AllFreeNovel
Share Us
lways been so close to his foot, just a step away. She knew what side of that line he belonged on, but suspected he no longer could see where the line was drawn.
At some point, he'd stopped wiping away the blood that kept hiding it from him, and no one else did it for him. The danger of becoming such a strong leader. Atlas did such a good job holding up the world, eventually no one believed he needed any help doing it.
She wondered if the journey to the Schism had been to arm and prepare her for this moment, even before Jonah had gone to the shaman. She didn't know what had transpired there, but she remembered what Gabe's daughter-in-law had said to her when Anna had gone back into the general store to talk to Pat.
It's so hard for them to come back to what seems like the trivia of daily life, to find meaning again after that dark place of blood and death. Those images are so strong and powerful and real. They have to find the reality in the quieter, gentler things they were defending. But the longer they're in that dark place, the harder it is to do that . . .
While it might be ludicrous to imagine Jonah going to a veteran's support meeting, she didn't see any difference between five years and a thousand years immersed in such a life of bloodshed and horror. How could the soul embrace light after seeing the dark side hiding just behind it?
That large, powerful hand gripping the sword had cupped her in his palm when she was as easy to harm as a butterfly. He'd kissed her with enough passion to consume her in flame. What she'd said to David about her protecting him might seem absurd, but somehow she knew protection in this case had nothing to do with strength or battle skill.
Anna gasped, her hold on Mina's neck broken as they slammed into a wave of collective power, the Dark Ones' energy force projected forward to keep them from their objective. She scrabbled for a purchase on the neck scales, cutting her hands as Mina righted herself from the abrupt flip with a growl of pain and rage.
Anna renewed her efforts, increasing the strength of her voice, singing without words, just pure, clear notes. She heard Mina's throaty roar as well, the dragon's voice sounding odd over the words of the spell as a stream of flame shot from their shielding and out over the cliff edge, driving the Dark Ones back and disrupting their attempt enough that Mina was able to bank and wheel toward the spear of rock.
The first line snarled, regrouping, fire erupting in skeletal fingers, ready to be launched. Three hurled it toward them, only to have the flame hit Mina's own, launched from her nostrils. It exploded back upon them, causing confusion in their immediate ranks.
"Great Lady, Mina, how did you--"
"No time. Keep singing." The dragon roared it, and Anna obeyed as she saw the Dark Ones renew their efforts, felt her friend's dragon body tremble beneath her.
A quick glance behind her showed the angels were anticipating this drawing to a head. Their ranks had closed, flanks splitting off, positioning. They'd held back to see what would occur, but were probably quickly realizing that her and Mina's actions might spur things into battle whether or not Jonah gave whatever signal the Dark Ones were hoping for him to make.
Given the nature of Dark Ones, she was again surprised that hadn't yet happened. It should have happened. She realized a great deal of activity was going on around the sealed sphere with the heart. With desperate hope, she wondered if they'd figured out enough to hold his movements, but not enough yet to direct him into battle. Which suggested Lucifer's intuition, to hold back on taking the offense, might be wise. But their outcry when Jonah raised the sword said they were figuring it out. Any moment now, they could have full command of his actions, not just the ability to hold him passive. If Jonah hadn't gotten her free, sent her ahead with the warning that summoned the angels, they would have had much more time to prepare.
"Mina!"
Mina's wings flapped erratically as several of the arrows got through and one lodged under her front leg, in the vulnerable, unscaled skin. She dropped several yards and then recovered, careening down toward the rock, harrowingly off center so it appeared as if they might fly into the center of the teeming mass of Dark Ones. Blood came from one of her nostrils, and Anna could feel her great dragon's heart laboring like a sledgehammer against the ribs beneath her legs.
"Going to have to drop you next to him now . . . Will just have to tip you. They're eroding my protection . . . Be ready."
"Mina, you fly clear and don't worry about me further, you hear me? You've done what you can."
"Now," Mina rasped, and arced sharply to the inside, taking a spiraling dive down toward Jonah's position, a low swoop that put her close to the edge. Anna sprang from her back into space and Mina gave her an inadvertent boost with her wing, knocking into her as Jonah's attention turned and the sword came swinging around. Mina shrieked and surged forward, blocking Anna as she fell on the narrow platform and slid over the edge.
Anna cried out as the sword connected with the seawitch, a glittering blow that sheared off the tip of Mina's wing and raked her breast and back haunch, severing a major artery, if the spray of blood across them both was any indication. But then the dragon was fully turned, winging drunkenly out of range, back toward the angels.
