Saving Angel (A Divisa Novel, Book 1)

by Weil, J. L.

  There was a brisk evening breeze tinted with the smells of perfume, musk, and country air. Fall was definitely in full swing. My footsteps on the gravel blacktop echoed in the night, as I was swiftly assaulted with horrible memories.

  How could I have forgotten?

  It had only a been a few weeks since I was in this exact parking lot with a lower-demon, hell bent on sucking the life from me. I shivered.

  Immediately I wished I had thought of calling Travis to come with me.

  Too late now.

  Suck it up, I told myself.

  Every tiny sound made me jump. Picking up my pace, I hightailed to the side of the school. The grass was damp from the evening fog, and my sneakers squeaked under the green blades. I gripped onto the ends of Chase’s hoodie as I rounded to the football field. At least the lights were on.

  “Brandy,” I whispered, walking around the bleachers. Where the hell was she? I walked onto the football field scanning for her outline. “Brandy!” I called louder. This was ridiculous. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket with the intent of call her.

  “Angel,” I heard my name from behind me.

  Turning around, I squinted. She stepped out of the dark shadows into my view. Relief swarmed through me.

  Finally.

  I walked toward her. “I was just about to call you,” I said as I got closer. It was then that I noticed her eyes. They were glassy, and she looked right through me. “Brandy, are you okay?” I asked hesitantly. I stopped in my tracks.

  She didn’t answer me, but the voice that did, made my blood freeze.

  “Good job Brandy. Such an excellent performance.” He stepped out into the open.

  My stance faltered as my knees almost gave out. There was something about lesser-demons. They all had the same human look, like a secret service but way scarier. He took off his sunglasses, throwing them on the ground. Looking into Brandy’s eyes with his blackness pits, he said, “Go back to the party before your boyfriend notices you are missing.”

  And like a robot, she trotted across the field back to the school without as much as a glance in my direction. Technically, I understood that she was under his mind control, but I was kind of pissed she left me alone.

  Shit.

  I needed to think of something. Fast.

  It didn’t help that my brain had shut off. Close to an all-out panic, my fingers dug onto my phone in a death grip of fear.

  My phone.

  As inconspicuous as possible, I hit the speed dial that I prayed was programmed for Chase. And to think I had almost erased his number from my phone today.

  “Well, now that we are alone…” Agent creep-o said, walking toward me. His voice was raspy, immensely spine-chilling.

  I backed up, thinking I needed as much distance between us as possible. My quaking fingers fumbled for the dial button, I couldn’t have been clumsier in my movements. Apparently he had other plans.

  A breath later he was in my face, intense heat rolling off him in waves of anger. He cocked his head. “You’re not at all what I expected,” he said, staring.

  “So I’ve been told,” I moaned.

  He leered. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

  At least one of us was, because I was sure I wasn’t.

  My finger trembled, and I finally hit talk, a second before it tumbled from my hand. Clutching the hoodie, he lifted me off my feet leveling our gazes.

  Whimpering, I met him eye-to-eye. “What? Do you plan on killing me here, in the middle of the school football field?” I asked loudly, praying that Chase had picked up.

  “Angel,” a muffled voice broke the evening silence.

  I shut my eyes at the sound of his voice.

  The demon’s soulless eyes flicked down to the phone imbedded in the grass. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her,” he crackled, before bringing his foot down on the phone, smashing it to smithereens.

  That was my second phone in a month. My mom was going to think I ate the things.

  I closed my eyes, my death imminent.

  His finger trailed down my cheek, drawing blood. “That wasn’t very smart, but I heard you were spunky.”

  He wanted spunk, then how could I disappoint.

  Twisting my head out of his painful grasp, I looked him in the eyes. Sometimes I wished I thought about shit before I acted on it. It was something I should probably work on.

  With as much power as I could muster, I cracked my hand against his cheek, a perfect execution of a bitch slap. It was just enough for him to drop me to the ground, and I didn’t waste a second of the precious time I was given.

