Blood Warrior (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #4) (11 page)

I ran to them and fell hard on my
knees, one hand going to each of them. They were both cold, but
that could have been from the water. Tears were pouring from my
eyes and I heard my own screams as if they were muffled.

Then Luke was there, he leaned over
Drew and felt for a pulse. He tried, for what seemed like forever
and then leaned back on his feet, with tears in his own eyes he
shook his head.

I hadn’t noticed, but Sarah had been
doing the same thing to Gavin. I heard her voice in the same
distant way as I heard my own voice. “He’s gone.”

No, no, no! This couldn’t be
happening. I threw myself on top of Drew, with my other hand still
on Gavin because I was unwilling to let either of them
go.

This was wrong. This was not the way
that things were supposed to go. We were supposed to win this war
and live happily ever after … well, screw the happily ever after,
we were just supposed to live.

“
Why!” I screamed, looking
up toward the sky. “They have been nothing but good people,
soldiers for the greater good! Warriors in their own right,
descended from angels and gods! Why would you let this
happen?”

Luke remained on his knees beside me.
“Chloe, it’s over,” he whispered.

“
No!” I yelled. “It’s not
over, it’s not.” I choked on a vicious sob and felt vomit threaten
to rise from my belly. I swallowed it down and tilted my face
toward the heavens. “Help us!” I yelled with every ounce of energy
I had left in me. “Please…” my voice trailed off.

Then suddenly, a furious storm of
black clouds appeared in the sky above the alley. The dark clouds
swirled and churned like a boiling caldron of magic.

“
What the hell is that?”
Sarah, like everyone else, had her face tilted to the
sky.

Not a moment later, a blinding flash
of light appeared within the clouds. So bright that everyone,
including myself, shielded their eyes.

The light began to dissipate, slowly
fading and allowing my eyes to readjust. At the center of that
light, an entity formed, building itself from the very air around
it.

Oh. My. God. It was my vision … my
dream.

A man who could only be described as
beautiful descended from within the black storm above us. His wings
had feathers of both black and white, they protruded from his back,
expanding the length of probably eight feet.

He carried with him the same sword I
saw in the dream, it glimmered from its own mystical light and was
just as long as the expanse of his wings.

I felt my mouth hanging open and knew
everyone else probably had the same expression on their face. This
was completely insane, but it was the exact same as what I had
dreamt that day, down to every detail.

When his sandaled feet touched the
earth, he slammed the sword down into the pavement. The earth
rocked violently beneath us. I held onto Drew and Gavin, hoping
they didn’t fall into a sink hole from all the damage.

The angel turned his dark, glaring
eyes on me and in a booming voice, he declared, “My child, you have
called and I have been allowed this opportunity to assist
you.”

Just like the dream, I thought, so I
followed script. “Who are you?”

He smiled gently, a deep contrast from
his penetrating eyes. “Why, child, I am the Warrior Angel. Back
again, to help the children of my children to rid this world of the
demons you call vampires once more.”

I stood, ignoring those around me, and
stepped away from Drew and Gavin. I was not afraid of him, I knew
from my dream that this was what was supposed to happen. “What are
we supposed to do?” I asked.

He turned toward Zander, who hadn’t
moved from where Korina had left him. Christina, sat with Zander
again, her hand resting lightly on his head. “At this time, it is
not what you should do, it is what I am going to do.” He pulled his
sword from where he had driven it into the ground and strode over
to my brother.

I did not take my eyes off of him, but
I knew that the others had probably thought they had gone
insane.

The Warrior Angel knelt down beside
Zander and used the tip of his sword to lift the edge of the black
tee shirt he wore. Once the cloth was over the blade, he sliced it
upward so that the shirt opened up and exposed Zanders
tattoo.

“
This child does not come
from the blood of angels, nor the blood of the gods. However, he
has the soul of a warrior.” He lay his hand over Zander’s black
angel wings that covered his entire back. Between the wings there
was a sword, the hilt stretching up his neck. “There are not many
who can fight the urges of the demon blood which runs within their
veins.” The angel tilted his head, focusing on me. “I cannot stay
with you upon this earth, but I can give you a gift …”

The hand which rested on my brothers
back took on a heavenly glow. “Wh … what are you doing?” I
mumbled.

He had turned back toward Zander, to
focus on what he was doing. “I am giving you a Warrior Angel of
your very own. He shall eradicate the evil which dwells on this
earth. It is his calling.”

By this time, Zanders whole body was
glowing as if he were soaking in the power the angel was emanating.
Christina sat beside him, the look on her face was not of fear,
what I saw swimming in her eyes, was gratitude. She looked like she
might jump up and kiss the Warrior Angel.

I watched as the glow filtered into
Zander and then, the black in the wings of his tattoo changed. Some
of the feathers turned white, so that they appeared as the actual
wings of the Warrior Angel.

Oh … I finally got it, white and
black, good and evil. Both Zander and the angel were a mix of both.
My brother was a good, good person, but he did things in his own
way, which wasn’t always the “right” way to do things.

A moan escaped Zander’s lips and he
turned his head slightly, so that he was looking up at Christina.
“What happened?” His voice was raspy and barely audible.

The biggest grin I’d ever seen from
Christina suddenly spread across her face. “Oh, thank you, thank
you, thank you!” She leaned down and dragged Zander into her
arms.

“
Ugh, I feel like total
shi … what the hell
is
that
?” He had finally spotted the Warrior
Angel and struggled to sit up.

“
Rest, my child,” the
angel told him with a grin. “You must regain your
strength.”

I pointed and murmured, “Warrior
Angel.”

