Heart Lessons (The Angel Chronicles Book 2)

by Mary May

  Finally the large demon stopped pacing and stood about five feet in front of the warriors. He squared his broad shoulders and slowly brought up his hand, pointing his clawed finger at them. “I will spare you if you kneel before me.” The command was issued with the expectation of being obeyed. Belial was about to be disappointed.

  Gideon took a step forward; standing toe to toe with the beast, he stared him down and whispered, “NEVER.” He growled out the word, daring the demon to make his move.

  Belial merely laughed and spun away. Walking back to the center of the room, he stared back at Gideon, cocking his head. “Never is a long time, O Mighty Gideon, especially when you constantly have to make bodily… repairs.” He looked toward the pile of partially-formed wings.

  Gideon understood what he was saying. Kneel or be tortured. He glanced at his men. They looked weary and beaten down, but the look in their eyes told Gideon all he needed to know. He turned and looked the demon in the eye once more, raised his arms wide…and smiled!

  With a mighty roar sure to reach the heavens, the four warriors all launched themselves at the demons. The three standing behind Gideon had carefully pulled several of his razor sharp feathers from his wings and were now slashing their way through the wall of demons. Belial had expected this and was now reaching for Gideon, his claws extended and seeking angel flesh to rip into. Gideon danced and twisted, his hands driving and twisting the blades of his sword and dagger into any body part he could reach. His wings slashed and forced the demon to step back. Gideon came in low at Belial, intending to cut the hamstring of the demon’s left leg, but Belial evaded by actually kicking forward with that leg and connecting with Gideon’s ribs. He felt the snap as several of his ribs broke, and the searing pain swept his right side. He ignored it and kept swinging and driving the big demon backwards. Feeling acid burn his skin, he looked up and saw several smaller demons crawling along the ceiling dripping their toxic waste on the skin of the warriors.

  “Don’t look up!” Gideon called out to his men who were fighting surprisingly well, considering how weak they were. Seth grabbed one small demon by the neck and with a snap of his powerful wrist took the head off and reached for another. Kale and Makieal had several more backed into the corner and were methodically taking them out one by one.

  The smell of demon blood and bodily fluids was overpowering in the small room and was burning the eyes of the warriors. Gideon knew he had to get them out of the confines of the building. When he got the others’ attention he nodded and all four shot upward through the ceiling out into the open air of the roof.

  The leap up through the roof was as far as the wingless warriors could go. They didn’t have the option of flight until their wings grew back out, so Gideon kept his back toward the open space and let the others fight in the safer area next to the wall of the adjoining building. The demons poured up out of the floor of the roof like ants coming out of an ant pile. The warriors all swung their weapons as fast as they could. They would pull out more and more of Gideon’s feathers until he worried he might be grounded himself, but he didn’t say anything; he knew they had no other weapons at hand to use.

  It seemed like forever that he swung his sword and dagger and slashed his wings. He saw the others getting beaten back against the wall and knew they wouldn’t last much longer in the weakened condition they were in, so he did the only thing left to him.

  “BELIAL!” Gideon roared out the demon’s name. When the beast surfaced from below, Gideon did what he had to do. Gideon pointed toward the three warriors that were barely able to stand. “Let these three go and you will get your wish.”

  Belial turned his body and looked at the three wingless angels; not having a neck, he couldn’t just turn his head. He turned back and gave Gideon an assessing look. “You will kneel before me if I turn these loose?”

  Gideon nodded his head. “If you release them without any further harm and if you let them go freely without trying to stop them in any way, then, yes, I’ll kneel.”

  Belial cocked his head and kept his eyes on Gideon but he motioned with his clawed fingers to have the three brought closer. He looked at them. “Your leader is exchanging his freedom for yours, so go!” The three warriors turned their eyes to their leader, hope and despair both evident in their eyes.

  Gideon dropped to his knees and looked up at them. “Go!” he hissed. “That’s an order!” The warriors slowly walked to the edge of the roof and, looking back one last time at a kneeling Gideon, they jumped.

