Earth & Sky (27 page)

I nodded and scooped up my gun, dropping the extra ammo
into my pockets.  Now to see if the thing actually worked.  A misfire probably
wouldn’t kill me, but it wouldn’t do my face any good, and it would be a bitch
to heal.

Miriam spoke from behind me, and I spun to face her. 
“Gods and Angels,” she swore.  “How in the world did you do that?”

I shrugged, feeling a little woozy.  “It’s a new trick.”

She shook her head.  “Who are you?”

Her latest wall began to crumble and she turned her
attention back to it.  “You’re going outside?”

Ville stepped in front of me protectively.  “We are.”  I
stepped around him and stood at his side, pistol drawn.

Miriam frowned.  “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”  She
quirked an eyebrow at us.  “But I don’t think I have a rat’s chance in hell of
stopping you.”

I nodded and glanced at Ville.  “Wise woman.”

He swished his katana experimentally, and then braced
himself for attack.  “Stand behind us and be ready to throw up a wall.”

Miriam did as she was told.  Very wise woman.  “Now,” I
shouted.  Her new wall sprang up as I leveled the old one.  I didn’t even have
to touch the earth.  Turns out Bahati and Cai hadn’t exaggerated about the
power of our bond.

The wall crumbled and we were met with a pile of
explosives.  Ville kept one hand on my leg as he touched the pile.  The
explosives vanished, ported somewhere else by his magic. 

Human soldiers filled the tunnel.  They were all carrying
guns.  I couldn’t scent a magic user anywhere.  Ville stepped aside and spun,
carving a wide arc through our opponents as I squeezed off a few shots.  I
could stop the whole thing by dropping a rock on them, but in this narrow space
that might not be wise. 

One of the soldiers shot Ville in the shoulder.  He
paused, then surged forward, his fangs bared.  I shot the man in the head and
kept moving.  It felt wrong to fight against humans- they were just so
fragile.  But all it took was seeing Ville bleed to get me in the fighting
spirit.  I could feel wind energy crackling over me.  He was pissed.  “Careful,”
I shouted.  “You might detonate their explosives.”

The energy decreased and my hair stopped standing on end. 
“We need to clear out this tunnel.”

I nodded.  “Hold on to something,” I warned.  I grabbed a
big iron hand rail along the side of the tunnel and Ville did the same.  A
stray shot winged my leg and I swore.  Being able to heal rapidly didn’t mean
it didn’t freaking hurt.

“All right, here goes,” I muttered.  Then I conjured a
wall of water and released it in a burst.  It filled the tunnel with crushing
force.  The current pulled me off my feet, and slammed against the wall.  I somehow
managed to keep my grip on both the rail and my gun.  When I thought I couldn’t
hold my breath any longer, I pulled the water back, breaking the H2O molecules I
had just created, and it vanished. 

All the soldiers had been swept off their feet.  Easy
pickings.  I would have felt remorse, if they hadn’t been about to commit
genocide by killing a bunch of kids.  We emerged from the tunnel and dashed up
the stairs side by side.  The scene that met my eyes was shocking.  The
beautiful town was almost in ruins.  Shifter and Fallen battled on the ground
and in the air. 

We joined the fray.  I used what was left of my ammo, then
tossed my pistol aside and scooped up a length of metal pipe from the wreckage
and put it to good use, swinging it like a sword.  It wouldn’t have been much
use against a Fallen enemy, but it worked just fine on humans, no matter how
much armor they wore.

Ville slashed his way through the nearby soldiers.  We
didn’t go more than a few hundred feet in an unspoken decision to stay close to
the children.  “How in the hell did they get this far?”  I couldn’t fathom it. 
There was just no way that a small human force could get through a bunch of
magic wielders like this. 

“Look!”  I followed Ville’s gaze.  A few feet away, a
human with a strange looking gun shot three Shifters with little tufted darts. 
They kept moving for a few minutes, but their movements gradually their
movements slowed, and they tumbled to the ground. 

Now that I knew what to look for, I could see them all
around.  Every group of humans had one person armed with those darts.  They
were using some sort of chemical to bring down the Shifters and the Fallen.  Our
people were trying to focus on the men with the darts, but by the time they got
through the other soldiers, they were darted.  “This has to stop,” I said
desperately, as I brought my pipe down on a human’s head.  “They’ll be at the
children again in no time.”  The human lines were already moving closer. 

