by Ember Rain
“Why do you care? You have not always agreed with his ways.” Amariana argues trying to catch his eyes to use her mind control on him. He has already expected that and avoids all eye contact with her by keeping his eyes on the rest of us as he speaks.
“Someone, please help him.” Kennedy wails from the floor where she is holding Brantley’s head in her lap. He is barely alive and still wearing a brave smile. “Let me go!” Leah screams. She tries to draw from her power to manipulate his feelings into empathy, but her powers are drained from just healing herself. If she can make it to Brantley in time, she might be able to bring him back from the brink, but she’ll need every bit of power she has left in the tank. We all have our limits and she’s aware of where hers is. She continues to thrash around in Gunner’s arms with tears falling down her face as she is unable to get to her fallen friend.
Brantley reaches his hand up to Kennedy’s face and cups her cheek, “it’s okay Kenny, just get out of here alive. Don’t let them take us all out.” He sputters with silver blood coming out of his mouth and down his lips from his nose.
“I won’t leave you here.” She argues with tears pouring down her face.
“I-I am begging you Ken, please get the others and go before anyone else gets hurt.” He says before sucking in his final breath, his head falling to the side limply.
Looking back at Brantley, my heart breaking, I lose focus and Sage attacks me with a round kick to my jaw. I fire back a power ball twice the size as anything he can create and send him sailing down the hall.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think we need to do as Brantley wishes and get the fuck out of here.” I suggest.
“We won’t leave him here.” Kennedy says adamantly.
“Fine, everyone lift him together. Amariana can you take care of these two?” I ask looking at her dazed expression.
She looks to Gunner who has slipped up and caught her eyes and his arms release Leah instantly. She predicts Sage’s next move to look over to his fallen friend and drops to the floor and catches his eyes and she’s got him in an instant. He stands straight, face burning bright red.
She walks gracefully towards him and pulls the bloodied dagger from the back of her pants and forces him to stand completely still while she walks a circle around him.
“You think you have won some victory by hurting our friend?” she asks menacingly. Then she squares off in front of him raising her arm and driving the dagger through his heart just as she had her father’s. “I bind you to an eternity in hell.” She says the customary banishment words and his eyes shut and his body falls to the floor in a heap before disappearing. She looks over at Gunner and begins to walk in his direction before I put my hand out to stop her.
“Another time,” I plead wanting to get the team out of here before more trouble arrives.
The look in her eye says she will repay him for all the suffering he’s caused but she does as I suggest and gathers near the rest of the team hovering over Brantley’s body. Her eyes fill with tears and are falling along with everyone else’s.
Coordinated the five of us lift him into the air and carry him as quickly as possible around the next two corners towards the portal to bring us back to the human world…
Chapter Seven
Amariana
Taking on my father was easier than I thought it would be after not having much time to work with my enhanced abilities. Storm and I didn’t have much time to see what all I could do before we set out to end my father.
I plan to do more training after a much-needed day off to mourn the loss of both Brantley and in my own way, my mother as well. I feel fortunate to have gotten the news in a dignified manner by the Queen of angel’s herself, but seeing how fearful my father looked surrounded by so many guards leads me to believe that Malice is about to take over the underworld as I sent word that I formally renounce my right to the throne.
A flash of Brantley’s face crosses my mind and a few tears slip down my face. He had been so fun and kind to me in the little bit of time I had spent with him. I am glad I was able to avenge his death by sending Sage to hell but that doesn’t replace the beautiful soul we lost in what was to be a mostly in and out trip to the underworld. There would be no way the six of us would be able to take on all the demons in the realm, so the thought was to sneak to where my father would be and control his protection with my mind leaving them unable to aid him while I took the life from his evil body. I have my own bone to pick with Malice and plan to face him when the day comes to do so.
I stare at the ceiling above my head willing myself to get out of the comfortable bed I had crashed in soon after arriving back at the guardian home.
I was worn and sore from the earlier few nights of crazy events and just wanted to lie down just a little longer in the luxury of my new room and bed in the angel house.
Finally, I throw the blanket off and put my feet onto the soft carpet and make my way over to the closet and dress in a set of comfortable clothes for the day. I move over to the bed and slip on a pair of flats before pulling my long black hair up into a high ponytail. Satisfied with my appearance I make my way downstairs smelling bacon the moment I enter the hallway outside my door. The delicious scent moves my feet faster towards the staircase and within a minute I am standing in the doorway to the dining room where the four angels are already gathered.
“You’re up!” Kennedy says with excitement nearly knocking me over with a tight hug.
