Wings of the Wicked (9 page)

I must have been thinking too hard again, because Will grinned at me the way he did when I made funny faces—which was often. “Shut up,” I said.

“I didn’t say a thing.”

I gave him the stink eye. “You were thinking it.”

“Are we ready?” Ava asked behind me.

I turned around and marched down the street. “We sure are.”

Marcus laughed. “I told you I liked this girl.”

A black shadow passed over my head, and the world swelled with the thick odor of brimstone.

“Ellie! Swords!” Will’s voice shouted from behind me.

My eyes shot to the sky. The nycterids had arrived.

I threw off my coat and summoned my swords just as one of the nycterids dived at me. My vision filled with the reaper’s sunken, bony face, her jaws stretching and jagged teeth gleaming. Angelfire erupted, and I sliced one blade through the air. The nycterid lurched left, but my sword ripped deep through her leg. I spun on my heel and sliced the second sword through her leg again, this time through bone. The limb flung free in a spray of blood, and the reaper let out an earsplitting shriek so shrill that I fell to my knees. I groaned as my skull felt like it was about to implode. Forcing my eyes open, I watched the nycterid spiral through the air and crash through a decrepit apartment building across the street. Her body slammed hard through the steel and concrete and made half the building collapse on top of her in a deafening roar.

I bounced to my feet and shot toward where the nycterid had vanished. Will called my name from somewhere around me, but I kept going. The nycterid was wounded, and I had to finish her off now. I leaped through the rubble and climbed into a hallway. I could hear the beast’s cries from deep inside, below me.

The floor exploded in front of me, and the nycterid’s horrible face burst through wood and carpet. I slid to a stop in shock, my angelfire dancing off the reaper’s skeletal face in a sinister way. Her wings struggled through the hole, hooking her talons every place she could to drag her body up and forward. Her teeth snapped at me in between her shrieks.

In a wave of certainty, I climbed to my feet and let out a cry as I swung my sword at her long neck, but she twisted away. My blade made a fiery, shallow gash and the reaper screamed and thrashed her head, slamming my body through a wall and into one of the apartments. I crashed through the wreckage and hit the floor of a kitchen. My head spun and swam with chaos. My ears felt as if they were underwater; the cries of the nycterid and Will screaming my name were so far away. Both my swords were still in my hands, and I climbed to my feet, reigniting the angelfire. Beyond the hole in the wall my body had made, I could distantly hear the colossal reaper struggling, no doubt breaking more and more of the floor beneath her weight.

My pulse slowed, and time slowed with it, as I waited for the reaper to appear. I exhaled and steadied my blades.

And then her body exploded through the wall, the ceiling crashing down on her head like a waterfall of dust and debris. She fought forward, and I tightened my grip on my helves. Her gnarled snout shot at my face, fangs gnashing, pale orbs for eyes gleaming and staring into mine without seeing me. She chomped and I twisted. She swung her neck back around, and I screamed as I plunged my sword into the side of her skull. Angelfire engulfed the reaper’s head, spreading down her long neck to the tip of her tail until the flames swallowed her massive body and wings. She vanished in seconds and left only falling bits of flame and ash behind.

I staggered back breathlessly until I hit a wall. Part of me wanted to drop my weapons and relax against it, but I was afraid of something else bursting through. The building was destroyed. The floor groaned and walls creaked. More stuff fell from the ceiling. Will’s voice called my name again. I wasn’t sure if it was adrenaline that made me feel like a zombie or if it was shock.

He appeared out of nowhere, grabbing me and pulling me into him. His hands cupped my face, fingers threading into my hair. “Are you okay? Ellie, are you all right? I couldn’t follow you. Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, forcing my gaze away from the empty space the reaper had filled only moments ago, and looked up into Will’s emerald eyes. In the failing light and billowing dust, they were like bright jewels guiding me home. He was out of breath, and I realized how much I must have terrified him by following the reaper into the building alone.

