Angelfire (14 page)

Ash and embers settled around me, and I stood, letting the angelfire die. I took a deep breath to steady my heart and focused on the next task at hand. I ran from the throne room into a far darker hall to find the pharaoh's reaper imposter, but I stopped dead when I turned around the next corner.

One of the bear reapers blocked my path. I spun around to find another at my back; I was surrounded. Angelfire returned to my blades, and I launched myself at the first reaper. I spun and twisted and sliced, but one of them struck. I jutted a blade straight into the gaping jaws of the first bear reaper and its head went up in flames, but talons wrapped around my waist and yanked me back. I cried out and flailed….

The world spun once more, and a pickup truck blared its horn as it blurred by, narrowly missing me. I wheeled around and bumped into a firm, warm body. I looked up to find myself in Will's arms, and I was back in my school parking lot. He'd pulled me out of the truck's path.

“Ellie? Ellie!”

My heart pounded and my eyes whipped around me
wildly. “Where is it?” I asked breathlessly. “Where's the reaper? My swords?”

He held both my shoulders firmly. “There's no reaper. Relax.”

My pulse began to slow down and I took long, deep breaths. It must have been another flashback, like the one I had experienced in my history class. As I steadied my nerves, more of the memory came back to me. I'd been surrounded and alone.

“Where was I?” I asked fearfully. “Who was that?”

He studied my face with a puzzled look. “Who? Who are you talking about?”

“The reaper!” I cried. “She was a vir, I think. And there were more. There were ursids everywhere. The pharaoh—”

“Pharaoh?”

“Yes, he'd been killed and a vir reaper had shape-shifted and mimicked his appearance to take his place. They'd killed so many in Egypt already, taken so many souls, and I was fighting them alone. My Guardian then was dead. It was before I knew you, long before. It must have been thousands of years ago.”

My thoughts were scattered and incoherent as I tried to make sense of too many details at once. It had been long before Will came into my life, long before I started to feel human, as he had told me I gradually had as the centuries passed. Had I been in direct contact with the archangels? When had I stopped receiving orders from them? With a
reaper posing as the pharaoh, the demonic forces were able to kill an immense number of humans, so many in fact that I had been sent to Egypt to intervene.

But who had sent me? An angel?

“They sent you here to die, killer.”
The reaper's words haunted me.

“Ellie,” Will said, laying a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I'm just…thinking.”

“Well, let's think out of the way of speeding vehicles.” He led me back to my car, and we sat inside for a moment.

“Something else,” I said. “The reaper called me a killer. They usually just call me Preliator. What exactly does my name mean?”

“You didn't always go by that name,” he explained. “The origin is Latin, so I assume that people began calling you ‘Preliator' while that was an important language in the ancient world. It means ‘warrior.'”

Warrior
. “I guess I have quite the reputation to live up to.”

“Don't worry about it. You'll get there. You always do.”

“I hope you're right,” I said. “What are you doing at my school, anyway?”

“You were distressed. It must have been the flashback. I rushed here as quickly as I could and I saw a reaper about a mile away.”

That caught me off guard. “In broad daylight?”

He nodded. “It might have been looking for you or
following your scent. You should get home so there won't be any fight in public.”

“It won't attack anyone, will it?”

“No,” he assured me. “They don't feed during the day, and it's very rare for one to be out at this hour. The reaper was smoking like a chimney in the sun. Whatever it is out for must be important, which is why we should get you home.”

I looked at him in surprise. “You're riding in my car?”

“Yes” was all he said.

“You're not going to be flying back to my house, then?” I asked sarcastically.

He turned to give me a surprised, questioning look. “No.”

“That memory really freaked me out, Will.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was so cold and just…different. I took my job very seriously.
Too
seriously. It was kind of scary. It was like I wasn't even human.” I was glad there wasn't a mirror, so I couldn't see my face. The darkness in my expression would have been too much for me to take.

