Angel's Kiss (32 page)

“What happens to the ones that are corrupted?” Danny asked.

Michael seemed somewhat sad at the question, his eyes full of a pain and compassion that was only rivalled by Danny, and I found myself feeling sorry for him.

“They’re disposed of. There’s
nothing else
we can do for them.”

Danny stood up.

“Thank you, Michael, for answering my questions so candidly. If I have your leave I have patrolling to attend to.”

Michael held up his hand to stop Danny. “A moment, Danizriel.”

He walked over to Danny and placed an ancient hand — he looked much older than Danny — on his shoulder.

“We have known each other a long time.” Michael’s voice took on a pensive note and his eyes drifted to a point above and behind Danny. “If angels could have children, I’d like to think you would have been my son, we who have fought side by side and seen much.” He looked back to Danny again. “You know that you can come to me at any time to discuss …
whatever
is on your mind. Unlike some of the archangels, I would work with you, rather than against you for my own purposes.”

Was Michael telling Danny that if he felt he had a secret he would gladly share whatever the burden was with him, or even take it away?

Danny clasped Michael’s arm and nodded. “Thank you. Am I free to go now?”

Michael let go of Danny’s shoulder and waved him away. “As you wish …”

The imaged faded and Danny turned to me.

“I wanted to ask him what I was to do if I came across an earth-bound angel, corrupted or not, but I feared his answer … I do not want to go against his orders. We
have
been through much together — the fall of angels, the rise of mortals.”

“I understand. I’ve put you in an impossible situation. And what of that
other
angel, when the forty-eight hours are up? He’ll be expecting me dead.”

“And he’ll be sorely disappointed,” Danny replied dryly. “I’ll try and get a message to him. I want to organise to meet him on his territory, to sort out this matter once and for all.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said. “He may be an angel, but I don’t trust him and —”

Danny held a finger against my lips to stop me talking. “We’ll discuss it later, when I know if he’s willing to talk.”

20.
A Face from the Past

Danny called one of the forest creatures that aided him with surveillance to come to him. It was an eagle — the same eagle who had found me in the forest a lifetime ago.

We stood in the doorway to the cottage, the eagle on the outside, Danny and I on the inside. Danny crouched down to talk to the eagle.

“You know whom I seek,” he said. “Find him and tell him I wish to meet with him at a place of his choosing. Return with his answer.”

The eagle screeched and set off, flapping its powerful wings and creating a light breeze.

Danny watched the eagle leave and said lovingly, “He is old, but faithful and dependable. He’ll get the message through.”

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“If you want to do a little hunting we still have time. I’ll come with you.”

“How long before the forty-eight hours are up? I can’t tell how much time has passed with the day being so cloudy.”

Danny shook his head and chuckled. “How remiss of me! I keep forgetting you were mortal for most of your life … that you would judge the passing of time by mortal standards.”

A mantle clock appeared above the fireplace.

…
mortal for most of your life.
Those words reminded me that I truly was an angel. I was happy to be more like Danny. Okay, I was an earth-bound angel, but I was one of them nonetheless.
Okay,
I was an earth-bound angel who had been activated by a vampire, but I wasn’t corrupt. I’d been like this for weeks now —
or is it months?
— and there wasn’t an evil bone in my body.
Okay, okay,
there were
spiteful
bones, but they were definitely not evil bones.

“Twenty hours have passed,” Danny said. “Plenty of time for a hunt.”

“I’ve never hunted in the rain before. I mean, not since my fall from the treetops. All the scents will be washed away.”

“All the scents the rain reaches, yes,” Danny corrected me, “but there are other ways to track a scent and other ways to track in general. I’m not sure how they would work for you … there are no books that instruct on the workings of an earth-bound angel, incorruptible or not.”

“You mean something like those special goggles they have in the armed forces to detect heat and stuff?” I asked.

For a change Danny actually knew what I was talking about. “Similar. Vampires don’t give off heat, though. You, however, radiate heat in waves.”

I laughed. “Trust me to be a beacon.”

“Why the word
beacon?
” he asked.

“I figure they’d be able to sense heat. I know I can.”

Danny nodded. “They can indeed, though they need to be relatively close — within twenty-five metres or so — to do so. Let’s head to your favourite starting point. I’ll give you some tips on how to find them when there’s no scent trail to follow.”

“Will I need an umbrella?” I asked. Immediately I realised how stupid that sounded.

Danny burst out laughing. I figured he was imagining me chasing vampires with an umbrella over my head.
Mary Poppins I ain’t!
At last his laughter settled down and he smiled, his eyes shining like perfectly formed sapphires.

“Only if you intend to stab a vampire with it. Being an immortal, which I’m now quite certain you are, the elements won’t affect you. You might feel the cold and the heat — I’m not entirely sure about that — but you won’t catch a cold or get sick, won’t get sunburned or frostbitten.”

“No suntan, ever again?” I gasped.

“You’re already tanned,” he replied. “A lovely golden colour.”

“Oh, am I?”

I was surprised by Danny’s assessment of me. I thought I looked too white. Maybe I was wrong. I was certainly darker than Danny, although from what I’d seen of angels — two live ones and a memory of one — they were quite pale to begin with.

“Lighter than honey, but just as tasty,” he chuckled.

“How come I don’t have powers like you,” I pouted, “if I’m an angel?”

