“I’m in one piece, I promise you,” I said.
He forced a little smile. “Just making sure. You scared me. She thrashed you around in there.”
“Well, I’m the one who made it out alive,” I said. “Not her.”
“Preliator,” Ava called. “You destroyed the nycterid by yourself. I’ve never seen anyone take on a nycterid alone. That was very impressive.”
She didn’t elaborate, but I recognized right away that I’d just been given an extreme compliment. Beside me, Will beamed in his subtle way that only I noticed. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. “Thank you, Ava.”
“Phenomenal,” Marcus bellowed. “Two down, one to go.”
“I’m ready for Orek,” I said. “And for whatever’s lined up after him.”
“What happened up there?” Will asked, glancing over his shoulder at the destroyed building.
I shuddered at the fresh, terrifying memory. “She was trapped. Eki. She fought her way through the building, but I don’t think she could see me or anything else. They’re blind, aren’t they? The nycterids.”
“Yes. They use echolocation and the supernatural sense that we reapers have to navigate their surroundings and locate prey.”
“Like bats,” I added.
His expression was distant and hard with thought. “Sort of. This combination in the nycterids is even more effective than eyesight, but Eki was disoriented in the building.”
“Yeah, like she couldn’t find me and started tearing the building down,” I said. “Everything happened so fast.”
“Maybe that’s what you need to do,” Ava suggested. “Stay fast. If and when Orek attacks again, keep moving. He may not be able to sense you, and you can gain an advantage over him.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Will said.
That was if he didn’t come back with reinforcements. I knew that somewhere out there, Orek was pitching a rage over the loss of Eki. I wasn’t sure if his kind was capable of love the way humans and the vir were, but I wondered if the two nycterids had been mates. The thought made me feel regret for tearing them apart, but I had to defend myself. I also knew that if Orek cared for Eki, felt any sort of affection for her at all, then his next attack would be personal. It might be more difficult for him to take me alive when he would probably ache to just tear me into pieces.
9
SCOURING THE MALL WITH KATE THE NEXT MORNING, I still felt shell-shocked. These days it wasn’t common for me to feel so exhausted the day after a hunt, but last night had taken its toll on my body—not to mention my mind. The nycterid reapers … they were just too out of this world, like some kind of demon dragon. Kate and I roamed far ahead of our moms, who chitchatted while strolling behind us, taking their sweet time. Kate and I, on the other hand, were on a mission. But I was tired of missions, and Kate was tiring me out even more.
“I’m going to ask Marcus if he’ll go to Josie’s party with me,” Kate said as she picked through the dresses in Neiman Marcus.
I frowned at her but kept my eye on a red strapless David Meister she had passed over. Josie Newport was having a pre-Valentine’s Day party called Hearts Afire, and the dress code was red or black. Organizing my thoughts on potential dresses while playing shrink for Kate was very conflicting. “If you think he’ll say yes, go for it.”
“Why wouldn’t he say yes?”
“I—” I stammered. “Well, he probably wouldn’t be into a high school party.”
“He came to mine a couple weeks ago,” she said, frowning. “And you’re bringing Will, right?”
“Maybe, but I haven’t even talked to him about it,” I said, and pulled the red dress out. My thoughts were far away. Something about Kate potentially dating Marcus didn’t sit well with me. He was a reaper, and she was completely human, mortal, and unaware of the supernatural. I couldn’t let Kate get involved with reapers, and I had my doubts he’d ever tell her the truth about himself. How could they be together without Marcus keeping such an enormous truth from her?
Kate selected a dress and examined the fabric. I already knew it’d look gorgeous on her.
“Why are you trying on a black one?” I asked. “Get red like me.”
She made an ugly noise and held the black dress up to her chest. “Uh, no. Kate is not a matchy-matchy kind of girl. I’m not going to a party wearing the same color as my best friend.”
“You always wear black,” I noted, picking at the chiffon.
“It’s slimming,” she grumbled. “Don’t you read Cosmo? They tell you all this stuff.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. I knew that.”
She grinned. “Want to come over tonight?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’m meeting Will after the mall, but after that, definitely. I’ll bring my homework so we can get both of ours out and not do any of it.”
She laughed. “Okay. I could really use some girl time, for sure.”
“So I’ll call you as soon as we’re done?”
“You’d better.”
Our moms walked into the dress area with their hands full of shopping bags. Kate’s mom eyed the dress in Kate’s hands.
“Did you guys find anything you like?” Mrs. Green asked.
Kate handed the dress over. “I’m trying this on.”
My mom thumbed the dress I’d chosen. “Are you considering this one?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
She eyed it with a tight mouth. “Don’t you think it’s a little mature for your age?”
On the other side of Mrs. Green, Kate scoffed. “She’ll look hot in it, Mrs. M.”
“That helps so much, Kate.” My mom sighed. “If this is the dress you want, then all right. Go try it on, but it’s the last for a while, Ell. You just got a really nice one for your birthday.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said with a smile as Kate grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the fitting rooms. Will would have a heart attack when he saw me in this dress.
