“He’s powerful,” Michael interrupted, “and his wings mean he is not a Nephilim. I should be with him now. He needs me, and he’ll need guidance through the decisions to come.”
“Then why aren’t you with him now? There isn’t any more you can do for me.”
“Stop.”
Michael’s tone made Ardat sit straight. “What do you mean? Stop what?”
“Stop with this defeatist attitude. I refuse to believe that you’re going to die. I refuse to believe that the woman I loved is completely gone. Show some emotion. Fight for your survival—something, anything!” During the course of his outburst, Michael had risen from his seat and taken a step toward Ardat. “I haven’t given up on you. Don’t give up on yourself. Don’t give up on us.”
Tears pooled in her dark eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she broke eye contact with Michael, looking toward her cell wall. Her dark hair fell like a curtain, concealing her face.
“You owe me that much, Ardat.” Michael didn’t mean to continue speaking, nor did he intend to walk to the cell bars and grip the metal so tightly that it dimpled under his power. “If you still love me like you say you do, then you’ll fight. We’ll find some way to get through this.”
“Why?”
Michael shook with anger. This one simple question, spoken just above a whisper, suddenly stopped him. “Why? Why what?”
Ardat still refused to look at him. “Why—how can you still love me, after what I’ve done?”
Michael’s response was quick as the lump in his throat finally won its battle and cracked his voice. “Because I love you, not for who you are, but despite who you are. I always will.”
Ardat turned to look at him again. Tears were running down the fair skin of her cheeks in an open sign of vulnerability. “Then I’ll fight. I won’t give up. Not just for me, for us. It’s a long shot, but I may have some information that could save me.”
---
Alan glided through the air as though he’d been born with wings. Flying was one of the few things that had come easy to him. After only a few weeks with his new wings, he was as proficient as any angel. What Alan was not gifted with was a sense of direction. Although studying had told him what was left of the Temple of Artemis was located in present-day Turkey, its specific location evaded him.
Now, nearing his location, he was tempted to call Danielle to ask her for the exact route, but he decided against it. If she knew where he was going, she’d insist on joining him. Alan slowed his rate of flight and weighed his options. I could land somewhere and ask for directions. Maybe I can find the Temple by using a map on my phone. Probably should have thought this out better.
Alan slowed his forward progress even further, coming to a hover. He was past the Atlantic Ocean now, and his best guess put him somewhere in Spain’s airspace. The scene below him was too far away to make out more than the familiar browns and greens of a generic landscape. Alan reached into his black jacket for his phone, and as his fingers gripped the familiar shape, it began to vibrate.
Somewhat surprised he still received a signal at his current altitude, he looked at who was calling. Danielle’s name was glowing on and off as his phone continued to shudder in his hand. “Hey, I was just about to call you for directions.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re lost, aren’t you? Temple of Artemis, right?” Danielle didn’t wait for an answer. “You’re way off course.”
“How did you know I was gone and where I was going?”
“Alan, please. I know I can’t fly, but I’m not stupid. I saw how angry you were when Seraphim came back with no news. I figured you’d go take a look yourself.”
Alan pressed the phone to his ear as his wings continued to flap in the still air. “Okay, I can buy that. But why the Temple? How did you know I’d go there?”
“I could ask you the same question. Even though you’re off course, that’s the general direction you’re headed.”
Alan turned his head every which way, expecting to somehow see Danielle appear. “You can see me?”
“Pretty much. I started tracking your phone after you stormed out of the warehouse.”
“Is there no privacy at all? Don’t we have laws against that?”
“Nope, that’s what friends are for. If you fly back in the same direction you came, we can just go to the Temple together. I’m a few hours behind you but with that speed thing you do, you could intercept the jet in—”
“You’re following me?” Alan’s eyes widened.
“Um … yeah, you really need to get with the program. I’m not going to let you do this alone. We’re friends now. That means we have to watch each other’s backs. If I started to grow weird glowing things out of my body, I’d expect you to do the same for me.”
Alan cracked a grin as he said a silent prayer of thanks for his friend. “This could be dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Thanks, Mom, I’ll be fine. Besides, if anything does happen, I can heal us, remember?”
“Good point. Okay, where are you? I’ll come to you and we’ll find the Temple together.”
---
“See now, isn’t this better? You know where you’re going. You’re not alone. You have someone to talk with.”
Alan looked over at a smiling Danielle from his co-pilot seat in the jet’s cockpit. Déjà vu hit him as he remembered a similar trip a month ago when the two were sent to implore the Death Angels for assistance. “Yes, this is better,” Alan said in a playfully reluctant tone.
Danielle kept a smile on her face as she surveyed the jet’s control panel. “With the jet’s cloaking system, we’ll be invisible to both eyes and radar. Still, I think it would be best to wait until night to touch down in Turkey. I’ll bring us as close as we can get to the Temple remains. What do you think we’ll find? And you never did tell me why you’d chosen the Temple as your first place to look.”
