She Speaks to Angels (32 page)

“
It’s Ali!” I shouted stubbornly. Why couldn’t anyone get it straight? If I was going to die, it would be at least with my name preference!

Just when things could not get any worse, I saw out of the corner of my eye a furry beast which lunged and landed next to the Fanged Demon. A Were; just what I needed. As if the fanged monster were not enough! A grizzly growl resounded from its lupine facial features. A repugnant stench like rotting flesh scented his wolfish skin like profane perfume. Deep set, black eyes flicked toward the Fanged Demon, and they both grinned. The stain of blood embedded in the Were’s neck fur told me he had killed earlier.

Grass below my sneakers felt slippery, wet, surely frosting from the cold. My lips quivered as I bared my white teeth. The cold of the night crawled up my legs and arms and then up my neck. I had never felt colder. I swallowed my tears and tried to swallow my fear, but I had never felt more alone. When would Kian show up, and why hadn’t Samuel burst in here? I had to trust Kian, but it was proving challenging. After all, I had a Were and Fanged Demon on either side of me and the Hudson River behind me. The odds did not fall in my favor. Surely this had been Dameon’s plan all along...to let the Were rip me apart as the Fanged beast tore his blade-like teeth into my neck and chest.

Dameon had to be watching from somewhere. He would never miss this opportunity. But had Krysta tracked him yet?

Last Stand

As
the last sliver of moon hid behind the branch of the elm tree, my last hint of light dissipated and the only hint of illumination came from the four monstrous eyes of the two demon creatures. One pair was pale blue and the other, stone black. Demons had a kind of star-shine quality to their eyes which glowed in the dark, I suppose like all predators who hunt at night: the lion, the alligator and hawk.

But I didn’t want demon eyes to be the last thing I ever saw.

Turning my head to the river, I watched the crests of waves lap against the riverbank. I looked back at the demons. One opened his mouth again and again, while the other flexed his arms and chest and growled. Death would be eminent if I didn’t do something fast.

“
Feel free to squeal,” The vampire-wanna-be commented under his breath as he took a step in my direction. I could almost feel his pointy incisors on the skin of my neck before I whirled around and dove into the Hudson.

My head bobbed up and down as water rushed into my mouth. Shivering, I hugged myself as I floated downstream. Moonlight radiated over the grove I had left, and I saw Samuel pull out his gun and heard a shot. In the distance I also made out Krysta and Jacob as they jumped on top of the Were. I couldn’t see everything, but there was a rumble of bodies in the dark, and I heard a few hisses, growls, and then another gunshot. And then silence.

My body floated several yards down the Hudson before I drifted to shore and hauled myself out on the land. I shivered, and my lips must have purpled, but I still breathed. My pulse beat strong. The two monsters hadn’t killed me! I wrapped my arms around myself as I stumbled through the elm grove many yards away from where I had almost been attacked. Drenched in water, my sneakers squeaked with each step.

“
Kian, where are you?” I whispered, hoping he’d finally hear me. I felt starved for him to be near, to touch me, to feel his warm presence.

Suddenly, a stream of grey-white fog swirled between my feet and up my ankles. I remembered that feeling so well. Closing my eyes, I let the fog encase me, all of me. If ever I needed Kian on me, it was now.

Soft to the skin’s touch, I felt the fog crawl up my leg and over my belly button, over my chest, breasts, and then my neck. It was as close as I could ever get to being
one
with Kian. My heart still pounded from my near-death experience, and now with Kian so close on me, my heart beat even faster. Death and ecstasy intermingled.

With the mist swirling around my neck I felt a tug. It felt tighter and tighter. Like a belt the fog fastened around my neck. When I felt myself unable to fully swallow, I fell to my knees. “Kian?” I could barely say his name. But as the fog manifested, I saw the outline of Dameon’s form standing before me, and his callous left hand secured itself around my supple neck. His right hand slapped me across my reddening cheek.

“
You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long. It ends here.” He threw me backward while still holding onto my neck. My back popped as he released me.