Ville darted to my side.  Blue energy crackled along his
blade as he swung it like an avenging angel.  The thought gave me an idea. 
“Stay close,” I shouted.

I pressed my back to his, forming a physical connection as
we fought.  Pulling on our combined power, I sent out my aura, spilling
dominance over every Shifter in the area.  “Lend me your power,” I whispered to
them, pleading, compelling.  I felt a collective in my mind.  Auras and minds
intent on fighting were surprised by my presence in their consciousness.  But
slowly, one by one, they gave me their will.  I felt heady, giddy with the
power that was coursing at my fingertips.  I was stunned that they had all
given me control, trusted me though they barely knew me.  “This is going to
hurt,” I whispered, preparing them.

“Ville!”  I pushed the energy at him and he took it.  He
sucked in a sharp breath and I felt as though the battle around us was suddenly
happening in slow motion.  Energy coursed through my aura, burning its way
through me to him.  Then time sped up again, lighting fast.

My hair was standing on end, and blue energy coated my
arms.  The humans around us stopped attacking as they realized something was
going on.  Ville took one last pull on my connection to the pack, and then he
sent the crackling blue Sky energy racing outward.  It coiled along the ground
in streamers, like blue lightning, striking everything in its path. 

I felt the pain in the auras connected to mine, but they
were holding up against the shock.  The humans weren’t.  They dropped like
rocks the minute the energy touched them.  It seemed to go on forever.  However,
eventually, I felt the energy growing thin.  It flowed from me to Ville in a
trickle.  I disconnected from the collective- the pack- before we completely
stripped their auras. 

“Stop,” I panted.  Ville turned to me and I gasped.  He
was alight in blue flame, his raven black hair dancing in a wind that I
couldn’t feel, and his big wings spread to their impressive width.  His eyes
were almost identical to the blue flames, piercing me where I stood.  I
shivered at the sight of him.  Gods and Angels.

Reaching out, I planted a hand in the center of his
chest.  “Stop!”

He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. 
The swelling waves of energy slowly subsided and his hair settled back down. 
He opened his eyes and gave me a soft smile.  “Well, that was… fun.”

I laughed, letting my head drop against his broad chest as
he pulled me close for a moment.  Then I lifted my head and we stood gazing out
at the remains of town.  The ground was littered with humans.  I wasn’t sure
how many were dead and how many were just knocked out by our power surge.

The Shifters and Fallen had survived the wave, though they
hadn’t enjoyed it.  The fighting had stopped.  I saw Cai with a group of
townspeople.  They were slowly rounding up all the humans they could- loading
them into carts and wheeling them away like rubbish.  Bahati appeared at our
side in human form, hastily wrapping a flowered curtain around her nudity.  “We’ll
leave them outside the city limits for someone to take care of.  I don’t think
they’ll be back any time soon.”  She turned her pretty eyes on us.  “That was
quite the bit of magic you did just then.”  Her lip quirked.  “Please don’t do
it again anytime soon.”

“It’s a deal.”  My head was pounding, and Ville’s hand,
resting on my shoulder, was trembling.

“Thank you for your help.”  A dark-haired Fallen woman
paused to speak to us in passing.  Then she continued on her way, dragging two
unconscious humans toward the big car that someone had pulled around.  They
were loaded in like firewood.  I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for them. 
At least most of them were alive.

Another man spoke up.  “You protected our children.  We
owe you our lives.”  We were starting to draw a crowd.  Cai joined us, his
voice strident as he organized the clean-up effort and tried to deflect
curiosity from us in order to protect our identities.

I was leaning against an overturned park bench, grinning
stupidly at Ville, when a man darted out of the tunnel where the children were
hidden.  He was surrounded by five others, all limping and bruised.  From the
way he carried himself, I guessed he must be their leader.

He pulled off his helmet and glared around him.  “You are
all abominations!  Animals!”  His gaze landed on Ville and me.  Then he turned
and ran.  We tore off after him, but his men engaged us, preventing us from
following.  By the time they were taken care of, he was gone, having used magic
to cover his trail.

