Dark Angel Box Set

by Hanna Peach

  Yael’s mouth pulled up into a snarl. He raised his sword and swung it. She stumbled back, tripping on an uneven stone in the flooring. It saved her life. Yael’s sword missed her by inches. She fell like a vase, her heart shattering as she hit the ground. She had lost him, again.

  “Yael, please. You know who I am,” Ana said as she shuffled herself back along the cold stone floor, her heels slipping on the edges of her long skirt.

  No emotion flickered across his face as he advanced towards her. “I do not.”

  “You do. How then do I know your name?”

  “It matters not.”

  “We love each other. You love me, you just can’t remember. But you can. Just look deep inside you.” If he just looked deep enough, surely their love would shine through any memory loss he may have suffered through again.

  He flinched but he kept advancing. “It’s a trick.”

  “It’s not.”

  “They told me to be wary of tricks. You must be a sorceress. A devil woman.”

  His dark eyes sparkled with deadly purpose. Yael was lost to her forever. He would kill her here and not a shred of remorse would ever pass through his mind. Whatever mind of his was left.

  “Please, Yael. I love you.”

  He stepped out onto the hem of her skirt, pinning her. Her hands slipped on the stone. His eyes narrowed. “This was fun. But the game’s over now.”

  He lifted his sword again.

  Ana squeezed her eyes shut, throwing up her arms to cover her head. She held her breath as she waited for death, praying it would be quick and painless.

  Ana heard a roar to her right and a clang sounded inches from her head.

  She was still alive. In shock, she opened her eyes. A sword was crossed out in front of her, blocking Yael’s sword from coming down upon her head. Holding that sword was Lukas. Lukas, who had appeared from the open door to her room that she and Yael had stopped right in front of.

  “Get away from her, you brute,” Lukas yelled. He kicked out at the side of Yael’s knee. Yael cried out as Lukas’s foot struck. He stumbled back down the hall, away from Siana. Lukas stepped out to follow him.

  “No,” Siana cried, jumping up and grabbing the back of Lukas’s shirt. “Don’t hurt him.”

  “He tried to kill you,” Lukas said, whirling around to face her. “You’re lucky I got here in time.”

  “Look out!” Siana screamed as Yael appeared behind Lukas swinging his sword again. Lukas turned and raised his sword just in time to avoid being cut.

  Siana could do nothing but watch as these two seraphs attacked each other, both of them throwing themselves behind every sword swing. Their grunts of exertion became louder as each strike landed blow by blow, each getting more and more bloodied as the fight went on.

  “Stop,” Siana begged. “Please stop.”

  There was a horrible squelching sound of metal tearing into flesh. Everything stopped. Both men froze.

  Oh my God. Someone had been hurt. Badly.

  Who?

  Siana found Yael’s gaze over Lukas’s shoulder. His eyes widened in surprise. For a second she thought that he finally recognized her. His eyes deadened.

  “Yael,” his name slipped from her mouth in a whisper. He slipped to the floor off the end of Lukas’s sword.

  Oh my God.

  Lukas had killed him.

  The man she loved was dead.

  Dead.

  Bile rose in Siana’s mouth and she turned, collapsing on her knees just in time to be sick on the floor.

  Chapter 21

  The ball of heated magic cut through the air like a knife and it was coming straight for Israel’s head.

  Israel didn’t have time to counter-attack the magic. He just had to move. Israel leapt aside, narrowly missing being hit. He landed on his side on the forest floor with a thud. His breath whooshed out of him.

  Sparrow ran through the trees towards him, a stricken look on his face as Piki flew alongside him. That swallow went everywhere with him, it seemed.

  “It’s okay. I’m okay,” Israel said, forcing himself to remain calm. He pushed himself up, ignoring the dull pain in his right side, and brushed himself off. Sparrow stood near him, his arms limply by his side, his eyes wide with guilt. “I’m okay. Sparrow. Really.”

  Sparrow had a long way to go in terms of training. Even now he couldn’t gain even the slightest control over his power. As the boy grew ever more frustrated, his power became even more erratic. “But maybe we should call it a day,” Israel said.

