by S Lawrence
He growls but keeps walking away when Lali whispers, “That was so cute.” I grin as I start to follow him into the temple. “You can put me down now, you know that, right?”
“I know.” I don’t though. I carry her until we enter the main room.
Sitara spins when she hears us enter.
“Citlali.” The relief and love in her voice is that of a mother. “I was afraid…” She doesn’t have to finish. We all know. I had felt it also. Still feel it, if I’m honest.
“Can we have some privacy?” Citlali looks at each of us, one at a time.
One by one, the others file out until it is just the three of us. I’m reluctant to leave, but she nods at me and I know she won’t leave without at least telling me.
I pull her to me, hugging her close and drawing the scent of her into my lungs so I can memorize it. She tightens her arms around me, and I feel desperate for a split second. I could run with her or keep her. It is a crazy thought, and I force myself to let her go.
Turning, I force myself away and follow the others without looking back. When I finally reach the large opening that marks the entrance, only Zeph is waiting.
“The others have gone to their homes or to the hotel.” He looks up from his phone, stares at me for a minute, and then looks back down.
“Why did you stay?” I watch him closely. Zeph is a man of few words. Over the long years, I’ve learned to watch him for minute facial movements.
He shrugs, not looking up.
“Seriously, Zeph, why are you still here?” This time he does look up while tucking his phone into his pocket, but not before I see what he was looking at. Children’s swing sets and other playground equipment. I don’t say a single word, which is very good for my health. “Why didn’t you volunteer to keep Luc’s new baby?”
I shouldn’t have asked, if the frown is anything to go by.
He ignores it but draws a deep breath, I hope to calm himself.
“I’ve watched you.” He locks his eyes on mine, and I feel like I always do when he’s looked at me. “Throughout our entire existence here, I’ve watched you. You have tortured yourself better than any of the masters in Hell. You, Arkyn, are a good man. You were a good angel, and I know you. So I’m going to make sure you don’t do something eternally stupid.”
“Like what?” My back stiffens at his tone and words.
“Like let that girl run away and hide.” Well, fuck.
I guess he does know me. I don’t know what to say. I mean, he’s right... I’m letting her go.
“She didn’t know anything about this shit, man. She doesn’t deserve to be shoved in the middle of this God damned war.” I stalk away from him.
I can hear him following but I don’t turn or stop until I’m deep in the jungle. Fingers dig into my shoulder, stopping me.
“Do you deserve it?” I can’t look at him. “Do I? Does Luc?”
The last is my undoing. I want to weep at the injustice of our lives. We all sacrificed, we all lost so much, but Luc—he lost everything and sacrificed the most. The women are giving up everything to join this fight.
“Aren’t they gaining just as much?” My eyes fly up. I hate when he does that shit. “Your face cannot hide your thoughts. Never has. I wasn’t the only one who watched you. Raphael and the other Archangels did as well. They saw great promise in you, Arkyn.”
I look out into the jungle, hoping he can’t see the emotions I’m sure are stamped on my stupid face.
“Awesome.” The word breaks free as my anger and shame reach DEFCON level five.
“Why would that make you angry?” I spin and see genuine confusion on his face.
“Umm, I don’t know, Zeph, maybe because I’ve been a failure my entire existence.” He laughs, and I want to punch him in his stupid face. “Every fucking job I’ve been given. Whole fucking tribes were slaughtered because I didn’t protect them. Men, women, and children butchered because I failed. I tried to save Uriel in Heaven, and Celine killed me.”
I don’t say how she tortured me before she finally let me die. I refuse to talk to anyone about it. In fact, only Luc knows the truth of that day.
“I was killed that day also. So were all our brothers. Are we all failures that deserve this eternal damnation?” He raises a brow, knowing he’s beat me.
I will not damn my brothers.
“You can’t let her leave. Show her your heart, Arkyn.” I shake my head. “Do you think she wouldn’t have seen your true nature when she connected to you? I heard her words as clearly as you. She said what when you tried to get her to let you die?”
