“Thanks. Let me know if I can do anything else for you.” She gave a look that said she’d drop to her knees if he asked. Yeah, he’d have to look her up later.
He took a swig and noticed Eva staring at him, one brow cocked. “What?” He put on the most innocent look he could muster.
“Fuck, why didn’t you just toss her up on the table and have at it?” she asked with a smile that indicated she approved.
Lyzander snorted. “Make sure you look her over first. You don’t want to get tied down.”
Eli grinned, knowing the warrior referred to the birthmark a select few women carried. A partial feather, marking on their body, indicated they were born Nephilim, an angel’s mate. “Don’t worry bro, I’ve no intention on mating anytime soon.”
“No sane female would have either of you,” Eva scoffed, but they all knew she was kidding. She’d pestered both of them to settle down. Stating a loving woman was good for the soul.
“Aww gee, Eva.” Lyzander feigned disappointment. “I figure if Seph could catch you, then I’m a sure thing for any female.”
The guardian smiled. “You know you’re as cute as pie, sugar,” she poured on with her best southern accent. “Hell, if you’d gotten to me first, I would have fallen head over heels.” She blew him a kiss from across the pool table.
Lyzander puffed up his chest. “I’m a heartbreaker, darlin’. I’d have left you shattered.” He winked. “In more ways than one.”
“Okay, can we get to business?” Tegan asked, shaking his head. Not waiting for a reply, he led them to a private room in the back.
Eli grabbed a chair and spun it around before he straddled it. “Anyone else coming?”
“No, just us for now,” Tegan replied. “Gimme anything you got, no matter how insignificant you might think it is.”
Lyzander pierced them all with his blue gaze. “I can tell you that a daughter has been born to one of the fallen.”
“What?” They all shouted in unison.
He nodded. “Yep. My source is pretty reliable and said he witnessed it himself. Said she looked different, a cross between human and demon.”
Tegan scrubbed his face. “Fuck! You sure you trust this source?” he questioned.
“I trust him ninety-five percent of the time.”
“Shit,” Eli responded.
“They have to be mating then in order to have children,” Eva pointed out. “I shudder to think they are taking mates against their will.”
“It’s a possibility, but we don’t know anything for sure.” Tegan replied.
“Wait a minute. We’re missing something really important here. You said a daughter was born, so that would mean the mother wasn’t a mate but fully human,” Eli pointed out. When angels had sex with human females, they could choose to impregnate them or not. The children born from such a union were strictly female, and bestowed a special gift. These Nephilim were the only females an angel could mate with, and then any children born would be male.
Maybe this was why things had gone to hell. No angels had mated since… Well Eva was the last that Eli could recall, and she’d been with them for three hundred years. Around the same time, the Tribunal brought in the Seven who currently enforce our rules.
He shook the thought free, remembering there had been longer periods where no matings had occurred and nothing like this had happened.
Eli. Help me.
Shit. He jumped from his chair. Somehow, Gabriel had called to him through a private telepathic connection. “I gotta go.” He turned and headed out the door before the others could question him. The waitress stepped in his way.
“I get off in three hours.” She flashed a sexy smile.
“If I’m done by then I’ll be back.” He stormed outside and scanned the area. No one was looking so he summoned his wings and shot into the air. Gabriel’s calling for help was out of the norm for a fallen and had him wondering what kind of trouble the archangel was truly in.
5
Ashley stretched and sat up as daylight filtered in the window. She leaped from bed, shoved her feet into slippers, and pulled on her thick robe. Walking to the window, she pulled back the curtain and looked up at the sky.
Clear.
A new blanket of snow covered the landscape, giving it a fresh look. She headed for the kitchen and started the coffee maker. While it hissed and sent out a thick aroma, she turned on her laptop. Hopefully, since it wasn’t snowing, the damn satellite would be working and she could get internet. She was on the edge of where service was provided and even on good days it was iffy.
“Come on. Please work.” She waited as the web browser started, and the colored wheel sat in the middle of her screen and spun. She dropped her forehead on the kitchen table. “Ugh!” Pushing herself up, she went to the cabinet and grabbed a mug. The damn coffee was done before the browser finished loading.
After adding sugar and a touch of milk, she went back to her computer. “Finally.” Sitting, she carefully typed.
Seeing a person’s death when you look into their eyes.
She hit enter and waited, feeling her forehead crease in frustration. “Bloody hell. I think a friggin’ hamster wheel would work faster.” Sometimes technology was not a blessing.
Finally, Google search loaded its findings. She scanned the first one.
Seeing death in someone’s eyes. Have you?
She drew in a breath. Her finger poised over the touch pad on her Mac. I can do this. She clicked the link and entered the site. Luckily, the internet decided to behave and loaded quickly. Scanning the first post, she had a sudden rush of disappointment. The woman talked about seeing a young girl in a hospital and went on to explain that her pupils were large and she looked as if she were dying.
“If only that was my problem,” Ashley sighed.
She continued to go through the other posts in hopes someone would speak of an experience like hers.
Nothing.
She drained her coffee and got up for another cup. Returning, she continued her search.
