Fallen Angels (24 page)

“You fed from her!” Kara interrupted my joy.

“Not now, Kara.”

“Ravyn, he’s coming,” Abby suddenly warned.

I turned to see Peter stepping into the powdery circle of death, a long spear in his hand.

“I didn’t think you would ever grow the balls to fight me, old man,” I said, while crouching down to dust my bloody hands with fresh powder from the ground.

“Your time is up Ravyn,” he hissed.

“I’ve heard that before.” I laughed at his threat. I had to wonder why Lokie was so afraid of Peter. I wouldn’t take any chances this time. I had to kill him and quickly. I stormed closer, still without a weapon in my hand. I wanted to test him. To see what he was capable of.

Peter stepped forward, thrusting his spear at my head. I arched back watching the sharp spearhead whizz past my face. When he pulled back to thrust again I straightened and spun away out of its path, the blade skimmed over my lower back, cutting my shirt but not my skin.

“Show me,” I barked, pushing him to fight harder.

He steadily backed away while I approached, thrusting and slicing through the air with his long spear. I was always a step ahead, evading his every move.

“Show me,” I said again and again after his every try.

“I am a creature of God! You cannot defeat me!” Peter shouted, shoving the blade at me.

I caught it with ease. Breaking the spear from its long wooden handle, I gripped it in my own hand. Without a single step I appeared inches away from him, clutching his throat.

“So am I, motherfucker!” I growled before driving the blade up under his chin and into his brain.

I backed away, watching his body slump to the ground. How could this be so easy? Why the fuck was Lokie so scared of him? Was I just this good? I never really thought about it while fighting here before, because my abilities were limited. I shrugged and turned to head back to the others, who were all free now.

Kara was holding Chloe in her arms, smiling while Abby hugged them both. Volac was standing behind Abby, watching me with a smile. Lokie and Angie were hugging, as were Nebiros and Emma. Even Devlin and Jeanie were hugging. Everyone was happy. And I moved to join the happy parade.

When I was almost in reach of my family, the ground began to tremble beneath my feet, and the smiles in front of me melted into horror. I slowly turned to find two massive muscular legs. My eyes followed up them. Peter had grown into a beast. His head nearly touched the roof of the stadium. His once-lengthy thin body was now bulging with rippling muscle. His platinum blonde hair was now white and flowing behind his head as if a steady wind was blowing. One hand clenched a golden spear and the other held a colossal gold shield. Golden armor covered his chest, forearms, and shins.

Oddly my first thought was,
Why the fuck does he need the shield and armor?
I mean, was it to block our toothpick-sized swords? My second thought was,
He cannot be of our kind.
No one gets this big. His blazing orange eyes glared down at me.

“You dare believe you can kill a God?” His voice echoed through the stadium.

“Actually, yes,” I said with a shrug. Really I was trying to figure out how the fuck I could kill him.

“Give me the child,” he ordered.

“Uh, no,” I refused.

He bent down, his massive face only a few feet away from me. His snort kicked up the fine powder on the ground. “Do not disobey me.”

“You know, I have so many sins that I really need to confess, so I can come hang out with you after you kill me. I mean, it’s the least you can do for me after all these years of repeatedly fucking me in the ass!” I growled, not showing an ounce of fear.

He erupted with laughter. He was laughing so hard his eyes sealed shut.

I figured now was a pretty good time to pick a fight. “I’m so glad you like my jokes, you’re gonna love this one. See, my friends here have been instructed to bury me with the biggest fucking strap-on they can find, because when I get back into heaven I’m going return all the favors, you fucking piece of shit!” I paused to laugh. “You will never forget me.”

He was not as thrilled. His massive hand swooped down at me, trying to bat me away like a fly. I dug my claws into his hand to keep from flying into the stands. I used my claws like climbing hammers, tearing into his thick skin. I moved to his wrist, and then had nowhere to go. I now understood what the armor was for. Without warning I was flying through the air after feeling a slight thump to my head. I could hear my family screaming below right before I crashed through the stadium seats, coming to a stop in the outer corridor. I looked down to find a steel bar sticking through my thigh and half the wall on top of me.

“Shit!”

