Dark Angel Box Set

by Hanna Peach

  When they weren’t training they were talking. Alyx didn’t know why but time seemed to sift away while they were together.

  One afternoon they were lying on the roof of the theater on a blanket. His fingers traced the outlines of her marks on her left arm, making her skin course with electricity. “Tell me about your tattoos.”

  Alyx bit her lip and stared at the spires of the skyline. “They’re not really that interesting.”

  She could sense that Israel was watching her. “You don’t want to tell me about them. Why?”

  “That’s not true,” she lied. So far she had taken great care not to talk too much about bloodink with him. How he would react? Would he be disgusted, knowing that she had someone else’s blood tattooed on her skin? Would he be scared of her? Scared of what she could do with the bloodink magic? Would he think her a freak?

  It was safer not to say anything.

  * * *

  Alyx and Israel stood around a dark corner watching the street semi-lit by old fashioned wrought-iron street lamps, each lamp giving off a misty glow in the light drizzle. At this time of night all the shops along this strip were shut up and dark. Nothing moved.

  Alyx appraised the entrance to Stutler’s, the antiques store across the road. “Are you sure this is a good idea? A store specifically selling weapons would have a much wider range of stock.”

  “Yes, but their security would be epic. We wouldn’t last three seconds without alerting half the city and being caught on camera. Didn’t you want to keep a low profile?”

  “Yes, but an antiques store?”

  “Where do you think I got my last knife from? Trust me. I was in Stutler’s just the other day. They have a couple of antique daggers and swords in good condition. They just got in a beautiful golden willow leaf sabre from China. You can have that one if you want.”

  Dammit. She had shared with Israel her love of fine weaponry, so he knew that this would sway her.

  “Won’t they have an alarm system as well?” she asked, not quite prepared to give in yet.

  “Only a basic one. Nothing I can’t handle.”

  Alyx nodded. “Okay then.”

  “It looks clear. Let’s go.”

  At the front of Stutler’s, Alyx stood watch as Israel knelt at the door. Israel pulled a small piece of foil from his pocket and slipped it between the frame and the door. He turned his attention to the lock. After a few minutes she heard a click.

  “After you,” he said, pushing the door open.

  The inside of the shop was a jumble of items, like a closet stuffed full of toys. Chandeliers and ornate lights hung from the ceiling like a canopy of dead branches. Even the walls had no respite, tiled haphazardly with framed letters, gilded mirrors, hand-painted plates, and protruding Victorian lamps.

  “The counter’s up the back,” Israel said as he shut the door behind them. A circle of light appeared when he flicked on his flashlight.

  Alyx moved towards the back of the store. She had to step around the items that protruded into the narrow path through the shop; an old wooden dressmaker’s doll with chipped white paint, half-open drawers and dressers overflowing with beads, pearls and pocket watches, even a washed-up old buoy painted with “slow 5 knots” down the side.

  Encased in glass, just as Israel promised, were three double-edged daggers with black and engraved metal handles, as well as a sword with a pearl hilt and a silver bird’s head as the rear quillon.

  “No sabre,” Alyx said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice. “Perhaps it was sold?”

  Israel nodded towards the back wall. There was the sabre cradled on two hooks, the matching scabbard above it, displayed against black velvet in its own glass cabinet. It was stunning. The intricate golden vines burst around the hilt and curled partway up the thin, sharp blade. In a bound, Alyx was over the counter and standing before it, fingers pressed against glass. Israel started to work on unlocking the cases.

  In minutes they were fully armed and heading back towards the front door. Through the front glass Alyx caught sight of movement on the street. Her heart nearly stopped.

  “Turn off your flashlight,” she hissed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Turn off your flashlight, dammit.”

  Alyx had recognized his lumbering swagger before she saw his face. Yael was walking on the pavement across the street with Do’hann at his side, both in their blacks. Israel’s flashlight was glinting off the storefront glass.