“The last—Orek—is outside,” he said, his voice rushed. “I think Ava and Marcus will take care of him. You did amazing.”

He led me through the rubble and down a steep decline of concrete chunks. My boots slipped, and he caught me before I fell. My body was still shaky, but Will had gotten hold of himself enough to guide me safely from the building. The world slowly became real to me again as I heard the reapers battling outside. Furious voices and roars filled my head, and I felt myself wanting to retreat and run away from the horror. But I had to keep going.

As soon as we emerged from the collapsing apartment building, I saw Ava fall and smack the pavement. Marcus ran to her side and shielded her, staring up past us at something high above. I twisted around and looked up to see Orek perched on the roof, his wings spread as wide as they could, his tail lashing. His long neck arched and his head swiveled toward me. His pallid eyes blinked, and he hissed, snapping his jaws in warning. His tail beat the pediment, tearing up chunks, and they fell. Will yanked me out of their path and they crashed to the ground.

Orek raised his head toward the sky and roared, his voice quaking with rage. The howl was shrill and mournful, sending strips of jagged ice down my spine.
“Eki!”

I stepped away from the building and lit up my blades. Instead of diving to attack, Orek clamped the talons of his hind legs deeper into the pediment. If he planned on continuing the fight, he’d be an idiot. He was one demonic reaper against three angelic ones and myself. No matter how huge he was, he was at a disadvantage.

Orek beat his wings, roaring as he lifted himself into the air and disappeared into the night.

I let out a long breath of relief and let my angelfire die. I was covered in dust and the dead reaper’s blood. My sweater was torn across my collarbone, and I had the dried remains of a gash on my cheek, but the healed wound didn’t even ache anymore. Will’s hand cupped my chin, and he guided my face around, his touch without fear this time. He inspected quietly, and when he was satisfied, his hand swept along my chin and down my neck.

“I’m in one piece, I promise you,” I said.

He forced a little smile. “Just making sure. You scared me. She thrashed you around in there.”

“Well, I’m the one who made it out alive,” I said. “Not her.”

“Preliator,” Ava called. “You destroyed the nycterid by yourself. I’ve never seen anyone take on a nycterid alone. That was very impressive.”

She didn’t elaborate, but I recognized right away that I’d just been given an extreme compliment. Beside me, Will beamed in his subtle way that only I noticed. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. “Thank you, Ava.”

“Phenomenal,” Marcus bellowed. “Two down, one to go.”

“I’m ready for Orek,” I said. “And for whatever’s lined up after him.”

“What happened up there?” Will asked, glancing over his shoulder at the destroyed building.

I shuddered at the fresh, terrifying memory. “She was trapped. Eki. She fought her way through the building, but I don’t think she could see me or anything else. They’re blind, aren’t they? The nycterids.”

“Yes. They use echolocation and the supernatural sense that we reapers have to navigate their surroundings and locate prey.”

“Like bats,” I added.

His expression was distant and hard with thought. “Sort of. This combination in the nycterids is even more effective than eyesight, but Eki was disoriented in the building.”

“Yeah, like she couldn’t find me and started tearing the building down,” I said. “Everything happened so fast.”

“Maybe that’s what you need to do,” Ava suggested. “Stay fast. If and when Orek attacks again, keep moving. He may not be able to sense you, and you can gain an advantage over him.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Will said.

That was if he didn’t come back with reinforcements. I knew that somewhere out there, Orek was pitching a rage over the loss of Eki. I wasn’t sure if his kind was capable of love the way humans and the vir were, but I wondered if the two nycterids had been mates. The thought made me feel regret for tearing them apart, but I had to defend myself. I also knew that if Orek cared for Eki, felt any sort of affection for her at all, then his next attack would be personal. It might be more difficult for him to take me alive when he would probably ache to just tear me into pieces.

