Angel Fever

them.

Alex stared blindly at his laptop, imagining small inexperienced groups being systematically decimated by the angels. He let out a breath and rested his forehead on his fists. He knew his team; he’d worked with every one of them. How the hell was he supposed to send them off to die?

But how could he just let the angels take over?

Alex looked up as Seb appeared in the rec room doorway. Seb stopped short. “Ah. Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone was here.”

“It’s okay, c’mon in.” Alex pushed the laptop away, glad to stop looking at it.

Seb dropped into a nearby armchair; his feet were bare. Glancing at him, Alex held back a slight smile. “Go ahead and smoke – that’s what you came in for, right?”

Seb quirked an eyebrow but didn’t deny it. He produced a battered red and white pack and dug a lighter from his jeans pocket. “Last pack,” he commented as he tapped out a cigarette.

“So you’ll be quitting again? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.”

Seb shrugged and settled back, blowing out a stream of smoke. “Meghan hates the smell anyway. She threw me out.”

It was a relief to have something else to think about – even if it was Seb’s love life. “She’s a nice girl,” said Alex.

Seb nodded. “Yes, I think so too.”

They sat in silence, Seb occasionally turning his head to blow smoke over his shoulder. Finally he looked down at his cigarette and cleared his throat. “So, I’ve been thinking…maybe Meghan and I will go away.”

Alex had been trying to rouse himself enough to go to bed; now he straightened. “What – seriously?”

Slowly, Seb ground out the cigarette in a saucer someone had left behind. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do now to stop the angels, amigo.”

Hearing his own worst fears put into words, all that came to Alex’s mind was, Yeah, I don’t blame you. But he said nothing.

Seb sat playing with the ground-out cigarette. “If I thought there was any kind of chance, I’d stay for ever. Now, though…” He shrugged.

“What about Willow?” asked Alex finally. Ever since the two half-angels had met, Alex had been forced to accept Seb’s presence in his girlfriend’s life as a given.

Seb’s mouth twisted; he snorted slightly. In a low voice, he said, “I keep thinking it will someday get better, you know. That I’ll get over her and not care so much, but—” He broke off, his expression more vulnerable than Alex had ever seen it. He tossed the cigarette butt back ontothe saucer.

“Anyway, I’m still her brother if she ever needs me,” he said tiredly. “But I want to really try with Meghan. And…here isn’t the best place, not with Willow here too.”

Watching Seb as he looked down at the table, sympathy stirred within Alex. Christ, how had it happened that he and Seb had actually become friends? But somewhere along the line, they had.

“Look, don’t go,” he said finally. “I know what you mean about the angels – I was just sitting here thinking almost the same thing. But even if we don’t have a chance now, you’ve got to keep training people in the aura work – if they’re not proficient in it, they’ll die.”

Seb didn’t answer, but Alex could sense the argument had hit home – Seb had sometimes spent up to twelve hours a day training recruits, with no complaints.

“And come on, this place is big enough that you can avoid Willow, isn’t it?” Alex went on. “What if I changed your teaching schedules, so that you don’t work together any more? You’d hardly ever see each other.”

Seb plucked at a loose thread on his jeans. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “It might help, but…”

“Does Meghan want to go?”

“I haven’t asked her,” Seb admitted. He met Alex’s gaze and smiled slightly. “Why are you arguing for me to stay? If I could take your girlfriend away from you, I’d still do it.”

“Dude, if you could take my girlfriend away from me, you’d have done it a year ago. Let me make the change, okay?” Alex scanned Seb’s face, his voice lowering in intensity. “Come on, man, I need you here – I’ve got to give them all the best chance I can before I send them out there.”

Seb blew out a breath. “All right,” he said. “I’ll stay for now.” After a pause the corner of his mouth lifted. “I didn’t want to leave the hot showers anyway. It’s the real reason I’m staying, you know.”

“Yeah, you see? Massive perks.”

Seb lit another cigarette and smoked it with one foot up on the chair. And as Alex thought about the day to come and all the days after that – while above, humanity became cattle for ever, because of him – for the first time in his life he was tempted to light up too.

He shut down the laptop and rose. “Don’t think too hard,” he said.

Seb gave a small smile. “No. You either.”

Fat chance, thought Alex – and then the pager clipped to his jeans waistband burst into life. “Alex, could you get up here?” said Heather’s worried voice.

He grabbed the pager. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. There’s a truck coming.”

“What?” Alex and Seb exchanged a startled glance, Seb lurching forward to stub out his cigarette and scrambling to his feet.

They took off at a run, pausing only to duck into the armoury and grab a couple of pistols. When they reached the small room above ground, Heather was hunched over one of the monitors; her gaze flew tensely to theirs.

“It looks like an Eden vehicle,” she said. “The driver’s gotten out and is heading for the gate. There’s only one of them, but they’ve got a gun.”

Doing a quick scan, Alex felt only human energy. With Seb close behind, he bolted for the door and slapped at the switch to turn on the outside light.

“Okay, hold it right there,” he warned as he flung the door open, aiming his pistol. He froze and the blood slowly drained from his face.

Kara stood at the chain-link fence, blinking in the sudden light.

“Alex?” she said hoarsely. The exotic beauty of her face was hidden under purplish swollen bruises. One hand clutched the fence as if holding on for dear life.

“Oh Jesus,” whispered Alex. He started to rush towards the gate, then glanced at Seb. “She’s not—?”

Seb shook his head, staring. “No. She doesn’t have angel burn.”

When Alex threw open the gate, Kara stumbled into his arms; he held her tightly, his thoughts reeling. “Kara, what’s happened?” he said. Her once-toned body felt far too thin, like a fragile bird.

Kara was shivering, as if overwhelmed by cold. Finally she drew back, and Alex’s stomach knotted with helpless anger – her face was even worse than he’d thought. One eye was puffed closed, her lip bloodied and swollen, her perfect nose broken.

“It…it wasn’t the easiest journey, getting here,” she mumbled. “I…” She trailed off, swaying on her feet.

“Explain later.” Alex put his arm around her; she sagged against him. “Where are your keys?” He took them from her unresisting hand and tossed them to Seb. “Get her truck in here, okay?”

Seb looked down at the keys; his mouth twisted wryly. “Ah – I can’t drive, amigo.”

“What? Fine, tell Heather to call someone up. And come down to the infirmary with us; I need you to read her hand and see what you can get.” Now that the first shock of seeing Kara alive was over, Alex’s main concern was whether whoever had beaten her up was still coming after her, about to discover their base.

They’d almost reached the door; Kara stiffened and stopped short. “No,” she said. “No readings. Just – no more, all right?”

Her voice shook, and unease stirred through Alex – what the hell had happened to her? He glanced at Seb and could see the half-angel scanning her aura more thoroughly, picking up who knew what from it.

“Okay, don’t worry,” Alex said. He got Kara inside and punched the button for the elevator. “Just tell me, is anyone following you?”

Kara had slumped against his shoulder again; blearily, she shook her head. Her short black hair, always so