HORROR THRILLERS-A Box Set of Horror Novels (26 page)

This knowledge made
her close up, like a night blooming jasmine flower closing in the
first rays of sunlight, folding in upon itself. Had loving a woman
done that to him, too? Given him a conscience? Given him other human
frailties like empathy and caring and the saint's duty to preserve
human life?

Disgust filled her
as if she were a lake filling from heavy rain and a million run-offs.
How could one of them—the angels--ever feel these human
characteristics? Or had he always felt them and she hadn't known?
That thought infuriated her even more than the idea he had changed.

Of course they all
still had free will. She supposed if she wanted to, she could love
again too, but why would she, for what purpose, what could she hope
to achieve by loving again? Love had failed her. It was destruction
that mattered in the universe, not love, how had Nicroc failed to
understand that? Tornadoes mattered. Floods. Fire mattered. Murder
and war mattered and changed the course of humanity. Thunderbolts
mattered and bombs and guns. Love was of very low status among those
things.

Another thought
struck her. Had he even felt this way when she'd sent him to Rome to
animate Caesar's body? And had that flaw led him, as Caesar, to his
own murder that ruined all their plans?

Once she caught up
with him, she'd have to find out. If it were true then he was like no
other fallen angel and she'd made a terrible mistake trusting him and
a more terrible mistake bringing him to earth as her partner.

She moved away from
the produce aisle and picked up a small jar of peanut butter which
she took to the check-out. The woman there took her money and gave
her change. “Could you tell me what happened to the tall, blond
man who used to work here?” Angelique asked sweetly. “I
think he's called Nick.”

“
Oh, him,”
the clerk said. “he left after...ah...he left a few weeks ago.”

“
Do you know
where he went? He's my uncle, you see, and my mother, his sister, is
looking for him.”

The clerk shook her
head. “I have no idea,” she said.

Angelique plumbed
the woman's mind and found she was telling the truth.

Outside the store,
the alley across the street drew her attention. She walked toward it
and the closer she came, the colder it seemed in that shadowed place.
More death. This is where the killing involved Nisroc. He had been
here and dispatched a human to hell. Then he was not against murder
if it seemed to him the human deserved it. At least that was
something. At least he was not a true pacifist. He was no saint.

She turned away and
headed for the bus stop. Maybe he'd left town that way. It seemed to
her that he had. She paused in her walking and closed her eyes. It
seemed he was going North from here. North and West.

His constant
movement told her he knew she was coming, she was in pursuit. Why
else keep going? When he got to the Pacific, would he take a steamer
or cruise ship and continue, leaving the continent? How long would he
evade her? It was making her lose her temper to a degree that scared
even her. She didn't want to make a mistake and do harm to someone in
her way that might get her into serious trouble. Her success lay in
nefarious dealings, keeping everything under the radar.

If only Nisroc
hadn't ruined her life! If only she could bring down another angel to
take his place, which she couldn't yet. If only she could let Nisroc
go and bribe another human to stand in as her parent. But no, she
wasn't going back to that. She wanted to hear what Nisroc had to say
for himself. She needed him to tell her why he thought he could turn
his back on her and disappear. He had no free will. She owned him.

CHAPTER 31

FOLLOWING THE
RIVER

After a week in Reno
and paychecks cashed, Nick and Jody sat in a hotel restaurant sharing
dinner with a bottle of red wine. “How long we staying here?”
Jody asked. “I fear my first impression of Reno was wrong. I
like the weather, but that boy at Harper's is getting to be a
problem.”

Nick sipped at his
wine. “We can leave in another week. One more paycheck. Do you
want me to have a talk with the boy?”

Jody shook his head.
“I don't know that it will do any good. He hates me. Maybe I
represent what's so little inside him.” He laughed. He loved
joking about his own smallness.

“
If he does
anything...well, if he tries to hurt you, let me know.” Nick
set his glass on the table and took up a knife and fork to cut his
steak.

Jody nodded and
popped a chunk of roasted potato into his mouth. He chewed with
relish, noting the cook had added rosemary and garlic to the dish.

After dinner the two
men strolled down the street toward their room. Two gambling
establishments had already opened and from their open entrances
streamed raucous laughter and raised voices. Lights twinkled from
gaudy signs, prostitutes sallied by in suggestive clothing, and
people clogged the sidewalks even though it was nearly nine at night.

“
Let's go to
the river,” Jody said. He started across the street. Nick
followed.

Past the main street
and behind the buildings going up, they could see the moon-dappled
stream. Along the banks grew thick green, spongy grass dotted with
the stems and blooms of wildflowers that in the faltering light
looked like black polka dots. The night smelled cleaner here. The
Truckee River gushed past as if in a hurry to flee the city. Jody
stooped near the water, his hands on his knees. Nick also hunkered
down. They stared into the dark, rushing waters. Across the river
they could see the strip of highway that led up into the mountain
pass. It had little traffic, only an occasional pair of headlights
moving along it. Overhead a million stars dotted the black sky.

“
It smells new
here,” Jody said. “Reno already smells old.”

Nick didn't comment.

“
We ought to
go fishing here some time,” Jody said.

“
Maybe.”
Nick pulled a stalk of grass and stuck the end into his mouth to
chew. It tasted green.

“
Or we ought
to find a ride on up that way pretty soon.” Jody pointed up the
highway and toward the forested mountains that rose up, seeming to
block the sky.

