Midnight's Angels - 03 (25 page)

The room revolved. I started falling.

It was Cass who stopped me going the whole way down. She grabbed me by the shoulders and then hauled me back to my feet. But she was retreating as she did so, dragging me along with her. My next blurry glance at the study’s open doorway told me why.

The hominids were back again. There was nothing to stop them. It was pitch dark throughout the house, except the places that our flashlights touched.

I caught a glimpse of a narrow arm swinging. And another missile came flying at us.

Cassie ducked. It barely missed her head. Hit the wall behind us, bouncing off it with a clang. And I got a glimpse of the object that had been thrown -- one of the metal figurines from downstairs. So the spell which was protecting them had been broken.

It couldn’t have been these things who had done that. Which made me wonder … were there any angels near? If so, their power seemed to have taken on extra dimensions, exactly as Willets had predicted.

The hominids could not attack directly, not with our skin’s unnaturally healthy glow. But they’d figured out that they could get us from a distance. They’d adapted and evolved as well.

I had dropped my flashlight, but I scooped it up. Played it out into the corridor. The pool of electric brightness held the creatures back, and no more missiles came from that direction.

But then there was an almighty crash from the window. It imploded, something much larger than a figurine coming through it. Shards of glass went everywhere.

Something hit the corner of the desk with a huge shudder before dropping to the floor. A rock the size of a watermelon. Then a second one came through, ripping a couple of the drapes to tattered shreds.

There was scrabbling, a great deal of it, on the wall outside.

We both had our guns out, but we knew they were the last resort. We used our flashlights like batons, swinging them about to keep the horde at bay.

Every time a face appeared, we’d sweep a beam toward it. And the creature would be gone immediately. But as soon as one had disappeared, another would replace it.

They kept tossing heavy objects through. One of them struck Cassie on the leg. Another grazed my chin. It didn’t do any serious damage, but I’d become aware my face was bleeding.

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

If we stuck around in here, we’d gradually be overwhelmed. Cassie aimed her Very pistol and fired a shot through the smashed window. Which meant it exploded far lower in the sky than mine had done. But it had the required effect. The creatures outside were retreating once again. We had less than a minute, I figured, before the dark closed back around us.

I had envisaged forcing our way back down the stairs. But we had no idea how many hominids were waiting for us out there. Cass went to the windowsill instead, and leaned out.

She grabbed hold of some undamaged drapes, ripping them down from their fittings. Knotted them rapidly together, then tied one end around a broken segment of the window frame. That gave us a downward climb of six or eight feet before we were forced to let go. And we were only on the second story, so it was sufficient.

* * *

We headed back to my car, still playing the beams around us. The flare in the sky was almost out, shadows reclaiming the entire landscape.

We reached the Caddy, and were powering away as total darkness fell across the drive.

“What was that mail thing about?” Cassie asked me, panting.

“It’s a mystery tale. The police turn up at a man’s apartment, looking for a stolen letter. And they turn the guy’s place upside down, but cannot find it.”

“Where’d he hide it?” she blurted at me.

“The mailbox inside his front door. The most obvious place for there to
be
a letter, but the last place that they thought to look.”

“But … how can you do the same with a rock?”

And that was the question, wasn’t it? Where was the most obvious place you’d find a piece of stone? I struggled to come up with a solution, but I couldn’t find one. It would have to wait until later, because other things were going on.

We were back on solid asphalt, and not far from Plymouth Drive. You could barely see the outline of the trees that we were going past. But then, a flickering brought them into some kind of perspective. Nothing to do with our lights, and that made me tighten up. It was something deep within the branches, and was getting swiftly closer.

As it resolved itself, I recognized that cold, dead glow.

One of the angels had returned and was moving in on us.

In a few more seconds, it was out in front of us, blocking our passage onto the main drag. I wasn’t quite sure what would happen if my car hit it, but was pretty certain it would not be anything pleasant. So my first reaction was to stamp on the brake. The tires of my Caddy made a ripping, howling sound.

But then I had a second thought. We’d filled this car with bright illumination. And we knew the angels couldn’t stand it anymore than the beings they’d created. So I started edging closer up, hoping to nudge the thing out of our way.

It had to see the glow coming toward it, but the angel did not budge. Its wings beat lazily. Its dead eyes stared at us without once blinking. And that made the tight feeling around my heart grow a whole lot worse.

I wasn’t sure what, but something seemed to have changed. The thing looked more solid than it previously had done. A more robust image against the prevailing blackness. Had it, in some way, become far stronger?

I got the answer when it raised its hands. Something weird had happened to its fingertips. They seemed to have no definite ends. Simply appeared to bleed away into the gloom. But that was when I took in the fact that there was something coalescing there.

