Angel Burn Read Online Free PDF

tub.
    And thanks to angel burn, she’d actually remember the angel as
good and kind
. Just as his mother had, before she’d been killed. Shoving his feelings away, Alex glanced around him. They were in a section of the park away from any paths; the nearest people were a couple of teenage boys about a hundred yards away, throwing a Frisbee. Shielding himself from view behind a tree, Alex pulled out the gun, flicking off the safety. He steadied the weapon with both hands and took aim.
    Now that it came down to it, he felt very calm, with a quick excitement throbbing away somewhere deep underneath. His first solo kill. Cully was right; he could do it. What had he been worried about? He had lived his whole life just waiting for this moment.
    The angel looked up and saw him.
    Fear pounded through Alex as he and the angel locked eyes. The creature knew instantly what he was, and it screamed in pure fury, ripping its hands away from the woman’s energy field. Useless and forgotten, she slumped to the ground, the peaceful smile still on her face.
    Screeching, the angel sped toward him. Alex had a blurred impression of a great rushing and flapping of wings, and of wind tearing at his hair, as if the whole world was whipping past. The pistol began to shake in his hands.
Shoot!
he screamed at himself. But its eyes were so beautiful, even in its rage. He could only stare into them and know that he was about to die.
    No!
With the greatest effort of his life, Alex tore his attention away from the angel’s eyes and focused on its halo instead.
That’s the angel’s heart,
his father always said.
Go for the center.
Alex’s hands were so unsteady, he could hardly take aim. The angel was shrieking in triumph, its terrible, awesome voice slicing through him. Its halo was the size of a saucer  . . .  now a dinner plate  . . .  now a  . . . 
    Alex shot. The world exploded into shards of light as the force from the fallout blew him backward, off his feet. He landed in the grass a dozen feet away and lay there stunned, the wind knocked out of him.
    “Man, if
that
wasn’t just about the messiest kill I ever did see,” observed a drawling voice. “I was about to shoot the damn thing myself.” Suddenly there was a strong arm around his shoulders, helping him to his feet. Alex staggered and stared at Cully in confusion. He tried to speak, but the power seemed to have left him for the moment. His head was throbbing as if an anvil had been dropped onto it.
    “You’re going to feel terrible for a good week, probably,” said Cully conversationally, putting away his own gun. “Don’t believe in doing things speedily, do you? I thought you were waiting for the son of a bitch to fly
into
you.”
    Alex laughed shakily. Now that it was over, he felt almost giddy with relief — and then his emotions swung to the other extreme, so that he had to clench his fists to keep from bursting into hysterical tears. Jesus. It had almost got him. It had really almost got him.
    Cully squeezed his shoulder. “You did good,” he said seriously, dropping the banter. “It’s tough when they see you. Stay here. I’m just gonna go check on our lady friend.”
    He jogged toward the woman, stopping only to pick up Alex’s pistol and shove it in the back of his jeans first. Alex leaned weakly against a tree as their voices floated toward him.
    “You OK, ma’am? You look sort of peaked.”
    “Oh  . . .  oh, I’m fine. You won’t believe me, but I’ve just seen the most — the most beautiful, amazing thing. . . .”
    Alex closed his eyes. The angel was gone now; he had killed it — but the woman’s words chilled him, anyway. Yes, the most beautiful, amazing thing. She’d have a cherished memory now for the rest of her life, and at what cost? Insanity, perhaps? That happened a lot — schizophrenia taking her life over, until she was screaming back at the voices in her head. Or how about cancer? That was always a good one: the angel’s