Angel Fire (61 page)

The AKs were nowhere in sight – their audience with the Council must have already started. He drew his gun as they reached the meeting room; and flung the door open.

Five angels, brighter than any he’d ever seen, were in combat with his team – blurs of burning white light that dove, snarling, at the human attackers. Only four AKs were shooting. Alex stopped in his tracks, blood chilling as he saw that Trish’s face was damp with tears; she was pulling frantically at Wesley’s arm as he struggled with her. “
Don’t shoot!
” she sobbed. “We can’t do this; we can’t hurt the angels!”

Oh god, no. Trish.

Kara and the others looked dazed but were still battling. Somehow Alex shoved aside his feelings – but having drawn his gun, he saw suddenly there was nothing to fire on, unless he was going to start shooting at his team. He wouldn’t, not even to save the world.

With every instinct screaming to aim his gun at the angels, he instead hurled himself at Kara and wrested the pistol from her hands. “Stop the attack!” he yelled. “Everyone, stop firing
now
!”

“No!” Kara’s face contorted with desperate fury as she fought him. Meanwhile Willow and Seb’s angels had appeared and were darting around the room – blocking shots from the AKs at the same time they were protecting the team from the Council. Alex saw Willow’s angel swoop between a Council angel and Liz, spreading her wings over Liz for a second time.

Across the room, another Council angel vanished in a spray of light; Alex couldn’t tell who’d gotten it. The human Willow stood pressed against the wall beside Seb; she’d drawn her gun but obviously realized, like him, that there was nothing she could do. Wesley was still trying to fend off the crying Trish. As Wes shot again, Seb’s angel flinched in the air; the human Seb staggered.

Fleetingly, Alex noticed a woman with pale blonde hair struggle to her feet. She surveyed the room with a small, satisfied smile and slipped out; then one of Kara’s punches almost connected and he forgot about the blonde woman. He got Kara’s arms pinned behind her. She was gasping, almost crying. “Alex, she’s got you under a spell! Don’t do this!”

He ignored her. “Stop the attack!” he shouted again. “This is what Raziel
wants
, it could destroy our world!”

Most of the team were panicked now; no one even seemed to have heard him. Another Council angel dove straight at Sam, who froze wide-eyed – then shook himself with a roar as he aimed and shot. Willow’s angel darted in front; the bullet went through her as the Council member twisted away.

Alex heard the human Willow gasp in pain and had to force himself not to go running to see if she was all right. Instead, he shoved Kara hard to one side and flung himself at Sam as the Texan fired again. They crashed to the carpeted floor. Sam squirmed out from under Alex and kept firing; another Council member, a male, went down in a spray of radiance.

Only three angels remained. They grew brighter, glowing with a painful light that throbbed at the air. Brendan was running back and forth as he dodged Willow’s angel; in a blur, Alex saw Willow herself sitting on the floor with her eyes closed. Seb had his switchblade out, but hardly looked capable of using it. Another bullet hit his angel and he stumbled, catching himself against the wall.

“Stop! We can’t do this!” Trish was pulling frantically on Wesley’s injured arm. Alex saw him cry out and clutch at it, dropping his gun.

“Wes, look out!” he shouted. But a Council angel had already taken the chance to fly right at him; Wesley froze as he stared into its eyes. The next moment he was theirs.

“No – we can’t hurt the angels – what are we
doing
?” he gasped. He lunged at Brendan, sending them both sprawling. “Stop! Don’t hurt them!”

Sam took aim at another angel; Alex threw himself at his arm and his shot went wild. Suddenly Alex noticed the man in the dark suit who sat slumped against the far wall. Oh Christ, it couldn’t be.
Raziel.

Willow’s father shook his head briefly, as if shackles were falling from him. Gazing at the scene, his handsome jaw hardened. Wesley’s dropped gun lay nearby on the carpet and he reached for it, fingers closing around the weapon.

Still on top of the struggling Sam, Alex aimed his own gun and started firing, even though he
knew
it would do no good; angels couldn’t be killed in their human forms. Raziel gave a hiss, recoiling as the bullets rained into him – but still he lifted the gun, aiming at a Council member who was darting at Liz.