  After the wounded warriors had gotten safely away, Gideon looked up at Belial and smiled and opened his arms wide. “Look your fill, demon, I won’t be down here long.”

  Scores of demons surrounded Gideon. One reached and quickly jerked his sword out of his hands. Gideon didn’t even blink or try to stop him. Another small demon crawled close and snatched the dagger from the sheath on his right leg. Again Gideon didn’t try to prevent them from taking his weapons. He just kneeled there and watched them. Finally Belial walked closer, circling around the kneeling warrior, and started to cackle with glee. The rest of the horde joined their leader, laughing and mocking the defeated warrior.

  “I think you will be down there for as long as I desire you to be, O Great One!”

  The crowd of demons all pushed in closer, each one wanting to see the Mighty Gideon kneeling on his knees before their leader. When they had all pushed in as close as they could and when all Gideon could see, hear or smell was the obscene essence of demon, he exploded into action.

  Faster than demon eyes could follow, he reached up with both hands and jerked out several of his now razor-sharp feathers, two in each hand and two he placed between his clenched teeth. He then tucked himself into a tight ball and whipped his wings around; they covered nearly all of his body like armor plating.

  The demons all hissed in alarm and jumped back, all but Belial. He laughed even louder. “Look at him! Cowering like a frightened child hiding under the covers!”

  Gideon waited, focusing all his energy on his next move. It was crucial that he time this exactly right. He squeezed his eyes closed, listening, and slowed down his breathing. He felt himself grow calm and centered. He pictured what he wanted to happen and he waited for Belial to make his final mistake. Belial strutted around the warrior like a cat would a mouse he had caught. He would mock him and poke at him with sharp claws, but they couldn’t penetrate the now steely feathers. He reached with both hands to pry apart the wings and expose the warrior beneath…

  Gideon felt Belial grip his wings and attempt to open them; THIS was what he had been waiting for. He jumped to his feet and like rotors on a helicopter he spun, keeping his wings partially folded around him. The sharp edges of his wings started slicing through demon flesh, taking Belial out with his first sweep, cutting the demon in half. The demons that had not been slashed by the first round had jumped back, knowing that if they even got close they would be cut to ribbons by the spinning warrior. Gideon spun until he stopped feeling his wings impact against demonic flesh; then he slowed enough that he could peek his head up and look out. Pieces of demon flesh covered the roof and the rest were fleeing as fast as they could get away.

  Belial, though cut in half, wasn’t finished yet. The demon was dragging the upper half of his torso across the roof, trying to reach the hole. Gideon walked over and placed his booted foot firmly between the squirming demon’s shoulder blades and leaned down and whispered in his ear, “This is for my three warriors!” and with a downward slash ended his existence.

  Gideon could see now that it was his massive ego that had gotten his men into trouble in the first place, his determination to succeed at all costs. He bowed his head in shame and asked the Lord for forgiveness…

  Chapter 11

  Gideon was in the kitchen watching Sabrina, Charlie, Cleo and Edgar making a batch of Christmas cookies. Edgar and Cleo would bake them up and Sabrina and Charlie were on the decorating committee. Gideon chuckled as he watched Charlie put m
ore frosting on her little tongue than on the cookies. Sabrina would show her how to place the candies to make the eyes on the snowman-shaped cookies; when Sabrina wasn’t looking, Charlie would pop two or three in her mouth. Her mother finally figured out what was happening to the candies when she realized the bowl was nearly empty and they had decorated only one batch of cookies.

  “Okay, cookie monster! That’s enough candies for you!” She sat Charlie down and took a damp paper towel and starting wiping the sticky from her little hands and face. Charlie protested and tried to turn her head and squirm away, but Sabrina held her wriggly daughter between her knees and quickly had her cleaned up. “Let’s go watch a Christmas cartoon!” Knowing that Charlie would soon be occupied by one of her old time favorites, Sabrina dug out Frosty the Snowman and popped it in the DVD player.