“You can be very intense,” he confessed.

“And something else,” I continued. “In my memory, I told the reaper that I was sent by the angels. Do they give me orders?”

He blinked at me and I took that as a no before he said anything at all. “Not that I ever remember.”

“If they did give me orders before, why not now? Why did they stop? Why don't I remember speaking to them?”

“I don't know when or why they stopped.”

But why didn't I remember it? Was I slowly becoming so human that I was forgetting myself? Had I forgotten where I came from? What I truly was? Was my humanity a weakness? Or was it a strength? Was it my own fault that I no longer spoke to the angels? Had I done something wrong?

Will had told me the angelic reapers served the angels in Heaven. What if I was part of their plan? Who was
I
supposed to serve? What if they had created me?

I scoffed at the idea that I might be some twisted science experiment of the divine, but something was obviously bringing me back every time I died.

Was it angels?

“GET UP TO YOUR ROOM AND I'LL MEET YOU THERE,” Will said when we got back to my house.

I shot him a suspicious look. “My mom will—”

“No, she won't know I'm here. Just get upstairs.”

I nodded. There was no use fighting him. As soon as I walked in the front door, I heard my mom call me from her office.

“Hey, Ellie? Can you come here for a minute?”

I stopped dead. My heart thumped like crazy as I went into her office. She looked up when I entered.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said. “How was school?”

I shrugged. It took effort to behave normally instead of like a complete lunatic. “It was okay. I'm doing a little better in econ. I still don't really get it, though. So what did
you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, yes!” she said. “The dealership finally called. They can take your car in now. I guess they had a really busy few weeks. We can drop it off tonight or Sunday night, if you'd like. Are you going to the movies again?”

That's right. We were taking my car to get the scratches and dents cleaned up and repainted. “Yeah. You know, we might as well just wait until Sunday to drop it off. They won't start working on it until Monday anyway, and I'd like to use my car this weekend.”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay. Well, I've got to work on some econ homework before I leave. Talk to you later, Mom.”

I jogged up the stairs and found Will standing by my desk looking at some photographs of my friends and me. “Are we hunting tonight?” he asked.

I frowned with a twinge of disappointment. “Yeah, I guess so. Tonight's Movie Night, remember?”

He groaned and turned toward me. “I forgot.” He paused. “Do you really have to go to that?”

“Yes,” I said firmly. “I want to try and stay a normal teenage girl.”

“But you're not.”

“Well, then I'd like to maintain the facade.”

“I'm really sure if that reaper from earlier doesn't track you tonight, another will, like Ragnuk. I don't think you
should be going places with your friends without me, especially at night.”

I remembered my conversation with Kate from earlier. “You could…come with me.” My voice lilted hopefully at the end.

He didn't answer at first, and my heart sank. “I can't really think of a better way to keep a close eye on you.”

“Then you're coming. Have you ever been to a movie theater before?”

“Of course I have,” he said. He sounded offended. “I don't live under a rock.”

“Could've fooled me,” I said.

Will sat down on the edge of my bed, leaning forward lazily. “What are you seeing?” he asked, looking up at me.

“Kate said something about a comedy.”

“Like what?” He seemed nervous.

“Are you saying you don't have any suggestions?” I smiled slyly.

“Just because I've seen a couple movies in the last hundred years doesn't mean I'm savvy about Hollywood these days.”

“I was just curious. I didn't think you would be. Are you cool with seeing a movie? I'll pay.” I walked over to my vanity to put on some eye shadow and mascara. I peeked at Will's reflection in the mirror.

“I'm not going so I can enjoy myself,” he grumbled. “I'm
going to make sure Ragnuk doesn't snap your neck on the way out the door.”

“Why are you always so graphic?” I stroked my lashes with the mascara brush.

“I like to get my point across.”

“Apparently.” I turned back to him and stepped up to where he sat. “Anyway, I think tonight will be good for you. You shouldn't be so moody and brooding.”

