Angel of Brass (28 page)

“I know.” But she sounded a little
breathless.

“Close your eyes,” he advised. “We’re
basically going to fall off the building, so the first few moments
might seem a bit frightening.”

He felt her take a deep breath; her breasts
pressed against his arm, and he tried frantically to think of
something else. “I’m ready,” she said.

Her hair smelled like lavender and vanilla,
and her body felt warm and soft against his. “Count of three,” he
murmured, his breath stirring the little hairs by her ear so that
she shivered. “One.”

He pitched them forward, legs snapping out to
give them as much of an extra boost as he could. His wings
unfurled, scooping the air and driving them forward. The unfamiliar
burden of her weight dragged them lower than he would have liked,
so rather than breaking into a long glide as he might have
otherwise, he beat his wings hard to get altitude. Their shadows
raced them along the weed-choked tracks, slowly getting farther
away as he won the battle against gravity.

“Wrap your legs around mine, so they don’t
dangle!” he shouted over the howl of the wind, and she obeyed. That
helped quite a bit, although it meant he had to do without a
rudder.
Well, it’s not as if I was going to be doing any fancy
flying anyway
.

The roofline fell away below them, but Jin
continued to climb, until they were in open sky, well above the
hazards of wires or steeples. Eventually, he found the current of
air coming off the hills, and stretched his wings out to ride it.
Molly’s fingers gripped his arm, hard enough to bruise if it had
been flesh. At first he worried she was afraid, at least until she
yelled: “This is
wonderful!”

He found himself grinning like an idiot. It
was
wonderful: the street lights far below gleaming like
diamonds sewn onto the scarf of the night; the song of the wind
over the rig; the sound of her delighted laugh when he did a little
swoop, just to show off. The feel of her body against his, their
thighs threaded intimately together, filled him with a sweet ache.
Does she feel it too?

She doesn’t mind getting this close to me,
even though she knows how I feel about her. Could I have a chance
with her after all?

Oh, saints, please. Just a small chance,
that’s all I’m asking for. I just don’t want to lose her.
Please.

They flew until he felt her shivering. “Are
you cold?” he asked, mentally kicking himself for not having
thought of it sooner.

“A little, yes. But this is so much fun, I
don’t want it to end!”

He angled his wings a touch, banking them
toward the part of the city where her boarding house was located.
“Next time we’ll get you some gloves and an aviator’s cap.”

“I’d like that. The next time bit, even more
than the being warm part.”

Any time, sweetheart. You just have to
ask.

They descended in slow spirals, until Jin
said, “There’s the boarding house—see it?”

“It looks so different from up here.”

They landed on the slate tiles with a soft
thump.
Good thing Molly has the uppermost flat
. Jin released
her slowly, wishing that he had an excuse to keep her in his arms
just a few more minutes.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” she
whispered, looking up at him. Her blue eyes shone, and he found
himself staring at her soft mouth, her slightly parted lips.

“I should be the one thanking you,” he
managed to say. “For everything. After I was such an ass, you had
every right to leave me to rot. But you didn’t. You came for
me.”

She smiled at him. “Of course I did. I love
you.”

He cupped her face gently in his hands,
half-afraid that he had misheard, or that he might somehow destroy
the moment. When she leaned into him rather than pulling away, he
bent his head and carefully brushed his lips across hers.

She kissed him back fiercely. He pulled her
tight against him, feeling the heat of her body through their
clothing. The implements on her tool belt dug uncomfortably into
his hip, but he was beyond caring at the moment. When the kiss
ended, she stayed against him, her arms twined around his neck.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, grazing
her cheek with his fingers. He wanted to tell her that he loved her
so much that it scared him, but the words failed him. So instead,
he lowered his mouth back to hers, and told her in another way.

Chapter 20

Molly opened her eyes, unsure what had waked
her. She and Jin had cuddled on her bed for hours, talking softly
about their hopes and dreams. Eventually, she had fallen asleep
with the gaslight still on. Its radiance revealed Jin sprawled
beside her on his belly. Gold ports marched down the line of his
spine, ending just above his trousers. The ports were covered by
flat disks now that they weren’t in use; they’d left his rig on the
roof, as there’d been no way to fit it through her window.

