Hell's Angel: Guardian Angel Book 2

The place was buzzing when I got back to Arcadia. I’d only stayed at the luncheon at my mother’s mansion for Max’s funeral for a little bit before using my migraine as an excuse to go. There wasn’t enough ibuprofen in the world for this headache, not like drugs would do much to ward off the effects of using so much Empathy. I doubted the headache would be going away anytime soon.

“What’s all this about?” I asked Andromeda when she met me at the gateway.

“Thor and Loki got back to Perseus. They may have found a way to get us into Vega’s realm. Your commanders are making sure everything’s set.”

I chewed on my bottom lip for a second. Arcadia housed about three thousand heroes, not a big population, but enough that a sudden visitor spike would be noticed in Logan. But I did have a few tricks up my sleeve. I couldn’t control where the bridge was, but I could control the gateway. If Arcadia’s exit into the mortal world was perched right on top of the church in Logan, it would be seamless to get from here to that hell she presided over.

“Okay. Let me know the second they get back with the go ahead.”

She nodded once and I watched her flounce away, most likely towards the arena where warriors were probably training before our battle. She looked different, ready for what was to come. Instead of her traditional, gauzy dress that feel to sandaled feet, she wrote a blue ribbed tank top, black cargo pants, and heavy hiking boots. Her hair was still pulled back in a Greek twist, but she had replaced the normal delicate headband with a black bandanna to keep away stray light brown hairs. She was a far cry from my black cotton dress with the long sleeves and square neckline.

Max was on me before I could even kick off my charcoal ballet flats. Her hazel eyes were wild, her cheeks flushed scarlet. A quick look down at her hand showed me that her nails were bitten down to the quick. “Lyra, I’m freaking out over here. This whole war is coming too damn fast. What if those monsters break through to Logan? Mackenzie is only four. She can’t be in that kind of danger. The Avengers are going to get caught or something equally horrible is going to happen and it’ll be my fault for pointing out the bridge. All hell is going to break loose.”

I held myself back from slapping sense into her. I grabbed her shoulders to pull her attention to me. “Hey, relax. First of all, Loki is the bad guy in that movie, so your reference is wrong. Second, it’s not your fault, no matter what happens. I know you’re scared. I am, too. But I’m glad you found the bridge. Vega’s coming for me and everyone else no matter what we do, so we might as well get the jump on her. And third, I’m not letting her anywhere near home. Your baby is going to be just fine.”

She continued to stuck air through her teeth and I was afraid she might actually pass out. “I feel sick. Can you still get sick of you’re dead?”

I yanked her against me and wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug. “I think you’re having a panic attack. Take deep breaths. It’ll all be okay.”

Her breathing evened out a little and she leaned back so I could see the tears that made wet trails down her cheeks. “But what if it’s not? You’re still my baby sister, even if you are technically some divine goddess, and you’re going up against someone crazy enough to create the apocalypse for revenge. I’ve seen your power, but I’ve also seen what she can do.”

I licked my lips. “The worse things that could happen to me already have. You died, Max, and Michael was taken from me. Neither of you should have been in the middle of this. Vega wants to punish me and she’s using the people I love most as collateral damage.”

A small smirk replaced her panic. “I knew you loved him.”

I rolled my eyes at her. In the face of total devastation, she could still get on me about my dysfunctional love life.

I spent the better part of three hours in my massive backyard working on my different powers. My Empathy was pretty much tapped out after the funeral, but it wouldn’t do me a hell of a lot of good in a fight with Vega. Mostly, I worked on making my shield expand wider to cover more people and making my light go supernova like it had when I disintegrated Corvus. I also worked on exercising my other gifts, like telekinesis and manipulating the four elements, but those were actually pretty easy to wield once I’d learned how.

I spent a little while teaching my sister the basics of self-defense. She’d taken a class in college, so it was mostly refresher, but with a heavy sword and not her car keys. I was nowhere near as good a teacher as Michael, but Maxine wasn’t going to be in the midst of the fighting. I’d make sure of that. She sheathed the double-edged weapon and rubbed at the base of her neck with a groan. Her muscles weren’t used to the work, and I of all people knew how exhausting the first day of training was. Although my teacher had been an angel warrior that didn’t give me any slack. “Let’s take a break.”

