Angel's Fury (25 page)

‘How dare you!’ the Doctor growled. ‘Mr Alexander, you might do irreparable damage here. Leave now.’

Ignoring the furious Doctor, Seth went for the pile of clothes. Pandra tried to push it into the hole, but I smashed my weapon
towards her hands and she pulled back with a rat-like squeal. The wood splintered on the dry floor and I jumped up. Swiftly I put myself between Seth and Pandra, hoping to protect him until he could rescue Lenny.

The Doctor limped forward. ‘Look at me, Cassie. This is an adjustment period. I can cure all of you.
Put the branch down
.’

I didn’t want to meet her inhuman stare, yet my eyes were drawn to her face and I shivered with terrified awareness: she was trying to hypnotise me.

But Pandra’s attack had left my vision blurred. For a long moment the Doctor stared me down . . . and nothing happened. I gestured with my weapon. ‘Back. Off.’

The Doctor spread her hands. ‘I can’t do that. You’re a patient of mine
and
my ward. I have to do what’s best for you.’ She shook her head. ‘You have so much potential.’

At my back I could hear Seth trying to get Lenny to catch the makeshift rope.

The Doctor took a step forward. ‘Cassie, if you let me help you, both you and Pandra could soon be resting well at night and using your lifetimes of skill and knowledge to accumulate enormous power. With my support the two of you can do anything.’

‘Like you helped Kurt?’ The Doctor frowned and I continued. ‘He remembers you, you know.’

‘That’s impossible.’

‘I don’t think he slept any better after he killed Zillah. If he hadn’t felt guilty about her death, I wouldn’t be dreaming about it. Would I?’

‘He was weak. The human side of him was too strong,’ the Doctor sneered. ‘All of you are still so weak. Even Pandra suffers nightmares when she should be revelling in her memories.’

Her hand came up in some sort of signal. Urgently I swung my branch but I was too slow and Pandra tightened her arms round my neck. I pulled desperately at her grip, but bowed by her strength I fell to my knees.

The Doctor growled. ‘If you don’t want my help, then fine. You could have been the greatest of them all. Now only the ghost of your memory will remain, as the nightmare of your next incarnation. And whoever you become . . . he or she will help me.’ She bent towards me and her eyes glowed with unholy light. ‘Here’s something to think about in your last moments. When Pandra’s ready the first people punished will be your parents. If I’d had you from the start, you would have been the most terrible
of my brother’s sons. Nothing would have stood in your way.’

Thank God Mum and Dad took me away from her
.

Gratitude to my parents brought out other memories, ones I thought I was losing: learning to spot my own constellation with Mum, watching wrestling with Dad. Suddenly the roaring of blood in my ears reminded me of the WWE arena.

The Doctor’s laughter faded as I forced my legs to take both my weight and Pandra’s. Grunting with effort I rose to my feet. Then I staggered backwards and slammed her into the wall.

Her arms loosened and as I corkscrewed out of her grip Pandra dropped to the ground. I moved away from her and a tide of dizziness surged through me. For the first time I recognised Kurt’s infringement, gave in to it and let him take over.

Kurt kicked Pandra on to her back. Then he raised my arm and jumped, throwing my legs out in front to hammer an elbow drop into her sternum.

Pandra was still trying to move.

‘
Ach, Nein, Nein
.’

He rolled Pandra on to her front and drew her into a Full Nelson, locking my fingers behind her neck. Then he looked up.
The Doctor stood clenching and unclenching her fists, her face ugly with rage.

‘
Krüziturken
,’ he spat.
Damn you
.

He forced Pandra’s head forward, then receded.

I swallowed. ‘I can kill her with this.’

‘Go on. Then you’ll be mine anyway: a murderer. It won’t take me long to find Pandra again. What’re a few more years to me?’ The Doctor stopped an inch in front of me. Her breath heated my face and her eyes shone in the darkness like a tiger’s.

‘What are you frightened of becoming, Cassie Smith? You already have the soul of a killer.’

Behind me Seth groaned and I heard the sounds of struggle as Lenny climbed out of the hole. ‘Lenny, you have to hurry – Cassie needs help.’ His tone mixed sympathy and frustration.

Lenny whimpered and, at the sound, my lips arched into a sneer.

