I had only a few moments to decide. Since most Agents were not the children of fallen angels, I figured I had a leg up in the magic department. That meant that I would have to deliberately corner myself and trust my magic to see me through.
“Well, you were looking for Ramuell. You found him,” I muttered to myself.
My stomach jittered as I raced into an office a few doors away. It is not easy to make a decision that might lead to your horrible death at the hands of a people-eating monster. I checked to make sure Ramuell followed me. He was only a few feet behind me, closer than I thought he would be, and he smiled at me as he came.
Sulfur flowed off the creature in waves. My eyes stung and my nostrils burned. I skidded into the office and behind the office door, hoping Ramuell would be distracted for a moment by my Tom-and-Jerry trick while I figured out a game plan.
I guess Ramuell wasn’t a big fan of Chuck Jones. He grabbed the door and tore it off its hinges, advancing on me.
“Boo,” I said, as I gave him a full-on blast of nightfire. At least, that was what I meant to do.
Instead my magic roared up, uncontrollable, eager for the fight. White flames seared through my palms and arrowed to the nephilim like bolts of lightning. The monster had only a moment of wild-eyed shock before the flames touched its skin.
This was different from both nightfire and the starburst, which had come forth in one huge pulse. This was a continuous flow of power that I couldn’t stop, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to. I was beating him. This could end now, and there would be no more innocent deaths.
Ramuell screamed in agony, and so did I. The power was painful, burning inside me even as it burned the monster. I could feel my palms cracking and blistering from the force of the magic. The nephilim backed away from me, knocking over furniture as it lashed out in fury. The desk was set alight at Ramuell’s touch. The heat of the flames scorched my face.
“I can end this. I can end this,” I said as I moved closer. The power was consuming me. It was more than I could handle. But I didn’t want to let go. I wanted vengeance for all the deaths that this monster had caused.
I was so focused on Ramuell that I didn’t see the portal opening behind him until it was too late. He fell into the portal and it snapped closed behind him.
“No. No!” I screamed. The power pouring out of me shut off abruptly and I fell to the floor, panting, my face pressed against the carpet. The air was filled with the smell of charred flesh, and the burning desk had ignited the curtains. I had to get out of this room before I burned alive.
The sudden manifestation of yet another new power that I could not control had exhausted me. If my life ever calmed down for a few moments, Gabriel and I were definitely going to have some words about controlling my magic. I could not allow this kind of power to run roughshod over my will. I pushed to my knees and crawled toward the door, crying out in pain as my burned hands pressed into the carpet.
I heard a rustle of movement, and felt hands underneath my arms drag me out of the room. I closed my eyes as someone turned me over and rested me against a wall. There were several voices, and the smell of a fire extinguisher.
“Whoa,” said a voice next to me. I felt someone’s fingers take my wrist and assess the damage the new power had done to my hands.
I opened my eyes and saw that it was the Agent from the conference room, the one who had tried to wave me away to safety. He and the remaining Agents crowded in the hallway, several of them rushing forward to put out the fire.
“You need medical attention. Right away,” he said. “Your hands are a mess.”
I flapped my hands at him. I needed to get up, to find Gabriel and J.B. I didn’t have time to be fussed over.
“What did you do to that thing?” the Agent asked, his eyes curious. “I’ve never seen power like that before. And it . . . knew you.”
I really didn’t have time for answering questions about my freaky new magical abilities, even if I was inclined to explain everything to this guy I’d never met before.
“I nuked it,” I said shortly. It seemed like as good an explanation as any. “Tell me what happened here. I was in the basement.”
“I don’t know. I was in my office when the building started to shake, and then I heard the screaming coming through the vents. I went into the hallway just as a bunch of other monsters came out of the elevators.”
“There are more of them?” I asked, my magical senses on high alert.
“At least a dozen. I don’t even know how they all crammed into the elevator, to tell you the truth.”
“What happened to them?”
“J.B. Bennett and some other guy I’ve never seen before—he must be another Agent from somewhere; he had the biggest wings I’ve ever seen—anyway, they came busting out of the second elevator right after the monsters and started blasting them with magic I’ve never seen before. Kind of like yours. They managed to divert most of the creatures into the stairwell,” he said. “Then a few minutes later that big thing came out of another elevator and came after us.”
There was an unnerving combination of gratitude and suspicion in his eyes, and I thought it prudent to get away before he started asking more questions about my abilities. These people were on edge and they might decide that a burning stake was just the thing for the weirdo Agent with creepy powers.
“Listen, I’m not sure if the building is completely secure, but if you can get an elevator to the first floor, you should be able to get out. I was in the lobby before I came up here and there were no creatures down there. But,” I said, holding up a warning hand as they started to move past me. “Whatever you saw up here, it’s a hundred times worse down there. So be prepared.”