Angel Burn (36 page)

Jonah had been dreading this question. “She  . . .  hasn’t been found yet.”

Irritation flickered across the angel’s face. He tapped his silver letter opener against his desk. “Yes, thank you, I’m aware of that. Almost a month now with nothing at all. Are you saying you have
no
updates?”

Stalling, Jonah drew the parking plans back across the desk and put them with his other papers. For a panicked moment, he wasn’t sure what to do — and then, his heart thudding, he told the truth. “No, there was something this morning. One of the remote viewers thinks he’s close to finding them; he’s picked up the half angel’s energy in the Sierra Nevada. He just needs to pinpoint the exact location. A day or two at the most.”

Raziel stared at him. As always, Jonah felt slightly dizzy looking into the angel’s eyes, though it had never really bothered him before. Now his muscles tightened, and he glanced away.

“We finally have news, and you sat there prattling on about
parking plans
?” demanded Raziel scathingly.

“I  . . . ” Jonah stopped, his cheeks hot.

“A day or two,” muttered the angel, running a finger along the letter opener’s blade. “Finally, we’re getting somewhere. All right, the instant their location is found, get someone out there to dispose of them, do you understand? The Second Wave will be here soon, and I want them both destroyed by then. Is that clear?”

Jonah nodded, his fingers icy. “Yes, sir. I’ll make it happen.”

Raziel dismissed him, and Jonah went back to his own office, shutting the paneled wooden door behind him. He sank down into his chair and buried his head in his hands. It was true; the half angel was close to being found. And when she was  . . .  Jonah felt his stomach swing with dread.

He still didn’t know whether he had made the right decision.

“HOW ABOUT THAT ONE? Is that a constellation?” I asked, pointing upward. We were down in the small valley where the truck was parked. Alex sat leaning against a rock; I was between his legs with my back against his chest, his arms around me as we stared up at the stars.

“Yeah, that’s the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades.” He bent his head, and I caught my breath as his warm mouth nuzzled at my neck. I hadn’t gotten even remotely used yet to how good it felt to be kissed by Alex.

“It’s so sexy how you know all of this,” I said when I could speak again.

“Yeah?” I heard the grin in his voice. “I know the summer constellations, too. Will that get me bonus kisses?”

“I think it might, actually.” A cool wind swept us, and I shivered. Alex arranged his leather jacket snugly around me and folded his forearms over my stomach, holding me close. Above, the night sky soared — a glittering sea of light.

“So  . . .  I did what you suggested that time,” I told him after a pause. “I contacted my angel.”

Alex leaned sideways, looking down at me. An amazed smile lit his face. “Really?”

“Yeah, the night of my birthday.” I felt a small glow of pleasure inside, remembering. “I just sort of wanted to keep it private for a while.”

He nodded. “Do you want to tell me about it now? Or not?”

“No, I really do.” I swiveled to face him, sitting cross-legged on the ground as I described everything that had happened — finding my angel within me, feeling her warmth. “I knew that I don’t have to be afraid of her anymore,” I finished finally, “that I don’t have to hate myself for having something like that inside of me.”

Taking my face in his hands, Alex kissed me softly. “Are you going to contact her again?”

“Yeah, I will. I — well, I sort of want to try flying again.” My cheeks heated.

He shook his head in wonder. “I would, too, if I were you.” He hesitated, and then said, “Why don’t you try it now?”

“Now?”

“Yeah, why not? I’d really like to see. I mean, unless you’d rather be on your own.”

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Excitement tickled through me. “OK, I will,” I said. Holding his hands, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could feel Alex centering himself as well, preparing to rise up through the chakra points. Relaxing, I went deep inside myself, searching for the light that I now knew was there.

I found it at once — sped toward it this time. A burst of light enveloped me. There was my angel, smiling, her face just as lovely and serene as before. I drank her in — a radiant, shining white, like sun-touched snow. And then, with a slight mental flick, I moved my consciousness to hers.

I was lifting, growing taller, leaving my human body behind. But at the same time, I was still seated on the ground, with Alex’s hands holding mine. I opened my eyes and saw my angel hovering just above us, her wings moving against the stars.

“Alex, I can see her,” I whispered from beside him. “I mean — I
am
her, but I’m here, too.”

He glanced at me, startled, and then back at the angel. “But how —?”

“I don’t know,” I said, not taking my eyes off her. “I think she only came out before because I was in danger and she could help. But now I’ve bonded with her, so it’s different this time somehow.” Closing my eyes, I became my angel as she turned and took flight over the valley.

The stars shifted, came to meet me as I flew up and up. I felt the wind stroking my wings, stirring my hair, and far below, I saw the energy forces of every living thing in the valley. The plants were all turned into something magical, with gleaming white outlines that moved with the wind. Creatures that I hadn’t even known were there suddenly appeared: a mouse crouching in the grass, a pair of deer moving through the pine trees. I saw Alex’s life force down there — a rich, vibrant blue with flashes of gold. And I saw my own beside it: bright angelic silver with lavender lights. The two energies were so close that they mingled like smoke, completely right together.

On the ground, I opened my eyes again, staring upward as my angel flew. “This is just incredible,” I murmured. “I can feel everything she’s feeling.”

Alex put his arms around me, and I leaned against him, still watching my angel as she wheeled through the night sky, her snowy wings outspread. “I’m glad you can see her like I do,” he said against my hair. “She’s so beautiful, Willow.”

The moonlight lit his face as he gazed up at her, and my heart turned over at the expression in his eyes. “So are you,” I said, touching his cheekbone.

And then, in the air, my angel self stiffened.

It felt as if icy water had been flung over me as I flew. Something was out there. What was it? Gliding for a moment, I strained desperately, listening for knowledge I couldn’t quite catch — a probing, a
thinking.
Fear slammed through me, cold and ominous; the foreboding that I’d felt before was only a shadow compared to this.

