Angel's Curse (21 page)

“Ah, I can provide you with a dozen readily enough. Would that suffice for now?”

“It
should
be plenty.”

The days passed in a blur. When I wasn’t busy creating more weapons or feeding — Drake had stayed to watch both and seemed to derive great pleasure from it — I was supplying sparring partners for the vampires to work with, to hone their skills using switchblades. Of course they weren’t using the real blades, only practice ones. I didn’t want them to waste my blood on play-fighting. I’d also taken to training with the specialists, learning new moves and how to throw the stars with some accuracy, not that I’d be likely to use them. Still, it never hurt to learn new skills.

With only two nights to the solstice I was getting nervy, and resorted to pacing up and down Drake’s chambers. I’d finished blooding all the weapons and had glutted on suicide vamps. There was so much energy building up inside me I thought I’d explode.

“You’re going to wear a path in my carpet,” Drake complained. “If you need a distraction …”

“No, thank you,” I said. “I need to keep my focus.”

He laughed.

“Will the archangels come when they realise their armies have been ambushed?” I asked.

“Yes. They’ll seek to protect their numbers and destroy whatever has challenged them.”

“How hard is it to kill an archangel?”

“I can’t help you there. One has never been killed, but one
was
cast out.” I knew of whom he spoke. “If you could find him he might be able to tell you how an archangel can be destroyed.”

“I don’t have time,” I grumbled. “The solstice is too close now.”

I stopped pacing and turned to face Drake. “You said nothing can survive Satan’s blood. What about archangels?”

“I told you, I don’t know, but at a guess I’d say yes, it should kill them.”

I sat on the couch and put my head in my hands. “A pity we don’t have any. Now
that
would be something.”

Drake shuffled along the couch to sit next to me and placed a cold hand on my leg.

“Are you certain you’d be able to get close enough to use it, even if we did have some?”

I lowered my hands and looked him in the eyes. “Yes. They’d never know I was there.”

He held my chin in his cold hand, ever so gently. “Then I have a gift for you.”

He stood up and walked over to the far wall, removing a painting that he’d told me was a Renoir. Behind it was a safe. Why on earth would a vampire need a safe? I looked the other way. I didn’t want Drake to think I was watching him as he entered the combination. I could
easily
access the safe if I wanted to.

I heard the tumblers click into place. The door opened for a brief moment, then closed again. He returned with a small bundle. The cloth smelled musty and old — it hadn’t seen the light of day for a long time. Drake set it down gently on the coffee table and carefully opened the bundle. Inside the first cloth was a leather roll, tied up with a leather thong. Drake untied the roll. Inside I could see three dark handles. Drake removed one and held it up for inspection. It was a dagger, black in colour and about twenty centimetres in length from haft to pointed tip.

“They are all the same,” Drake pointed the blade he was holding at the other two. “A gift from Satan himself to a demon, and I
inherited
them from the demon after she died. They are the only ones in existence, as far as I’m aware.”

“Amy,” I said.

He nodded. “For a time she and I were companions.” A sly grin spread across his face. “It seems I covet
everything
that once belonged to Danizriel.”

“Is that why he let you live, because of Amy?”

“Only Danizriel could answer that.”

I’d look another time, to find out more. Drake placed the dagger back in the roll and retied it. He held it out for me to take.

“Leave it here. I’ll take them when I need them.” I imagined he probably wanted something in exchange for this
gift
. “I suppose you want something in return for the daggers?”

“I said they were a gift. I expect nothing in return, though if you were to offer something, I’d not refuse.”

I untied the roll, retrieving one of the blades. I held it close to my nose and sniffed. It only smelled of old metal and leather. There were no special markings, like Death had, and it appeared quite ordinary.

“Use them wisely,” Drake said. “I cannot replace them.”

I nodded and placed the dagger back in the roll.

“Did you want to stay close by me during the fight, or would you prefer to stay with your soldiers?” I asked. “I’ll be travelling to a number of different locations, as the archangels appear.”

I stood up to stretch. I needed a hot bath to help me relax and unwind.

“I will gladly come and watch you fight,” Drake replied. “Not that I won’t be in the thick of it myself, but I would enjoy watching you take on an archangel. I only hope you’re as good as you think you are.”

I walked over to him, standing so close my hip touched his arm, and looked down at him.

“I’m better than good,” I purred, “believe me.”

He laughed. “You could drive a man to distraction.”

“I do,” I replied, stepping away, “on a regular basis. I’m going to head home to try and get some sleep.”

“You’re quite welcome to sleep here,” Drake said, looking towards his bed.

I thought about it for a moment. There were plenty of cots in the other rooms. Even if he expected me to share his bed, which he did, it was big enough that I could keep my distance from him, but could
he
keep his distance from me.

“I’ll pass. Maybe I’ll have a quick nap here tomorrow night, when it’s almost time.”

Drake shrugged his shoulders and I disappeared.

I returned the next night for a final training session with the specialists. I transported directly to their training room. They weren’t the least bit phased by my popping in and out, being used to it by now. In fact they were surprised I hadn’t used my ability to transport to full advantage, when they had attacked me months before, in the temple. I had learned some of their signing and could understand most of what they said, even the cheeky comments about how good I’d look wearing all black. Little did they know what I was going to wear the following night, though it wasn’t the type of outfit they were talking about. There was no way I was going to cut out my tongue to
be
like them.

