Once an Angel

listening to them; he was looking at their souls. Ella tried to imagine what Tappani was seeing. Looking at the harpies must have been like looking at the victims of a terrible accident, victims who didn't yet know how badly they were injured. The sisters must have realized it, too; and they didn't like being seen that way. Already, Kelaino and Aello were squirming. Then, inspired by the need to be as wicked as their stench, they threw a stream of vomit from their mouths straight at Tappani. With a quick side step, Ella got herself between them and ex-angel in time to intercept most of the scalding sludge.

  "Ella, you didn't have to do that." Tappani's voice was warm in her ear, like a promise, one she was too filthy to keep. She fought the urge to add her own vomit to the harpy puke. Now, what she smelled like outside matched what she felt like inside.

  "Yes, I did," she snapped.

  What they'd already done to her was bad enough. There was no way she was going to let the sisters defile this man. But the sister's vomit stank. And burned, too. Ella's eyes teared as the fumes rose against her face. Still, better her than Tappani.

  "You're not going to spoil our fun," Aello taunted.

  "Enough talk," Kelaino said. "I want to see some blood."

  "Yeah, blood," Aello agreed, urging her on like a demented cheerleader. "Ocypete, make her cut him."

  "Of course, sisters," Ocypete told them. "If it's blood you want, it's blood you'll get." She glared at Ella, and then pulled a small knife from a hiding place among her feathers. She tossed the knife toward Ella, and it landed between Ella's feet. The harpies were out of reach now, but if they came closer . . . . She reached down and picked up the knife.

  "We see what you're thinking!" Aello sneered. She rushed forward and thrust her bare chest at Ella. Ella lunged toward her, knife in hand, but the chain was too short. Aello's flabby breasts were just out of reach.

  Aello shrieked and laughed. "Did you see that?" she demanded of her sisters. She turned her spiteful face back to Ella. "Oh, you want me! And you can't have me!"

  Aello and Kelaino were both falling over themselves laughing again.

  But Ocypete had more serious entertainment in mind. "Cut him!" she commanded.

  Horrified, Ella felt her arm swing around to slash Tappani. She fought. Oh, how she fought! But the elder sister's blood still bound her. Tappani didn't have time to step away. Ella had just enough control to bring her hand down from his throat. Instead, there was a sudden ribbon of red blood across Tappani's chest. He looked down in surprise at the long shallow cut.

  "I can't help it!" Ella growled. "Just keep as far away from me as you can. Hurt me if you need to. Do whatever it takes to stop me. You understand?"

  "The harpy has control of you?"

  "Yes, it was Ocypete's blood I drank."

  "We hope you had fun, with angel-boy," Ocypete sneered at her. "Because you just screwed away your one chance to keep from joining us."

  "Huh?" Ella said. As a rejoinder, it lacked pizazz, but Ella had no idea what Ocypete was talking about.

  "Him!" they shrieked in unison. Kelaino and Aello were laughing so hard they couldn't speak.

  "Pure blood," Ocypete said. "Innocent blood, given willingly. That's the only thing that could have saved you. And you just screwed away your chance."

  "Oh."

  She looked at Tappani. Yeah, ex-angel. No experience as a human. No experience as a man. Not weak, but innocent. Couldn't get much more pure that that. Her mind ran a replay of what Ocypete had just said. The harpy thought they'd been coupling like animals, strangers using each other to pass the time. Using each other without love. But they hadn't. She'd stopped. Of course, that didn't take into account how she'd been feeling about Tappani. But had the same thoughts of using her occurred to him? She looked into his golden eyes, and it was like falling into heaven. No, whether angel or sort-of-human, Tappani had never thought to use anyone.

  "Cut him again," Ocypete ordered. "And this time, make it count."

  "Poke out his eyes!" Kelaino said.

  "Cut off his balls!" Aello suggested.

  "Grab my arm," Ella ordered. "Please, Tappani. Stop me!"

  For once, he didn't argue. He caught her wrist in both of his hands, but all his strength was barely enough to stay her hand. She knew they had just moments before Ocypete decided to order her to use both hands in her attack. The harpies were screeching encouragement. She hoped the sound would be enough to cover her desperate whisper.

  "Innocent blood," she said.

  "Freely given," Tappani agreed. He loosened his grip, and Ella plunged the knife into his shoulder, just above the collarbone. The harpies were delighted.