Just like the first time he tried to kill me, he had the upper hand because of my foolish romantic notions. Dark, resigned eyes appeared dead to my sight as the grey light from the moon became anemic. The color in my face must have paled as I felt my pulse weaken.

He dropped me to the ground, and his foot crushed my back. As I squirmed on the dirty ground in the grove, my wet clothes took on patches of mud. I shook in fear as Dameon bared his sharp teeth. Fangs drew close to my neck. He must have killed more humans since last time I saw him, giving up his gift of fire for fangs. Just like his father, I guess, breaking all the rules governing the paranormals. The demon king, a Were...and his son the prince, a Fanged beast.

As Dameon’s fangs ripped into my neck like a careless lion, I saw my life flash before me, all the times I had spent with Kian, and then I saw the Were and Fanged Demon that were sent to kill me. Just like father and son.

As blood drained from my neck and I became too weak to stand, I struggled to keep my eyelids open, but I pushed myself upward enough to see out of the corner of my eyes. Suddenly, Nathaniel and Kian landed in the elm grove. White wings spanned from one tree to the next like a celestial dream.

Nathaniel threw out his arms, his hands open with palms facing Dameon. Within seconds shots of fire rang out from underneath his skin and moved in rhythmic wave patterns toward Dameon. In response, Dameon quickly dove into the moist dirt below him, his hands and knees scraping. The surge of fire rushed over his back, just missing him, but it managed to scorch his spine.

Squealing like a pig in pain, Dameon rolled over and jumped to his feet. His dead eyes searched out an elm branch dangling close by and, as he leapt for the elevated freedom, Nathaniel darted at him and hit Dameon squarely in the chest, knocking him over again onto the muddy ground. As they tumbled over each other, I heard a punch and then a rumble from the mud and, though I couldn’t see very well, I made out two dark shadows ripping into each other. They sounded like two rabid dogs. On occasion a flare of fire would shoot up, and I heard what I swear could have been fingernails scraping into skin.

As Nathaniel kept Dameon busy, Kian leapt to me and held my head, checking my wounds, putting light pressure on my throat, and even calling my name a few times, but I felt too weak to answer. “Damn it, Ali, say something!” he pleaded as I watched his elegant feathery wings undulate in the wind. “Keep your eyes open!” I blinked and tried to focus on his voice as I went in and out of consciousness.

Nathaniel beat his fists and legs into Dameon’s chest. But Dameon clawed at Nathaniel’s eyes with sharp hawk-like nails, leaving deep scratch marks. My eyes blinked shut, and I heard Kian shout Nathaniel’s name. “Nathaniel! Nooo!” Kian darted away from me.

Opening my eyes, I saw Kian leap onto Dameon and yank his neck backward. With Dameon’s sharp fingernails dug into Nathaniel face and his fangs deep in Nathaniel’s neck, I knew Nathaniel must have felt like me...like death had just crawled up inside him.

As blood leaked from Nathaniel, the color drained from his face. He must have looked like me, too: colorless. I tried to say something, to order Kian to take Nathaniel away from here and save him, to save himself. But no words came out of my frail lips. I only felt my blood draining from the gaping holes in my neck and watched the crimson color bleed over the muddy ground, making some kind of frosting I could have used on Christmas cupcakes. My mind felt hazy and vague.

But the silhouette of Kian lunged to his friend with an outstretched hand. He pulled Nathaniel up off the ground as Dameon laughed with the sound of a hyena. Blood dripped from Dameon’s fangs with each bone-chilling chuckle. His face looked half charcoaled, from Nathaniel’s fire thrower. But Nathaniel looked like a rag doll, unable to stand alone, dependent on Kian for movement. I felt so bad, so sorry. I wanted to do something, anything, but I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for more than thirty seconds.

All I could hear was the eerie guffaw of Dameon echo through the grove and through my thumping ears as my lids closed. Then I heard familiar voices.

“
Where are you, Kian?” Krysta shouted from a few yards away from me.

“
He’s over here.” I heard Jacob.

“
Where is my sister?” Samuel’s voice demanded.