Swallowing, I refuse to answer him.
“She said, ‘you are everything’. Why would she say that if she had seen something so unworthy in your soul?” I shake my head.
“She was confused by the power she didn’t know how to wield,” I argue.
“Okay.” I can hear him rolling his eyes.
“You were a warrior, still are, fought many battles and won. You wouldn’t understand.”
“I wouldn’t understand failure?” He spins me with the skill of a seasoned fighter, and so much anger is radiating from him. “When the first Archangels fell, I went to my friend, my brother on the field, to help him, and she killed Raphael right in front of me. Then she killed me and she only knew how because I had trained her, fell for her lies about wanting to learn to bond with Raphael.” He shoves me, and I stumble back, unprepared for his attack. “I taught Lina how to kill my best friend.”
The last comes out as a battle cry, but this time I’m ready, or so I think. I’ve trained with Zeph for a thousand years but I realize after mere moments that he has been holding back the entire time.
His fists connect with my face multiple times in a second, and I feel blood flowing freely down my face, taste it in my mouth. Shit. I try to fight back, and he proceeds to kick my ass.
In minutes, I’m on the ground just trying to protect myself.
“Zeph.” Luc’s voice rings out just as I feel a hint of his power wrap around Zeph.
The man instantly calms, the red of his eyes fading slightly but it continues to pulse with his rage. He struggles against Luc’s power, and I hear footsteps racing toward us. I pry open my swollen eyes and see the women running our way.
“No! Stay back.” Neither listen. “Please, he’s out of control.” Sitara looks between me and Luc.
She veers to the left while Lali slides toward me in a move that would make any major leaguer proud.
“Oh, Arkyn, what did he do?” Her fingers feather over my face, the doctor taking over from the woman. She prods, gently searching and finding the multiple broken bones hiding under the swollen flesh.
I blink as a tear hits my cheek. She is crying for me.
“Lali, I will heal. Don’t cry.” She wipes at her cheek, and I see my blood smear across her tan skin.
“Why are you always hurt?” She mumbles.
“It is a talent of mine.” I try to smile but end up wincing as I manage to split my lip even more.
“Yes, he’s very good at getting his ass beat,” Zeph growls. “He’s very good at losing. I don’t think he’s actually ever won.”
“Excuse me?” She pushes up, turning to face him. “Do not talk about him like that. He is a good man and he doesn’t deserve you being vicious.”
He laughs, and she kicks him right in his balls. Holy shit, she kicked him in the junk. I can’t hold in the bark of laughter that bursts free from my throat.
Zeph crumbles to his knees.
“Damn, the mighty warrior brought to his knees by a girl.” I laugh harder.
When he looks up, the red is gone, and I feel Luc draw back his power.
“Oh God, Arkyn.” The man, my brother, crawls to me, his hand curving around my cheek, softly. “I’m sorry, brother, so sorry. I would never…” I see the shame in his almost-lavender eyes before he breaks free from Luc’s grip and flees from us.
I struggle to my feet. Lali helps while maki
ng a noise that says she doesn’t think I should move. Luc steps right in front of me and so does Sitara. They join hands and their combined powers flow through me. I grimace as my bones knit together much quicker than I’m used to.
Lali just stares as my face returns to normal. Her fingers reach up and glide over my newly healed cheek as the flow of power from the others stops.
“I need to go after him.” I look at her to make sure she understands. “He didn’t mean to hurt me.” I won’t have her thinking badly of him, not after everything he had lost.
“You stay. I’ll go.” Luc glances between us before starting to step away.
I smile, my cheek moving under her palm, and she nods. Following Luc to the edge of the trees, I touch him lightly on his shoulder. His eyes meet mine as he glances back at me.
“Did you know about Lina?” Our leader sighs.
“I know everything, Arkyn.” Jerking his head, he moves farther into the trees. “I know every tragic detail of that day. I know how tormented each of you are over events that have long been out of your control. I know that you all wrestle with more than the demon I put in you.”