  Scrambling to my feet, I took off at a dead run, even though I knew it was pointless. The instinct to run was instilled into every beat of my heart. His angry growl behind me rumbled the ground under my feet. Stumbling, I felt his hands encircle my neck, pulling me against his iron chest.

  I screamed out.

  He had slipped from his human form, I found as I looked down at the ashen arms bounding me. “You didn’t really think you’d escape me, did you?”

  Of course not asshole, but a girl could try.

  He squeezed, closing off my air supply, making it harder and harder to breathe. I gasped for air, and he eased off, letting the sweet taste of oxygen fill my lungs again. I inhaled ravenously.

  A sickening wolf howled in the woods, bordering the school property line, and my heart beat in triple time. There were more of them. Dread hit the pit of my belly.

  “Sounds like the party started without the guest of honor,” he hissed, and then we were moving through the woods at stomach turning speeds. He was just as fast as Chase, except nowhere near as gracious.

  Branches and leaves lashed against my exposed skin, stinging like a bullwhip. Biting my lip to keep from crying, I pierced the skin, tasting metallic blood. He stopped swiftly in the center of a clearing, and threw me on the ground. There was a horrendous whack as my body hit the hard surface, jarring my brain from my head and scraping every inch of my body.

  I lay there dumbfounded, losing any sense of realism.

  “Now we wait for your friends,” he said, leering above me.

  Lifting my head, I scanned the edges of the circle. Beady eyes of scorching red lined the perimeter, gnarling teeth barred in menace.

  Hellhounds. A pack of them by the look of it.

  There were also two other lower-demons completely shelled of their human skin. Their large black eyes looked at me with tortured hunger. The sight turned my stomach in knots, and I thought there was good chance I was going to puke.

  Oh God. What have I done?

  They were going to use me as bait. And I just might have led my friends to a death trap.

  “Sier, Oriax meet our little spitfire. Don’t take your eyes of this one; she’s likely to gouge them out.” He laughed at his own pathetic joke. It sounded demented and evil.

  Sier and Oriax looked like they wanted to suck me dry. I wasn’t sure they were the best keepers.

  “Vassago, prince,” one of the shadowy subordinates called. His onyx eyes looked at him with loathing. “We need strength,” he said, licking his black lizard lips.

  “She is not your vessel,” he hissed. “Just make sure she does not escape. And prepare yourselves, our guests are almost here.”

  Pushing myself into a sitting position, I hugged my knees, shaking. Vassago hovered over me looking ginormous. There was shuffling in the trees right before I saw two pairs of twin gold eyes.

  Casually they stepped into the clearing. I was overjoyed with relief and panic. These demons had used me to get to them, and I didn’t want them putting themselves in danger. There were just too many of the bad guys.

  Lexi.

  Her eyes burned like a cat’s. She wasn’t the fragile, prissy, and prim Lexi. She looked like a killer in a prom dress. Even I was scared of her, never having seen this side of her before.

  Hayden was next to her. Together they stood, eyes shining bright.

  “We ca
me to play,” she said, her voice toxic.

  Vassago snarled beside me, while the hellhounds behind us howled. I’d never seen Lexi and Hayden fight before, but I was pretty sure we were in deep shit. How could the two of them take three lower-demons and a pack of hellhounds?

  “Then come meet your death, half-breeds,” Vassago invited, his dark voice wrapping around me.

  “Lexi no!” I screamed. “It’s a trap–” Vassago kicked me in the gut, cutting off my words and cracking a few ribs in the process. The revolting crunch fractured above my whimper. I curled in a ball clenching my stomach.

  Everything turned into blinding chaos. Rolling on the ground in searing pain, I forced my eyes opened. Even as tears stung them, I searched for my friends. If I could just see that they were okay…

  Lexi kicked ass.

  The hellhounds were on her, coming from all angles. She grabbed one by the ratted muzzle snapping its neck, then spun around unsheathing a blade and rammed into another’s chest. Their death whines were almost instantaneous, she moved so quickly.

  Hayden was at my side, putting his arms under me. “Let’s get you out of here before Chase cuts my head off.”

  I winced. “Lexi,” I protested.

