To Kill An Angel (31 page)

Without hesitation, Sebastian swung the razor edge of his deadly wing across her throat as well.  She didn’t so much as flinch.

After the wing returned to its folded position at Sebastian’s back, he reached behind him and pulled out the short, bloodied feather with one quick yank.  He studied it for a fraction of a second before he slid his tongue along the length of it, smacking his lips as he savored the flavor.  Finally, he turned the feather sword in his hand to wield it like a stake.

When Sebastian turned to fully face Bo, my heart jumped up into my throat.  I recognized this moment.  I knew it like an unshakable nightmare.  This was the moment, THE moment, that I’d seen in my vision. 

An indescribable fear, mingled with an overwhelming helplessness, rose up to choke me. The scene was only seconds away from taking place exactly as I’d seen it, only there was one problem.  I wasn’t free to put myself between Bo and Sebastian.  And if I couldn’t stand between them then the wrong man would die.

I began to fight against my invisible restraints as my eyes darted between the two men.  But it was no use; I could barely move inside Heather’s powerful hold.  As my mind raced for a solution, I struggled desperately to hold at bay the panic that threatened to suffocate me. 

But then something amazing happened, something that would forever change the outcome of this ultimate battle between good and evil.  It was so divine, it could only have come from one source.  The God that Sebastian had boasted that he’d already defeated was pulling the ace out of his sleeve.

Raising his chin defiantly, Bo flexed his shoulders.  From the center of his back arose two enormous white wings.  Like Sebastian, their emergence destroyed his shirt, leaving the tattered remains to fall silently from his shoulders. 

I couldn’t quiet the soft gasp at the sight of him.  It was as if the angel that he’d carried inside him all his life had burst forth from him to challenge and to save the world around him.  He was magnificent.

Bo’s skin turned a golden brown, the sheen of it glistening in the dim moonlight that poured through the hole in the roof.  It was as though a river of life had suddenly overtaken the dam that held it at bay.  It flowed through him, flowed from him.   It rushed over me like a warm breeze, teasing the hair at my temples.

Bo shook his shoulders and his wings trembled in response, as if they felt the power surging through him.  Light glistened on the iridescent feathers making them appear as mother of pearl. 

A confidence, a deadly assurance radiated from Bo.  It shone from his eyes.  Even though they were not turned toward me, I could see it.  I could see it in the way the darkness itself seemed to recede from his gaze.  I smelled it in the unmistakable scent of triumph in the air.

Twisting his body, Bo reached around and did as Sebastian had done.  He removed a single feather with one quick yank.  As he held it in front of his body, the moonlight glinted off the blade-like edge.

Without taking his eyes off Sebastian, Bo waved his hand around the semi-circle and the invisible bonds Heather had restrained us with fell away, leaving us all to fall in weak-kneed heaps on the dirt floor.

As I watched Bo and Sebastian circle each other like two primal warriors, I fought to get electrical stimulus to the paralyzed muscles of my legs, stimulus that would allow me to move.  But somehow the connection was broken.  It was as if the link between my mind and my lower half had been severed.

And then the battle began.

In a lunge that happened so quickly even my acute vampire vision could barely track it, Sebastian struck out at Bo.  Bo darted left to avoid it, slicing the back of Sebastian’s neck as he passed. 

Bo pushed Heather aside.  She stumbled, but rather than coming back at him, she continued to back away as if to say
This is not my fight.  I’m only all in when I know I can win. 
I thought such an attitude was typical of the Prince of Darkness.

With a single flap of his wings, Sebastian leapt into the air and then fell on Bo, swinging his weapon in a downward stabbing motion.  Bo dodged the worst of the hit, but the deadly feather still grazed the skin of his chest, leaving a bloody streak in its wake.

Bo recovered quickly, sidestepping Sebastian and throwing himself into the air to twirl over Sebastian’s head like a graceful bird.  Sebastian, in an attempt to anticipate Bo’s landing, spun on his heel and struck out with his feather in a single quick jab.

Sebastian overshot his real target, but his deadly weapon made contact with another.  I heard Annika’s gasp of surprise as the feather tore through her chest and entered her heart like a knife slicing through butter. 

Both Bo and Sebastian paused for a few seconds, each of them watching Annika as she slumped slowly over onto her face.  The last gurgling sounds of her body were muffled by the dirt, but they reverberated through the silence of the room.

“Another victim whose death can be laid at your feet,” Sebastian taunted. 

Using Bo’s shock to his advantage, Sebastian turned and swept his feather through the air like a fencing champion, backing Bo away, step by step.  Finally, when Bo ran into a wooden support beam for the barn, he raised his own feather and brought it down across Sebastian’s and then he danced quickly away.

Sebastian simply turned toward Bo as he moved away, following him with his eyes until he stopped.  With a sinking feeling, I recognized the position that the two men were in.  Bo was on one side of the semi-circle, Sebastian on the other and they faced one another across the expanse of earth that lay between them.

Sebastian took one step toward Bo and stopped.  Bo matched him by doing the same.  I knew that the two were literally steps away from one of their deaths. 

Closing my eyes, I said a quick prayer and I focused with all my might.  I visualized my legs moving, coming under me, pushing me to my feet and propelling me across the short space.  I visualized putting my body between the two fighting angels.