Chapter Nineteen

Kara

Beyond Power

“Oh my god! What is she doing?” I cried, watching Ravyn taunt the God.

“Kara, you can stop this!” Mom shouted over the thunderous laughter.

“Stop it? How?”

Mom closed the distance between us. She took Chloe and passed her off to Nebiros. She held my face in my hands and stared in my eyes. “Feel the power around you. The strength that you can borrow. You can banish him from this world,” she urged.

Was she actually serious about this? How could anyone banish a God? I didn’t even know I could do such a thing to a frog or a rabbit, and now we were skipping the small stuff and going straight to a God? This was crazy!

“Kara, use the cone of power! Draw the energy from us, and you can direct it, you become the source of power, the point of the cone. It can work, but we have to hurry,” she said frantically.

I froze, trying to decide what the best course of action here was. If we tried this and it didn’t work, we would all be dead. I looked up just in time to see Ravyn tumbling through the air.

“Let’s do it. Mom, have Lokie help you create the circle, now!” I ordered. My friends and family gathered around me to see what was so important.

I took a deep breath, watching Lokie speedily outline the circle in the dirt. Mom quickly motioned me into the circle, and then rushed to place the others around the circle, before taking her place next to Chloe.

“Sit Indian style and sit straight up. Once we start this we cannot break the circle. Focus your energy to me, like you are giving me a huge ball of energy as a gift. Don’t lose focus or you will take it back. It’s usually easier if you close your eyes,” I said, glancing at the hole in the stadium, waiting to see Ravyn, but she was nowhere I could see.

“Give me the child!” Peter barked.

“Focus,” I said, scooping up two hands full of the dusty powder covering the ground. I stood perfectly straight in the center of our circle. I could already feel the power raging inside the circle. I was pretty worried about taking in the massive amount of power, but it had to be done.

The fine hairs on my arms stood on end as the charge in the circle grew.

“Give me your gifts,” I said.

My breath caught and my body stiffened when the intense power surged into me. My blood felt like a torrent of lava sweeping through my veins. I felt like I could take on any God. Not just one, but all of them at once! I could see the tiniest details chiseled into Peter’s golden armor. I could hear the thumping heartbeats and Ravyn’s low familiar growl. I suddenly never wanted to give this power up. I wanted to keep it, to be as powerful as my Ravyn and my daughter. Maybe one day I would be like them.

My eyes finally found Ravyn, standing on the pile of rubble, looking like she was screaming at me. I looked up and saw only the bottom of Peter’s massive sandal over my head.
Focus Kara!
my mind yelled. I quickly channeled my borrowed energy into my hands where it spread into the powder.

“You may be a God, but now you are dust,” I shouted, throwing the dust up into the air at his foot. The dust sparkled a bright golden color.

“To dust!” I yelled again, using the last bit of our energy to push the gold sparkles over Peter’s body.

Collapsing to my knees I watched his foot begin to transform into tiny particles of dust. It was moving too slow though. I crawled to Chloe, covering her with my body, waiting to be smashed. Then a wave of powder poured down on us. I closed my eyes and covered my face, doing the same to Chloe and waited. Peter had turned to the same powdery gravel of the ground, nearly smothering us in the process.

I couldn’t believe it! When the dust settled my laughter spilled out. It was a relieved laughter, and my family quickly joined in with their own relieved smiles and laughter.

“Did you just kill a God?” Angie asked.

“I think so? I’m not sure,” I said with a shrug.

My friends hugged one another, and then hugged me. They laughed and cheered, as if we were celebrating the new year. I suppose they had good reason to celebrate in such a way. We just killed a God. The thought alone made me cringe. I mean, killing a God couldn't be very good for the world. I lifted Chloe into my arms, hugging her as tight as I could; her laughter made my worries scurry away. The Gods should have known I would do anything to protect my little girl.

The celebration continued around me, but I was busy looking around for Ravyn, who wasn’t down here with us. I looked up to where I last saw her, smiling when I saw her sitting on the pile of rubble. I quickly motioned for her to join us. I watched her slowly stand, and then I waited for her to spread her wings and fly down to us. Instead, she turned and walked through the opening in the wall.

Ravyn! Don’t you dare walk out on us now!
I sent my angry thought to her. I looked around at my filthy family. “Jeanie?” I called to her.

