Her eyes snapped open.
The room quickly came into focus as Helena awoke. She was in her bed. The moon was shining in the living room window. It was near midnight. Why was she awake?
She was in danger.
Again.
Rage flowed through her. And she reached to grab her pouch on the dresser.
Painful blinding light burst into existence outside. Acedia screamed and fell off her bed as the dazzling figure smashed right through the window.
The figure unfolded wings that blazed like molten metal. It raised a sword and flames sprang forth. It was indomitable. A terrible figure of certain judgment.
It was so fucking dead.
Helena grabbed a small scroll, no bigger than a card. She’d spent a whole evening crafting the spells that filled it. The ink had been crafted from the ashes of a tree struck by lightning, and she’d sacrificed several pieces of amber to put it together. All in all it had cost her about a tenth of her monthly rent to craft.
She flipped the card towards the angel and called out “Zeus’ Rebuke!” The paper burned away instantly releasing the spell she’d stored within. A light brighter than the angel’s wings tore through the room. Then Helena staggered back as the thunderclap followed.
The spots faded from her eyes just in time to see the gleaming figure recover from her attack. She started summoning another spell but Camila’s dark shadow suddenly appeared between her and the angel.
The flaming sword cut through the air faster than a striking snake, but Camila just fell backwards, balancing on her hands. Then the woman sprang up with a powerful kick from the ground. Helena heard a clang through the ringing in her ears as the angelic figure was kicked back out the hole it had burst in.
Helena pressed forwards, her mind focusing on her next spell. The anger welling inside burst forth, flowing into her left hand. She fed the curse, mixing it with flame and darkness. As she reached her shattered wall the spell coalesced into a screaming orb of blue fire and she threw it at the glowing figure with all her might. “If you must break into my apartment at least use the damned door!”
The flame blast howled through the air. With a hard crack the angel threw up its wings to block, but the blast still sent the creature reeling, feathers falling to the floor. Helena sneered in satisfaction. She doubted angels could contract guinea worms or trichinosis but she could always hope.
There was a rush of wind as Camila hopped through the shattered window. “You’re complaining because of how they attacked us?”
Helena followed the jiang-shi woman out the three story drop. “I just had that fixed. From the time you broke in!”
Camila hit the cobblestones with a solid crack, the road giving way instead of her body. Helena on the other hand activated her flight to settle gently. Both of them kept their eyes on the bright light of the angel. “Right. Sorry,” Camila said as they split up to encircle the target. “Was brainwashed at the time ya know.”
The angel stood, looking back and forth between the two of them. Then it raised its wings and blinding light flashed through the street again. Helena backpedaled while tracing a rune in the air. Metal blasted forth like a shotgun, but she didn’t hit anything. She heard Camila cursing in Portuguese to the side, but the woman didn’t sound hurt either.
Her vision cleared, revealing the street was empty except for her and Camila. She reached out with her mind feeling the flow of magic and passage through the nearby crossroads, but there wasn’t an angel anywhere nearby. “Damned!”
“You okay Acedia?” Camila called out. Smart. They both looked up to see the demon staring out the window at them. Acedia gave them something resembling a wave so it seemed the woman was fine. Camila turned back to scanning the area. “The thing teleport away? Because that would suck.”
“I don’t think so?” Helena replied. She should have been able to sense a teleport. But then she should be able to sense an angel too. “Whatever it is, it’s gone now.”
By now windows were opening and people were calling out, asking if their neighbors were okay, and getting responses in return. Helena winced when she realized this was the second time this had happened in three months.
Despite the people starting to cautiously head outside Camila didn’t let her guard down. “Could it be hiding?”
“Maybe, but it’s not likely to attack again. I’m pretty sure angels have issues with cutting down good Christians, and there’s at least a few here.” Helena forced herself to focus on the scene right now. There were about a dozen feathers on the ground, but no other sign of the angel’s presence. She hadn’t even made the thing bleed. Too bad.