I felt no movement, so it was with a heavy heart that I opened my eyes.  What I saw was that the world seemed to have decelerated into slow motion. 

I saw Bo’s handsome face draw into a mask of determined fury as his mouth opened in a battle cry.  I watched the muscles in his shoulders bunch as he hefted the feather in preparation for his final strike against Sebastian. 

It was when I saw him lift one foot to move forward that I felt the burn of my legs coming back online.  And just like that, I was on my feet and hurling myself toward the two as they prepared to collide.

They were so focused on one another that neither man turned my way.  Neither seemed to notice me coming until it was too late.  Just as they both struck out with their sharp feathers, I turned my body sideways and slipped quickly between them. 

I was facing Bo as the sword-like feathers entered my chest. 

Just as it had happened in my vision, there was no sound and there was no pain.  There was simply a heavy pressure as the feathers penetrated my flesh.  All other sensation was eclipsed by the relief that I felt. 

Bo would live. 

Of course, it was important that Sebastian die.  About that, there was no question.  But to me, knowing that Bo would live made it all worthwhile.  I couldn’t fathom a world where he didn’t exist and, this way, I didn’t have to.

The rest played out like déjà vu.  Bo backed away from me, a look of complete shock on his face.  When I looked down, I knew what I’d see—a bloody spot on his chest where the stake had barely pierced him as it made its way through my body. 

Although I knew I could not yet move, I still strained to move toward Bo.  I strained to fall into him, but I made no progress until hands at my shoulders pushed me from behind.  And then I was finally in the place I longed to be more than anywhere else on the planet—in Bo’s arms.

Like I knew he would, Bo caught me and cradled me against his chest before lowering me gently to the ground.  I watched his eyes for the emotions I knew I’d find—fear, desperation, devotion and, most of all, love.

Movement to my left caught my eye and I glanced over in time to see the bloody hole in Sebastian’s chest.  Bo had been strong enough to force his feather through me and into Sebastian, piercing his heart with the deadly point.  I couldn’t help but smile at the comical look of absolute shock on Sebastian’s face.  He’d honestly thought he could beat God.  He couldn’t have been more wrong.

“It can’t be.  The Blood of Perfect Love,” he whispered as he stumbled back.

Bo and I watched together, along with every other eye in the room, as Sebastian’s golden skin turned black with decay.  It seemed he was already tasting the fires of Hell.  He dried up and wrinkled, his body slowly turning in on itself, just before he began to disintegrate. 

Large, pieces of ash fell away from the form that was Sebastian, drifting weightlessly this way and that until they melted into the air like ink stains dissipating in water.  I watched the spot where he’d stood, watched him disappear, until he had completely dissolved into the air around him. Within minutes, there was nothing left but a hazy cloud of dark smoke that a slight breeze rushed in and carried away.

As the rush of defeating Sebastian wore off, I began to feel myself fading.  I could feel the life draining from me so I looked back to Bo.  I wanted his face to be the last thing I saw, not an empty space where evil had once resided. 

It tore at my guts to see the panic and heartbreak in his eyes.  Though I heard no sound, I could see his mouth moving as it formed one word over and over again. 

No
.

I let my tired eyes drift over the handsome planes of Bo’s face until I felt the image was burned into my brain.  Satisfied that I would leave this world with his picture seared onto my heart like a brand, I let my lids drop, unable to fight the hand of death for a moment longer. 

Little by little, everything faded from my consciousness—thought, feeling, fear.  Even Bo.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I opened my eyes to a blinding brightness.  It was as if I’d blinked and found myself in a solid white room that allowed only sound to enter its hazy walls. 

Immediately, I was overcome with an incredible sense of euphoria and wellbeing.  I had the vague feeling that I was missing something, or someone, but I couldn’t manage to really care.  I relaxed into the space and, with half an ear, I listened. 

I heard Devon talking to Savannah, encouraging her to drink.  I assumed that he was trying to save her life and, in my mind, I smiled at the depth of their love. 

From another side, I could hear Heather screaming.  She was begging someone not to take her daughter, bargaining with her own life in return. 

I could hear all of this with crystal clarity, but I saw absolutely nothing until Lilly appeared in the room with me.

She was smiling and happy and whole.  She walked closer to me and I felt her nearness like the warmth of the sun. 

When she spoke, all I could hear was her voice.  Everything else was suddenly muted.

“Don’t worry about me, Ridley.  He has explained everything to me.  He even gave me a choice.  If I want to stay with you, He’ll let me.”  Lilly’s face crumpled into a sad expression.  “But Ridley, I don’t want to stay.  I saw my mother.  My real mother.  She’s here with Him.  I don’t want to go back there.  I want to be with her.”

My heart could feel no disappointment, no worry, no pain or sorrow.  It felt only acceptance.  And happiness.  

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore, Ridley.  I’ll be fine.  I promise.”

She turned a dazzling smile on me and I couldn’t help thinking how mature she was for such a young age. 

Lilly turned away, skipping off to the other side of the white room.  I saw her reach out with her tiny hand and grasp a larger one.  The hand was disembodied, as if someone from another room was reaching in to collect Lilly.