Sam saw him too. Abruptly, the fight went out of him; his startled eyes met Alex’s. “Stop!” he bellowed. “You guys,
stop!
He’s right!”

It all happened in seconds: Brendan shoved Wesley off and fired at the same time as Raziel; the Council member went down in a fountain of light. Another angel swooped at Brendan, tearing at his life energy; he staggered with a cry and went down, clutching his leg. At the same time, Kara had grabbed a fallen gun and was struggling with the hysterical Trish – she battled away Trish’s flailing hands and nailed the angel who’d given Wesley angel burn, sending it flying into fragments.

Then Kara saw Raziel. Her eyes went wide; she gave Alex a startled look. Flying unsteadily, Willow and Seb’s angels both started towards Willow’s father – who stood aiming the pistol at the last of the Twelve.

No!
The hyper-awareness came back to Alex. In slow motion, he and Sam scrambled to their feet, lunging across the room in unison; dimly, he was aware of Wesley still on the floor, and Trish grappling with Kara again. A muscle in Raziel’s jaw tightened as he took aim. His wounds were bleeding slightly, staining his expensive-looking suit.

Alex had the blurred impression that the last Council angel was trying to do something – wield some kind of power over Raziel. Though she was now burning so brightly that he could barely look at her, whatever it was wasn’t successful. Raziel’s lip lifted in a sneer.

“My world, my rules, Isda,” he said softly.

Willow’s angel was a little ahead of Seb’s; she darted in front of the final Council member just as Raziel shot. In the same moment, Alex and Sam tackled him, bringing him down with a crash. It was too late. Alex looked over his arm and saw that the bullet had passed through Willow’s angel and hit its mark: the final Council member was shuddering in the air, her scorching wings flapping helplessly. Willow’s angel was now nowhere in sight.

The explosion as the last of the First Formed died was silent, but Alex felt it through every inch of him, and ducked his head against the blast. It roared past, a vortex of gut-wrenching sensation that tore at his skin and hair. A shudder seemed to pass through the world – and then calmness fell. When he finally looked up, only twinkling lights remained, glinting around the room like fireflies on a summer night.

Alex lay, breathing hard, aware that the others had been thrown to the floor, too. Bizarrely, only minutes had passed since they’d entered the room. In the sudden silence, he could still hear the string quartet playing Mozart.

Willow – was Willow okay? He scrambled to his feet. Against the wall, he could see a weak-looking Seb sitting up now, gripping her hands and talking softly to her; her eyelids fluttered. Alex’s shoulders sagged. His relief was matched only by the longing to go to her himself.

Sam had risen also, his broad face bruised and swollen. “Alex...look,” he said, staring at the floor.

Raziel had gone still.

Alex’s heart started beating painfully fast as he stared down at Raziel’s body – the moist blooms of darkness on his purple shirt; the crisp black hair with its widow’s peak. He heard Willow’s voice again:
It might be that killing the Council really does kill all the angels – that’s what most of them think will happen.

“I...I think maybe we’ve done it,” whispered Sam in a choked voice. “I think maybe we’ve really done it.”

Kara was just getting up, looking shaken. Suddenly Alex did a double take around the room, his skin prickling with alarm. Wait a minute, where were Trish and Wesley? No, he wasn’t imagining things – they were both gone.

The moment he registered it, their shouts drifted in from the reception: “
They’ve just killed the Council! They’ve killed all the angels!
”

Oh,
Christ.
He and Kara moved at the same time, leaping for the door and banging it shut. There was another exit from the room; hopefully they’d get a chance to use it. Sam joined them. “Grab the table!” ordered Alex. Gripping the heavy wooden table, they dragged it in front of the door as the sound of shouts started heading their way. He and Sam threw a few of the chairs on top for good measure; it would hold them for a few minutes, at least.

A faint rumble shook the building.

It came and went in a second. Kara breathed in between her teeth, and Alex knew she’d felt it too: the sense of something having come loose in the world. “Oh my god,” she whispered, staring at him. He saw the fear in her eyes. “You were right, weren’t you?”

