Broken (24 page)

‘What? Why?’ the man asks, looking past me.

The woman says, ‘I’m a nurse. We can help.’

I glance over my shoulder and see Mr Zavier getting out. He slams the door and thumps the roof, denting it. He’s looking for me, his face screwed up, his body language stiff and full of rage. ‘See that man? I know him. He’s dangerous and will hurt you if you get in his way.’

The man stares at me like I’m insane, but the woman reaches out, one hand touching her partner’s arm, the other circling her lower belly. While there is no rise or swelling yet, her instincts are to protect her growing family. ‘Come on, Kyle,’ she says, flicking her head towards their car.

‘Are you sure we can’t help?’ the man asks again.

‘The best you can do for me is to leave and warn anyone coming not to interfere.’

‘Can you handle that man alone? He looks kind of . . . crazed.’

‘I’m not alone. There are three of us. Only one of him.’

Just then Mr Zavier decides to roar, whether to scare these innocent human beings away, or out of sheer frustration, I don’t know. But he sounds like a beast that belongs in a jungle.

The couple retreat, and while jumping into their vehicle the man yells, ‘We’ll call for help!’

When I turn back, I see that Amber has helped Jordan out of the car, their legs knee-deep in water. Jordan is limping with his hands chained together, right shoulder slumped and a whopping big bruise on the side of his face.

A red haze appears before my eyes. I feel my anger beating like a drum at my ribs. Looking at me, his head shaking from side to side, Zavier says in conversational tone, ‘Why did you do that?’

The haze deepens. ‘You hurt my Charge.’

‘Apparently not enough since he’s still walking,’ he says. ‘I should have dislocated his knees.’ And in a beat he’s standing before me.

He lunges for my arms. I manage to block him, but his hold on my left wrist is so tight he’s cutting off my circulation. Reacting on instinct and my lessons with Nathaneal, I concentrate on shifting energy to the palm of my free hand, then shove it as hard as I can into Zavier’s face.

He releases me instantly, yelling something foreign and probably quite foul. When he turns back, his nose is oozing blood from both nostrils. ‘Who taught you that little move, niece?’

‘Cut the crap and stay away from me. I don’t want to fight you. I’ve come for Jordan. That’s all.’

He looks at me with pretend pity. ‘I’m sorry, my lady, but I can’t let you go. You see, my employer is waiting for you. And he’s not particularly patient. It’s my job to take you to him, and that is what I am going to do. So why don’t you come along quietly and I will consider letting your friends go.’

My friends make it to the car.

‘Don’t listen to him, Ebony,’ Amber says.

The red haze turns purple at the edges, and I’m sure this haze has to do with the energy I’m feeling pulsing inside me right now. I remember how I trashed the living room and brought down a chandelier.

I squeeze my fingers into balls, imagining I’m holding poisonous darts.

Reading his body language, I can tell Zavier is about to attack. He lifts into the air. In the split second before he lands on top of me, I fling my hands at him, imagining I’m releasing the darts at supersonic speed.

Purple flashes of light fly from my fingers into his chest, flinging him backwards at least ten metres before he drops on to his back and slides a bit further away.

Jordan whistles and cheers, annoying Amber, who is completely focused on getting him in the car. ‘Come on,’ she yells, lifting his injured leg inside before slamming the door closed after him. Then she yells at me, ‘Get in, honey!’ She jumps into the back seat. ‘Come on, come on!’

I get the driver’s door open only to find Zavier already behind me. ‘You are not getting away from me this time,’ he says, pulling me back by the waist, and trying to wrap his arms round mine.

I manage to keep one arm free, and kick him. But my legs feel weak and my foot only reaches his thigh when I was aiming for his head. I don’t know why I come up short, but I don’t like it.

Amber climbs over Jordan into the driver’s seat and grabs my free arm. Zavier backhands her. She slumps, slithering downwards until her head comes to rest on the steering wheel.

‘What did you
do
to her?’ I feel the pulsing anger of my power build again, but the red haze is fuzzy and I can tell it’s not as strong as before.

