A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 82
Jace and Karen must be there.
Something slammed my side as a wing pummeled my stomach. Any harder, and it’d split the skin and pulverize my organs. I flew left, spinning through the air and striking the tunnel wall. I didn’t hit it hard, but the stress of the cave-in was getting to it. The concrete fractured, raining down around me. It almost buried me, but with a last-ditch twitch of my wings, I flew past it.
The thing that attacked me didn’t scream; it only lanced out with its wings. It must have been an Engelos, but it felt more silent and deadly.
As I spun through the air, I caught sight of its face. Two permanently open hollow eyes stared back at me. There were no eyeballs. It could not seemingly see. Yet it tracked me with perfect precision as it opened its mouth and hissed with glee. Its wings flicked out, caught me from behind, and sent me spiraling into the water. It splattered me, sending me down to the ground.
I splashed through the murky water, soon striking the tunnel floor beneath. The sightless Engelos plunged through, pushed its bare feet against my shoulders, and pounded me down harder. My fingers tried to catch his feet, but he was too strong. So I flapped my wings, attempting to clap his legs with them. It felt like I was a child fighting a giant. My wings made contact, but the Engelos didn’t even flinch.
Panic struck me as I realized I might drown. My mouth opened, and I sucked in a breath of water.
As my chest heaved, I pushed up and back. But I simply didn’t have access to Jace’s strength anymore.
God. My mate was dead, wasn’t he?
Maybe the Engelos didn’t want to kill me after all. As I started to drown properly, he grabbed me by the back of my collar and hauled me up. Stars exploded through my vision as I coughed and sputtered for breath.
He twisted me around and slammed me into one of the cracked walls, further damaging it. As it broke, my vision went black. But a few sparks held on at the edges. I saw a little, then a little more, as he twisted me around and I hung limply in his hands. He must think I was down. I wasn’t moving, and my breath barely pushed my chest much.
He grunted with satisfaction.
Then he went to fly me over the flooded cars. People had clambered up onto the roofs. They were screaming for their lives. But some of them were still shouting from the effects of the berserker drug.
Was this really how Mythos would go?
We weren’t a perfect city, but that didn’t matter. We’d survived so many trials.
Now the Kings would erase that.
It wasn’t fair.
One of my fingers twitched, almost as if it could feel a little scrap of strength still in it. But it wouldn’t be enough to fight this mighty sightless Engelos. Who knows why he didn’t have eyes? It surely didn’t affect his senses. He didn’t fly into any of the jets of water coming from the crumbling ceiling above. With quick wings and a nimble body, he dodged them all.
How? Hearing? Smell? No. It must be hearing.
That was his best sense. What would happen if I took it down?
How could I still think like that? I was too weak to fathom it. Some part of my brain still worked.
If I could move my wingtips and push them into his ears, maybe I could puncture his eardrums?
He was probably too well protected, and I couldn’t move.
But I had to. That was a plain fact. This would be the last moment of my freaking free life unless I fought back. All the poor people beneath me would die if I didn’t stop the cave-in.
All of that pressure mounted.
But did the Engelos care? Did he even notice?
My eyesight resolved for one blurry second as I realized he was flying me toward the ceiling.
As waterfalls rushed down, I saw a remarkably clear patch. There were no cracks, no damage at all. But a large transport circle glowed permanently in it. That must’ve been where the Engelos appeared from. He would whisk me through and leave every poor soul here to drown.
It just wasn’t fair.
My hand rolled into a fist. He shouldn’t have magic. If this was how he used his power, then he needed to return to a state without it and learn what mattered again.
Because if people acted like he did, everybody would die.
Strong thoughts. I couldn’t do anything about them. He flew me up toward the ceiling, and we almost reached it. My body hit full panic mode. A rush of adrenaline blasted through my heart, making it shudder. Every beat felt like my last.
His hand stretched toward the ceiling.
Dammit, he should not have magic. The person who’d set him on this task should not have magic either. Every single tortured soul who’d assumed Mythos would be better as a dictatorship should lose their magic. They didn’t know how to play nicely, so they shouldn’t play at all.
These weren’t just thoughts as they rushed through me. They were facts hammering into my body, burning onto my bones, and branding themselves into my wings. Magic wasn’t there to be used to seek more power. It was a cooperative, supportive force. Or it shouldn’t exist at all.
My left hand twitched into a fist. The Engelos reached the transport circle.
But with all my freaking force, I shoved my strength into my wingtips. They’d lain like flaccid dead flowers beside me. Now they burst up. And I shoved the tips around, smashing them into the Engelos’s ears.
He was too distracted activating the transport circle. It wasn’t a simple touch-and-go. He had to focus on initiating it correctly.
He couldn’t stop me.
Nothing freaking could. My power to remove magic had not returned. But at least a little of my strength had.
My wingtips punctured his eardrums. It was the lightest popping sensation, as if I’d jumped on puffy mushrooms.
The Engelos sure didn’t feel that way. Wrenching his head back, he shrieked. Blood splattered out of his ears.
His eyes opened, and he dropped me.
I could only move my wings.
