first daughter by his second marriage, she stayed out of the way of the immortal world, so perhaps she would remain safe. Elena hoped for a nice staid life for Amy, one cocooned in wealth and privilege. A life of debutante balls, a stockbroker husband, and a magazine-worthy home.
Far better than blood and death and grief.
“Thirty minutes!” Eve called out over the whoosh of the arrows firing. Crossbow bolts were also being prepped for the next phase. The clank of them as they were picked up and set out near where they’d be utilized was a constant.
“Then I’m a spotter with a ground watch team until it’s my turn back here again!’
Ground watch would sweep for any land-based fighters or reborn Lijuan managed to bring into the city. If those mockeries of life managed to spread their infection . . .
Elena set her jaw and slid out another arrow. Notched it. Set the tip aflame. Fired.
And waited, her heart a knot.
* * *
• • •
Raphael rose high above the Tower, taking in the overall battle. He’d changed into faded leathers of a bronzed brown, and wore two swords crisscrossed on his back below his wings, as well as forearm guards. Battle between two archangels never came down to such things, but he might need them to intercede on behalf of his other fighters.
At this moment, the wall of fire kept Lijuan’s forces at bay. Any who attempted to fly over it were being picked off with anti-wing guns from shooters positioned close to the waterline for just such a possibility. But the deluge was beginning—Lijuan had such a massive force that he could tell she planned to storm the city with no regard for her own casualties, until his archers couldn’t pick off enough of them to hold the line.
Dmitri, how is the evacuation proceeding?
The port and surrounding areas are clear. We can draw back to the first point without leaving anyone behind.
The operation had been completed faster than Raphael had expected, but then, Dmitri, Galen, and Venom had been working on the evacuation plan for months, even while Raphael lay unresponsive by Elena’s side. Their people were being moved out of Manhattan with clinical precision. Raphael had used his mental voice to command those who shouldn’t be moving yet to stay in place until given the order to go.
Chaos would reign if the entire population attempted to leave at once.
As it turned out, the biggest problem had been making people go. New Yorkers wanted to fight. Anyone with a relevant skill was being assigned a job by the teams Venom had on the ground. The recalcitrant were simply being picked up and dumped into people-mover trucks. There was no choice, not this time. Anyone left behind was fodder for the reborn, a way for infection to spread.
Hold the line, Raphael said, able to see that the deluge was not yet critical. Tell the gunners to prep. A heavier mass of line-of-sight rocket-launchers and anti-wing guns would be their second line of defense, to be put into operation while the archers and close gunners withdrew to safety. Get the nets ready to deploy. Naasir’s idea, coming off something he’d done during the last battle.
New York was a city of skyscrapers. Which meant it had plenty of points where you could attach rolled up nets created of translucent wires fused with razor-sharp shards of glass. No mortal or immortal could’ve woven those nets without slicing their fingers to shreds. It was a machine that had undertaken the dangerous task.
Over the time since the last battle, Raphael’s people had quietly attached the nets in ways that made it appear as if the holders were a part of the chosen buildings. An ornamental edging, or an extra air-conditioning pipe, even the odd stone gargoyle replaced by a hollow simulacrum.
All the nets were motorized. One electronic command and they’d engage across a large area of the city, creating a lethal network that’d cut and shred the wings of angels who flew into them. Unless the light hit a net just right, the traps were all but invisible.
All of Raphael’s winged troops had been drilled on their locations. He had absolute faith that none would’ve betrayed them to the enemy.
Done. Dmitri’s clear voice. I’ve also activated the booby traps in the projected landing areas.
Raphael had his eyes on the water, so he saw it explode a second before Dmitri said, One of our divers managed to get to a sub, plant explosives all over it.