Danny shrugged his shoulders. “Any number of reasons I suppose — you’re not at full maturity, you’re part vampire, or maybe earth-bound angels simply have different powers.”

Different powers,
I thought,
like transporting without moving. I wonder what else I’ll be able to do.

Danny held out a hand. In it were my knife and his feather, the latter being my lucky charm. The leather thong on the feather had been replaced with an elasticised band, as per my request.

“You’ll be needing these,” he said.

I strapped one on each arm and took us back to where we’d found the first werewolf’s body, the same place where I came to be captured and taken to meet Drake, prior to being hunted. I couldn’t detect any scents.

“I don’t smell a thing.”

“Do you see any tracks at all?”

I crouched down and studied the wet earth.

“I’m not sure if these are tracks or not. They’re filled with water.”

“Okay, the water is a bit of an issue for you. Try smelling the trees and the foliage nearest this area.”

I walked to the closest tree and sniffed up and down the trunk. There was a very faint scent. It didn’t smell like vampire to me. More like possum.

I shook my head. “I’m not having much luck here either.”

“One last thing,” Danny said. “If that doesn’t work I’ll lead the way. Close your eyes.”

I closed them, as Danny had asked, and could only see the reddish-orange tinge of the veins and vessels under the lids.

“Try looking
through
your eyelids. They may act as a filter of light. I’ve heard this works for some of our kind — those who aren’t in the archangels’ armies.”

I concentrated on seeing through the lids, pretending they were rose coloured glasses. For a split second I thought I saw an eerie green glow, and then it disappeared.

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Danny. I thought I saw something green at the edges then it was gone. I guess I’m not a wet weather girl.”

“Perhaps with practice you’ll get better. The fact you saw
something
is encouraging.”

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. With his arms stretched out to his sides, he turned around slowly a few times. I was reminded of the scene from
The Sound of Music,
when Maria sang the opening number. Danny seemed to enjoy using his senses to find a trail for us to follow.

He opened his eyes, and as if he had read my mind said, “My uncanny ability to locate quarry is quite valued by my superior. He considers me the best amongst all the archangels’ armies, though I have my doubts.”

“Which way?” I asked.

He pointed in a south-easterly direction. I was getting better at determining direction, but had not travelled in the direction he pointed, beyond this point, before.

“You lead, I’ll follow. Don’t go too fast,” I cautioned him. “I don’t know that area at all.”

He placed a hand on my left cheek and kissed the other. “You’ll be fine.”

He ran, and I shadowed him closely, ducking and weaving through the trees and leaping gracefully —
I can fly
— over rocks, boulders and ravines. He glanced over his shoulder occasionally to check my progress, and was pleased to see I was keeping up.

At one point, when the ground levelled out, and the rain eased off to a light shower, I lengthened my stride and overtook him. My only mistake was turning to run backwards, so that I could poke my tongue out at Danny to gloat about how fast I could run — even backwards! He called out a warning. When I realised what he was referring to it was too late. I smacked into a tree at full speed and came to a sudden halt.

The breath was knocked out of my lungs with a
whoosh
and I heard my head and back crack. My vision blurred. Pain wove its way up through my spine and blazed white-hot in my head.

Stupid, stupid girl,
I scolded myself.

Already I could feel my body repairing itself. The ability to heal was really going to save me a packet on health insurance …
if I had any!

Danny stopped in front of me. He crouched down and peered up into my face. I hadn’t noticed my head had lolled forwards and I was looking at the ground.

“Are you okay?” he asked, though he didn’t seem too concerned. “That was quite a collision.”

I lifted my head and my neck made a cracking sound. I cringed. Not from pain, but the noise, which echoed in my head.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“I don’t mind you overtaking me as long as you keep your eyes forward,” he chuckled.

“I suppose I forgot how fast I can run now.” I stood up, stretching my arms over my head. “That wouldn’t have hurt too much if I ran at my old mortal pace. Now it’s like being hit by a truck travelling at a hundred kilometres an hour … only I’m the truck!”

“It’s not much further,” Danny said. “There’s a cave about five minutes away.”

There were three vampires in various stages of undress in the cave. I was glad we hadn’t happened upon them engaging in their perverse idea of sex — all that blood. It was sickening.

Danny took out the first one with angel fire. While he was busy doing that I pounced on the second one. We tumbled to the floor, knocking the third one to the ground in the process. I quickly wrapped my legs around the neck of the third vampire as she tried to sit up. She wasn’t going anywhere, and though she struggled and scratched, she was no match for the power in my thighs.

I bit the other vampire savagely on the neck, causing her to cry out in pain. I was anxious for her blood. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was being told to store as much energy as I could. To do so I had to feed.

Danny crouched to the side and watched intently.

“Nice technique,” he said of my headlock.

I couldn’t answer immediately as my mouth was full and my lips weren’t ready to let go. When the vamp’s body was drained I pushed it to the side and half sat up. The last vampire was pushed down to the ground from her attempted sitting position, still trapped between my legs.

“It came to me as something to try, when I was practicing my gymnastics,” I replied. “Pretty cool, hey?”

“Very,” he agreed.

“
Fuckin’ goddamn whore!
” the vampire yelled.

I shook my head and, leaning over to one side, clamped my hand over her mouth.

“Why do they always resort to profanities?” I asked.

“It’s in their nature,” he chuckled, “though their vocabulary has greatly increased over the centuries, as mortals come up with
new
profanities.”