Wings of the Wicked (17 page)

We descended in a quiet patch of woods, where Will set me down shakily. I started to collapse on my feet, but he caught me and held me so I wouldn’t fall.

“You are out of your mind,” he said, his hands and gaze moving all over me, inspecting for injuries. They lingered over every cut on my neck and arms, over the reaper ash caking my skin. “Why would you do something like that?”

I trembled still, trying to forget the images of the reaper fireball bursting all around me and the ground hurtling faster and faster toward my face. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw myself falling through fire. “I was worried about you.”

He laughed and kissed my forehead. “Don’t ever worry about me. You could have been killed.”

I forced a smile. “That wasn’t my first thought, I’ll admit.”

He stared at me, his green eyes bright in the darkness, his breath clouding in the air between us. “You are amazing.”

My cheeks flushed red, mostly because of the way he was looking at me, making me want to believe him. His gaze flickered back and forth before he stepped away.

“I’ve got to check on Ava,” he said, “and make sure she gets out of there. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” His wings beat once, and he rose into the air and into the Grim. Then he was gone, and I was alone in the cold.

I didn’t know where he’d taken me, but it looked like a park or maybe one of the few patches of undeveloped or overgrown land in the area. The snow was above my ankles here, and the trees were tall and dark. I could hear the wail of sirens back toward where we had just battled, and I felt a twinge of fear. People—mortals—had seen everything. They’d seen Will’s wings, seen him fall. They’d seen a dinosaurid monster flip a truck over and then burst into flames in midair. I prayed no one had seen my face or taken a photo or video.

“Quite the show,” said an achingly deep voice behind me.

I spun, lighting my swords up with angelfire. Two vir reapers, a male and a female, stood twenty feet away from me, their forms half hidden in the darkness between the snowy trees. What startled me, though, was that I couldn’t feel either of them. Even when reapers suppressed their powers, I could still sense them a little, but these two were just dark. Like two black holes sucking in my emotions and what was left of my strength. Like zero energy.

“I am impressed,” the male added as he moved toward me, his voice rough and gravelly, echoing through my gut. Twisted bull’s horns stuck out of his bald head, and his body was massive and brawny, but he didn’t look like his size would slow him down. His skin was dark, and his accent was thick and unfamiliar. And his eyes—frigid and the color of moonlight on snow—drilled into mine. “You must be the Preliator. How small you are. I could break you in half.”

“Who are you?” I asked, studying them both. My first thought went back to Cadan’s warning about the vir reapers who would come for me if the nycterids failed. I guessed these two were old—very,
very
old—and so skilled that they could suppress their powers enough that I didn’t have a clue what they were really capable of. I made a silent cry to Will to return soon. If I had to fight them both at once, it wouldn’t be pretty.

“I am Merodach,” he said. “This is Kelaeno.”

My fears had just come true. The female, Kelaeno, looked at me with holly-red eyes and a sharp-fanged grin. With long, tangled, dark hair, she was more disturbing than frightening. I stared at her face, perplexed by her skin moving as if something stirred beneath it. Her features contorted just enough to be noticeable, as if the bones changed under her skin. Every other second, her face shifted from an animal’s to looking like a woman’s and back again. I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

“Ellie!” Will landed beside me in the snow, his white wings outstretched, and Ava wasn’t with him. He stepped forward and thrust out his sword, poising it at the newcomers. He was still out of breath from the battle, and I hoped that the new reapers weren’t here to fight.

Merodach surveyed Will’s show of aggression curiously. “The Hammer of Gabriel,” he said with a dark smile. “In the flesh.” Wings, leathery and black as night, spread from his back like a cobra spreading its hood.

At that moment, I felt a quick flash of smoky black power from Merodach, strong enough that I lost my balance as it rushed past my body. The warning was clear and imminent: He was powerful and more than willing to kill.

“What do you want?” Will asked, not flinching from the demonic vir’s display of power.

