Wings of the Wicked

Wings of the Wicked - By Courtney Allison Moulton

PART ONE

The Hammer of Gabriel


1


I HIT THE FREEZING PAVEMENT ON MY BACK, AND the air rushed from my lungs. I lay there for only moments, but long enough for a few snowflakes to settle on my face. The pain in my back shot in waves down to my toes and ricocheted through my skull. That thick, musty smell of reaper fur and brimstone smothered me as the ursid reaper’s throaty growl shook the ground and rattled my ears. I wondered why she hadn’t tried to bite my face off already—she was certainly close enough to do it. I opened one eye to see that she had stopped to watch my Guardian, Will, who was battling her companion a few yards down the alley.

Dragging myself to my feet, I looked up to see the reaper turn back toward me, hate spilling over her ugly face. I tightened my grip on both my sickle-shaped Khopesh swords, and they burst into angelfire, the bright white flames licking up the blades. The light danced across the reaper’s features, the sharp highlights and shadows making her appear even more like the Hellspawn that she was.

“It’s going to hurt so bad when I pay you back for that,” I promised, my voice ragged with pain.

“I think not.” Her black lips pulled back, revealing saber canines as long as my forearm. She snapped her jaws and laughed, grinding her talons into the pavement. “I’m shocked you’re back on your feet after that one, Preliator,” she sneered.

I didn’t know how the reapers made that purring growl sound whenever they said my title aloud, but it never failed to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I took a deep breath, shaking off the malice in her voice. “Don’t get too excited. I’ve been hit harder than that by things a lot worse than you.”

The reaper’s lips curved into a grotesque smile, baring as much of her giant teeth as possible. She rolled her shoulders like a cat, crouching on her haunches, ready to spring. I stepped back on my heel, my gaze locked on her empty black shark eyes.

She launched herself into the air, claws spread wide. I dropped to the ground, spun on the slick pavement, and swung my sickle-shaped blades with precision through the air—and through flesh. The reaper’s body turned into a fireball before it hit the ground, and her burning head helicoptered through the air over me. In moments, nothing was left of her but ashes.

I took a deep breath and rose just in time to see Will plunge his sword into the side of the second reaper’s chest. He pulled his blade back out and the reaper fell dead, its skin hardening to stone instead of bursting into flames, which was something only my angelfire caused.

Will came to me, trying to catch his breath, and he thumbed my cheek and lifted my chin. I’d gotten used to him inspecting me for injuries. His touch was businesslike at first, but when he was satisfied that I hadn’t been hurt too badly, his hands became softer. “Are you okay?”

I nodded and let my angelfire die. “Yeah. She hit me with just about everything she had and I landed pretty hard, but nothing broke. Doesn’t it seem like more and more of them are traveling in packs these days?”

His lips tightened for a moment, hardness crossing over his handsome features. “It does. You shouldn’t have let her get such a good hit.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure thing there, Batman. I’ll bring a bazooka next time. Screw these swords. Can we call it a night?” My entire body ached like I’d been hit by a van—a van-sized reaper, to be exact.

Before he could answer, something landed just behind him, shaking the earth beneath us. Will spun around and stood over me like a shield. A creature—a reaper even bigger than an ursid, covered in dark leathery skin—had landed in the street. The skin of its face stretched tight over jutting bone, and its long, gnarled snout was filled with jagged, yellowed teeth. Its eyes were sickly, pale, glazed-over orbs staring unfocused right through us, and wide ears topped its skull. Instead of true arms, bones were stretched into gigantic, membranous wings like a bat’s, with foot-long, hooked claws that gouged the pavement for support. Its hind legs were thick with muscle, and it had a long, lizardlike spiked tail that swayed back and forth like that of a cat whose eyes had spied a bird within reach—only this reaper’s eyes saw nothing.

My lips quivered and I took a frightened step back. “What the hell is that?”

“Nycterid” was all Will said as his hand tightened around his sword. “That’s Orek, one of the oldest and strongest of them.”

And then two more landed behind the first. My stomach leaped into my throat as I gaped in horror up at the towering monsters. There was no way we could fight all three of them at once. I wasn’t even sure I could fight one of them.

“Step aside, Guardian,” Orek rumbled in a deep voice, his long jaws snapping, forked tongue flicking as he spoke human words. His glossy pale eyes stared unseeingly and made what felt like worms crawl through my stomach.

Will straightened and said nothing.

“So be it.” Orek craned his long neck toward one of his companions. “Take her, Jabur.”

In a flash, Orek lurched forward and slammed a wing into Will, sending him soaring through the air. The nycterid chugged toward Will and snapped his jaws like a crocodile. Will pounded his fists into Orek’s head as the jaws crunched air, questing for soft flesh. Orek’s tail swung around and smashed into Will’s body, sending him flying again across the alley and into the wall of the nearest building, crushing brick. He hit the ground with a low groan, and Orek descended on him.