Helena stepped forward and reached for a feather. She stopped as her hands touched smooth cold metal. “What?” She quickly grabbed the plume and stared at it. Sure enough the feather had been coated in silver. “That’s not normal.”
“You mean angels aren’t normally metal?” Camila asked.
“Not angels or archangels,” Helena replied, grabbing the other feathers. She tapped them once, then twice, watching how they easily absorbed her magic. “And they definitely don’t usually have truesilver wings. These have been treated by magic.”
Camila peered over her shoulder, “What’s that mean?”
“It means they’re worth a lot. They’re powerful conduits for magic.” Helena sighed. “And I can’t use them to track their owner at all. Truesilver blocks scrying.”
“That doesn’t exactly explain why the angel covered his wings in the stuff,” Camila pointed out.
Helena shook her head. “I have no idea. This doesn’t make any sense at all. I think I’m going to have to call in some help.”
“Helena! Camila! What in the Lord’s name is going on?”
Ms Samuels walked towards them with a presence that made the angel’s heavenly glow seem subdued. Helena forced herself to stand her ground as she faced the landlady. “Well… apparently the killer who was after Acedia followed her home. I thought I could catch it before it made it to the apartment but…”
Ms Samuels eyes narrowed. “And so you all decided to have your magical duel inside our apartments? Our wood apartments?”
Helena flinched at that. Fortunately Camila hopped forward. “That’s why I kicked it outside. Didn’t want it doing any more damage.”
“While I appreciate that, I don’t appreciate people’s homes being some kinda storybook battlefield!” She folded her arms. “Look I get you two don’t want trouble to follow you home, but you keep getting in trouble! And once you’ve done that it’s gonna come right back to our doorstep, sure as the sunrise!”
“I don’t want to kick you out. You’re good people, for all you ain’t normal folk. But I can’t have everyone else in danger either.” The dark skinned woman looked conflicted, but Helena understood. She’d been lucky to get away with one incident.
Still what could she do?! There was no way she could promise there wouldn’t be another attack. Not since the damned thing had gotten away. And she couldn’t just run out and find another apartment. ‘Might be attacked by monsters’ wasn’t a good thing to have on your resume as a renter. It wasn’t like a restaurant or smithy where occasional fires were expected….
Helena’s eyes were drawn back to the abandoned store. The restaurant that had been open until the man had tried to cheat the Voodoo Queen. It was insulated from the other apartments and stores….
“I understand,” Helena sighed. She pulled out the three hundred dollars Acedia had given her before. “Obviously I can’t promise everything will be fine, but if I’m away from the other renters it should be okay right?” She motioned to the boarded up windows.
Both Camila and Ms Samuels stared at the stack of bills. Finally Ms Samuels nodded slowly. “I’m not sure if I’d call that okay, but I wouldn’t have reason to complain. But are you sure Helena? Even with us giving you a discount on your apartment that’s three hundred fifty dollars a month. I know for a fact you’ve been having trouble making the eighty.”
Camila shifted on her feet. “I kinda had a plan to get some money myself, but… it’s not gonna be that much. Especially to start.”
“I can get enough for the first month.” Helena grimaced. “After that… we’ll see how well advertising works.”
“Let’s talk with my husband then. He can get you the keys. If you still think this is a good idea in the morning, we’ll bring the papers over,” Ms Samuels said.
Helena nodded and they followed the woman back to the apartment’s actual entrance. Camila leaned over as they walked. “Where are you gonna get the cash for the first month? Even if I stop eating we can’t save three hundred fifty fast. And there’s that window we gotta fix too.”
“Those feathers are worth about eighty each,” Helena whispered back. “That’ll get us through the start.”
“Shouldn’t we, ya know, give them to the police?” Camila asked.
“One should suffice,” Helena replied with a shrug.
Camila shook her head, but the jiang-shi’s smile was back. “I ain’t gonna say anything, but I bet Kilduff figures it out.”
“There’s a chance he won’t be the one to show up,” Helena muttered.