Guardian (14 page)

With each passing minute, she felt more inadequate. “Humans are powerless,” she spat.

Will’s inquisitive gaze turned on her. “No, they’re not.” Such conviction drove his words, she had to look at his face to see if he was serious. He was.

She shook her head and looked away.

“Nikki, humans wield one of the most powerful forces in this realm.”

She crossed her arms. “Which is?”

“Prayer.”

“Prayer?” she said, half-mocking.

“Everything that’s done is done by petition. A great battle wages for the lives and deaths of those below.” Will nodded toward the train.

“If there’s such a great battle going on, why can’t I see it?”

His mouth quirked a smile. “Perhaps you haven’t petitioned to do so.”

She threw her arms up. Fine. “I’d like to see the battle,” she said to no one.

When the sky darkened around her, Nikki crouched for a moment. A cloud blotted the sun, and she had to wonder if a silent airplane or a huge blimp floated overhead. When she looked up, she saw something filling the sky in a circle above the train. Ominous gray-black clouds were hovering, gathering, but something kept them at bay. Another circle created a barrier between them and the train. Each cloud was independent of the others, and when she squinted she realized they had shape. Not quite human shaped, but close, like a person’s distorted shadow.

“Show me more,” she whispered, reverence entering her voice.

The scene above cleared, and she watched the barrier circle become beings of light. Silver warriors blocked the dark clouds by holding swords of chiseled sunbeams. The brilliant glare was so intense, Nikki’s eyes watered. She rubbed the moisture from them then tipped her head to look again. “What is this?” she finally uttered.

Will didn’t answer, but his attention drifted to one section of the large circle of what she now knew were angels. A being maneuvered through the dark shapes. He was bigger than the others, darker almost, as if he himself were a cavernous void, a black hole. The other menacing creatures cleared the way for him.

Icy coldness seeped through Nikki’s clothing, stroking her skin and causing her to shudder. “What is that?” she whispered.

“Death. He’s come to claim another.”

Nikki’s heart skipped and her focus trailed to the train. The Halflings had maneuvered many of the wounded to a grassy spot where they laid each person down gently before returning to the train to search for more.

Will pointed. “He’s come for the boy.”

Nikki followed his gesture to the small child stretched out on the ground, his mother crying beside him. “No.” Indignation arose within her. “No, he can’t have him!”

Will shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do to stop him.”

The ugly, lumpy cloud had made his way to the edge of the angelic wall. Even from below she could feel the smug sense of superiority it oozed. Her eyes fanned to the boy again, still clutching a bright yellow toy truck. Blood smeared his forehead from a wound along his hairline. “No, you’re wrong. I can pray.”

Will’s brow rose.

She closed her eyes, but no words came. She really didn’t know how to pray. Will had called it a petition. All she knew was that a petition was a heartfelt plea. The heartfelt part won’t be a problem. She threw a glance to the tiny hands clasping the toy, hanging on as if the truck represented life itself.

“You might want to hurry,” Will said. “He’s breaking through.”

Nikki’s eyes closed to slits and she looked up. The dark being pressed against the angelic army and pierced a hole in the perimeter.

She clamped her eyes closed and dropped to her knees. Pray, her heart screamed. But her mind kept spinning. Was this part of the big picture? Did the Halflings pray? Stupid question—Raven had done just that in the forest after she’d killed the hell hound. He’d held her and stroked her back, and it was like the words flowed out of him. What did he say? Oh, I am really bad at this.

“Pray from your heart,” Will said.

She nodded, clamped her hands together, and petitioned the Throne. Nikki didn’t know how long she prayed, but her knees ached from the press of rocky ground beneath her. When she opened her eyes, the sky seemed a little lighter and death was gone. “I did it?”

Will smiled down at her. “You weren’t the only one praying.” He nodded to the boy’s mother. She held him in her arms, rocking him back and forth and weeping.

“The sky is lighter.”

“Yes. Some of the darkness was forced to flee. Imagine if everyone down there was praying.” Will’s storm-blue eyes sparked. But something else flickered there too. A challenge. And Nikki knew what she had to do.

Mace caught her in his grip as she ran past the last passenger car. “Nikki, why aren’t you up on the hill?” He supported her arms, grasping her elbows, and she let her weight rest on him while she tried to catch her breath. “I had to come. Look.” She pointed to the sky.

Mace stared overhead.

“People are praying, and death isn’t taking any more prisoners today.”

A slow smile spread on Mace’s face. “You’re dealing with this whole clash of realms thing really well. You should be proud.”

“Well, I’m not. I’m leveled by it. Angels, Mace. I saw angels.” She thought a moment. “I mean, I always see an angel when I look at you. And there’s Will. But these were white-clad, swordcarrying warrior angels floating in the sky.” Nikki felt the blood drain from her cheeks.

Mace’s grip tightened. “Hmm, maybe you aren’t dealing with it as well as I thought.”

Tiny spots appeared before her eyes. She shook her head in an attempt to scatter them, but the spots remained.

“Deeeep breaths,” Mace said.

She nodded, but her lungs were light as a feather and they didn’t seem inclined to accept the oxygen her deeeep breaths were offering.

A voice came from the right. “Mace, I need your help.” It was Vegan. Or maybe Winter. Strange that she couldn’t tell. Strange that everything felt so dreamlike and foggy.

