Reaping Angels

  “You know,” Marc continued, “I don’t hold you responsible for killing the mean bastard. He attacked you—you and I both know that. What I can’t forgive is that you became just like him.”

  So the Executioner hadn’t sought to kill his father after all. That made a difference.

  The Executioner made a guttural noise, like a creature in pain. One look at him, and I knew he wasn’t going to say anything. No explanation to the one person that actually deserved it. Coward.

  “Listen, Marc,” I said, rotating in my seat to face him. “I’m going to tell you this because it needs to be known. Your brother never contacted you because he wanted to keep you safe. All supers have to cut ties for their family’s protection.”

  “Then why am I in a car with you two?” If Marc looked worried before, now he appeared positively alarmed.

  “Er—yeah, about that. Remember how I mentioned that your brother works for a bad woman, and that he pissed her off?”

  Marc gave me a reluctant head nod.

  “Well, she knows who you are and where you live.”

  The Executioner’s brother groaned and leaned back in his seat. We’d saved his life, but we’d also messed it up.

  I snuck a glance at X, who was as stoic as ever. All those charred bodies and superhero disappearances over the last two years—I’d seen them as senseless evil perpetrated by a crazed supervillain. Never had I guessed that all that horror was because someone had held a loved one against him.

  How had this man survived when the world hated him? When even his own brother was more resentful than happy to see him?

  My chest tightened.

  “When will I be able to go home?” Marc asked, interrupting my thoughts.

  “About that.” I leaned over the headrest. “Marc, I’ve got a serious question for you: how would you like to stay in MadCap Mansion?”

  Chapter 16

  Angel

  I could hear shrieking from somewhere in the house, then the sound of glass shattering.

  Ah, home sweet home.

  I barged into the entryway. “I’m ba-ack!” I sing-songed.

  X had hated this idea—bringing his brother into his enemies’ home. But he knew this was his brother’s best option. My teammates would defend Marc with their lives if it came down to it.

  Footsteps padded out from the kitchen. Shadow came into my line-of-sight, a carton of ice cream cradled in her arms and a spoon in her mouth. She pulled out the spoon, and threw her arms up into the air.

  “My baby’s home!” she yelled. Only after the words were out of her mouth did she notice the two men behind me. “Oh shit. What is he doing here?” Her form started to disappear, until I could see the living room beyond.

  “The Executioner’s brother needs asylum.”

  “What the—?” A lighting bolt was already out of Zeus’s hand before he’d fully entered the room, heading right for the men behind me.

  I lunged directly in front of the bolt. It slammed into my chest, knocking me to the ground. My back arched and my body convulsed as the electricity pulsed through me. The nerve endings throughout my body screamed as they fried.

  Holy fuck, this hurt.

  My pulse pounded in my ears. Thump—thuummp—thuuuumm … For one horrifying second my heart seized up. I gasped for air like a fish out of water, my eyes wide.

  In the silence, I heard the Executioner’s roar, and beneath that, the pound of footfalls and shouts.

  … mp—thump-thump. I gasped as my heart restarted. The white noise began to distinguish itself.

  “Angel, you idiot—”

  “Zeus, I’m going to kill you—”

  “Why is the Executioner in our house—”

  “Dude looks PO’d—”

  “I will make you all pay.”

  Now, that voice I definitely recognized.

  I heard the ominous sound of X’s boots as he crossed the foyer. He passed me, his shoulders rolling as he stalked forward, his jaw set.

  I sat up and rubbed my chest, my body sore everywhere. At least it fared better than my suit. The material was now blackened and singed where the lighting bolt had struck me. Not even the L.A.S.D.’s seamstress would be able to mend this trainwreck.

  My teammates stood at the opposite end of the foyer, their stances tense—all except Rocket, who hovered near the ceiling, one of his signature javelins held at the ready. The Executioner headed straight for them.

