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She switched her attentions back to the membrane, ignoring the way her hair whipped and stung around her face. It wasn’t as easy this time; she was weaker, had used so much energy already. With a silent, guilty prayer of thanks that there were so many unhappy people in the world, she sent another call out through the invisible strand that co
Energy roared back at her, so strong and thick it al most lifted her off the roof. There was the membrane again, sticky and grotesque. She pulled at it. Felt it weaken at the back—there! A few of them free. Just a few, but—
Something grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. Gu
Roc leaped forward, his spindly fingers clutching at the gun. The move startled Gu
The bullet hit the roof an inch from her face. Chips of rock and tar flew up at her, opening stinging cuts in her cheek.
Gu
Roc shook his head. “They’re gone,” he said. “It chased them away.”
“Then tell them to get the fuck back here!” How ironic was it that the only way she could hope to win was by making these poor people miserable?
Better than letting them die in this hideous state, all things considered.
Roc closed his eyes and shivered, sending the message. Yezer started to appear, blue and red and orange and yellow and green, like bizarre confetti strewn across the roof.
Gu
Tera shouted something. The gun exploded back at him. His hand disappeared; blood pumped from the end of his sleeve. His scream drowned out her next thoughts.
She felt her demons pushing, trying to get their humans back. Across the roof she saw Greyson binding Leora’s feet with something, some kind of rope, while Brian held her arms behind her back.
Gu
She fell back, too surprised to scream. Tera started to shout something else, and Gu
Dark clouds appeared overhead and burst open with icy, stinging rain.
The angel set his flock loose.
They swarmed the roof, plowing each other down in their haste. Their haste to get to Megan. She craned her neck for one last desperate look through the haze of water and saw Nick, his face grim, swinging his sword like a scythe; in his other hand he held a gun, and the reports blasted across the rooftop and dulled her hearing.
Gu
They wouldn’t reach her in time. They couldn’t, because the angel had seen her, and it was coming.
Its hollow black-fire eyes were trained on her. Its lips stretched into a grin, a grin she couldn’t bear to see. It was red and white, too bright to exist, there on top of the building, and her demon heart shrieked and writhed inside her.
She struggled harder. Fought harder. It didn’t work. She tore her gaze away from the angel’s eyes and saw Greyson ru
At least too thick for him to get to her fast enough. Because the angel’s hand was above her, strong and pale and glowing, and she watched it descend like a fly watching the swatter fall.
With all her might, with everything she had, she pushed against him. Turned her energy into a weapon as she had the other night and drove it into him.
That same blinding flash of light. That same power driving into her, making her scream. She waited for the sucking feeling, the sense of him weakening, fading—
It didn’t come. The angel’s laughter echoed loud and horrible above her. Screams echoed around her, all of the people, every one of them, screaming. Falling to the ground in agony, water splashing as they fell. Their thoughts, their images, flashing through her mind at an unbelievable pace, too much for her to handle; even the additional powers she’d gained back at Christmas weren’t enough. Their memories, their feelings, burning into her, their agony tearing through her body. He was co
Somewhere in the tiny part of herself that could still think, she knew she had to break the co
She pulled back. That was a mistake. The second she pulled her energy from him, his shot into her, wrapping around her heart and squeezing. She was choking. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fight him off. Gu
Fingertips like feathers touched her arm. Power flowed into her, enough for her to see again, at least.
Nick. Oh, thank God, it was Nick, and he touched her with one hand while his other swung back and knocked Gu
She fell with him. Good. Good because it gave her a second’s respite from the angel’s touch. She started to roll away, grasping for Nick, tugging desperately at the cord co
The angel grabbed her, yanked her back. Its hands burned her skin, and she screamed, reaching for Nick.
The angel’s arms fell away. Greyson was there. He’d jumped onto the thing’s back. Smoke rose from his skin; flames erupted around the angel, untouched by the rain.
It laughed. Threw back its head and laughed, a beautiful, terrible laugh that made her want to cower on the ground with her hands over her ears. The people screamed again too, screamed louder, until she thought for sure the entire city could hear them.
Nick was still there, holding her back, because she tried to attack and fight, to pull the angel away from Greyson. It was smiling too brightly, Greyson’s face was going too pale, for her to believe any good was being accomplished.
She had to do something. She had to end this now. Right now. She wasn’t powerful enough to beat the thing, not when it had whatever it was taking from all those people; her demons fed on misery and sadness, but it was feeding off humanity itself, if what she’d felt was correct, and it was far more powerful than she was to begin with. She suspected she’d only managed to beat it the other night because she’d surprised it, if that had been a defeat and not simply a strategic retreat.
She needed more power. Greyson would die if she didn’t get it. Nick, Tera, Maleficarum and Spud and Brian . . . all these people would die if she didn’t get it.
“Roc!” The scream tore from her mouth, disappeared in the cacophony around them. She called for him psychically, saw him appear, and grabbed his bony fingers with her own. She didn’t have the words to tell him what she needed, but he knew. She saw it in his eyes.
The scene before her slowed down. She saw every detail, saw Greyson getting paler and paler, his flames growing smaller. Saw Tera getting up and shouting, felt her spell brush past. It knocked Greyson off the angel’s back. Knocked the angel to the side and down.