I looked up as Barnabas hesitated at the curb until I took the step up. Nakita saw the black wings through my eyes, and panic iced both of us at the memory of the pain of being eaten alive. I held my amulet tighter. Black wings couldn’t see me as long as I was wearing it. I was safe. I was safe, damn it! But it was hard to walk under them.
I’m coming! Nakita exclaimed, and the double vision vanished.
I took a deep breath, snapping myself out of the almost-trance. Barnabas was holding my elbow. Turning at the noise behind us, I blanched. Stopped cars were everywhere. Good thing the emergency people were here already. “Thanks, Barnabas,” I whispered, knowing he had guided me through it. “Nakita was at Josh’s. She’s on her way. I’m not going to let a dark reaper kill Tammy. I won’t!”
“And I won’t let a light reaper give her a guardian angel,” Barnabas said as his touch fell from me. “Not this time. I saved Sarah. Maybe I just need to try harder. Like you.”
The strength of his words hit me, and I turned, surprised at his clenched jaw. He’d always supported me, but never had he looked this determined. It had to be the reminder of Sarah. “Thank you,” I whispered, and he turned away, seeming embarrassed.
My attention went over his shoulder to the glow among the frightened people gathering in the parking lot of the apartments. I caught a flash of an amulet, then it was gone behind a wave of choking black.
“Look, it’s Nakita,” I said, eyes stinging as I started that way. But Barnabas jerked me to a halt.
“That’s not Nakita,” Barnabas said, his expression alarmed. “That’s a dark reaper!”
My eyes darted back into the crowd, seeing nothing, then went back to Barnabas. “Crap,” I whispered, feeling my knees go watery. “We’re in trouble. Look, there’s a light reaper, too. What in bloody heaven is going on? The seraphs know I’m here! Why are they interfering?!”
But it was obvious as to why. I’d really messed it up by saving Tammy’s life.
Barnabas’s lips pressed together as he watched the beautiful light reaper standing in front of the building, her hands on her hips as she looked appraisingly at the fire, not yet having identified who she was here to save. “It’s Arariel,” he said stiffly. “She’s good. We’re in trouble. She keeps guardian angels in her pocket. And the dark reaper? I recognize him, too. That’s Demus.”
Things were spiraling out of control. Clearly neither reaper had found Tammy yet, and though we could find her by way of her aura, so could Arariel if Ron had flashed and passed the description of it on to his light reaper. I’m sure the dark reaper had a description of her by now, too, thanks to the seraphs. And that is what ticked me off the most. The seraphs had written my attempt off without giving me a real chance. I was trying to fix this! They had no right to call in a dark reaper yet. Not yet!
But my hope was fading. Maybe they had given up on my ideas altogether?
“Maybe I can change Tammy’s resonance,” I said, barely breathing the words, but I knew he had heard me despite the roar of the fire trucks and the calls of frightened people. “If Ron has flashed forward, he’s given a description to his reaper, and if I can change it, she’ll be safe.”
“Do you think you can?” he asked, and I winced. “That’s timekeeper magic. Even I can’t do that.”
“I don’t know, but if we can get close enough to her, you can at least shield her resonance.” But Tammy thought we were crazy, and she’d probably run if she saw us.
“It’s worth a try.” Barnabas’s eyes flashed silver as he touched on the divine. “Found her,” he said, hunching closer as if the surrounding reapers could read his mind. “She’s scared. Alone. She’s not in the parking lot. She’s in an alley.”
He turned, and I followed his gaze to a nearby self-serve storage site with rows of single-story buildings and garage doors. “There?” I asked him. It was noisy with the fire trucks’ engines, and the lights from the emergency vehicles made come-and-go shadows on him as he nodded.
“Can you see her aura?” he asked me in turn, and I closed my eyes, trying to relax with the noise and commotion.
“No,” I said. “Barnabas, I don’t think that I can figure out how to change her aura.” My eyes opened, finding him looking frustrated. “Let’s just get over there and hide her resonance, even if we have to sit on her to keep her from running away.”
He nodded, but as we turned to go, I saw a flash of amulet. I froze, my chest seeming to clench at the red hair and short stature. I’d never met any of my dark reapers except for Nakita, but by his unearthly beauty, I knew it had to be Demus. And as I watched him search the crowd for Tammy, anger kindled in me. This was my reap.
Taking a breath, I pulled myself straight. My eyes never left the beautiful angel who looked like he’d just gotten off a boat from Ireland. He was one of my reapers, and my hand gripped my amulet as determination filled me. He was going to do what I said.
“Go shield her, Barnabas,” I said, and he grunted as he followed my gaze and saw Demus as well. “I’m going to go talk to Demus. Distract him at the least.”
“Demus?” Barnabas said, looking shaken as his gaze darted back and away. “I know you’re the dark timekeeper, but he’s here on seraph business. He’s not going to listen to you.”
“The hell he isn’t,” I muttered. “I’m his boss.”
Barnabas furrowed his brow and his eyes shifted to worry. “Madison—”
“Don’t you Madison me!” I exclaimed. “I’m not going to let this go, and neither are you! Go find Tammy. Hide her resonance from the reapers. She likes you. I’m the one she thinks is crazy. I’ve got this! It’s not like he can kill me!”