  The world’s baddest supervillian in the same room as a bunch of superheroes, and I somehow thought they might all be able to play nice.

  Well, this ain’t awkward or anything.

  “X, stop.” My voice came out thin and weak.

  “Why?” he said, keeping his back to me.

  “Because they’re my friends and we need their help.”

  “We?” Zeus repeated, his gaze moving from the Executioner—who had halted—to me. “You can’t be serious.”

  I pushed myself to my feet, my body much less tender now. Hate getting electrocuted. “All you asshats, can you please chill? And X, honestly, threatening my teammates is not going to endear you to anyone,” I said, uncaring that my suit now had a giant hole from where I’d been struck.

  Rocket floated down in front of me. “Angel, have you lost your mind? This man kills supers.”

  “Of course he does. He already tried that on me. Didn’t work.”

  A strange sort of silence fell over the superheroes once I spoke.

  Madman began to sing, “Angel and X-ie, sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” Someone elbowed him and whispered for him to shut up.

  The Executioner purposefully turned his back on the superheroes and swaggered towards me. “We’re going. It’s not worth the effort.”

  I put a hand on his chest and gave him a meaningful look. “They can help.”

  I stepped away from him and towards my team. “X and I are currently at the top of the Cruel Countess’s wanted list, and Marc,” I waved to the man whose back was pressed into the front door, as though it might absorb him if he wished hard enough, “X’s brother, really needs a place to stay until this whole thing blows over.”

  “You’re the Executioner’s brother?” Aries asked, sizing the man up.

  Marc shifted his weight and gave a jerky nod.

  “Fucking-A,” Zeus said, shaking his head. “Days of Our Lives has less drama than we do.”

  “Ever play Halo?” Aries asked Marc.

  “Um,” Marc glanced around, “yes?”

  “Sweet. The dude can stay.”

  “He can’t,” Rocket said pointing to the Executioner.

  X smirked. “Like I’d want to linger.” He folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

  “We’re not staying,” I said. I’d already decided this before we’d arrived. I refused to be the reason the Cruel Countess rained down her wrath on the good people of LA.

  “Where are you going?” Shadow asked, stepping forward. Since I left my family behind, Shadow and Zephyr had become the closest thing I had to sisters.

  Now her gaze moved between the Executioner and me. Had we been alone, she would’ve twenty-questioned me.

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know.”

  I flipped on the light switch, illuminating my digs. Books and papers cluttered my desk, as did a leftover Slurpee and several Starbucks cups. Clothes covered my bed and the back of my chair.

  Ah, room, how I missed thee.

  I turned to shut the door, only to find the Executioner crowding the threshold. Zeus and the rest of the team were showing Marc his room, as well as the rest of the house. I’d left X in the main room, but clearly he’d followed.

  I smirked. “Is someone uncomfortable being in a building full of superheroes?”

  “A wolf is not uncomfortable amongst a flock of sheep.” But the sheep are. He left that part unsaid.

  X leaned against the doorframe. “You and I need to talk.”

  I waved a hand to my bed, which was littered with clothes.
“Make yourself at home.”

  The Executioner sauntered into the room, his body grazing mine as he passed. His attention moved to something above my bed, and I followed his gaze.

  THIS RIDE WILL GET YOU WET.

  I inwardly groaned. I’d swiped the cautionary sign from Disneyland a couple years ago. Thought I was oh-so-clever at the time.

  I moved past the Executioner, grabbed another one of my dusted gold suits, and began shrugging off my singed one.

  Now the Executioner’s eyes snapped back to me, and there they lingered, getting more molten by the second.

  I paused. “Can you not be so obvious about watching me undress?” Enough people had seen me naked that I wasn’t prudish with this stuff, but to be so blatantly ogled …

  The Executioner blinked, then moved farther into my room, inspecting my things.

  “What is it you wanted to talk about?” I stepped into the new suit, wiggling it over my hips.

