Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) (15 page)

* * *

Nina stared at the darkness where the
black-winged shadow had been a few moments ago. The night wind
carried away any signs into silence. For a moment, she had thought
the angel was coming for her, but he stopped and radiated a bright
light, like all the witnesses reported. A warmth had filled her for
a couple seconds and she swore she had died. But it faded, and with
it, all signs of the two angels.

She had come as a skeptic, but now...

Now, she wanted to learn more. What had the
two been doing? Why were there tracks in the snow if they flew?
Where had they gone? Where had the second angel come from? What did
this mean for this town, or even this world?

Or had it all been her imagination?

She ran over the hill from where they had
risen. A few feathers littered the ground. Evidence. Then she
hadn't imagined it. Ted would love this. And if the feathers were
the same as the one kept by the little girl who had been rescued
from the cornfield last August, they would have proof that she had
seen the Dark Angel.

Thank you, Pallin.
His adverse
reaction had been the perfect answer to her prayers by giving her a
reason to go out. And she still might be able to corner Raea about
her hands. What a way to top off the day.

* * *

Raea glanced back. They were safe, she
hoped. ["That was close. I hate that woman."] Now, why did the
temperatures have to turn so cold again? Releasing the energy
hadn't helped. The warmth brought on by the resonance vanished with
the release of it. But now she knew how to let it out from the
Starburst marks. Elis still had to help with her wings, though.

He sure was quiet.

Elis watched behind them, gliding rather
than actively keeping up. In fact, she had to slow down to stay
with him.

["Is something wrong?"]

He looked aside, his black wings
outstretched and hardly moving since they reached a high altitude.
["I think she was studying our training area."]

Damn that woman. Couldn't she leave anything
alone? Good thing Raea left her coat at Evelyn's and went out with
Elis's spare coat, which, like many of his clothes, Evelyn had
altered for his transformations—one good set for school and a
separate set of shirts for flying. Had she left hers on the fence
post again, Nina Russet would have one more reason to hunt her
down.

["We can't work there anymore."]

Yeah. Figures. Nina ruins everything.
Well, at least she avoided a run-in with the woman. ["Now
what?"]

["We'll find somewhere else. Don't
worry."]

["Do you think she recognized you?"] She hit
a warm pocket and breathed easier. It passed too quickly, and the
denser, cold air lifted her on a breeze.

["No."] Elis rose above and ahead of
her.

["What did you do back there?"]

["A weak release of energy. The light makes
the pupils contract and causes temporary blindness, especially in
the dark. It gives me a chance to get away without being
seen."]

Clever. ["If you read any of the stories,
you'd know it works. They all think it's a light from heaven."]

He dipped his wing and dropped next to her,
their wingtips nearly brushing. ["I know. Evelyn collected them
all. My cousin called me on it a couple months ago."]

["Your cousin?"] She called him? Wait. ["On
Earth?"]

["Nare. She lives in Denver."]

["How many others are there?"]

["Twenty-one, besides us."]

They must have fought the urge to fly or
didn't show themselves with their wings if they did go out, or the
stories were all local. She hadn't heard anything.
Twenty-one...Twenty-three with her and Elis. She wouldn't have
guessed.

["Where are we going?"] Last time they had
gone out in the country was to practice some simple moves. They
weren't doing much now—mostly gliding. But that was still practice.
She had to make subtle shifts of her wings to hold onto the air
currents.

["I want to check out the farm where that
couple was murdered."]

["Why?"] What did he expect to find? Did he
still think a Shirukan had killed them?

["To see if there are feathers."]

Of course. ["But they'd be buried under
fresh snow."]

["Maybe not."]

["And how do you expect to find the place?"]
In the dark from high above, where they couldn't see addresses.

He grinned and dove into a spiral.

Duh. So obvious. She wanted to laugh. The
joke was on her. He'd been flying at night over the same land for
almost two years. He probably knew every landmark from above by
now.

