Flanked by the other Halos, Gray climbed up and over the side of the building, taking in the sight before him in a split second.
Aurora hung several feet in the air, suspended by an undetectable rope, a black cloth tied around her eyes, a long slit spilling blood at the base of her throat. Luna’s still body lay crumpled in a fetal position, her ashy blonde hair stained pink with blood.
Samuel, the traitorous angel, watched their sudden appearance with a satisfied smile.
And a boy.
A young boy, just under the age of ten or so, stood staring at Luna with a pair of wide blue eyes…the color of dark blue sapphire stones.
Before Gray could attempt to piece anything together, Logan appeared over the wall, letting out a scream mingled with a sob as she ran forward, collapsing at her twin’s side.
“That’s quite enough of that.” Samuel waved his hand in annoyance. Logan’s sobs were cut off, and her body grew rigid, unable to move, as if Samuel had turned her to stone. The corrupt angel shook his head in disgust. “Humans and their pathetic inability to handle something as common and simple as death. Don’t you know it doesn’t end here? Don’t you know how much better things are after you’ve battled your way through this world? Why would you want to continue trudging through life when you could carry on to greater things? Honestly, I think the Light was rather cruel in creating life. This world holds nothing but pain and hurting, mingled with small bursts of pleasure that keep you going long enough to forget the torture of being alive. I did the girl a favor.”
Brielle moved forward, and Samuel waved his hand again.
Gray looked over to see that she too was as still as a statue, along with Sev, Chord, and Jax, who’d just climbed over the edge of the wall.
Looking from his fellow Halos back to Samuel, Gray’s face morphed from one of shock to fury.
“COWARD,” he bellowed, reaching for his sword and unsheathing it, holding the weapon high in the air. “Quit playing your childish games and fight.”
Samuel’s eyebrows rose. “Well, well. Looks like Aurora’s little Stellar boy has actually grown a pair of—”
Gray cut him off by charging at him. He blurred past the young boy who jumped quickly out of the way.
With his sword swinging up and over, Gray made it to Samuel, who had conjured a glittering black falchion sword out of thin air.
Metal on metal made a loud clashing sound, vibrating through Gray’s arm.
The distant sound of Aurora yelling his name met his ears. But he couldn’t reassure her of his current state. Because he was a Halo fighting against a fallen angel.
Samuel’s blade slid away with a high-pitched sching, and a foot kicked out, meeting Gray’s abdomen. His breath left him.
But he kept his ground.
Gritting his teeth, he moved forward again. Sword slicing through the air, hitting drops of rain as it went, Gray aimed for the kill. He wasn’t about to go easy on this angel bastard.
Not this time.
Samuel blocked the blow.
“Looky here.” He cackled. “The good Stellar is showing some guts after all.”
“Goodness does not equal weakness,” Gray growled.
Jerking his sword upwards, he knocked the weapon from Samuel’s hand.
A look of surprise crossed his features. Gray pulled his own sword back for a third time, and he could have sworn Samuel actually looked fearful.
Then the sky shattered.
Fifty-One
AURORA
A blast of light filtered through the dark material covering Aurora’s eyes.
Then she was falling.
She crashed into the hard cement of the roof, feeling the control return to her limbs, the sharp object no longer pressed to her neck.
Reaching up a shaking hand, she ripped at the dark cloth, her eyes drinking in sight.
The night sky was lit as if it were day by a slow-moving fireball that grew larger and larger as it plummeted to Earth.
Samuel and Gray, locked in the middle of a frozen sword fight, stood transfixed by the massive meteor.
But, no, it wasn’t a meteor. It couldn’t be. Meteors moved much faster. Not that Aurora would know. But she had a sneaking suspicion she knew what that fireball was…and it made her burn from the inside out.
Samuel confirmed Aurora’s suspicions with a whisper. “Master.”
The fireball grew closer and closer to the Earth, disappearing behind the horizon. When it connected with the ground, Aurora was knocked back once again as a thundering quake shook the city.
