I screamed and thrashed, throwing my arms up. Wil pounded on the reaper's snout several times, and the jaws snapped back, biting at his arm.

"Get out of the car!" he yel ed, leaning back, and he kicked the ursid reaper in the face. Ragnuk roared and reached through the windshield with his giant claws. I yanked the handle and slammed al my weight into the door, but it wouldn't budge. It was too smashed. I pushed--

and pushed, and pushed, and pushed.

Ragnuk forced himself in until half the car was ful of gnashing teeth and swinging talons, and I lay on my back and kicked the door with al my strength. My power flared and the door flew open. I dived out and turned back to see Ragnuk halfway inside the car and Wil 's much smal er shape fighting him off. My legs turned to jel y, and something dark grew in the pit of my gut, but I had to do something fast. I couldn't be afraid of him. I cal ed my swords, and as the silver fil ed my hands, angelfire burst from the blades.

I leaped up onto the trunk, surprising myself by how easily I could jump that high. I ran up and over the roof until I was above the reaper. I crossed both blades over my chest and slashed Ragnuk across his back. He roared and slammed his head into the roof of the car before wrenching himself back and final y pul ing free. His black eyes snapped up to me. With a great deal of effort, he stepped back and shook his body like a dog. Chunks of glass were embedded in his flesh, and I watched the glass fly from his wounds as he shook, hitting the ground like blood-drenched diamonds. Ragnuk snarled and leaped up at me. I ducked and plunged a sword into his bel y, spil ing blood. His claws swiped, ripping my upper arm open, and I screamed. He snapped his jaws down at me, but I twisted away, and his snout smashed into the metal roof. I swung my sword, but he slammed the side of his head into my chest, and the brutal force sent me flying through the air. My back hit the pavement and my skul smacked hard. I didn't feel any blood, so I jumped to my feet.

I could do this. I had to lose my fear and defeat him. Ragnuk hopped off my car and landed with a thud that shook the earth. He stepped forward and arched his back, his power building like a storm surge. I looked up to see Wil leap over the Audi with bloody slashes across his face and chest vanishing before my eyes. He drove his sword down at the reaper's head. Ragnuk reared, and his paw nailed Wil 's chest midair, slamming his back up against the rear driver'sside door. I saw blood. Darkness crept into the edges of my sight, as it did when I was about to have a flashback, but instead of remembering something, I lost al sense of time and place. My gaze locked on my target, and al I thought of was kil ing. Rage pounded through my body, clouding my thoughts, and I could practical y taste Ragnuk's blood in my mouth. I let out a terrible cry and charged at him, swords in hands.

A hand grabbed me around my neck and yanked me backward-- hard. My body flew across the road and crashed into a tree. When I hit the ground, I looked up. A female creature landed with a soft step as giant, leathery batlike wings-- wings! --stretched, flapped once, and folded against her back. Terror clawed the inside of my throat until it was as dry as sandpaper. Her skin was so lucent, she appeared to glow in the moonlight. Ash-colored hair settled around her shoulders and she stared at me with curious, pale eyes. She had to be one of the humanlike vir reapers. Power rol ed from her in terrible dark waves.

"Ragnuk," she snarled, her gaze stil locked on mine. The ursid ceased his assault on Wil and whipped away from him, claws scraping the pavement in a rage. "Ivar!" he roared, his voice thundering inside my skul . "You dare stop me?"

Final y she looked away, releasing me from her viper's stare. Her movement was fluid, like water, as eerie and terrible as a storm swel on the sea. "There's been a development. Bastian needs us." Her voice was low and sensual, smooth as velvet.

A deathly low snarl rol ed from deep within Ragnuk's throat. "It can wait."

"No," the vir reaper said sharply. "You don't appear capable of finishing the job."

Ragnuk's temper exploded, and he threw a paw into the fender of my car, crunching it deeper into the tree. Ivar looked back at me with that same frightening smoothness. "Preliator," she said, "enjoy the days you have left. Drink the sun like wine, for when the Enshi awakens, the darkness wil spare nothing in your world--not even your soul. It ends soon." Her wings spread wide and she took to the air, disappearing quickly.

With a nasty hiss, Ragnuk stomped toward me, halting only a few feet away from where I had fal en. "I'l be back for you, girl," he snarled, curling his black lips back and flashing wet, bloody fangs. "You and your Guardian. You're mine."

The malice in his voice assured me that he meant every word. He gnashed his jaws at me before disappearing into the night.

17

WHEN HE HAD GONE, I FOUND THE STRENGTH TO stand and run to Wil 's side. He was breathing heavily and leaning up against my battered car. Through his torn shirt, I watched his wounds seal and fade to nothing. The skin over his ribs popped and cracked. Something must have been broken. Bruises faded, and he took a deep breath now that the pressure of broken bones was off his lungs.

As I opened my mouth to speak, he leaned forward and turned me around to examine my head.

"I'm fine, Wil ," I said as he picked through my filthy hair.

"You have glass in your hair." He smoothed my hair back down. "I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any stuck in the skin."

I laughed. "I think I would have noticed glass sticking out the back of my head."