Angel Fever (2 page)

And then the speakers burst into life.

“…this terrible catastrophe. But do not despair, because I am stepping forward to offer my leadership…”

Alex froze at the male voice with its English lilt. Oh
Christ
, no – it couldn’t be.

“What the hell?” Sam yelped. “But Raziel’s dead! We saw him die!”

“Quiet,” Alex said tersely.

Willow’s face had drained at the sound of her father’s voice; she clutched the desk. Alex turned up the volume; without looking up, he gripped her hand.

“…those who do not know what has happened, I am deeply sorrowed to announce that the Seraphic Council has been assassinated in Mexico City. This vile deed was carried out by Willow Fields and her gang of Angel Killers, knowing full well that the Council had put down roots of energy in your world. She
knew
their assassination would cause the very earth to grow unstable.”

Oh, the bastard. And people will believe it too,
Alex thought. The world already believed that Willow was a terrorist – and of course Raziel left out the fact that
he
was the one who’d wanted the Council dead and had manipulated the unknowing AKs into doing it for him.

Raziel sounded aggrieved, sincere: “She is a deranged individual who hates the angels.
She
is the reason for the earthquakes that have devastated so much of your world.”

So much of the world? Alex swallowed and glanced at Willow. Her eyes had grown too big for her face. The others stood stricken and waiting.

A faint rustle of paper. “In the US, the following cities have been destroyed: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, New Orleans, Dallas…”

Alex’s mind reeled as the list went on and on, over a dozen, each city name a death knell. How could New York City be
gone
? And Chicago. It was his hometown. He had a fuzzy memory of walking along the lakeside with his mother – of her laughing and calling ahead to his brother Jake to slow down.

Liz was crying. “Is he…is he lying, maybe?”

“No,” Seb said faintly, staring at the radio. “I think he is telling the truth.”

Sam’s broad face was slack. “Dallas…” he murmured, pushing a helpless hand through his hair.

Willow had gone deathly pale. Alex’s hand tightened on hers. “Okay, we already knew it was bad,” he said from between gritted teeth. He glared at the others. “This is not going to break us. Do you hear me? This is
not
going to break us.”

“…worldwide, the news is also dire. We have confirmed accounts of the destruction of London, Paris, Tokyo, Madrid…”

Finally the terrible litany came to an end.

“There are no words for what has happened,” said Raziel. “Cities have been levelled. Millions have died. And Willow Fields is at fault.
She
has done this to your world.”

With a small whimper, Willow pressed a hand to her mouth; her shoulders crumpled as if she’d been punched.

“No!” Alex straightened quickly and pulled her away from the others. “You do not believe this,” he said fiercely. “You are
never
to believe this crap. Do you hear me?
It was not your fault.
It was him – Raziel.
He’s
the one who’s done this.”

Willow had a hand over her face, crying. “I should have known – I should have figured out sooner what he was up to. Oh god, all those people…”

Alex folded Willow into his arms as she began to sob. “How could you have known?” he demanded. “You were trying to
save
the world. Raziel knew that – he used it!” Alex drew back, stroked her hair from her face with both hands. “Willow, don’t believe him! Tell me you know it wasn’t your fault.”

“I…” Willow struggled to speak against the tears. “Maybe not completely my fault, but—”

“It wasn’t your fault
at all
!”

“Of course it was! I had a role in it, Alex. How can I get away from that –
how
?”

“You had a role like a pawn in a chess game has a role,
querida,
” Seb said vehemently from behind them. “That’s all.”

Over Willow’s shoulder, Alex could see the expression on Seb’s stubbled face, his love for Willow clear. “And you weren’t the only one who didn’t know Raziel was spying on us,” Seb added. “I checked too; I found nothing!”

“I know that!” Willow cried. “But if I’d just figured it out sooner—”

“How?” broke in Alex. “You didn’t know he was in your head in the first place!” He gripped her hands. He thought he’d do anything, pay any price, if he could take this anguish away from her. “Willow, there was no way you could have stopped it – none. This was all him, okay? Not you. Never you.”

She clung to his hands, her face tormented. Finally she gave a faint moan and leaned forward onto Alex’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her.

No one spoke. In the background Raziel’s voice was reciting the list of cities again.
On a loop,
Alex thought, his own shock and grief pulling at him.

When Willow at last raised her head, she looked as if she’d aged a decade. “Okay,” she said woodenly. “I’ll – try not to blame myself.” Her eyes were locked on his; her voice lowered to a whisper. “And…I love you, by the way.”

