Angelfire (19 page)

“Did you get an address?” Will asked.

“I did,” Nathaniel said, throwing in a sly smile. “Of course, it would have been illegal for my friend to tell me the address, so I just picked it out of his head.”

“You did what?” I asked, confused.

“That's his ability,” Will explained. “As an angelic reaper.”

“She doesn't remember?” Nathaniel asked.

“You have to tell her.”

“Oh,” Nathaniel said. “Well, I can hear the thoughts of others. I don't like to fight if I can avoid it, but I can really
mess with your head if I want to. It's more of a defensive technique than anything. I could even make you see anything I want to, from Paradise to Hades, or fall asleep with a single word.”

“That sounds very useful,” I said. “And scary.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “But it doesn't work so well on powerful reapers. Anyway, I also have a plan for you to get a peek at this object. I hope you don't mind getting your hands dirty.”

My eyes went wide. “I have to kill this guy?”

“No!” Nathaniel said quickly. “No, no, of course not, as long as he's human. Just a little sneaking in through a window, nothing huge.”

“We're breaking into a house?”

“You make it sound so terrible.”

“Well, that's because it
is
. It's also illegal.” I couldn't believe what he was proposing.

“Just pray it won't get any more complicated than that.”

“How could it?”

“I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS,” I GRUMBLED A few hours later, as Will drove us cross-country through the darkness. We had rented a U-Haul, and I was still trying to understand why Will and Nathaniel thought we'd need something this big. I thought we could just throw whatever it was we found into the trunk of my car.

“It's a very effective plan,” Will offered.

“What do we do if it's the Enshi?” I asked.

“Take it.”

“So now we're
robbing
this guy?”

“It's not his anyway.”

“He
bought
it.”

“We were told he
acquired
it. That doesn't necessarily mean he bought it. He might have killed somebody to get it, and he probably did. You don't know.”

I glowered at him. “Is that how you plan for us to
acquire
this thing?”

“I plan to avoid going to that extreme.”

I shot him an angry look. “I'm not killing anybody. Reapers, yeah, sure, but only because they'll kill me if I don't kill them first.”

“Well, what if this guy pulls a gun on you? Are you going to let him shoot you?”

“I'll…run away.”

“Sure you will.”

He was infuriating sometimes. “How'd you even rent this van? I thought you didn't have a job.”

“I don't,” he explained, smugly imitating my voice in a high-pitched whine that, in fact, sounded nothing like me. “Nathaniel funds just about anything we need. I need to eat and my clothes get torn a lot. I have to replace them. His job at the library is just a hobby.”

I huffed, half expecting him to tell me he was a professional thief. When we got close, we pulled out the directions Nathaniel had printed out for us back at the library. We found the gigantic house off a main road that was nearly deserted in the early-morning hours. Will instructed me to pull the truck over a hundred feet or so down the road, and we hopped out.

“If this thing we're looking for is big enough that we need this huge truck, why the heck are we parking so far away?” I asked. “Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? We'll just
have to carry that big-ass thing all the way over here from the house.”

“I can get the artifact out of the house by carrying it, but it won't be quick. The truck is so we can make a fast getaway. If there's one thing I've learned in the last few centuries, it's that it's better to be safe than sorry.”

I crossed my arms and laughed. “Why do you always make so much sense?”

He shrugged. “I've had plenty of chances to make no sense at all. It's about time I got things right. Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” Or not.

“Aren't you excited? We're about to undertake a heist. That's cool, isn't it?”

“In the
movies
, Will. In real life, it's not such a great idea. I don't want to get shot.”

“You won't get shot, I promise,” he said. “We need to secure the perimeter first. We'll move through the Grim so we can see any reapers hiding there.”

We circled the house carefully, looking for any possible windows to enter through while watching for inhabitants. The mansion spanned the width of at least two lots like the one my house sat on. When we reached the backyard, I was absolutely amazed. Fine flowerbeds and topiaries outlined the lawn, and tall, majestic statues stood in strategically designed areas. The stone figures shone silver beneath the moonlight. There were replicas—or at least I thought they were replicas—of ancient Roman sculptures, medieval stone
figures of knights with jousting lances, iridescent orbs, and dazzling fountains. I blinked several times, certain I was imagining things.

Will passed them without a glance and settled on the doors to the walkout basement. He pulled out a kit containing various small tools from inside his coat.

