Northern Lights

by Debra Dunbar

  A drop hit me on the head, icy cold as it ran down my face. I caught my breath and the soft sound was amplified around the cavern. The bats took flight, golden wings making them seem like iridescent butterflies. A few dove into the water, becoming more like stingrays than bats. It was magical. I hated having to seal this world away, but it was for the best — both for the residents of this world as well as the ones here.

  I pulled myself back to the cold spring Alaska air, the sunshine, the rocky mountain ledge, and the angel who’d never let go of my arm the whole time I’d been halfway through the rift.

  He was grinning. “Cool, huh?”

  More than cool. “I wish I could go to places like that, see other worlds. Heck, see other states. I barely remember the life I had across the ice. This world is my home and I love it, but these glimpses of something else…”

  He tugged and pulled me forward into his arms. “You can love home and still enjoy experiencing new places. Aaru has a special place in my heart. It will always be my home, but my life would be less rich, less fulfilling, if I didn’t explore, if I didn’t give myself the chance to fall in love with new places, and new experiences.”

  I wanted that too, and before I could stop myself I was envisioning new places and new experiences with this angel by my side. Would he share that with me? Because doing that on my own didn’t seem nearly as much fun as doing it with someone else — someone to share the excitement, the novelty, the sensation. I was all about sensation, and in spite of all I’d ever been told about angels, I got the feeling that Raphael was too.

  Maybe, just maybe a minor angel from Aaru would be interested in a future with a young, inexperienced angel who lived with a werewolf pack and worked in a tourist shop.

  Raphael’s arms tightened around me and I felt him kiss the top of my head. “Do you want to help me close it? The rift?”

  I looked up at him, bringing my lips tantalizingly close to his. “Can I do that? I thought I couldn’t. I see them. You zip them shut.”

  He closed the distance, giving me a feather-light kiss. “Together we can do both. Together I can see the gateway, and you can close it. When an Angel of Chaos and an Angel of Order join, they both experience a bit of the other.”

  Now that had to be the smoothest line I’d ever heard. “Are you trying to get into my pants?” I teased.

  “Yes, I am.” Again that soft kiss that promised so much more.

  “I do want to close the rift with you.”

  I wasn’t sure what I expected. I’d seen him close the rifts yesterday, and it had been all power, light and sound. This time was magic. His arms remained around me. I could feel the hard planes of his chest against mine, his breath against my face. But even as he held me, I felt him envelop me, felt something white-hot where our incorporeal selves touched. Then we eased together in a swirl of color and sound. Aside from some tiny part that anchored us to our individuality, our physical selves, we were one.

  He caught his breath and I knew he could see the rift with its splash of blue in a field of gray, that he could hear the discordant sound it made, jarring against the harmonious world around us, that he could feel the sharp jagged energy which radiated from this oblong shape that had rent a hole between two worlds.

  Then he reached with his spirit-self, and the power that poured from him, through me and into the rift nearly brought me to my knees. He steadied me, and I saw what he was doing, the millions of mathematical formulas that he processed faster than any computer. He, we, tailored the energy flow to match the fluctuating resonance of the rift, and it seamed together, sealed with sound and light. His energy changed to a perfect match of the Alaskan landscape, and with a burst of white, he filled the gap.

  It was incredible. It was awe-inspiring, the mental process, the sheer power that it took to do such a thing. I felt like a nobody next to him. I’d always been the big fish in the pond but in this ocean I was a minnow. Once more I wondered how someone like Raphael could ever find anything of value in me.

  Without you, I could never have seen the terrible beauty of that rift.

  Oh crap. He could hear me think. Had I thought something incriminating while we were joined together like this? This had to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Far more embarrassing than that time I set my own boat on fire and had to swim three miles back to shore.

  Without you I would never have seen that cave, or battled a bunch of boobie -birds. And how in all of creation did you manage to set your own boat on fire?