He kissed her, not caring about the others standing there. He knew, though, that this would haunt her for ever, and inwardly he cursed Raziel even more. The destruction of half the world was still too much to take in; his mind kept skittering away from the reality of it. But what the angel had done to his own daughter made Alex want to rip Raziel’s halo apart with his bare hands.

Liz cleared her throat, her cheeks damp. “He’s – he’s still talking.”

Willow let out a breath and nodded; they returned to the others.

Raziel’s voice had become reassuring. “But you don’t need to be afraid! I have a plan that will save us all.”

Alex stiffened. No matter how bad things were already, he had a feeling Raziel was about to make them worse.

“As you know, you currently have no power,” the angel continued. “Sadly, reinstating it everywhere is not an option – we must conserve our resources from now on. And so selected cities are going to be transformed into bountiful Edens, where life will continue as before! There you will have warmth and electricity, food and comfort.”

Alex frowned.
Selected cities?
But if they bypassed the damaged stations on the grid until they were repaired, bringing back the electricity shouldn’t be that difficult. There was no reason to permanently ration power.

No, no reason…except to gain control.

“…meanwhile, emergency camps are being set up. The military is providing assistance. Make your way to one of the temporary camps, and soon there will be glorious Edens for all!”

Great. So Raziel now had control of the military too. Alex could practically see the angel’s feigned sad smile as he finished: “These are dark times, but a new dawn is coming. I will take care of you. That is my promise.”

After a pause the message began once more.

Seb’s jaw was taut. “These Edens will be—”

“A trap,” finished Alex flatly. “Yeah, I
bet
he wants to conserve his resources; he’s just knocked off half the angels’ food supply. So now he’ll lure people to live in a few centralized places where he can control everything.”

“Like fish in a fish farm,” whispered Liz.

On the radio, Raziel was denouncing Willow again.

“Oh, man.” Sam’s voice was bleak. “How is he even still alive?
How?
”

Alex shook his head; he had no idea. Raziel had been battling rival angels above the lurching streets of Mexico City – there’d been a flash of light they’d all thought had meant his death.

Yeah, right. They should have known better – beings like Raziel stuck around until the bitter end. Alex grimaced and moved to snap off the radio; Willow’s hand flew out to stop him.

“No, wait,” she murmured. “I can almost…” She trailed off, staring at the speakers as Raziel said again, “But you don’t need to be afraid! I have a plan that…”

“Afraid,” Willow echoed. Abruptly, her face cleared. “There’s something we haven’t thought of!” she gasped. “Alex, remember on top of the Torre Mayor, when my mind linked with Raziel’s? I sensed that half the angels had died – because
he
knew it. But there was something else.”

Alex saw again their altercation atop the highest building in Mexico – Raziel running after the AKs with a howling Church of Angels mob just behind. “Go on,”he said.

Willow took a breath. “He was scared. He still is; I can hear it in his voice. Because with so many angels dead, the survivors are vulnerable too now.”

Harsh excitement swept over Alex.
Of course
. The angels were creatures of energy, all linked. If you killed one, they each felt it.

And if enough died, the rest would follow.

He gripped Willow’s hand urgently. “How many more have to die?”

“Not many.” Willow’s expression went distant again; Alex could practically feel her studying the brief encounter with her father. “The number was almost right there in his head… I think we’re talking hundreds, not thousands. More like
one
hundred, even.”

A hundred angels. Alex didn’t move as electricity sizzled through him.

Liz looked dazed. “But…that means we’ve almost defeated them.”

Her words seemed to rouse Sam. “A
hundred
?” he yelped. “Hell, we could do that in a week!” He slapped the desk. “Okay, who’s with me? I say we leave here right now and go kill us some angels!”

“No,” Alex said sharply. “We’ve got to plan this carefully –
really
carefully.”

“You want a plan?” retorted Sam. “Okay, here’s one: we go out there, start shootin’, and don’t get caught! Now, come on!”

Alex’s voice rose. “There are only five of us! The second we kill one, they’ll all feel it; they’ll know we’re still around! If they wipe us out before we finish them off, then that is
it,
for ever.” He rapped a fist against his palm, his mind ticking as he considered options, then discarded them.

“We need a bigger team,” he muttered. “A lot bigger. We’ve got to lie low for a while – months, a year even – let Raziel think we died in Mexico City. And then when there are enough angels gathered in one place, we’ll
strike
– get rid of them all at once.”

“But what about the Edens?” protested Liz. “If we wait too long, he’ll fill the whole world with those places!”

“Let him,” said Alex curtly. “The angels would still be feeding from humans anyway. The important thing is to get rid of them. No mistakes, no screw-ups – just get
rid
, for good.”