I look at her confused before glancing over to Logan and Storm who are both staring at the virtual news screen above the table.
In a surprising turn of events, the child of Diablo and Lilith who was once thought to be a demon has, in fact been a Divine angel instead.
She spent her entire life until now growing up in the underworld, her parents hiding her true nature in hopes of altering her back into the demon they needed her to be to rule their kingdom and take over as the rightful heir.
As the angels digest this shocking news, Amariana will remain in the care of the EA team until the council decides on what role she will play in our angel world. There has not been a Divine that has lived past a month old in centuries. With such great power among our kind there will be sure to be another great evil to emerge from the underworld to reset the balance, but until then the mystery of the princess has been solved, the King and Queen are both banned to hell for eternity and the underworld remains under the rule of Amariana’s uncle, Malice as far as we are aware of. We hope to get an interview with Amariana in the weeks to come, but for now all is safe and well in the angel world…
AJ Steele with the Angel Reporter.
The newscast finishes and I look around the room at the smiling faces of the EA team.
“Did you hear all that?” Storm asks closing the distance between us smiling wide.
“I did,” I assure him smiling back. “I just wish he would have mentioned the loss of one of our own in the battle, respectively.” I say disappointed that it hadn’t been included in the news story.
I am a Divine, which I had never even heard of before it was explained in detail by the walking librarian, Kennedy. I was overjoyed to finally have an answer as to why I was born differently and a renewed reason to live. Although the idea of me being placed anywhere besides here as part of the EA team makes me nervous. I hope the council will take my request to do so into consideration as they deliberate it.
Chapter Eight
Storm
The current fight was over, but the pain of losing our brother will take time to fade. With Amariana by our side we will be able to face and conquer any new king that may get in the way of keeping our worlds as safe as we can.
Having a Divine angel among our ranks gives us the upper hand for now, and hopefully for a long time to come. However, our fight didn’t come without sacrifice.
Brantley was irreplaceable to us and will never be forgotten. Kennedy’s heart has been shattered over the loss of her love. At one time our biggest
issue was her leaving Logan and sneaking around with Brantley and now that is that last thing any of us cares about.
We form a line to place our roses of goodbye upon his body before he is honorably brought to the paradise beyond our angel world, escorted by Kylynn, our worlds angel of death.
Each of the EA team members steps forward and lays a white rose on the chest of Brantley’s body while whispering words of goodbye into his ear. Amariana steps up last, tears spill down her face in agony. She and Brantley had become close like family and I can sense her guilt over his loss.
A melody of the angels plays in the background of the farewell ceremony. All the original angels as well as both EA teams and every available guardian angel is in attendance of the ceremony as Brantley’s body lies still hovering next to Kylynn moving slowly by each of us. After saying her goodbye, Amariana moves back several yards behind our group of angels with her head down. I make a mental note to have a talk with her to make her understand that Brantley wouldn’t blame her and went into battle knowing death was a risk he was taking to protect her and the entire human world along with the remaining fae in the realm as well as the angel realm. He died with honor and she has nothing she should feel guilty over.
Finally, Ky stops in front of me with Brantley’s lifeless body by her side. It’s my turn to say my goodbyes. I approach my friends’ lifeless body and place the rose across his chest before leaning down to say my farewell.
“Don’t worry friend, I will make her see that you wouldn’t have changed a thing and will keep Kennedy safe. Here’s your spoiler alert my friend. Your story isn’t over. A seer has foretold of your resurrection happening sometime in the years to come. So instead of goodbye, I would prefer to say see you again someday soon.” I finish as a single tear falls from my chin onto his body and the angel of death continues to move his body in mid-air towards his family and then towards the entire council who has showed up to pay their respects to Brantley and all he’s done for our team. Kylynn leans down and plants a kiss upon his forehead before she will take him on his journey to the angel’s paradise.
****
After the funeral, the sadness lingered in the air for a long time, but eventually it faded enough for us to move forward. I never shared what the seer had told me with anyone because it wouldn’t be fair to get anyone’s hopes up without certainty.
A plaque was placed on the wall of the living room in honor of Brantley and each day I stop in front of it and say a few words to one of the bravest and most honorable angels to give their life for our team. Kennedy still hasn’t explored looking for another mate yet, but I hope someday she’ll get there.
As for Amariana and I, we began dating but are taking things slow, especially now that she is ranked high above me as the single existing Divine angel.
Leah and Logan seem to be growing closer and I can see a beautiful relationship evolving before my eyes between them.