  I pulled back enough that I could keep my thoughts to myself, enough that once again I realized how good his body felt against mine. “We were night fishing and I thought it would be helpful to have a globe of light. Seems I’m not very good at globes of light. Thankfully I was the only one in my boat at the time.”

  He chuckled. “I flew into a billboard a few years back. I was messing around and not paying attention and whack. Gabe swore he’d never tell anyone. He’ll probably blackmail me for it a thousand years from now.”

  I giggled at the image of Raphael with his beautiful wings, smashing into a huge sign advertising a golf course or something. “Thank you for letting me help you with the rift, for sharing that experience with me. It was amazing.”

  He leaned close, resting his forehead against mine. “I hope to share other things with you. Lots of other things.”

  “What, like things involving beavers and streams, and friction?”

  “And lots of bodily fluid exchanges.”

  I snorted. “Who’s the romantic now? Bodily fluid. That’s some silver tongue you’ve got there, Pretty-boy.”

  “Hey, you started it with your hydra sex-ed. Which reminds me, we still have one to kill before you go to work.”

  I really didn’t want to go to work later. What I wanted to do was roll naked in the sheets with this angel. Maybe before work. What was I saying, totally before work.

  “Okay, Pretty-boy. Hydra. Then perhaps there will be friction and bodily fluids in our very near future.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Sounds like a plan, although don’t blame me if I try to rearrange the order of things.”

  Now, that was a plan.

  Chapter 18

  “See? Hydra.”

  We were perched on the ledge where I’d made my swoop attack yesterday, wings at the ready. I stretched one of mine out to touch Raphael’s, marveling at the contrast. His were light descending to dark, mine the opposite. Mine black where his were the palest lavender. Yin and yang.

  His wing brushed along mine, and more. Once again his spirit-self connected with mine. I hadn’t quite gotten used to the sensation. It was a strange mix of comforting and sexually stimulating. All I knew was that I liked it. I liked it a lot. And I liked this angel a lot. He was funny, gorgeous, and had a depth to him. And he made pancakes. How awesome was that?

  “I thought it had three heads?”

  “Yeah, well it did have three heads. I kinda screwed up with my little salt experiment and now it has five.”

  He laughed. “Pfft. What’s another two heads in the grand scheme of things? Five isn’t a big deal. If that Hercules dude can take down one with nine heads, two angels should be able to wrap this up, have a lengthy shower together, grab lunch, and have you to work in plenty of time.”

  Mmmm, shower. “A very lengthy shower. And I know a spot in Juneau with incredible fried halibut that’s on the way to work.” What can I say? liked food, too.

  “It’s a date.” His wings spread out, the dark sections reflecting the light. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait!” It was too late. He’d already begun his free fall, and the hydra was looking right our way. So much for the element of surprise. I was tempted to sit up here on the ledge and watch him try to do this one solo, just to teach him a bit of patience, but I really wanted in on this action. I had a score to settle with this hydra. And it wasn’t like patience was my virtue either.

  He might be reckless and impatient, but the
angel was damned impressive. He slammed into the hydra at full speed, taking half a dozen bites before managing to rip one of the heads off with his bare hands.

  “Hey! What the hell?” I hovered just out of biting range. “I’m supposed to cut heads and you’re supposed to cauterize.”

  “Oops.” He tossed the head onto the shore, then quickly beginning ripping the tiny ones that began to sprout in its place. “Change of plans. Now get in here before it winds up with fifty heads coming out of this stump.”

  That got me moving. I flew in, slashing at the other heads and hiding my wings the moment I got to Raphael. He had his arms wrapped around the thrashing hydra-neck, so I had nowhere to cling to but on his back like a monkey.

  And it was awesome. He’d hidden his wings too, keeping the sensitive appendages from the hydra bites. That meant I felt every flex of his muscles against me. I wrapped my legs around his chest, making sure the back of his head fit nicely in my cleavage.

  “Any day now.”

  He wasn’t pissed off; he was amused — even though we were both being mercilessly bitten by four hydra heads. Well, I was being bitten the most since I was draped across his back. It was so worth it.