The others exchanged glances…and Alex knew he’d convinced them. Even Sam. Willow’s eyes were steady on his; he could feel her love for him – her support. He let out a breath, daring to imagine a world without the angels.

“Oh Christ, babe,” he murmured. “I can’t tell you how much I hope you’re right about this.”

“She’s right.” Seb was sitting on the desk, fiddling with a paper clip. He looked up, his gaze on Willow. “I can sense what she’s getting very easily.”

The tips of Willow’s ears reddened, and Alex knew that Seb meant the psychic link he and Willow shared: the only two half-angels in the world.

Willow had told Alex everything that had happened between her and Seb – the way they’d kissed that night in Mexico City. Though Alex hadn’t enjoyed hearing it, he’d known it was his own stupid fault. He and Willow had fought over her friendship with Seb, and he’d been too stubborn to make up with her before the terrorist attack that had separated Willow and Seb from the others. The weird thing was that he couldn’t bring himself to dislike Seb any more. The half-angel was a good guy – his only crime was being in love with Willow.

Liz cleared her throat. “Listen, I think we should…not
celebrate,
but… Well, I mean, we’re all still alive, and it looks like we might really have a chance again, and…” She tried to smile, her eyes still red. “Besides, I found what has to be the biggest pantry in the universe. The food’s mostly military issue, but there’s a whole mountain of it.”

Alex touched her shoulder. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

They sat up planning for hours in the base’s rec room: a too-large space that felt almost cosy with the mood that had gripped them all. Their new knowledge made the air crackle with hope – gave them something to think about instead of all the destruction.

Eventually, though, the long, fraught journey caught up with them. One by one, they dropped off where they sat, until only Alex and Willow were still awake, lying curled up on one of the sofas, holding each other.

“Are you okay?” he asked in an undertone, stroking his thumb across her cheekbone.

She let out a breath. “Kind of numb. But, yeah… You?”

Alex nodded. “Now I am.”

He had no intention – none – of making his strike against the angels until they were ready. Because if he did this right, his plan would work. Then not only would what was left of the world be saved, but he and Willow could have the long life together that they both wanted.

The crystal pendant he’d given her glinted around her neck. He touched it gently, feeling its warmth from her skin. Willow swallowed and reached out to trace his eyebrow with her finger. The motion was full of wonder, as if she were discovering him for the first time.

Nothing will stop us this time,
Alex vowed to himself, and to her.
We’re going to defeat them.

As he kissed her, he felt something close to joy, despite the shattered world that lay above.

S
OMETIMES WHEN
I
LOOKED BACK
on my old life I could hardly believe it.

My old life: that was the one where I lived in Pawntucket, New York (population 19,000), and thought I was just a normal teenage girl. Or at least as normal as someone nicknamed “Queen Weird” could hope to be. I went to Pawntucket High, drove an old Toyota, skipped as many classes as I could get away with. And it never, not even once, occurred to me that I might not be completely human.

In some ways, I hadn’t changed much since then. I still loved tinkering with engines; my favourite colour was still purple. But in other ways, I was a million miles apart from that girl. Once I’d combed vintage clothing stores for the bizarre and wonderful; now I usually just threw on jeans and a T-shirt. They were easy to run in – and with the life we led now, you kind of had to take that into consideration.

I guess the biggest change of all, though – apart from realizing the truth about myself – had to be guns. I’d always hated them. Sometimes boys at my high school would talk about going hunting, and it would make me shudder: the idea of actually stalking a living creature; of aiming at it and pulling a trigger; of seeing it crumple in front of you, so that it ceased to exist any more – I couldn’t understand how anyone, ever, could bring themselves to do it.

That was before I knew we were at war.

I crouched on the ground with the cold weight of a rifle in my hands. I wielded it expertly, aiming and shooting like a machine as explosions seared overhead: white petals that fell, glittering, against the darkness, as angel after angel was killed.

In the unearthly glow, I could see the outline of Salt Lake Eden with its barbed-wire fence. Around me were the shadowy figures of other Angel Killers, the echoes of gunfire, muffled shouts.

“Man, that’s gotta be almost it,” muttered Sam next to me. Another explosion lit his broad face, showing it gleaming with sweat. “It has
got
to be.”

I started to reply, then broke off at a sudden flash of white. “Sam, look out!” I cried. I flipped onto my side, quickly tracking the angel.

He scowled as he saw it corkscrewing down at us; we both shot at once. A second later, shards of light were drifting on the air. I let out a shaky breath as Sam and I glanced at each other. Just on my own, I’d already shot, what – four, five?
That’s got to be way over a hundred by now,
I thought feverishly.

The words had barely formed in my mind when a dozens-strong flock soared at us out of nowhere, their pale, glorious figures etched against the stars. My veins chilled. How could they even still be alive now –
how
?