The rain ceased its pelting, as if it realized it couldn’t compete with all the other elements. The tremor felt like it lasted for an eternity, pressing everyone to the ground. Until it gradually wore off.
Aurora forced herself upright once again, peering over the edge of the building at the sea beyond Pike Place Market. Miniature tsunamis were now rolling towards them, crashing against the pier, washing up onto the streets…which were now empty.
Where were all the Horns and beasts?
Where were the demons?
Looking back towards Gray, Aurora saw him blinking confusedly at the blank space before him where Samuel had just stood.
He turned to face Aurora, the sword in his hand clattering to the ground. “He just…disappeared.”
She wondered if anyone with demon blood would be called to meet Caducus. And with this thought, her face snapped to the last place she’d seen Soren, standing near the edge of the building in shock at what Samuel had done to Luna.
A horrible thought tugged at the back of her mind—Soren is a quarter demon—and made her stomach fill with dread.
Relief she imagined only a mother could feel enveloped her like a warm quilt on a freezing night in December. Soren was still there, though he was sitting now, coiling his arms around his legs, his bow and arrow discarded to the side of him. But he was okay.
Physically, at least.
Though she was exponentially weaker than ever, Aurora moved to go to him but was stopped as she took in the others, who were no longer stone still.
The first thing she saw was Logan, walking as slow as a tightrope artist towards her twin sister lying in a crumpled heap on the ground.
When Logan reached her, she collapsed to her knees, one hand reaching out to close Luna’s open eyes, the other clutching at her chest as if trying to feel if her own heart was still beating. A strangled sob shattered through the air, marking them all with the pain Logan felt as she slumped forward, wrapping her arms around her sister.
Brielle moved swiftly to her side, silent tears streaming down her own cheeks as she slung a supportive arm around Logan.
Chord and Sev stood resolutely back, both looking solemnly on at the scene before them. Scanning downwards, Aurora noted their clasped hands.
Then a tall, dark-skinned man Aurora didn’t recognize stood a few paces away from all of them. Judging by his Halo armor, she assumed he was a good guy they had picked up along the way to Seattle.
It was a morose scene to be certain. And, now that none of them had any demons to kill, or Horns and beasts to fight—not at the moment anyway—all they were left with was their own suffocating pain. The world felt much darker than it had just moments ago.
Determined to make it to Soren, Aurora tried to push herself into a standing position, but all the blood she’d lost had now caught up to her, and she collapsed again, breathing as if she had just run a marathon.
Gray was at her side in an instant, one hand on her back, the other cradling her cheek. “We should have gotten here sooner,” he murmured as he took in the bruises and cuts made by David, and the gash at the base of her neck.
“I shouldn’t have left without telling you where I was going,” Aurora admitted. “But I—”
“You didn’t want us to stop locking the city to come after you. I know.”
Gray’s hands moved down to grasp Aurora’s, and she felt pulsating warmth run through them as he attempted to t
ransfer his own energy to her, healing her as only Stellars could.
Hands still clasped, Gray’s eyes moved down to Aurora’s wrists, which were still circled with bruises and half-healed scabs from the metal mesh ties keeping her in David's bed.
His brows met. “What happened to you?”
Aurora glanced back at Soren, who was staring at a spot on the ground with unfocused, haunted eyes. He didn’t seem to be listening, but even so, Aurora lowered her voice. “David.”
Gray visibly tensed at the name, his voice growing louder. “How—?”
Shushing him, Aurora recounted what had happened when she’d arrived in Seattle. She skipped over the part about Soren for now, knowing full well that she would have to reveal that sooner than she wanted.
Much sooner.
“How did you get away?” Gray asked.
Aurora looked back at Soren again, biting her lip. Where did she even begin with that story?
“Soren hit David on the back of the head when he was…attacking me.”
Darkness colored Gray’s hazel eyes, his brows meeting again in confusion. “Who is Soren?”
“I am.”
