by Amy Vansant
“Ow!” Seth jogged away and collapsed against the wall, eyelids half-staff beneath his scowl.
Casso glided to the Angelus, enjoying his new freedom, unlocked from Seth’s body. He whispered to his former host.
Tell the Cherubim to bring back humans. Bring them here to be turned into Sentinels. That’ll be fun.
“Go get humans!” snapped Seth. “And be quick. I think you should be super quick before the Angeli find you and squish you like bugs.” He squinted at Vary, who had assumed the shape of a squirrel with wings. “Except you. You take your time. Little jerk.”
The Cherubim disappeared and the room fell dark without Mor’s constant light. Seth manifested one wing and using his blue light to guide his way to the sarcophagi. He opened one and flipped it, dumping the mummy to the floor, where it exploded into powder.
He crawled into the stone coffin and his blue light faded as he began to snore.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Michael and Anne returned to Angeli HQ, he holding her against him a moment longer than necessary following their arrival. He rested his lips against the top of her head and spoke softly.
“If you’re okay, I’m going to go scream at everyone now. Please understand that while I may appear homicidal, in fact, behind that mask of rage and utter disgust, I am dreaming of a time when you and I will be alone together.”
Anne squinted up at him. “I’ll try and remember all that.”
“Good.” He kissed her on the forehead and moved to where the twelve highest ranking Angeli had gathered around a large stone table.
They watched him approach, silent.
“What are you all doing?” he asked.
They looked at each other. “We’re waiting for you,” said one.
“I mean what are you all doing with your lives. How did one Cherub breach headquarters and kill six Archs? How does that happen?”
“Many of the Archs are scholars, not warriors, Michael. We did our best.”
“Did it occur to you that maybe softies like yourselves should have stayed hidden and let the big boys do the fighting?”
“There were so many of them!” said a female voice from the pack.
A thin man with a hawk-like nose raised his hand. “I suggested hiding.”
Alexander scoffed. “Don’t pretend you’re smarter than the rest of us, Ken. There wasn’t anything strategic about your suggestion. You were just too scared to fight.”
“Well, it’s not our fault that our greatest warrior wasn’t even here.” Ken glanced at Michael and then looked away.
Michael scowled. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“He means me,” interrupted Leo.
Ken shook his head. “No, I meant Michael.”
Leo breathed out through his nose so roughly that it sounded like a growl.
Michael slapped his hands on the table and the group jumped. “I wasn’t even in this dimension, let alone on the planet or in the vicinity. There wasn’t much I could do about it, was there?”
“From what I heard, there was. You made a choice,” said Alexander, looking across the room with an exaggerated tilt of his head.
Michael followed his gaze to Anne, who stood talking to Con on the opposite side of the hall.
His lip twitched, temporarily exposing a canine. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“He’s got a point,” muttered Leo.
“Don’t you start!”
“Just saying.”
Michael took a moment to calm himself and then addressed the group. “Here’s what I’m just saying—we have to get out of here. They know where we are. All of us. We can’t stay. We have to leave now.”
Ken scowled. “But we killed their best hope.”
“They just got six more hopes. Don’t you understand? One of us goes, one of them comes. They have six now.”
“But they’re too new to pose a threat.”
“Are they? How do you know? What do we really know about them? From what I hear, the last one looked like a fog bank and could carry hundreds of Sentinels in his armpits. Did you expect that? Two have been kids. One has already flipped sides—”
“What?” said several voices.
Michael shook his head. “Nevermind. The point is that the Cherubim aren’t like us. They could show up looking like petri dish fuzz or like full-grown warrior kings with six arms and a mean case of the Mondays. We don’t know.”
“So we need to leave here?” peeped a voice to his left.
“Yes!” Michel pounded the table and broke the corner from it. It fell on his toe and he spun away, cursing.
“This place is falling to pieces anyway,” muttered Leo.
“Where should we go?”
“To our fallback location,” Michael said, through gritted teeth, as his broken foot flashed into energy form and back again.
One of the women scowled. “You mean Atlantis?”
“Yes. Atlantis.”
The group erupted into arguments, clamoring about the difficulties of moving their lives to a new location.
Michael tried to calm them. “Everyone listen, be quiet, look, I—”
A huge broadsword fell on the table and everyone fell silent, all eyes turning to the redhead attached to its other end.
“I see you’re all getting a lot done. Mature as always,” said Boudica.
Michael looked at her. “Why do you have an enormous sword?”
“It’s my favorite. I assume we’re leaving? I’m taking it with me.”
“Just leave it. We’ll be back.”
“Sure. And you’ll be leaving those adorable little porcelain boxes you have all over your room, right? Who cares if the Cherubim come here and wreck the place, smash them...”
“Take the sword.”
“Thank you. I will.” She hefted it on to her shoulder.
A woman with her hair tied in a bun scurried to the group. “Michael, the six Cherubim, they’re gone.”
“Gone? I thought you were tracking them. What do you mean they’re gone?”