Alan laid aside his fear of finding nothing while the same urge that told him to visit the Temple first also whispered promises of a final resolution. “I hope we’ll find answers. As to why I think we should visit the Temple first—I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”
Danielle gave the jet control board a break from her stare as she glanced over at Alan. “Try me.”
Alan pursed his lips, searching his vocabulary for the correct words. “It’s like a feeling, almost a voice that’s not mine. I know it sounds weird, but it’s not scary; it’s comforting in a way. The feeling’s telling me the answers are out there, and I just need to find them.” Alan looked over at Danielle with a wince. “Does that sound crazy?”
“No,” Danielle said. “What does this voice sound like?”
“Like—” Alan paused, trying to think back to the instinct that told him to search for answers at the Temple of Artemis. Wrapping his mind around the idea was harder than he’d expected, like his hands opening to catch the wind. The only way he could describe the feeling was: “I guess, it’s like a little girl, and she’s whispering to me.”
Alan stared out the front windshield of the jet, turning his gaze from the last rays of the sun’s descent and the approaching night when he heard Danielle adjust in her seat. She was looking at him with huge eyes.
“A little girl? Never mind, I take it back. That is creepy.”
Alan shrugged, his broad shoulders tightening the belt buckle across his chest as he made the motion. “I told you it was weird. I’ve tried to ignore the feeling, but it’s been there for the last month, slowly picking up in intensity.”
“How come you didn’t say anything?”
“Say what? That I had a weird feeling, that I was maybe hearing voices of a little girl whispering to me at night?”
Danielle pursed her lips and rethought her words. “Good point. But it doesn’t mean you’re crazy. Maybe it’s someone trying to reach out to you. As Nephilim, we have a wide range of abilities. It’s possible someone’s trying to contact you using their unique gifts.”
/> Alan sat quietly as the implications of Danielle’s words sank in. “But the Fallen have powers, too. So we could be on our way to meet a Nephilim, a member of the Fallen, or maybe I’m just going crazy.”
A light flashed on the jet’s dashboard, and Danielle moved her hands across the steering column, switching buttons here and there. Her fingers flew over the vehicle’s control board almost as fast as they maneuvered around a keyboard.
“Well, whatever it is,” she said, “we’ll find out soon. We’re here.”
---
Thanks to the jet’s ability to travel at a speed nearly compatible with Alan’s, they made it to the remains of the Temple of Artemis located in present-day Turkey in record time.
The moon was just beginning to glow high above the city, with an army of stars combating one another for dominion of the night sky. Although the grounds were clear of any life, they decided to wait a few hours just to be safe.
Danielle lowered the cloaked jet onto a clear patch of ground. Thanks to the aircraft’s stealth capabilities, they’d be invisible to both radar and the unwanted eye.
Danielle busied herself with a book until the shadows deepened, heralding the time to make their move.
Alan managed to sit still for what he thought had already been an hour, though another check of the time told him only twenty minutes had passed. He tried to think about anything else besides how slow time was going by, but he couldn’t.
“You should have brought something to read,” Danielle said from her seat.
Alan looked over, expecting to make eye contact, but her black-rimmed glasses were still glued to the pages of her book.
“Yeah, well, there isn’t a whole lot of room for The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I’m flying solo. What are you reading, anyway?” Alan leaned over and cocked his head, trying to get a better look at the cover of her book.
Danielle raised an eyebrow at his nosiness, but turned the book title toward him so he could get a closer look. The cover was white-and-red checkered, with enough animals in the background to fill a zoo. The creatures ranged from everyday house pets like dogs and cats, to farm animals such as pigs and horses. The front of the cover read: How to Pick the Right Pet for You.
Alan sat back, unsure of what to make of this recent development. Of all the books he’d imagined Danielle reading, this was not one of them.
“You want to get a pet?”
“Yep,” Danielle said, flipping to the front of the book. “This thing is great. It asks you a series of questions, and based on your needs and personality, it matches you up with the perfect pet for you.”
“It’s like online dating, but for pets?”
Danielle’s face contorted into a look of disdain. “No, it’s not. It’s not like that at all, Price.”
“Um … yeah it is.”
“I’m not trying to find a boyfriend. I’m looking into getting a pet.”
“What’s it telling you to get?”
“I haven’t finished the questionnaire. Here’s an idea: let’s try you.”
Alan was about to refuse, but Danielle had already readjusted her position in her seat and pulled out a pencil like it was a magic trick. “This will be fun, and we’ll be able to pass the time faster than my sitting here reading and you brooding in your seat next to me.”
“I wasn’t brooding.”
“If I’m pet dating, you’re brooding. Let’s start. First question. Remember, you have to answer honestly.”
Alan let go of a deep sigh, resigning himself to a future that now involved answering a series of questions to match him to his perfect animal. Time couldn’t move fast enough.
“Would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?”
Before Alan could answer, Danielle make a quick check mark motion with her wrist. The action was barely noticeable, but Alan had definitely witnessed her pencil come in contact with the paper.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“I didn’t even answer yet.”
“Come on, Price, we both know the answer to that one.”