“I'm not moody or brooding,” he insisted.

I looked down at him quizzically. “Oh, you are.”

“Are we sparring first?” he asked, choosing to ignore what I had just said. “Maybe we should go for a run.”

“No,” I said. “I don't want to get all gross and have to shower again. How about after?”

“That's fine,” he said, his voice grim. “If you ask me, I don't think you're taking your duty seriously enough.”

I offered him my sweetest smile. “Well, I
didn't
ask you, did I?”

He flashed the slightest glimmer of a grin up at me. “But Ellie, I really need you to understand that this is probably a very bad idea.”

I narrowed my eyes. “A trip to the movies isn't dangerous. I'll be fine.”

“You can't guarantee your safety.”

“Neither can you.”

He smiled, ever so slightly. Then he reached up and
touched my earlobe, looking at it carefully. “When I saw you last,” he said softly, “your ears were pierced with little pearl earrings.”

I almost laughed, not because the memory was funny, but because of the sweet fondness in his voice as he recalled it. It surprised me. “You have a really good memory.”

“Pretty good.” His smile grew a little wider—that dazzling smile I hadn't seen him show all week. It made me happy. “You're the same person, yet you're someone new.”

“Is that a good thing?”

He shrugged a little. “It's like a new start for you. I guess it could be a good thing.”

“Why do you think it has been so long?” I asked.

His smile faded and I instantly regretted asking the question. “Since you were alive?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Why did it take so long for me to be reborn?”

“I don't know.” The sad expression on his face made me feel even sadder.

“Is it weird that I'm different every time?” I asked. “Does it bother you that I have a different name?”

“No, of course not. It never has. You're still you, but you have a different childhood every time and your personality is always a little different. You're certainly more high-strung than when I knew you last.”

I glared at him, but I couldn't hide the smile that also
appeared. “What was my name last time?”

“Why does it matter?”

“I'm curious.”

“It was a long time ago.” He stood up and wrapped a hand around the back of my neck gently. “A name is just a name, not who you are. How about we don't worry about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“How about you just be you tonight and I'll be me? Don't worry about anything else.” His emerald eyes were soft and kind. I felt he really meant what he said.

“You mean pretend to be human?”

“Why not?”

I smiled slyly at him. “Well, this is quite the turn for you.”

“Maybe I'm thinking it would be good for you to relax from time to time.”

“Just for the night?”

“Just for the night.”

He dipped his head and leaned forward, surprising me. He didn't kiss me, but he was close enough to do it. My body locked up and my lips parted. His body was warm against mine, and I wanted him to do what I thought he was going to do. I really wanted him to kiss me, and I could feel my insides tugging and spinning. I lifted my chin and waited, but he stopped. His look fell away and he turned his face and stepped back slowly. I deflated.

“So when is the movie?” he asked, running a hand through his hair.

I felt like falling to the floor. “Um, seven or eight is usually when we go.”

He nodded. “It's only four. What do you want do until then?”

“Well, I should get a couple pages in on my econ assignment,” I said, groaning.

“That's fine,” he said. “Would you like me to leave so you can do your homework?”

“Where will you go?” I asked. “Will you go all the way back to Nathaniel's like you do during the day?”

“No. Seeing the reaper this afternoon has made me nervous. When I'm guarding your house, I usually sit up on the roof. It's the best lookout.”

“If it works for you, I guess.” I smiled. “I'll give you a shout when I'm done.”

He gave me a quick nod and turned away, disappearing. I shook my head in disbelief. He was like a ninja or something. He had probably disappeared into the Grim, and I considered for a moment following him. But I was afraid of the Grim and what things I might see there. So instead, I sat at my desk and grabbed my backpack to get out my homework. I could still feel Will's presence in my room, smell his scent, as if he hadn't actually left. And he really hadn't. I knew he was close by, and that comforting thought helped me to get through my assignment with ease.