  A figure appeared between the trees in the distance. Whoever it was stumbled, as if they were weak or hurt.

  “Hey,” Israel called out. “Are you okay?” Israel shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted. It took a second for him to recognize the female FreeThinker. It was Tii’la.

  But Tii’la had gone with Alyx to Atlantis. She was back, hurt…and alone. Oh my God. His heart began to beat in his ears. Israel momentarily forgot about Sparrow, forgot about training, forgot about everything else. As he sprinted towards Tii’la, his footsteps thudded along the ground and his breathing pulsed in his ears in time with the only thought in his head.

  Where is Alyx?

  As he neared he could see that Tii’la’s clothes were torn, her hair was wild. Her clothes were covered in blood. There had been a fight. With whom?

  Where is Alyx?

  “Help me,” she croaked as he neared. Tii’la’s knees gave out. Israel lurched forward and caught her just before she hit the ground. Her arms went around his neck, holding her tightly to him. Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone so weak. He lowered her to the ground before pulling back so he could study her. Her eyes were wild, darting around the place. She could not meet his gaze.

  “Tii’la, where’s Alyx?”

  “I…” she tried before her eyes rolled back into her head.

  “Stay with me, Tii’la. Come on, stay with me.” Israel shook her, a growing frustration making his hands shake just a little too hard. Her eyes fluttered open. He tried again, “Where is Alyx?”

  He caught the sadness in her eyes as they filled with tears. The look stabbed him as if it were made of needles.

  “I’m…” she whispered, but Israel didn’t hear what she said.

  “What?” Israel lowered his ear to her mouth.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Chapter 22

  After hiding for a time, Alyx moved through the maze carefully, working backwards from the instructions, pausing each time the gears clicked and the tunnels moved around again. Up ahead Alyx saw the round circle of light signaling the start of the maze. She was almost through.

  She decided the best thing for her to do was to go all the way back through the maze and out the original entrance. She couldn’t risk going back through Raphael’s lab. Do’hann might still be there waiting for her. Or Tii’la.

  Alyx could still barely believe that Tii’la had betrayed her. Tii’la must have been planted by Michael from the very beginning; Tii’la fought alongside them against Samyara to gain her trust. And gain it, she did. She had just been faking it, Alyx thought bitterly.

  But she knew, deep down, that Tii’la hadn’t been faking their blossoming friendship. She had seen the pain and guilt in Tii’la’s eyes as she pointed her blade at Alyx and handed over the real Amulet.

  Tii’la had been the reason that Alyx had escaped. She shouldn’t have made it through the door into the maze in time. But Tii’la had gotten in Do’hann’s way as he chased after her.

  Tii’la had said she had no choice. But why?

  Why did she have no choice?

  What did Michael hold over her?

  Alyx had no answers. She felt like she might go mad if she focused on the things she might never know. She just had to let it go. And get the hell out of here.

  Alyx felt the pull of her Guardian bond. Oh no. Please no, she begged as she slipped into Israel’s head.

  Israel held Tii’la, on the ground before him. She was
covered in blood.

  “I’m sorry,” Tii’la whispered.

  The hairs on his neck rose. He felt a prick, like a needle on the back of his neck. She pricked him with something. Israel’s blood felt crystallized. What had she done? Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted two figures moving out from behind the trees.

  Israel recognized one of the two dark figures as one of the Michaelea warriors that Alyx and he had escaped from in the sewers. The other had a thick neck and a face etched in scowl lines, his muscles bulging through his warrior’s uniform. He did not look friendly.

  Israel felt his vision starting to shudder as whatever Tii’la injected him with started to take effect. There was a whimper beside him. Oh God. Sparrow. He heard Piki twittering and fluttering, obviously in distress.

  “Run, Sparrow!” Israel yelled.

  Sparrow didn’t move.

  “Go. NOW!”

  Sparrow jolted into action and ran, his face pale and full of terror.