Motion out of the corner of his eye turned Alan’s attention to the Temple’s remains where, from his seat in the cockpit, he was given a wide view of what was left. Although it’d been built and rebuilt three times throughout history, the building had also been destroyed an equal number of times. Now, only crumbling stone walls and huge pillars rose from the ground, all in varying stages of decay.
Alan thought he witnessed, through the moonlight, a shadow move among the pillars while Danielle continued to try to engage him in a conversation regarding whether or not he would classify himself as an introvert, her voice droning on in the background as he strained to catch any more of the movement that had teased him only a moment before.
Darkness shrouded the landscape in deep shadows; with the aid of the moon and the stars, varying degrees of it played across the Temple’s remains. Then he saw it again, just for a moment—the outline of a man leaped between two pillars. Just as soon as the shape appeared, he was gone.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Alan licked his lips. Impossible. The person he thought he saw … was dead. He had to be. Memories flooded him as he once again relived the day of the battle in the desert; the descent with the Death Angels, the fighting, the dying.
“Alan?” The change in Danielle’s voice told him she’d already shifted from being annoyed by his lack of attention, to worried that he’d seen something.
“Stay here,” Alan said, and he stood, hurrying to the jet’s exit. “I think I saw someone out there.”
“Heck, no.” Danielle jumped to her feet and followed him, even as the words left his mouth. “I’ve seen way too many movies where the characters split up, and then the one left behind ends up dying. Besides, what are you going to do if you need someone to heal you?”
Alan knew better than to argue. Pressing the button for the rear of the jet to open, he nodded in her direction. “Okay, but if anything happens, stay behind me or run if it gets bad.”
“All right,” Danielle agreed.
The two made their way off the jet and across the grass and dirt in a low crouch. Alan led the way, Danielle keeping pace right behind him, until he reached a outcropping ten yards from the jet.
Alan looked back. Just as he thought, there was nothing there. The jet’s cloaking device worked like a charm, so whoever was running around in the Temple couldn’t have seen them. Alan would use this to his advantage.
A chill in the air, combined with the Alan’s already racing heart, threatened to let his nerves get the best of him.
Come on, he thought. You’re a Nephilim, or an angel, or something with crazy blue wings. Don’t be afraid.
Alan hesitated for a moment longer, searching the broken landscape for any hint of who he might have seen. Nothing changed.
With a nod to Danielle, Alan stood and jogged toward the Temple’s pillars, which rose into the night sky like trees sprouting from the forest ground. As Alan and Danielle entered the remains of the structure, Alan caught sight of the man’s shadow again.
The figure faced away from them, examining a part of the Temple where a set of stone stairs rose and then leveled off onto a flat platform. Alan blinked and rubbed at his eyes. Danielle’s gasp as she, too, saw the familiar form was enough to convince him. Kyle Brown had somehow survived the blast from Dominic Drencher during the battle in the desert. Even more shocking, he’d also traveled to the Temple of Artemis.
---
Alan’s mind raced to find an answer. How was he still alive? Whose side was he on? How should Alan deal with him now? Questions like these all fought to be heard. When it came to Kyle, Alan wasn’t prepared to make a decision.
There was no doubt Kyle had been deceived into joining Ardat in her uprising. He’d been used, and now tossed off to the side—an expendable soldier. Kyle also reminded Alan of a younger version of himself; the boy was lost, confused, depressed, lonely … and t
he list went on.
The only thing that held Alan back from welcoming him wasn’t that they’d met in combat twice before. It was the memory of Arther. Kyle had accidentally killed the Nephilim while still learning his own powers. No doubt it’d been a mistake; still, it was a mistake that had cost his friend and mentor his life.
While Alan tried to figure out how he felt about the Nephilim, Kyle himself broke the silence. “You can come out. I’m not here to fight. I won’t hurt you.”
Danielle stood quietly, waiting for Alan to make the first move. Despite his past with Kyle, there seemed to be only one play left. With the element of surprise now tossed aside, Alan would talk to Kyle and see where their conversation went.
“How did you know we were here?” Alan asked as he stepped out from the shadows, careful to stand far enough away from Kyle to give himself room to react to an attack.
Danielle stood beside Alan, hands on her hips, ready for a confrontation.
Kyle remained with his back to them. His shoulders were wider than Alan had remembered, his dark hair cut short, near his scalp.
“I could practically hear Danielle’s heart beating.” Kyle turned to face them. He wore dirty jeans with a worn button-up, checkered shirt. His eyes turned to Danielle. “You can relax. Like I said, I’m not here for a fight.”
“Good,” Danielle said, “because you’d end up on the losing side. What is it that you’re looking for then—forgiveness?”
Kyle’s gaze shifted to the ground. His body language was far from a Nephilim’s. Behind angels and the Fallen, they were a race of the most powerful beings to walk the Earth. Kyle now looked like anything but one of these supernatural powerhouses. His face wore an expression of someone who hadn’t slept for days—bags hung loose under his eyes, and his shoulders slumped forward.
Kyle’s demeanor mirrored the scene around them: broken, ruined, dark. Kyle slowly shook his head.
The Complete Archangel Wars Series: A Shared Universe Series (The Archangel Wars) Page 22