“We were tracking them, they were all over the globe, and then one by one they disappeared. We don’t have their location anymore. They could be anywhere.”
Michael returned his attention to the group. “Start packing.”
The others nodded and stood.
Michael motioned to Leo and he remained.
“I need you to be in charge of the move. If anyone gives you any trouble, tell them I will personally bring all the Cherubim on the planet to their doorstep if they don’t do what you say.”
“Aye-aye.” Leo scratched his jaw. “Hey, Mike, there’s something I feel like I should tell you.”
“Don’t call me Mike.”
“Whatever. Remember I mentioned some woman hitched a ride in me?”
Michael squinted at him. “I assumed it was one of your weird sexual conquests.”
“No. And the more I think about it, the more important I think it might be.”
“Go on.”
“When I got back it felt like there were worms under my skin or something. Then, right before that ghost thing took Anne, this gorgeous woman came out of me, like she’d been hiding in my chest. She’d hitched a ride from Chaos, using my body as the taxi.”
“Who was she?”
“Ironically, her name was Taksi. With a k, though. She was pretty adamant about that.”
“A Cherub?”
“No. And she wouldn’t talk much about who or what she was. Said she had to follow the rules. But I got the feeling she was on our side.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “For one, she didn’t kill me. She also implied as much. Seemed to know everything we’d been doing. Said she was proud of us.”
Michael sat back down, mind churning.
“A woman you say? Older?”
“No, youngish. Thirty-something maybe, long dark hair, wearing a Greek, drapey, toga-type-thing. When she leaned over, her breasts—”
Michael held up his hand. “Spare me.”
Leo dropped his hands, which had cupped to illustrate his point. “Fine.”
“Long dark hair?”
Leo nodded and put his downturned palm against his waist to show the length of it.
“Upon returning, I met a woman in Central Park who matches that description, less the toga. That was the moment I remembered who I was. I'd had amnesia, briefly, upon returning. I don’t think I told you that?”
“No.”
“I wonder if she had anything to do with helping me to remember.”
“Who do you think she is?”
“I don’t know. But we have to assume the Cherubim have someone helping them as well. Someone who might communicate with them.”
“She said as much. Said she had a counterpart, like a brother, who was the other player.”
“She used the word player?”
“Yes.”
“Hm.”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you about her sooner. It was so...odd. And you were a little wound up back in Anne’s apartment, what with wanting to kill Rathe and all.”
Michael rolled the new information around in his head and returned his attention to Leo.
“She seemed to know things about us?”
“Absolutely.”
“So, if these two are playing the Angeli and Cherubim like chess pieces?”
“She actually used that analogy.”
“Great. So if they are, they have to be able to watch the board, right?”
“I suppose.”
“And her counterpart knows what his Cherubim are up to.”
“Makes sense.”
Michael stood. “Then we have a change in plans.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Achilles, come here.”
Leo crooked his finger in the soldier’s direction and he joined him where he sat in the corner of the great hall. Boudica stood nearby swinging her broadsword in a giant X pattern again and again.
“Could you stop that?” asked Leo.
She paused. “Why?”
He crooked his jaw to the left and settled his glare on Achilles, whose attention had turned to Boudica.
“What’s with her?”
“Getting ready.”
“For what?”
“You’re both coming to Atlantis with me.”
Achilles raised one eyebrow. “No kidding. We all are.”
“No. None of the others are. They’re going to Cappadocia.”
“Turkey? I thought Atlantis was our fallback?”
“That’s what we’re letting everyone believe up until the last second. We’re moving the Angeli to Cappadocia, but you, Xena Warrior Princess here, Michael and I will be going to Atlantis.”
“What’s Michael got up his sleeve?”
Leo scowled. “How do you know it isn’t my plan?”
Achilles guffawed. “Because you’re the same bullheaded jackass you’ve always been. You’d never waste precious time thinking, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Fair enough. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. So what are we doing in Atlantis?”
“Waiting for the enemy to show up.”
Achilles mulled over this new information. “So, that one Cherub—Nyx—showed up here by himself with over a hundred Sentinels. Now there are seven Cherubs out there.”
“Six that we have to worry about, but yes.”
“So it’s the three of us against potentially six-hundred-plus Sentinels?”
“Yep. Nice math, by the way. Impressive.”
“You don’t think those odds are a little lopsided?”
Leo sighed. “I do. But Michael only wants our best soldiers fighting and a few have to go with the pack just in case. He can’t afford to lose half a dozen more Angeli or this cycle will never end.”
“So Alexander is coming?”
“Please.”
“Kidding. So four on six hundred. I’ve fought worse odds.”
“We’ll have a little backup. We’ve got a Cherub who flipped sides. Not sure how much good he’ll be, but he’s ours; and Con can fight either side.”
“I’d heard that. How did that happen?”
Leo shrugged. “Something to do with Seth. I let Michael worry about the details. We’ll probably put him on Sentinel-punching duty unless Anne and the others need help against the Cherubim.”
