EACH AND EVERY ONE OF AF’S CELLS SCREAMED for vengeance. It was time. Quickly skirting the tree line with both eyes trained on the house, he stalked closer to the entrance, hoping to surprise his prey. His heart thundered in his ears. His fingers clenched and unclenched as his body readied itself for maximum damage. He was so close now. So close to getting what he needed. So close to being whole again.
He felt Seth. Felt the dark horror emanating from the cabin. Felt the weight of gruesome death settle over him like lead. The demon would pay for this night’s work as well as every other. He would feel the same terrifying hopelessness as his victims. As if conjured by Af’s thoughts, Seth walked through the front door. The demon paused to speak to the guards before taking the steps with almost gingerly movements. Deep in thought, he dug into his pocket for keys to the sports car. Reveling in the agony streaking between his shoulders, Af drew a steadying breath and loosened the tight rein he’d been keeping on his power.
Af peeled away from the shadows. “Where is the girl?”
Seth stiffened at the sound of his voice. Turning slowly, he studied Af between narrowed lids before his mouth curled into that smug smile. “Dead. Very dead.” He let his eyes roam over Af’s thunderous expression and radiating fury, and added casually, “But you knew that, didn’t you? You’re not here for her.”
Taking a step closer to the demon, he replied coldly, “No, I’m not. I’m here for you.”
Seth’s expression was still smug, but something shifted. His eyes hardened with a calculating gleam. “Sorry, old friend. I can’t stay to entertain you.”
Launching himself like a cannon, Af tackled Seth, slamming him against the side of the car with a force that shattered the window. With glass raining down on them, he snarled, “I want my wings back! Undo this spell!”
Seth only smiled and grunted, “Not gonna happen.”
In the next second, his corporeal body dissolved into molecules that slid through Af’s fingers into nothingness.
“Damn it and bloody hell!” Uriel’s infuriated roar ricocheted through the labyrinth that was Tartarus. Hard-edged demon guards swallowed uneasily and considered leaving their posts as he stormed past them with his ass practically on fire with frustrated rage. Lucifer was going down! He had had it up to his eyeballs with his brother’s petty machinations. He’d pulled some stunts over their existence, but this was going too far. Grabbing the nearest bastard by the throat, Uriel growled, “Move one inch and I will torch you! I’ve had just about enough of your kind today.”
The guard’s eyeballs rolled around to look for some kind of backup from his fellow demons. Everyone else took a step back and suddenly found their fingernails fascinating. Uriel shoved the guard aside and stalked back to his office. He was on a mission and any distractions might end up ash. The urge to smite half of Hell was bubbling dangerously close to the realm of possibility. It would serve Lucifer right. Ass!
Two minutes later, the first shock wave hit him between the eyes so hard he actually blacked out for a few seconds. Gripping the edge of his desk, he shook his head to clear it. “What in the hell was that?”
There weren’t supposed to be any meteors in Earth’s vicinity. Had something slipped through their radar? He wasn’t prepared for mass extinction. He didn’t have enough staff to handle the intake process.
The second wave knocked him completely out of his chair. His ears rang with the sonic boom. Digging a finger in his ear to pop it, he froze in horror as comprehension dawned.
Containing the force of a meteor impact, that sheer destructive power could only come from one being. What in the name of their father was he blowing up?
In the next several seconds, one pulse after another hit Uriel from all sides, sending him careening off balance as he threw on armor and strapped on his sword.
“Raphael! We have a situation. Grab your sword and bring everybody!” he bellowed for backup before using his sight to locate his fellow Angel of Destruction.
If Af had finally gone insane, he wouldn’t be open to reason. There would be no talking him down. They’d have to take him by force and it would be both messy and noisy. There was no telling how bad the human casualties would be. Cleaning this up would take an army of working angels and the Archangels’ Primani units. Restraining Af would require more firepower than he and Raphael could bring to the party. Time to call in the big guns.
“Michael!”
Dec sat bolt upright in bed with the sound of cymbals clanging in his ears. Completely disoriented, he squinted into the dark room, waiting for his brain to start firing on all cylinders again. What the shit was that?