Zavier pulls me towards him far too easily. I latch on to the car door and grip it with every skerrick of willpower I have. Suddenly we hear sirens in the distance. They’re still a fair distance away, but there’s no doubt they’re coming here. The couple in the silver sedan must have alerted them.

From the corner of my eye I see Jordan making his way round the front of the car, just beyond Zavier’s scope, his hands still in chains, and wincing silently with each step. I force myself not to look at him in case it gives his position away.

I hold my breath as Jordan, who is now directly behind Zavier, raises his arms, and in one fluid movement brings the chain down across the angel’s neck, pulling it with as much strength as his injured human body can summon.

I can tell right away that Zavier is too strong for Jordan. I need to help out, but to do that I will have to step further away from the car. Amber stirs and starts to come to. Relief gives me extra momentum, but before I use it the sky darkens overhead and my stomach sinks at the sight of twelve dark angels circling us like hawks zeroing in on their prey. I recognise Prince Luca’s Prodigies, the same team he brought with him from Skade the last time he tried to take me away with him.

They touch down without making a sound.

Interestingly, I notice how they’re all wearing black wrap-around sunglasses. This must be how they’re tolerating the intensity of the Earth’s bright sun. So how long have they been on Earth? I have a sudden terrifying thought that they’ve been here since Nathaneal’s battle three months ago.

By now Zavier has flung Jordan’s chain off. Amber stumbles out and helps Jordan get back into the car, motioning to me to hurry.

Meanwhile the soldier I recall being Luca’s lieutenant strides past Zavier with an arrogant look and turns to me. I’ve ended up a metre from the car door, a metre too far from the protection I need right now, and I start taking tentative steps towards it.

The lieutenant smiles at me. It’s the lazy, lecherous look of a predator confident his prey has nowhere to run. I can only imagine the perversion his soul would reveal to me if he were not wearing block-out sunnies and I could look into his eyes.

The sirens grow louder. It sparks the lieutenant into action, calling out four names and giving them orders to get rid of Zavier’s car and fix his mess. He then points to two other soldiers. ‘Ezekeal, Tobias, you take the boy. Now!’

‘
Take?
’ Zavier queries. ‘Saul, I have orders for the girl
only
.’

‘Your orders have changed,’ Lieutenant Saul says.

Amber cries out, ‘Ebony, get in quickly.’

But Amber doesn’t understand who these twelve angels are, nor what’s about to happen. As Ezekeal and Tobias reach into the car for Jordan, I swing round and make Amber look at me with one hand on either side of her face, stopping her from seeing Jordan being yanked out of the car and carried away. ‘Listen to me, Amber. Listen! You have to leave
now
.’

She whimpers, ‘Why can’t you just get in?’

I glance at the two dark angels lifting Jordan higher and higher into the sky. ‘They have taken Jordan. And they’re going to take me.’ Tears sting my eyes. ‘But I can’t risk them hurting you. I couldn’t bear it.’

We smile grimly at each other as tears run down our faces. Behind me I hear Lieutenant Saul command another member of his team, ‘Sarakiel, you and I will take this one.’

‘Amber, I need you to go the monastery.’ Four arms start dragging me backwards. I call out to Amber, ‘Wait there for Gabriel. Tell him what’s happened.’

She doesn’t move and I have to yell at her. ‘
Go!
Amber, go now!
’

I hear the engine click over and then the sweet sound of the Lambo reversing. Relieved she’s getting away unharmed, I spin round and start fighting. First I break their holds on me, shoving my assailants off with a kick to Sarakiel’s groin, and a well-aimed punch to Saul’s jaw.

They fall back, their massive chests heaving. The lieutenant holds his hand out towards Zavier. ‘Did you bring it?’

‘Yes,’ Zavier says, ‘but, Saul, we don’t need it yet.’

‘Give it to me!’ the lieutenant commands, grumbling, ‘Obviously she hasn’t hammered you in the head yet.’