While they discussed Michael’s plan to lure the Cherubim to Atlantis, the other Angeli gathered in the great hall, their most precious possessions in hand. The room buzzed with nervous chatter.
“Everyone’s here,” said Alexander, checking a list as he approached.
Leo nodded, hopped up on a bench and stood on the stone table. He clapped several times and all eyes turned to him.
“Listen up everyone,” he said, hands held above his head. The crowd noise ended. “Michael asked me to gather you here. We’re all going to the underground city of Cappadocia, Turkey.”
The crowd erupted with surprised exclamation.
“Settle down. All is well in hand. Alexander has provided you all with the coordinates. I want you to go there as quickly and orderly as possible. You are to remain—”
Half the crowd disappeared.
“Well you could have waited until I was done.”
The rest, panicked by the disappearance of the others, disappeared as well. Only Alexander, Boudica, Achilles and Leo remained.
“How have we lasted this long with this frightened pack of hamsters?” muttered Leo, jumping down from the table.
“I’ve been saying that for years,” said Boudica, setting her sword on the table.
Leo looked at Alexander. “Go catch up. Make sure everyone understands they’re not to come back here under any circumstance until they’re told.”
Alexander eyed them. “Fine. What about you three?”
“We’ve got some loose ends to take care of.”
“Want some help?”
Leo grabbed his chest like he was having a heart attack. “Really?”
“Nah.”
“Funny.”
Alexander disappeared.
Leo fished in his pocket and pulled out two pieces of paper. He handed one to Boudica.
“Go collect these guys.”
She looked down the list as Leo turned to Achilles.
“’Chili, you go get this bunch. Their current coordinates are on there. Gather them up, bring them to Atlantis as fast as you can. Make a couple trips if you have to but make them fast. I don’t want you out there on the radar for longer than you need to be.”
Achilles nodded, before he and Boudica disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Cherubim returned with nearly three hundred humans, all of whom stood dead-eyed in the treasure room of the Egyptian burial site Casso now called home. He peered at the recruits beneath the light provided by glimmering Mor.
The shapeshifter Vary had taken the form of a dog and Seth sat against a wall, quietly singing songs and petting the creature.
This won’t do.
The Sentinels created en mass by his Cherubim were weak and stupid. Zombies. Seeing them now, he realized Nyx had been lucky to drain six of the Angeli. How weak and unprepared the Angeli must have been to be syphoned by such wretched, mindless creatures.
What could he do with such an ineffectual army? No time to train them. At least Rathe had done that much right; giving his soldiers enough of his own energy and preparing them for battle. Too bad he’d been alone and thrown to the wolves. With a few brethren he could have done well.
Think. Think.
What are my strengths?
He looked at the dog, twitching in his sleep beneath Seth’s lazy hand.
He had a shapeshifter. That was good. It opened many possibilities, but again, he didn’t have the time to plan an attack around his unique talents. He had to strike while the Angeli were still reeling from Nyx’s infiltration of their defenses.
&nbs
p; What else.
Child Cherubim. A bouncing cluster of light. Mor had broken into many individual points of light scattered across the room. The beams danced and divided, joined and separated, like cells splitting beneath a microscope.
Splitting and joining. Splitting and joining.
Casso had an idea.
What if the shapeshifter’s dragon could be larger and imbued with the power of the Sentinels? What if the tiny dragon that toasted Seth’s behind was enormous, blowing a draining hellfire across a field of Angeli? The tide would immediately turn in the Cherubim’s favor, even if not every Angeli was killed—
It was possible.
And not just Angeli. If he could combine the Cherubim and their Sentinels, meld them with the shapeshifter...
He moved to Seth and spoke into his mind.
The Cherubim need to join. They all need to join, Cherubim and Sentinels. All balled into one glorious creature.
Seth laughed without opening his eyes. “Join the Cherubim and the Sentinels? All of them? Why?”
Ceco, the most traditionally formed Cherub of the group, perked. His head turned, his gaze training on Seth.
To create a giant dragon. The shapeshifter can do it. Mor will be the glue: he can split and hold all the pieces together the way he splits himself and yet remains one.
“Glue glue glueglueglue gloobygloobyglue...” Seth’s head fell forward.
Too many drugs.
Seth! Wake up!
The Angelus’ eyes cracked open and he hummed, his head lolling from side to side.
You like songs?
Seth smiled and nodded his head.
Casso sang.
Take all the Cherubs
Put them in a wagon
Add all the Sentinels
Create a dragon
Casso chanted his song over and over in Seth’s head until the Angelus began singing the words aloud.
Ceco moved closer to hear the mumbling. “What wagon? How?”
Casso began a new refrain.
The shapeshifter Vary will take you higher
Melt the Angeli with a powerful fire
The sparkling Cherubim will hold you together
Tie you tight like a leather tether
Seth sang the words and nodded with approval. “That’s better. The rhymes are really coming to me now.”