Barnabas stiffened. People carrying dogs and terrified cats stood between us and the dark reaper, shouting and gesturing about their lives going up in flames. The firemen ignored them the best they could as they worked, and the cops were trying to get them to go into the nearby skating rink. Smoke billowed between us, and when it cleared, Demus was gone.
Crap, where did he go? A black wing flew over, and we both ducked, the scent of decay and roses seeming to catch in my throat. “Madison!” came a familiar shout, and we turned to see Nakita elbowing her way through the frightened people. “Who is watching Tammy?”
A surge of pride came and went. She cared. Nakita cared about Tammy. If I could make a dark reaper care, then maybe this wasn’t as impossible as everyone said it was. “Barnabas is,” I said, and her wide eyes flicked at him, as if asking how when he was standing right beside us. “Nakita, you take Arariel,” I said, pointing, then blinked when I realized that the light reaper in the black jumpsuit had seen us and had her sword bared and was grinning at us, waiting. “Don’t let her put a guardian angel on Tammy, okay? Barnabas is going to hide Tammy’s resonance and protect her. I’m talking to Demus.”
Nakita nodded, her own smile eager as her hand gripped her amulet and her sword ghosted into existence in the other one. “With pleasure,” she said, striding away, sidestepping a fireman oblivious to everything but his job. The stink of ash rose up, and I squinted through it, glad I didn’t have to breathe.
I’d never seen so many black wings before, and the foul, mindless things swirled through the smoke to make it look like a living thing. Barnabas was still standing beside me like this was a lost cause. It would be only if we let it. “Will you go find Tammy!” I exclaimed, and he looked at me, a sick expression on his face.
“It’s too late,” he said, and my heart gave a thump. “Look.”
I followed his pointing arm to see Tammy standing at the top of one of the rows of the storage building, her mouth open and her dog in her arms, staring at the fire eating through the roof of her home. Demus was right behind her in the shadows, looking as if he was comparing her aura to something as his eyes went silver. In a blink between one flash of light and the next, his sword was made anew.
The memory of my heart pounded. “Demus!” I shouted, breaking into a run,
dodging around crying people. “No!”
I could almost feel the whispers of feathers through my soul as I recalled being scythed, and the fear of waking up in the morgue with no way to change things, no way to hit the reset button and make a better choice. Tammy didn’t deserve that.
“Madison!” Barnabas shouted, but I dodged around an angry man arguing with a cop and kept going.
Demus raised his sword, planning on taking her from behind, oblivious to me barreling down on him. “Wait!” I shouted, but he was swinging, and I plowed into Tammy, sending us and her dog sprawling into the shadows between the storage buildings.
She shrieked, and her dog barked furiously, but no one outside the alley heard. Still on the ground, I looked up. Demus’s shock was turning into an ugly expression. His eyes dropped to my amulet, and he raised his sword again.
“You’ll have to do better than that, light reaper,” he said, mistaking me for an angel.
Well, that was one good thing, but then his arm descended in a smooth arc of motion. I pressed back into Tammy, wincing as I prepared to take the blow for her. I’d survive it. She wouldn’t.
But the pure ting of the divine shocked through me, seeming to cut through the noisy confusion for a brief instant. My eyes cracked open. It was Barnabas, his sword inches from me and holding back Demus’s blow.
“Barnabas?” the dark reaper stammered, still holding his position. “I thought you went grim.” “Grim” was what they called reapers who didn’t work for the light or the dark, mistrusted by both sides. They killed at random, or at least for a reason no one else could see.
With a grunt, Barnabas pushed him back. “I did.”
His voice was flat, and again, I was taken by his image standing protectively over me, his duster mixing with the smoke, and his eyes dark and intent. Avenging angel, beautiful and unshakable. Sarah, her name had been, I thought, wondering how she had instilled in him the best of all of us.
I fell backward as Tammy scrambled out from under me and deeper into the alley. Her dog was gone, running into the crowd with his tail tucked. “Tammy!” I exclaimed, spinning onto my stomach and snatching her ankle. She fell, shrieking again, but at least Demus’s blade went hissing harmlessly over her head as he swung at her. “Stay down!” I shouted at her, and this time she listened, eyes wide as she slid backward on her butt until she found a bright orange garage door.
“You talked to Shoe?” I asked. “You believe me now?”
Her eyes were fixed on Barnabas and Demus, and she jumped as their swords met and that sound rang out again. “You’re crazy!” she exclaimed. “Freaking crazy! What the hell is wrong with you people?!”
Demus kicked at Barnabas, sending him backward. Tammy gasped as Demus turned to her, smiling wickedly. The eagerness in his expression was a dire warning. This was who I was supposed to convince to spare a mark’s life? “And now you die!” he shouted, lunging.
“Demus, knock it off!” I exclaimed as I scrambled up.
I shot my hand out as he swung, his blade cutting right through me. Sparkles scintillated through me as heaven’s might mingled within, then ebbed to nothing as it recognized me as one of its own and threw the divine strike back. My head snapped up, and I took a breath, feeling it go all the way to the bottom of my lungs.