I flapped, moving back from him several meters. Based on his usual speed, he’d snap forward and sink a punch into my stomach.
He didn’t. The powerful Engelos could no longer track me.
He still floated in the same position, but now he jerked his head around jaggedly, trying to track me.
“I’m right here,” I screamed. I flew forward and planted a punch on his stomach. An ambitious move. He was still quick. And he didn’t need to hear the punch; he felt it. His wings folded around forward, but before they could catch my throat, I let mine cut out, and I fell immediately. His wings smashed together above my head, buffeting me down faster.
I soared underneath him then caught his ankle and yanked him down.
Meanwhile, more water rushed through the tunnel.
People had banded together, climbing onto the tallest trucks. There were still berserkers. They swam through the water, trying to fire magic at everyone. But wizards held them off with shields.
How long would those shields last?
Not much longer.
Another great thunderous crack echoed out.
They had to escape now. The only way to do that was with the transport circle. But it was far too high up. The Engelos also wasn’t down yet.
He screamed and started spinning. His wingtips were far sharper than mine. This was revenge now. Screw it if he was meant to bring me in alive. The wings almost caught me. One sliced past my face, close enough to cut my hair. I watched it move like a freaking saw blade over my nose. Then I flapped my wings again, soaring up.
I might suck at spell work, but you could move transport circles. Especially if you affected what they were on. Say if you’d painted them on a wall and you broke it. If it was a strong transport circle, it would keep the section of the wall together it was painted on then fall to a new location.
What if I could crack the ceiling all around the transport circle and send it slamming down to the floor below? Once initiated, it could save everybody down here. It might even suck the water out, buying them some more time.
More water gushed down. The screams were getting more dire.
I flew up toward the ceiling then pounded my wing beside the transport circle. This area might be protected, but it couldn’t survive forever. I imagined the Engelos had intended to come and get me quickly. But now he had no clue where I was. He kept spinning through the air.
He was far more powerful than me. Why not get him to hollow out the ceiling?
It was a much better plan. I buzzed him, attacking him from the left, then from above. He changed direction and shot toward the ceiling. His powerful body slammed into it, and immediately a crack ran around the side of the transport circle.
I buzzed him again. It took four attempts until he did enough damage to the ceiling. Everything shook. The transport circle glowed, knowing something was wrong. Then it fell.
It wasn’t big enough to completely crush all the cars underneath me. It was about the size of a large room.
The wizards protecting everyone on top of the cars saw what was happening. To my surprise, as the transport circle smashed into the top of one vehicle and crushed it, then teetered left and fell into the water, one of the wizards joined it. He swam past the berserkers and reached it.
The circle hadn’t been initiated yet. This guy was an ace at spell work. He barely had to submerge himself and practice much magic before the transport circle blinked into life. I still didn’t know what would happen. Would it suck all the water out of the tunnel? No.
This guy was smart enough to program what could go through.
I didn’t bother with the sightless Engelos anymore. He’d flown off down a different side of the tunnel, still looking for me.
Everybody needed a hand to evacuate.
People started jumping into the water and swimming toward the transport circle.
But the berserkers were between them and it. Until I flew down and knocked several of them out with my wings. Who knew what they’d done, why they’d taken the drug, what kickbacks they’d gotten from the Kings? They didn’t deserve to die like this. If they were sane, they would’ve tried to escape earlier.
That wizard didn’t bother to go through the transport circle. He guarded it, allowing folks to jump through.
Then he even helped to throw the berserkers into it.
“Come on, now,” he screamed at me, waving a hand wildly.
I hadn’t seen Jace or Karen. God, where were they?
“You’ve got to evacuate now,” the guy roared. He pointed up at the ceiling.
Oh no. A huge crack was marching across it, a fissure so deep, it felt like it’d let the entire river down onto our heads.
I watched him in gobsmacked silence.
“Now,” the guy said. “This thing can’t hold itself open much longer.”
Jace. Where the hell was he?
I couldn’t leave him.
I don’t know how. I don’t know why. But a blast of strength moved through my hand again. It must come from my Alpha. That meant he was alive somewhere.
He must be in one of the cars—
Out of nowhere, my strength cut out. So did my wings. Ruinous fatigue caught up to me, and I flopped into the water. The last thing I felt was that wizard desperately swimming over, grabbing my arm, and pulling me toward the transport circle.
Even if I wouldn’t save myself, apparently the city would rise up to do it for me.
But it would cost me my mate.
Chapter 4
Who knew how long I was out for? When I came to, I was in the forest somewhere.
The blind Engelos had likely intended to reach a nearby access point to the Kings’ domain. It meant we were probably perilously close to one.
The milling, scared folks around me didn’t know that.
Some of them were injured. Others had almost drowned. They were looking after one another.
I’d questioned whether people would freak out about my wings. Nobody had plucked them off my back. Instead, I was dry, with a jacket thrown over my shoulders and something soft propped up underneath my head.
It took me several bleary moments to realize what’d happened. “Jace… I left him behind. Karen—”
At the sound of my voice, someone raced over and touched my shoulder.
“You’re awake. Get out of here,” they grunted.