  "Do it again! Do it again!"

  Ella drew out the knife, unable to stop herself. But Tappani pulled her close so that her lips were against the wound. "My blood for you, freely given for your life," he whispered into her hair.

  Ella opened her mouth and lapped like a cat licking cream. His blood was coppery, sweet, rich and full of life. It was like swallowing sunshine. She swallowed and felt it wash through her, driving out the harpy blood the way light drives out darkness. She could feel her spirit healing. More than that, she could feel Gaea again. The goddess was back online. Ella was whole. She stepped away from Tappani and gave him a quick, soft kiss.

  "Thank you," she said. "I'll never forget this."

  She turned to face the harpies. With a flicker of her will, Gaea's sword sprang into full being. Ella held three feet of lethal silver katana in a two-handed grip. It had never felt so good to see its shimmering length. It wouldn't harm any living thing that was born to Gaea's world, but it would chop harpies just fine, and it would slice right through anything non-living matter as well. One slash cut the chain that bound them to the wall. The second slash took off Kelaino's head. There was a brilliant flash of light, and then something small, dark, and bat-like flew off in a direction that had nothing to do with Gaea's reality.

  "One down," Ella growled, "two to go."

  Ocypete and Aello had gone from shrieks of laughter to cries of rage. They tried to split up and come at her from both sides, but Tappani had picked up the dropped knife and stood back to back with Ella. Yeah, Ella thought, definitely more than eye candy.

  Aello came for her with her retractable claws extended like a handful of knives. Ella would rather face Ocypete, the eldest sister. Tappani had courage, but she wasn't sure his fighting skills were up to taking on the oldest and strongest of the harpies. She felt him moving at her back and knew he parried claws as well. Well, she'd better quit dancing around and chop the head off the other over-sized chicken so she could help him.

  An under and over pass took off the claws on Aello's left hand, but the harpy managed to lean away enough to spare her neck. She grabbed the stick Ella had tried to reach earlier. Yeah, it was a golf club, an antique with a hickory handle.

  "You could have been one of us!" Aello screamed. "We would have made you our sister!"

  "I already have a sister," Ella replied as she angled for a better blow. "And you bitches are not even close to being in her class."

  Aello shrieked in rage and charged her. Ella met her with Gaea's blade and was nearly blinded by another flash of light as the harpy's head separated from her shoulders. There was no blood. This wasn't a mortal body. There was only the light and the small black thing winging swiftly back to the Dreaming.

  Ella swung around, ready to take on Ocypete, but the eldest harpy wasn't about to get into a fair fight with her. Ocypete lunged forward, grabbing Tappani and tearing the small knife from his hand. The claws of Ocypete's free hand menaced Tappani's neck.

  "Back off!" the harpy ordered. "Or pretty boy is hamburger." She held him easily, despite his struggles. Ocypete was a monster with a monster's strength. Even as a more than plain vanilla human, Tappani had no hope of escaping her.

  "Cut off her head," Tappani urged. "You can't let her go
free in this world."

  "Let him go!"

  What could she do? If she went after Ocypete, would Gaea's sword recognize Tappani as a creature of this world, or would it consider his origins in the Dreaming? Would the katana cut them both or cut only the harpy. One thing Ella was sure of, Ocypete's wouldn't hesitate to rip Tappani's throat out. Ella shifted her stance. She planned to cut low and hope to take out the harpy's legs. Ocypete's clawed bird-feet were a good eighteen-inches long. Her legs were the thickness of small tree trunks and covered with iridescent blue-green scales. If she could get the bird-bitch down, get Tappani away from her, she could do the job the Earth Mother had sent her here to do.

  Ocypete noticed Ella looking at her legs.

  "No, you don't!" Ocypete snarled. She began backing toward the stairs with their heavy wooden door at the top.

  Ella knew she couldn't let Ocypete get the door between them if she wanted to save Tappani. In the seconds it would take Ella to chop through the door, Ocypete would gut Tappani and be gone. There were four innocent civilians up above, as well. She was sure Lizzie was still alive, and maybe the two housemaids and the cook. Ella really, really wanted to get everyone out alive.

  Meanwhile, Ocypete was climbing backwards up the stairs, keeping a wary face toward Ella. Her huge feet were having trouble with the human-sized treads, and dragging the still struggling Tappani with her didn't help. Her claws formed white gouges in the wood.