Zander flicked his eyes toward me and
swallowed. “Uh, all right, that totally explains it.”

“
I think you were dying,
he revived you,” I explained.

Still confused, Zander knit his brows
together and looked up at the Warrior Angel, “Well, um, I guess I
should say thank you then.”

With a nod, his savior stood up and
stepped away. “You’re gratitude shall be repaid many times over in
the coming times.”

“
What?” Zander looked to
me and then Christina, “What does that mean?”

Christina shook her head. “Tell you
later, what matters right now is that you are alive.”

“
Now,” the angel backed
away and then turned toward Drew and Gavin, but address me when he
spoke. “Warriors in their own right, as you called
them.”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Oh, please, please, please
let him save them too.

“
I shall grant your
request this once, for it is not their time. One of these brothers
shall continue to bring forth the offspring of the Vampire Hunter.
However, both warriors have more work to do in this
world.”

He knelt down between Drew and Gavin,
then turned his head toward me. “No matter what is to happen, I
shall not grant you this again. Do you understand, young
Chloe?”

I nodded so fast I was probably lucky
I didn’t hurt my neck. “Yes! Yes, I understand.”

His hands rested over both Drew and
Gavin and began to glow as they had with Zander. Right before my
eyes, I watched a bullet purge itself from inside Drew’s wound and
then fall to the pavement with a small clink. Then, the actual
wound began to heal itself.

Hesitantly, I switched my eyes to
Gavin and saw that the same thing was happening to him. Both of
them were filled with the bright white glow I had seen in Zander
when the angel healed him.

Finally, he removed his hands from
their bodies and the glow began to dissipate.
“They shall wake soon.”

I felt the tears saturating my cheeks.
I don’t think I’d ever felt so grateful for anything in my whole
life. “Thank you.” I executed a little courtesy.

“
Now,” the angel turned to
Anthony, “how shall we deal with this one?”

I stepped up beside the angel and
looked up into his eyes. “He helped us,” I told him. “We could not
have eliminated Korina if he hadn’t been here.”

The Warrior Angel nodded. “This is not
the first time Anthony Christos has assisted the
Hunters.”

Anthony also looked up into the angels
penetrating eyes. “I have informed the Hunter’s that they may take
my life, it was the deal made, once Korina was found. The only
thing I ask is that I am able to write all this into my journal
before the time comes.”

The angel appeared to contemplate the
request. “Anthony Christos. If your death were to come upon us at
this moment, it would help the human race immensely. However, to
kill you, would indeed, result in the death of young Chloe
Kallistrate, whom has an important part to play in the
future.”

He clasped his hands together.
“Therefore, as much as I would like to, I cannot condone bringing
forth your death just yet.”

Anthony looked almost sad to hear that
his life was being spared by the Warrior Angel. “Are you positive
that this is the correct way to proceed?”

With a nod, the angel then turned and
addressed the rest of the group. “No one shall lay a hand on
Anthony Christos. If any person shall attempt to murder him, they
will answer to me personally, is that understood?”

I looked around the crowd as he
addressed them. Most of the group couldn’t speak and just nodded in
response. But, some were able to mutter a “yes” or “yes
sir.”

“
I must return,” the angel
stated to no one in particular. “You warriors … all of you” He
looked over the crowd, “have done well this night. I am proud of
every one of you.”

Then he lifted his sword to the sky
and lifted off of the pavement, ascending into the churning black
clouds from which he had come. Another flash of blinding light and
he was gone.

As soon as the Warrior Angel was gone,
my brain snapped, the only thing on my mind was Drew.

I ran to his side and saw that his
eyes were wide open and staring at me. I fell down by his side and
lowered my head to kiss him. I was never, ever so happy as I was
the moment our lips touched. For a while, I’d thought I would never
get to kiss him again.

“
You’re all right,” I told
him, planting another kiss on his pale lips.

He nodded as I pulled away. “I think I
was hallucinating there for a while though.” He sat up and felt the
healed skin where his wound had been. “I think I may have a
concussion.”

I laughed and threw my arms around
him. “Maybe, we will have to get you checked out.”

After I pulled away I looked to Gavin.
He was also sitting up and rubbing his chest. “If you hallucinated
the Warrior Angel, then we hallucinated the same thing.”

Luke kneeled down beside our boys and
put a hand on each of their shoulders. “You didn’t hallucinate. You
died … and that angel, he gave you a second chance. So I recommend
you don’t waste it. The time for your petty war is over, cause that
war is nothing compared to the one we are fighting now.”

Drew crawled onto his hands and knees
and then stood up. After he was in full standing position, he
leaned over, extending his hand out to Gavin. Gavin looked up at
him with a solemn expression. For a moment there were unspoken
words that passed between the two and then Gavin grasped Drew’s
hand and let Drew haul him up into a standing position.

There wasn’t a big ‘damn why were we
fighting at all, hug’ but the two seemed to have come to some sort
of terms. They died, and then an angel gave them life again, Luke
was right, there was no reason for them to be fighting like
this.

“
You guys have to see
this,” Sarah called from the opening of the alley and taking my
attention away from my guys.

Before I ran to the street, like
everyone else, I looked back at where Korina had fallen. Anthony
stood there, staring down at the burnt ash that had once been his
only family. She and the other brother had been all that remained
for him.

I strode up to him and grasped his
hand. “You have us now.” I told him. I didn’t want to make him feel
better, I knew that would take a while, but I did want him to know
that we weren’t going to abandon him.

He flicked his eyes toward me. “I
thought I was going to follow her into death, now, that has been
taken from me as well.”