We all continue to fight demons and hunt down those who cross the lines of humanity. Amariana and I have taken the angel commitment of marriage and enjoyed each other inside and out of the bedroom on multiple occasions since the small private ceremony that was held before our team and the council only weeks ago.
The memory of how beautiful she looked in her white gown for the occasion crosses my mind causing a smile to form on my lips.
“Storm, you need to get in here!” Amariana screeches from the hallway bathroom startling me from my thoughts.
“I’m coming, what’s wrong?” I ask rushing towards the bathroom door.
Amariana’s face is an ashen white as she sits on the side of the tub with a box in her hand.
“What’s that?” I ask wondering why the words on the box are in Latin.
“I asked Bellamy to make a special test for me as I have been feeling a little ‘off’ lately.” She looks at me with wide eyes while flipping the container in her hand around to show me what she is talking about.
In her hands is an angel’s version of a pregnancy test and below it the word POSITIVE is in bright bold letters.
I almost faint at the sight, “is this even possible?” I ask feeling dazed.
She nods, “according to Bellamy it is and when this child is born it will tip the balance even more in our favor. I worry what kind of great evil we will end up having to face because of all of this?” She says worried.
I sit next to her and place my arm around her shoulders, “I promise whatever comes, we will face it all together. And as for our child, I will protect him or her with my own life as will the entire EA team.” I vow pulling her tightly to my side while she rests her head on my shoulder.
“I love you Storm.” She says turning towards me and pulling my lips down onto hers passionately. Her salty tears mix with our passion and together we find peace with what is to come.
“You make me complete, thank you for saving me from the moment I met you.” She finishes pushing up from the tub. We head off to notify the team and my parents of the surprising and wonderful news…
The end,
Emer Rain.
I hope you enjoyed Amariana and Storm’s adventure and if you did or didn’t please take a moment to leave a review as they help us authors in ways you couldn’t imagine. I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I did writing it.
- A special thank you to Alexandra Ene, some of you may know her as Ene Alexandra on social media. She has been an incredible blog partner, and friend. Without her this story would not have been possible.
Also, another special thank you to Veronique Poirier for never giving up on me and always giving me advice as well as designing covers for me. It would take a long time for me to list off the countless times both ladies have been there for me.
- Alexandra, thank you for helping me edit this story and Veronique, thank you as well for all the help, advice, and positivity that keeps me moving forward.
- Readers, if you are curious about what I am up to or other stories I have released please look me up on Facebook or Amazon.com. Thank you to all who took time to read my story.
Turning back the curtain.
This is where I plan to tell you how this story came to be. Well, the answers simple. Veronique and a few others wanted to put together an anthology and I was so kindly invited to draft a story for the upcoming release. As time moved forward life got busy for each of us and many couldn’t make the end date. At the time it was a blessing in disguise for me as I fell so hard for this story while I wrote it and wanted to incorporate it into my already in the works trilogy. So, I expanded the plot and re-did my plans for my characters moving forward like puzzle pieces finally fitting into the slots they belong to. I know it’s taken an incredible amount of time for book Two of The Vine Trilogy to release and please be patient as I am currently working on finishing the book. The problem was that I drafted the book more than four times from scratch, and at one point I was 77k into the book and thought it looked great. Looking back, I have to shake my head in disappointment because as the manuscript returned from editing it was more than clear that I didn’t have the time or energy to do as many re-writes as the book needed. I decided to re-write the plot and do a final re-write from the very beginning all over again over a year into re-writing the same story feeling frustrated and stuck. One day I was thinking about how I needed to change the story to make it what I envisioned it to be and here is a standalone that I recommend to be read after Ivy Transformed, but is not necessary can be read after book one, before Twist of Fate or all by itself and you won’t miss a great story. At least I hope you liked it?? I love to write and appreciate all the support from every fan and every reader who takes the time to check out my books. Next to (come is Twist of Fate Book Two in The Vine Trilogy!!!!
1.Ivy Transformed
1.5(optional)The Royally Divine.
2 Twist of Fate (release date TBA)
Other Books:
The anthology for charity Metaphysical Phenomena: Heaven Sent
Other stor
ies I have available:
Here’s a link to my first book, Ivy Transformed:
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B06XJX1ZCL&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_cAmqCbZCRCEMY
Book link for most recent release that is an anthology where you’ll find a short story written by me inside. All proceeds are going to a charity to help the animals:
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07KP6J8KF&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_iCmqCbB8ERVFT
My Author Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/Emberwrites/