Beautiful
, she thought again, admiring
the shift of lean muscle under copper skin. Snuggling closer, she
breathed deeply of his scent: musk and soap and the dusty smell of
feathers.

Her movement woke him; he started a little,
blinking muzzily, then rolled onto his side. “Mmm. Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” She traced the sweep of a
cheekbone with her fingers, then leaned in to kiss him.

The sound of a distant siren came through the
thin glass panes of the window. Perhaps that was what had disturbed
her sleep earlier. She ignored it in favor of kissing Jin.

Another siren joined the first. Then
another.

And another.

Jin pulled away. “Something’s wrong.”

Molly cursed silently. Jin rolled out of the
bed and padded to the window. “Come look at this,” he said.

Alarmed by his expression, Molly joined him.
There was a glow in the sky that might have been sunrise—except
that it was in the west, and dawn was hours away. “Fire.”

“It looks like a big one.” He glanced down at
her, his mouth a worried line. “Aren’t Brasstown and the palace in
that direction?”

“Yes.” Feeling deeply unsettled, she went to
the aetherwave radio and switched it on. If the fire were as big as
it looked, there would surely be a news broadcast.

Only static came out of the speakers.
Frowning, Molly tuned it to a different station. Again, nothing but
static.

“Maybe it’s too late—don’t they stop
broadcasting around midnight?” Jin asked uneasily.

“Yes, but in an emergency, they’d start up
again.” Molly bit her lip. “I can’t imagine they wouldn’t at least
have some sort of update about that large of a fire...unless the
aetherwave antenna itself is down.”

Jin swore.

“Do you think Reynard and Malachi are making
their move?” Molly asked as she located her boots amidst the mess
on the floor and pulled them on.

“Yes. Or
a
move, anyway. It would
explain why Malachi and Del left and didn’t come back. And why she
was dressed as a Xatlian yesterday.”

“And why the refrigerators were empty. We
need to get the anti-controller from Liam.”

“You do that.” Jin went to the window and
opened it. “I’m going to take a closer look. I’ll meet you at
Liam’s flat.”

“Jin.” He stopped and turned back at the
sound of her voice. “Be careful. Please.”

“I will.” Their lips met in another kiss, all
too briefly. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” she said, but he was already
scrambling out the window. A moment later, she heard the sound of
his clawed feet on the tiles above her head.

The thought of anything happening to him was
like a shard of glass in her gut.
Saint Valerian who watches
over lovers, Saint Cygnus of pilots, and anyone else who might be
listening—keep him safe.

Fastening her tool belt as she went, Molly
flung open her door and hit the stairs at a run.

* * *

Jin pulled on his rig, feeling it anchor to
the ports. As the connections were made, there came a brief,
intense flare of pain that left him biting his lip. Then sensation
flowed through the artificial nerves of the wings, like feeling
returning to a limb that had fallen asleep. He flexed them
carefully, making sure that everything was in order, then went to
crouch on the edge of the roof. A few seconds later, Molly ran out
the door far below, heading for the street at a fast trot.

Be safe, sweetheart. I’ll be back soon.

He launched with a powerful kick, wings
thrashing as he climbed as steeply as possible. Locking his legs
together, he felt the plates of his feet shift and slide, giving
him a rudder. It was an odd sensation, one he couldn’t have
explained to anyone else.
Except Del
.

Even at a height, he could hear the wail of
the sirens, growing louder as he drew nearer. The blaze was indeed
within Brasstown; once across the river, he could make out the
flames, half-hidden by a ferocious column of black smoke. The area
looked mainly composed of businesses and the more modest homes—in
other words, the ones closest together and therefore most likely to
spread the fire quickly, ensuring maximum chaos.

Curse it. This must be the work of the
conspiracy. It’s just too convenient for them otherwise.