  She piled up on the couch and snuggled her daughter in close while the movie started to play. She often would have inner conversations between herself and Luke, imagining what he might say when Charlie would do certain things, wondering how he would have entertained her with his silly voices, while they watched this cartoon together. Tears slid unnoticed down her cheek until a handkerchief appeared in front of her face.

  “I hated the scene where Frosty melts but it never affected me that much,” Devon spoke from behind her.

  Sabrina rolled her eyes then swiped the offered handkerchief. “It’s not the cartoon, although I don’t like that scene either. I was just sitting here thinking about Luke and how he would have had her laughing so hard from the silly voices he would have made.”

  Charlie looked up at the mention of Luke’s name. “Daddy made silly voices, really, mommy? Show me!”

  Sabrina gave her daughter a sad smile. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but mommy isn’t very good at funny voices.”

  Charlie frowned, “Oh, okay.” Then she turned around to watch the cartoon.

  A few minutes later Sabrina saw Devon ducking behind the love seat and then two sock puppets popped into view. Sabrina smiled then nudged Charlie. “Charlie, look!”

  The two puppets, one was a red sock and the other was blue, starting singing really badly and Sabrina thought it was an attempt at an English accent. “Eh, Charlie is a fine little girl and a fine little girl is she! She makes the stars shine above and they shine down on me!” The puppets danced and sang to a delighted Charlie for close to twenty minutes. The old cartoon played on completely forgotten.

  Later that night Sabrina had tucked Charlie into bed. She was leaving the room and found Devon waiting for her leaning against the wall across the hall from Charlie’s room. He straightened up when she turned to face him. “Hey, I didn’t mean to make light of your memories of Luke. I realized too late that you were having a bad day.”

  Sabrina smiled up at him as they walked down the stairs together. “Thank you and it’s okay. No way you could have known what was going on in my head at the time. I was just having a bad moment, not a bad day. Fortunately, I don’t have those too often anymore. Thank you for what you did for Charlie, she loved it!” Sabrina stopped and looked up at Devon. “I can’t figure you out; you are so secretive and you show up all beat up in the middle of the night and you won’t tell me hardly anything about your past, but then you turn around and put on a puppet show for Charlie.” She shook her head and continued on down the stairs.

  When she reached the bottom step, Devon stepped in front of her, keeping her from stepping down. “Ah, now this is just… about… perfect.” Moving slowly, giving her every chance to move away, he leaned down and gently placed his lips on hers.

  Sabrina couldn’t breathe as she watched Devon slowly lean into her. She knew what was going to happen, but she couldn’t make herself move to prevent his lips from gently brushing hers. He kissed her lightly, sweeping light butterfly kisses across her mouth. He didn’t touch her anywhere else, just his lips caressing hers for a long moment before he pulled away.

  Sabrina didn’t even close her eyes. It was over so fast and she was so surprised by the kiss and her reaction to it that she forgot to close them. He looked down at her and she could see the fire start to smolder in his eyes. He gripped the bannister with his left hand and propped his foot up on the step, caging her in. He waited to see what she would do. What she did surprised them both.

  Sabrina’s heart was thundering in her chest and she could see his pulse beating out the same rhythm at the base of his throat. She stared up at him and he just stood there, not leaving but not pushing or rushing her either. Letting her decide what she wanted. Sabrina reached up on her tiptoes and placing her hands on his shoulders she gently kissed him back, almost the same way he kissed her. Softly and gently seeking something she didn’t even know she wanted. Devon placed his hand on her jaw and deepened the kiss until Sabrina put her hand on his chest and pushed him back and stepped away.

  “Devon,” she whispered, and she looked down at her feet.

  He put his finger under her jaw and made her look at him. “It’s just a kiss, Sabrina; you didn’t do anything wrong. I think you know how I feel about you, but if this isn’t something you want, if you can’t see yourself ever feeling anything for me, then I’ll leave and there won’t be any hard feelings. I know you still love Luke and I would never ask you to deny that. I would just like to be loved by you, too.” Sabrina couldn’t even respond to that. She didn’t know what to say. She just stood there and stared at him, unable to utter a single word.