  “Ahia. I promise you can rub yourself over my naked back all you want later. Just cauterize this hydra’s neck before the damned thing bites us to death.”

  We wouldn’t die, but the bites were starting to send numbing poison through me. Guess I better get to work before I was a drooling, limp mess on the shore and Raphael had to finish the job himself.

  I grabbed the thing’s neck, scooting up Raphael’s back and leaning over his head. He laughed again, unable to see as my boobs were now draped in front of his face. I smirked and sent a bolt of lightning into the hydra’s wound. It did cauterize the neck, but the electricity also reverberated through the monster and back into the pair of us.

  Raphael yelped. “Cauterize. Not electrocute.”

  “I can’t do fire. Or anything hot enough to sear it besides lightning,” I shouted back. My lack of skill in that area had been a terrible disappointment to my early human families, who were hoping for fire with a snap of my fingers.

  “Oh for Aaru’s sake.” He was still laughing as he reached up and grabbed the back of my shirt, yanking me free from him and throwing me to the side. I squealed and flung out my arms, grabbing hold of another hydra head. “You cut. I’ll cauterize.”

  This was a total farce. I was bitten all over my back and limbs. I was swelling up like a very pink, very bloated tick. I’d just shocked myself with what for a human would have been a lethal dose of electricity. I was having the time of my life. Where had this angel been the last five thousand years?

  I held on tight to the hydra’s neck with my legs and yanked out my knife to start sawing away. Raphael jumped from the neck we’d just finished to the one I was working on, landing opposite me and wrapping his arms around both the hydra and my body.

  “Hey, babe. Come here often.”

  Worst pick up line ever. “I almost cut your head off. Idiot. Now get ready.”

  With a jerk of the knife the hydra’s head came off. Raphael slammed his hands onto the bloody stump and it sizzled with the aroma of cooked eel. Two down, three to go. I tossed the head to the shore and made a dramatic leap to the next neck. Unfortunately, I was beginning to resemble a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and my joints weren’t working in an optimal fashion. I bounced off the hydra neck, my puffy hands scrabbling to gain purchase as I sank down the long column and onto the creature’s’ base — which lay a foot under the icy water.

  Holy mother of a biscuit, that was cold. I felt it even through my numbed legs.

  “The head’s up here,” Raphael shouted. He was above me, his hair whipping wildly about as the creature tried to toss him off.

  Jerk. I pulled out my knife and turned so he couldn’t see what I was doing. Then I cut off the hydra’s neck at the base. It toppled like a tree and I heard Raphael yelp as he hit the icy water. Just for good measure, as I cauterized the wound with lightning, I made sure to send some through the water, to zap the angel a bit extra.

  Two left. And I was beginning to think we might need to come back and finish this thing off later. I could barely feel my legs. I was one more bite from losing my knife into the lake. And my face felt like it was about to explode. If I’d been alone I would have called it a day, but there was no way I was giving up in front of this angel. So I stuck the disgusting, hydra-bloodied knife between my teeth and grabbed another neck by the base, shimmying up it as best I could.

  And now my mouth was going numb. Stupid venom. Raphael had learned his lesson and was sawing away at the head on the neck I wasn’t trying to scale. I abandoned my efforts halfway up and just began hacking at the thing’s neck — a difficult task given my hand was three times the size of my knife by this point.

  “Done! Beat you.”

  Fucker. “It’s not a race,” I shouted back. Actually it sounded more like “Mfmph mmf ugh pstlf,” because my mouth was numb. It would have been a good time to get a root canal.

  “Here.”

  Raphael was beside me, wings unfurled to support him midair as he twisted the head off and tossed it to the side. I was almost done. He didn’t have to help me. To illustrate my capabilities even puffed up to twice my size, I electrocuted the hydra once more. Raphael pulled his hands away just in time, his wings fluttering like a hummingbird’s as the electricity sparked through the hydra.

