Hell's Angel: Guardian Angel Book 2
Chapter 19

I folded my delicate wings back into my shoulders and went into a free fall, my stomach getting lost somewhere far away. I was closing in, but this thing was Darkness, more dangerous than any of the titans, and was faster than I expected. I pushed myself until I actually became lightheaded, but it was already on top of Max by then and I was still too far away.

The monkey let out a primal shout and my sister screamed. Shit.

I continued my dive for another long second before my wings sprang open and held me afloat. Shock at the scene below me rendered me numb. The primate snorted, but it was more a sound of pain than aggression. It reared back, dazed with tar-like blood oozing down its face. Loki stood frozen a few feet away while Maxine held Mjölnir aloft and breathed hard.

Shaking myself from my surprise, I finished skydiving to land right next to my sister. Loki regained enough brain power to join us as the flying monkey clamored to its feet. Beady red eyes narrowed and the shadows shifted around it. The monster opened its mottled wings and jumped at our little group. We reacted as one, the titan and myself letting magic loose while Max wielded Thor’s hammer.

Lightning sparked when Mjölnir connected with the hellish beast’s flat nose and a rainbow of colors from mine and Loki’s magic knocked it unconscious on its hair ass.

The Gemini put his hands in his knees and puffed, “How... did you... lift... the hammer?”

My sister hugged the object on question closely to her chest. “What do you mean?”

He straightened, his black eyes shining with their intensity. “I mean that the mortal stories, your Avengers, got that part, and only that part, right. No one but my brother can use his hammer. Not even I could hold it, and I’m his twin. We share such a close bond that he spent centuries in Freya’s service to help me, yet I’ve never been able to lift Mjölnir in a thousand years.”

I reached out to caress the polished metal, but some feeling or whatever stopped me. This weapon wasn’t meant for just anybody. I doubted even Vega would be able to wield it.

Max sucked on her swollen bottom lip. “I don’t know what to tell you. My sister was in trouble and I needed to do something. I just had this gut feeling that the hammer, the only thing around in this desert, would be able to do something.”

Loki continued to frown at her, but I let out a tense breath and pulled her in for a tight hug. “Stop scaring me, Max. Now c’mon. Let’s get back to the others.” I turned to Loki who looked torn between confused and heartbroken “Loki?”

“Take your sister,” he replied hoarsely. “I’ll meet you back at the arena.”

I didn’t want to leave him in his state and he must have seen the indecision on my face because he shot me small smile that didn’t reach his black eyes and put a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be there soon. Promise. I just need to do a few things in Asgard.”

I bit my bottom lip, debating. I worried about Loki, not matter how he tried to reassure me, but I had to get Max back to the angels so they could take her to Eden. I nodded slowly. “Okay. Just don’t take too long.”

I threaded my arm through my sister’s and once again waved dramatically. A comforting heat enveloped me and sooner than I could blink, we were back where the arena had been brought into this realm.

Things were worse than when I left to replace Max. There were less titans but more if the creepy mutations she’d spawned with Darkness. There were also less humans and angels, and I really hoped that just meant they were already at the Garden.

Vega was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. For all I knew, she was off plotting something even more nefarious. She was like a viper hiding while she waited to strike. Michael appeared almost the second we got back, scaring the crap out of me. If I didn’t have such good control over my light, I probably would have blasted him.

“Damn it, Michael. Don’t sneak up on me, especially not here.”

A ghost of a smile twisted his lips upwards. “My apologies, Lyra-Rose.”

“So, what’s the verdict?”

All traces of humor faded and his eyes became instantly sober. “Vega has retreated to parts unknown. Her newest creations are razing this land and they do not discriminate between titan and human.”

I looked around again and realized that most of the area was filled with flying shadows that drifted over humans and titans alike. They looked like ghosts, or better yet, wraiths, coated in pure Darkness and completely obliterating any light. I licked my lips. This whole mess just kept getting harder.

“Okay. Michael, replace an angel to take Max to Eden. Then we have to replace Vega, again, to stop her. And I’m not hesitating this time, sister or no.”

Max’s small hand touched my arm gently. “Speaking of sisters, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to help.”

I arched one yellow-red eyebrow that was in desperate need of a wax and stared at her. “No, you’re not.”

She matched my look. “Yes, I am. I don’t care if you’re some royal goddess. You are still my baby sister and I’m not leaving you. Besides, this is about the entire world and I’m going to do what I can for my daughter’s sake.”

“Not just a royal,” I corrected. “Queen. That means you need to listen.”

