Color of Angels' Souls (46 page)

Both fighters had stripped off their clothes, and each wore only a small loincloth. That way, the slightest wound would be instantly visible. Allison, who thought she might faint, shuddered when she saw how small Jeremy looked compared with the hulking figure of Khan.

In the stands, the Blues looked just as excited as the Reds. The Angels on each side yelled out encouragement to their challenger. Jeremy tested the Mist on the arena floor tentatively with his foot. The Archangels had done good work: The surface was solid, and he wouldn't have to worry about it tripping him up or making him fall.

Khan appeared on the far side of the stadium. He tested his footing as well, and then smiled. Neither fighter had any weapons, and would have to use their Archangel powers to quickly create them. But before Jeremy had time to react, Khan had already darted across the arena straight at him, pouncing on him like a furious, red falcon. Jeremy waited until the killer had nearly reached him before rolling quickly to one side, and Khan slammed down hard into the Mist floor, his brutal impact leaving a hole. Jeremy backed away defensively while Khan gave him a toothsome grin. Jeremy shuddered when he saw the sharp fangs that the red Archangel had made for himself. He lunged at Jeremy again, trying to engage him in hand-to-hand combat, but Jeremy had no intention of letting the red giant get anywhere near him. He was sure that his adversary was a martial arts expert, and his own three months of training with Connor wouldn't save him now. He used his Archangel powers to avoid Khan with blinding speed, filling the killer with rage. Khan scowled angrily at Jeremy, then grabbed a large piece of Mist and began shaping it. Three razor-sharp knives appeared in his hands. Jeremy quickly snatched up some of his own Mist and created a shield. Thud! Thud! Two of the knives almost passed right through his shield, stopping only inches from his face. Then Jeremy cried out in pain as the third knife cut into his side.

“First blood for Khan!” roared Mephistopheles, as the Reds in the stands howled with excitement.

Furious to have been tricked, Jeremy launched his own attack, ignoring the pain. He transformed his shield into a net and threw it over his surprised adversary, who could only partially avoid it. Jeremy fell on Khan and turned his own knife against him, stabbing him in the side. The killer managed to disengage, and leaped back before Jeremy could plant the knife in his chest.

“Second blood for Jeremy!” bellowed Michael, and now the crowd of Blues roared their encouragement.

Jeremy remained concentrated, blocking out the applause. His enemy opened wide his maw, showing his sharp fangs. Jeremy quickly grabbed a handful of Mist and attacked Khan once again, not wanting to give him even a second to regain his concentration and create a new weapon. But as he was moving in on Khan, Jeremy remembered something that Tetisheri had said—that Archangels didn't need to touch the Mist in order to use it. He began to concentrate on the Mist.

It immediately responded to his thoughts, and a wall suddenly appeared behind Khan. When he tried to jump away to avoid the next attack by Jeremy, who had almost finished shaping his own sword, he smashed against the wall. Jeremy rushed straight into him, hitting him with all his might over and over to try to take out the giant.

But Jeremy quickly realized that he'd made a big mistake. Khan was more than a head taller than him and physically much too strong, and each blow was ringing Jeremy's bell. He had no choice but to pull away, and jumped backward in an incredible leap.

Both fighters were in rough shape. The Archangels were no longer keeping track of who had landed the most blows, as both of them were covered in blood. Khan was furious, and hardly looked tired, even if he did spit out a tooth at Jeremy's feet. The blue Angel carefully hid something in the palm of his hands, taunted Khan with a smile, and beckoned at him to approach. Khan raised high the coarse sword that he had made, and was just about to bring it crashing down on Jeremy when the young man pulled out a sling and sent a Mist rock flying through the air straight at Khan, striking him right between the eyes. The giant was groggy for a moment, and his legs buckled. He brought a hand to his forehead and looked stunned when he saw all the blood flowing. Jeremy was pleased with his blow, but also disappointed as he'd hoped to knock out Khan for good.

“What's wrong, big guy, haven't you ever heard of David and Goliath? Guess who won?”

