The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (27 page)

Whatever pain rushed through his body, Joaquin refused
to feel it. He craved retribution and this villain and its blade would not deny
him what was due. Seizing the villain’s gun, he fired into the thing’s head
until the gun was empty. Yanking the blade from his side, Joaquin used it to
finish off the villain.

Somewhere in the darkness, Karen escaped once
again.

Unwilling to return to Maximo without killing the
traitor, Joaquin stood with his sword in hand. Running forward, his mind tried
to separate the sounds of movement inside the building from the firefight
outside.

Heart racing as he remembered sending Heidi to
die, Joaquin knew this was the closest he had come in all these years to
finally killing her murderer. Arriving at a lighted section, he surveyed the
two possible getaways for Karen. Deciphering the sounds of her feet sliding
against trash in the hallway to his right, he rushed after her.

Barreling into the hallway, Joaquin saw the flash
of her gun. Without pausing, he slammed into Karen, knocking her to the ground.
Kicking away her weapon and holstering his blade, he reached for her in the
darkness, his fingers claiming the warmth of her throat.

“You can’t run anymore, traitor,” Joaquin said,
yanking Karen to her feet. “You must pay for what you’ve done.”

“She’s alive,” Karen gasped as she tore at his
fingers around her neck. “She’s here. God brought her back.”

Joaquin slammed her against the wall. “It’s over.
No more running.”

“No, listen, she’s here. Heidi’s here. She just
doesn’t know who you are, but she’s alive. She’s outside with the others. I
brought her here, so you could see that she was alive.”

More lies. Joaquin wondered how many hunters died
over the years by trusting Karen’s lies. Hunters like his Heidi. He wished he
might claim to be unfazed by them, but her words created a stirring in him.
Joaquin felt a wistful need to shut her up before he gave into the deception
again.

Joaquin pressed down on her throat to silence her
before he faltered and she escaped again. He felt her struggle against his
assault, clawing at his arms and face, kicking against his legs. Joaquin’s
resolve never wavered. As her struggling lessoned and she grew limp in his
hands, he reached for his sword.

So transfixed on Karen’s impending death, Joaquin
felt those memories breaking forward. Heidi’s trusting eyes, her smile as she
left him, her laughter as she slid on the loose canyon ground. Heidi was his to
protect. No matter how many times he killed Karen, it wouldn’t change the fact
that his wife was dead and his son motherless because Joaquin failed to act
when God cautioned him.

Just as he was poised to take his vengeance,
someone slammed into Joaquin, throwing him and Karen to the ground. Smacking
his head against the wall, Joaquin felt disoriented. He was slow to react as
the newcomer kicked him hard in the ribcage, shoving him onto his back.

Next to him, Karen was already crawling away from
the struggle, but Joaquin grabbed her ankle and yanked her back. With his mind
on Karen, he didn’t block the newcomer’s attack fast enough. One of the kicks
tore open the knife wound.

With so many villain and hunter vibes in the
area, Joaquin couldn’t tell if his attacker was an ally or an enemy. He didn’t
care either way. This person was keeping him from killing Karen who once again
crept away from her rightful death.

Ignoring Karen for a moment, Joaquin turned his
focus to neutralizing this new threat. Even in the darkness, Joaquin spotted
the long locks of a woman as she moved in for another strike. Dodging the
attack, he grabbed her boot and yanked hard enough for her to lose her balance.

Instead of just falling though, she swung her
other foot around and kicked Joaquin in the face. They both tumbled to the
ground. Still disoriented, Joaquin pulled back his legs and kicked out as hard
as he could. Both feet made contact, throwing the woman across the hall and
into a wall.

On his feet now, Joaquin knew he only had moments
to catch and kill Karen before this woman stopped him again. Racing after the
traitor, Joaquin found himself inside a bright and cavernous room.

