Ellie’s hand came away from her lip and the blood was gone. “You’ve got a mean cross. You seem to be able to handle yourself.” She pulled her hood back, exposing a bright blue explosion of spiky hair. “Sorry ‘bout that. I thought you were someone else.” She extended her hand to me.
As if I was going to shake it. I didn’t move. I just stared at her and her look-at-me hair.
“Wow.” Kim said. “Great hair; it looks so cool.”
“Thanks. Did it myself,” Ellie replied, withdrawing her hand.
I sensed in that gesture the vague whiff of missed opportunity, but I stuffed it down inside. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” I was getting angry all over again.
Michael had relaxed his aim, allowing the gun to point downward at the ground. Other than that, he stood motionless, watching the proceedings like a wise man.
“Well?” I said the sword still up and ready to slice.
“As I said before, I’m Ellie. I’m an angel. I’ve been looking for Kreios. It’s obvious that you all know exactly who that is.” She eyed me in particular. “I don’t have to tell you he’s out of control. I’m here to find him and put a leash on him.”
I gaped.
“How do you know who we are?” Michael said. He slid the gun into the small of his back and visibly relaxed. I lowered my sword, but I was still tense.
“I keep my ear to the ground. I heard about the activation of one of the half-breeds—no offense,” Ellie glanced at me with a fake smile, “and the way she fights I’m guessing she is you. Airel, right?”
“Yeah, she’s me,” I said, blowing a wisp of hair out of my face.
“And who did you say sent you again?” Michael said.
“El,” she said, her tone pat.
“And who did you think we were?” I asked. “I’m still a little confused about that.”
“That’s okay, dearie. I’ll explain it for you,” she replied. “It’s simple. I thought you were the baddies.”
Kim snickered.
“Laugh it up, Red,” I said to her. “Thanks for getting my back.”
“Shut up, Airel,” Kim said. “You knew it was stupid to walk in there. I didn’t have to tell you that for you to know it.”
“Just whatever,” I said. Great. Now I’m the peanut gallery.
“Look, you guys,” Ellie said. “Your little family quarrel is out of hand now. It’s not just your problem anymore. We—the Fallen—would like to avoid all-out war.” She looked at Michael, then glanced to Kim. “You’re Michael?” she asked him, looking back.
“Yes.”
“Well, aren’t you guys just the motley crew. A half-breed Immortal, an exiled member of the Brotherhood, and,” she turned to Kim, “and I’m not quite sure what you are. Or why you’re here.”
Kim looked like a cornered three-year-old. “You know a lot about us.” Her face was white and drenched with fear.
“How about you leave her alone,” I said, bringing the tip of the blade up again.
“How about you make me,” Ellie responded, whipping out a dagger from under her baggy hoodie and turning back to me.
“Ladies, please,” Michael said. “We don’t have time for this nonsense. Can we just stop insulting each other and try to get on the same page here? Please? If you really want to avoid the fight Kreios is out there trying to pick, we have got to get past this little scuffle quickly.”
Ellie’s face was beautifully sinister, and I believed if she could have, she would have growled at me.
I scowled back at her, then looked down at her sword in my hand. “Think fast,” I said, twirling the grips of the sword around in my hand. I flipped it down and around and tossed it end over end, right at her head.
She caught it directly in front of her face, one-handed by the grips, and smiled at me.
“I’ve got my own in the car, so don’t mess with me,” I said.
“You, young lady, need to get over yourself,” she said.
Precisely, She said, and I rolled my eyes and turned away from Ellie, but only slightly. I wasn’t sure I could trust her yet.
Michael caught my eye and I knew he felt for me. “We’re all looking for Kreios. We should work together.” His gaze on me intensified. “Just like Ellie was trying to say.”
“It’s true,” she added, heaping hot coals on me.
“I’m sorry, okay? It takes me a while to make friends.” I kicked a brick, making it plop over. “Especially after I get attacked for no reason.”