  “She’s fine and better at this than me. She trains with Chase.” He said it like that explained everything. And maybe it did. Chase was pretty damn badass.

  A demon literally popped into my view. “Behind you,” I yelled.

  Hayden didn’t have enough time, and the lower-demon sent him sprawling through the air. The demon took full advantage of my precarious position. Pinning me to the ground, he immediately held me in his gaze, locked onto my beating heart, and started sucking the life right out of me. It was like having my inners ripped out by his bare hands.

  “Sier, I told you she wasn’t a feeding source,” Vassago growled, tearing Sier off me and shoving him away.

  As I lay there staring up at the stars, my chest felt like it was going to cave in. A tingling skirted down my neck.

  He was here.

  His war cry thundered over the grunts and groans of battle.

  Chase.

  Chapter 27

  Travis was right beside him. Together they looked like an avenging angel and a dark warrior. Chase’s eyes flickered to mine, right before he jumped in immediately dispensing a hellhound without so much as lifting a hand. He moved with purpose, making his way to the center where I lay on the ground. I tried to move only to have my body fail me.

  Dispelling everything in their path like Tasmanian devils, Travis and Chase stood frowning in the center of the clearing, their glowing eyes piercing Vassago.

  “So you’re Alastair’s bastard,” Vassago leered, unnerved by the fighting around him.

  Chase’s golden eyes flamed. The mention of the father he never knew was a sneaky tactic. But other than an arch of his brow, Chase didn’t flinch.

  “Let’s see if you are half the demon he is,” Vassago taunted, his two minions jeering at his back. “Oh,” he bent down putting his slimy hand on my neck. “You better hurry. Her pulse wavers,” he said, right before slicing a crucial cut on my neck. “That should help.”

  Chase’s bellow of anger drowned out anything else Vassago might have said as he went into turbo speed. Sier and Oriax stepped in, engaging Chase and Travis before either of them could get close. Bum-rushing the demons who were so much bigger in height and girth, the impact thundered over the clearing.

  I cringed.

  Blood gurgled in my throat, and it slipped out the side of my mouth. I started to lose sight of Chase as I found it harder and harder to keep my eyes open.

  The grass was damp, cold, and colored with my blood. I felt like I was freezing to death, my body racked with the shakes. While Chase and Travis were busy with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, Vassage decided I was no longer of use.

  “Angel,” Lexi cried, zipping toward me.

  Just my name was enough to distract Chase, glancing at me cost him. Oriax had him to the ground with plummeting fists of iron. I heard the slaps of bone on flesh.

  Oh God, I thought. This was it.

  I didn’t even see it happen. Suddenly Chase was covered in Oriax ashes. Black soot was smeared on his fierce face, and he was breathing heavily.

  I looked up in relief, the moon was full. A definite bad omen, but Chase was still alive.

  Yet it wasn’t over. Vassago’s hollow eyes captured mine. How could I have forgotten that he was dominating over me? I thought about my mom. She was going to be beside herself with grief, and I couldn’t help but think about her alone. As he latched onto my life essence, I blocked out all the terrible hurt and thought of my mom’s face.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was on the brink of death. With each breath, I knew it could be my last. Stillness came over me, easing the ache of all my pains and the end of my life. Everything moved in slow motion.

  Just as I inhaled my final bit of air, Chase was overshadowing Vassago. Lifting the sparkling ruby dagger over his head, he ran it through the center of his chest and Vassago erupted on a defeated roar into millions of immoral ashes. Chase dropped where he was to his knees. Lexi was screaming my name hysterically, her tears falling on my cheek as she pulled me into her arms. She looked like the Lexi I knew, her eyes a sobering turquoise.

  Travis was beside her in a flash. “Angel, talk to me,” Travis begged. “Say something,” he demanded.

  But it was too late.

  “Don’t – don’t close your eyes,” he yelled. Lexi was sobbing painfully.

  There just wasn’t any fight left in me. I slipped into darkness, with the sound of Chase’s anguish cry following me, begging me not to die. His beautiful arrogant face etched into my memories as they moved through my head like a motion film. Every single moment we spent together.