Nathaniel’s house was empty when I arrived. Any chance they got, the boys were outside, which was unfortunate for me because I was the only one who noticed how cold it was. Today I wasn’t really there for Will. Instead, Nathaniel had said he had a surprise for me.
I pulled open the sliding door and stepped out. “Hey, guys,” I called, and hopped down the porch steps. They were hanging out by the shooting range, and a number of guns were spread out across the table on the platform. Nathaniel wore ear and eye protection and aimed an awfully large handgun at a target board placed at the very far end of the yard. The target was so distant that I could barely make out the lines. Nathaniel fired and, a moment later, frowned.
“Damn,” he grumbled. “Just outside.”
I squinted and put up a hand to squelch the sunlight gleaming off the snowy yard and into my eyes. If the bullet hit the target, I couldn’t even tell. It was yet another advantage reapers had over my human body, I supposed.
“That’s because you suck,” Will called out in a bored voice.
Nathaniel frowned. “That’s one time out of three clips that I didn’t hit the bull’s-eye. Why don’t you get up here and show me how much you don’t suck?”
He frowned dismissively. “I don’t like guns.”
“That’s because you suck.” Nathaniel fired again. He hit the dead center of the target.
“You’re a smart-ass, too.”
Nathaniel chuckled and removed the clip from his gun and reloaded.
I let out a sigh loud enough for them to notice and turn their heads. “You’re both ridiculous. I want my surprise.”
Nathaniel beckoned me. “Come here, Ell.”
I moved forward cautiously.
“You’re going to learn how to use a gun.”
A small involuntary noise of glee escaped me. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah.”
He removed his goggles and earmuffs for me to put on. He held out the gun and I picked it up. It was heavier than I had imagined it would be.
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“First rule,” Nathaniel began, “is muzzle direction. Always point it at the ground, and don’t touch the trigger until you’re ready to shoot a target. Safety’s off.” His finger flicked a little lever near the trigger. He flicked it back the other way. “And it’s on.”
“Okay.”
He took out the clip and handed it to me. “Unload like this. You try it.”
I did as he said.
“Now put them back in. Watch your fingers.”
I pinched my fingers on the first five bullets. At last the clip was loaded. I stuck it back into the gun. “Okay.”
“Now, aim for the twenty-meter target. Safety off. Finger on the trigger. There’s a little nub on the end of the muzzle. Line it up with the target. Fire when you’re ready. Try not to shoot Will. He’s grumpy enough already.”
It was difficult to steady my hands as I laughed, but I forced myself to get it together. Following his directions slowly and carefully, I steadied the gun with my arms out in front of me. I exhaled and fired. The bullet tore through the bull’s-eye.
“Well done!” Nathaniel said with a smile. “For you, a target this close should be no trouble. Let’s do some more difficult targets.”
I surprised myself with how much fun I had as Nathaniel taught me how to shoot, and after emptying a couple of clips, I was getting pretty good.
“So, Will,” I said, turning to face him. “What happens if I trade in my Khopesh swords for a shotgun?”
He stared at me, gauging how serious I was. “Then the world ends. Bullets don’t come with angelfire, sorry to say.”
“That’s too bad,” I said. “Guns are effective against zombies, but not reapers?”
I was rewarded with a little smile. “Real life is a lot different from movies and video games.”
“Hey, now,” Nathaniel said. “Guns can be very effective. Just not as effective as Ellie’s swords. But imagine what we could do with an angelfire flamethrower.”
At that moment, something prickled across my senses and I looked to the sky. Ava pulled out of the Grim midflight, her dark silver wings stretched out gloriously as she landed in the snow. Her hair was tousled from flight, but she still managed to be beautiful. She moved right past Nathaniel and me.
“Will,” she said. “I have a lead. I think I know what Bastian is looking for that might break the Enochian spell.”
Will snapped to attention and got to his feet, his expression serious. “Is he close to getting it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Last night I caught a demonic reaper in Birmingham who I know deals in magical items. He told me, after some persuasion and a lot of his blood on the ground, that Bastian came to him looking for a necklace.”
“A necklace?” I asked. “How is a necklace going to break an angelic spell? Unless he just wants to wear it so he can look pretty…”
“It’s a relic,” she said, giving me a very unamused look.
That was a word I recognized. Relics were very powerful magical items that could be used to give the possessor massive power, as a key to unlock something, or to summon an angel or one of the Fallen. The possibilities were many and terrifying.
“He’s not looking for my necklace, right?” I asked Ava. I touched the pendant below my collarbone, and the carved wings felt warm and gave off an electrical hum against my fingertips. It was a strange piece, and I couldn’t remember where it had come from, but I felt naked and empty when I wasn’t wearing it—like the necklace was a part of me. There was something more to my winged necklace, but I just didn’t know what exactly.
Ava shook her head. “No, this is something different, a well-known relic of great power.”
“This could be what Bastian’s new vir are searching for,” I said. “They sound like your worst nightmare, from what Cadan told me. He said they were after a key of some sort to break the Enochian spell on the sarcophagus. This relic may be powerful enough to do it.”
“We have to find this relic before Bastian does,” Nathaniel said.