There it was again! The bed was vibrating. No, not the bed . . . The whole damn building trembled.
What now?
“Rori! Wake up, love. Something’s wrong.” He gave her a gentle nudge to help with the waking part.
“Of course there is. It’s our wedding day.” The muttered reply was mostly hidden by the pillow she’d dragged over her head. He nudged her again and she pushed herself to her elbows, blinking sleepily. “Are those car alarms?” Rori’s voice grew stronger as she shouted over the noise.
Every car alarm in the city must be going off. The sound was unbelievable even inside their room. Better check it out. He was halfway to the window when the most important alarm went off.
Their Primani emergency signal went ballistic inside his head, and he nearly slammed face first into the wall. Clutching at his temples he yelled, “I got it! Be right there!” and the buzzing stopped as abruptly as it started.
“Shit! I’ve got to go! Stay in the apartment no matter what! Promise me.”
“Yeah, sure. What’s up?”
“Code Red.” He dove for his gear and was dragging on combat boots and trying to shove his arms into his t-shirt at the same time when Rori came over to help.
“What’s that mean? It can’t be good,” she asked while she dragged his shirt over his head and shoved his arms through the holes so he could focus on zipping up his boot.
“It means that all Hell is breaking loose somewhere. Possibly literally.” While he did the other boot, she grabbed his weapons from the closet and handed them to him one at a time.
Pulling her close, he gave her a hard kiss. “Definitely not good.”
“Where are you going?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. We just follow the signal.”
A split second later, Sean materialized in the bedroom, dressed for combat and dripping with weapons. His face was taut with urgency; his eyes already backlit with his saol. “You good?”
Familiar heat built behind his irises as his body did its combat prep thing too. Dec nodded once and they dematerialized together.
“Never in a thousand years . . .” Dec’s brain must be stuck. He couldn’t make sense of the scene in front of him no matter how many times he blinked to clear his vision.
“Holy Mary Mother of God.” Sean’s strained prayer pretty much summed it up for him too.
Beside them, Dimitri wagged his head in utter disbelief, murmuring, “I know, right?”
“Who is that?” Alex asked as he joined their group.
Killian replied with more than a little awe in his voice, “That, my friend, is the Angel of Wrath.”
“He looks pretty pissed.” Alex leaned forward to get a clearer view around Killian’s back.
Probably that was the biggest understatement of this century.
Code Red was reserved for global catastrophes caused by powerful demons, or, as in this case, rogue angels who’d lost their friggin’ minds.
Shining like a miniature sun, Af was the center of a debris field with about a half mile circumference. It looked a lot like the air burst pattern of an atomic bomb without the mushroom cloud. Trees were broken like toothpicks in every direction except for the one in which he was facing. Since it seemed like he was systematically annihilating one section of trees at a time, the ones in his line of sight were goners.
The destruction of the forest was shocking enough, but that wasn’t the worst part. That was pretty impressive, but it wasn’t the crushed trees that had the entire Primani corps standing in teams around the perimeter. It wasn’t the damage to the beautiful hardwoods that had drawn a legion of armed angels.
It wasn’t even the massive orange energy field.
Planted with his arms spread wide and head flung back, Af was surrounded by an energy field that writhed with celestial power. Orange and yellow in the darkness, it reminded Dec of a quasar he’d seen in a book once. Flickering with lightning and eerie incandescent flares, it pulsed and flowed with the screams of a million battles. The sound sent chills down his neck and he rubbed at it impatiently. This was beyond creepy. Every few seconds, Af compressed that energy into a black orb and took out more trees. His arms never moved. His body didn’t move either.
The crazy energy field was pretty bizarre and definitely worth the anxious attention they were giving it. Even so, that wasn’t the worst part of this little party.