‘Ebony,’ Zavier calls, ignoring Lieutenant Saul’s command, ‘you’re a very smart girl. You can see that you’re not getting away today, can’t you?’

‘Where have you taken Jordan?’

‘Come with us calmly and I’ll take you to him.’

How can he even think I would trust him now? ‘Tell you what, Zavier, you bring Jordan back here,
now
, and after I watch him leave I’ll go with you calmly.’

He groans, shaking his head. The lieutenant folds his arms over his chest. ‘Now will you give it to me, Zavier?’

Zavier remains quiet.

‘Give me the damn syringe!’

‘All right!’ Zavier snaps. ‘But I’ll do it.’

‘Wait!’ I start moving backwards. ‘What are you talking about?’ If I can distract them long enough for the police to arrive, maybe they will fly away so they are not seen.

‘What’s in the syringe, Zavier?’ I ask.

He pulls out a hypodermic needle like the vets give to horses. ‘Just a sedative, my lady.’

‘Stop calling me that!’

The sirens are so close now. I glance over my shoulder and spot two police cars with flashing blue lights tearing up the hill behind me. I turn and run in their direction. Obviously a stupid idea since these guys can all fly. Where are
my
wings when I need them? Two come down behind me, two directly in front. I aim my left foot into one angel’s face, knocking him backwards. I throw my right fist into another’s gut, misjudging my aim a little too high. He doubles over anyway so I must have hit a tender spot. I spin round to do the same to the two soldiers behind me, but more of them come down, and now they completely surround me.

It takes six of them to hold me still long enough for Zavier to stick his syringe in my neck. ‘
Damn you, Zavier!
’ I scream at him as the cold liquid enters my bloodstream.

‘Sarakiel,’ the lieutenant calls. ‘Quickly, the humans are arriving. Help me collect the girl so we can finish this.’

My hair is all over my face, practically blinding me as Lieutenant Saul and Sarakiel come to collect me. I manage to make a few more kicks and punches connect before two arms swing round my waist. The swish-swishing of strong, fast-beating wings fills my ears as I rise up into the sunlight, my limbs becoming wearier by the second.

‘Stop squirming, my lady, we are already high enough off the ground that should you fall you would seriously injure yourself.’ I recognise the voice, the familiar accent and smooth deep tones.

I shove the hair from my face and look at the angel holding me. ‘
You!
What happened to the other two?’

‘I overruled them,’ Zavier says.

‘But I thought Lieutenant Saul was in charge.’

‘Where you are concerned, my lady, the only one to carry you will be me.’

33

Nathaneal

A sudden cloudburst of acid rain cascades down the main vent from the crater opening high above us. Our stinging eyes send us scurrying back to an abandoned cave we recently passed.

Solomon remains by the opening to check in with his informant inside Prince Luca’s city palace. When his mind-link concludes, he enters the cave but waits at the entrance, standing still and quiet, as if gathering his breath.

He walks past Jez, Tash and Uriel. They glance at him, eager for news, but he ignores them, making us all uneasy. Especially when he continues past Isaac, sitting on a boulder attempting to replait his knotted hair, and then Michael, whose golden gaze, once upon you, is difficult to ignore.

But Solomon doesn’t utter a word until he is standing directly in front of me.

By now my heart is pounding like a wild beast running for its life. ‘What is it, Sol?’

‘My prince, no one has seen him.’

‘Can you be more specific?’

He twists his fingers, a strange activity for such a robust angel. ‘No one has sighted the Dark Prince since your battle with him on Earth.’

For a beat there is nothing but silence, punctured with the sounds of our breathing and hearts beating fast.

‘Of course there’s been no sight of him,’ Isaac says, finishing his braid though he’s only halfway through it. ‘He can’t have recovered so quickly from
those
injuries. He would still be in hiding, and probably for months to come.’

Jez comes and stands between Michael and me. ‘No one’s seen him because he’s recuperating outside the capital with only his close medics on hand. He won’t go public with this battle because his losses would demean him in the eyes of his people. And we all know what appearances mean to him.’