Khan roared and lunged at Jeremy again, but whereas the killer was nothing but brute force and rage, Jeremy was all grace and agility. It looked as if all those judo lessons were paying off. He stepped to the side, jumped out of the way, and managed to keep Khan at a safe distance—for the most part, anyway, because Khan proved to be agile as well with his deadly sword, and managed to cut Jeremy several times, sending searing pain through his body.

Suddenly Khan stood still and held out his hand toward Jeremy, who was completely taken by surprise when the ground began to move beneath his feet. Before he knew what was happening, sharp stakes sprang up from the ground beneath him. He was only saved by desperately rolling out of the way at the last second, but one of the stakes sliced through his thigh. The crowd, which was already at a fever pitch, roared even louder. Jeremy was limping and losing a lot of blood. Khan sniggered. Then pointed again, forcing Jeremy, who was exhausted and white as a sheet, to jump in all different directions to avoid the stakes sprouting up from the ground, slicing at him again and again and draining his already depleted strength. Drawing on his declining powers, he suddenly turned toward Khan and held out his hand. The Mist floor immediately disappeared beneath the giant's feet. Jeremy had created a gaping hole that swallowed up Khan. He then quickly created a grate that crashed down on top of the hole. Jeremy staggered tiredly over to the trap, the blood streaming down his body. He had managed to imprison his enemy. OK. Now what?

He didn't have much time to dwell on the question because, with an earsplitting roar, Khan shattered the Mist barrier and leaped from the hole. Jeremy saw that one of Khan's legs had been badly hurt, but then the killer was on him, and got Jeremy in a stranglehold. Angels didn't have to breathe, and Jeremy realized that Khan wasn't thinking clearly anymore. He had given in to his killer instincts. Back on Earth of course, Jeremy would have been a goner. He struggled to break the red Angel's grip, and then Khan bared his fangs and bit Jeremy on the neck.

Jeremy howled in pain.

Almost immediately, he could feel his strength leaving him. It was as if Khan had injected a venom into Jeremy, weakening him all over. But then, above the pounding sounds of his heart and Khan's horrible sucking and swallowing noises, he suddenly heard Allison talking to him. It was as if her voice were right inside his head.

“It's not a physical combat, Jeremy; it's not physical!”

In a flash, Jeremy understood what she was saying. Despite his bloody appearance and the atrocious pain, his body was only made of Mist. Not his
real
body, the one he'd been forced to abandon when he died. This new body had been created by his soul and, like the Angels with their wings, he could do whatever he wanted with it.

He closed his eyes to concentrate, and transformed himself …

… into water.

He immediately slipped out of Khan's bloody grip, and flowed down into the hole he had created. The killer looked down in surprise, then roared furiously and jumped down into the hole after him. Still overcome by his obsession with devouring Jeremy, he began greedily lapping up the water.

That's when Jeremy did exactly what he had planned when he decided to turn into water: He transformed himself into acid, including the watery part of him now inside Khan's stomach. An acid so powerful and corrosive that the killer immediately began to melt away, incapable of fleeing, incapable of reacting, his bloodcurdling screams filling Jeremy's ears.

A deathly silence came over the crowd.

Jeremy hadn't forgotten what he'd been told: The only way to kill an Angel was to make him disappear completely. And he had also realized, unlike Khan with his hideous fangs, that he should never even think of eating his enemy. He didn't want to turn into a Chimera. And Mephistopheles was undoubtedly hoping that Jeremy would devour Khan and turn into a red Archangel.

In a few seconds it was all over. There was nothing left of Khan. Completely drained now, Jeremy recreated his body and slowly crawled out of the pit.

The whole stadium suddenly erupted. The applause washed over Jeremy like a warm rain. All the Angels were on their feet, young and old, Blues and Reds, clapping their hands and stamping their feet. Jeremy slowly raised a hand in acknowledgement, barely able to stand. He was glad they'd enjoyed the show, but all he wanted right then was Allison and a bed. And, for the first time, not necessarily in that order.

Then a blue wave rushed over him, taking him into its warm embrace, renewing his strength and healing his wounds. He raised his head toward the blue Archangels and nodded in thanks. He saw Allison race down from the stands to join him in the arena. She quickly rushed into his arms, laughing and crying at the same time, overcome with emotion.