“Airel, please accept my apology. As I said, I didn’t know it was you.”
I looked Ellie in the eyes. I decided to trust her. For now. But she didn’t need to know that.
“Ellie,” Michael said, “we were hoping to find some clue as to where he’s headed.”
She laughed. “What? You think he was going to leave you a note or something?”
Kim giggled, but turned serious when she looked at me.
“No,” Michael said. “I’m a tracker. I don’t need much. Just thought maybe you’d found something.”
“Not yet. I’m still looking for clues myself. I’m still too far behind, unfortunately, to make much of what I have. I’ve been going round to suspicious-looking sites and taking notes. What happened, how many were killed, stuff like that. Intel.”
“Can’t God see what’s going on and just stop it?” Kim asked.
“Sure. But El has his ways and I don’t question. I just do as I’m told.” Ellie looked away off to the distance, her eyes illuminating a depth of experience that I knew I lacked. It made me jealous. “I really need to be on my way....”
“The cops are after us,” I blurted out.
“Are you bragging?” she asked.
“No. Just … it’s probably a good idea for you to clear out,” I said.
The wind was still gusting, but it was drier because the rain wasn’t coming down with it.
Michael shook his head. “No. We should work together. We’ll be better equipped to find him, and more quickly, if we go after him together.”
“You want me to take orders from you, Demon Boy?” Ellie said.
“No,” Michael said, “I just want you to be reasonable.”
“That’s pretty funny, coming from you. Oh, yes, I know all about your situation. Word gets around. And you talk about being reasonable?”
I wondered how much she could know, though. If I were a betting kind of girl, which I wasn’t, but if I were, my money would be on fatal shock whenever she found out about Michael writing in my Book. She just couldn’t know about any of that.
“Believe it or not, yeah, I am talking about being reasonable,” Michael said. “I’m not going to get into all the reasons for or against right now, but it’s pretty obvious—even to Little Demon Boy— that this is a time for, I guess you might call it ‘consolidation of force.’ Even if the truce between us is uneasy.”
Ellie spat on the ground and it sizzled in the dust of brick and mortar. Was she convinced? I couldn’t tell.
“We need you,” Michael continued. “Come on. You can’t tell me that you’re not at least a little suspicious that this is El, and not a chance meeting.” He paused. “Airel needs you too,” he said, looking at me, and I wanted to kill him where he stood. “She’ll never admit it, but she needs anyone and everyone who can help her find her grandfather.”
I gave him the stink eye.
“Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about,” Ellie said. “You can’t hear him anymore, can you?” she asked me. “He’s a brick wall for me too.” She looked around at us with her piercingly beautiful blue eyes. I couldn’t help noticing that she was beautiful, darn it. Why was I being so competitive, though? Michael wasn’t just some fair-weather boyfriend. I shoved my hood down off my head onto my shoulders and ran my fingers through my hair, redoing my ponytail.
“What do you say?” Michael asked her.
“Don’t try too hard to close the sale,” she said.
I looked at her a
gain. There was something about her that drew me in. Part of me wanted to pull her aside and grill her with questions I couldn’t even begin to know how to put into words. I wasn’t sure if it was her or if it was what she represented. I was so hungry for truth. If she was a conduit to the end of at least some of the mystery in my life, I wanted to grab on to her and not let go. “Okay,” I said. “Truce.”
I held out my hand to her. “Let’s start over. I’m Airel.”
Her eyebrows arched in surprise. She walked to me and promptly took my hand and shook it— firmly. “Yeah. You can call me Ellie.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure.” She smiled wryly.
I wondered if Ellie was the one She had been trying to tell me about.
“Have you been to the other site yet? The one in Portland?” Ellie asked us as she sheathed her sword in the scabbard that was strapped to her back under her hoodie.
“No,” Michael said.
“Yeah, well, don’t bother. That’s why I’m here. There wasn’t much there to go on.”
