Whiskey and Angelfire

by A. A. Chamberlynn

  And then there were stars, all around us, and we walked through a field of black sky. My head reeled from all the images we’d seen, passing too fast to make any sense of them. Was it better that way? Did I really want to know my future? Or was seeing bits and pieces even worse? I couldn’t decide.

  I didn’t have long to be tormented by it, because abruptly we began to fall through the inky black sky.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The scream that parted my lips didn’t last long, because we abruptly landed somewhere. On our feet, like one reality had been pulled out beneath us just for another to replace it. It was bright, and a brisk wind blew. A log cabin stood before us, on a finger of land surrounded by a massive lake. Mountains rose in the distance, capped with snow.

  “Where are we?” Quinn asked breathlessly.

  “Location is relative here,” Pan answered, letting go of my hand. “They picked a place, but then they folded time around it. It could be Earth, or some other realm, but it’s just a copy of it, frozen in time.”

  Pan headed for the cabin. When he reached the door, he knocked three times. The sound reverberated, rising into the crisp blue sky.

  After a full sixty seconds, the door slowly opened. Two people stood on the other side, the woman with her arms wrapped around the man’s waist, as if answering the door for the executioner. They could have been twins. Both with dark hair and flawless cocoa skin of the same hue. The only difference was that she had gray eyes, and his were a startling blue. Well, that and his wings, which were also kind of a steely blue color. To think so much chaos was being wrought over the union of two beings. So similar, and yet so different at the same time.

  “Pan!” Kara exclaimed, a look of utmost relief crossing her face. “We feared the worst.”

  She pulled him into a familial embrace, which definitely seemed odd given that it was Pan, and well, Pan was Pan.

  “I’m afraid this is not just a social visit,” Pan said when she released him.

  “What’s happened?” Ambriel asked. His stern jawline reminded me of Eli.

  “Michael has placed Dublin under martial law thinking that one of the other supernatural races has kidnapped you.” Pan’s eyes flickered to Kara. “Namely the shifters.”

  “But he’s imprisoning supes of all kinds,” I added.

  Ambriel and Kara shot me questioning looks, undoubtedly wondering who the hell we were.

  “These are my friends, and we came to obtain your help,” Pan said. “Zyan had an idea that might stop Michael’s faulty search for justice.” He nodded toward me.

  “Why don’t you come inside,” Kara said, opening the door wider and gesturing for us to enter.

  We filed through the door. The cabin was fairly spacious, with a large great room in the center, at the back of which stood a huge fireplace that opened to the room behind it as well, the bedroom I presumed. It had a vaulted ceiling supported by large wooden beams. Quinn, Riley and I sat down on a suede sofa in front of the fire, and the other three took the matching sofa opposite us. Scorch remained standing, looking around the cabin with a bored expression.

  As I settled in my seat, I couldn’t help but notice Ambriel and Kara. They kept ahold of one another as if it might be their last moment alive. I hadn’t seen them break contact since they’d opened the door. Even sitting on the sofa next to each other, they had their adjoining thighs pressed tight, and Ambriel kept one of Kara’s hands clasped between both of his in his lap. Were they really that in love, or was it the threat of being torn apart that fueled such passion? If it was so abominable that an angel and a shifter be together, it would only be a million times worse for an angel and something like me. Something that subsisted on souls.

  “So, what do you need our help with? What’s this idea?” Ambriel asked.

  “It’s actually Riley’s idea,” I said, looking over at him.

  Riley cleared his throat. “It’s pretty simple, really. If we could get a recording of the two of you stating that you were not kidnapped, but ran away so you could be together, we’ll hack into international media outlets and blast the message around the world. Michael will be forced to give up.”

  Ambriel’s face grew stormy. “You don’t know my uncle very well.”

  “We have to try something,” I said. “He’s tearing Dublin apart. And he’s spreading out through the other major cities in Europe as well.”