‘You see.’ The Doctor tasted the air. ‘You know what you are.’

I shuddered, then Seth’s fingers curved round my bare shoulder. The shock of contact curled my toes.

‘Cassiopeia, listen to me. You don’t have the soul of a killer.’

‘I-I do.’

‘I know you . . .’

‘You
hate
me.’

‘No.’ His fingers dug into my collarbone. ‘I forgive you, Cass.’

‘What?’ The Doctor fried Seth with her gaze. ‘Where’s Zillah? She won’t forgive so easily.’

Seth inhaled sharply. I tried to turn to him, but didn’t dare release Pandra. My heart sank. ‘S-Seth?’

Only our panting broke the dense silence.

Finally Seth looked up. ‘I
am
Zillah. You’ll have to deal with me.’

The Doctor roared and spittle shone on her lips. ‘I could give you the world. All of you.’

Seth shook his head. ‘What’s the point in gaining the world if we lose our souls?’

The Doctor gave a tinkling laugh of genuine humour and shook her head. ‘You’ve read the book and you still don’t understand? You children
have
no souls.’

As Seth stiffened, something switched on in my mind like a torch. ‘You’re right, we did read the book.’ I dropped Pandra, stepped over her and craned my neck to look the Doctor full in the face. ‘It said Azael couldn’t hurt any humans directly.’
I glanced at Seth. ‘He’s bound by a law, remember?’ I turned back to the Doctor. ‘That’s why you need me and Pandra and the others, isn’t it?
You
can’t hurt humans but we can.’

‘You’re very much mistaken.’ The Doctor’s huge muscles trembled but she still did not raise her fists.

‘Cass.’ Seth was speaking again. Excitement roughened his voice. ‘There was something else in the book. Do you trust me?’

Without taking my eyes from the Doctor I nodded.

‘Repeat after me. Our Father . . .’

‘What?’

‘Do it, Cassiopeia.’

‘Our . . . Our Father . . .’

‘Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.’

I echoed every word.

‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’

Pandra groaned. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

The Doctor said nothing, but her eyes burned and there was nothing human in them.

‘Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’

‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Kurt’s voice and mine blended. He knew the prayer even if I did not.

Then abruptly . . . he was gone.

And the weight of a hundred lifetimes went with him.

In a flash I remembered playing a game when I first started school. One of my classmates had held my arms down for one whole minute then released them. Like objects foreign to my body they had risen of their own accord.

Now I felt like that all over and I knew what it would be like to fly.

I came back to myself to hear Seth shouting at the top of his voice.

‘Azael is here, Lord.’

And Lenny finished, ‘Amen.’

The Doctor reared back. ‘You foolish little . . .’

Her face rippled and changed. Azael was shedding his disguise. For a long minute pure panic distorted the inhuman symmetry of his face. Then the features stilled into androgynous calm.

The Doctor’s form flickered and disappeared: an image from a burning reel of film. Then wings started to unfurl from the angel’s back. They moved awkwardly, the muscles long disused,
cracking like the fingers of an old man. Long feathers unfolded and popped into place over the pinions. Beneath the flight feathers appeared a cloud of down so pale and soft my fingers itched to hold it to my cheek.

And to my surprise Azael’s wings were white. Pure, unsullied and glowing they showed me that the colour I’d known as white before this moment was nothing but dirty grey.

The space wasn’t big enough for Azael to stretch as fully as he needed and he turned back and forth, muscles twitching restlessly to reveal razor-sharp claws on the tip of each wing.

He started to laugh. ‘I should thank you, boy; I was buried in that
stinking
human form for millennia, thinking He was still looking for me.’ Azael stretched his arms to each side, luxuriating. ‘But now I can start it myself . . . the war that really will end all wars! My wait is finally over.’

Stunned, I watched, unable to feel anything but incredulous joy.

‘Seth,’ I whispered. ‘I’m free.’

Then, with a rush, the air was sucked from the cave. I followed it with my eyes just in time to see the bush that had provided me with my weapon burst into flame.

Seth threw his arms round me and bore me to the floor as fire
boiled over the ceiling like an exploding gas leak.

‘
Holy shit!
’ Lenny shrieked, and scrambled to the back wall. He landed next to Pandra, but didn’t even acknowledge the presence of the girl who had tortured him.

