Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) (29 page)

Stupid wind. Whatever that disk in the sky
was—it looked like a blackhole, especially with the twist of energy
around the event horizon—it upset the weather. The wind hindered
her efforts, but also caused problems for the men.

Pallin lifted his weapon. A shot went wild
to her left.

Her heart leapt into her chest. She had seen
what that weapon could do. No way was she going to end up like
Nina. Having it at her head had been scary enough. She almost
hadn't dared to move, but something inside her insisted.

Raea caught a gust that sent her higher,
towards the black maw. What was that thing?

She wasn't going to find out. Its appearance
coincided with her marks and the crystal glowing faintly, and her
body warmed but she hadn't touched the resonance.

She didn't have time to worry about it
except how to stay away. Raea pulled her wings close and dove. The
fast fall scared her, but she had no choice. Tucking them close
turned her into a missile with gravity pulling her stronger than
the hole in the sky.

It didn't last long. Away from the
phenomenon, she opened her wings and caught the air like a
parachute and looped around.

Elis maneuvered into a position opposite her
from Pallin, who fired and dodged blasts from Elis. Someone had to
end this.

WE WILL HELP YOU.

What? She paused, her wings outstretched.
Who—

The Starfire. They spoke to her, in their
own way. The important thing was that she understood.

NO RETURN. WE MUST NOT BE JOINED.

Joined? Joined to what?

NO ONE DESERVES ALL POWER. NO MORE
MISUSE.

Fiery rivers flowed. Explosions burst around
her. Fire. Death. Smoldering corpses sank into the molten rivers.
Cities crumbled.

The dark of space. Cold, empty. But in the
distance, a world of fire.

Another world circled by moons. Bursts of
volcanic activity thrown miles up into the atmosphere and clearly
visible from space.

A flash of energy. A deafening roar.

Massive asteroids hurtling through space.
Not asteroids, chunks of planetary debris. Green covered one side
of a large piece. Ships fled the scene.

Raea gasped and caught herself from a fall.
Planets. All of them destroyed. She had seen other worlds
exploding. Populated worlds. Billions of lives. Was that what would
happen to Inar'Ahben?

WE DID THAT. INTOLERANCE. TOO OFTEN. NONE
LISTENED. YOU ARE WARNED.

Yes, she was. She got the message, loud and
clear. The Starfire would destroy any worlds where the residents
abused their power. She had to protect it.

Raea turned back to the fight. They had to
chase Pallin away. He couldn't take her alive, and he wouldn't get
the Starfire from her dead body. She knew how to release the
energy.

With her hands out before her, she chased
Pallin. But focusing on the resonance and releasing the energy
while fighting the buffeting winds, which strengthened the closer
she flew to that black void, took more concentration than she had.
The one shot she managed went wide.

Near the churning even horizon, Pallin
turned on her with his weapon.

Raea flapped to stop her forward momentum.
Where was Elis?

Pulling a maneuver away. He must have
thought Pallin still chased him.

She was on her own.

Raea turned and fled. A gust sent her
tumbling as a streak of light flashed past. For a couple seconds,
she thought she would crash to earth. Her heart raced, but she
regained control and spread her wings, steadying her.

She neared the dark hole.

Where was Pallin?

Nearly on top of her.

Now or never.
Instinct rose up and
guided her to find the resonance while she focused half her
attention on remaining airborne. Her body warmed from the energy
building up. She had to release it.

Raea flipped around to face him and flapped
her wings, her hands up. Pallin aimed his weapon, not fifty feet
away.

NOW!

Blinding energy sprayed from her hands
without any thought, as if she didn't control it. Raea closed her
eyes to shut it out, afraid he would hit her.

The energy expelled itself, leaving her cold
and shivering from the sudden change. No one hit her. Raea opened
her eyes. Despite the spots in her vision, she saw no sign of
Pallin. Where'd he go? Would he come around again and catch
her?