  Israel felt his muscles seizing as he tried hard to push away from Tii’la’s grip. She had betrayed him. She had betrayed Alyx. The two Seraphim began to close in, their swords pointed at him. One had a rope slung over his shoulder. Israel fought against Tii’la, managing to clock her in the jaw with his elbow. Her arms let go of him and for a second he thought he might be free, but she quickly wrapped her legs around him instead. He was rapidly losing strength.

  Israel’s eyes flicked open and shut as he fought the darkness for as long as he could, staring at Sparrow, who was now just flashes of color disappearing through the trees towards the castle. Then he couldn’t hold on anymore.

  Alyx smashed back into her body, inhaling for air. Israel. She had no time to waste. She had to get out of Atlantis and back to the castle.

  Chapter 23

  Tii’la moved through the Michaelea forest with Varian and Do’hann. Varian led them while she and Do’hann carried Israel’s body between them.

  “That was a nice spot of work back there in Atlantis, Tii’la,” said Varian from up ahead. “For a moment I actually believed that you were on her side.”

  Tii’la tried to swallow but found she couldn’t, the guilt coated her throat so thickly.

  They stopped at the designated meeting spot near the mouth of the Hollows. She and Do’hann let Israel’s body down to the ground with a thump. He didn’t move. He was out cold.

  People had always underestimated her. They underestimated her strength, they underestimated her intelligence, and they underestimated what she was prepared to do. Even Alyx. She was just fade-into-the-background Tii’la. Write-her-off Tii’la. Too-innocent-to-be-a-threat Tii’la. She had been the perfect plant and Tii’la hated this fact.

  Guilt made her feel sick. Alyx had been so kind to her. All of them had been so kind. But she did what she had to. She had no choice.

  When Elder Michael had picked her to carry out this plan, she had initially refused. When Elder Michael had told her exactly what would happen if she didn’t carry out his plan and succeed, she had been horrified. So she gathered up all her strength and courage and did what she did. She infiltrated the FreeThinker’s community that Alyx had aligned herself with and gained her trust. She couldn’t fail. Too much was at stake.

  Every day that she had lived in their community she began to see them less and less as Rogues and more and more like friends. Every night that she had slept under the same roof as the friends she would eventually betray, she had nightmares. But she had no choice.

  Every time Alyx showed concern for her, Tii’la had almost blurted out what was really happening. So many times she had been so close to warning Alyx. But she couldn’t.

  Despite the fact that she was sure that guilt had been written across her face every second of every day living with them, none had been any the wiser. Unfortunately she had played her part to perfection.

  Regrettably, Elder Michael’s plan had been perfect. Elder Michael had worked out a story for why Tii’la was being kicked out, and they had even staged a small scene, just in case the Rogues had had spies in Michaelea working for them. It meant that Tii’la’s story would match up. It did. They believed her and let her become a part of them. She had fought alongside Alyx in their battle against Samyara to gain her trust, and it had worked.

  Tii’la spotted the tawny eagle with the Animale bracelet around its ankle, one of Elder Michael’s watchers. It landed on a branch near them and stared at her with beady eyes, unblinking.

  “Tell Michael we have what he wants,” Varian said to it.

  The eagle squawked once. Then flew off.

  They didn’t have to wait long. As the dusk was beginning to settle its smoky light on the world, a set of five figures moved through the trees towards her. It was Elder Michael flanked by two guards in front and two behind him.

  Elder Michael stopped before them. Two of the guards stayed by his side and the other two moved behind her. With Do’hann and Varian on either side of her, she was completely surrounded. Tii’la felt herself shrink under the gaze of the most powerful and deadly Seraphim in the universe.

  Elder Michael lowered his gaze to the body lying face down at her feet. “I needed him alive.”

  “He is. He’s just knocked out with a sleeping drug.”

  “Why didn’t you just knock him out with DreamWalker?”

  “Because he can break out of a DreamWalker sleep,” said Tii’la, feeling like she was betraying them all over again with every word she said. “He did it against Samyara. His mind is strong against other magics.”