There was no time. Brendan was struggling to his feet, wincing on his injured leg; Liz stood still, apparently dazed. Seb staggered as he rose, his arms around a sagging Willow.

“Okay, you guys,
move
,” barked Alex as a pounding started up on the door. “Go out the other door but don’t turn left; it’s a dead end. We’re taking the stairwell. Kara, you help Brendan; Sam, help Liz but make sure she doesn’t have angel burn first. If anyone gets separated, don’t hang around – just
get out of here. Now!
”

As the others leaped into action, Alex rushed over to Seb and Willow. “Is she okay?” Seb had lifted her into his arms; she lay slumped against his shoulder with her arms around his neck, her cheeks white.

Seb nodded. “She’s just passed out, I think.” He still looked pale himself. As he shifted his grip on Willow, Alex saw how unsteady he was.

“Give her to me, you can hardly stand,” he said. The table shuddered as people banged on the door, shouting. The others were all gone now – Liz must be okay.

“I’m fine,” said Seb with obvious effort. He stumbled slightly as he started for the door.

“You are
not
fine,” snapped Alex. “Do you want her to die?” He took Willow from him just as Seb’s knees buckled. She clung to Alex with a small moan, not seeming to notice it was him. Alex held her tightly and put his other arm around Seb; he seemed ready to pass out now too. “Come on,
hurry
—”

“Must you really go so soon?” enquired a low, silky voice.

Alex whirled. Raziel was on his feet, wan but very much alive as he pointed a pistol towards them. “You know, I’m rather going to enjoy this,” he confided. “Isn’t it nice when the tables are turned?”

Alex stared at him dumbly as the shouting outside the door intensified.
Or maybe only the Council will die.
No.
No.

The sense of déjà vu from the cathedral in Denver was almost overwhelming. Though he knew it wouldn’t do any good with Raziel in his human form, Alex took his arm from around Seb and shot anyway. It didn’t even slow Raziel down this time. With a sneer, he levelled the gun at Alex’s head and pulled the trigger. There was an empty click.

The angel stared down at the gun in furious disbelief...and then shifted to his ethereal form and soared from the room.

Alex cursed, but couldn’t get him now. Clutching Willow to him, he grabbed hold of the drooping Seb again, hauling him into the back hallway. The shouts sounded louder out here – part of the mob must be coming around from the other direction. “Come
on
,” he ground out to Seb, half-carrying him down the corridor. “I am not going to die because of you. You don’t get to die either – I promised to kill you, remember?
Move.
”

Seb seemed to rouse himself by sheer force of will. “Yes, I remember,” he murmured. He pulled from Alex’s grip, managing to break into an exhausted run.

Willow had her arms weakly around Alex’s neck; her hair smelled just like it always had.
I’m getting you out of here, babe; I won’t let anything else hurt you,
thought Alex as they ran down the corridor. Frenzied shouts sounded behind him; doors banging open as people searched for them.

Sam and Liz came rushing back from the other direction. “They’ve cut us off; the stairwell’s blocked,” gasped Liz. “There’s a whole crowd there, waiting for us.”

“Where are Kara and Brendan?” demanded Alex.

“I don’t know; they were ahead of us! They must have gotten through.” Sam scraped a nervous hand over his blond spikes. “The elevators are blocked, too. Oh, man, what now? Do we try to shoot our way through?”

There was a door directly to his left; Alex cast frantically through his mind, but couldn’t remember where it led. Just then there was another rumble – overhead, the light fixtures swayed. It decided him, somehow.

“In here,” he said, throwing the door open. Stairs, leading up.
Up?
thought Alex as they barrelled up them.
We’re already on the highest floor.

A locked door waited at the top of the stairs. “Stand back,” said Sam, taking aim. He shot; there was the whine of bullet hitting metal as the bolt gave way. He threw the door open and they poured through.

Open sky. Wind, whipping at their clothes. “Oh, Christ,” whispered Alex, still clutching Willow to his chest.

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” said Sam tightly. Liz stared around them helplessly; her mouth opened and then closed again. Seb let out a curse in Spanish, glancing back at the stairs – where Alex could now hear the sound of shouts coming up. The crowd had found them.

And they were up on the helipad.