Milayna's Angel (15 page)

I could see down the aisle like I was looking
at it from where the pins sat. I saw Muriel and Drew sitting on the
benches talking. Muriel giggled at something Drew said. He leaned
over and kissed her. Chay rolled his eyes and turned to look at the
bowling balls. I wasn’t there.

I turned and saw a small hallway behind the
lanes and the machinery that moved and set-up the pins. There was a
man in gray overalls working on the machines.

The sound in the alley grew quiet, the people
frozen in place. Just the maintenance man moved. The machinery
between us groaned and screeched as the pin holder rose after
resetting the pins for the next bowler. But one pin jammed. The arm
tried to retract, but the bowling pin blocked it. The machine
whirred. The sound bounced off the cinderblock walls.

The man put down the tool he was using and
stood. He pushed a button on the machine, but the pin stayed wedged
in the holder. He pushed the button a second time. Nothing.

With a curse, he reached his hand inside. His
fingers closed around the neck of the bowling pin. The arm of the
pin setter gave way and dropped. The maintenance man’s hand was
caught in the pin’s slot. The sharp metal edge sliced through his
flesh. The weight of the metal pushed him to the floor. The machine
landed on top of his wrist, breaking through the bone. He screamed
in pain. His blood pooled on the polished wood floor. He yanked his
arm from under the pinsetter, holding it close to his chest. His
hand lay in the middle of the bloody mess on the floor.

I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes. The
room righted itself, and the vision fizzled away.

“What’d you see?” Chay rubbed his hand up and
down my back softly.

“There’s going to be an accident.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, rubbing my
temples with the heels of my hands to erase the remnants of the
vision. It was a particularly graphic vision. “The vision is gone.
There’s nothing I can do now. Let’s just finish our game. Whose
turn is it?”

“Yours,” Muriel said.

I grabbed my ball and stepped up to the alley
to take my turn. It was after my second throw, when I turned around
to walk back to the chairs, that everything turned sideways. I saw
Muriel and Drew sitting next to each other. Muriel giggled at
something Drew said. Drew leaned in and kissed her. Chay rolled his
eyes and turned toward the bowling balls…

Oh, no. Oh crap.

I turned around. The pin setter was lowering
to reset the pins for the next player. Hesitating for only a
millisecond before running down the alley, I slid on my knees when
I reached the pin setter. The machine was just starting to rise. I
slid under it, reached up and grabbed the bottom of the pin that
was stuck, and pulled. The machine pulled up and I pulled
down—tug-of-war with a bowling pin. Not to mention that the machine
could fall on me any second.

“What are you doing? Let go of that and get
off the lane!” the maintenance man yelled, running toward me. He
reached out to grab the pin.

“Don’t put your hand in there! It’s going to
fall.”

The pin gave way, sending me flying backward.
My head bounced against the lane so hard stars danced in front of
my eyes.

I heard the pin setter groan and creak. When
I looked up, I saw it shimmy. I rolled out from under it just as it
fell with a loud crash. The force of its fall cracked the wooden
floor.

I sat up and looked at the large, metal
contraption that was lying on the floor where I’d just been. A
strong wind blew in my face, the smell of sulfur unmistakable. I
put my hand behind me to brace myself against the force of the
air.

He’s here, Milayna. Your time is near.

Gasping, I scrambled backward, kicking my
feet against the floor. I jumped when I heard someone shout my
name.

“Milayna!” Chay ran down the aisle toward me.
“Are you okay?” He folded me in his arms before he pulled back and
looked me over. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t—”

“Obviously! You could have been killed if
that had landed on you.” He hugged me tight against his chest.

“It was the vision, Chay. You know I don’t
have control over them.”

“You kids get off the lane. What the hell
were you doing running down here like a madwoman?”

“I’m sorry, but—”

“I think your night of bowling is finished.
Get your things together and get on out before you get into any
more trouble,” the maintenance man snapped before turning and
walking back into his hallway behind the lanes.

Geez, I save the guy from losing a hand and
he kicks us out of the bowling alley. Nice. Real nice. Just once
I’d like to tell people what we’ve done for them. Doesn’t matter.
They’d never believe it anyway.

“Sorry, guys,” I mumbled.