The heat of the fire rose in a searing
column; between it and the billowing smoke, Jin didn’t dare cross
directly overhead. As he approached the outskirts of Brasstown, he
dipped lower, until he all but skimmed the roofs. It was only then
that he realized that the battle wasn’t only with the flames, but
with an army of the dead.

Fire companies had turned out, their
octopoids attempting to douse the flames, while the rest of the
company protected the hosemen from shamblers. Mechapedes swarmed
everywhere, but their numbers were already diminished from the
debacle at the Xatlian temple. Police fought shamblers
hand-to-hand, their guns and batons ineffective against the
relentless dead.

Ordinary citizens, no doubt the inhabitants
of the district, were on the streets as well. Some were trying to
put out the fires with garden hoses and buckets, some struggled
with the shamblers, and some ran blindly in panic. In the center of
the largest street, surrounded by a blazing row of buildings on
either side, Jin caught sight of two small figures. A toddler had
collapsed in the street, whether from injury or overwhelming fear,
it was impossible to say. His older sister tugged wildly on his
arm, darting looks of terror over her shoulder as a shambler
stumbled nearer, its arms outstretched to grasp and strangle.

Jin’s lips pulled back in a silent snarl.
Angling his wings, he swooped down the street. Sparks filled the
air around him like fireflies, stinging his skin. Ahead of him, he
saw that the girl had given up trying to move her brother, and
instead stood in front of him, feet planted and fists raised, an
expression of absolute determination on her face as the shambler
closed in.

At the last second, Jin unlocked his legs and
splayed his wings, pivoting his feet forward, so that they slammed
into the back of the shambler with an impact he felt in his teeth.
The roar of the fire was too loud to hear the snap of bone, but he
felt something give in its body as it pitched forward. Jin’s feet
hit the pavement with a screech of metal, sparks trailing, and he
almost collided with the girl and her brother.

Whatever had broken in the shambler, it
wasn’t critical, because it was already climbing slowly to its
feet. Holding out thin arms, it started toward them once again.

Jin leapt, using his legs and wings both to
propel him over its head. Landing behind it, he grabbed the
controller sunk into its back with pulled with all his strength.
The corpse hadn’t been fresh to start with, and the device pulled
free easily. Suppressing the urge to gag, Jin flung the controller
to the ground as the shambler collapsed, a puppet with cut
strings.

The girl picked up her little brother and
clutched him tight to her chest. Her eyes almost bulged out of her
face as she stared at Jin, and he felt a rush of bitterness. Even
though he had just saved her, she was afraid of him, afraid of the
monster that he was.

“Look, Tommy,” she said to her brother. “It’s
an angel. An angel saved us!”

It took Jin a moment to realize that her
expression hadn’t been one of fear, but of awe.

An angel? Me? That’s a laugh.

There was no time to debate, though, and
perhaps if she was as awestruck as it seemed, she’d do as he told
her. “Get out of here!” he ordered, pointing down the street away
from the flames. “Take your brother and get to safety!”

“Yes! Thank you!” she shouted, and broke into
a run, carrying her small burden tucked against her. The boy peered
over her shoulder, gaping open-mouthed at Jin.

The police at the end of the street had seen
what happened, and one or two approached cautiously. Pointing at
the controller, Jin said, “Remove or disable the device on their
backs. It’s what animates them. Anything else isn’t going to do
more than slow them down.”

They nodded, still staring at him. Feeling
uncomfortable with the awed gazes, he spread his wings in
preparation to launch. “I’ll be back with help, as soon as I can,”
he called, then broke into a run to give himself a little more
momentum as he took to the air.

It was much harder to take off from the
ground, but he managed, although it sent him through a cloud of
smoke that stung his throat. Instead of turning back to Chartown,
however, he made a brief detour into the wealthier precincts of
Brasstown.

The sound of the sirens hadn’t gone
unnoticed, and Jin saw that people had come out of their homes and
stood in the streets, pointing and talking worriedly.

I suppose it’s up to me to get their
attention.

He swooped low, saw dozens of upturned faces
as he glided along the wide boulevard, people gaping and pointing
at him. “Get inside and barricade the doors!” he shouted. “You’re
all in danger!”