Authors: Melanie Tomlin
“I haven’t seen them use that tactic for a few thousand years,” Danny mused out loud. “Seems they’re recycling old tricks in the hope the angels will have forgotten or won’t realise what they’re doing until it’s too late.”
“Seems to me it worked,” I replied.
“The angels will need to be on their guard. Vampires can be very cunning, and over the aeons they have had many tactics that were successful for a time.”
“What did
you
see?” I asked. “What was it you were looking for?”
“I wanted to know which armies had been sent. I recognised many of the angels that were battling with the vampires and werewolves. They were all from the army of Amrael’s superior. None of the armies of the other archangels have joined him yet.”
I fidgeted with my hair, twirling it around my fingers.
“Something is troubling you,” Danny said.
I shrugged my shoulders and kept silent.
Danny held my hand to stop me from twirling my hair. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“When you were out of it — really delirious — you were speaking in a language I couldn’t understand. Every now and then you said a name.” I stopped, waiting for him to give some indication he might know whose name I was referring to.
“What name?”
I sighed and looked at a spot on the floor. “Amy.”
“Ah,” he said.
When he wouldn’t volunteer any more information, and I was going half crazy with curiosity, fear and jealousy, I blurted out, “
Who is she?
”
I could see him stiffen slightly, cringing at my question. Was I reopening an old wound that had never quite healed? Did I tread where even angels fear to go? Maybe he was having trouble gathering his thoughts and deciding how to tell me what I wanted to know.
“Amy was a demon I killed a long time ago. I haven’t thought of her in aeons.”
“She must have left quite an impression,” I whispered, “to make you call out her name so often.”
He nodded and said, quite simply, “Yes.”
No matter how hard I pressed Danny he would not discuss Amy further. Eventually I let the matter slide. I had no doubt there would come a time I’d find out, when he was ready to talk about it. Maybe where some things were concerned angels and mortals weren’t too dissimilar.
24.
Angels’ Wrath
I looked out of the window. In the distance I could see a cloud of thick black smoke rising up from somewhere within the forest.
“Danny,” I said. “There’s a huge fire.”
We headed outside for a better look. The breeze carried with it the smell of burning flesh, fur and trees.
“A turning point has been reached, I think. We need to take a look.”
He held out his hand and I smacked it away. I folded my arms across my chest and gave him the most serious look I could muster. I didn’t think it was as good as his
don’t mess with me
face, but it was going to get my message across.
“No,” I said firmly. “You were out of it for
three
days. Not one day. Not two days. Three. I say you’re not strong enough.”
He held out his hand again.
“I need to know what’s going on. One minute is all I’m asking for.” He let his hand drop. “If you won’t go with me I’ll go alone, and place my life in fate’s hand.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are
all
angels so pig-headed?”
He laughed and stroked my cheek tenderly. “Actually, I think that’s another trait I’ve picked up from
you.
”
He had me there. I could be pig-headed. There was no denying that. More often than not my stubbornness got me into trouble.
I waved a finger in front of his face. “Fine. One minute and not a second more. I’ll be counting while I’m watching, don’t doubt that for a moment. If you protest when I say it’s time to leave, I’m going to give you such a hiding you won’t be able to sit down for a week!”
I kind of liked the thought of sparring with Danny and kicking his arse. I’d need to try that one day, seeing as he’d sent away my other sparring partners. It would be more fun with him — fighting against someone who was quick and smart, funny and unpredictable, and …
the list went on.
The expression on Danny’s face when he heard my decision was one of a little boy who’d been told Santa Claus was real! It was the best gift in the world.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked.
Danny produced a map and pointed to an area less than a hundred metres away from the corridor, on the border — a small rocky outcrop large enough for no more than three people. The reason he’d chosen it was clear — anyone there would be an easy target for attack, so it was unlikely any of the warring parties would be there.
“You’ll need to do whatever it is you do as soon as I take hold of your hand. There won’t be any second chances if we’re spotted before I can get us out of there.”
I held out my hand this time, and Danny clasped it. The ground we arrived on was uneven and it took us a few seconds to gain our balance. We crouched down, hands still held and I let my focus drift, all the while counting in my head —
one thousand and one, one thousand and two, one thousand and three
…
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and ended up refocusing to concentrate on the area that had captured my attention. A dozen vamps and four wolves chained to trees, being tortured by a number of angels! Was I imagining things? I rubbed my eyes and looked again. No, they were still there … and still being tortured.
The angels were cutting off body parts, driving white-hot pokers into eyes and ears, rubbing what looked like salt into gaping wounds, pulling the chains tighter and tighter to pull limbs from sockets and in a couple of cases castrated them.
Danny was totally focused on what was happening.
“They’re trying to get the enemy to tell them where we are. They still think we’re in league with them, and that they’re protecting us.”
“I
can
hear them for myself, Danny,” I reminded him.
I felt his hand slackening and tightened my grip. Another twenty-five seconds, no more.
“Some of the others are here now,” he said.
“What others?” I asked.
“The armies of Phanuel, Sariel and Raguel. This is
not
good news.”
I heard a buzzing in the air, similar to the noise power lines sometimes make.
“They’re about to broadcast a message. We need to wait.”
He squeezed my hand tighter, trying to reassure me that he was okay, that he could hold out. Danny’s saying the archangels’ names out loud seemed to act as some sort of cue for them, like they knew we’d be watching, or not far away.