Demus yelped, and when I looked, he was wringing his hand, his sword at his feet as he blinked in shock. “Who, by Gabriel’s pearly toes, are you?”
“I’m your boss!” I said, still tingling from the blow, and ticked—even though it had felt good.
Demus bent to grasp his sword, and Barnabas shoved him. Arms and legs flailing, the dark reaper smacked ungracefully into the wall.
“Barnabas, don’t,” I said, but the reaper had yanked him up, dazed and confused as he put him in a choke hold and spun him to face me. Using his foot, Barnabas kicked Demus’s sword to me. I bent to pick it up, feeling the heavy weapon hum in my grip. It was responding to my amulet, I suppose.
“Your boss wants to talk to you,” Barnabas said, his eyes pinched in anger. “Or didn’t you get the memo?”
Demus focused on me, his snarl fading as his gaze flicked from the sword in my hand to Tammy crying behind me somewhere. “The dark timekeeper? Her?” His gaze dropped to my amulet, and then his eyes widened as he began to swear in Latin. At least I think it was Latin.
Looking vindicated, Barnabas let go of him, giving him a parting shove.
“You’re the new dark timekeeper?” Demus said, the lights from the emergency vehicles flashing on him. “You’re just a girl! Sweet seraph toes, no wonder the angels are still organizing the reaps.”
My brow furrowed, and I came forward a step. “It kind of surprised me, too,” I said, glad we were the same height and I didn’t have to look up at him. “Listen, carrottop,” I said as I handed his sword back to him, and Barnabas cringed. “I don’t care what the seraphs said. You are not killing Tammy. She’s off-limits. A test case, if you want.”
Behind me, Tammy’s sniffling stopped.
“But the seraphs . . .” Demus started, his glance going behind me to Tammy again. She shouldn’t be hearing this, but it could only help her understand.
“The seraphs aren’t playing fair,” I said. “I bet they didn’t even tell you what I’m trying to do, did they? This is my scythe, and they butted in by sending you, then Ron sent Arariel, is it? And now it’s all messed up. But since you’re here, you’re going to do what I say, and I say Tammy is going to wake up tomorrow! We’re trying to change her life, not end it.”
It had been a mouthful, and I dropped back a step to catch my breath. Well, I really didn’t need to, but still.
Demus was staring quizzically at me, then he glanced at Barnabas to see if I was joking. “You can’t change a mark’s path.”
Barnabas was shrugging, and I said, “Not when you just kill them, sure.”
Tammy started to edge for the opening of the alley. Barnabas moved to stop her, and she whimpered, standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
“We managed to change one person’s life,” Barnabas said. “We can do it again.”
Demus fidgeted, his bared sword pointing downward. “The seraphs said—”
“I say she’s off-limits!” I exclaimed. “Put your sword away and listen to me.”
“Hell and damnation,” Demus muttered, wincing as his sword vanished. “I can’t just let Ron put a guardian angel on her. Do you know what happens to people who die who have lost their souls and fail to regain them?”
I didn’t, but Barnabas seemed to relax, and after a quick look behind him, he put his own sword away. Hands now in his deep pockets, he eyed the burning apartment. “She’ll regain her soul,” he said softly.
Tammy made a dart for the opening past Barnabas, and the angel reached out, snagging her. “Let me go!” she shouted, smacking him, and he took the abuse, angling her so no one outside the alley could see her.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Demus said, and I moved closer, hoping the nearby news van didn’t look this way. “The mark either dies or gets a guardian angel. There’s no other choice.”
I smiled, hearing the word. “Demus, we are going to get along just fine. Choice is exactly what I’m going for here.”
“I said let me go!” Tammy insisted, wiggling. “I have to get Johnny. I left him by the lamppost.”
Looking almost cocky, Demus fluffed out his hair to get the sifting ash out of it. “Chill, babe, she just saved your life.”
I exhaled. One reaper down, one more to go. The light reaper, though, wasn’t going to listen to me. I should probably at least try to change Tammy’s resonance, now that I had a moment to think.
“I said let me go!” Tammy screamed, and kicked Barnabas in the shin.
Howling, he dropped his grip on her. In an instant, she was gone. Barnabas took three running steps after her, then skidded to a halt. “You’ll be okay?”
“Go!” I
said, and Barnabas gave himself a quick shake. Turning, he vanished into the noisy mass of fire trucks and crying people. Damn, he looked good with his duster flowing and his eyes alight like that.
My attention turned to Demus. He was fiddling with his amulet, his eyes going silver for an instant before turning back to their original green. He was like a bright copper penny, beautiful and gold like Barnabas was beautiful and dark. “You’re not like Nakita at all,” I said, and he looked up at me, his white teeth startling.
“Well, you’re not like Kairos.”
I couldn’t help my snort. “Thank God.”
I came forward to stand at the opening between the two rows of storage buildings, my arms crossed. I was reluctant to step out of the somewhat peaceful spot. Beyond it was noise, lights, ash, billowing smoke, and spraying water.