I wouldn’t have been able to make it out if it wasn’t for the glow from the Caddy. But an even deeper blackness was collecting there, more profound than the surrounding night. As thick as coal tar. It gathered and grew denser for a few more heartbeats. Then it began stretching in our direction, in the form of web-like strands.

“What’s that?” Cassie shouted.

I wasn’t sure. But I still had in mind what I’d been told when the angels had first arrived. As they adapted, grew accustomed to our world, their abilities would increase as well. I had no doubt this was a new one.

The only thing that we could do was stare frozenly as the strands approached my windshield. And if I was hoping that would stop them, the answer was ‘no.’ They were inside the car before I had time to react, passing through the glass as if it wasn’t even there.

We lurched away, afraid the tentacles were coming for us. But it turned out that we were not the target.

They headed for the backseat. For our collection of lamps, in fact. Touched them, drifting from one to the next like moving strands of ivy. And the lanterns flickered and then started fading. I wasn’t sure how, but the life was being sucked out of the batteries.

Cassie’s mouth came open, but I didn’t need telling. I slammed us into reverse and then practically stood upright on the gas. The Caddy started roaring backward, heading the way we’d first come. The outlines of the trees blurred past us, and the roof of the Luce residence came in view again.

My mind was working furiously. If we kept moving in this direction, we’d come to the intersection with Mill Street in another minute’s time. And once there, I could swing the car around, get us facing the right way and power off the hill at full speed. If we had that long.

I craned back. It was a reasonably straight avenue, so there was no problem reversing down it. When I took a hurried glance out through the windshield, though, I could see that the angel -- just like before -- was keeping up with us. Its wings were barely moving. It was floating through the air at precisely our speed. And the filaments were still expanding from its fingertips and reaching in here.

Still doing their deadly work. The batteries were almost gone. The lamps were so diminished the only thing that they were still casting out were weakened ochre glints.

Then I noticed several more strands appear. They weren’t heading for my windshield this time. They were sliding underneath the Caddy’s hood. The strength of my headlamps started to diminish. And when my gaze dropped to the dashboard, I saw the lights on it were going out as well.

The engine started sputtering.

And then it went completely dead.

* * *

Something that was not quite silence pressed in around us. There were still noises, but far fewer of them than moments back. The tires were rolling heavily across the pavement. And the chassis was giving little creaks and jiggles. But there had been a carburetor’s blast before, and that was gone.

My heart tripped over quickly in my chest and my brow grew damp. But I had the sense, at least, to keep my foot clear of the brake. Still moving was still moving. So I let us keep on doing that.

We were heading slightly downhill. But it’s one thing powering a car along, another when it’s simply cruising. The inevitable happened after we had gone a couple hundred yards.

The Caddy began to stray off course. I fought hard with the steering, but couldn’t correct it. A rear tire left the blacktop. Then my trunk caromed off a nearby tree, which really slowed us down.

We hit another one and stopped completely, the impact throwing us both forward. Cassie grunted as she hit the dash. And then we were scrabbling for our weapons as the angel moved in closer.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know.”

I tucked her carbine into the crook of my elbow and tried to make out my surroundings. All that I could really see was the palely shining outline of the thing approaching us.

It was drifting calmly nearer.

And its mouth was stretching wide.

I’d expected Cassie to pick up her Mossberg, but she had the Very pistol in her hand again. The charge in it had already been fired. She was bent across the back of her seat, one boot flailing in the air, scrabbling around on the floor in the rear and trying to find another one.

Except the braking and then the impact had dislodged everything on the backseat. The flares were only small, and she was trying to pick one out in almost total darkness. Her instincts were apparently telling her that they were our best chance, though. So she kept on rummaging blindly.

None of which altered the fact that time was running out. When I looked again, the angel was practically on top of us, its whole face contorted with an ugly kind of triumph.

“
Cass?
”

Single-minded as she was, she didn’t even stop to look.

So this was up to me. And I hadn’t made much headway against these things so far. But maybe the carbine, which was a lot more powerful than my gun, would have some effect. I guarded my eyes with one hand, then fired directly through the windshield.

A three-round burst. And then another. Squared off chunks of safety glass rained down around me. And the sound of gunfire inside the car was so deafening that my ears hurt. Acrid fumes swirled past my face.

When I managed to look out, I saw that the angel had halted momentarily. But the bullets didn’t seem to have done it any slightest harm. Perhaps the muzzle flash had forced it to slow down. That didn’t last for very long. I let the weapon drop.

There was a sharp metallic clack beside me. Cass had, at last, found another flare and was snapping it into its chamber. She swung around as soon as that was done, aiming with both hands and firing.