“Sit down,” Mace instructed while his arm encircled her waist, lowering her to the ground.

Once there, he released her. He was talking, mouth moving, words coming out. Something about being right back. Okay, she thought. And hoped he heard. He must have because he disappeared in the direction of the Vegan/Winter voice.

Nikki rested her forehead on her knees and tried to calm her speeding heart. She’d grown accustomed to the hammer blasts in her chest over the course of the day. But really, that couldn’t be good for a system. Get a grip. Everything’s fine.

She glanced around. Wounded were still being taken out of the railcars, the heavenly army was still holding back the clouds. Off to the right Mace and Vegan were dragging someone from the last car. A noise to her left drew her attention. A black, lumpy cloud lumbered toward her. It’d taken shape, and its fat, grotesque legs, one bigger than the other, carried it in a sort of awkward, loping run. Holes in its misshapen head framed white eyes. No irises, only a tiny pupil. Nikki stood as it approached her. But it didn’t see her. When she glanced over her shoulder, she discovered its milky eyes were focused on Mace.

“No!” she screamed.

Death continued running as if she wasn’t even there.

“No,” she said again, this time with more force and holding her hand out to stop it. “God, please, don’t let this happen!”

It skittered to a stop at her feet. Milky eyes turned on Nikki as if trying to focus. The creature’s odor closed around her while the being found a new target. Her. She felt consumed by the monster. Black hands reached toward her throat, but its touch was everywhere, and Nikki was instantly submerged in its vat-of-snakes embrace. Her skin crawled in response, and she desperately sought a way to gain release. She opened her mouth to scream, but could only suck in a breath of the creature. Something slid across her tongue then down her throat. She wanted to clamp her mouth shut to close it off, but it was too late. It fisted and tugged as if pulling, ripping her soul from her body.

Nikki tried to hold on, but her sanity was slipping from her. The creature smiled a toothless grin and once again a cracked, bleeding tongue darted out as if he intended to lick the side of her face. She was immobile. Death puffed hot breath into her face.

Behind her, she heard the words, “You have no authority here.”

And as quickly as it had leeched onto her, it released her from its grip.

Nikki felt the weight of Will’s presence warming her back, persuading life to return to her.

The creature opened his mouth wide and an anguished screech split the air. She clamped her hands over her ears.

A moment later, it was gone.

She blinked and sagged to the ground as life pooled back into her. “What just happened, Will?” Around her, everything looked normal: Mace and Vegan placing a brace against the contorted door of a passenger car, a green pasture dotted with Halflings and humans, Will.

“You met death and overcame it.”

Fear had disappeared with the creature, leaving a strange emptiness when it went. She stood. “Uh, you overcame it. Was it really killing me?”

“No. Just trying to intimidate you.”

“Well, it worked. It was after Mace.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Nikki heard the groan of metal. She turned and watched as a beam broke directly over Mace’s head.

It wasn’t that Mace feared death. He understood eternity, even had a healthy respect for it. But the idea of a dark infinity was enough to shake anyone. The humans didn’t know how good they had it. All they had to do was make a choice.

Of course, he hoped for light, for mercy, and had made every choice in this life to do his best to be worthy of such grace. But ultimately that decision rested with the Throne. He wasn’t human. He wasn’t offered the mercy seat as they were. Yet Mace knew the grace of the One he served. And because he did, he’d had no reason to fear death.

But the look on Nikki’s face as he heard her scream, and as he felt the shifting of the beam above and the wind as it dropped to him … that, he feared. And something, some deep force, threw his hands into the air, and he caught the beam before it crashed against him. He lowered it to the ground as it whined in protest. And as it fell, so did Nikki. She fainted in a heap at Will’s feet.

Without stopping to think, Mace jogged the distance to her and pulled her onto his lap. He rocked her gently back and forth and thought of what a horrible day this was for a human to endure. She awakened wrapped in his arms. And then she cried. Great, heaving sobs. One hand stroked her hair, moving the tear-moistened strands from her face. The other stayed tightly fitted around her waist; an assurance, a promise not to let her go.

“Mace, there are a few more wounded.” At some point Vegan had come alongside him, and she didn’t sound altogether pleased.

He closed his eyes a moment. Back to work. He heard the other Halflings working to situate the remaining injured and dressing what wounds they could with torn strips of clothing. “Are you okay now?” Mace whispered, because Nikki needed to be okay. A seed of anger and indignation rooted into his heart, a seed that was connected to her. Because she’d lost her parents, her home, even her dog. Because she’d had to watch him almost die, because she was being hunted by evil creatures no teenage girl should have to think about. And for all those reasons, she needed to be okay right now. He would never let iniquity settle in his heart because she was destroyed by what he brought into her life. He’d always been okay with the destiny chosen for him. But he wasn’t okay with this. And iniquity, though it could be a fire able to warm the coldest soul, was also a one-way ticket to hell.

Mace. Holding her. His beautiful face resting above hers. He asked her something. Was she okay? Nikki read every worry in his face and nodded. He needed her to be okay.

So she was.

She pulled a breath and with it drew her courage. “I’ve watched you die twice today.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could grab them and shove them back in. This isn’t what he needed right now. He needed someone strong, someone able to stand beside him, not crumble at every challenge. “But I’m okay. Vegan’s right. You have to help the rest of the wounded.”