I almost laughed. “Did you pluck that off your utility belt, Batman?”

He put a finger to his lips, presented a thin device that looked like it came from a James Bond movie, and inserted it into the keyhole. A minute later, the door clicked and he opened it slightly. Then he froze, still as a statue. He didn't even blink. He was listening.

He slipped inside, and I followed him into the dark basement, only it resembled no basement I had ever seen. The lower level of this mansion was vast. It was like an entire house down there. There was a fine kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and several hallways leading off to other rooms. We heard voices upstairs and the clinking of glasses.

Once my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I saw that artwork like those outside were also to be found indoors. Priceless-looking paintings decorated the walls, and statues sat atop marble stands around the wide room. And there, just beyond a plush wraparound couch, was a large, dark box placed on a low slab blanketed in red velvet.

Will made a beeline for it. When I reached it, I was surprised at how big the box was. It was about seven feet long
and three feet wide and high, excluding the few inches the slab raised it off the floor. Even in the failing light I could see how elaborate the box was. It looked to be made of sandstone, with gold accents and jewels embedded in the surface. I recognized the seal of Azrael on the lid, surrounded by strange markings, scratches, and more inset jewels. Will carefully examined the markings.

“What is this?” I asked, my voice as quiet as I could possibly manage.

“A sarcophagus.”

My eyes widened. Could it have been this easy? Was the Enshi contained within?

“Who are you?” shouted an unfamiliar voice. A light flicked on, blinding me for a second.

I cried out and spun around. Will jumped in front of me fearlessly. We were caught. I was going to jail. My mom was going to slaughter me. I was—

“Why are you in my house?” A man in a very nice casual suit stood at the bottom of the stairs. He was clearly the owner of the mansion, and it surprised me that his voice was so aggressive. I would have expected him to have gone running for a phone to call the police.

“We are taking this now,” Will said in a deathly cold voice.

It was then that I felt that familiar, frightening energy prickling the hairs on my arm. And I remembered that we
were still within the world of the Grim. Could the man be a psychic?

“I don't think so,” the man said. “I paid a lot of money for that. There's no way you're taking it.”

Will called his sword into his hand and leveled its point at the man.

“Will, no!” I cried.

“Stand aside, vir,” he said. “You'll never defeat me. You've got nothing on my power.”

I blinked and looked from Will to the man. Was the owner a reaper? He looked so…
human
. But then again, so did Will.

“You certainly aren't going to leave my house with that,” the reaper warned. “If you don't depart immediately, I will kill you and your little girlfriend. Of course, I may keep her for myself and eat her later.”

Will narrowed his gaze. “Try it.”

The reaper bared his teeth and hissed like a leopard. He charged; I willed my swords to appear in my hands and light up with angelfire. Will swung his own blade fast as lightning. The reaper grabbed his wrist, but Will drove his knee deep into the reaper's gut. The vir bent over, choking, and I was behind him in a heartbeat, taking both swords, crossing my arms across my chest for maximum force and slashing the blades through the reaper's neck, decapitating him. He burst into flames and was gone. The angelfire vanished from
my blades, and the room was dark again.

“That was way too easy,” I said, wiping at a warm spot of blood on my forehead, feeling disgusted.

I felt another power nearby, only far, far stronger than the reaper I had just fought. I looked up to see a man—no, a new vir—standing in the door we had entered through moments before. His face was in shadows as he stood silhouetted in the moonlight.

“Yes, that
was
too easy,” the reaper said. “You didn't think you'd be that fortunate, did you?”

Will locked his gaze on the reaper with a hate I'd never seen before on his face. His power was growing steadily; I could see it spiraling with his anger like a damned double helix of black Hellfire, his green eyes brightening and intensifying. “Geir,” he growled.

I held my swords tightly, the dead reaper's blood trickling down the blades, and I faced Geir. He stepped forward into the room, and I could now see his face under a mop of wild, reddish brown hair. His smile was wide and insane, like some cracked-out Mad Hatter's, flashing a mouthful of sharply pointed shark's teeth, and his eyes were yellow beneath heavy lids and a thick brow.

“What a fool,” he said. “Jonathon was correct. He did have something very special in that box, but he had no idea
how
special. Bastian will reward me greatly. Thank you for disposing of my friend here so I won't have to waste my time on him.”