She dropped to the grass immediately, thrusting one leg in the air and pulling her knee toward her forehead to stretch the calf. “Never in a million years would I have thought you’d be teaching me sword fighting.”

I watched her scissor her legs and grab the other foot. “Yeah, well, I don’t know if you have any gifts and we don’t have time to just wait to find out. You need to be able to defend yourself. I’m not losing your again.”

She sat up, spreading her legs into a V and leaning forward in the gap. “You won’t, Ly. But what kind of gifts?”

I shrugged and sat opposite her. “Who knows. It could be anything. Cassiopeia can show you glimpses of the past, Andromeda creates portals, Randall sees connections between people to influence their hearts- but he doesn’t really count because he’s a cupid.”

She flashed me a grin. “That’d be cool if I could do something awesome like that.”

I smiled back at her. “What, no joke about how you’re already amazing enough?”

“I thought that was already implied,” she giggled.

I laughed along with her, feeling normal for the first time in six months. I’d missed this, I just hadn’t realized how much until I was able to enjoy time with Max again. I wondered how different my life would be right now if I was just Lyra-Rose Dawson, not the goddess of humanity or any of my other thousand incarnations.

A loud boom echoed through the city, making the ground rumble, and a loud, low whistle followed. Max’s eyes widened in horror and she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. I was on my feet in an instant.

“What is that?” my sister asked.

“Trouble,” I replied simply. I grabbed her hand and we tore through the back gate and into the street. Many others milled around with weapons drawn and some of them looked to me for guidance. Sunset orange light coated my hands in a soft glow as the ground continued to vibrate beneath my feet.

“What the fu-”

“Come on, Lyra,” Loki shouted, barreling onto the road in front of my house. He panted a little as he skidded to a stop in front of me. A cut on his jaw marred his perfect face and a bruise glistened under one of his dark eyes. He grabbed my free hand and started tugging me along. “You have to go. Quickly!”

I quickly sheathed my sword at my hip so I could latch onto Max as we ran down the street. “Wait. What’s going on?” I demanded over the sound of the alarm. It wasn’t shrill like most alarms would be, but the low buzz was getting annoying.

“She knew. I don’t know how, but Vega knew we were coming. Thor and I were able to disengage her enchantments, but we were attacked the second we contacted Andromeda to open the gate here. The worlds are layered on top of each other. She’s turning the surprise against us. You need to get out of here. All of Arcadia’s about to go on a ride.”

At his words, the whole city shuddered violently. Massive cracks scared the earth, buildings crumbled, even the lake roiled. Small stones swirled for a moment before vanishing through the now supersized gate and I knew Arcadia as a whole was next.

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” I muttered under my breath, squeezing Maxine’s hand tighter. My eyes darted around for a second until I found a suitable boulder to act as a podium. I climbed on with Loki’s help and looked out at the gathered crowd. “Everyone get to the arena. I want the whole town there now. Get with your squadron. This battle is starting now.”

Heroes from all throughout history rushed by me. Max latched onto my arm as we followed. The arena was buzzing with nervousness and some fear. It’d been transformed from the last time. The stage and podium, along with most of the seating, had been replaced with a football-sized turf field. The warriors that had been on the road when Loki found me spread the word pretty quickly.

Thor, Cassi, and Randall found us after only a minute and the cupid immediately pulled my sister and me into a double hug. “Thor told us what’s up. Vega’s pulling us all into her dimension?”

The ground shook violently again and several people let out startled squeals. Randall held me just a little tighter before my knees could give out. I used him to stay steady against the rocking as my own gateway ripped Arcadia at its seams. “Yeah, she is. Randall, I need you and Cassi to stay with Max. Keep her safe and as far from the fighting as possible.”

I looked up at Thor just as the entire arena filled with static electricity and the air became thicker. The widening of his tawny eyes told me we definitely weren’t in Kansas anymore. A bruise on his jaw, matching his blacked eye, rippled as his teeth gnashed together. He pulled his hammer Mjölnir from its strap. The weapon clashed against his dress shirt and slacks and the muscles on his exposed forearms rippled from exertion. Loki looked just as tense at my side.