  Then there was nothing.

  No feeling.

  No pain.

  No Chase.

  There was however a sense of weightlessness. I couldn’t feel my body anymore, but there was a light airy tickle. It was refreshing, uplifting, and angelic. Surely this must be the path to heaven. All I needed to do was wait on my angel.

  A swoosh of air passed over my shapeless form. Then I heard the faint mourning and denials of my friends. How could that be? Their sorrowing cries stabbed into my dead heart.

  When I opened my eyes, I experienced the most astronomical out-of-body experience. I was literally floating above my own body with an extremely freakish shadowy figure next to me, cloaked in black tattered robes. Inside the hood, he was faceless except for his white incandescent eyes.

  I blinked again just to make sure.

  This was definitely not from heaven. Apparently my nightmare wasn’t over.

  Tearing my gaze from the dementor-like figure, I looked down…at myself?

  Holy shitballs.

  Lexi was crouched beside me with her hand clasped in mine. There was a free flowing amount of tears streaming down her beautiful face. Travis pulled her into his arms, and Chase stared down at me. He pushed the plastered hair from my face, mumbling my name repetitively. “Angel, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” he murmured against my already blue lips.

  Blood trickled from my nose, my eyes were open and empty, and I lay in an awkward position. It was evident that I had broken something. My skin was sickly pale, without any life in it. I’ve never seen a dead body before, let alone my own. It was beyond messed up. It was just plain wrong.

  Lifting his wet silver eyes to the sky, I thought he was going to see me, but it wasn’t me he could see. I had forgotten. Divisa’s could see death.

  His eyes widened and were overcastted with disbelief. “No,” he whispered in agony. “No!” This time it was more forceful.

  Travis and Lexi looked up. Neither of them took the sight very well. Lexi shook her head crying harder, and Travis buried her head in his chest, clinging to his sister. Her sobs jolted me to the core. I hated seeing them upset over me. I hated that I had
put that overwhelming sadness in their eyes.

  “You can’t take her,” Chase argued. Only he could think of arguing with Death. Some things never change.

  The liquid black shadow hovered over me, and his voice was dark, raspy, and haunting. “It’s out of your hands half-breed. She has been tainted by the underworld. Hell is the only place for her.”

  Hell. Did he just say I was going to hell? I was starting to panic all over again. No way could I go to hell. I tried to scream Chase’s name, but nothing came out.

  “That can’t be,” Chase argued.

  My thoughts exactly. I was no saint, but hell? He had to do something, Chase wouldn’t let him take me to hell…he just wouldn’t. My rationalization was astonishing.

  “She has been touched by the underworld,” the reaper insisted forcefully. I don’t think he was in a bargaining mood. You don’t barter with Death.

  “No!” Chase screamed. The terror in his voice was unmistakable. “No. That can’t be. She is good, pure.”

  Images played through my mind – the lower-demons stealing my life-force more than once, the hellhound hunt in the woods, being bit. I had more brushes with death and hell than any human should.

  I knew it.

  Chase knew it.

  Death knew it.

  “Not anymore,” replied Death.

  “Bullshit!” Chase bellowed. “It’s because of me.”

  “Blame won’t change her fate.”

  “There has to be something you can do. You’re Death,” he said, unable to accept the inevitable. I wasn’t exactly gung-ho about going to hell either.

  The reaper seemed to grow tired of this conversation. “Her outcome has already been decided, what will prolonging it do?”

  “So there is something. You must help her. Please,” he begged. “Please, I’ll do anything. Just save her.”

  “Half-breed, what you ask will not only affect her, it will affect you as well. Her life won’t be any easier on earth.” He reached his cloaked hand toward where I floated beside him.

  “Just save her,” Chase whispered in sorrow. It broke my heart to hear him so dejected. “I’ll do anything,” he promised.

  The reaper eyed him thoughtfully as he weighed my fate in his hands. “So let it be done, but you’ve been warned Chase Winters. She is your responsibility now. Your lives have been intertwined, and the mark I give her is yours.”