“When you look into someone’s eyes you can see their soul. Umm, no. Can you tell whether a person is dead by their eyes?” She groaned, but continued to scroll down the results Google had given her.
Tears threatened. “I’m a damn freak!” she screamed and threw the mug across the kitchen, shattering it against the cupboard. Spiraling into uncontrollable sobs, she pulled her knees up to her chest and squeezed. She’d only been here a couple of days, and already loneliness seeped into her soul. She’d thought she’d been prepared, but how could any human being expect to live alone with little outside contact. Hell, she didn’t even have a freaking cat to keep her company. She’d always wanted a pet, but feared she’d see their death too.
Burying her face in her knees, she sobbed as her entire body shook. “I can’t do this!” Reality slapped her hard. She’d fooled herself when she was back home. Had avoided people for the most part. Didn’t date except for Ben and had no friends to speak. Her entire existence was a joke.
Her energy spent, she blew her nose into a tissue, calmly rose and began to clean up the broken ceramic. Her mind was made up. No way she could continue living this nightmare. She was lonely, afraid, exhausted, angry, and just plain sick and tired. For a brief moment, she felt a pang of guilt for what her death would do to Viv—and a jolt of fear. Would she end up burning in Hell for eternity? She rested her palms on the table and hunched over.
“I’m already in Hell,” she whispered. Hell existed here on earth and since her so-called God didn’t really exist––he would have never let her suffer like this––then Hell had to be fiction as well.
She raised her head and stared across the room, looking out the window as the sky darkened with a brewing storm. She would end it all soon.
* * *
Eli landed on the rooftop of an apartment high-rise and folded in his wings, keeping them tucked into his back if he needed to make a quick takeoff. The night was still, and the moon hid behi
nd dark clouds. It was the perfect setting for evil, and he sensed the humans preying on each other below. He wanted to conjure empathy, but in reality, he had none. Not for these people anyway. They were the ones who preyed on the weak and innocent. Taking what didn’t belong to them, which often included another life. Eli did feel satisfaction in knowing they would suffer in the end. When their pathetic lives were cut short, the reapers, such as his friend Seph, would escort them to their eternity of suffering.
There was no escape for the condemned.
Eli.
Gabriel had reached out again. He wasn’t far, and he was in pain. Eli weighed his options. This could be a trap set to take him out. As much as he didn’t want to think about it, his friend had fallen and could no longer be trusted. The fact that––as far as he knew––no fallen had ever reached out before, had him wondering if he should call for backup. He quickly rejected the idea and leaped from the building. Shielding his presence from the humans below, he landed without a sound on the pavement. Holding his hand out, he summoned his dagger and strode forward. The smell of death permeated the air.
Gabriel was ahead, and he was being a bad boy.
Eli didn’t try to sneak up on his friend. It would be pointless since the archangel was not only ancient but had once been a great warrior. Nothing got past Gabriel. Eli only hoped he could take his friend down.
“Gabriel, drop the human.” The angel was busy sucking the soul from a man whose clothes were threadbare, indicating he was most likely one of the local homeless.
The warrior looked up with pain-filled red eyes as he dropped his victim, and Eli almost stumbled backward. Never in all his years of hunting the fallen had he seen such agony.
“Kill me.” The gravel-filled voice didn’t even belong to his friend.
“Gabriel. Are you still in there?” Eli sent out his senses and detected the victim’s faint heartbeat. The man’s soul was almost gone; he wouldn’t last much longer.
“Eli.” Gabriel closed his eyes; his jaw hardened. “I can’t stop myself.” He opened his eyes, which had turned into black pools that filled his entire socket. “You must end me before I kill you.”
Another first.
Never had a fallen asked to have his life ended, but then again Gabriel was an ancient. Eli sensed his struggle. The warrior was still buried deep within, but the darkness almost ruled him.
“Maybe you can fight it, Gabriel. Come back with me, and we can confine you until we find a cure.” He had no idea if that was even possible. How did you replace an angel’s soul?
“No,” the angel growled. “You don’t understand. I know I’m killing them, but I can’t stop myself. You must end my misery before all of me is gone.” The angel held his hands up and inspected them as if he’d never seen them before. “These hands killed only those deserving, now I don’t care whose life I take. I fought the hunger for as long as I could. Never take their soul, Eli, it will be your end.” His eyes flashed back to red and his lip curled into a snarl.
Shit. Eli had no idea what any of this meant, but he was smart enough to realize Gabriel intended to come after him next. Without hesitation, he lifted his arm and launched the dagger, landing it straight into the archangel’s heart. His long time friend exploded into dust; the dagger clanked to the pavement. Pain and guilt had him fisting his hands as he strode forward. He passed the human, who lay unconscious on the ground. With most of his soul missing, agony pulsed off him. Eli knew he should call for a guardian to assist, but he couldn’t bring himself to follow through. Instead, he stared at what was left of his friend, and for the first time in his existence, he despised being a hunter.
* * *
Ashley had tossed and turned all night. Her conscience wrestled with her earlier decision, and she’d finally gotten up, showered, and dressed. She’d gone about her normal routine with making breakfast and cleaning up. She was smart enough to realize she was looking for any reason to stall. Did she really want to die?