Above the clearing, despite the choking dust that was hanging over them, the New York sky was getting brighter—and not because dawn was coming. About the size of a football field, an ominous mass of destructive energy was expanding and contracting as he drew it to him. The brilliant blue light had been steadily intensifying in the few minutes they’d been there. A thick band of clouds was beginning to spin around the black center as the charged particles disrupted the atmosphere. Vivid tracers escaped to fly in every direction. The ozone smell was nearly overwhelming. Dec squinted at Af and nearly fell over as he finally connected the dots. Oh, my God! He’s creating a singularity!
“Has he lost his friggin’ mind? If that turns into a black hole, it’ll suck in the whole damn sun!” He had to shout above the noise.
“And probably the planet. Plus side? I don’t think he’s doing that on purpose. I got here first and tried to reason with him. He’s so far in the zone he’s beyond hearing. Totally ignored Raphael and Uriel both. They had to dive out of the way when they tried to take him by sword.” With eyes shining with respect, Killian enthused, “Do you see what he’s doing? I am so fucking impressed I can’t stand it. He’s pulling vacuum energy from all around us—from the atmosphere! He’s controlling that energy, using it for target practice, and he hasn’t missed yet. He’s not even looking at the targets. He’s aiming with his mind. If he lives through this, I’m going to ask him to show me how to do that!”
“Did you not notice the swirling portal of doom your hero’s opening above our heads?” Dec thought he should point that out in case Killian somehow missed it. He was entirely too mesmerized by Af’s energy manipulation. Though, to be fair, he probably could relate, given his thing for lightning. “Going out on a limb here, but probably that’s a bad thing.”
Ducking as a chunk of tree went flying over their heads, Sean scrunched up his face and sneezed twice before rubbing dust out of his eye. “Oh, sure, it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Seriously, what are we doing here? We can’t stop this.”
“No shit, genius.” Killian dragged his eyes away from Af and addressed their group as a whole. “We’re here for cleanup when they get him contained. We’ll do a search for bodies or witnesses and work with the angels to spread misinformation or just memory-wipe the locals. I have no idea how we’re supposed to convince the entire world’s scientific community though. Friggin’ internet’s going to make it impossible to control this story.”
As soon as the words left Killian’s mouth, the ground shifted as another tree took the brunt of the angel’s anger. The sonic boom sent Dec stumbling into Rivin who’d just ambled over with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What in the bloody hell is up his arse? I was in the middle of a pint when I got the Code Red.”
“Still got your priorities straight, I see.” Killian’s cold tone wiped the smile from Rivin’s mouth.
Stepping up on Killian, Rivin snapped, “Still a dick, I see.”
Coughing on the dust, Alex finally cleared his throat, and gasped, “It’s a good question, though.” He swung his arms around the scene with awe written all over his face. “Does anyone know what set him off? Why is he even on this plane? Isn’t he banned unless he’s on a mission? I’m sure blowing up the Catskills isn’t on his to-do list.”
“That’s the question of the century, isn’t it?” Dec stated the obvious because he didn’t have an actual answer.
None of them had the answer. Who knew what went on inside that crazy-ass angel’s head? Conversation stalled as they all swiveled around to gaze in horrified fascination as Af’s power continued to feed him; the orange mass writhing like a living thing. Dec’s skin itched and the hair on the back of his arms stood on end as crackling lightning began to travel from Af to the sky. In the ten minutes they’d been there, he’d already flattened more trees, and the area of destruction was easily a mile in circumference now. Holy shit! There was no way this wasn’t going to attract global attention. Nat Geo will probably make a documentary on the mysterious destruction. Would they blame it on aliens? Dec burst out laughing and shrugged at Killian’s stunned glare. It was either laugh or cry. This was so very bad.
“He’s slowing down.”
Killian was right. Though the monstrous cloud of energy swirling around Af was as impressive as before, there was a wee bit more time between blasts. The dust had some time to settle in between explosions. Just as the latest sonic boom trailed off, the cavalry arrived.
Michael.
The chief Archangel swooped in with his legendary battle sword gripped in his fist, muscular wings raised proudly behind him, and face nearly purple with anger. He wasted no time marching over to Af.
Here we go. Dec held his breath.