Tackling her to the ground, Joaquin twisted Karen
onto her back then grabbed for his sword. He again felt his opportunity
slipping away as Karen’s ally approached, her boots clicking on the ground.
Before the blade could pierce Karen’s flesh, Joaquin felt the barrel of a gun
press against the side of his head.

“Get off her, Reaper.”

Joaquin ignored the woman and pressed the blade
deeper against Karen’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood. The traitor
studied him for a moment then her eyes moved to her ally.

“Shoot him, Sophie! Kill the Reaper before it’s
too late!”

Sophie didn’t fire the gun even as it pressed harder
against his temple. A minute passed with Joaquin holding his blade against
Karen’s throat and Sophie holding her gun against his head.

Karen frowned deeply at her ally’s inability to
act. Joaquin watched her gaze shift from panic to another emotion. Less afraid,
now almost hopeful.

“I told you she was alive, Joaquin. I don’t think
God will let her kill you. Just look at her and you’ll see I’m telling the
truth.”

Sophie pulled the gun away slightly. “What are
you talking about?”

Joaquin told himself it was a lie. He refused to
look at the woman called Sophie, yet the trio was at an impasse. If Joaquin
killed Karen, Sophie would kill him. While Karen’s demise felt worth the loss
of his life, he pained to think of Maximo orphaned again.

“Please look at her. It’s Heidi. God brought her
back.”

Joaquin was unsure how to proceed as long as
Sophie held the gun. Deciding to give into Karen’s request, he hoped to make a
move for Sophie’s weapon. He instead found himself staring into the confused
eyes of his dead wife. His mind ached with the absurdity of this false image before
him. His heart though yearned to move closer and embrace this woman who looked
like his Heidi.

Still holding Karen by the throat with one hand,
he touched Sophie’s knee, sure the image would disappear. She only backed away.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Sophie’s frown deepened and she studied both
Joaquin and Karen before answering.

“Who do you think I am?”

Joaquin recognized differences between this woman
and his wife. The blonde hair was darker, the skin lighter. He assumed if Heidi
hadn’t been out in the sun much these last three years, this might be what she
would look like. Yet her freckles and green eyes were the same. Her eyes were
what told him this woman, no matter the slight differences, was somehow Heidi.
Even while pointing the weapon at him and knowing him only as the Reaper, this
woman wasn’t afraid.

Releasing Karen, Joaquin stood quickly, ignoring
the gun pressed against him as he studied the Heidi woman. She never lowered
the weapon, but did not fire. She watched him watch her.

“Who do you think I am?” she asked again.

“Heidi, my wife. Karen murdered her, but now
somehow she stands before me. Is this a miracle or more treachery?”

Sophie did not answer, but her eyes flashed to
Karen who watched them both.

“Why would she kill me?”

“She made a deal with a demon. The price was your
life,” he said, sliding his sword into the holster.

“What was the prize?”

“It would seem the demon denied her the prize of
a human life for she still betrays our kind.”

The Heidi woman watched Karen then turned her
attention back to Joaquin.

“My name isn’t Heidi anymore. I’m Sophie and I
was Sophie in my first life. I think I’m supposed to be Sophie. God sent me to
stop you.”

“Stop me from what?”

“I don’t know. It was Lila’s vision. You’re the
Reaper and I’m supposed to stop you.”

Frowning, Joaquin was concerned that somehow this
woman who looked like his Heidi was not in fact his Heidi. Was it somehow a
trick? She watched him with a curious gaze, unafraid and just a little
confused. If she meant to kill him, she planned on taking her time about it.

Studying him, Sophie’s eyes flashed occasionally
to Karen. His enemy, the one he desired to kill, never moved, unusually docile
as if hoping Sophie would finally pull the trigger and end the standoff.

“Did you kill those hunters?” Sophie asked and he
sensed she knew the answer. “Are you my enemy?”

The proximity of his wife, if this was his wife, became
too much. Joaquin hungered to end the suspense and know the truth. Taking her
face into his hands, he waited for her to object. She allowed him to kiss her,
even though she did not return his affections. When he pulled away, she stared
into his dark eyes with her soft green ones.