9

SCOURING THE MALL WITH KATE THE NEXT MORNING, I still felt shell-shocked. These days it wasn’t common for me to feel so exhausted the day after a hunt, but last night had taken its toll on my body—not to mention my mind. The nycterid reapers … they were just too out of this world, like some kind of demon dragon. Kate and I roamed far ahead of our moms, who chitchatted while strolling behind us, taking their sweet time. Kate and I, on the other hand, were on a mission. But I was tired of missions, and Kate was tiring me out even more.

“I’m going to ask Marcus if he’ll go to Josie’s party with me,” Kate said as she picked through the dresses in Neiman Marcus.

I frowned at her but kept my eye on a red strapless David Meister she had passed over. Josie Newport was having a pre-Valentine’s Day party called Hearts Afire, and the dress code was red or black. Organizing my thoughts on potential dresses while playing shrink for Kate was very conflicting. “If you think he’ll say yes, go for it.”

“Why wouldn’t he say yes?”

“I—” I stammered. “Well, he probably wouldn’t be into a high school party.”

“He came to mine a couple weeks ago,” she said, frowning. “And you’re bringing Will, right?”

“Maybe, but I haven’t even talked to him about it,” I said, and pulled the red dress out. My thoughts were far away. Something about Kate potentially dating Marcus didn’t sit well with me. He was a reaper, and she was completely human, mortal, and unaware of the supernatural. I couldn’t let Kate get involved with reapers, and I had my doubts he’d ever tell her the truth about himself. How could they be together without Marcus keeping such an enormous truth from her?

Kate selected a dress and examined the fabric. I already knew it’d look gorgeous on her.

“Why are you trying on a black one?” I asked. “Get red like me.”

She made an ugly noise and held the black dress up to her chest. “Uh, no. Kate is not a matchy-matchy kind of girl. I’m not going to a party wearing the same color as my best friend.”

“You always wear black,” I noted, picking at the chiffon.

“It’s slimming,” she grumbled. “Don’t you read
Cosmo
? They tell you all this stuff.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right. I knew that.”

She grinned. “Want to come over tonight?”

“Of course,” I said. “I’m meeting Will after the mall, but after that, definitely. I’ll bring my homework so we can get both of ours out and not do any of it.”

She laughed. “Okay. I could really use some girl time, for sure.”

“So I’ll call you as soon as we’re done?”

“You’d better.”

Our moms walked into the dress area with their hands full of shopping bags. Kate’s mom eyed the dress in Kate’s hands.

“Did you guys find anything you like?” Mrs. Green asked.

Kate handed the dress over. “I’m trying this on.”

My mom thumbed the dress I’d chosen. “Are you considering this one?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”

She eyed it with a tight mouth. “Don’t you think it’s a little mature for your age?”

On the other side of Mrs. Green, Kate scoffed. “She’ll look hot in it, Mrs. M.”

“That helps so much, Kate.” My mom sighed. “If this is the dress you want, then all right. Go try it on, but it’s the last for a while, Ell. You just got a really nice one for your birthday.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said with a smile as Kate grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the fitting rooms. Will would have a heart attack when he saw me in this dress.

Nathaniel’s house was empty when I arrived. Any chance they got, the boys were outside, which was unfortunate for me because I was the only one who noticed how cold it was. Today I wasn’t really there for Will. Instead, Nathaniel had said he had a surprise for me.

I pulled open the sliding door and stepped out. “Hey, guys,” I called, and hopped down the porch steps. They were hanging out by the shooting range, and a number of guns were spread out across the table on the platform. Nathaniel wore ear and eye protection and aimed an awfully large handgun at a target board placed at the very far end of the yard. The target was so distant that I could barely make out the lines. Nathaniel fired and, a moment later, frowned.

“Damn,” he grumbled. “Just outside.”

I squinted and put up a hand to squelch the sunlight gleaming off the snowy yard and into my eyes. If the bullet hit the target, I couldn’t even tell. It was yet another advantage reapers had over my human body, I supposed.