Ellie and Michael started trading information, syncing up their brains. I stole a look at Kim as they talked. I caught her eye, but she looked away from me. I would have to talk with her later. Make things right. Should we have just sent her home? Maybe Michael had been right about that. I didn’t know for sure. I just needed Kreios so badly. Why are you not here?
Ellie and Michael suddenly stopped talking and jerked their heads toward me. “What?” I said.
They looked at each other. “We should get going,” Michael volunteered. “Talk in the car.”
“Agreed,” Ellie said.
I couldn’t help but feel like I was being taken on some kind of ride that I couldn’t get off of. Not at least until it was all over.
The four of us began walking back toward Kreios’ SUV. I looked at Michael. “Hey, and just where did you get a gun?”
All he did was give me his trademark crooked smile.
From the Book of the Brotherhood, Volume 3:
…
The Brotherhood seeks above all else to undo El’s cursed work. Brothers and Hosts, when you deceive or destroy a Son or Daughter of El, you engage in the pure and right; you restore the Chthonic to all that is; you unmake what has been made…
CHAPTER I
U.S. Highway 97, Oregon—Present Day
RAIN. IT PELTED DOWN on the windshield loudly in the darkness, the wiper blades pushing at it in swipes, but the downpour was relentless, making it hard to see the road.
Headlights came and went behind us. Someone else was caught out in this weather too.
I didn’t know how Michael could see through this endless rain. I felt like my life was just like that. It was never going to end, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t see what was coming for me until I was right on top of it—pain and troubles—and they would just keep on coming.
I twisted in my seat and glanced at Ellie and Kim. Kim was right behind me in the very seat that at one time had held me captive. Ellie sat behind Michael, fully absorbed with her phone. Should I try to start up some kind of conversation? Oh, what to talk about. How does it feel to be a full-blood angel? I had angelic blood, but I was like one-sixteenth or one-thirty-second. I wondered if she had more abilities, if she was stronger than I was.
There was an awkward silence pressing down on us and I could feel the tension it produced. Michael looked like he was a little preoccupied with speed, but I tried not to worry about that. Kim was uncharacteristically quiet. The only one who seemed not to notice any of it—or not to care—was Ellie.
I looked at her with interest, studying her. Her skin was smooth, much like mine. There were no blemishes; it had this kind of cleanness to it. Her hair was crazy bright blue—it was even bright in the dark. It was like a neon sign made of cotton candy.
Ellie looked up from her phone to catch me staring at her. I turned back to the front, blushing. Dang. What are we doing, anyway? What—we trust her just because she’s an angel? Or says she is?
Michael broke in, “So, Ellie, have you been here in the Portland area long?” He sounded like my dad. Just yikes. Dad had that same exact tone when he wanted to break the silence and get me to talk when I didn’t feel like it.
Ellie shifted in her seat a little and chuckled. “Yeah, mate. I lived there back when it was just a wide spot in the river. Y’know, a one-horse town that ain’t big enough for the two of us.”
He laughed quietly, shaking his head.
“But you’re not really trying to start a conversation with me, are you?” Ellie was smarter than I gave her credit for, and direct.
“No, I—”
“It’s just really awkward …” I tried to interject.
Then Kim blurted out, “All I want to know is where we’re going.”
I turned and smiled at her. “Yeah, do we have a plan? A lead? Anything?” I looked at Ellie. I had a weird gut feeling about her. What is it? Jealousy? Would she try something with Michael? She’s a pretty hardcore chick. A threat, though?
Ellie opened her mouth to say something, but Michael cursed loudly and swerved to the right, jerking the wheel, stomping the brakes. There was a bang and a thud on the driver’s side. Then everything came back to the left and I went right, slamming against the door, grunting as my lungs flattened and the seatbelt tensed against me.