Nick turned his head
and stared at the mountains. “In the winter that has many feet
of snow.”

“
Glad we won't
be here in the winter, then.”

“
We'll be on
the far coast by then,” Nick said.

“
I'd like
that.”

“
And after
that I may have to take a ship.”

Jody lifted his
shoulders and stared at his friend. “I'm not so sure I like
sailing the ocean so much.”

“
No, you might
want to stay in California.”

Jody knew that meant
they'd be splitting up and the thought left him feeling empty. “We'll
see. I guess I can find a way to adjust.”

He didn't know it,
but Nick, his head still turned toward the mountain range, smiled
into the dark.

They did not go
fishing, but a week later the two friends had bus tickets for
Sacramento, California. They bade good-bye to Reno, the Biggest
Little City in the World, leaving it to rise up and throw its glitter
without their help.

Josh Harper was glad
to see them go, though no one else cared one way or the other. They
hadn't been in town long enough to make friends. They were just two
more transients passing through the town, coming and going without
fanfare.

CHAPTER 32

THE THREATENING
KIND

The man was a mortal
threat. Angelique saw him parked near the bus station and knew right
away he was a dark one. He watched as she neared the car and before
she passed by he was out on the sidewalk blocking her way—just
as she thought he might.

She was more
intrigued than frightened, but she knew she needed to be careful.

“
Are you lost,
little girl?” he asked. His voice was soft and silky with no
hint of menace. It was his eyes that betrayed his intentions. They
belonged to a beast, a ravishing, violent beast used to getting his
way.

“
I'm going to
the bus station.” Angelique tried to delve into the man's mind,
but it was so dark it was like falling into an underground tunnel to
the pit of the earth.

“
Leaving town?
By yourself?” he asked.

Her shoulders
straightened. “I'm capable of riding a bus alone.”

“
I could give
you a lift. Where you headed?”

She had only seconds
to decide. She knew he'd snatch her straight from the street no
matter what she said.

“
I just need
to go north. Are you going north, Mister?” She must play the
innocent child for now.

He stared at her a
moment before the smile slipped into place on his face. He was thin,
wore a suit that long ago needed a cleaning and pressing. It hung
from his pointy shoulder bones like from a scarecrow. His hair was
thin, brown, and combed over to the wrong side. His face was long and
rectangular as a box, gaunt, the nose aquiline as a Roman senator on
a gold coin. His eyes were a deep muddy green, like the bottom of a
scummy pond. The rims of his eyes were red, his whites bloodshot, but
she knew it was not from drinking.

“
Come along
with me, little one, I'm going north all right.”

She climbed into his
car, noting the dust on the dash, the papers strewn across the
floorboard. She was sealing her fate, of course, but she expected to
overpower him and use his violent nature for her own ends. A man of
this sort could come in handy on the open road.

The first thing he
did was pull over at a gas station outside of town and rob the place.
He came out, the gun still smoking in his hand, the other hand
stuffing stolen bills into his front pants pocket. She couldn't see
the attendant. She expected he was lying on the floor behind the
counter in a pool of his own blood.

“
Thanks for
waiting,” he said. “Now we can mosey on up the road.”
He stuck the gun into his front jacket pocket, got behind the wheel,
and grinned over at her. She saw he had a chipped front tooth and his
lips were chapped.

“
You're an
outlaw,” she said. She leaned her head back against the seat,
closed her eyes, and tried again to enter his mind. Nothing. It was
so dark in there it was another galaxy—a cold, empty one.

“
Yeah, I'm an
outlaw. I like the sound of that. Outlaw. Outside the law. Kind of a
necessity these days what with jobs being short and money shorter.”

“
Why did you
want me?” Angelique asked.

He grinned again,
then licked his swollen lips.

“
I have to
show you something,” she said.

“
Yeah, what
you want to show me?”

“
I'm not what
you think I am.” It is then that she forced the wing tips out
of her body, growing them quickly, leaning forward to give them room
to expand. The material of her dress ripped smoothly down the back
and just as smoothly it would repair itself once she was done. The
black wings rose until they touched the car roof, grew some more,
bending over her head like blackened, feathered claws.

The man hit the
brakes and skidded to a stop along the graveled roadside. He sat
staring at her in awe.

She turned her head
slowly to measure his response. What she saw reflected in his face
and eyes was unexpected. He was not afraid. It was as if he were
looking at something he had dreamed about, fantasized over, and here
it sat next to him, come to magical life. He looked at her as if she
were found treasure.

“
Think that
will stop me?” he asked. She blinked. She tried a third time to
get inside his brain so she could control it. Now her heart was
beating like a bandit on the run and she wondered if she had finally
made a mistake after all these hundreds of years. Maybe she had grown
complacent, maybe she believed her powers were so strong she could
never be intimidated, never harmed, and that belief was mistaken. Was
she mistaken? Could she fend off this monster as she had done so
many others? Or had she met her match?

“
I don't know
what kind of devil thing you are, but whatever it is don't think you
can wrestle a grown man. I won't touch you now, but when and if I
want to, I will, and those wings won't stop me.” He turned back
to the wheel and put the car into gear. As he drove back onto the
road he said, “Settle down now. We might even be friends.
You're one thing. And...I'm another. I got no problem with that and
neither should you.”