Something inside said he was gone, that she
had killed him. But she saw no one, not even a falling body.

That is, no one except Elis, who flew
towards her from a distance.

The black maw in the sky continued to swirl
with lightening above her.

A moment of dizziness swept over her,
distracting her from flying.

Not until strong arms caught her and she
faced Elis did she realize she had fallen. ["Are you all right?"]
Elis's black wings flapped behind him as he carried them up.

["No. Weak. I think."]

["I'm not surprised, with the energy you
released. I've never seen anything like it before."]

["You haven't?"]

["No. I was afraid the energy would
disintegrate you. Luckily, it only took Pallin."]

["It did?"]

["He's gone."] His sober tone told her all
she needed.

She had disintegrated Pallin. She had killed
a person. ["I didn't mean to kill him."] Yes, she had meant to
disable him and she despised him for all the trouble he brought
into her life. But that didn't justify killing him.

["You did what had to be done."]

["But to kill?"] She wrapped her arms around
his neck and held him close. Her stomach twisted with the thought
that
she
had killed. It sickened her. She had the power to
kill, and—worse—she had used it.

WE DID. YOU ARE THE VESSEL.

The Starfire entities?
They
killed
Pallin? Had they taken control of her? Raea shuddered, afraid of
the implications.

WE GUIDE, NOT CONTROL, AND DEFEND US AND OUR
KEEPER.

["It's over. He would have killed you if you
hadn't acted."]

["It's still not right."]

A crackle from the maw drew her attention to
a shrinking black ball of lightening. ["What was that?"]

["A Starfire portal. Probably Heffin's Gate,
activated for him to return with his target."]

["Me."] The idea sobered her. All this was
so beyond what she would have imagined two weeks ago.

["You and the crystal. But he's gone."] His
arms tightened around her as he flew down to their field. From the
sky, she spotted the flashing lights in the distance concentrated
near the center of town. Emergency services had been contacted.

Nina was dead. Pallin was disintegrated
without a trace. The cops would investigate. Now what? How would
they explain it all?

The night wasn't over yet. Weak yet from the
fight and the wild ride of emotions that night, she left the flying
to him. ["What're we going to tell people?"]

["We'll think of something."]

The Truth

The cops stopped them outside the hotel.
"Sorry. Nobody gets in or out right now."

"But we were here." She shouldn't be. She
really shouldn't, but Raea wanted it over with. Then she could
rest, at least physically. She hurt, and Elis hurt. He had fought
with injuries only days old still healing.

But it couldn't heal the emotional wounds.
She would never forget what Pallin had done, nor that she had
killed him.

At least they could give their sides before
the cops came knocking, and maybe they could find the tape Nina had
described. If for nothing else, they had to get their hands on any
copies of the video the woman had taken of Elis. The night was far
from over.

"What do you mean you were here?"

"Nina died in my arms."

The officer said something into the
walkie-talkie clipped to his shoulder and ushered them inside,
where another uniformed officer met them. His familiar face
hardened into a frown. "You again."

Yeah, her. Deputy Sandaman could think what
he wanted. She tightened her hold of Elis's gloved hand.

"Tell me what you know,
all
of
it."

Raea let Elis speak first. He went into his
portion of the story and described chasing Pallin down and
fighting, but said Pallin escaped into the night. A partial truth,
but they couldn't say he was dead. That would lead to far too many
questions and their secret.

From somewhere nearby, Raea caught the
phrase "Dark Angel" and turned. A group of three individuals sat at
one of the tables in the lobby, a brown-haired woman and two men,
one of them a tough-looking bald man and the other a young, scrawny
guy with a goatee.

"I don't know what we'll do." The woman
sipped a mug of coffee.

"It's just one more mystery. We have enough
to show he exists. So what if the footage is blurry or obstructed,"
the bald man said.

"But she seemed to think there was something
about the girl. I don't know."

"It's Nina." The bald man shrugged. "She was
always chasing leads. Half them end up in lala land."