“Hold on.” Michael cranked to the right, trying to steer into the skid. The SUV felt like it was going to flip over. I reached out and grabbed the handle on the dash. Kim screamed. I couldn’t turn around to see if she was okay. My body went rigid. I could see things flashing by the window in the darkness. The road was coming at us through my side window for a moment as Michael fought for control. The engine roared loudly at full throttle, scaring me. The wheels fought for traction and I could hear bits of gravel ricocheting off the wheel wells as the SUV fishtailed left and right, the back end dipping down low on the shoulder. Then we were back on the road, rocking side to side, coasting, stopping—I hoped.
I realized I was holding my breath and then I let out a deep sigh. “What the—?” I was both confused and alert.
Michael slowly brought us to a full stop, looking out the windshield wide-eyed.
The car that had been following us was gone, the darkness growing more intense all around us.
One of our headlights remained, dim, casting a cockeyed eerie light through the rain across the double yellow lines on the road in front of us.
“We hit something. Big, too, I think—” Michael was panting, trying to talk, his hands shaking, turning around in his seat and looking back through the rear windows, trying to see what it was.
The rain just hammered away at us. I could see steam rising from the engine in the single crooked beam of light. I flashed back to a horror movie, one where some hooded man with a hook stalked dumb blondes and hacked away at the car, trying to get in. I shivered and felt my heart pound in my chest.
I looked out my side window and saw movement. I did a double take. What’s out there? Then I saw it again: something big, all right. Big and dark. I gasped.
Before I could say anything about it, the whole inside of the car lit up from behind. A car? It was on our back bumper—right on top of us.
A loudspeaker came on: “This is the FBI. Exit the vehicle with your hands on your head.”
“Go!” Ellie yelled, grabbing Michael by the shoulders and forcing him to face front. “Go Michael, now.”
***
MICHAEL STOMPED THE GAS PEDAL to the floor. The engine roared like a beast, the tires howled, and the SUV launched forward.
“Those are the cops,” I said.
“The FBI will take care of itself,” Ellie said. “Drive.”
I could feel it. It was in the space around me, reaching into me and drawing me down, consuming me. And I knew. “The Brotherhood. They’re here.”
“Oh, God,” Kim said in a small voice. She gripped the back of my seat.
Kreios’ b
ashed-up SUV howled into action, rocketing us into the darkness. As I glanced at the speed, I saw the needle moving briskly past eighty and carrying on from there into the hundreds. I didn’t know how Michael could see through the rain. “Michael?”
He turned toward me. “It’s okay.”
I turned back to see the headlights, the FBI. Now red-and-blue strobes flashed above them. My heart sank as I thought of my parents. Are they okay? The FBI had been tailing us the whole time. The whole time. For how long? And they weren’t stopping now. They were right on our tail.
The SUV shifted into top gear, pushing me back into the seat again. I couldn’t bear to look.
CHAPTER II
WHATEVER THAT WAS, IT was pretty big. Did I even see what I think I saw? Rawlins wondered to himself.
Hammer down. Triple digits in the rain.
He wished he had time to call in the pursuit. But he was going to bag this little teenaged miscreant in just a few, and then he’d call it in. They wouldn’t be able to get very far with a damaged vehicle.
He reached over and switched on the lights. There was something magical about those flashing lights. What a rush.
***
MICHAEL WANTED TO EASE Airel’s mind a little, but deep down he knew that this might very well be their end, on this road, tonight.
It was wet. Water stood on the road in the ruts. He put one set of tires on the double yellow, the high ground, as the speedometer swept well past a hundred and twenty. What did Kreios install under the hood of this thing?
A train snaked along in the night not far away. He could see its lights stabbing steady through the night in his rearview mirror. It was a peaceful counterpoint to the thrashed chaos in which he felt immersed.
There were no other cars on the road except their relentless tail. It had been hours since he’d seen anything but that stupid pair of headlights. He knew he was right to be suspicious of that car, but he could never have guessed what would happen. Why hadn’t he done something? Yeah, but what?
It was hard to see through the windshield, especially with the broken headlight on his side.
The Airel Saga Box Set: Young Adult Paranormal Romance Page 40