“My God, my God, I was so afraid!”

“You can just call me Jeremy,” he joked. “God sounds a little pretentious.”

“You jerk!”

“Well make up your mind! Is it God or jerk?”

She only laughed, kissing him over and over. Nothing else mattered now. At least, not for a few more seconds, until Mephistopheles suddenly loomed over them, his face twisted with rage. Jeremy was about to make another joke, but it stuck in his throat.

“Why didn't you devour him?” he growled. “It would have given you enormous power!”

“Because that was exactly what you wanted me to do, Mephisto! You knew very well that Khan wasn't as strong as me, that he couldn't control the Mist and his body as well as I did. You
wanted
me to eat him. Which any other Angel probably would have done. I suppose that after I'd eaten half of Khan, I would have become Red. And when I saw my color change, I probably would have spared his life. And in the end, you would have gotten two red Archangels, even if one of them would have been severely diminished.”

Mephistopheles scowled at them, barely able to control his fury.

“It's not so easy to corrupt you, little Archangel.”

He bent down low, until Jeremy could feel his hot breath on his face.

“But you haven't seen the last of me, Jeremy Galveaux. We'll meet again! Very soon, I promise!”

And before Jeremy or the blue Archangels had time to react, he had already flown away.

The Angels were all leaving the stadium, talking excitedly. The Archangels scattered all the Mist and decided to go back to the Mandarin Oriental to celebrate Jeremy's victory. He had done more than just win the battle against Khan and Mephistopheles. He had also won thirty years of respite for the living, thirty years during which the Blues would be able to work to repair all the evil caused by the Reds. And for the young Archangel, that was his greatest victory. Even better: By eliminating the red Archangel, Jeremy was sure that he had changed the balance of power in the world of Angels. For the first time in centuries, there would now be five blue Archangels and only four red Archangels. Good would finally win out over Evil.

The blue Archangels were euphoric, and all of Washington was filled with incredible feelings of joy and accomplishment. The living could feel it too. A few days later, the deadlock in Congress ended and things began to calm down at the White House. It would take some time, but there would be bright days ahead for the living, and for the world.

In the ensuing weeks, several decades-old dictatorships toppled in countries all around the world. The winds of change were blowing, and the people were beginning to fight for their rights and freedom. It looked as if the blue Archangels had rolled up their sleeves and gotten right down to work.

As for Jeremy, he was still tired, even after receiving the healing blue waves. He spent the days following his combat in bed with Allison, who didn't find him quite so tired after all. But since Jeremy was now a living legend (or actually, a dead legend), they were constantly bothered by admiring Angels, both Blues and Reds, who came to congratulate him. They decided to get away from it all for a while. But first, there were two or three important things that Jeremy needed to take care of. He went to visit his mother first. Once Ventousi had confessed, Claire realized that her husband wasn't responsible for her son's murder. Jeremy strengthened her feelings of love for Frank Tachini (true, Jeremy wasn't overjoyed by the idea, but his mother deserved to be happy). He also asked Tetisheri to do a little bit of detective work for him, and she was only too happy to help out. It turned out that the infamous red Angel who had terrorized his little sister actually had been killed, but it was by Tachini's bodyguards when he was trying to assassinate their boss. Claire of course knew nothing about it, and when Jeremy heard the news, he hoped with all his heart that his family would now be safe, since his stepfather had liquidated all of his dodgy business dealings.

He encouraged Clark to turn Frankenstein over to Angela. The little dog would be much more happy in her big house than in the model's small apartment. The little girl was immediately taken with both the dog and with Clark. Her sad little face finally began to brighten. Angela would never forget Jeremy, but she had found a bit of a replacement in Clark. He quickly became like a big brother to the little girl, which helped him to heal the wounds caused by the loss of Allison. And all with Claire's blessing (OK, with a little encouragement from Jeremy, too).

In his prison cell, Ventousi soon learned that he had revealed his secret formula for nothing, because his son turned out to be completely healthy. He howled with rage, to Allison's great pleasure. She wasn't mad at her killer anymore because, thanks to him, she had found complete happiness. But she was still glad to see him get what he deserved.