Angel's Curse (40 page)

“Oh,” I said. It was quite flattering to think my opinion might be valued.

“For quite some time now you’ve been the talk of the angels.” Michael said. “The way you organised the vampires, your strategy for killing the archangels — it’s useful to know, by the way, that the dark one’s blood can kill us — and the way you hunted down Raphael. As a strategist your advice would be most welcome.”

Danny chuckled. “I told you I thought you had the makings of a brilliant military tactician.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Are we free to go?” I asked. “
My husband needs a bath!
”

Michael laughed, a jolly sound, not unlike a department store Santa’s, yet genuine and not contrived in any way.

“Take him and go.” He waved us away. “When I need either of you I shall send for you.”

I shrugged out of Danny’s arms and leaned forward to kiss Michael on the cheek. As I did so I whispered, “Please don’t try to kidnap my husband again.
He
has promised we’ll be happy and you don’t want to get on His bad side, do you?”

Michael nodded slightly, acknowledging my words. I walked back to Danny’s outstretched arms. With his arms around me I transported us back home, the word
marvellous
echoing in our ears.

“You could have accepted,” I said. “I would have understood.”

“If you could have stayed with me I
would
have accepted, but I will not be apart from you again. Nothing in heaven, hell or earth can keep us apart. We are as one, the way He always intended us to be.”

I twisted in Danny’s arms until I was facing him, and entwined my fingers through his hair. I pulled him closer to me until our lips touched, and I found bliss …

Epilogue

To have died at the hands of a loved one, in an act of mercy, is no small thing. To be the one to have taken the life is an even greater thing. The pain and suffering caused by the burden of knowing what you have done — of being torn between a need to keep the love alive and having the strength and courage to let it go. Having to live with it every day for eternity, cannot be underestimated. Indeed, for someone who has not been placed in that most horrendous of situations, it is unfathomable.

For two insignificant creatures to play such an important part in His plans is truly astounding. Even more so that He had such blind faith of His own that His creations would choose the right path. He
believed
they would do what was right and what was necessary, no matter how painful the outcome. It is a testament to Him that He chooses wisely those who would serve Him best.

Let no one doubt His power. Let no one doubt His might, even when His purpose is not always clear.

— Danizriel

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Also by Melanie Tomlin

Angel’s Kiss

‘Angel’s Messiah’ will be the third book in the ‘Angel Series’. Read on for an excerpt…

1. The Hunger

After the turmoil of the last seven years — mortal years — Danny and I settled back into a familiar routine — patrolling, hunting, dancing, talking and sex, not necessarily in that order. Some activities were undertaken more than others.

I was now almost at the stage where I could talk about having sex with Danny as
making love
and I did call it that in front of him, but on the inside it still set my teeth on edge. Old habits die hard, and according to some I was a creature of habit — always returning to two things: sex and violence.

We were dancing. Danny was slowly mastering the art of the tango. As he dipped me backwards — much lower than was usual for this dance — my hair lightly brushed the floor. I gave a sharp pull on his arm causing him to overbalance, and twisted so that instead of him landing on top of me, I landed on him. I had his hands pinned to the floor above his head, my nose almost touching his. My heart was beating rapidly and he knew what
that
meant.

“I don’t recall you teaching me that move,” he grinned. “Is that a new one?”

“I’m so hungry,” I said, writhing on his lap and playfully biting his neck, “in more ways than one.”

“You’re always hungry now,” he chuckled. “Increased appetite for increased activity?”

“Maybe,” I sat up and rubbed his chest suggestively. “Perhaps we should undertake a study to find out?”

My stomach rumbled and I pouted.

“Before or after you’ve eaten?” he asked.

I knew which we’d both prefer, yet sex was no fun when your stomach made horrible noises protesting and complaining —
what about me? Feed me!

“After,” I sighed. “I
really
need to eat.”

He smiled. “Go then, and call me if you need me.”

I hesitated, not wanting to leave him. The last time I had left him to hunt alone, he had died. He waved me away.

“Don’t worry, I’ll
call
you if I need you. Besides, we have little to fear from the angels now,” he chuckled. “And Michael will not summon us unless there’s something dire going on. I don’t know what you said to him — his feathers have been ruffled, though in truth he’s not really angry.”

I laughed. “I told him to back off, in my own way.”

I gave Danny a quick, yet passionate kiss before disappearing to the savannahs in Africa. I wanted to explore the underground tunnel I’d discovered previously.

The entrance I’d first come across was nothing more than a small hole in the ground, just big enough for a person to drop through or climb out of. Its size indicated that there weren’t any really big vamps around here, or at least none that used this entrance. The drop was only about three metres. Even as a mortal that wouldn’t have worried me too much, if I’d been careful, but getting back out would have. Now, as an immortal, a small leap and I could easily grasp the sides and haul myself out. Besides that, I had my fall-back position of simply transporting myself somewhere else.

The network seemed much smaller and less refined than Drake’s. None of the rooms had doors, for one thing. The dorm rooms didn’t have reasonably comfortable camp cots or beds — instead there were only coarsely-woven blankets on the floor and no pillows. The vamps that stayed here really roughed it, in my opinion. Maybe they didn’t seem to feel the need for the trappings of modern civilisation. I wondered if there were cultural differences as well.