“We have a warning for the Preliator,” Merodach boomed.

Kelaeno stepped forward, pointing a taloned hand at me, her eyes still on mine. Her face continued to change, like its form was unstable, and dusty gray-brown wings appeared out of her back and spread high and wide. Shadows like daggers cast over her face from around the splayed feathers, making me blink hard as I wondered if I was seeing what was truly in front of me. The skin on her face sank and grew taut over the bones as they stretched, elongating until her appearance was utterly inhuman, and then her face returned to normal. She began to speak, her lips having difficulty forming the words as her face transformed back and forth.

“You, the mortal Gabriel, the gift for the demon queen,” Kelaeno rasped, her talons curling and unfurling as she stepped toward me, so close I could almost taste her rancid breath. “Your strength in heart and hand will fall to a reaper’s bane before your eyes.”

Nausea wormed its way up my throat as my body froze. Her golden eyes flashed and her lips curled into a sinister sneer as she gauged my reaction. She tilted her head and licked her lips before she continued.

“Mark me well, for you will lose everything you love most dear before you finally lose your soul.”

As her words began to eat their way through my stomach, Will’s sword swept between Kelaeno and me. She reeled back with a screech. His foot rammed into her chest, and his ribs cracked sickeningly as she lashed her talons out at his skin. Her power exploded, the spiraling orb of blackness swallowing all the light around us. The blast knocked Will into me, and I darted to the side as he crashed to the ground. I dropped to my knees beside him.

“Kelaeno!” A familiar, terrible voice shattered my senses as it rang out above the chaos.

I froze, ice tearing through my veins, and I looked back up. Will dragged himself to his feet, and I followed him.

Kelaeno’s wrist was trapped by another hand—Bastian’s. His black hair gleamed like obsidian, and his cerulean eyes blazed neon as he and Kelaeno bared their teeth at each other. Kelaeno snapped her jaws in his face and laughed.

“You will not harm the Guardian,” Bastian growled, low and guttural.

Kelaeno sneered mockingly at him and yanked herself free. Bastian blinked and straightened in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected her strength—as if she’d been hiding it from him.

“You only want the girl,” she snarled back. “I want the Guardian’s guts between my teeth.”

I shivered and held on to Will’s arm as he stepped in front of me, shielding me. The weight of the immense energy belonging to three reapers thousands of years old pressed on every inch of my skin, sinking through to my brain, making me dizzy as if the altitude had changed suddenly. We couldn’t defeat all three of them—especially now, after the fierce battle against Orek.

Bastian took a step closer to Kelaeno, his height overwhelming her slight, bony stature. “I will deal with him
myself
. This is about the Preliator.
He
is not your concern.”

She opened her mouth and raised her talons, but Merodach’s voice cut through the air like a blade. “Enough. We must go.”

Kelaeno craned her neck upward toward the reddening horizon. “The sun,” she crooned. Her wings beat once, and she jumped into the air and disappeared into the Grim.

Bastian turned to Merodach, raising a hand to him. “Do not disrupt me again. I haven’t time to make sure you are doing your task to my satisfaction.”

Merodach didn’t appear frightened by Bastian’s threat, only annoyed by it.

With a slow smile, Bastian looked at me, his eyes brightening with what looked like admiration. “We meet again, Gabriel.”

Will’s form flashed between us, his sword gleaming as he roared with fury and swung the blade over his head toward Bastian. The demonic reaper waved a hand, and his power slammed into Will, blowing him back with an immense gust of energy that kicked up a raging blizzard of snow off the ground. Will flipped himself midair and landed crouched. He shot forward again, but Bastian caught his wrist as he swung his sword, and Bastian’s other hand tightened around his throat. Will growled and wrenched his body, but he couldn’t break free. Bastian squeezed harder, choking Will and forcing him to his knees in the snow. Will’s sword toppled out of his slackening grip.