She balled up her fists and shoved them on her hips. I knew that look. It was her don’t-screw-with-me pose. “Do I care? Look, I don’t know how, but I have Thor’s hammer now. I know I’m not just supposed to sit this out with Mjӧlnir responding to me.”

I glowered at her but it was a losing battle. “Damn it, Max! Fine. Stay. But if you get killed again I’m going to be pissed.”

She smirked back, just a slight twist of her lips. “You’ve spent 24 years with me. You should be used to me getting my way.”

Screw free will. I’m sure there was something I could do to force her to leave, some latent gift to get her to see reason and go. I racked my brain, thinking, and was on the verge of something when the breath was forced from my lungs.

Pain sent spots dancing behind my eyelids. Glass shards ripped at my insides, shredding my veins. Vega had created some nasty monsters, but the ones that stemmed from pure Darkness were definitely the worst. One touch of the icy shadows was worse than when Corvus’ razor claws had dug almost in inch into my chest last year when I was still human. I arched back against the pain and was only vaguely aware of the wind whipping the loose strands of my hair back as the wraith carried me off.

The wraith let go of me and I fell none too gently to the marble ground. The air exploded from my lungs as I rolled twice before stopping on my back. I was disoriented for a moment, but when my vision cleared, I saw that we were back at Vega’s palace but it looked... different.

It looked more like a ruin than somewhere that the queen of the titans actually lived. The once opulent marble walls and floors were spider webbed with cracks on the dull, blackened surfaces. Seated on the crumbling throne missing half of its backrest was Vega, who looked just as different as her home.

Vega’s usually exotic turquoise eyes had turned completely black so that not even the whites showed. She was paler and her hair looked even more red than ever. The Dark aura stuck to her like a second skin.

“Pathetic. My titans couldn’t kill you and now my new babies are having a shit time of sending you to the abyss as well. Well now it’s just you and me, Sister. I am going to do to you what I did to our mother.” Her words came out low and husky.

I clamored to my feet and spit out a spray of blood that had been making my mouth taste like copper. “Vega,” I tried one last time to reason with her, “what can I do to make all of this stop? What do you want?”

A casual flip of her hand sent me sprawling on my ass. “I just want you dead.”

She gathered up her power, which manifested in a dark purple/blue, like a bad bruise. I had time for a startled gasp before instinct took over and I pulled my own magic to me and my shield flared to life. Every cell in my body tingled at the impact of her power against mine.

“Don’t you get it by now? Everything you’ve learned in the past year, I’ve already mastered centuries ago. I’m better than you in every way.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” I snapped. Lightning crackled along the edge of my light. It sparked out and its forked tongue lashed at her. Vega’s already unruly hair instantly stood on end and I took advantage of her momentary distraction to drop my shield and dart towards the armory right behind her mangled throne. I’d almost made it through the open entryway when black-tinted flames swallowed me whole. They seared my already traumatized flesh, licking venom at my wounds. My knees gave out and slammed into the unforgiving marble.

Vega cackled. “Had enough yet?”

The pain seeped into my body, cooking my insides. Acid bubbled through my veins, but I was stubborn. “Not even close,” I shot back over my shoulder as my gossamer wings opened and snuffed out the flames.

She growled, a lioness ready to attack its prey. Her eyes glinted dangerously and she blasted a deluge of murky water at me. It stung my eyes and I coughed the dirty stuff from my lungs, but when I finally blinked, she was practically on top of me with a machete above her head as her black wings beat the air furiously.

Embarrassingly, I shrieked right before I rolled away from the onslaught. The machete hit the marble where I’d been just a moment before and sent sparks dancing along the surface of the leftover water, which gave me an idea. She screamed in rage and dove at me again. I used my own affinity with water to blast her with more water than a fire hose could produce, quickly followed by a good jolt of lightning. She didn’t burst into flames or anything like that, but her slim body did jerk and charred spots appeared on her skin.

I scrambled to my feet and opened my translucent wings quickly and took off towards the armory. Holy crap balls, she had a lot of weapons in her arsenal. There was everything from intricate spears shining silver, battle-tested bows with elegant arrows, kickass katanas and other types of swords, a multitude of maces and other old-school weapons.

I grabbed the first thing I could, which turned out to be a heavy claymore. The fact I knew the name of the sword from the Knights of the Round Table was really a testament to Michael’s teaching. The thing felt too big in my hand, the worn grip biting into my palms.

Vega seethed in the doorway her auburn hair writhing like Medusa’s snakes and her pitch black eyes burning with rage. She looked completely demented, especially when the long, thin cutlass in her hand like she was some evil pirate.

“You are really starting to piss me off, Lyra!” she growled.