“Do you know why he lost control? I mean, I understand his anger, but Zeph wasn’t there when he looked at me. Just his demon stared back at me.” I had pushed him too far. “I shouldn’t have teased him about the kids. I was feeling sorry for myself.”
Luc stares up into the canopy, silent as the seconds tick by, and I grow more apprehensive. I fight the urge to pace.
“Zeph has…” He pauses and just that act has my hair standing on end. “Well, he has been, for lack of a better word, suppressing his true nature. He is an angel of battle, a Power made for battle, but since he began to walk this Earth as a demon, he has fought no battles.”
“What? No way, that can’t be right. We have all fought the Fallen.” He shakes his head.
“He has tracked them but he has lifted no weapon in a thousand years. When his rage breaks free from his control, a battle fury takes control of even his demon. I’ve tried to convince him to kind of vent it. Like a pressure cooker.” I raise my brow but he shakes his head. “I’ll go after him. You stay here and talk to Citlali. You need to do like Zeph suggested. Let her know you, Arkyn.”
I don’t even ask how he knows what Zeph suggested. The man has some scary mad skills when he chooses to use them. He doesn’t wait for the response I’m sure he knows isn’t coming; instead he just disappears.
I’m left standing there alone with nothing but my emotions. Self-doubt eats away at me. How could she choose me? The sky begins to lighten before a sound drags me from my thoughts.
“Are you coming back?” I spin at her voice. “You’ve been gone a long time.”
“I was thinking.” I feel stupid for sounding so much like a child.
“Sitara explained more of the prophecy, more about the other descendants.” She watches my face closely.
“You should walk away.” I look back out at the trees. “Go save people, go be a doctor.”
“So I should walk away and save a few but let the rest of the world die or worse?” She frowns.
“Yes, be selfish, for fuck’s sake. You were already kidnapped by a madman who could have killed you any time he wanted.” She smiles a little, just the slight curve of the corner of her lips.
“Arkyn.” She sounds vaguely like a mother who has reached her limit with a kid. “From what I understand, that could happen to any of you, the other women...hell, the entire human race. I’m staying. I’m fighting.”
“Did Sitara explain everything?” I emphasize the last word.
“She suggested I have you take me to see Charlie and Lillian.” Oh, boy. I love those girls but I’m not sure Citlali is ready for them. “I’d like to talk to them, Arkyn.”
I nod, turning back toward the temple. She falls in beside me, so I shorten my stride to match hers.
When we reach the edge of the trees, I see Lillian standing beside the Jeep waiting. I stop, and Citlali follows suit, standing at my side.
She looks up, turning to face me.
“I’ll come back. I mean, how much more could there be?” She gives me a quick grin before jogging away to Lillian.
So much fucking more.
Chapter 15
CITLALI
Looking back, I don’t understand the look of turmoil on his face.
“I hope you have the answers I need.” The woman nods as I jerk open the door to the Jeep. She opens the other door and looks in as I slam the door before I take Arkyn’s advice and bolt.
Grabbing the seat belt, I’m about to pull it across my lap when she clears her throat.
“Sorry, but I don’t drive. Until a few months ago, I was a prisoner of the Fallen.” She shrugs.
My dramatic exit is less so when I have to climb over the stick shift into the driver’s seat. She giggles and then runs around to the passenger side, and I shake my head.
My heart pounds as she looks at Arkyn. The love I see on her face stirs something in me. Jealousy? Longing?
The slamming door startles me. Blinking, I clear my thoughts and focus on her.
“Sorry, what?” I know she just said something to me.
“I said, Torryn has promised to teach me, but, and you can’t tell him this, I really want Dagen to.” She winks at the last, and I wonder if she realizes I really don’t know who she’s talking about. “I’m Lillian, by the way, if Arkyn didn’t tell you.”
