The City of Flame and Shadow, Page 2

  CHAPTER 2

  “WHAT?” ALEXA CHOKED ON HER OWN TONGUE. The muscles in her hands stiffened and she nearly dropped her blade. Milo’s word echoed in her head like a throbbing migraine. She stared at his lips and frowned. “That’s not funny. You shouldn’t be joking about something like that.”

  “I’m not joking,” he said. “I know how this sounds, but it’s the only way.” He closed the distance between them and stared at her, lips thin and eyes wide with shock, horror, and grief.

  “No, freaking way, Milo,” said Alexa. “We’re not killing anyone!” Her voice was louder than she’d intended, her words echoing off the nightclub’s walls. A shuddering rush went through her, a spear of lightning in the abyss. She was surprised by the fear. Enough had come over her that it cleared the heavy fog that had been clouding her senses these past few weeks.

  “No,” she said again. “I refuse to do this. There has to be another way.”

  “There isn’t.” Milo’s face was calm, but she knew him well enough now to recognize the dread that flashed in his eyes. “Not if you want to save these mortals. It’s the only way, Alexa. Trust me. I don’t like it either. I hate it even, but I wouldn’t be saying it if it weren’t true. This is their only chance to survive.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” As if from a distance, Alexa heard herself speaking, and the steel in her own voice astonished her. “You’re talking about murder—murdering a mortal.”

  A shadow passed across his face. “I’m talking about saving lives. I know it’s a lot to deal with, but you have to understand—”

  “Understand?” snapped Alexa, panic tinging her voice. “Look at them? They can’t even defend themselves. It would be like killing someone in their sleep. Can’t you see how wrong this is? I’m surprised you would even think of something so… so dark, so evil. But maybe you can…”

  “What exactly are you implying?” Milo’s features turned vicious. “Because I was once a Nephilim, I’m tarnished in some way? My mind is filled with dark and sinister thoughts because of who my father is? Is that what you think of me?”

  “I’m sorry, that was—”

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Milo tensed. His eyes narrowed slightly before he looked away from her and stared at the mass of mortals whose lives were about to be extinguished.

  A sharp, quick panic rose up in her, an aching pain that had her throat closing. “I’m sorry. I—I shouldn’t have said that.” Maybe it was only out of blind terror at the abyss opening up again around her, but she whispered, “It’s just… This is crazy.” Her confidence from before tumbled to the pit of her stomach. Her mind was swimming so much she felt dizzy and sick. “We can’t do this. This is wrong. We can’t just take a life. We’re supposed to be protecting lives, not taking them. What does that make us if we start killing mortals?”

  Milo’s voice was hard. “I’m not a demon, Alexa.”

  “I know you’re not,” she answered, her own voice ragged. “But I won’t do it. I won’t.”

  Her stomach lurched and something like bile stung the back of her throat. But she clamped down on the horror with a wall of ice and cursed her mortal body.

  “We have to,” said Milo. He turned and looked at her. “By removing one soul, by killing one mortal, it will sever the connection. It’s either we take one life—or we let them all die. Is that what you want?”

  “Of course not.” Alexa’s anger flared. “How can you even say that? It’s just… I thought…” She swallowed hard and looked into Milo’s eyes. “This feels wrong. All kinds of wrong. Maybe we should go and ask the Legion for advice—”

  “There’s no time,” Milo said with the same unchecked anger. “You said it yourself. They’re running out of time.” He wouldn’t look at her.

  “This idea is a festering pile of crap,” she snapped. “We’re better than this. We can figure out another way.” She didn’t know what, or how, exactly, but she could find something better than killing an innocent mortal. Something they could use that they hadn’t thought of—

  Her new ability.

  “What about my gift?” said Alexa. Her voice sounded thin to her own ears, but the more she thought about it, the more her confidence grew. “I might be able to break the connection somehow. I know, I’ve never tried it on so many people before. And God knows I’m a little rusty—it’s not like I had time to practice—but maybe… maybe I can channel their souls to kill the link. I know it’s a long shot, but if I’m right, we don’t have to kill anyone.”