“I am not here to kill you, William,” Bastian said, the blue of his eyes almost blinding as his power grew. “But I will if you get in my way.”

I ran forward to help Will, summoning what was left of my strength and calling the white hot light into my palms. I grabbed Bastian’s arm with both hands and felt the sizzle of his skin beneath his sleeve as the fabric was eaten by flames. He roared and released Will, reeling away from me and clutching his burned arm close to his chest. Will staggered to his feet, gasping for breath, and I pulled him into my arms, smoothing my warm hands over his reddened throat.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. He nodded and glared sidelong at Bastian, who had retreated to where Merodach stood silently.

“That’s an interesting trick, Gabriel,” Bastian snarled. “Giving me a taste of your glory?”

I stared at him, puzzled. “Glory?”

“That little fireworks show you just did on my arm?” he rasped, baring his teeth. “I know archangel glory when it burns me to the bone. It seems you’re waking up, Gabriel. Perhaps that long sleep of yours was exactly what you needed.”

“How did you know who I was?” I demanded. “When we met, you said you already knew.”

“Because I’ve spoken to old friends of yours,” he replied. The breaking dawn was bearing down on him, and his skin began to smoke. He arched his neck uncomfortably in the growing sunlight. “Those who are ancient enough to know the truth. Voices seep through the bars of Hell, my dear. But never fear. When I take your life again, I’ll take your soul, too. When it’s time, my hounds will come for you, Gabriel.”

With a flash of smoky black power and a growl of painful fury, Bastian vanished into the Grim. Merodach wasn’t in the same hurry. The hot orange glow of sunrise spread across his body until he was smoldering like cinders from the tips of the horns on his head to the toes of his heavy boots. He looked every part a demon straight out of Hell.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, Preliator,” he said before he spread his wings and followed Kelaeno and Bastian into the Grim, slipping away, leaving nothing but smoke and the repulsive odor of sulfur behind him.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the heavy demonic energy disappeared. Will’s warm hands fell on my arms, and he pulled me close, his body a wall of warmth against my shivering form.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, his voice feather soft. “I doubled back without Ava when I sensed the vir.”

“Thank you,” I said. “We need to get to Nathaniel’s and figure out what the hell just happened, everything we can about Kelaeno and Merodach, and why Bastian wants them to leave you alone.”

He pushed my hair behind my ears. “Are you sure you aren’t too tired? You need to sleep.”

“I’m exhausted, but this is important.” Too much had happened tonight for me to sleep.

Footsteps in the snow behind me made me jump. Ava had landed at last, bloodied but healed. She appeared tired and unnerved, and I assumed she sensed our run-in with the demonic vir.

“What happened?” she asked hurriedly. “Is everything okay?”

Will and I looked at each other. I let out a long breath. “We’re about to head to Nathaniel’s,” I said. “We’ll explain on the way.”

14

AN HOUR LATER, I WAS FALLING ASLEEP ON WILL’S shoulder as he thumbed through one of Nathaniel’s old books that smelled like my nana’s basement. Ava and Nathaniel were huddled together over another book on the other side of the room, discussing the traits of the demonic vir. Nathaniel thought their names sounded familiar, but he didn’t know who they were. I had one eye open to peer over at the book in Will’s hands, but I was barely hanging on to consciousness. A seriously rough fight with a reaper the size of a Mack truck takes a lot out of a girl.

“I found Merodach,” Ava said, her finger pointing at a page, the paper browned with age. “And we have a bit of bad news.”

“Bad news?” Will repeated.

“All kinds of it,” she said glumly. “He’s older than our earliest records of the Preliator. This book holds the translation of a tablet older than the sarcophagus containing the Enshi. Merodach may have served this Enshi before it was imprisoned. He’s one of the first-generation original demonic reapers, a direct offspring of Lilith and Sammael.”

That woke me up a bit. “Doesn’t that mean he has to be
thousands
of years old? Are you sure?”