He watched me with a hunger in his eyes. “And so I find
myself face-to-face with the Preliator,” he said, my title rolling over his tongue like sticky-sweet syrup. “I thought you'd be taller.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I think that about myself every day.”

“Still, you are prettier than I was told, but Ivar doesn't like other girls.”

“Don't even think about it, Geir,” Will warned. “Your head will be rolling across this carpet before you lay a claw on her.”

Geir's smile curved into a sinister half snarl. “Is that a challenge?”

Will lifted his sword and leveled it at the demonic vir. “Take it as you wish.”

With a laugh, Geir held out both his arms. His hands stretched as bone popped and skin bubbled, his biceps and forearms bulging sickeningly until they were twice their original size. His hands lengthened and his nails grew into long talons, leaving the skin on his arms ripped red and raw as if there hadn't been enough room inside for the monster arms to grow and they had just burst through the surface. Wings burst from his shoulder blades, scattering dirty brown feathers, blocking the light from outside. His wings flapped deafeningly. Horror engulfed me, and I could do nothing but stare at him as the vir reaper unfolded his power before me.

He held out a clawed hand and beckoned to me. My swords erupted with angelfire as I lunged forward in a rage, but I was suddenly hit by a brick wall of energy as Geir
spread his wings wide and detonated his power. The glass doors and windows behind him shattered with a thunderous roar, and the infinite shards glittered in the moonlight like rain. A tsunami of black power rushed into me, knocking me off my feet, and I hit the floor on my back. As glass showered down on me, I looked up to see Will leaping over me, his sword high. He swung and slashed, but Geir stepped fluidly out of the path of each stroke. I jumped up. Geir grabbed Will's arm, halting the sword in midair, clamped his other hand around Will's throat, and swung. Will smashed through the exterior wall and disappeared. Drywall, wood, and brick exploded.

“Will!”
I screamed, and ran forward, but Geir grabbed me by the back of the neck and yanked me toward him, wrapping his arm around me, spinning my body and crushing me into his chest. His monstrous wings cast black shadows over me, and the darkness made my heart pound so loud it was all I could hear. He grabbed both my wrists with one hand and held my blades away from his skin. His Cheshire grin revealed
two
rows of teeth, and shivers crept down my spine. In the blazing light of the angelfire, he truly looked like a demon that had clawed its way through flesh and fire out of Hell. I shuddered in fear.

“Bastian will be so pleased with me,” he said. “I will bring him the Preliator
and
the Enshi. He will be pleased to kill you himself.”

I thrashed against him, but I couldn't free my arms. I
pounded my knee into his groin. His eyes bulged and he roared in pain, releasing me. It was good to know that when swords failed, simple girl tactics always worked—even on monsters.

I darted away from him and jumped through the gaping hole in the wall Will's body had created. The settling dust choked me, but I made it through and ran to Will. He was struggling to get to his feet, leaning heavily on his sword as the point dug into the cold ground. When I reached him, I dropped my swords and wrapped my arms around his chest.

“I've got you,” I said, helping him lift his torso the rest of the way up. I heard a sickening snap in his chest as he groaned, and I knew something was broken. He buried his face in my shoulder and growled in pain.

A powerful hand grabbed a fistful of my hair from behind and yanked me back. I screamed and twisted, but Geir held me too tightly. He squeezed harder, making me cry out in pain.

“That hurt, you little wench!” he hissed against my cheek, blasting my face with his foul, hot breath. “I don't think Bastian would mind if I maimed you before I brought you to him. I'll just cut you up some before I finish dealing with your Guardian.”

From the corner of my eye I saw Will chuck something, and it slammed into Geir's chest. I looked down and saw a two-foot-long splinter of wood protruding from him, just inches from his heart. Without releasing me, Geir scowled
and pulled the stake out of his chest and chucked it back at Will, nailing him in the shoulder and knocking him back. My heart kicked when I heard something crack in his shoulder.

“Glad we could share, brother,” Geir growled.

Will roared in pain and ripped the stake from his body before raising his sword to fight again. He cradled his wounded arm to his chest as the bones and tissue healed.

“Don't even think it,” Geir said with a slow shake of his head in warning, pressing the tip of a claw to my throat. “Do you want the little girl to die?”

I jerked, but fighting the reaper's grip was like wrestling with an office building. He pressed his talon deeper, and I gasped when the skin broke. I watched the blood drain from Will's face, and I knew he knew Geir really would kill me.