If Drake was upset that I hadn’t arrived in his chambers he didn’t let on. Many of the vamps had come to watch me train with the specialists and word quickly reached Drake of where I was. It was the first time he’d come to see me train. He leaned in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. I glanced quickly in his direction and smiled. One of the specialists took advantage of my momentary lapse to sweep my legs. As soon as I felt my legs go out from under me I flipped backwards, until I was behind him, standing on my feet. I crouched down quickly and wrapped my arm around his neck, pulling back as I stood up. The result was his neck snapped. I let him go.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to apply
that
much pressure.”

There was applause and whistling from the sidelines. Surely they would have heard I’d killed two specialists before they’d managed to get three throwing stars in my back, but I guess seeing something in action is different to hearing about it.

I walked over to Drake and he clapped his hands — slow and loud claps.

“I really do believe you could pull this off,” he said.

I poked a finger in his chest and said smugly, “Told you so.”

He laughed and left the room. I followed.

“How long now?” I asked, hurrying to catch up with him.

“Ten hours. Many of the troops will be leaving within the hour to reach their appointed area before it starts, ready to lay ambush.”

“What about the weapons?”

“I’m heading off to distribute them now. Would you care to join me?”

“I’ve got nothing better to do.”

I caught Drake giving me a sideways glance and smiled. I wondered if he thought we could both make better use of our time.

You wish!

And you don’t wish?
The voice in my head replied. That wiped the smile from my face.

Shut up!
I thought at the voice.

We entered another large chamber. There was box upon box of switchblades ready to be distributed to the thronging masses. Each came up in turn to collect a weapon. Not all of them wanted a blade, which was a good thing, as there were now close to ten thousand vampires occupying a number of rooms and chambers in the underground network. I stood behind the boxes, handing the blades to Drake, and he in turn handed them to those who wanted one.

When all the blades had been handed out, a good three hours later, Drake raised a closed fist and called out to the crowd, “To the victor the spoils!”

The crowd responded with a chorus of “
To the victor the spoils! To the victor the spoils! To the victor the spoils!
”

The majority of vamps began leaving the underground complex, commencing the journey to their assigned location. Those that remained were within an easy run, or no more than a couple of hours, from the nest they were to ambush.

I picked up the box of throwing stars and returned to the specialists’ training room. They signed their thanks for the additional weapons and quickly secreted them about their persons. The mind boggled as to where they were hiding them all without getting nicked, but these guys were professionals.

Drake and I walked through the hallways, stopping at the various rooms, if any vampires were still awake, to give words of encouragement. After a time I yawned. I’d need a few hours’ sleep before we embarked on our battle —
my
battle — and with less than five hours to go it seemed hardly enough time to get a decent amount of sleep.

“Stay,” Drake said. “I’ll wake you when it’s time.”

I was hesitant, but as it seemed Drake would not be sleeping I nodded, and we returned to his chambers. He sat on the couch as I made myself comfortable on the bed, fully clothed, and drifted off to sleep.

Four hours later I woke up to find myself in Drake’s arms. He had snuck to bed at some point and curled himself around me. I extracted myself from his grip very carefully, so as not to disturb him, and went to sit in the armchair.

What time is it?
I thought.

Numbers flared in the air. We had less than an hour to go. All of the vamps should be gone now. It would only be Drake and me left in the underground warrens. I woke Drake and promised I would return shortly. He was not alarmed that I was leaving. He seemed to know instinctively that I would see through what I’d started.

I returned to my room for a quick, hot and refreshing shower before donning the black outfit I’d chosen especially for today. The only additions were three sheaths for the daggers Drake had given me — two on the wide belt I wore, at each hip, and one on my left arm. After applying the finishing touches — hair, mascara, lipstick and altering my scent to that of an angel — I returned to Drake’s chamber.

He smiled appreciatively at my outfit, but wrinkled his nose in disgust at my scent. I unrolled the daggers, and placed them in their sheaths, ready to do my bidding.

“Why the smell?” he asked.

“I want them to fear what I am, what I’ve become. I want them to think one of their own is going to kill them.”

He smiled. “Tonight even angels would fall on their swords if
you
asked them to. You are the ruin of all men I think — mortal and immortal.”

“Why thank you,” I purred. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

He laughed and I took his cold hand in mine. He was wearing jeans, hiking boots and a skintight t-shirt that revealed all of his muscles. His dark wavy hair hung just off the shoulders and some fell at the front to cover his eyes. I brushed back the stray strands and smiled.

“Shall we?” I asked.

He nodded. I transported us to the first location of the night my way — no stepping, no lights, just the flash of light. Drake gasped. I let go of his hand and ran into the fray, eager to learn whose army it was that fought here.

“Do we know whose army?” I yelled back to Drake.

“Sariel’s,” someone yelled.

The fighting had already been going on for fifteen minutes when we arrived, and it was clear that the vampires had the advantage. The suicide vamps had done their job well, acting as shields to absorb the initial impact of angel fire and ice, allowing the others to slip through and cut the angels down.

Even the zombies had joined in, knowing the angels had come to kill them all, though they weren’t as effective as Drake’s vamps, and many of them died anyway.

I spotted what could only be Sariel, an angel with wings folded behind his back, standing on higher ground. Before I reached the front row of vampires I blinked and transported myself behind Sariel. He was not standing on higher ground as I’d thought — rather he was suspended a metre
above
the ground. I unsheathed a dagger from my hip and leapt into the air, driving the blade down into his back, between his shoulder blades. Sariel crashed down to the ground and his body began to spasm. I hoped that was a sign of the blood on the dagger poisoning his system.