  “It’s the biggest threat to supernaturals since Evo,” Quinn added.

  I saw Kara shiver. Yeah, Evo hadn’t been a walk in the park at first. There were a few tense months, and the world’s leaders debated all sorts of things like whether supes should have the same rights as humans, whether they needed to be registered, even tracked, things of that nature. Topics that, unfortunately, had come up again a couple months ago when Alexander kept causing riots and other chaos. But it was nothing like what Michael had enacted in the last few days. He’d topped the charts in the blink of an eye.

  “I fear my uncle won’t give up,” Ambriel said. “And broadcasting the video may turn his hunt to us.”

  “But we tried for days to find you,” I said. “Quinn’s a powerful witch and she couldn’t get through the block. We found out later it was the timefold that prevented us from getting through. The NHTF also tried with their latest technology. Pan’s the only one that was able to get through. You should be safe.”

  “Should be,” Kara said. “But it’s not a guarantee.”

  “Nothing in life is,” I said, my tone hard. “However, people are going to die, if they haven’t already, for you two to be together.”

  Kara flinched and Ambriel’s expression hardened. “How dare you come here and say that to us,” he said.

  “What, the truth?” I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I really am, but it’s the reality of the situation.”

  Quinn spoke up, her voice and expression gentle. “The video gives you the best chance of stopping Michael, while staying hidden. The alternative is that you’ll have to come out of hiding.”

  They both tensed, but Quinn continued. “Michael definitely won’t stop looking for you if he can’t find an answer. At least if he knows what happened, there’s a chance he’ll stop.”

  “Plus he’ll have the pressure of knowing the whole rest of the world knows the truth, too,” Riley added. “Even Heaven has limits to what it can get away with.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but I kept my mouth shut.

  Kara looked up at Ambriel and a silent communication passed between them. She turned to look at Pan. “And you agree with them?”

  Pan was silent for a moment, looking unusually pensive. He placed a hand over Kara’s. “I want you to be happy, dearest,” he said. “I personally could care less about Michael’s agenda and the destruction he causes. But I know you would be saddened to drag your shifter family through that while you stay here with Ambriel.”

  Kara’s lip trembled, and she sucked in a shaky breath. “Okay. We’ll do it.”

  “Plus,” Pan said, “If Michael decides to pursue you I will hide you in Faerie myself, and he will not like what awaits him when he tries to enter our realm.”

  Riley and Quinn both pulled out their phones to record the video. “Are you ready?” I asked the runaway couple.

  “Yes,” Ambriel said, squeezing Kara’s hand.

  Pan moved off the sofa so he wouldn’t be in the video. Ambriel sat up straighter, though he still clutched Kara’s hand tightly in his lap.

  “I am Ambriel Lightwing. I address the people of the Earth realm, both human and supernatural. I am an angel, and an officer in the angelic forces. I fell in love with this woman, Kara Grady, who happens to be a shapeshifter.” He paused and glanced down at her, love radiating from every part of him. His eyes, the way his body leaned toward hers, the way his lips formed around her name. Looking back up, he continued. “It is forbidden for someone in the angelic forces to be in a relationship with another type of supernatural being. This is an archaic law that has
long since passed its lifespan. However, my uncle is the Archangel Michael, and he is especially strict when it comes to the old ways. So, we ran away together. There are those who believe we were abducted, but this is clearly not the case. We have quite happily and willingly come to a place where no one will find us, and we want it to stay that way. I ask that searches for us cease, and that the violence being done to the other supernatural races be halted immediately.” Ambriel looked over at Kara again. “Do you have anything to add, darling?”

  “Only that we never wanted harm to come to others because of our choice, and I’m so sorry that it did. We just wanted to be together.”

  A tear rolled down her face and Ambriel reached up and wiped it away. Quinn and Riley both stopped their recording.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Hopefully we can stop Michael now.”

  “I pray that you can,” Ambriel said, his expression stony.