The three fell silent for a while, all of
them lost to their own thoughts for a time.

Of all the damnedest luck. Nina had lied.
She didn't have any evidence that Elis was the Dark Angel. For once
in a long while, Raea relaxed. The worst was over.

"Miss Dahlrich?"

"What?" She blinked and returned her
attention to Deputy Sandaman.

"What happened after you arrived at the
hotel?"

"I ran upstairs..." The rest was truth,
except for how Elis broke into the room. So what if they said the
lock didn't work?

Their secret was safe. No one knew about
them being aliens that looked like angels. And no one knew about
the Starfire. For now,
it
was safe.

But the responsibility of bearing that power
weighed on her mind after all she had experienced. The entities
were right. No one should have that power, unless the Starfire
chose. They had chosen her, and she had no intention of letting
them fall into the hands of those who would use that power for
selfish purposes. She had to learn to use it the right way, and
never again to kill.

Next time the Shirukan came,
if
they
came, she would be ready. She would train with Elis.

"You shouldn't have pursued him yourself.
You should have contacted us immediately, although I'm not sure how
you discovered he raped you." Sandaman looked from Elis to her.

"I remembered, but the memories were fuzzy
from the drug."

"Not enough to press charges without
physical evidence," he mumbled while scratching a note on his
pad.

As if she'd give them that. No way was
anyone examining her to find out she wasn't human. And she wanted
to put it all behind her.

"But you'll be after him for murder?"

"Had you contacted us, this might not have
happened."

"Or you would have done nothing, because you
have no evidence, as you already stated." Elis pulled her closer
and Sandaman gave him a dark look.

"Playing the protective boyfriend does more
harm than good, in any case I've heard or seen. Remember that."

Point made. Raea hoped Elis took it to
heart.
No more running off to finish your business.
They
were on Earth, not Inar'Ahben. Here the rules were different.

Elis gave the man a curt nod.

"If I have any other questions, I know where
to find you. Thanks for coming back. We'll find this creep."

Next to her Elis tensed.

Creep. Creeper. The nickname Chad had
started and most of the school knew Elis as, or used to. Because of
what he did Saturday, most of the school saw him as a quiet hero,
but he hadn't been back yet. Elis had a few surprises when he
returned to school. And from his performance tonight fighting
Pallin, she had no doubt he was well enough to return, even if
still a little sore.

"Ready?" she asked.

"What about those tapes you wanted to
find?"

"I overheard some people talking—I'm
guessing her crew—and they said they didn't get, like, any ID on
Dark Angel. Too blurry or obstructed."

He squeezed her hand. "Dark Angel is
safe."

For now. Raea led him out to Evelyn's car in
the parking lot. Elis winced as he sat down and let out a deep sigh
once in his seat.

She knew it. "You fake it pretty well."

"What?"

"Not showing any pain."

"Good."

"You're no angel, you know. You're not
supernatural or invincible."

"I know."

"And you need rest. We both do." And time to
heal emotions. All that had happened hurt. She only wanted to
forget, but she never would.

He started the car, a grin crawling out. "I
know."

This game again? She chuckled, glad to
forget for a moment. "You know...you're way too agreeable."

"I know."

One more. She had to say it, just to see his
reaction, and to hear the truth. "I love you."

He turned to her, his grin stretching wide.
He didn't even have to say it. She knew.

About the Author

Melanie Nilles grew up on a western North
Dakota cattle ranch and farm. Along with her interest
in horses, she always had a fascination with science fiction
and fantasy. After high school, she graduated from North Dakota
State University with a bachelor's degree in Business
Administration. She currently resides in central North Dakota
with her family, which includes her husband and kids, and her cats.
Her published works include the
STARFIRE ANGELS
series and
the
LEGEND OF THE WHITE DRAGON
epic. Besides writing, she
also trains and shows her horse. For updates, visit her website at
www.melanienilles.com
.