She sent a blast of magic my way, which smacked into my left wing and sent me hurtling back to the ground. I landed hard on my ankle, but managed to stay in my feet as she charged. Her blade swung in a furious arch and I lifted my own to meet her deadly strike. The death match continued, neither one of us really getting any advantage over the other. My arms were tired from blocking her attacks and her growing rage just seemed to make her stronger while I was barely hanging in.

I put every ounce of energy I still had to go on the offensive rather than just trying to avoid her sword. After the first two attempts, I could already feel my body drain of adrenaline. My breath came in harsh pants as I struggled to stay alive. Yes, I was scared of ending up in the abyss and ceasing to exist, but I was more worried about what she would do to all of humanity if I wasn’t around to stop her. The heroes could hold her off, but even their resolve wasn’t infallible and those Dark shadows were some tough little shits.

Determined, I lifted my sword up one more time and was vaguely surprised when the harsh black corset she wore ripped along her lower ribs and blood wept from the wound that looked at least an inch deep. Rejuvenated by actually landing a blow, I redoubled my efforts. I opened my aching wings and rose up a few feet to gain the upper hand. With a hand still pressed to the gaping laceration along her ribs, Vega followed suit.

Except she wasn’t alone.

Hundreds of Dark demons came out if nowhere. They were tiny things that looked like leeches and zipped frantically through the air. My stomach dropped seeing them writhe like a snake nest and it got hard to breathe when the first handful rocketed towards me.

Fear seeped into my bones. The titans were terrifying, but the Darkness was a whole new level of frightening. They were bloodthirsty, annihilating everything in their path, and I had no doubt they’d be deadly even to me.

A handful of those little demons latched onto me so forcefully that my whole body jolted forward. Agony erupted at every nerve. Those things were like sharks, tearing into my skin with a vengeance. I screamed, unable to do anything else. So this was how I was going to die, from the Darkness. No wonder Thesis had been so paranoid.

A blinding white light sent spots dancing in my vision. The biting pain of the Dark leeches faded so that I just felt raw, but at least my skin wasn’t on fire. My eyes slipped closed and I became totally weightless. I could feel myself start to fall, but my wings were too weak to cooperate. I couldn’t fly and the ground was coming up fast.

I forced my eyes open a crack, as far as they would go, and saw Vega’s Dark little minions fleeing away. A larger shape was coming closer, bleary at first but becoming clearer. White feathers moved gracefully as they propelled my guardian towards my side.

Michael’s snow white wings wrapped protectively around me. He cradled me in his arms while I tried to breathe through the pain. I was pretty sure my ribs were broken and at least one lung was collapsed on top of the other more superficial cuts all over. A bruise made my eye tender and a split lip dribbled blood into my mouth. I understood why Thesis made such a big deal about needing a leader for the coming Darkness. But I highly doubted that in the last billion years she could have thought it would be one of her daughters.

“Lyra,” he cooed from within the cocoon his wings created. “You will be okay. You are stronger than this. I will not lose you another time.”

I blew out an agonizing breath and peered up at him through my good eye. My shoulders ached as my own gossamer wings tried to unfurl. From what I could see, at least one of them looked torn and crumpled. My wings, like a fairy’s instead of an angel’s like Michael’s, weren’t meant for this kind of warzone.

“I’m okay,” I choked out. My voice was scratchy and not very convincing. Michael frowned at me in response, but he didn’t have time to call me out. He set me gently on my feet and held me steady when I wobbled a bit before opening his mighty wings and whirling to meet Vega’s next attack.

“I was going to keep you, Michael, if you survived, so that I could have a nice little toy. But not even a pretty face like yours is worth letting you annoy me so much.”

My guardian met Vega’s psychotic stare with an icy glare of his own. Those silver eyes that I loved so much took on a bluish tint as they became stormy, reminding me of menacing thunderclouds. His eyes flashed to me for a millisecond, but a hundred thoughts played out in that tiny moment. Stay down, he commanded, no matter what happens.

No matter what happens? What the hell was he about to do? I got my answer a second later when he stood in front of me and drew his sword. Unlike the lightweight blade I’d been able to summon on the few times I’d managed, his was a flaming broadsword. He personified every myth about avenging angel warriors and the protective tense of his muscles actually made my stomach drop in anticipation.

Across from him, Vega cocked one red eyebrow and a smirk graced her lips. She pulled up a long, serrated blade from the ground near her feet and angled it toward Michael. He didn’t even flinch as her leathery wings slowly stretched out behind her and she summoned all if the energy in the room and channeling it into the sword, creating a weapon the could slay even the gods.