“
This is a message for the traitor, the abomination, and those who would harbour them. Your time has come. If they do not surrender or are not offered up for surrender within the hour this place will be burned to the ground and all will be destroyed. No mercy will be shown.
”
The buzzing stopped, the broadcast ended. I returned us to the cottage and Danny lay on the couch, exhausted by his ordeal, though in truth we were gone for less than a minute. He was shivering again. Admittedly it wasn’t as bad as the last time, and he remained conscious. I headed to the bedroom and returned with a blanket, which I draped over him. He held the blanket open and encouraged me to lie on the couch with him.
“Your body will keep me warmer than the blanket,” he said weakly.
I lay next to him with my arms wrapped around him and the blanket covering both of us.
“Don’t talk, just rest,” I said.
He nodded his head and his eyes slowly closed. Angels didn’t need to sleep, but I knew Danny sometimes did when he’d killed a demon, to escape what he’d done. Perhaps when he expended his energy, such as when he kept us hidden, his body needed to retreat into sleep to recover.
I rested my hand on his chest and my head on my hand, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing. A feeling of dread swept over me. I felt our days were numbered …
Danny woke before the hour was up.
“We need to flee,” I said to him.
He kissed my head and closed his eyes again.
“
Danny, we need to go,
” I said more urgently.
“We stay,” he said, and drifted into a dreamless sleep.
When the sound of thunder filled the air a short time later, Danny woke again.
“Help me outside. I want to get a better view.”
I pulled his arm over my shoulder and we walked to the garden, the perfume of hundreds of different flowers and fruits greeting us.
The thunder continued, louder and closer now. Lightning flashes numbering in the thousands filled the air, striking the ground and trees — and yet there was not a cloud in the sky. The angels were making good on their promise to destroy the entire area.
Thick dark clouds of smoke rose into the sky and blocked out the sunlight, an acrid smell being carried to us on the breeze.
“Let’s go back inside,” Danny said, saddened by what was happening to
his
forest. “I’ve seen enough.”
We turned around and I helped Danny back to the couch. Strangely I was no longer scared. Danny seemed peaceful enough about our situation and in some way it calmed me. I lay in his arms and listened not only to his breathing as he slept again, but the violent sounds that ripped through the air. The sounds seemed at odds with each other — the violent crashing outside and the calming steady breathing inside. This was a fight on a different level — one noise versus the other — and I knew which noise I was barracking for.
While I lay there, waiting for Danny to wake, I had a lot of time to think about all sorts of things. I wondered what the date was. I tried to work out how long it had been since I met Danny, but without a calendar it was an impossible task. I wondered how different my life would have been if my parents were still alive. I wondered if I’d be married with a child or two.
Ah, children!
My heart ached for the children I would never have and I turned my thoughts to other things, to dull the pain.
I hadn’t known angels could be so cruel, ruthless and savage. In some ways they seemed no better than the monsters and demons they fought. Who was right and who was wrong?
It’s all a matter of perspective. I’m sure Satan had his reasons for what he did and that he thought they were right and just.
Who was I to pass judgement without knowing all the facts? The only facts I was clear on were that Danny was to be cast out and I was to die, because of a misunderstanding. How many others, throughout angelic history — throughout mortal history — had died because of a simple misunderstanding, or worse, just for being born?
Darkness was descending when Danny roused from his deep sleep. He gently stroked my hair and deeply breathed in the light scent of soap that my hair retained. Had he wondered if I would still be here when he woke?
I lifted my head to look into his eyes. They were clear and bright. His face had regained some of its usual colour, though the dark circles under his eyes still remained. I smiled at him and he smiled back.
“How do you feel?”
“Well-rested,” he said. “Almost as good as new.”
“Danny,” I began hesitantly. “I had a lot of time to think while you were resting.”
He shifted his position so our faces were level, to try and read anything in my face that might betray what I wanted to say.
“Helena, you owe me no debt. I think I owe you more than you will ever owe me. You’ve opened up my eyes to an entirely different world. An entirely different point of view.” He sighed and continued on. “If you wish to leave, I understand. I won’t stop you.”
I snorted. What a stupid thing to say! Hadn’t I shown him how I felt about him? Did he think my love such a fickle thing that in difficult times it would be rescinded so casually, so callously?
“Don’t be stupid,” I chided him. “I belong here,” I poked him in the chest, “with you.”
“Then what did you think about?” he asked.
“Lots of things, but the thing that concerned me most,” and this was a small lie on my part, for he could do nothing about my sudden thoughts of children, “was what the angels were doing.”
“It’s been our way since the fall, to rain down destruction in order to kill particularly worrisome demonic threats.”
“No, no, that’s not what worries me. I kind of get that. It was the torture.” I shivered as I remembered the pleasure some of the angels seemed to get out of what they were doing to enemies that couldn’t defend themselves. “If the angels knew they weren’t going to give us up — not that the vamps and wolves knew where we were anyway — why do it? Why not just make their announcement and leave it at that? I’m sure the destruction being rained down on the forest would have been sufficient punishment for those who couldn’t escape in time.”
Danny shook his head sadly. “Times are changing. It appears I am stuck in the past — a dinosaur amongst angels. It used to be that torture was undertaken by those on the side of evil, not those on the side of good.”