My stomach rumbled. The sound echoed down the corridor I walked along. Within moments eight vampires appeared from various rooms ahead of me, startled by a very mortal sound. Apparently I was the only immortal Danny had encountered whose stomach rumbled. They hissed in unison and charged at me.

These seemingly savage vampires had learned to function as a pack, without the need for verbal communication. Perhaps teamwork was required in order to survive in the plains of Africa, some of the harshest terrain on earth. Drake would be interested to know how they worked together — whether they only did so when there was a possible threat, or in response to a territorial invasion. He would have loved to see this, to see how they rushed me with little fear or trepidation when I clearly smelled
different
— not vampire, not mortal and not angel. Were they so sure of the pack? Was there some other base instinct that drove them on without thought?

It was odd that Drake was on my mind now, when I was hunting. I hadn’t given him much thought in the two and a half months since Danny had returned. In fact, I’d tried to bury all memory of him, and the memory of things I’d done with him. He was still one dagger short of the three daggers he had gifted to me, to kill the archangels Sariel, Raguel, Phanuel and Raphael. Two had been returned, and I’d promised him the last would return to him when I left this world. The dagger had its instructions — if I was gone from this plane of existence it would automatically return to him.

I turned my attention back to the vampires that were after my blood. The corridor was quite narrow. Two vamps, side by side, filled its width. That made my life a lot easier. Perhaps too easy. Where was the challenge in taking on two at a time?

The first two I grabbed by the throat — they didn’t even see my hands move, it was lightning fast. The next two clambered forward, trying to push past the ones I had in a death grip. I forced the ones I was holding by the throat to move to either side of me, giving my other attackers a fighting chance. Well, they would have thought they had a chance. My grip on the first two allowed me to kick out almost horizontally, crushing the windpipes of the next wave of assailants. They fell backwards onto the four vampires behind them. These vamps hadn’t expected me to fight back. They hadn’t thought that someone would be bold enough to challenge them in their own home. Then again, they’d never met me. They were probably used to easy victories.

The first two dropped to their knees, not in an attempt to shake me off — they knew there was no escape for them — but to make me an easier target for their fellow vamps. As a result I was pulled down to their level, but remained on my feet, in a crouch. I smiled at my attackers, goading them on.

There was little I feared in this life now, just as these vamps thought there was little for them to fear. The worst — Danny dying — had already happened to me. I’d survived, and by some miracle Danny had been returned to me, by none other than God Himself. Perhaps if I had not been as flexible as I was, and unable to transport away, if I had I not known any gymnastic moves, or trained with vampires and Master Rahab — Satan’s weapons master — I might have felt something akin to fear.

If God was on my side, as Danny seemed to think, I was as good as invincible, provided I didn’t cross the line — no mortal blood must pass my lips. With vampires tasting as sweet as honey, and my never having felt the urge, desire or curiosity to taste mortal blood, I didn’t think it would be an issue. I could afford to be a little arrogant around these vamps. It was nice to be omnipotent for a change.

Concentrate, Helena,
the voice in my head said.
Just because you’re good and God is on your side doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt.

Yeah, yeah, whatever,
I thought back at it.

I hated that little voice of reason, always trying to tell me what to do. I hardly ever listened to it when I was mortal. Why should I listen to it now?

Remember you’re not really omnipotent. You have a reason to stay alive — Danny.

Okay, the voice had a point.

I kicked out sideways at the two vamps approaching me, short sharp kicks, directly to the groin — that
had
to hurt. They fell back, clutching whatever it was I’d happened to connect with. I didn’t care if it was a dirty tactic. They’d do whatever was in their power to kill me, so why shouldn’t I do the same.

“Listen guys, I’m not hungry enough for eight. How about half of you leave and the other half stay?”

They looked at me and hissed. Obviously they didn’t understand English and I didn’t know what language they spoke here. I hadn’t heard anything but hissing, so unless that was a new language, I wasn’t going to have any luck talking to them.

Another two approached more cautiously, half standing, half crouching, but well out of reach of my feet. I heard clicking noises and wondered if this was the way they communicated. If it was, what they were saying about me?

The last drops of blood from the two I had a hold on were absorbed into my body. Before the others could see that their companions were dead I stood up, dragging their limp corpses along with me, dangling them like puppets.

I saw something being passed to the front of the line — a spear. The silly buggers were going to try and skewer me while they thought I was still connected to the dead vamps. They’d seen how my fingers had melded into the necks of their friends.

When the vamp threw the spear I pulled the bodies in front of me as a shield, thrusting them forward to meet the spearhead. As I did so, I let go and transported to a new position, behind the enemy lines, grabbing the two at the rear by the back of their necks.

“Bye boys!” I yelled out, then left, into the lights.

I knew that being held by the back of the neck makes it hard to put up a good fight, yet I felt let down by their half-hearted efforts to even so much as kick me. Maybe the lights had freaked them out, or they were resigned to their fate. Either way, they offered little in the way of a challenge.

I let them go when they’d been drained. Their bodies disappeared, back to where they’d come from. I was sure the reappearance of the dead bodies would cause a bit of a stir.