  Devon smiled. “It’s okay, darling; I understand. I’ll be gone in the morning.” He turned and started to walk down the hall toward his rooms.

  “Devon!” Sabrina called his name. He turned and waited for her to catch up with him. She stared up at him, twisting her fingers together nervously. “Look, I’m not sure what I want right now, I’ll be honest. I’m confused and that kiss just made it worse.” Devon started to speak but she reached up and placed her forefinger over his lips. “You make me crazy and you infuriate me, and honestly, most days I really want to throw a brick at your head… but I know I don’t want you to leave. Can that be enough… for now?”

  He smiled that charming half smile of his, lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “That’s more than enough, sweet Sabrina, more than enough.” Then he continued on down the hall and went into his rooms, closing the door with a soft click.

  Sabrina stood in the shadows of the darkened hallway, her heart still thumping like a runaway jackrabbit. “Oh, dear Lord, what did I just do?” she whispered. She couldn’t believe that she had just let Devon kiss her and even worse she had kissed him back! She sank to the floor and put her head in her hands and prayed, “Lord, I really don’t know what I’m doing here. I feel so confused and mixed up. I know I’m falling in love with Devon and that scares me to death. I still love Luke so much and I feel like I am betraying my vows with these feelings.” She paused and sat quietly for a few minutes before she continued her prayer.

  “I will trust You to guide me in all things, including the matters of the heart.” With her prayer finished, she got up off her knees and walked on down the hall to the kitchen to fix herself some warm milk. She always felt so much better when she discussed her troubles with her heavenly Father. She didn’t know any more now than she did before she prayed, but she had inner peace that He would guide and direct her, and like Devon had said, that was more than enough for now.

  Later that night Gideon was pacing the length of Edgar’s room. “He actually had the nerve to kiss her, and then she…she… kissed him back!”

  Edgar watched a very agitated Gideon stomp from one corner of his room to the other, gripping the handle of his sword and swishing his wings. He had been sleeping soundly when he was rudely awakened by an angel with the manners of a mountain goat! Rubbing his eyes sleepily. he eyed Gideon with barely veiled hostility. “Did he force her?” he asked.

  Gideon stopped pacing long enough to look at the butler, or at least what he could see of him. All but the top half of his head was still buried under
the covers. “No, but that’s beside the point.” he answered. Edgar sighed and swung his legs out from under the covers and pulled on his robe. He realized he wasn’t going back to sleep any time soon. Padding over to the small stove, he poured some water into a kettle and set it on the burner, turning the knob to high. He was going to need tea and lots of it to make it through the next few hours…He could feel it.

  Gideon watched as Edgar made his tea, adding the right amount of sugar and cream, and then he sat down at the small table and took several fortifying sips before finally looking up at him. “Gideon, dare I ask what exactly the point IS?”

  Gideon sat down across the table and slapped his massive hand on the table, making Edgar’s tea splash on the linen tablecloth. “The point IS, he isn’t right for her. He isn’t even close to right for her! As a matter of fact, he is the exact opposite of someone I would pick for her.”

  Studying him over the rim of his cup as he sipped at his tea, Edgar finally replied, “It isn’t exactly your choice, now is it?”

  Gideon slid down in the chair until his head rested against the back and he stared up at the ceiling. Letting out a deep breath, “No, it really isn’t.” he said softly.

  Edgar put down his cup. “Gideon, correct me if I’m wrong, but you are assigned to Charlie, not her mother. Sabrina is a grown woman and she seems to have a very good head on her shoulders. I dare say she is probably very capable of selecting another mate if she so chooses.”

  The angel looked back across the table and he knew Edgar was right about both points. He wasn’t Sabrina’s guardian, and honestly it wouldn’t matter if he were. She had the right to choose anyone she wanted, even a sneaky, suspicious, not-to-be- trusted Devon Lane. But he was Charlie’s guardian and if he thought Devon would harm her, didn’t THAT make this his business? He opened his mouth to say that to Edgar when the butler sighed and just shook his head.