I turned back toward the door and pushed through the crowd, ignoring Cassi and Max calling my name. I burst through the double doors and gagged. The air was heavy and smelled like sulfur and roiled my stomach so much I wanted to puke. The sky was dark, but not like nighttime. It glowed a scary lime green with wicked looking plum clouds that occasionally spit lightning. It was unlike any realm I’d been to and I could see how it could be confused with hell.

“Lyra, move!”

I only had a moment’s warning before Loki’s much larger body tackled me to the ground. The breath whooshed from my lungs as he covered me, protecting me from whatever beast I suddenly heard roar. A war cry echoed the monster’s bellow and from the corner of my eye I could just make out the hammer fly by. It made a sizzling sound as it passed and electricity sparked as it connected with something in a swirling dark mist.

Loki got up and helped me to my feet. Thor grabbed the handle of his hammer as is flew back to him and then jumped into the fray. The massive black cloud grew at the same time the roof was ripped right off of the arena. I could feel the fear from the heroes in the building and pure evil from Vega’s titans. Monstrous limbs like clawed arms, scaly tails, spiked wings, occasionally poked out from the swirling charcoal mist that hid the exact number of enemies we faced. My heart lurched. Not everyone would survive this battle.

“For Arcadia!” an overly excited voice screamed from behind me. The battle cry was met with several other agreeing shouts as warriors spilled from the arena doors. Robin Hood and Orion, both amazing archers, made arrows rain down into the cloud, disturbing the solid black mist. I watched in shock as my people vanished into the mist. The black cloud swallowed each one up, the only sign they were still alive the clashing of metal weapons and bellowing of beasts.

Finally, Prometheus, a human with the gift of fire and not a titan as so many myths stated, gathered up his energy into a person-sized fire ball and launched it. Unlike my light, his element was regular flame. Instead of warmth and comfort, his was survival, destruction when necessary. It burned through the blackness, and for a second, I wished it hadn’t.

Thousands of giant monsters crept in from the shadows of Vega’s realm. I recognized a few, some of whom were immortalized in the constellations: Leo the lion, Cancer the crab, Hydra the serpent. There were a few others, like a minotaur, Goliath the giant, that evil viper Lucy, and too many more to even describe, each more terrifying than the last. Who knew I’d actually miss that damn crow.

A large flying creature- something between a gryphon and a gargoyle with an eagle face, clawed feline paws, the torso of a man, a long, thin tail, and leathery wings- dived from the thunderous sky. Its sharp fanged grin widened as it set its sights on its prey. Me.

I dropped and rolled out of the line of fire as the stone grey monstrosity reached the brown, cracked ground. Pebbles kicked up where its talons created scars in the decayed land. One particularly sharp rock clipped me in the forehead as I crouched with a ball of pure light radiating from my fingers. I winced, feeling the first beads of blood from what I hoped was a small gash, and my light dwindled just a fraction. I could still fight, but I doubted it would be enough to really parry against the titan. The best I could hope for was defense until I figured out my next move.

I rolled to my feet to face the snarling creature with light coating my arms all the way up to my elbows. The gargoyle thing’s red eyes, the only things not flat grey, narrowed with cruel intent. But it wasn’t looking at me any longer. My eyes widened and I sucked in a breath when I saw the enormous black wolf that faced off against Vega’s soldier. I didn’t know much about canines, but I knew this animal was definitely not normal. Keen eyes locked on my attacker and its lips pulled back from long, sharp teeth so that its snout wrinkled in a rumbling growl. The obsidian fur along its wide shoulders stood straight up and its ears were flat against its thick skull. He was beautiful, for sure, but definitely terrifying.

The gargoyle hissed. “Lokiii. Jusst hand overrr the giirlll.”

My pale red eyebrows shot into my hairline and a memory resurfaced. In the old stories, Loki was the father of the werewolf Fenrir. But that wasn’t true at all. Loki was the wolf. I’d seen this trick once, during the Salem Witch Trials. My sister in that life had been accused, but before she was burned, a huge wolf had entered the town and turned to a man for just a brief moment before turning back and fleeing. The chase had caused everyone to forget the accusation long enough for my family to run. I hadn’t gotten a good look at the man, but I realized now exactly what had happened that day.