Aurora turned to see the young boy now standing, his small arms wrapped around his torso, hugging it. She wondered how often he’d had to resort to that sort of self-comfort.
Turning back to Gray, Aurora's blue eyes—a mirror image of Soren’s—looked into Gray’s multi-colored ones.
“He’s my son.”
Fifty-Two
GRAY
As quickly as the followers of Caducus had flocked to their new leader, the angels descended on the Halos in Seattle.
The aftermath of Luna’s death and Aurora’s revelation had left everyone numb. Even Chord’s typical sarcastic and borderline inappropriate words had been temporarily washed away with the breaking of the dawn.
Their group of Halos was the only one in Seattle, and they were soon graced with the presence of Michael and Verity. Gray hadn’t been certain how long they’d been on the roof of that building. Time didn’t seem to exist anymore. But, as the sun broke above the horizon, the Power angels appeared before them.
Luna’s body—along with the others that had been burned in the city—was to be given a traditional Halo burial at sea.
Logan’s once vibrant eyes looked hollow, their color more dull than usual. Gray realized after a moment that she had removed her aqua-colored contacts, her irises now matching those of her deceased twin sister. A shudder ran through him at this thought.
Michael informed them that the Angel and Archangel Halos would be going around and sweeping the cities, making sure the remaining humans were kept safe from further attacks by the Horns and beasts.
At this, Gray’s thoughts immediately went to Aurora’s brother, which he still hadn’t brought himself to tell her. He was waiting for the right time…but when was the “right time” to tell your soul mate that you’d been there when her brother died?
When was the right time to admit that you’d failed her?
Not now, was the answer. Not yet.
Especially since she sort of had a few other problems to tend to. Like the fact that she had been reunited with her long-lost son, a development Gray still didn’t know how to feel about. The reality of it still hadn’t quite sunk in. Not that Aurora wasn’t capable of taking care of the young boy, it was just that he’d never quite seen her as all that…maternal. She had even said herself she didn’t want children.
Now the main issue—well, one of the main issues—was whether or not Michael would allow Soren onto Etheria with them.
“Just ask him,” Gray said under his breath to Aurora as they milled around the empty lot near the Public Market. Michael and Verity were both speaking in consoling whispers to Logan about her sister, offering their condolences.
Soren sat on a nearby bench, his hands clasped in his lap, feet not quite touching the ground as he swung them back and forth.
Aurora glanced back at him, grasping her arms with her hands and squeezing, perhaps to reassure herself. “That ship was built for Halos and angels. Not for…God, I don’t even know what he is. I’m pretty sure he’s the only one of his kind.”
“So then there shouldn’t be any rules on it. Think about it. They let Samuel on there, let him lead a group of us, and now he’s the one in control of the Horns. Soren is a little boy. What harm could he do?”
“That’s the thing.” Aurora’s voice was barely louder than a whisper. “Before Luna—I mean, before she…” Biting her lip and looking over at Logan, Aurora shook her head, trudging onwards. “On that rooftop, Soren said something, well, screwed up, to say the least. I was going to ask him about it, but then everything happened, and I didn’t get a chance to figure out what he’d meant.”
Gray hated to admit it, but the idea of David’s son—a half-Horn—coming aboard Etheria made him cringe slightly. But Soren was also half Halo. Half Aurora. And he had to think, to hope, this part would be more dominant.
How could it not be?
He started to put a hand on her arm, but thought better of it, running it instead through his hair. “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
And, as it turned out, there wasn’t. At least, when it came to Michael letting him aboard.
“Of course he can,” Michael said enthusiastically to Aurora after she asked. “He already has a room waiting for him.”
Before the Power Halos left for Etheria, they held a candlelit vigil for Luna and the innocent humans who had unknowingly lost their lives without being able to defend themselves or run away.
A fleet of boats appeared through the fog, meant to carry the dead deep into the sea, each led by an Angel Halo. Gray didn’t envy their job.