I bolted forward to help Will, but something massive slammed into me before I could react, knocking my swords out of my hands and to the ground. The second nycterid, Jabur, grabbed me with the talons of his hind limbs. His gigantic wings spread, and he took off with me in his clutches.

“Will!” I screamed, wildly reaching for him. I beat and clawed at the reaper’s leathery skin, but he ignored me as we flew up and away. Panic sent shock waves through my body as I twisted and flailed, desperate to get away. The alley was disappearing far below me.

Will broke free from Orek, tearing away from claws and gnashing teeth, and he dived beneath beating wings.

“Ellie!” He ran down the street, his ivory wings spreading from his back, and he jumped into the air after me, sword in hand. He was lighter and faster than the nycterid, and when he reached us, he swung his sword, but Jabur’s other foot collided with Will’s chest, sending him careening downward. The wind rushed violently into my face like an arctic hurricane, and I struggled to see where Will had fallen, my heart pounding in my ears. I cried his name again, but I couldn’t catch sight of him. Jabur lurched suddenly, dropping several feet in the air, and my stomach jerked into my throat before we steadied again. I twisted my head to see Will’s wings stretched out above Jabur. The nycterid swung his body left and right, trying to shake Will off. Jabur’s long snout crunched his crooked teeth together, and he made a dragonlike hiss.

The nycterid jerked into a barrel roll, and Will slid free. He dropped through the air until he was beneath us. His wings beat hard and he flew up ahead of Jabur. He slashed his sword down with a furious cry, slicing the blade through Jabur’s neck. The reaper’s head fell away and vanished. The rest of his body slowed its flight as it hardened into rock.

And then I fell, still trapped in the clutches of the stone reaper. I plummeted much faster than we’d risen, the immense weight of the giant reaper’s stone body hurling us both toward the ground. I screamed until I was nearly deaf from the sound of my own voice and the wind rushing into my face. I beat at the rock leg, trying to break free, and I saw Will diving past me like a falcon. He swung his body, and then he was in front of me, his sword gone and his hands freed.

“Get me out of here!” I shrieked, tugging my trapped body uselessly.

Will pounded his fist over and over again on the stone limb. I stared past him at the rapidly approaching street below. The limb cracked at last, and Will threw it into the air and kicked the body away from me. His arms wrapped around me, but we didn’t stop falling. He swore as he beat his wings, futilely trying to catch us in the air, but we were falling too fast. I held back a scream of terror as we plunged toward the earth. At the last moment, Will flipped us in midair so that he was below me and I stared into the blinding green blaze of his eyes.

Then we hit—Will’s back cracked pavement beneath us as I buried my face in his chest. We lay frozen, clinging to each other, his arms still tight around me as if he thought I’d keep falling if he let me go. At last I lifted my head and looked into his face, my body shaking violently. His eyes were closed and he was breathing raggedly, his chest rising and falling dramatically under my body. His wings were splayed flat out on the ground, but they looked unharmed. The falling sensation still sickened my gut as I looked around in disbelief and found the smashed remains of the nycterid littering the area around us.

“Are you okay?” Will asked up at me, his warm breath on my cheek.

I nodded, taking long, slow breaths to put myself back together, my hands still clutching him. I needed my head in the game, but I didn’t want to let go of Will.

I climbed off him weakly, my legs trembling on solid ground, and looked around for my fallen swords. I picked them up, and the angelfire sparked once again. The two remaining nycterids loomed over us. My body screamed at me, begging me to run, but I had to stay and fight.

Orek took a step toward me, dipping his head and curling his lips back into a freakish smile. The talons on his wings grabbed at the pavement, hooking into cracks. “We were not supposed to lose one of our own.”

“Sorry, but I always leave a body count,” I said, tightening my grip on my swords.

Orek laughed, sending splinters of ice through me.

A form dropped between us and I stepped back on my heel. It was one of the humanlike vir reapers, like Will. This one’s back was to me, and his sparrow-brown wings folded behind him. Another reaper descended—a girl—and she landed facing me. Her wings, the feathers dark silver like pencil lead, spread wide and gave a shudder. Blue-black hair fell around her shoulders, and she stared at me with a hardened gaze. I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone so terrifyingly beautiful. She looked from Will to me and back again.

For a moment, I felt like I was still plunging through the air. More of them? Had half of the demonic reapers in Detroit been sent to kill me tonight?

The girl’s eyes brightened to an iridescent blue-violet, and she held out her hands. I sucked in a sickened gasp as her fingernails all lengthened into horrible foot-long talons made of pale bone. If I had to fight her, I’d have to chop off her hands before things got too serious.

“What is this?” Orek hissed, backing away. “You called for reinforcements?”

Weren’t the new reapers demonic? I took a step toward Will, just to feel his comforting presence.

“We didn’t anticipate this,” Orek’s remaining companion growled in a strangely feminine voice.

Orek snarled. “Come, Eki. We’ll return when we have a greater advantage.”

The two nycterids spread their massive wings and took to the air like a pair of misplaced dinosaurs. But I couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief that they were gone. I raised my swords to the mysterious newcomers, prepared to keep fighting.