“Citlali.” Turning the key, I start the engine and pull onto the worn path that takes us to the actual road. “I didn’t give him a chance. I was afraid I’d lose my nerve.”
“Luc didn’t say why you wanted to talk, but I can imagine.” Can she? Who is Luc? The thoughts ping through my brain.
“I don’t know who any of those people are.” I smile to try to soften the tone of my voice.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot you were taken before you could meet all of us. It’s been kinda crazy with the search for you, the Fallen, and of course, Arkyn before we found him here at the temple.” As we reach the bottom of the mountain, she points to the right and I head into the city. “We rented a place near the beach.”
I follow her directions through the traffic until we are in front of a beautiful beach home on the side of a hill. It’s twice, maybe three times, the size of my home.
“Oh yeah, having a thousand years to build wealth has allowed them to become ridiculously rich.” I’d say. “They all own parts of the company but they all give it all away, although they all think the others don’t know. Silly men.”
Philanthropist demons. It’s like I’m in some crazy alternate universe. Angels are the real demons, and it seems demons are angels.
Arkyn’s face pops into my mind.
“You coming?” She’s already out of the Jeep but with the door open watching me.
The front door opens, a young man waves at us, and Lillian waves back. I wonder which demon this is.
As we draw near, Lillian grabs my hand and pulls me right in front of the man.
“Lali... I can call you Lali like Arkyn does, right?” I nod. “Great. Lali, this is Charlie.”
Charlie is the name of one of the women Sitara told me to talk to.
“Hi.” The voice is decidedly feminine. “I take it no one told you.” I shake my head even as I smile and thrust my hand out at him or her, whichever... It makes no difference to me. Charlie smiles back, and this time it is genuine. I think I just passed some test.
“So, I ordered food, and everything is ready for a girl’s night or day.” I haven’t had one of those since pre-med and I feel like this won’t be anything like the last one.
Hours later, I’m sitting beside the pool, watching the sun set over the waves, and trying to not freak completely out. Both women stand at my side, one on the left and one on the right, and they are currently putting two very real sets of wings away.
The doctor in me wonders at the physical part of that—like where do they go, how do t
hey do it? The human part of me is holding on by a thread, one that is slowly unraveling.
Lillian is the descendant of Michael, Charlie comes from Gabriel, and Raphael fathered my line. His genetics run through my veins; his DNA is part of my strand. My eyes slide right and then left. They have the DNA of angels in them also.
“If I asked for some things, could you or someone get them for me?” They look at each other then both shrug while nodding.
“Most likely. If we can’t or Arkyn and the others can’t, then Luc can for sure.” Charlie nods again at Lillian’s response.
Luc. Luc. Luc. No matter how many ways I change the emphasis, it still means the same thing. Satan, King of Hell, Beelzebub, the Devil. Lucifer. His face in the temple flashes in front of me, and I jerk back against the chair.
“Are you okay?” Charlie drags another chair close and sits, leaning toward me. She has wings of fire. FIRE. “Did I tell you about my other… gift?” I shake my head. “I hear music for each of you—Torryn, Lillian, Arkyn, all of them, even Luc.”
“Especially Luc.” Lillian smiles and it is filled with love. Love for the devil.
“You have music too.” Charlie draws my gaze back to her with her words. “I’ve been trying to record the different parts. Luckily, Dagen plays a lot of instruments.”
Lillian giggles, “Like fate or something.” I get it; they believe God created us for each other.
They believe I was meant for Arkyn. I don’t hate the idea. I won’t deny my attraction, my connection. Thinking about it, I suddenly get a flash of a memory. Not one of my own. Arkyn. He’s talking to the one that beat him so badly. He’s arguing about why would or how could I love a man who is nothing but a failure. My heart aches for him.
Then it is gone. My phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, I see a number I don’t recognize and four words.
‘Do you need me?’
He had felt me, and his only concern was if I was alright. ‘I’m alright.’ I respond but I stare at his words long after I send the message.