‘No!’ Azael screamed as the fire consumed him.

From beneath Seth’s armpit I squinted upwards. Inside the suit of licking flame Azael’s eyes blazed like black diamonds. The gleaming feathers lost their radiance and downy fluff crackled like popcorn.

Then Azael bent in the middle and was yanked backwards like a toy on a string. His wings snapped against the cave walls and his claws left sparks bright enough to see through the fire as he tried to hold on.

‘No!’ Azael’s wail ululated along the ravine. Swiftly I wriggled from under Seth and crawled after him on bare knees. I emerged into the daylight just in time to see a bright dot speeding into the sky like a reversing comet. Then it melted into the sunlight and was gone.

Seconds later Seth staggered out of the cave, a shell-shocked Lenny in his arms. Then he placed the younger boy gently on his
feet. Standing unsteadily, Lenny stared up at the trees with glazed eyes. As he still clutched Bunny in a death grip I decided to leave the toy with him.

Seth frowned at the sky. ‘Azael’s gone?’

I nodded, dumbly.

‘I don’t believe that just happened.’

I shook my head and wrapped my arms round my chest. I was torn between trying to cover my nakedness and wanting to cradle my injuries.

Immediately Seth shrugged off his jacket and draped it round my shoulders. The pockets were weighted with what turned out to be my trainers. He’d stopped to pick them up for me.

I pulled the duffel round me like a duvet: my bloodied fingers trembled too hard to fasten the toggles. Then I jammed my feet into my Converse without untying the laces. ‘W-where’s Pandra?’

‘Don’t care.’ Seth looked at me. ‘You look different . . . happy.’

I was. I was aching, bloody and happier than I’d ever known how to be. I raised my arms because language simply wasn’t enough. ‘Kurt’s gone.’ I lowered my hands and caught the coat
back around me. ‘He left before Azael did. But . . . why?’

Seth’s lips quivered. ‘Cass, you saved Lenny and you prayed for forgiveness. You acted like an angel is supposed to . . . remember?’ My mouth fell open and he looked at the hill. ‘Come on, it’s nearly eleven. We have to find the others.’

‘What about Zillah?’

Seth cleared his throat and turned back to me. ‘I don’t think Zillah will haunt me any more.’ He flushed and his fingers met mine in the lightest of touches. ‘She moved on . . . when she forgave Kurt.’

The colours around me seemed to brighten, and the breeze lifted the singed ends of my hair. I turned my face into the wind and smiled. For the first time in my life I knew I would sleep well the next time I closed my eyes: deep and dreamless and free.

For long moments I stared at the sky; if Azael really was joining his brother, tonight it would be changed. Bravely I weaved my fingers through Seth’s. Now we had to go and tell the others what had happened. We’d have to find out which of them needed to forgive and which needed forgiveness. We’d finally have to hear one another’s stories. Then, somehow, we’d have to track down the rest of Shemhazai’s children and
explain it all to them. Explain that hatred and pain led to an endless cycle that could only be broken in one way: by redemption.

M
y fingers hovered over the laptop, ready to write my first email to Seth. We’d swapped addresses before our parents came for us, but I hadn’t heard from him.

I’d been waiting for him to make first contact, giving him space to clear his head. I’d needed some time too. Now my imagination filled me with fear. Once clear of the Manor had he changed his mind? Did he hate me again?

I flexed my fingers. What should I say?

I decided to just start writing. I didn’t have to send the email when it was done.

Dear Seth

I stopped. Then deleted it. Tried again.

Hi Seth

I wasn’t sure whether to send this. You can delete it without reading it if you like.

I’m writing because I need to talk and you’re the only one
who understands what’s going on with me. I’ve been in touch with Lizzie and Max. They’re still having their nightmares. I wish I could help them.

I’ve decided to take science and psychology courses for A levels. I want to be able to do what the Doctor should have been doing. I want to actually be able to help any more of us that turn up. The Doctor said we’d meet more sons, that we’d all be drawn together. I hope I can get qualified before that happens.

I reckon I can fast-track through college and uni. It turns out I’m not stupid. You wouldn’t believe how my marks changed once I’d actually had some sleep. I seem to just be able to dredge up the knowledge I need from a past life.