  “Well,” I said, getting off the sofa. “We’ll need to be getting back.”

  “Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances,” Kara said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

  “You should come and visit me in Faerie,” Pan said. “Once this all blows over.”

  “We will,” Ambriel said, smiling.

  We said our goodbyes, and headed back out of the cabin. It all seemed rather anticlimactic after looking for the dumb angel for so long.

  “So, how do we get back?” Riley asked Pan.

  “The same way we came,” Pan responded. “Or, the shortcut,” he added with a grin. I was relieved to see him back to his mirthful self.

  “Well, obviously the shortcut,” I said.

  “Join hands again,” Pan said, and we did.

  It was like the journey we’d taken before but in reverse, and much, much faster. Falling and then stars and then images flashing past, and then a bank of fog thicker than anything. And finally I could feel ground beneath my feet, the good, solid ground of Earth. I drew in a long breath of cold night air as Merrion Square came into view.

  I turned to Pan. “You may not care, but you’ve done a good thing today.”

  Pan smiled his most wicked smile and spun his silver staff in the air. “I’ve done nothing of the sort. You still owe me a favor for this. Plus the two previous favors you owe me. You’re quite in my debt, Zyan Star.”

  I frowned. “Say what you will. And I’ll gladly pay my debt when you call it in.”

  “Gladly or no,” Pan said, “I will take my payment.”

  And with that he disappeared in a shower of green sparks, leaving me scowling at a blank patch of night air.

  “Shit!” Quinn swore.

  “What is it?”

  But as I turned to look at her, I could already see—the enchanted scroll she’d given Anna hovered in the air before her, glowing bright red.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “It must have tried to come when we were gone,” Quinn said, biting her lip. “It usually only glows yellow.”

  “How long were we gone for?” I asked.

  “About sixteen hours,” Riley said, tapping his phone.

  “Fuck. I hope we’re not too late,” I gasped, snatching at the scroll. I would’ve thought traveling to a place that existed outside of time meant we didn’t spend any time in our own realm. Apparently not.

  The scroll uncurled itself and hung before us, the ink glowing reddish-pink in the night.

  Water Treatment Plant

  5 AM, Saturday

  Quinn, Riley and I exchanged glances. “That’s in an hour and a half,” I gasped. “We’ve got to get moving!”

  At that moment an angel dropped out of the sky, landing with a resounding tremor. Eli.

  “Eli, what are you—”

  He crushed me into his chest. “I thought you were dead.”

  “Why?” I said, my voice muffled against his chest.

  He didn’t answer for several moments, then he finally let me go and stepped back. A blush tinted his cheeks when he realized Quinn, Riley and Scorch were staring at him. “I told you how I can sense you? Well, over half a day ago you vanished.”

  “Oh, shit,” I said. “We went into the timefold—to find Ambriel and Kara. That’s why you couldn’t…” I trailed off. I still wasn’t used to the idea of him being able to sense my presence, like a bloodhound or something.

  “Did you find them?”

  “Yeah,” Riley said. “And we got the video. Scorch and I are going to hack the news outlets momentarily. We need to get to a computer.”

  “That’s good,” Eli said. “If you make it in time.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Quinn asked.

  Eli’s jaw rolled, and the look on his face sent a chill up my spine. “The other supernatural races have teamed up and waged war against Michael and the angelic forces. A battle’s been raging the last hour in Ballsbridge.”

  “What do we do?” Quinn asked. “We just got Anna’s message about Lucifer’s plot to release the drug into the water system. We have to stop them.”

  “But we can’t let everyone slaughter themselves,” Riley growled.

  “No, we can’t.” I shook my head. “Quinn, you go find Donovan, then get to that fight and try to delay things as much as you can. Riley and Scorch, obviously you’re on the hacking. Eli and I will go after Alexander and Lucifer.”

  “It’s like, the actual end of the world or something,” Scorch said, looking unbored for once.