“For what?” Muriel looked at me.

“I ruined the night.” I threw my arms up in
the air, letting them fall and smack my thighs.

“What did you see in your vision?”

“He was gonna stick his hand in the machine
to get the pin, and it was going to get stuck and sliced off.”

“Holy shit,” Drew whispered.

Muriel shuddered. “How can you think you
ruined anything after seeing that?”

I shrugged.

“Geez.” Drew looked at me with wide eyes.
“Are all your visions like that?”

“Like what?”

“So gruesome. I don’t get visions very often,
but when I do, they’re about helping little old ladies cross the
road or keeping kids from running out in the street, not about
severed hands.”

“No, not all my visions are that gory. But
the ones that are, aren’t the most fun.”

“No joke.” Drew shook his head. We’d gathered
our things, turned in our bowling balls and the gorgeous shoes, and
were walking through the parking lot to our car. “Well, I don’t
think you ruined anything tonight, Milayna.”

“Me either. In fact, I think you deserve a
big chocolate shake,” Chay said.

I smiled.
Yeah, that does sound like a
good idea.

“Oh, I could go for a visit to your uncle’s,”
Drew said.

“Now that everything is over and that guy
still has both his hands and all, I gotta say, Milayna, you looked
hilarious running down that bowling lane. You plowed through like
you were the bowling ball.” Muriel laughed.

“Don’t forget her fighting over the bowling
pin with the machine. That was priceless,” Drew chimed in. “Too bad
we didn’t have our phones out to get it on video.”

Chay wrapped his arm around me and squeezed.
I looked up at him and smiled before breaking out into a fit of
giggles. It was probably the stress of the vision, but I couldn’t
stop laughing. I knew I must have looked like a fool running down
the bowling lane and sliding into the pins like I was sliding into
home base in a softball game.

Chay chuckled, which made me laugh harder.
Soon, we were all laughing. The harder the three of them laughed…
the harder I laughed, until my sides ached and cheeks hurt.

“Yeah, well, I’m used to looking like a fool
when it comes to my visions,” I said between hiccups of laughter.
“I never know what stupid thing I’m gonna have to do—it’s a job
requirement.”

***

When Chay brought me home that evening, the
hobgoblins were sitting in the driveway.

“Should I just run over them and save us the
trouble?”

“Sure. Why not?” I shrugged a shoulder.

“‘Kay.”

They darted out of the way and ran into the
backyard.

“They’re fast little things considering how
stumpy their legs are,” Chay said with a laugh.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t think something so round
and fat could move like that without rolling.”

“Do you want to go see what they want?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I have a headache
already. I just want to go inside and climb into bed with two
aspirin.”

Chay got out of the car and walked around to
open my door. Sliding out, I sucked in a sharp breath. Jake was
sitting in the shadows on my front porch.

“I think I’ll use the side door.” I flicked
my gaze in Jake’s direction.

“Ah. Good call.”

“Milayna,” Jake called.

I ignored him and walked to the door at the
side of the house. There stood Lily and Shayla.

Great. Jake and the bitchy duo. Can things
get any better tonight?

“Looks like our night is going to end with a
bang.” I looked up at Chay. His jaw was working.

“Literally,” I said with a sigh. “What’s up,
guys? Just normal troublemaking?” I called to the three of
them.

“Azazel sent us,” Jake said.

“And? I gotta say, I’m getting bored with the
whole Azazel thing.”

“He wants you.”

“He can’t get to my powers, Jake. You know
that, and he knows that.”

“You can still join his side. Use your powers
for him,” Lily said.

“Not gonna happen. It didn’t happen three
months ago, and it won’t happen now. And it’s getting pretty
pathetic that he keeps sending you here to beg.”

“You know he’s sent someone.” Lily looked at
her perfectly groomed fingernails. Those suckers hurt in a
fight.

“So I’ve heard.”

Chay stepped in front of me, shielding me
from them, but I nudged him out of the way. I wasn’t scared of
them. I didn’t particularly want to end up in a fight, because they
hurt like hell. But I wasn’t afraid of Jake or his crew. Well,
maybe of Jake.

“Your little angel friend can’t protect you,”
Lily said.