  No more heads. The thing began to slide into the lake and I jumped, summoning my wings. The wings didn’t come and I found myself falling deep into the water. Hands grabbed me and hauled me upward, dropping me unceremoniously on the shore next to the pile of hydra heads.

  Raphael sat down a few feet away, hiding his wings and throwing his hands in the air. “Yeah! That was awesome! Wasn’t that the most fun you’ve had in centuries? More entertainment than even the boobie-birds. I can’t wait for dragons and phoenix to start appearing. Bring em’ on!”

  Did I say I liked this angel? I think I changed my mind. I was exhausted. I felt like an over-ripe peach. I was covered in hydra guts. And I had to work in four hours. I healed fast, but last time it had taken me a good eight hours to recover. How the heck was I supposed to show up at the tourist shop looking like this? I couldn’t even talk.

  But it had been fun. And if I was being completely honest, I did want to ditch work and go take a cruise around Alaska, looking for other creatures to take out with this angel. Well, as soon as the venom was out of my system.

  Crap. I couldn’t even get my wings to show. Four hours until work. Damn it, in four hours I’d probably still be here flopping on the rocks.

  “Pftfm mfft pwllt,” I told Raphael, throwing a hydra head at him. It landed with a squelch against his chest before bouncing to the ground. How was he not all puffy? He’d been bitten just as much as I’d been.

  The angel picked the head up and tossed it back at me. Then he grinned one of those dimpled-cheek, totally hot grins. “Come here.”

  There was an edge of command in the words that totally turned me on. I was puffy, therefore crawling to him with my best sexy-stalking-panther impression was out of the question, so I just flopped onto my back and gave him the finger.

  “I said, come here.”

  I opened my eyes to find Raphael on all fours above me. Then he leaned down and kissed me.

  My first thought was that he was a seriously kinky motherfucker to want to kiss me all puffed up to twice my size and covered in hydra guts. Actually my first thought was that he was a darned good kisser and I wished my mouth wasn’t so numb. My second thought was that he was a kinky motherfucker.

  Wait. I could feel my mouth. And I could feel a whole lot more too. He was healing me, and darn if this wasn’t sexier than a Band-Aid and two aspirin. My arms went around his shoulders and I returned the kiss, arching my back to try to press myself against him.

  Too soon his lips left mine and
he stared down at me, those violet eyes lit with flecks of sky-blue. My arms slid upward so my hands twisted in his hair and caressed the column of his neck. My gaze drifted to his gorgeous full lips, then back to those mesmerizing eyes.

  “Want to fly?” he murmured, swooping down to give me a quick hard kiss.

  “Yes — fly home and take that lengthy shower together that you promised.”

  “Later. First I want to fly, if you’re feeling adventurous, that is.”

  We had been flying, and although it was one of my favorite things, I’d never considered it particularly ‘adventurous’ in and of itself. But maybe he meant something else? “Is that angel slang for sex? Angel mile-high club?”

  He sat back on his heels, pulling me up against his chest. Wings unfurled from his back and without conscious thought mine did the same.

  “Six thousand feet isn’t enough for what I have in mind. More like the six-mile-high club.”

  I blinked. “I don’t think I can breathe at that altitude.”

  He grinned. “You’re an angel. You don’t need to breathe.”

  Maybe not, but breathing was a nice perk — one I was rather fond of. “And why forty thousand feet? I mean, if we’re going to try to somehow manage sex while hovering in the air why not do it at a distance we actually can breathe at? And not freeze?”

  The grin got bigger. Damn, those dimples were amazing. “Who said we’re hovering? I was thinking more like a freefall.”

  He was crazy. I mean, I was crazy, but this angel made me look like the staid, sane one.

  “Freefall? Sex during a freefall?” I did the math and didn’t like the answer. “Dude, that gives us less than a minute. That might be fine for you, but that’s a bit fast for my enjoyment.”

  “You’re not taking terminal velocity into consideration. We’ll top out at around two hundred miles per hour, not four hundred and eighty.”