The charge passed straight through the creature without it even seeming to notice. And, since Cass hadn’t fired at a high enough trajectory, I suppose what happened next was pretty much inevitable.

It went buzzing off on a descending arc. And hit the surface of Plymouth Drive somewhere near the white line down the center. Then we watched it go bouncing away downhill, still hissing and fizzing.

By the time it finally exploded, it had gone behind a row of trees. We could see the burst, but none of the light reached us.

In spite of which, the angel faltered once again, its mouth sliding shut. It peered across its shoulder, making sure that it was not in danger. These things knew about self-preservation. I was interested to see that.

Then it returned its attention to us. And all other considerations became academic.

“Time to run?” Cassie asked.

I already knew, from my first encounter, that that wouldn’t work. These things moved too fast. They caught up with you like an echo. But she had a partial point.

If we split up, one of us might make it out of here. I doubted both of us could. My heart grew heavier as I took that in. One of us escaping would involve a massive sacrifice.

But we only had a couple of seconds left. And I couldn’t see any other way. I yelled, “Different directions!”

Cassie’s gaze became a little darker when she heard me shout out that. But then the practical side of her nature took over. She was kicking out through her door and propelling herself away from the Caddy, hurtling along the blacktop.

I booted open my own door and went off at right angles, heading back in the direction of the Luce house. Tall privet rows surrounded the grounds. But I also knew the gates were open, and I went for those.

All that I was genuinely aware of -- for what seemed to be the longest while -- were my own legs pumping, my heart and lungs fighting to keep up. My throat was dry and my breath heavy. But a single thought kept pounding through my skull.

Come after me, you bastard. Leave her be.

The ground was heavily uneven when I left the road. I wasn’t getting any chances to glance back. There were no sounds coming up behind me. But there was no reason why there should be. These angel things hadn’t made the slightest peep or rustle since they’d first appeared. So there was no way of telling if my wish was being granted.

Although, when I finally reached the iron gates, I grabbed hold of one with my left hand. And while I was letting the momentum swing me round, I finally got a chance to look behind me.

The ground back there was completely empty. Not the smallest flicker of cold light. I could have sworn the thing had been almost breathing down my neck, but maybe that was my imagination.

It wasn’t here. The angel had gone after Cassie.

* * *

I paused the briefest second, dumbstruck. And then I was running again. The last time I’d seen her, Cass had been on route to Mill Street. Which meant that if I stuck alongside the privets, I’d be moving parallel with her. What I didn’t know was how far behind.

What exactly could I do, even if I arrived in time? I only had my Smith & Wesson. But none of that -- nothing practical -- seemed to matter by this time.

I had a second flashlight out -- I’d thought to bring more than one. It cast a fiercely jolting wedge of yellow light ahead of me, the grass under my feet and the occasional passing tree rendered to fragmented glimpses. And there were still hominids out here. I had to keep an eye out for those. But, when I’d gone a few more hundred yards, a shadow became apparent in the massed leaves on my left-hand side.

The hedge thinned out there. I could make out what passed for a narrow hole. Without even thinking, I flung myself at it with every bit of force that I could muster.

And it turned out to be a painful way of getting through. Branches raked across my face. But I paid them no mind and kept on pushing furiously.

I was halfway through when something snagged around my ankle. And I tumbled forward, bursting out the other side. I simply started hauling with my elbows until I’d dragged myself completely free.

And then I was scrambling back up to my feet and heading for the road, as fast as I could manage. There were two glows -- a warm one and a cold one -- up ahead.

* * *

A deadly game of cat and mouse was being played out, when I finally arrived there. Cassie had not made it to the intersection. She’d been forced right off the pavement, in amongst the woods along one side. The warm light that I could see was her skin, still shining magically.

The angel was there too, a deathly fluorescence in front of her. She was trying to duck around it, going from one tree trunk to the next. But it was copying her every move. She couldn’t get away from it.

There was only one reason why it didn’t bear right down on her. The glow that Quinn had given us was still keeping the thing at bay. But even that didn’t look like it was going to last for too much longer.

Blackness was coalescing around the creature’s fingertips again. Those darkened threads came reaching out, like last time. Cassie froze. She didn’t have a battery-powered lamp, but they weren’t after that.

I saw her come back to her senses, trying to evade the strands. But it was already too late. One of them wrapped itself about her wrist. Another around her upper thigh. They didn’t do anything to hold her in place, stretching out like taffy. But they didn’t let go either, and that panicked her.

Cass went crashing backward through the undergrowth like a hooked fish on a jet-black line.

Then what I’d feared began to happen. The glow on her body started fading.