I rolled over to see that wizard who helped me save everyone. “What?”
“We’ve seen Engelos flying overhead. We’ve tried to hide you with a shield.” He pointed to a shimmering sheet of magic above me. “It will fail at some point. They’ll use wolves to sniff you out. Escape while you still can.”
“Who are you?”
“Used to work for Theodore.”
I stiffened from my head to my feet.
He opened a hand in front of my face. “I had no clue what he was doing. He kept everything hidden from us.”
“Jace was in the tunnels with me. Is he here?”
The guy shook his head. “I don’t see him.”
“But he drove back toward where you were. You must have seen his car.”
“An Engelos appeared out of the transport circle as the tunnel started cracking. I jumped out of my car, tried to fight those guys who had gone berserk, then did what I could. No cars came toward us.”
“Impossible. I didn’t pass Jace’s car. He must’ve gone somewhere.”
The guy shot me a grim look. “That, or he’s gone through another transport circle.”
My eyes slowly closed then flinched open.
The only way for me to know if Jace was still alive was to use his strength. Because God knows I wouldn’t have any of my own left. “Can you pass me that rock?” I hissed.
The guy trusted me. He handed me one. It was only palm-sized. Easy to hold. Pretty freaking hard to crush.
As I concentrated, I tried to channel Jace’s power. It worked. The rock shattered in my fingers.
The guy looked vaguely impressed. “You okay? Because if you are, you need to get the hell out of here. Fly low. Don’t let them catch you. Something tells me the second they get you, Mythos is dead.”
“He’s alive,” I whispered under my breath, ignoring the guy’s words. I indulged in closing my eyes. Maybe Jace had found another transport circle. More likely, the Kings had found him. Perhaps another Engelos had already picked off Karen and Jace.
They’d kill Jace off pretty fast…. But my strength was still there. Meaning I could hold onto hope.
I sat and immediately regretted it. Woozy pressure built in my ears, and I almost keeled over.
The guy caught my elbow. “You good? Because you’ve got to go. Flap your wings and get the hell out of here, Creature.”
The last bit wasn’t an insult. It wasn’t said with any malice. He just didn’t know what I was.
It made me pause. “…Creature? Why didn’t you call me an Engelos?”
“Studied them at university. There has never been an Engelos with black wings. Plus, I know about you. The reports say you were found a week ago. You didn’t have those then.” He pointed at my wings.
I slowly reached up and grabbed one of my slightly singed feathers. They were worse for wear, but I could still use them. They felt like silk as my hand slid down them. “I grew them after my first involuntary dose of the Kings’ accelerant drug. Velos, the head of the Engelos, told me it was further proof I was an Engelos.”
“Engelos are born. Their wings are part of them from birth. There are no cases whatsoever of them growing wings later.”
“… Then what do you think I am?”
Finding out my actual identity was the key.
If I really was a force to be reckoned with… then I could stop the King Engelos.
With a burst of strength, I found my feet. The guy followed me up, still looking quizzical. Brushing two fingers down his chin, he shrugged. “Engelos must have evolved from something.”
My ears filled with a burst of static. “What?”
“People don’t think like that, but magical creatures evolved somewhere, sometime. They didn’t start spontaneously existing.”
That vamp told me I was ancient. How old did he mean?
I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and pinned it hard. “Are there any historical records? Any mentions of anything?”
He shook his head. “That’s going back way too far. You don’t need historical records, though.”
“Then what do we need?”
“Magical creatures evolved to produce magic. They all concentrate it in different ways. Vampires consume by force, though they have a preference for those with magic. They’ve evolved a system to digest and reuse it.”
My blood chilled to zero Kelvin.
The wizard, whose name I still didn’t even know, stepped back. Then with a quick move, he locked his hand around my elbow. “That shield won’t keep you protected for long. Like I said, they’re going to send more soon. Your best bet is to escape while you can.”
“Thanks,” I croaked, meaning it. I’d be dead without him. Quickly flashing my gaze around the horizon, I reminded myself these people would be dead without me, too. A few of them looked at me like I’d done something miraculous. The others let their eyes trace my wings.
My own gaze lanced up to them, thoughts filling me. What exactly were they? And where did I come from? If I truly was some ancient creature that shouldn’t exist anymore, how exactly was I born in the modern age?
“Good luck,” the wizard hissed, meaning it.
Boy, was I going to need it. More Engelos screeches filled the air, this time darker. Maybe I was related to them somehow, because I could hear the tone, even from down here. It was the frenetic pitch of creatures who knew they were running out of time.
I had only just pushed myself up to my feet. I was in no condition to start running around. What other option did I have?
Offering my savior a low, genuine nod, I tried to push into a run. Crunching limbs simply wouldn’t let me. Fortunately, I still had my wings. And somehow, somewhere, Jace must have given them power. I swear it came from him as I flexed them once, twice, and forced them to move.
“Stay low,” the wizard warned, “but stay the hell away from shifters.”
That was almost a life lesson. But even if I’d never encountered Jace, the Kings would’ve found me at some point and rooted me out. The day I ran into my Alpha, those wolves had already been on track to attack my sister.
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