No.
“I want to live, but I need to be normal to do that,” she whispered, sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. She jumped to her feet and ran to the living room, dropping to her knees in front of the fireplace. It was the only place she could think of to pray.
Dear God, if you’re there, can you please help me? Maybe you’re angry that I’ve questioned your existence, but can you blame me? If there is a reason I can see people die, then I need you to share that with me. Am I supposed to do something with this gift? I feel so lost and alone. I can’t go on like this. Please, I’m begging... Tears rolled down her cheeks. Give me some kind of sign and hurry!
She wiped her palm over her eyes and pushed herself to her feet. Ashley didn’t feel confident that she would get any sign from above. She’d tried before and had only been ignored, but she would wait until tonight. Meanwhile, she rummaged through the desk drawer. Pulling out a note pad and a pen, she curled up on the couch.
Dear Viv,
Please know that I love you very much and how sorry I am about the pain this will cause you. I can’t do it. Not anymore. I need to be released from this curse. I hope you will try to understand.
Love, Ashley.
She just didn’t have the energy to write more. Dropping the pad on the coffee table, she grabbed the afghan from the back of the couch and curled up. There was nothing to do but sleep. No one to talk to, but maybe the sign she’d been looking for would come in her dreams.
Ashley woke with a start, feeling as though she’d just dozed off, but when she looked at the clock it was nine in the evening. Pushing herself up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stood, and looked around.
It was time.
Going to the closet, she pulled out her coat and boots but realized if she simply walked out the back door dressed as she was, death would come a lot faster. With a shrug, she pulled them on anyway then stepped outside. Brisk air blew and chilled her exposed skin. She tipped her head back and looked up to a clear sky. The aurora borealis danced a brilliant green, and she stepped off the porch, walking further from the house to get a better look. Maybe if I just stand here and enjoy the beauty, I won’t notice the cold. She hoped hypothermia would set in unnoticed.
A growl came from behind her.
She swung around, surprised wolves would come this close. They were not known for bothering people and usually kept to themselves. However, what she saw sent fear skittering up her spine. The wolf was enormous. Its head, larger than a Mastiff, and the body that followed behind it just as big. Large fangs dripped saliva as it snarled at her, but what really set her on edge were the red eyes. The beast looked as if it were possessed by the devil and before she could react, it lunged for her. Suddenly she feared death.
6
Two pairs of boots broke the silence in the Hall of Fate as Eli and his commander, Tegan, strode down the marble corridor. Eli glanced out of the corner of his eye at the man towering next to him. He had a sneer on his face, and Eli had put it there. Again.
“The only reason you aren’t in shackles is because I deemed it so,” Tegan ground out. He rubbed his palm over the dark scruff on his chin. “I can’t fucking believe you did it again!”
“I told you, Gabriel wanted it. He had enough sense left in him to beg me to take his life.” Eli’s job as a bounty hunter for the Tribunal was to bring back the fallen angels for judgment. He was having a hard time doing that though.
They stopped in front of a pair of gold-leafed wooden doors. A guard on either side reached out and swung them open.
Tegan gave him a hard stare. His green eyes drilled a hole into him. “I’m sure it was a trick of some sort.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what they’ll do with you this time, Eli. I’ve done all I can to save your sorry ass. Now your fate is in the hands of the Seven.”
“I understand, and I will accept my punishment.”
Tegan entered first. He was one of the elite, a commander of the bounty hunters, and his station dictated El
i follow behind him.
They approached the bench where the Seven already awaited. Each wore a gown of pure white silk that conformed to their curved bodies. Blondes, brunettes, and redheads, they had been the most beautiful women in the world and luckily, they all had mates. The auras of their mates kept both his and Tegan’s lust in check. These angels enforced all the laws and today would hand down their punishment for Eli’s crimes.
“Step forward, Eli,” the blonde in the center called out.
He took three steps and stood before the long, wooden bench. His gaze met each of the council members, and he tried to assess what they might be thinking.
“Eli,” the woman sighed. “This is the third time you have come before us. Do you understand why you are here?”
“Yes, my lady. For the death of Gabriel.”
She nodded. “You seem to be having a hard time remembering that it is our duty to pass judgment on the fallen, not yours. Please explain again what your duties are supposed to be.”
Eli pulled back his shoulders. “I am a bounty hunter. My duty is to bring in the fallen so you may pass judgment on their crimes.”
She tapped her red nails on the wooden bench. “Well, you know what you’re supposed to do, so what is the problem?”
He bowed his head. “I saw Gabriel sucking the soul from an innocent. Just as I had with the others.” He couldn’t wash the image from his mind. His best friend, who’d once been a great warrior in the angel armies, had fallen and become a dark lord. “I took Gabriel’s life just as I had the other two.” He didn’t figure telling them Gabriel had asked him to end his existence would make any difference. Matter of fact, it would likely make matters worse since they would have wanted to examine the rogue angel.
“Look at me,” the angel commanded.
He raised his head and stared at the seven pairs of eyes glaring at him.
Fall Into Darkness Page 4