What if he didn't find anything? Would he
still suspect a Shirukan had come to the area? Would he finally
give up his witch hunt of Pallin? Why would one of those "elite" of
the Imperial militia kill a couple? What would the murderer have
wanted?

She hated not knowing. Elis probably did
too. Oh, but he suspected Pallin.

The joke was on him. Pallin was just a
foreign student. She refused to believe he could be a murderer. He
couldn't be a soldier.

She shuddered and shook away the growing
worries that Elis might be right. Pallin acted like someone from
the military.

Raea followed him through his flying
exercises. They dove in a spiral, swooped straight up and twisted
with the momentum, then straightened and flapped higher. He
continued on with other moves. She lost her current while gliding
and panicked as she fell, but caught an updraft of cold air. Too
cold. No icicles, though. She could have sworn her wings had
frozen.

Higher up, she found a warm layer and quit
shivering. Elis flew close, his black wings nearly touching her
brown.

["Use the resonance to warm up if you have
to."]

Right. Resonance. Easy to manage now. The
warmth passed through her. So much better. She should have thought
of that. ["Thanks."]

A few seconds later, he pointed down.
["There it is."]

She followed him to one of many farmsteads
spread far between on the white backdrop of fresh snow. Only the
lone yard light shone out in the night. But fresh tire tracks
blemished the perfect snow, and footprints led to the door from
those tracks. She hoped no one was home.

Like him, she shifted her body to drop her
feet and lifted her wings to let herself fall, until the ground
came up and she flapped to avoid jolting her body. They landed in
the wheel tracks. Normally she loved the snow, but now she wished
it had melted. Anyone could see they were there by the tracks they
left.

["Be careful?"]

Elis put up a hand and listened. Raea heard
nothing. Silence surrounded them. Not even the cattle in the corral
moved but stood or laid down under their shelter. Smart idea. Who
fed them? Was that why someone had been there? Were they still
there?

After a few seconds, Elis approached the
house and turned the door handle.

Unlocked. Typical. Linds' house was always
unlocked too. No one expected uninvited guests, or at least
uninvited trouble.

He motioned for her to follow.

I don't like this.
Entering someone
else's house like that felt totally wrong in so many ways. The
sooner they left, the better she would feel. Besides, two people
had died there. How much creepier could that get?

Plenty. Elis left the lights off. One of the
floor boards creaked under his foot.
Dear God, just like in
those ghost movies.
Raea shivered and tucked her wings close.
Her heart thumped in her chest.

Let's get out of here.
She wanted to
say it, but couldn't break the silence. It's hold overpowered
her.

They passed through a small entry and into a
living room, through a doorway and to a dining room and kitchen,
then down a hallway and looked in each bedroom.

Elis passed through the bedrooms without
turning on any lights. The yard light filtered through the windows
sufficiently for them to make out the outlines of beds and dressers
and chairs and knickknacks. One of the bedrooms reminded Raea of
Eric's—cluttered with stuff on the walls and collectibles on
shelves. Simplicity ruled the second, with a queen bed and two
nightstands. It had to be the master bedroom. The door leading to a
walk-in closet and another to a spacious corner bathroom confirmed
it.

She had a bad feeling about snooping through
the house. "Hurry up. Let's go," she whispered.

Elis nodded and motioned for her to lead the
way out. They passed through the dining room and headed towards the
door when light poured through the window of the front room.

Raea shoved Elis back. Where to hide?
Where...There, the closet. "Get. In."

She didn't have to tell him. He opened the
door and yanked her into what turned out to be a corner pantry with
just enough room for them to stand squished together. Their wings
took up more space than she would have liked.

The hiss of the screen door reached her
faintly. Raea froze, alert to the intruder and to the warmth and
closeness of Elis. His hands gripped her shoulders.

"I'll just be a minute. I have to get a
couple things for Thursday." A woman's voice. The door slammed a
moment later. Could that be Debbie's coworker, Sheri? Hopefully the
woman would get what she needed and leave. It better not be in the
pantry, though.

