name.”

  The corner of Anne’s mouth crooked into a tiny smile. She could tell by his tone that her comment had bothered him. It was good to know how easily your captor could be annoyed.

  The man stepped forward and leaned down.

  “You’re my kind of girl,” he whispered in her ear.

  Anne turned her head aside to avoid his stench.

  “Do you know why?”

  “Oh please, enlighten me. I’m on the edge of my wall restraint.”

  “Because you can take a lot of damage…”

  Anne felt a sharp pain in her side and knew that he had stuck her with something short and sharp, probably a small blade. She tried not to scream, but the stab caught her off guard and she yelped.

  “More importantly, you can take a lot of damage without dying.”

  He took a step back and crouched to stare into her face. She could see a glint from the small window at the top of the wall above her head dancing in his eyes. She swallowed, waiting for the pain in her side to fade and the wound to heal. It was taking too long. She wondered if he’d left the knife inside of her. He seemed to have a firm grasp on what could prevent her ability to heal.

  “I like it when you cry out like that.”

  Anne held his gaze. “That’s too bad, because you’ll die of old age before you hear it again.”

  He chuckled.

  “Which will probably be soon, by the looks of your sorry ass,” she added.

  He sniffed and pressed his lips into a tight line.

  “You have no idea how many girls I’ve gone through looking for one like you.”

  Anne looked away and closed her eyes as if he bored her. She sounded good, her voice was holding steady, but she was afraid. It had been a long time since she’d felt truly terrified and the sensation felt like nausea. She could feel her heart throbbing in her chest. She knew her fear gave this monster pleasure and she refused to give it to him, gift-wrapped.

  But it was hard.

  Mallory placed the tip of his knife against her throat.

  Oh good, the knife isn’t in my side, it’s right here pressed against my throat. Happy day.

  He let the tip slide down to her breastbone.

  “What if I cut your throat? It wouldn’t kill you, would it?”

  Anne flashbacked to a battle she’d fought in the late eighteen hundreds somewhere near Constantinople. Her throat had been slashed by the lucky swing of a Perfidian’s wing, Con had stepped in to distract their foe until she’d had time to heal. She remembered gasping for breath, drowning in her own blood.

  It had been horrible.

  She pressed her teeth together to keep her lower lip from quivering.

  Mallory’s knife pressed harder against her chest as he leaned in closer.

  “There’s a Cherub out there but he’s weak. I’m thinking tonight I’ll end his tenure. We just killed one of your Angels yesterday, so another Cherub should be here soon. Maybe I’ll work for him. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll just spend my time with my new powers here at home with you.”

  Anne refused to look at him.

  “How many years you got left?” he asked. “How many anniversaries might we have here?”

  “Stop it!” said another voice. Female. Anne didn’t know whether to scream for help or tell her to run.

  She turned her head and spotted tall Tyannah standing in the doorway.

  “Leave her alone,” said the girl.

  “You don’t tell me what to do,” spat Mallory.

  “Rathe wants you. He told me to come find you.”

  Mallory snarled and sheathed his knife.

  “To be continued,” he hissed before standing.

  Tyannah stared at Anne as Mallory pushed past her and out the door.

  “Little help?” asked Anne, rattling the arms tied above her head. Her legs were bound together like a mermaid’s tail. The pain in her shoulders and thighs had dropped
to a dull thud that ached with each beat of her heart.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Then untie me.”

  “I…I can’t. Rathe told him to secure you. I can try and keep him away from you, but I can’t untie you. Rathe would know.”

  “Tyannah, you know this is wrong. Untie me. Let me take you to the right people.”

  “I can’t. Please stop asking.” She clenched her fist and pounded one against her thigh repeatedly.

  She’s frustrated. There has to be a way to reach her.

  Tyannah moved to leave and Anne scrambled to find the words to make her stay. Before she could say anything, the girl stopped and turned back.

  “You’re really pretty,” she said.

  Anne smiled. “Thank you. I like to think I’m even better looking when I’m not impaled to a wall.”

  The girl grimaced.

  “Is there anyone else here?” asked Anne.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean anyone else from my team? Mallory said you killed an Angel? Who?”

  “She came here. I think she was sick. We drained her.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Eris, I think.”

  “And that’s it? Any other Sentinels like me?”

  “No…” She scowled. “Wait. Who was that guy you were calling?”

  “It was a trick. I was just trying to make you think you were outnumbered.”

  The girl scowled.

  “I wasn’t trying to be mean. I just wanted things to stay calm. You have to listen to me. You can’t stay with these people. Mallory’s a monster. You can see that. He said he’s going to kill the Cherub. Then there will be nothing to stop him from killing you.”

  “He did? He said that?”

  “Yes.”

  “I—”

  She took a step forward and Anne could see the girl had doubts about her new partners.

  “I wanted to be part of something…” she said.

  But now… I don’t know why Rathe would use someone like Mallory to fix the world. Nothing sits right with me anymore.”

  “He’s not going to fix the world. He’s going to kill everyone.”

  “He killed my brother.”

  “See? That’s what I’m saying.”

  “But my brother was a horrible person.”

  Damn.