  Milo shook his head, anger and frustration chasing each other across his features. “They’re too weak. If you try to channel their souls, you risk killing them all at the same time. We still don’t know enough about your gift to risk using it on these mortals. Besides, you barely know how to control it yourself. Look, you’re having a hard time thinking about the loss of one life. What will happen if you kill them all? Can you live with that? I don’t think so. It’s too risky.”

  Alexa straightened and her eyes burned. “I just thought—forget it.”

  Milo’s expression softened. “I know I said I was going to help you train your new gift, and I’m going to—”

  “Forget about it,” said Alexa, cutting him off and looking past him to the mortals. “It’s not like we’ve had loads of free time, anyway. We’ve been out on assignments every single day since Hades took the helm. The Legion won’t spare us any downtime.”

  “No, they won’t.” Milo grabbed her arm, making her stop to face him. “Hades is growing stronger, and the Legion has barely been able to recover from the recent attacks.” He paused for a moment. “We’re wasting time. You need to make a decision.”

  Alexa raised her brows at him. “Me? Why me?”

  “Because. We do this together. Or not at all.” Milo’s voice was final.

  “And you’re okay with this?”

  “We’re running out of options,” said Milo, casting a sad glance at the mortals. “Look at them. They barely have five minutes of life left in them. We can’t keep arguing about what’s right or wrong in this situation because there’s no easy answer. We do this now—or we walk away.”

  “We can’t just walk away.” Alexa shook off his grasp and continued walking. It was an absurd idea, really. But what choice did they have?

  She wiped the sweat from her brow. “I hate this, you know,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “I hate these kinds of things.”

  The warrior angel shook the tension from his shoulders. “I know. And I have the feeling this isn’t the worst decision were going to have to make in the near future.”

  “Great.” Alexa sighed.

  “Be thankful we still have time to make that kind of decision. No matter how awful and wrong it seems, at least we know we can save them.”

  “But only if we kill one.” Alexa was silent for a moment. She felt cold and empty. She never imagined she’d be faced with such a decision. These kinds of matters were for the archangels, not rookie angels. She’d never taken a mortal life before. This wasn’t like killing demons or other beasts from the Netherworld. This was a human life—an innocent human who didn’t deserve to die like this. Especially not at the hands of the creatures sworn to protect them. It was wrong.

  “You have to be a hundred percent sure about this, Alexa,” Milo said softly. “Once we… once we start, there’s no coming back from it. You need to be certain you can live with what we’re about to do. Can you?”

  Alexa bit her lip to keep it from wobbling. “I don’t want to do this. But if it’s the only way to save all these mortals…”

  “It is.”

  “Fine.” Her eyes burned as she scanned the vegetative mortals. Her voice broke, but she managed to say, “How do we choose who has to die?” Her throat throbbed, and she realized she was trembling. A wall of shame came crashing over her as she realized she’d been thinking about it, searching for the one to kill. Alexa shook her head and tried to rid her mind of her dreaded tho
ughts.

  For a long moment, Milo said nothing, but his brows narrowed slightly. When he spoke again, his voice was pained. “It shouldn’t be you. You shouldn’t have to choose. I’ll do it.” He moved towards a man with a thick brown beard and matching hair, wearing a red shirt. The angel lifted his sword and aimed it at the man’s heart—

  “Wait!” Alexa was next to him in a flash, her hand on his arm. She pulled him around to face her. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

  Milo’s eyes flashed with uncertainty and he shrugged. “I think so—”

  “You think so? I’m not gambling some poor man’s life on a ‘I think so.’”

  Milo’s jaw tightened and he lowered his weapon. “I’ve never done it before. But I know if you want to kill a devil’s caress, you need to kill one of its victims to sever the connection. We don’t have a choice, Alexa.” His voice rose. “If we don’t try, they’re all going to die. Is that what you want?”

  Alexa studied his handsome face, full of a grim sort of hope. He understood what would happen to her if she were to kill. It would break her and she would probably never recover from it.