Something was coming.

Turning on my wing, I dove back through the stars toward my human body, merging with a flurry of wings. At the same time, on the ground, my words tumbled out in a panic. “Alex, I felt something!”

His hands tightened in mine; his voice sharpened. “What?”

“I don’t know, but something’s on its way. Something dangerous.”

“A person?”

I shook my head; I felt almost tearful with panic. “I don’t know — a person or a situation — I don’t know! But it’s coming here, and soon.”

Alex’s face was tense, his jaw tight. “When’s ‘soon’? Can you tell?”

“I  . . . ” I tried to stop shaking. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s instantly — I mean, not right this second. But soon.”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” muttered Alex, dropping one of my hands and scraping his hair back. “Damn it — it won’t be light for hours; we’d break an axle trying to get down that mountain in the dark.” He blew out a breath; I could practically hear his mind working. “OK — we’ll get the truck loaded up tonight and leave as soon as we can, the minute it’s dawn.”

Nervously, I rubbed my fists on my jeans. “And go where?”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he admitted. “How would you feel about Mexico?”

“Mexico?”

His dark eyebrows drew together in a troubled frown. “Yeah. From what Cully said, I might be the only Angel Killer left. I’ve got to find some new AKs and train them, or else humanity won’t even stand a chance. We could find someplace down there where you’ll be safe and hole up while I put some feelers out. There were some good AKs from Mexico — I think with luck, I could get something going there, start up operations again. What do you think?”

I felt slightly stunned; I hadn’t picked up on any of this from him. Slowly, I said, “It sounds good, except  . . .  it’s all going to take time, isn’t it? I mean, starting things up again and training people.”

“Yeah, but what choice do we have?”

I didn’t want to speak the words, but I had to. “Alex, you told me once that the AKs were losing the war. That you needed something big to stop the angels.”

He didn’t say anything.

The night air felt cold and still around us. I took a deep breath. “I’m the something big, aren’t I? I can’t just hide away forever, keeping safe. I’m supposed to be the one who can defeat them.”

Alex gave a short, humorless laugh. He tossed a pebble into the undergrowth. “Yeah. You know, it’s funny, but I’m not as crazy about that idea as I used to be. Willow, if anything ever happened to you —”

I moved closer, leaning against his chest. He put his arm around me; I could feel the tension in his muscles. Fumbling over my words, I said, “Alex, you know I feel the same way about you — I’d die if anything ever happened to you. But if I really can destroy the angels somehow, so that no one else is hurt by them  . . . ”

His other arm came up around me, too, holding me tightly. All at once his emotions washed over me, as clearly as my own: fear of losing me, determination that he wouldn’t. And so deep down that he was hardly aware of it himself, he was thinking about his brother. I cringed as sudden images flashed in my head: a boy who looked like Alex, but taller and stockier; he was lying on the rocky ground, staring blindly up at the sky. Alex screaming his brother’s name, his voice ragged with agony. It was his fault, all his fault.

He hardly ever mentioned Jake — I still didn’t know exactly how he had died. And I couldn’t find out this way; it felt like eavesdropping. Closing the images off, I hugged Alex as hard I as could, wishing desperately that I could take it all away — the deaths he’d lived through, the pain he’d suffered.

Slowly, I felt him relax. Pulling away a little, he kissed me and stroked my hair back, dropping his forehead onto mine. “Look  . . .  this is the best plan I can come up with for now. I’ve got to keep you safe, Willow. If you really are the one to destroy them, then we’ll deal with it when the time comes, OK?” He drew back, searching my face.

“OK,” I said finally. It wasn’t as if either of us even knew why I was supposed to be such a threat. And allowing myself to imagine Mexico with Alex, I liked the sound of it. I liked the sound of it a lot.

Standing up, Alex helped me to my feet. “Come on; we’d better get packing, so we can leave first thing.”

We started across the valley, holding hands, picking our way across the rocky ground in the moonlight. It was so bright that I could see the deer path clearly, snaking up through the rocks ahead of us like a vein of silver. I felt almost unreal as I stared at it. At this time tomorrow, Alex and I would be hundreds of miles away from here; maybe even in Mexico already.

I just hoped that whatever was coming wouldn’t follow us there.

When Alex woke up a few hours later, he could tell that Willow wasn’t lying beside him even before he opened his eyes. He sat up. She wasn’t in the cabin, either; the small space was almost empty, most of their things already packed and loaded in the truck. After her premonition the night before, worry creased through him. Hastily, he yanked on his hiking boots and went outside.

Willow was standing in front of the cabin. She had on her boots, too, and a sweater and sweatpants as she stared down at the mountains below. Her smile was etched with sadness when she saw him. “I just came out to say good-bye.”

Letting out a relieved breath, Alex wrapped his arms around her from behind and looked out at the mountains. They were lit purple and rose with the first faint fingers of dawn, wraiths of mist curling around their bases like smoke.

“We’ll come back someday,” he said.

“I’d like that,” said Willow softly, leaning back against his bare chest. She started to say something else, and then broke off as a distant chopping sound carried toward them on the air. She frowned. “What’s that?”

Alex stiffened. “Oh
Christ,
it’s a helicopter. Adrenaline surged through him. He ducked back into the cabin and snatched up the rifle; he was back outside in seconds. “Come on!” He grabbed Willow’s hand, and they ran across the clearing, scrabbling up the rocks behind the cabin. The rotor noise grew louder, beating through the air. As they climbed, Alex cursed himself —
damn
it, why hadn’t they left hours ago, the moment Willow told him her fears? If the truck had broken down, they could have hiked; at least they’d be away from here. Stupidly, he’d thought that they’d have more time.