Loki in wolf form took a protective stance in front of me. Head down, he glared at our foe through very human black eyes. A warning snarl ripped from his snout as he snapped his powerful jaws. The gargoyle glowered back, it’s scarlet eyes darting to me briefly, calculating. “Loki. Whyy do you defffend the ssentimental, weak goddesss? You are a titan. One of uss.”

The wolf growled again. It was his way of disagreeing with the gargoyle’s opinion of my worth. The claws in the mutant gryphon’s feline paws extended, gleaming in the dim light of hell. Its hind legs tensed a moment before it sprang at Loki’s canine form. Loki bounded toward it and caught the other titan in midair.

They both crashed to the sharp, onyx rocks only a few feet away. The hybrid monster’s curved beak slashed at Loki, gauging out a deep laceration right above his left eye. I stifled a gasp. A small whine slipped from Loki’s throat and he covered his paw over his nose. My heart pounded in terror. I couldn’t lose another person I cared about.

The gargoyle gryphon, sensing his impending victory, glared up at me. “You’re next, princesss.” He stepped closer to finish off the Norseman.

Loki’s dark eyes sprang open and he barked viciously once. He sprang up, clenching his strong jaws around the other titan’s feathered throat. Vega’s soldier turned even more ashen grey as his crimson eyes widened in surprise. A gurgling sound escaped him and he tried to push Loki away. Lion paws scratched at the wolf’s wide shoulders, but missed as the dark haired man I knew took the animal’s place. Loki had his hands wrapped around the titan’s neck, one hand on its jaw. He angled his body so that the sharp claws couldn’t do much damage.

“Demido. You have disrespected and threatened my queen for the last time. Yes, I am a titan, but I am not one of you. And I will take great pleasure in keeping Lyra-Rose safe from you and your mistress.”

Loki flexed his masculine arms and twisted. A gravelly crunch was followed by a sound like wet mud. The red of the gargoyle-gryphon’s eyes flickered briefly with pain before the color dulled to a lifeless copper.

My stomach roiled and bile worked its way up my throat. Nausea threatened to overwhelm me, but I fought it back. “Thanks,” I said hoarsely, eyeing the creature’s stone beak parted open just a bit and ruffled feathers of his wings.

Loki wrapped one arm around my shoulder as the battle raged around us. An involuntary shudder skittered up my spine. It wasn’t that seeing the titan killed freaked me out; I remembered enough to remember I was a fighter at heart and I’d already killed Corvus. It was seeing Loki like that that gave me the chills. For the first time, he looked like a titan, one of Vega’s creation. His black eyes had lacked the normal life and only held cold cruelty as he’d snapped the demon’s neck.

“Come on, Lyra. We have to get you out of this mess.”

I moved away from the comfort he offered. I pushed back my shoulders and stood defiantly. “No. I’m not hiding. I am going to find Michael and then I’m going to put an end to everything Vega is trying to do against me. Now, are you going to help me do that or not? If you’re just going to try and baby me, you can leave me the hell alone.”

He huffed out a big sigh. “Of course I’m going to help you, but I don’t like the thought of you in so much danger.”

I rolled my ocean blue eyes. I so did not need him getting all macho on me. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. He looked for a second like he was going to argue, but his back slumped in defeat. He took my hand and placed it on his shoulder. A ripple beneath his skin rolled under my palm as bone and muscle contorted grotesquely. Thick, coarse fur erupted under my fingertips and soon Loki was once again replaced by the giant black wolf. Standing right next to him, I saw how gargantuan he actually was. On all fours, he was as high as my ribs. He made a motion with his heavy head and I climbed onto his back, using my knees to hold on as he pushed ahead.

The wolf bounded through the devastation of the war until the fighting was just a distant rumble behind us. He slowed down once we reached what looked like a stone castle surrounded by brown spires that looked like a stalagmite cage. Bright white lightning split the stormy grey sky and the acid green that tinged the air around me smelled more like rotten eggs than before.

Loki lowered to the ground and I slid off his back. He growled once and quickly changed back to his normal form, looking at me with worry in his dark eyes. “This is where she’ll keep a prized prisoner like your guardian. She’ll be here, too. Are you sure about this?”

I licked my dry lips as I stared up at the intimidating structure. “Not at all, but I’m not leaving without Michael. Let’s do this.”