Standing just outside of that freaky energy, Michael shouted, “Af! Cease this behavior now!”
Af blew up another tree.
Easily deflecting a stray bolt of lightning with his sword, Michael shouted, “I said STOP!”
Af blew up another tree.
Michael hefted his sword with both hands and took a step closer. “I’m warning you, Af. Don’t make me stop you.”
Af hesitated. Lightning crackled between his outstretched arms, crawling over his back and down to the ground. Everyone held their breath.
Dec muttered to Sean, “Michael wouldn’t kill him, would he?”
Rigid with tension, Sean swept his eyes from the pulsing lights surrounding Af to the ginormous cloud above them. Blue tracers snaked across the center of that cloud. “God, I hope not. I don’t think the continent would survive the explosion.”
Af blew up another tree.
Michael shouted, “You stubborn idiot!” and whacked Af on the back of the head with the flat side of that legendary sword.
The instant the sword made contact, the energy field collapsed in on itself, disappearing into Af’s body and creating a sudden vacuum that sucked everyone into his reach. As he tumbled helplessly forward, Dec’s eardrums burst from the pressure. As abruptly as it began, the pull from the vacuum stopped, and Dec fell to the ground along with everyone else. Just as he landed on his hands and knees, the energy exploded outward in every direction with a sonic boom that was probably heard in Heaven. The force sent the entire crowd flying backwards into the forest as more trees toppled to the ground. Above them, the singularity swirled with renewed power that Dec could only blink at as he pushed himself upright to look for Af.
Still in the center of the massive clearing, Af crumpled to his knees before falling to his stomach where he lay motionless. Michael and the other Archangels vaulted over to check on him. Even with the hum of electricity still threading through the air, it was impossible to miss Michael’s shocked words.
“Oh, Father, what have you done?”
Af’s ebony wings lay limp across his ruined back. Matted with chunks of skin and soaked with blood, the twisted feathers curled around his shoulders and torso, draping him in their strength. Ragged strips of his shirt were stuck to the space along his spine.
While they watched in amazement, those precious wings slowly lifted him upright to hover aloft next to Michael. Dripping with sweat, Af’s head lolled to his chest, his hair hiding his face. As his wings beat the air, blood ran steadily down his side to puddle beneath his boots.
Michael’s face had gone bone white, but he recovered quickly and took control with his usual voice of command. “Uriel, you and I will deal with this. Help me get him to my chambers. Raphael, see to the rest.”
With that order, he and Uriel wedged a shoulder under each of Af’s arms before rocketing straight into the night sky.
The stunned silence lingered as the enormity of what they’d just seen tried to sink in. This was one of those moments no one would ever forget. Dec knew it would haunt his dreams for years to come. The beauty, the power, the precious life in those God-given feathers . . . It was a miracle. A painful, bloody miracle.
Swallowing the saliva pooling in his mouth, Dec jammed a hand across his lips. Don’t puke. Don’t puke.
Out of nowhere, Sean and Killian snatched him by the arms and flashed them away from the hundreds of witnesses. When they rematerialized, Killian slapped him on the back and said, “Go ahead, little brother. We’ll be back at the scene.”
After puking up whatever was in his stomach, he wiped his mouth and stared down at the massive circle of destruction. Why here? There had to be a reason. He’d bet his ass it had something to do with the demon who’d tortured Af. He’d want payback. That had to be the only thing driving the angel. Why else would he escape from the protection of the penthouse, leave a path of chaos that killed dozens of humans, and make his way to this place in the middle of nowhere?
Flipping to his night vision, he scanned the debris for any living bodies. Scanning again, he came up with zilch. No living humans within the blast zone. Any demons would be long gone by now. Judging by the amount of pure fury that Af had unleashed on this poor forest, he hadn’t found his demon.
That didn’t bode well for anyone.
Off in the distance, several headlights crested a hill. The locals were coming. He was surprised it had taken this long to respond. Guess this area was really isolated. The headlights were joined by the whirling blades of a chopper. Probably cops. Showtime.
The wedding was going to have to wait.