Luna had been Gray’s girlfriend. He should have been devastated by her death. But, albeit guiltily, the overwhelming feeling he’d had since finding Aurora was one of relief. Just the thought of a world without her in it made him physically sick.
Of course, he put on the obligatory sorrowful face as he stood by the others on the pier, the biting wind numbing their faces. Logan watched with wet eyes as the Angel Halos carried Luna’s body, covered in a silvery sheet, and placed it in one of the boats.
Twilight covered the sky in a periwinkle blue, darkening the world enough so the candles held by the Halos glowed in the misty air, sparkling off the minuscule drops of water.
Brielle stood by Logan’s side, clasping tightly onto her hand, but Logan didn’t seem to register this. Chord and Sev had evidently come to a mutual understanding that they actually cared for one another, and stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the dock.
Jax clearly felt out of place, given that he hadn’t known Luna, so he remained several feet back, clasping his hands respectfully in front of him.
Soren sat on the edge of the pier, dangling his feet over the edge. While most mothers would likely grow nervous about their child’s closeness to the water, Aurora hovered next to Gray, keeping her eyes on the small boy, but saying nothing.
The more Gray was around Soren, the more he saw Aurora in him. The tone of his skin, the gentle swoop of his nose, the light dusting of freckles, the roundness of his eyes, which were the exact shade of sapphire blue as his mother’s.
This also made him fearful of what the young boy may have inherited from his father.
Aurora spoke softly then, but it sounded loud to Gray’s ears given the stunned stillness around them. “You know, Luna was trying to save me when she died.”
Gray tore his eyes from Soren and moved them to Aurora. Purple, bruise-like shadows beneath her eyes spoke of the deepness of her exhaustion. Her lips, the bottom much fuller than the top, were red from the burn of the wind and her cheeks looked like they had a permanent rosy blush. Though her tone was subdued and thoughtful, her blue eyes were tearless.
It took a lot more than a death to break Aurora Coel.
Their eyes connected for a moment and the inside-out warmth that came with this
flooded Gray. Aurora was the one to break the connection first. She usually was. “Luna was trying to save me…to save you.”
This took Gray aback. “What?”
“She knew about our Stellar connection. She knew what would happen to you if I died. So, she was trying to save me up there. Samuel was just too quick for her.”
Gray frowned, glancing guiltily at Luna’s body in the small boat, now drifting slowly away, into the fog. “That makes me feel worse instead of better, I hope you know.”
“Why?” Aurora turned her gaze on him again. He knew because he could feel it. “It should make you feel good that Luna loved you so much. She was being brave. As Halos, that’s really the only way we should go out…trying to save someone else.”
“Still makes me feel terrible. I could’ve never given her what she wanted. I tried. God, I tried… But my mind was always blocked in a way that wouldn’t allow me let her in completely.”
“Why?”
Gray met Aurora’s gaze again. Her eyes were slightly wider than usual. “You know why, Aurora.” His voice was no louder than a murmur, but he felt like he was screaming.
“I think I do too. But I still kind of want to hear you say it. We always allude to it…but we never say it.”
Taking a deep breath, the moist air flooding his lungs, Gray reached a hand over to grasp hers. “I haven’t said it because ‘I love you’ sounds absolutely pathetic compared to the way I actually feel. Even the greatest of poets wouldn’t be able to translate my feelings into words. I need you like I need air, and when you’re away, my chest aches in the same way it would if I was holding my breath for too long. I crave you like a drug. I’m addicted to you. Every single atom of your being. When we kiss—the few times we have—I feel like I’m about to shatter in the best way, and I don’t even care. I believe our Celestials sought each other out. I don’t believe it was a planetary accident or happenstance. And I’m sure it was my Celestial that broke away from the sky, searching for yours. Because that’s what I do. That’s what I’ll always do, even though I know it bugs the hell out of you sometimes. So, yeah. I love you, Aurora. But it’s so much more than those little words. And you already knew all of that.”
Echo (The Halo Series Book 2) Page 27