I pushed the thought away – not helpful. As the angels plunged into an attacking dive, I squeezed the trigger and shot. Fervent gunfire was going off all around me; I could hear people swearing. Above, three angels burst into nothing, but there were still way too many. We weren’t going to make it this time—

No. We were.

Still shooting, I reached within for my own angel: the shining winged twin with my face. Some distance away I saw that Seb’s angel was already flying, fending off an attacker with quick, strong thrusts of his wings.

In my angel form, I paused only long enough to make myself tangible so I could grab the sensor from my pack; then I was hurtling through the air too. Wings spread, I darted in front of one of the approaching angels, and it veered off wildly; another appeared, and I did the same, swooping back and forth.

“It’s Willow! Get them while she holds them off!”

Even with adrenalin surging through me, I was still amazed at the accuracy of the detail: every angelic feather was outlined in blue-white light; the faces were all individual, all enraged as they screeched at me.

Don’t think. Defend.
Around me came a series of explosions so fast and furious that I was flying in a hailstorm of light. Time shifted to slow motion – a long scream that echoed in my ears; a halo bursting so close by that I could see every dot of light, spiralling off into the darkness. Finally there was only one angel left – and then someone shot, and that one was gone too.

“That’s it!” shouted Alex’s voice. The night-time vanished as the room’s lights burst on, leaving us blinking. “We’ve done it!” he called. “All the angels in the world are
gone
!”

My human self exhaled as cheers from almost a hundred people echoed through the cavernous underground room.

We had rid the world of the angels. Again.

“Good one, angel chick,” Sam said with a grin, giving me a one-armed hug as we got to our feet. His short blond hair stood up in gel-coaxed spikes. “Man, I thought that last bunch was gonna get us.”

“You and me both,” I admitted. Some of my own hair had escaped its shoulder-length ponytail and I quickly pulled the unruly brown waves into place. I hated its current colour, but Raziel had plastered posters of me everywhere – if I went back to my natural blonde I’d be endangering all of us every time I stepped outside. Fortunately there was no shortage of hair dye in abandoned stores.

Reaching up, I took the sensor from my angel as she glided back down to me, her snowy wings outspread.

At one time, seeing a half-angel in action would have brought sidelong stares from the other AKs; now no one paid any attention. The group knew by now that I was nothing like the angels we were trying to defeat. My angel self didn’t have a halo, and she didn’t feed – not from human energy or anything else. I hadn’t even known I
was
half-angel until I was sixteen.

With a quick flutter, my angel merged into my human self, leaving just “me” standing there. Distantly, I could sense Seb’s angel merging with him too, far across the training room. At my automatic awareness of Seb – the familiar feel of his energy, so like my own – a pang of sadness went through me. I ignored it.

“Okay, guys – take five while we get this stuff turned off,” called out Alex.

I looked over as he started to roll a holograph machine back into place, his shoulders flexing through his T-shirt. He sensed me watching and glanced up. The corners of his mouth lifted as his blue-grey eyes locked with mine. Then someone asked him a question, and he turned back to his work, motioning to a cable snaking across the floor.

I smiled. Alex and I had been together for over a year now, but it didn’t seem to matter – just a look from him could still melt me.

People were standing around the training room, talking in small clusters. Occasionally a burst of laughter floated towards me. It was a relief that people still
could
laugh – when we’d first found out the extent of the destruction ten months ago, I’d wondered if anyone would ever laugh again.

But the human race is resilient, I guess. Down here, nobody wanted to dwell too much on what had happened to the world; conversations about it were practically taboo. The whole base knew that we had to focus on defeating the angels – not waste our energy grieving over the past.

I sighed. Good advice. So why was it so hard for me to follow it sometimes?

Liz made her way over to Sam and me, her sharp-featured face slightly flushed. “Good thing we’ve gotten so much better lately,” she said. “I cannot
believe
that we have less than two months left before the attack.”

Sam stretched, looking like a quarterback relaxing at half-time. “Yeah, I can’t wait for the real thing,” he drawled. “’Bout time we kicked those angels’ asses for ever.”

“
If
we succeed,” Liz pointed out testily. “It’s not guaranteed, you know.”

“I’m with Liz; we need all the practice we can get,” I said. I glanced at the centre of the hangar-like room, where an elaborate set rose up – a depressingly accurate representation of what used to be Salt Lake City, right down to the coils of barbed wire and perky sign:
WELCOME TO SALT LAKE EDEN, A BASTIAN OF THE ANGELS’ LOVE!