Raea tried to slide her arm to hold the
handle, so no one could open it. The movement scraped the two nylon
coats together, and she stopped. Stupid! They'd be caught for
sure.

Steps grew louder outside the door.

Raea's heart pounded in her chest and her
breath froze in her lungs.
No. No. No. Please, go. Go away. Just
leave.

Whoever listened outside the door huffed and
walked away.

I promise I'll go to church with Debbie
on Sunday.
Maybe she would start believing, something her
mother had never done. Raea let her head fall against Elis's chest.
His heart pounded as hard as hers.
That was close. Way too
close.

He smelled good, better than his coat she
wore. And the closeness...His presence had a calming effect on her.
She liked it.

No, this is wrong.

Then why did she feel good with him? It
couldn't be wrong.
But it's Elis, not Pallin.
No, it wasn't
right for her to like the strangest, creepiest guy in her class.
But he wasn't bad in any way, just reserved, quiet, maybe shy. He
was like her, an outcast on that world.
I don't believe this.
No, it's just being close like this. It's messing with my head. It
could be anyone.
She barely knew him, even with the last few
days of spending so much time together for her training. What was
going on with her?

Padina laughed, soaring over deep blue
oceans. Jerantis chased her close behind, and Padina swooped
up.

She came around and ended up in his arms.
["Got you."] He suspended them both in the air.

Padina gave him a quick kiss. ["Only because
I let you."] A moment later, she pushed away and dove towards the
ocean.

["Padina!"]

She laughed and corkscrewed into a turn that
put a floating island ahead of her. He disappeared from view.

She glided over the edge of the island and
slowed to almost hovering on outstretched wings. ["Jerantis?"]

A second later, she gasped. Arms wrapped
around from behind her.

["You're not getting away this time."] His
gentle whisper subdued her.

She lowered her wings and let him carry her
down to the island. He landed and loosened his grip, and she
turned. With her arms around his neck she kissed him.

Raea blinked. Damned be those brief visions.
Why did the Starfire continue to show her scenes of her mother and
what must have been her father? Why now? What did it mean?

Always near Elis. It made sense. So, that
was the game, was it?
Oh, no. No, you won't. I'll choose for
myself, thank you very much.
She had to get out of that pantry
and put some space between them. The insult. The Starfire had no
right to control her life, least of all who she should go out
with.

Forget it.
She had more pressing
concerns at the moment anyway. When would the woman leave?

Steps hurried through the house. Raea
swallowed. The sooner the woman left, the sooner she got out of
that pantry and away from Elis.

Not soon enough, the door slammed shut.

Raea shifted, but Elis squeezed her
shoulders. What?

A trick? The person faked leaving to lure
them out. She should have considered it. Good thing he had.

They waited a while before the door opened
and shut. A lock clicked and she thought she heard the storm door
hiss.

Elis let go of her and opened the
pantry.

Raea slipped out and stretched her wings in
the cold air. Oh, hell. She had bent some of the feathers. It must
have happened while they were stuffed inside the pantry. Elis
hadn't fared any better.

["We'll pull them later,"] he said.

["Pull them? Excuse me?"]

["They'll grow back in a week. Remember the
study of bird feathers in Biology?"]

Who could forget? Mister Maviar had them
studying Condor feathers under a microscope. Josh wouldn't shut up
about how he would love to study a Dark Angel feather.

["We don't preen like birds. We don't have
the reach or the utilities. Inari feathers don't have barbules. We
have chains, like microlinks."]

"Oh."
Oh!
They were more durable.
Okay, so not a big deal. ["We can leave now?"]

["Yes. Let's go. There's nothing here, at
least not in the house."]

Which meant he probably wanted to come back
after the snow melted. He could do that on his own. Raea needed
some distance and no more close calls.

No Ordinary Goose
Chase