  Israel flicked off the flashlight just as Do’hann tugged at Yael’s arm.

  “Duck.” Alyx dropped to the cold floor. Israel dropped too.

  Yael and Do’hann pressed their faces against the glass storefront across the road. Hopefully they wouldn’t realize that the light had actually come from the other side of the road.

  “Friends of yours?” Israel whispered.

  “Seraphim warriors. Remember I was telling you about our Winter Games? They’re the ones I beat.”

  Israel whistled low. “Extra incentive to hunt you down, then.”

  “And it looks like they’ve figured out we’re not in there.” Her skin electrified as Yael and Do’hann turned from the glass of the jeweler’s to look around the street.

  “Why don’t we just fight them?”

  “If we have to fight them, we’ll lose.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  A very good question. Alyx’s mind was whirring. What were they going to do? If they stayed very still they may not be seen and Yael and Do’hann may just keep walking. But if Yael and Do’hann crossed the street, they would be seen through the store glass and they would be trapped.

  The back door.

  Alyx remembered seeing a back door to the store near where the sabre had been displayed. They could try escaping through the back door. But their movements might catch Yael or Do’hann’s attention. Even so, they may have a head start advantage. But if Israel couldn’t pick the lock in time, they would be trapped.

  Alyx bit her lip. There was so much riding on this decision.

  “Alyx? What are we going to do?”

  Yael and Do’hann were now looking across the road to the antiques store. She and Israel couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

  “When I count to two I need you to run like hell towards the back door. One.” Alyx flipped herself up over Israel’s head. “Two.” She hurtled herself feet first through the air towards the back door, praying that this would work. She picked up speed as she flew across the store. Israel was close behind her, dodging the antiques in his way.

  Her feet crashed against the wooden door and it broke on its hinges. Alyx fell into the small street behind the store, splinters of wood leaving cuts on her legs. She ignored them. They would heal.

  She turned to see Israel leaping over the counter and out the door. He tumbled to the gravel and rolled to his feet. Through the broken door Alyx could see Yael at the front of the store. Their eyes locked for a split second. He snarled, then the glass shattered at his fists.

  “Run.”

  Israel and Alyx tore down the dirty back street, Alyx flying over the gravel like an arrow, Israel running and leaping in bounds alongside her.

  “This way,” Israel said as he swung off a lamppost around a bend into a dark alley. Alyx followed him down the thin slit between taller buildings, sheets draping above them like ghosts in the night breeze.

  A figure dropped to the exit of the alley in front of them. Alyx halted midair and Israel skidded to a stop. They turned to escape back the other way. Yael stepped forward into the street, blocking their path.

  “Dammit,” said Alyx, drawing her sabre and dagger.

  “Well, well, well,” Yael called. “Looks like it’s our lucky night, Do’hann.”

  “Yep,” Do’hann called back. “The Michaelea traitor with a mortal.”

  “I’ll hold them off for as long as I can,” Alyx hissed at Israel. “You run and keep running.”

  “I’m not leaving y
ou,” he said, looking around him. “There must be another way.”

  “If you stay they’ll take you, and you can’t fulfill your destiny.”

  Do’hann and Yael were closing in on them, their swords drawn, taking their time in their approach as their taunts flew back and forth.

  “I have an idea.” Israel bent down low out of her periphery.

  “Dammit Israel.” Alyx moved in front of him, trying to shield him, holding her weapons out from either side of her, a blade pointed at each approaching warrior.

  “Would you look at that? She looks like she’s trying to protect that mortal.” Do’hann laughed.

  She heard a scraping of metal from where Israel was crouched. “What are you doing?”

  “At two jump back. One.”

  “But−”

  “Two,” his voice echoed away.

  Echo? Alyx thought as she jumped back. The ground wasn’t there to catch her.

  Chapter 24

  Alyx fell for another second before her feet splashed into muck. She was in a dark tunnel under the street, having fallen through a manhole. Through the circle above Alyx could hear the shouting getting louder.