  The Executioner lifted my lucky eight ball from the dresser and shook it. He frowned at whatever answer the eight ball gave him. “The Cruel Countess won’t stop coming after us,” he said, setting the ball down. “We can—”

  “‘Fuck you, fuck you very very mu-u-uch,’” Lily Allen sang from my phone, interrupting us.

  The papers strewn over my desk muffled the sound somewhat. I pushed them out of the way.

  “‘—uck you, fuck you very—’”

  I snatched the phone up. “Hello?”

  “Oh, good, your sister said I would be able to reach you here,” a husky female voice said.

  A sensation I hadn’t felt in a very long time now coiled itself low in my belly.

  Fear.

  My sister.

  Impossible.

  “You have the wrong number.” Even as I spoke, the logic of my words curbed my fear. Of course it was the wrong number.

  My eyes flicked up, and I met the Executioner’s stare. His gaze held steady, but he rubbed his lower lip, his eyes narrowed.

  “This is the correct number,” the speaker’s voice sounded distant, as though she turned to talk to someone, “isn’t it, Ashley?”

  “No …” My hand began to shake.

  And then it got worse, so much worse.

  “A-Angel, p-please save me.” Her voice came from somewhere beyond the speaker. I’d recognize it from anywhere.

  It really was my sister.

  I couldn’t see the room I stood in so well. Not when tears blurred my surroundings. I clutched the phone tighter. Suddenly, the Executioner was in front of me.

  “Do I still have the wrong number?” the woman clipped the words out.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “Oh, honey, I want so many things it would make your head spin. At the moment though? You, the Executioner, and a healthy dose of revenge. And I do plan on getting all three. We’ll see in what order.”

  “Whatever you want from me, I’ll give it to you. Just let my sister go.”

  X snatched the phone from my grip. I yelped when I realized it was gone and now I had no way—short of wrestling this bear of a man—to negotiate my sister’s freedom.

  “Fuck you, Countess,” the Executioner said, putting the phone to his ear. I made a grab for it, but he simply placed a hand against my chest, effectively keeping me away. “You want to make deals, you go through me.”

  “You.” I jumped and tried to snag the phone. A miss. “Won’t.” Jump. “Make.” Jump. “Any.” Jump. “Deals.” Jump. “For me. Now give me back my phone.”

  The Executioner’s eyes flicked to me. The asshole had the audacity to place his finger to his lips, like I was the problem here. “Then kill the girl,” he said. “What do I care?”

  “NO! No-no-no-no-no!” I began punching the Executioner in the arm, nice meaty slugs that did absolutely nothing to shake his hold of the phone.

  “Angel is staying with me. End of story.”

  Click.

  I stared at the phone dumbly. “You just hung up. You told the Cruel Countess to kill my sister, and then you hung up.” My gaze moved up to the Executioner.

  Without warning, I lunged at him. “You sick, son-of-a-bitch, I will end you!”

  The Executioner caught me, and together we fell onto my mattress.

  X pinned me down on the bed. “Would you simmer down, woman, and let me talk?”

  “She’s going to die and it’s all your fault!”

  “I took your sister off the table as leverage. So long as the Cruel Countess thinks she has power over you—”

  “She does!”

  “—she’ll be able to call the shots. If she thinks I won’t let you retrieve your sister, she won’t be as eager to use her against you.”

  That … made sense.

  Still.

  “You told the Cruel Countess to kill her!”

  “And right now,” he spoke slowly, “your sister is of more use to the woman alive. I’ve worked closely with the Cruel Countess. I know her strategy. She’s still planning on capturing you, and once she does, she’ll use your sister again—for leverage and revenge.”

  When I stopped fighting him, the Executioner released my wrists. I sat up and pushed a hand through my hair. Took a deep breath. “Then there’s only one thing left to do.”

  The Executioner nodded. “We’re going to have to take the Cruel Countess down.”