“Do you know where it is?” Will asked.
“I recognized the necklace the demonic reaper described,” Ava explained. “And I’m pretty sure I know exactly what he’s talking about. It’s protected by an angelic reaper I know.”
“A relic guardian?” Will asked.
She nodded curtly. “His name is Zane, and he may not be so willing to part with it, but it would be wise if we hid the relic in an even more secure place or perhaps destroyed it. Bastian is getting too close.”
“How well acquainted are you with this relic guardian?” Nathaniel asked.
She smiled darkly. “He won’t be pleased to see me.”
“Old enemies?” I asked.
“Old lovers.”
“Oh.” I shut my mouth after that.
“Do you need help convincing him to hand it over?” Will asked.
“Yes,” Ava said. “If the Preliator is with me, then he will have to forfeit the relic.”
I was not keen on going anywhere alone with Ava. I still wasn’t entirely convinced of her loyalties. “Do you mean we’re going tonight?”
She shook her head. “It’s too risky to go after dark. We’ll wait until the sun rises tomorrow and the demonic aren’t active.”
“I have school, though,” I said. “Which, unfortunately, takes precedence over me hanging out with you shiesty reapers.”
She shrugged. “That’s fine, then. I understand. Zane must recognize Will as the Preliator’s Guardian and accept that Will would be acting on your behalf.”
“Ava’s right,” Will said. “I’m as good as having Ellie there. He won’t be able to refuse me.”
I didn’t like the idea of Will going with Ava any more than I wanted to go with her. I looked pleadingly at Nathaniel, who offered a small, sympathetic smile back. I wanted to beg Will not to go with her, but I didn’t want to be a brat. He could take care of himself, and I trusted him. It was her I didn’t trust.
“I have to leave,” I said abruptly, and stomped back toward the house. “Thank you for everything, Nathaniel.”
“Ellie,” called Will’s voice behind me.
I ignored him and kept going, but he caught up to me as I climbed the deck stairs. He looked up at me from the bottom step and touched my sleeve.
“Ellie,” he said again, turning me around to face him. I looked down at him and chewed on my bottom lip.
“What?” I asked a little too sharply.
“I know what’s wrong.”
“Good job, Sherlock.” What was wrong with me? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“If you tell me not to go, then I won’t,” he said. “She can take Nathaniel.”
“No,” I said. “I’m sorry. It’s important that you go in my place. I’m just being… I don’t know. Just ignore me.” I continued to climb the stairs, but he took my arm a little more firmly and pulled me back.
His gaze was gentle and I melted inside. “I’m not going to ignore you.”
“I didn’t mean it literally,” I said, unable to repress the smile that grew with my words. Even with those pleading puppy-dog eyes, he was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.
“I know,” he said, his hand softening around my arm, his thumb stroking gently, comfortingly. “But I meant what I said. I don’t want to upset you.”
“I’m not upset,” I lied. “I know how childish I’m acting over the whole thing, but I can’t help it.”
He smiled, taking my breath away. “It’s the same reason I disliked Landon when I first met him.”
I almost laughed. “He’s not that bad.”
“I thought there might be something between you two,” he confessed. “Because he wanted you.”
My smile faded. “And Ava doesn’t want you?”
“No, I’m very sure she doesn’t.”
I took a nervous breath and my lips trembled. “That’s impossible.”
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t look away eith
er. My pulse pounded heavier and heavier with each passing moment, and I ached from the tension. If Ava and Nathaniel hadn’t been staring at us from across the lawn, then … I don’t know what I would have done. But standing there without moving, looking at him as he touched me, was killing me.
“Good-bye, Will,” I said, and backed farther up the stairs.
“Good-bye.”
He didn’t break eye contact with me until I turned at the top of the stairs and let myself into the house.
I stopped channel surfing when I found one of MTV’s trashy reality shows, and frankly, it just made me feel more hostile than I already was. I sat on the floor of Kate’s room with my back up against her bed. She lay on her stomach above me, running her fingers through my hair and braiding and twisting random locks. The feeling was soothing and almost enough to make me forget about Ava’s intrusion and the stupid show I was watching on TV.
“I love your hair,” Kate said as she wound a thick piece of it into a doughnut on top of my head. “Do you remember when we were little and I used to call you Ariel from The Little Mermaid?”
“Yeah.” I changed the channel. Now it was some show on convicts in prison. Mild improvement, but surprisingly less violent than the girls fighting over some jerk on the last channel.
“And then all you wanted for months was a purple bra, even though we were too young for even training bras. You drove your mom crazy, so she bought you one anyway.”
“That purple training bra was amazing.” I grimaced at the TV as an inmate described the crime that had landed him in a maximum security prison.
Kate sighed as she yanked on another chunk of my hair. “And now push-up bras are amazing. It’s incredible how the world turns.”
I winced at the pain. “I’ll trade my hair for your boobs.”
“Never mind,” Kate said. “I don’t want your hair that bad.”
“I thought I’d just throw it out there.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
“Why are you so crotchety tonight?” She tugged even harder on my hair, and my head tilted back to look up at her.