“Yes, Kara?”

“Are there showers and clean clothing in this place?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, we sell everything here,” she replied.

“Let’s get everyone cleaned up then, so we can go home.”

“Sure thing. Hey where’s Ravyn?”

“She left,” I said, fighting to hold back my tears.

I rushed through my shower and dressed, leaving Chloe behind with Abby. I went to search for Ravyn. I used her shift in the air as a sort of hotter, colder game, finally finding her sitting outside on the steps leading into her business.

“Ravyn? Are you okay?” I asked, sitting next to her.

“I’m fine. You?”

“I’m ready to go home.” I noticed blood dripping from her leg. “You’re bleeding! You need blood.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“What is wrong with you? We’re alive and going home. You should be thrilled, like everyone else.”

“I have to stay and fix the Arena,” she said.

Her lack of emotion was perplexing. She wasn’t happy, mad, or sad. I didn’t know what was going on in her mind. I didn’t know why she was shrugging me off, like I was some concerned stranger.

“No! Jeanie can handle it. You are coming home with me,” I said, forcing her to look me in the eye.

“I’m not dumping this on Jeanie. I have to be here.”

“Liar, you want to be here. Don’t lie to me. What is wrong with you? I thought we fixed all of this anger between us? You told me you loved me, Ravyn. Were you just telling me what you thought I wanted to hear because you thought we were going to die?” When she stayed quiet, I knew I was right. “For Christ’s sake Ravyn, grow up. We defeated a God and you are upset because we have a happy ending. If you don’t love me then I think it best that you do stay here with Jeanie. We’ve been through too much for you to be pissy over this. You know I love you. You know I would do anything for you. Why can’t you just be happy with what we have?”

I heard the others coming outside before Ravyn could answer, if she was even going to answer. “Jeanie, thank you so much for everything. You are always welcome to visit if you need a vacation,” I said, hugging her.

“I might take you up on that. You keep an eye on those two beautiful daughters of yours, and try to keep this one out of trouble,” Jeanie said, pulling Ravyn to her feet.

“I’m staying here, Jeanie,” Ravyn announced.

Jeanie’s hand smacked Ravyn’s face so hard it made me gasp.

“Don’t even think about it Ravyn! You go home to your family. This is what you have wanted all along, so you are not backing out now. Go home Ravyn, you know I can handle this mess just fine,” Jeanie ordered.

I couldn’t believe Ravyn didn’t fight her, cuss at her; she did nothing to the woman who just smacked her and told her what to do. Wow! Maybe I needed some lessons from Jeanie? I tucked the idea in the back of my mind. Ravyn suddenly hugged Jeanie and patted her on the ass several times.

“Hey.” I nudged Ravyn.

“I can’t help it, I am going to miss that ass Jeanie.”

My jaw dropped. What the hell was wrong with my ass? I mean, Jeanie was gorgeous just like every other demon, but I worked hard on this ass and the body that came with it. Ravyn loved my ass! Or did she? Stupid demons! I turned away from them, not wanting to hear anything more.

After everyone said their long goodbyes to Jeanie, we headed to the private airport. Abby and Ravyn rode in the other cab with Volac, Angela and Lokie. How did I get stuck in the back seat with Devlin?

“I believe you owe me numerous apologies, my dear,” he whispered.

“I do. I honestly never meant for any of it to go that far. I was blind. I almost ruined your friendship with Ravyn, and I lost a very dear friend in the process. I am so sorry Devlin. I understand if you can never forgive me.”

“I think you deserve some forgiveness since you saved us,” he teased.

“Thank you Devlin. I can’t wait to be back home. I just want to sleep for days,” I confessed.

“You used a lot of magic Kara. You deserve to sleep for as long as you want.”

Finally we were on the plane. Ravyn sat in the back with Abby and Volac. Chloe wanted to be with her sister so I let her. Lokie and Devlin still wanted to celebrate. Shortly after we were in the air they popped the cork off the Champagne. I should have been happy, but I wanted Ravyn to be happy with me. She looked miserable. She wouldn’t smile at me or anything. So I said, screw it. I saved everyone, and dammit I’m going to celebrate!