  She’d loathed him when they first met. And now Milo was sacrificing himself again to keep her from suffering, even though she knew he would suffer just as much, perhaps even more.

  Milo, the angel warrior, had never taken a mortal life either. Even when his Nephilim brothers had massacred innocent women and children, Milo had refused to hurt anyone. He had taken his own life, rather than killing an innocent soul.

  And now here he was, prepared to do just that. Kill an innocent.

  No matter how much Milo tried to justify it, Alexa couldn’t shake off the numb feeling that began to grow in her core. She felt as though she were being affected by the devil’s caress too. She also felt an odd, sick, empty feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with her new gift and everything to do with the mortal man who stood before them, clueless and with a vacant expression across his face. Why did Milo pick him?

  She saw Milo watching her, but she couldn’t meet his eyes.

  “Do it.”

  Alexa stepped back, as though that small gesture would keep her from being affected by what Milo was about to do. She couldn’t understand or imagine what must be going through his mind. And she felt a deep sadness for him. How could anyone recover from that?

  She stiffened, and she had to fight to keep her eyes from shutting.

  Milo sighed through his nose, raised his sword again and aimed it at the man’s heart—

  Then the world around Alexa exploded in yellow and orange.

  CHAPTER 3

  ALEXA WAS THROWN BACKWARD WITH incredible force. Bar stools and chairs hit her as she flew across the room to finally crash into the side wall of the club. A flash of pain struck her as the skin of her face seared, like the scraping of sandpaper. She heard several things crack as she slid to the ground, only to find Milo slumped next to her. His clothes and hair were covered in sand.

  When she looked down at herself, sand speckled her clothes, and she tasted some in her mouth. Sand was everywhere, as though someone had showered them with buckets of it.

  There was a smell in the air as well—the familiar rancid, thick smell of garbage and rotting meat. Alexa knew that smell. Demons.

  She spat the sand from her mouth. Dizzy, and surprised she still clung to her soul blade, she pushed herself up on shaky legs. Sand rolled off of her until she stood in a puddle of it.

  “What just happened?” Alexa spat another mouthful of sand, and this time she tasted the familiar bitter tang of rot on her tongue. The sand scraped her teeth making her shiver.

  In a flash, Milo stood next to her, shaking the sand from his hair. His spirit sabers glistened before him, and his expression was hard. But he wasn’t looking at Alexa.

  She followed his gaze across the dance floor.

  Standing next to the DJ booth was a tall, man-like creature. Its bare chest was corded with muscles and covered in black markings, like tattoos of hieroglyphic symbols of birds, animals and beetle-like insects. It wore a short kilt made of gold, revealing muscular legs below, and was adorned with jewelry—a string of beads, gold armlets and bracelets. Around its neck was a large gold choker. But what made Alexa do a double take was its head. Its head was the black head of a jackal.

  Its ears were alert, focused. Its eyes were like flames of fire, and they were focused on her.

  “Let me guess,” said Alexa, although she wasn’t sure how she knew since she didn’t remember whether she studied ancient Egyptian gods in school or not. “One of the Egyptian gods, right?”

  “The Egyptian god Anubis,” answered Milo, his eyes fixed on the creature. “The god of mummification and the dead. Looks like we’ve just found our Greater demon.”

  A rumble sounded from the god as if in answer. It looked down at the angels, and then a voice boomed in a language Alexa had never heard before. It sounded like the crackling of flames and stones grinding beneath the earth.

  Alexa turned to Milo. “What did it say?”

  Milo shrugged. “I don’t speak demon. But whatever it said, it can’t be good.”

  Anubis thrashed its head from side to side. A darkness began to build, cracking from the god like forks of yellow, orange, and black lightning. Flames spewed from its mouth and it thrust its pointed jackal head back and howled. The sound was unlike anything Alexa had ever heard. It reminded her of the last wail of someone falling to their death. Liquor bottles exploded, and the club was showered by shards of glass like sharp snowflakes.