Cai landed beside us.  “Son of a bitch, he recognized
you.  He knows who you are!”  His eyes met mine, then Ville’s.  “He’ll tell the
ones in charge and they will think you’re on to them.  They’ll only double their
efforts to keep us down.”

I shook my head and glanced down at my leg.  The bleeding
had stopped, so I stopped putting pressure on it.  I straightened and met Cai’s
eyes.  “It doesn’t matter.”

Ville nodded and clapped his friend on the shoulder.  His
own wounds had stopped oozing as well.  It must have been the power pull.  “They’ll
know we’re onto them anyway, very soon.”  His smile showed too many teeth. 
“We’re going home.”

Children poured out of the tunnel behind us and went to
join their parents.  Magic washed over the crowd and the bodies were hidden
from view.  I saw a line of adults holding hands at the back of the crowd, muttering
as they shielded the children from what had just happened. 

I gritted my teeth.  The lies were going to end.  Someone
was going to pay for this.  I would make sure of it.  Ville’s hand grasped mine. 
“Ready?”

I nodded, looking out across the town.  “Absofreakinglutely!” 

T
he
first leg of our journey back home was uneventful.  The train puffed along the
track, its rhythmic clacking and swaying hypnotic.  It helped to distract me
from my disjointed thoughts, which was a blessing.

Night had just fallen and I was contemplating one of the
books Cai had given me.  I riffled the pages, knowing the book wouldn’t be able
to hold my attention the way the fall scenery outside my window had.  Ville
slipped an arm around me and settled back into the plush seat, closing his
eyes.  I rested my head on his shoulder and opened the book.

The door between train cars opened, and the sound of the
train rushing over the tracks grew louder for a moment.  Then the door clunked
shut and the sound returned to normal.  I glanced up, in an off-hand sort of
way, assuming it was just a stewardess or a passenger taking a walk to stretch
their legs.  My eyes landed on the human in the long duster and I sat up a mere
second before he drew his gun and fired on us.

The other people in the car screamed and scrambled for
cover, hiding behind their seats.  My sudden movement had alerted Ville, and he
rolled to the side, but I saw blood splatter across the velvet seat.  I ducked
and pulled a sock knife out of my boot and flung it at the man.  It struck his
shoulder and he hissed in pain, but didn’t drop his gun. 

Ville rolled over the seat and landed in a low crouch in
the middle of the aisle, taking advantage of the man’s momentary distraction. 
He stood and rushed the man, lighting fast, his wings bumping the seats.  The
man yelled and squeezed off two more shots.  Ville had his eye on the gun, but
he couldn’t quite make a grab for it.

“Outside,” I shouted, launching myself over the seat and
into the aisle.  I dashed to the door at the opposite end of the car and threw
it open.  There were too many innocent people in this car for us to be dealing
with a gunman- and most of the passengers were human.  They wouldn’t heal if
they were hit.

Ville dashed after me.  A bullet shattered the little
glass window of the door in front of me as he reached my side.  I kicked the
second door open and ran through the next car.  It was the last one in line,
and mostly empty.  Ville launched himself skyward, and I heard him land heavily
on the roof of the car a second later. 

I spun to face our attacker as he thundered into the car. 
Another man had joined him and he herded the few passengers out of the car
toward the front of the train while his friend leveled his gun at me.  There
was no bargaining, no threats.  He leveled the gun and pulled the trigger.  The
gun bucked and I lunged to the side, ducking behind a seat.  There was a whump
and fluffy stuffing floated in the air. 

I clapped my hands together and pulled on my magic.  It
came quickly, zinging through me with the flavor I had come to associate with
Ville- even though he wasn’t near.  I poked my head out from behind the seat
long enough for the man to take another shot at me.  And that makes six, I
thought to myself.  I stepped out from behind the seat with a three-foot length
of metal pipe in my hands.  Spinning, I brought it down on the gunman’s head
with all my inhuman strength.  He dropped like a rock. 

Ville dropped down through the door, trapping the second
man.  I frowned at the absurd little peashooter the guy pulled from his
waistband.  Ville arched a dark eyebrow at him as if waiting for the punch
line.  Just like his partner before him, the man didn’t even hesitate.  He
leveled the gun at Ville and shot him in the chest.  However, the little gun
didn’t shoot bullets.