  Chapter 17

  Angel

  I grabbed a duffle bag from my closet then began dumping clothes into it at random. I paused. “Where, exactly, does the Cruel Countess live?”

  “Miami.”

  “Miami,” I repeated. The hours stretched out in front of me—the drive to the airport, the flight, the time it would take to locate my sister and decide on a plan of action.

  An eternity. Ashley could die at any point before then.

  I threw clothes into my bag with more vigor; I hated feeling helpless.

  As far as cities go, Miami wasn’t a bad place to kick ass and take names. I shoved in two swimsuits—one for me and one for my sister. I would be getting her back damn it, and before I had to whisk myself from her life once more, I’d be having a beach day with her.

  Time to cash in my good karma points.

  Executioner leaned against the wall closest to my window and watched me pack with cool detachment.

  “We need to go,” he finally said.

  “Almost finished.”

  I knelt next to my bed and dragged out a thin case that was wider and longer than my luggage. Unfastening the clips on either side, I flipped the lid up. Nestled inside were knives, guns, and throwing stars. I strapped some of them on and piled others into my duffle. Once I was done, I closed the case once more and slid it back under my bed.

  I zipped up my luggage and grabbed my fishbowl. “I think I’m ready,” I said.

  The Executioner raised an eyebrow. “The fish can’t come.”

  “I’m not leaving Chub-Chub behind.”

  His mouth twitched. “It’s … a fish. How attached can you be to a creature that will die in a month?”

  I glared at him. “We’re a package deal.”

  The Executioner let out a long-suffering sigh. “We’re boarding a plane. Does …” another lip twitch, “Chub-Chub travel well?”

  I stared down at my fish, frowning. Inside the bowl, he wobbled with the water, his eyes wide, silently begging me to put him down. A plane flight would be hellish on the little guy.

  “Perhaps he could face off against the Cruel Countess?” X asked, now clearly enjoying himself. “It would save us the trouble.”

  I sighed and set the bowl on my desk. Grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, I scribbled feeding and bowl cleaning instructions and taped the note to my doorknob for Shadow, who chronically visited my room to borrow clothes. She’d feed him until I came back.

  If I came back.

  “Are you ready?” X asked.

  I took one final look around my room. I’d lived here for the majority of my adult
life and I couldn’t help but get a little sentimental. I had no idea when I’d see it again.

  Finally, I nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Executioner

  I drove us to the airport, spending part of the drive coordinating a flight to Miami.

  Next to me, Angel jiggled her leg, no doubt thinking about her sister.

  The Cruel Countess threw a wrench in my plans. I’d been ready to run. To cash in all of my favors and disappear with Angel. It might’ve worked too, but now it wouldn’t.

  Instead we were set on a suicidal quest to take out the most powerful supervillain alive.

  … Or at least that was what Angel assumed we were doing.

  Need to hide her so deep the Cruel Countess will never find her.

  Even that would be problematic. I’d already admitted that the Cruel Countess lived in Miami.

  Fool.

  Now I’d have to tow Angel along with me and pretend I was all for this idiotic plan.

  Did she even know just how powerful the Countess was? Had she ever wondered why so many superheroes had disappeared? Or noticed that superheroes weren’t the only ones that went missing? Supervillains had vanished into thin air as well.

  I was going to have to lie to this woman and betray her trust. Not the first time I’d ever done this, but now it didn’t sit well with me. And just when something in her eyes changed when she looked at me.

  Damn you Countess for making me both more altruistic and more despicable than I ever intended to be.

  I only hoped that at the end of it all Angel realized I did what I did to save her.

  Angel

  Weapons clanked against me as we approached the Executioner’s jet.

  Already I was regretting not asking any of my teammates to join us. I was insane to think that I could take down the Cruel Countess by myself.

  Well, not entirely by myself.

  Even carrying our bags, X still managed a mean swagger. He knew the Cruel Countess far better than I did, and he was ready to take her down.