“I don’t know where you get off thinking I
need protection. Last I knew, I turned eighteen. Azazel missed his
opportunity—”

“For your powers. He didn’t miss his
opportunity to end your life. It’s true he can’t do it himself, but
he can… hire it out.”

“And that’s what he’s done? Hired a hit man
to take me out?” I laughed hard at the thought.

“Yes,” Jake answered and walked toward Chay
and me.

Chay looked over his shoulder and squeezed my
fingers. I followed his gaze. Steven and Rod walked up the drive
toward us.

Five of them. Two of us. Not good odds. Not
good at all.

“Hey,” Drew said, walking toward the house
from Muriel’s. Muriel was right on his heels. “Jen’s on her
way.”

“I’m here,” Jen said, coming around the house
from the backyard. “I was just listening to the babblings of the
goblin fools back there. So… what’s up?”

“Threats. Just empty, pathetic threats.” I
looked at Jake, careful not to meet his gaze straight on. I didn’t
want my power to kick in. I was still learning how to control
it—how to turn it on and off. I knew what feeling I would read from
him. I didn’t need my connection to tell me. Jake was evil. Pure
evil.

“Oh, Azazel, he’s so great. He’ll treat you
like a princess. He’ll make your life wonderful,” Jen said in a
singsong voice, mocking Jake and Lily.

“Jen,” Chay said under his breath. “Shut up.
Antagonizing them won’t help anything. I don’t feel like fighting
tonight.”

The front door opened, and Xavier walked out.
“What’s going on?”

That seems to be the question everyone is
asking.

Jake sucker punched him when he walked
outside. Xavier hit the cement floor of the porch hard. He didn’t
get up.

“Wuss,” Chay said with a chuckle. I shot him
a dirty look.

“So are we fighting now or what? It’s too
cold to stand around and do nothing,” Drew complained.

“Sure, why not.” Jake ran toward me and
grabbed my arm, jerking me away from Chay.

Chay lunged at Jake. Rod grabbed Chay and
jammed his knee in his gut. He landed another good punch to the
face. I saw everyone in their own fights. Muriel and Jen were
against Shayla and Lily. Steven and Rod were pitted against Chay
and Drew.

That left Jake and me. I don’t know what I
ever did to Jake, but he seemed to have it out for me. He always
made a special effort to make sure it was us against each other—and
he had no qualms about hitting girls. Of course, I didn’t have a
problem hitting him either.

He threw a kick, but my freaky angel powers
kicked in—of which I was entirely grateful—and his movements were
in slow motion. I saw what he planned to do before he did it and
blocked his kick, taking a hard hit on my forearm. He moved to jab
my side. I saw it coming. The majority of the impact I absorbed
with a block, but he got a good hit in. The pain rushed in as my
breath whooshed out of my body. While I was still reeling from the
jab to the side, he backhanded me hard across the face.

I had the ability to feel what others were
thinking. I knew what Jake planned before he did it, and I was able
to block most of his hits. But I was still learning how to use my
powers. They were strong, but still new to me. That was why I
didn’t see what was coming next.

I hit him under the chin with a palm-heel
strike, feeling his teeth clamp together. He grabbed a handful of
my hair and kicked me in the side. I crumpled to my knees.

“That’s what I like to see… you on your knees
in front of me.”

He jerked me up by my hair. I bit my lip,
trying not to cry out in pain. He got off on that. He loved causing
pain, but he loved hearing the cries of those he hurt more.

I tried to jab him in the face, but he
grabbed me with his free hand and twisted me around. My back to his
chest, he wrapped his arm around my neck, holding me in a
chokehold. I clawed at his arm, trying to stomp on his insole, but
he lifted me off the ground. He balled one fist in my hair and
pressed my head harder against the arm around my neck.

My lungs burned from lack of oxygen; my
throat screamed in pain where he squeezed it closed. Stars blinked
in front of my eyes, and I knew I was just seconds away from losing
consciousness. My feet flailed wildly, trying to hit him. Grabbing
at his face and arms, I clawed at him, digging my fingernails into
his flesh to cause as much pain as possible. I could feel his skin
rip when I dug into his arm. I felt the mushy, bloody mass
collecting under my nails. It didn’t faze him. He laughed as the
fight left my body and my movements became sluggish, weak.