  “Follow me,” Israel said.

  They fled, his flashlight flickering in front of them, away from the warriors chasing after them. They turned down a tunnel, the walls moist and furry, and down another. Rodents scuttled out of their path as they passed.

  Whoomp. A pulse moved past them. It felt like cold air rushing against her skin. Then the air rushed back.

  “What was that?” Israel cried.

  “AirWhisperer. They’re using magic to track us.”

  Israel pulled her down another tunnel. Then another.

  Whoomp.

  The voices became louder, echoing off the tunnel walls behind them.

  “It’s no use, Israel. We can’t outrun Air.”

  Israel pulled her down another tunnel.

  Whoomp.

  He halted. There was a round metal grate in the wall. “What if we go down there?”

  Alyx nodded. “We have to try it.”

  She held his flashlight as Israel started to yank against the metal bars. It wasn’t budging.

  “Hurry, Israel.”

  Israel put one foot against the wall and tugged again. There was a groan as the grate pulled away from the rusty frame. “Go.”

  Alyx dove into the opening, Israel behind her. She moved along the skinny tunnel, dimly lit by the circle of flashlight.

  “Will the Air magic be able to find us through here?” he whispered.

  “Once they realize that we’re not in the main tunnel anymore, they’ll start exploring these smaller tunnels with Air. We’re not safe yet.”

  The light started to flicker. The flashlight was dying. Thoughts of being lost under here in the dark flashed through her mind. She shuddered. “We need to get out of here.”

  “There are disused subway lines under here as well. The sewers connect to them. One of the train lines runs under West End with an exit to the street right near the theater. I’m pretty sure this tunnel will lead us to the subway lines and we can make our way to West End from there, but we have to be really quiet.”

  “How do you even know where we’re going?”

  “I used to live on the streets, remember? Up there.”

  Alyx could see the bars of another grate up ahead. At the grate, Alyx handed the flashlight back to Israel. She pushed at the bars with her hands. It was stuck. She swung around so her feet were facing out and kicked.

  It started to shift. She kicked again and again. The grate dislodged, falling out of the frame and clattering to the ground.

  “I said ‘quiet’,” mumbled Israel.

  Alyx ignored him and jumped out of the tunnel into a larger tunnel.

  Israel climbed out behind her. “Hopefully they don’t− What was that noise?”

  “Probably just a rat.”

  “It was bigger than a rat.”

  “I don’t hear any−”

  “Shh,” Israel said, his voice getting low. He shut off his flashlight. “There’s someone in here with us.”

  They stood very still in the dark, listening. Splash, splash. It was the sound of careful footsteps in the muck. Before Alyx could yell at Israel to run, their world erupted into light.

  Chapter 25

  Alyx’s eyes adjusted to the brightness. They were in a large tunnel, parallel train tracks running the length of it, surrounded by half a dozen men smeared in dirt. Their searchlights glinted off the knives in their hands and, to Alyx’s horror, the barrel of more than one gun. More men crawled out of a nearby opening and joined the mob around them.

  Before Alyx could react, a gruff voice called out, “Well, well, well. I never expected to see you here again.”

  One of the men stepped forward. He was a gruff-looking brute, thick red hair, smudged face, thick black boots and a red scarf tied around his neck like a bandit.

  “Mason,” Israel muttered. “Life is full of unpleasant surprises for all of us.”

  “You know these people?” Alyx asked Israel, her eyes wide.

  He nodded almost imperceptibly. “My old street gang.”

  Alyx turned back to look at the mob. They didn’t look happy. What did Israel say about leaving his gang?

  “You have some nerve coming back down here,” the one named Mason said.

  “Believe me, it wasn’t planned.”

  “Especially after your sudden disappearance in the middle of the night coinciding with the disappearance of a week’s worth of pillage.”

  “What a coincidence.”

  “You and I both know that was no coincidence. You owe me big-time, Scrapper.”