  “Looks like we pissed it off,” said Alexa, though dread rose in her like a cramp, signaling worse things to come.

  Milo’s eyes flashed. “It knows what we were attempting to do.”

  “What do you mean were. Aren’t we still going to try to kill the devil’s caress?”

  He hesitated. “We need to make a run for the exit—”

  “No,” said Alexa, her eyes still on the god. “We have to try and save some of these people.”

  “You’re not listening,” said Milo, talking quickly. “It just fed—and is still feeding from hundreds of those mortals. It’s filled with power, which means it has way more than you and I can handle. Trust me.”

  “We can’t leave these people here like this, for this thing to finish them off,” hissed Alexa. Her eyes darted across the dance floor at the pale and vacant faces. She felt sick.

  “It’s too late for them.” Milo’s handsome face twisted. “I’m not risking your life.”

  “And I’m not asking for your permission—”

  “You’re under my orders,” said Milo with an overbearing look on his face.

  Alexa grimaced. “Oh, no you didn’t.”

  “Alexa, be reasonable—”

  “Your orders?” she seethed, knowing all too well this wasn’t the place or the time to pick a fight.

  Before he could stop her, Alexa shot forward, tightening her grip with her blade as she ran into the crowd.

  “Alexa! Wait!”

  Her eyes darted across the dance floor, looking for the same bearded man, but she’d lost him. She was running blindly into the mass of comatose mortals. Who would she kill? Could she even do it?

  She barely finished the question as she came up to the closest mortal—a young woman who couldn’t be much older than twenty-two.

  “May the souls forgive me,” she whispered. Alexa’s stomach clenched as she shot forward with her blade and aimed it at the woman’s chest. Her hand shook terribly, and she could barely keep the blade still. The tip of her blade pierced through the woman’s top—

  Alexa pulled back her hand. “What am I doing?” she whispered. “I can’t do this—”

  Her head snapped forward as she was propelled backwards, her back slamming into something hard. Milo gave a sharp cry next to her ear as they both fell to the ground with Alexa on top of him. She felt the warmth of his body through her clothes, the firmness of his chest. His f
ree arm wrapped protectively around her, right below her chest.

  Heat rushed to her face as she pulled herself from Milo’s hard chest and jumped to her feet. She stood flushed, and it took a second for her to catch her bearings. She looked back at the DJ’s booth.

  Anubis howled and then raised its arms. Darkness rose up to cover the god like a thick cloak, wisps of ebony smoke swirling around it in endless loops. Next to it, whirlwinds of sand and darkness began to form. The sand fell, and it its place stood twenty or more impossible creatures of nightmares.

  They looked human, but they were long dead. Filaments of tissue hung from their skeletons, with thin-fleshed arms and oozing black and yellow sores. Through the seeping skin, bones protruded, blackened and cracked, as though they had been in the earth a thousand years. The faces were nothing but skulls, with noses and eyes mere caved-in holes. Their taloned fingers were stripped and skeletal.

  The smell of rot was overwhelming, and Alexa blinked through her tears to clear her vision.

  Milo moved next to her. “And look… he brought his own army of the dead.”

  “Great,” said Alexa as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “We’re never going to get a break, are we?”

  “Not in our line of work.” He pulled out his second spirit saber. “For angels, a break means death.”

  Just as Alexa shot him an angry look, the wall of dead flesh scrambled towards them.

  She froze at the sound—the massive grinding of dead joints, no longer joined by gristle, combined with the padding of dead, fleshy feet. They were chanting, decayed jaws clamping together in a steady, slow rhythm that put all the hair on the back of her neck on edge. It was a ghastly ruckus, hard sounds of bone on bone with the liquid thrashing and thumping of decomposed, jellying flesh.

  The vaguely human forms were everywhere, rushing towards them with dead mouths gulping and hissing in a ghastly parody of a war cry.

  It was the most disgusting and horrifying scene Alexa had ever witnessed. Her eyes darted at Anubis, who now stood on the dance floor. Its jackal head was fixed on the angels.