As Anna clung to the edge of the rock, she had to brace herself. The wind was rising, pulling at her as it started to vortex around the spear of stone on which she now found herself. The sky had darkened even further, as if it were night. On top of that all of the Dark Ones were still screeching, of course. The angels were pounding on drums, the rhythmic, dangerous reverberation a counterpoint to the enemy's discordant cacophony. All of it was pounding inside Anna's heart, threatening to make it explode with fear as she recognized what she'd been dropped into the middle of.
How much longer would the stalemate go on? Was it crazy of her to think that Lucifer was giving her as much time as he could, to see if she could make a difference? However, unlike her own people, or humans, she didn't have to convince the host at her back that visions, prophecies and even irresistible gut compulsions could be vital to an outcome in a situation like this.
Anna glanced down beneath her scrambling feet. While open air would have been terrifying, it couldn't compare to the winged Dark Ones inhabiting the flooded chasm, ready to finish off any angel that fell. Even now several were speeding upward toward her location, likely thinking to pluck her off the side, dash her against the rocks.
During the hours they'd held her, she'd never been so afraid in her life. Their malevolence had been like the oppressive sides of a coffin, no escape from the inevitability of her fate. At times, she was sure she was going to go mad. If she hadn't been distracted by her argument with David, she wasn't sure she'd have had the courage to fly back toward them. But she was here for Jonah. He needed her.
As Jonah turned to look down at her, the thought steadied her, despite his fearsome mien. She couldn't think about what might be coming up beneath her, that she might be seconds away from hurtling through the sky. She struggled to get her elbows up, feeling his gaze like flame smoldering its way down her spine as she succeeded, dug into the flat surface of rock and somehow pulled herself up and forward, using her toes in the crevices on the steep sides. He wasn't helping, but then again, he wasn't stepping on her hands, either.
She could be thankful for small favors even as it wrenched her heart to remember his smallest acts of protection toward her, like lifting her into the pickup truck or making sure she had a soft bed in the cellar. Spreading out wings to give her a moment's shade.
The Dark Ones weren't firing arrows at her anymore, another boon. Probably because they didn't want to hit him. Also, that spiraling wind was rising, competing with the animal shrieking of the skeletal creatures.
She'd wondered if it would make more sense to transform into the pixie, a smaller, lighter target, quicker. Goddess knew, the wings would have been useful about now. But somehow she knew she would command Jonah's attention more readily as a woman proportionate to his size, who could meet him eye to eye, body to body. The Dark Ones couldn't change th
at he was male, and never had she known him not to be overwhelmingly virile in that regard. Perhaps pure and primitive physical instincts could offset or at least crack the most complex magics or emotional barriers. Plus, this wind would have buffeted her about like a leaf.
Wriggling up, she rolled to a sitting position to look up, up and up the body of a possessed, deadly angel. Holy Goddess, she'd forgotten how tall he was. Or perhaps he'd never looked quite so intimidating to her.
"Jonah." She made it to one knee. The wind shrieked, making her notice it had actually formed a funnel around the perimeter of the ledge as she'd rolled onto it. When her hand passed just over the edge, she realized they were in the still eye of a tornado and those Dark Ones that had speared up from below were being held back. Still harrowingly close, roaring their threat of death and pain at her, but on the other side of that wall of wind. Mina was still all right, then, for it felt like her magic. Then again, the stubborn witch might be using her last reserves to buy Anna time. The wound he'd inflicted on Mina had looked bad, a sword strike backed by angel fire.
"Jonah," she repeated.
He jerked at the sound of her voice. When she dared a glance at the Dark One army on the ledge fifty yards away, her heart faltered at the display of rage and dripping fangs.
"Kill her. Kill her." The strident mantra was being taken up and down the line. Their anticipation and bloodlust had an element of . . . glee.
Oh, Great Goddess. The angels hadn't fallen into their trap of instigating Jonah to fight, so she was Plan B. If he killed her before all the assembled, it would confirm where his loyalties now lay and the bloodlust would take him. Her blood would be the catalyst for the massacre they craved.
That paralyzed her, until she made herself think again what was at stake. If evil won this battle, there would be a whole world of humans to sweep through and claim. Matt and Maggie, Gabe and his family. The Dark Ones would take over their hearts and souls, banishing any good in them, destroying their souls so the Goddess would be alone in the universe . . . No angels, nothingness.