  Scrapper?

  Mason turned to Alyx. “And what do we have here?”

  Some of the other men made crude noises. Alyx didn’t like the way they were looking at her.

  “Perhaps then,” Mason said, brushing his chin with one hand, “I’ll take your little pet as payment.”

  “You won’t touch her,” Israel growled, stepping in between Alyx and Mason.

  “Then I got no use for either of you. Kill them. Kill them both.”

  The men advanced towards them, steel glinting in their hands and teeth.

  There are too many of them. We’ll never win. “Get back in the tunnel,” Alyx yelled, trying to push Israel behind her.

  “No,” he said. “You stay behind me. Mason, I invoke the Right of Horatii.”

  Everything stopped. A collective gasp sounded.

  Mason pushed forward to the front of his pack. “Last I checked, you weren’t a street pirate no more, Scrapper.”

  “Israel, what’s going on?” Alyx asked.

  Israel glared at Mason. “I still have the right to invoke it. Or is your honor no longer worth anything?”

  “You better watch your mouth, Scrap, or I’ll come and beat you down myself.”

  “You nominating yourself as champion? Be my guest.”

  Mason glowered at Israel. “Make some room, men. We’re about to get a little entertainment. I choose the champion.”

  “I choose the weapon,” said Israel.

  Alyx’s head was spinning. What was going on?

  “Unarmed,” said Israel, stepping forward as he removed his dagger and sword and let them clatter to the ground.

  “Terrapin,” Mason said, and a cheer rose from his men.

  A man stepped forward into the circle, towering above the other men by at least six inches, with sooty skin covered in blue and black patterns that stretched around his limbs. When he grinned he showed gaps of missing teeth. The grin did not look friendly. Terrapin stared at Israel, unblinking, as he dropped his weapons to the ground.

  Alyx grabbed Israel’s arm and forced him to look at her. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s part of the street pirates’ code, lovey,” Mason answered instead. “Horatii was a street pirate who started a practice of having two warring clans settle things b
y a single duel between two champions. To the death. It stopped whole clans of pirates being killed or injured. As you can imagine, any injuries down here don’t heal well. Your boyfriend just invoked it.”

  “Israel, you’re not fighting that monster.”

  “He ain’t, lovey,” Mason said. “You are.”

  It was Israel’s turn to protest.

  “I invoked the right to choose the champion and if you remember rightly, that includes choosing the champion from your side.” Mason turned his gaze to Alyx and grinned. “I choose her.”

  “No,” Israel yelled. “I won’t let you−”

  “Then you forfeit the Right of Horatii and you can both die today.”

  “I’ll do it.” Alyx stepped forward.

  “Alyx, no. He’ll butcher you.”

  “Hold him,” Mason yelled as Israel moved to pull Alyx back.

  Two of the men grabbed Israel on either side and held him in place. Alyx ignored his attempts to persuade her not to fight. This was her only chance at getting Israel out alive. If these guys wanted a fight, she’d give them one. She pulled her weapons from under her warrior’s jacket and laid them on the ground. She noticed one of Mason’s eyebrows lifting as he watched her.

  I’ll teach you to underestimate me. Alyx stepped forward. “I’m ready.”

  Mason nodded. “To the death.”

  Chapter 26

  Alyx and Terrapin circled each other. It was David and Goliath. The other men were chanting and shaking their fists in the air. To Alyx it sounded like the roar of a distant sea. Her eyes flicked over Terrapin in a quick appraisal − his body, his weight placement, his stance. Upper body dominance. Strength but not much speed. Left hander.

  Alyx kept her distance until she saw the slight shift in Terrapin’s weight. His left fist came for her. She ducked then returned with a punch. It was like hitting a rock-face.

  He came at her again with his fist. Alyx rolled to her side this time. She tried a kick to his side. Her foot just seemed to bounce off him. Oh, God. How do you bring down a mountain? How?