  “Interesting.” Michael scratched his chin. “Sleeping drug, you say?”

  Tii’la shifted her weight. “It’s made from berries. It deadens his body as well as his mind, and he can’t fight that off.”

  Michael stared at her for a moment. “Ingenious.” For some reason that didn’t seem to sound like a compliment. “Anything else I should know about the Rogues?”

  Tii’la paused. She didn’t want to say any more but…

  Elder Michael’s eyes narrowed at her. “There is something else. Spit it out. You know the consequences if you don’t.”

  Tii’la’s eyes closed momentarily and Lutando’s face, his strong, handsome face appeared in her mind. Her heart squeezed so much that it hurt. Lutando had been Alyx’s friend. Alyx cared for Lutando, not like Tii’la did, but Alyx still cared for him. Alyx would understand why Tii’la had to do this, right?

  My love. I promised I would do anything to save you and I will.

  Tii’la opened her eyes, her guilt having been firmly locked away again. It was the only way she could do all the horrible things that had to be done. She swallowed. “Alyx and Israel have this special magic through their Guardian bond. They can communicate through their minds. She can even slip into his head and see what he’s seeing, feel what he’s feeling, hear what he’s hearing. But only when he’s conscious. You need to keep him unconscious to stop her from finding him in two seconds flat.”

  “Anything else?”

  Tii’la shook her head. She just wanted this all to be over.

  Michael indicated to one of the guards. They moved forward into action and rolled Israel over. Israel’s head lolled to one side but it was unmistakably him. This was when Elder Michael’s face broke out into a smile. Tii’la felt her lungs loosen… This nightmare would all be over soon.

  “Do you have the Amulet pieces?” he demanded of Varian.

  Varian nodded and held two chains out. “Raphael’s missing piece…and the one that Samyara stole off you.” He glanced over to Tii’la with an unfriendly sneer and her stomach tightened in a knot. “All Tii’la was able to tell us was that it was locked away somewhere in Tobias’s office. But we found it soon enough when we raided the castle.”

  “Excellent,” Elder Michael, said his grin stretching wide across his face as he clasped the pieces in his fist. He glanced down at Israel. “Take him and let’s go. I have a war to plan.”

  Two guards picked up Israel und
er his arms and he hung limp between them.

  “Wait,” Tii’la cried as Michael turned to leave. “Where’s Lutando? You said you’d let him go.”

  Elder Michael eyed Tii’la. “And get rid of her.”

  The warriors at Tii’la’s side grabbed her arms. Tii’la’s heart jammed up into her throat. “No, let me go. You said you’d let us both go.”

  Elder Michael sneered at her. “What, and litter this Earth with your ungifted pups?”

  “You demon. You-You lied to me!”

  “Yes,” Michael smiled at her, thin and cruel. “Feels terrible when someone does it to you, doesn’t it?” He turned away, waving his fingers at her as if she were just an insect to be shooed away.

  As he walked away, Tii’la screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed. Until she stopped.

  Chapter 24

  Alyx saw the smoke rising up from the horizon like a black stain against the sky. She knew it was the castle. She had flown here as fast as she could from Atlantis, but she was too late. Fighting complete exhaustion, she pushed herself on. Maybe there were survivors? Vix? Sparrow? Mini? Tobias?

  As she neared, her hope extinguished. Thick black smoke poured from every window of the castle like a noxious tar. Parts of the turrets had been knocked over by some great force. Sections of walls had been damaged beyond repair, leaving great gaping holes in the building where solid walls once stood. Furniture had been thrown out of the higher windows, smashing them and littering the ground with splinters and torn bedsheets. A few bodies lay across the grass. She flew to each of them and checked their pulses but found none. Where were the others?

  A familiar swallow careened towards her, fluttering and screeching at the top of his lungs. “Piki!” Alyx accessed her Animale magic from her bloodink mark.

  “…out but he’s still trapped inside.”

  “What?” Alyx replied. “Start again from the beginning.”

  “The dark men came to destroy the castle. They killed the ones who couldn’t get out.”