“Karen set up an ambush and we’re outnumbered,”
Sophie said. “Will you please help me save my friends?”

Joaquin knew this woman couldn’t be Heidi, but
she was his wife. No matter what name she wanted to be called or what path
brought her to him. If she needed help, he could no more deny Sophie than he
could Heidi. Outside on the street, guns roared, the battle shaking the windows
and threatening to overwhelm all other noise.

“We should go, but we can’t leave Karen alive,”
he said.

Nodding, Sophie turned her gun towards the
traitor. A door burst open behind them and Joaquin spotted the enemy just in
time to see their guns fire. Grabbing Sophie against him, he used his body as a
shield. The bullets tapped at him, their entries mostly harmless, barely
painful. Sophie at first cowered against him. She then shifted under his arm
and fired at the villains, taking them down. Checking his wounds, she scowled.

“You’re hurt,” she said with a panic to her voice
that betrayed her otherwise calm appearance. “Are you in pain?”

Joaquin shook his head, the sting of the wounds
invigorating for they proved this experience was real. His wife stood next to
him, her warm hand against his skin as she studied the wounds. She then straightened,
alerted to danger. Joaquin felt it too, but they were both too late.

Having crawled away from Joaquin and Sophie
during the shooting, Karen now stood with a villain’s weapon. Any attempt by
Joaquin to protect Sophie from this onslaught failed and Karen’s shots tore
through both hunters.

Sophie’s weapon skidded away as she tumbled to
the ground next to Joaquin. In more pain than he had ever suffered before,
Joaquin still tried to focus and plan an attack, even as his body refused to do
anything more than gasp for air and bleed the floor red. Sophie stared at him,
in pain, though still unafraid.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she said with a
gentle smile.

Karen moved closer, reloading her weapon.

“It’s not over, Karen,” Sophie said casually.
“The battle outside is quieting and those villains weren’t running to your aid,
but from danger. You’re going to die today and I’m betting God doesn’t bring
you back.”

Laughing off Sophie’s certainty, Karen still looked
enraged. “You think God’s going to save you? Just like He saved you back in Mexico or how about with Micah? God doesn’t care about us. He uses us to do His dirty work
then tosses us aside the minute we slip up,” Karen said, glancing angrily upward.
“Oh, yeah, God’s a super guy. He forgives humans for the most disgusting sins,
if they ask for mercy. We get nothing.”

Sophie smiled at Joaquin. “When this is over,
we’re going to New Orleans to find a member of my old pack. Then we’re freeing
Micah and closing the gateways. She can’t stop us.”

“Shut up!” Karen screamed. “You think that
silence out there is because you’re winning? My army of villains has cut down
your friends and now feasts on their remains. How’s that for winning?”

Calming down, Karen glanced at the doorway as two
more villains rushed through. “Speak of the devils.”

Joaquin felt stronger now. Maybe his wounds were
healing or maybe Sophie’s calmness infected him. He sat up with the hope of
fighting off the monsters. As if sensing his plan, Karen shot him in the chest,
throwing him back to the ground.

Sophie gasped and reached out to him. She began
to say something, but then her gaze turned to the doorway where the villains
had entered. Sophie’s face brightened and she smiled at Joaquin.

Bullets from the darkened doorway ripped apart
the villains and Karen. The now injured traitor turned her weapon towards the
unknown shooter in the darkness. After firing until her weapon was empty, Karen
rushed to find another one. Preoccupied, Karen didn’t notice the sword until it
was too late. The blade whizzed from the darkness and lopped off her right
hand.

Screaming out in pain, Karen collapsed. She
yanked off her jacket and pressed it against the gushing wound. From the
doorway, a woman stumbled forward, her gun empty and her body riddled with
wounds.

This newcomer felt familiar to Joaquin, but it
took him a minute to realize she was the woman from his strange dream all those
years ago. Sophie sat up and cried out to her ally.