Dameon hissed. “Make a choice. Me or your friend or Ali.” Dameon’s sinister plan turned my blood hot as my vision grew black.

Silence.

Then a rustling sound moved toward me.

“
I’ll have the pleasure of killing you, Kian, another day.” Dameon’s words floated over me and then his presence disappeared, surely escaping somewhere into the sky.

I could not see a thing, not even with my eyes open. I couldn’t be sure if I even felt my body anymore. I know I couldn’t move my legs or arms.

“
Where is she?” I heard Samuel cry.

“
Stay away. It will do no good for you to see her like this.” Krysta said, and I heard bodies wrestle.

“
I’ll hold him.” Jacob answered and there was another rustling sound.

“
Ali!” Sam cried, and I wanted to cry back to him.

Nothing came out.

“
Ali, Ali?” Kian shook me.

“
She is going to die if we don’t do something now,” Krysta whispered over me.

Die?

“
You must use me, use my wings.” Nathaniel’s voice sounded like an angel mature beyond his years.

“
Use you?” Kian snapped. “That will kill you.”

“
I’m dead in minutes anyway. I’ve lost too much blood from my back, from my neck. I am too weak.”

“
Don’t say that!” Kian barked. “We can get you back to the mansion. Sammael will heal you.”

“
I’m too far gone, and what about Ali? What doctor can repair her damage? We would never get her the help she needs in time.”

“
But...” Kian’s tears fell over my neck and rolled down my chest. The only sensation I could still feel.

Krysta touched my wrist. “Her heartbeat is fading fast. We have to do something!”

“
I’ve always been different.” Nathaniel confessed. “The only angel with the gift of fire. What if I was created to save Ali.” He declared this like a fact, not a question. Then I heard a loud rip.

“
Your wing!” Kian reacted in shock. Then a soft cushion of feathers folded beneath my back and wrapped around my chest. Warmth. Somehow, the exhausting pain lessened.

“
Tear off the other one! Now! Before she is dead,” Nathaniel demanded, and I heard Kian whimper just before there was the sound of another popping tear. The second wing felt warm on my body, wrapped around me like a baby blanket.

“
Arghhhhh.” Nathaniel shrieked. The pain must have been agonizing as the blood drained from his sides, his back and his neck. Within seconds I heard him no more.

“
Nathaniel!” Krysta and Kian cried out his name as they withdrew from my presence.

“
What have you done to her?” Samuel screamed. He must have broken away from Jacob, because I heard his footsteps pound closer to me.

“
Saving her life.” Kian declared.

“
Ali! Ali!” Samuel put his hand under my neck as his tears fell over my eyelids and cheek.

Krysta, Kian and Jacob grew silent.

“
Ali!” Samuel’s head fell to my chest to hear my heartbeat as blood began to vehemently churn in my veins. Energy surged through my bones and cracked my back into place. A radiant glow engulfed me. The soreness of my neck alleviated as I moved my fingers over the holes the fangs had left.

As my fingers touched the openings, they healed and sealed up beneath newly forming skin. The wings wrapped around me, fused beneath my arms, and became like my own limbs. I felt warm...like the sun. I had never felt more energized, like every sickness, cold, or injury I ever had vanished inside this perfect form. This perfect angelic creature that became...ME.

“
Ali? Are you alright?” I heard Samuel’s sigh of relief when my fingers moved over my neck. Opening my eyes I saw my brother first, and then I glanced at Kian, who was still hanging over Nathaniel’s deplumed body. Jacob held Krysta as she sobbed.

Using my hands to push me upward, I stood erect, and the wings that used to belong to Nathaniel fluttered on either side of my body.

“
Ali, your eyes!” Sam looked flabbergasted at my appearance.

“
What?” I shrugged.

“
Your eyes are silver-violet.”

I moved my arms to hug Sam but found my wings in the way. “I have wings!” I must have looked perplexed and pleased at the same time.

“
Yes, you do.” Jacob assured me that he saw them too.

“
What happened to you? What are you?” Samuel’s brows quirked and his expression looked grave as he took a step backward.

“
She is like us now,” Kian told him.