A bolt of hatred for my father went through me. His Edens were everywhere now; hardly a week went by that a new one wasn’t announced on the shortwave. And we suspected that the places were even worse than we’d first thought, though we didn’t have any information from someone who’d actually been inside of one. The barbed wire glinting on top of the set’s fence said it all: once you entered an Eden, you didn’t come out again.

The strange thing was how much the Edens had helped us.

Because while most people were only too happy to flock to them, a tiny minority didn’t. They stayed on in the devastated cities or in the thousands of “dark towns” across the country, scavenging to survive. Raziel’s Edens didn’t just lure millions with their ease and electricity – they also made it clear exactly who the scrappy rebels without angel burn were. As a result it’d only taken us a couple of months to put together a good-size team of ninety-four recruits. I just really hoped that Raziel could take a moment to appreciate the irony when we finally made our move.

So I guess that was another way I’d changed: the Willow Fields of just over a year ago hadn’t been a vengeful person. But then, she hadn’t had my memories.

Liz started to chew a fingernail and caught herself. “Willow, are you sure you can’t get
anything
psychically about Founding Day?” she asked anxiously. “Not even a tiny hint?”

I pushed my thoughts away; I knew better than to dwell on all this. “No, I’m way too emotionally involved,” I said, managing a smile. “Sorry – psychic drawback number five.”

To be honest, I was getting tired of people asking me that, though I couldn’t really blame them, with the attack drawing so close. Salt Lake City had been the first Eden; in two months they’d be holding a massive Founding Day celebration, with thousands of angels circling overhead.

And we’d be right there waiting for them.

Everyone’s attention went to the centre of the room, where Alex was clambering onto one of the crates that made up our mock Salt Lake Eden. I smiled as I watched him, my tensions easing. I seriously didn’t think I’d ever seen anything quite as sexy as the sight of Alex wearing camouflage trousers and a black T-shirt. Unless it was the sight of him not wearing them.

He jumped on top of the crate; as he faced the team, he looked relaxed and confident, his dark hair tousled. “Okay, listen up!” he shouted. “That was excellent work, everyone. I’ve just got a couple of things to say—”

A chorus of good-natured groans. Alex grinned and swung himself down to a sitting position, legs dangling. I could see the toned outline of his chest against the T-shirt.

“Yeah, I know; I’m never satisfied, right? So, first of all – everyone still needs to work on disguising their auras. I saw a lot of you forgetting as the simulation went on.” Alex’s eyes met mine – Seb and I taught the classes for the energy work – and I nodded. The team was trying hard, but it just didn’t come easily to most humans.

“They’ll get there,” I said for us both.

“Good. And in terms of everyone’s shooting…” Alex paused, scanning the crowd before he smiled. “Guys, that was
awesome.
Your time was eight minutes twelve; that’s better than it’s ever been.” He scratched the back of his neck as he added casually, “Oh, and by the way – the program was set for two-fifty.”

Excitement rustled through the room; there were scattered cheers. Sam, Liz and I exchanged a jubilant glance.
Two hundred and fifty angels.
And we only needed to kill about half that many.

“So even with the aura work, we’re not in bad shape already – you can all be damn proud of yourselves,” Alex said firmly. “But what you
cannot
do is start getting cocky. Like I’ve said, shooting real angels is different. You’ve got to be aware of what the simulation can’t mimic.”

There were grim nods from around the room as he talked about angel burn, describing the ease with which an angel could link minds with you – how you’d only have seconds to break away before they started feeding from your life force, and then you’d be theirs for ever, worshipping and damaged. My fingers tightened on my rifle as I thought of my mother, sitting lost in her dreams.

“I don’t want to lose any of you, okay?” Alex’s voice was low, but it carried to every corner of the room. “Not a single one – and if we do this thing the way we’ve been planning, then I won’t.”

Emotion gripped me, recalling the dozens of nights Alex had lain awake beside me, going over the plan.
They trust me,
he’d said once, rubbing his forehead tiredly when I’d urged him to get some sleep.
I’ve got to make sure they’re right to.

On top of the crate, Alex gave a sudden grin. “Okay, enough of that,” he said. His gaze picked out a tall guy with brown hair. “Paul, dude – you do realize that if these weren’t laser rifles, you’d have taken Chloe’s head off, right? You want to explain what happened?”

And as Paul winced and attempted a response, I smiled dryly – because I wasn’t the only one who’d been affected by Alex’s grin lighting up his strong, regular features. I could sense the fluttering pulses around me like a flock of hummingbirds. Even if I’d had no psychic skills whatsoever, I’d have known that half the girls down here had a crush on my boyfriend – it wasn’t hard to figure out, if blushes and admiring sideways glances were anything to go by.