  “Not if you stop it, kid,” I said. “Now get moving, show us your mad skills.”

  He smiled and he and Riley jogged off. “We might just have to borrow someone’s computer,” I heard Riley saying as they headed for houses in the distance.

  I turned to Quinn. “You can find Donovan with a locator spell?”

  She nodded. “Good luck,” she said.

  “You, too.”

  I turned to Eli. “Have any idea where the water treatment plant is? They didn’t really have that sort of thing last time I was in Dublin.”

  “All that stuff, the generating station and everything, is on the little peninsula at the head of the Liffey,” he responded. “I can take us there.”

  I nodded, and we stepped through the pathways.

  We landed on a strip of asphalt in a sparse area decorated with rusty shipping containers, chain link fence and sprawling industrial buildings. Eli gestured to me and we jogged down the street until we found the water treatment plant. Crouching down about half a block away, we watched the entrance for a few minutes and didn’t see anything, so we crept around and did a perimeter sweep. Nothing. Not even a whiff of sulfur.

  “Let’s check out the inside,” Eli said.

  “After you,” I said with a flourish of my hand. My katana slid smoothly from its sheath behind my back.

  Eli smiled. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  We walked stealthily through the building, a dull gray steel thing that screamed utilitarian. Not that I was expecting anything different. After about fifteen minutes, we’d swept the whole place, without a demon in sight.

  I checked my phone. “4:27. Maybe they aren’t getting here until 5?”

  “Maybe,” Eli said. “I guess we just wait and see.”

  We found a little room off the main power supply that gave us a good shot of all the release valves and whatever all that stuff was. I was no plumbing expert. I leaned back against the wall, fiddling with the hilt of my katana. Not that I was a patient person on the best of days, but now, knowing that a huge battle raged a short distance away, I thought the passage of time might kill me.

  “So, here we are again, fighting to save the world,” I said with a chuckle, looking up at Eli.

  “Yes. It feels good to be fighting by your side again. These last few days with the angels…” he trailed off.

  “I know you think you have to follow orders without question, but you don’t,” I said.

  “I know,” he said. A long moment’s silence. �
�But you didn’t grow up the way I did. You don’t understand what it’s like to be a part of something bigger than yourself.”

  “Ouch.”

  He raised a hand. “No, let me finish. Growing up as an angel, there are so many pressures, so many expectations. You never had that, at least once you became Anam Gatai. It would be easy for me to dismiss your perspective since you haven’t experienced what I have, but it’s that different perspective that I’ve come to value so much.” He looked over at me. “You accept me, no matter what. You don’t try to fit me into a box like everyone else does. I can be myself around you. Even if that means disagreeing with one of the most powerful archangels in our ranks.”

  “Okay. Well then, thanks,” I said, smiling a little.

  “I’ll just have to figure out some way to make the angels see the destruction they’re causing,” Eli said, a frown on his face. “I can’t give up on them.”

  We fell into silence for a few minutes. Each beat of my heart seemed to mark an eternity. Where the hell was Anna? I replayed the conversation with Riley over and over in my head; when he’d told me the awful truth about his brother. But that didn’t mean Anna was the same. There could still be hope for her. Then an awful thought occurred to me: what if Lucifer and Alexander had discovered her duplicity? What if she was injured, or worse? My thoughts simmered in my head, a toxic stew.

  Finally, five o’clock rolled around. Throughout the building, all remained still and quiet.

  “Zy,” Eli said, his tone gentle but firm. “I think your sister—she lied, Zy.”

  “Why do you assume she’s irredeemable?” I snapped. “Lucifer might’ve discovered she’s switched sides and changed his plans.”

  “I assume she’s irredeemable because she’s a demon.” Eli’s eyes flashed. He began to pace agitatedly.

  I lifted my arm up, shoving my demon mark under his nose. “What, like I am?”

  “You’re not a demon!”