He laughed. “I don’t think you’re quite ready for beer yet.” I frowned, and he stopped smiling.
“You okay?”
“I don’t know, am I? I shouldn’t be okay, I should be in a hospital.” I lifted my arms from the covers and glanced down at my shoulder then up at Sam.
“Cas and Euriel healed you when we got back. Don’t you remember?”
I shook my head slowly. Sliding my hand below the blankets, I inched my fingers towards my leg, cringing as I expected to touch bandages or horrifically scarred flesh. My eyes widened as I felt a smooth expanse of skin, and I wrenched the covers up to see for myself. There wasn’t so much as a blemish. I dropped the covers and twisted around to try and look at my back. Nothing but pale skin.
I stared at Sam. “How...?”
He dropped his gaze uncomfortably. “I think it’s best if we leave it until the others get back. They’ll be better at explaining it than me.”
“Tell me.”
“Really, Faith, I don’t understand the details.”
I took his hand again. “Sam, please, why do I look like nothing happened to me?”
He sighed, and his blue eyes met mine. “Fine, but you’re not going to like it. When you grabbed hold of the demon—”
“The woman with the white eyes?”
“Yes. When you grabbed her, something happened.”
“Yes, I... Oh. Oh my God! Sam, what did I do?” I stared at him in horror as the memory came back.
He twined his fingers with mine. “You killed her.”
“I... she was hurting Cas, she had hurt me.”
He grabbed my face and pulled it up to meet his earnest gaze. “Faith, please don’t think you’re in trouble. You were acting in self-defence and defending Cas as well. You had every right to do what you did.”
“But I’m not even sure what I did.”
The door opened, and I looked up nervously. Cas and Amadi came into the room carrying pizza boxes. When they saw I was up, they dumped them on the table and came over to the bed.
“How are you doing, Peaches?” Cas sat down on the other side of me, opposite Sam, and took my hand in his.
Amadi perched on the end of the bed. “You gave us a hell of a scare, Faith. Just glad we got you back.” The door opened again, and Alex came into the room with a box from the ice cream parlour I had visited with Euriel only a couple of days before. It felt like a lifetime ago since we had wandered the streets of Florence talking about art.
“Where’s Euriel?” Cas asked Alex, raising his eyebrows.
Alex pulled the chair up near Sam and sat down. “I asked him to arrange our journey home, seeing as Faith was feeling better.”
Cas nodded and seemed to relax a little.
Sam cleared his throat, and Cas looked over at him. “I was telling her about what happened to the demon.” Cas arched an eyebrow, and Sam added, “She asked! I told her you could explain better. Or maybe Amadi?”
Cas leaned sideways against the padded headboard and squeezed my hand gently. “Before I tell you what I know, I need you to understand that that woman was evil. She earned her living inflicting pain and torture, and she would have killed both of us without a second thought.”
I nodded. “Okay, but, what did I do to her? Sam said I killed her, but I just held on to her and…”
Cas sighed. “Yes, you killed her, but you used a magical ability we had no idea you had.”
“Magic? Okay, that makes sense.”
“The ability you used, it’s a magical skill known as ravage. It basically causes things to wither, age, and dry up from the inside out. How did you feel just after doing it? Physically, not emotionally, I mean.”
I thought for a moment. “I felt, I don’t know... numb, and like I was buzzing all over. And my back was burning.” I shuddered, remembering the feeling, and Sam slipped his arm around my shoulders.
Cas nodded. “Ravage allows you to drain life from something. You actually absorbed the life force you drained. It filled the cells in your body, that was the buzzing you felt. I don’t think you’ll remember, but you kept trying to scratch at your leg the whole drive back in the car. The one they... burned.” A shadow crossed his face, and he swallowed before continuing, “The life force you absorbed from the demon’s body had nowhere to go except into your cells. It does what life always does, it repairs and rejuvenates those cells.”
“With a horrific cost.” I looked down at the outline of my legs under the covers, feeling slightly sick. “But if I took all of her life force, why do I still feel exhausted, like I ran a marathon or something?”
Cas leaned in and brushed his lips against my hair. “You subconsciously transferred some of her life force into me. It worked faster on me. I wasn’t nearly as damaged as you were.”
I laughed shakily. “Great. So here I was, excited about being a witch and having powers, and the one I get is the stuff of nightmares.”
Cas glanced over at Amadi who leaned forward on his elbows. There was a strange look in his eyes.
“What?” I looked from him, to Cas, to Sam. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Faith, witches don’t have the ability to use ravage. It’s a full-on demonic power.” I stared at him, and he licked his lips nervously. “The angels have an ability we call regenerate. It does the opposite of ravage. It takes their life force and restores something to what it was before. However, the angels have an external source of power that they can draw on so they don’t use their own.”
I shook my head, confused. “What are you saying, Amadi? That I’m a demon? Or an angel? Can angels use ravage?”
He shook his head. “Only fallen angels. When they were condemned to Hell, God cursed them. Part of that curse was that although they retained the powers they were created with, they became warped. The power to regenerate became a power to destroy. If you can command ravage, then you are not merely a human witch, you have pure angel blood in your veins. Well, fallen angel anyway.”
“But... you’re saying I must be a fallen angel. How can that be? I remember growing up as a kid.”
Amadi looked back at Cas, who hugged me gently. “Faith, when you let your power take control, something else happened to you as well. Do you remember?”
I looked at him, his dark eyes gentle but worried. I thought back, cringing at the memory. “Just the buzzing and the pain, memories of... and I thought I was…”
“What?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I felt like my bones were breaking, like my body was being torn open. I thought it was part of my nightmare again. I saw things like that sometimes when she caused me to feel pain.”
Cas ran his hand slowly up and down my arm in a comforting gesture. “That wasn’t your nightmare, Faith. That was real. Only your bones weren’t breaking, they were reforming.”
I stared at him in horror. “What?”
He paused, his lips parted, and I could see him searching for what to say.
“You grew wings, baby girl,” Sam chimed in softly.
I whipped my head around to look at him, but he wasn’t joking. He was deadly serious.
“Wings? Real, actual wings? But where…”
Cas rubbed his hand over the top of my back. “They’re out of mortal sight right now. You should be able to call them back with practice, and it won’t hurt after a time.”
I gaped at him. Oh fuck, I remembered. My mind flashed back to my reflection in the car window, the feel of down against my fingers. How the fuck did I forget I suddenly grew wings? My gaze drifted to Cas’s mouth as his tongue darted out and swept over his lips. Oh, yeah… that was probably how. “Wings,” I said again, knowing I sounded stupid, but unable to really grasp the concept.
“Black ones. Like Cas,” Amadi added. “Add them in with the power to ravage, and there’s only one real explanation.”
Cas sighed. “He’s saying you are the child of a fallen angel. One of your parents fought in the War of Heaven and was cast down to Hell.
”
“Like the watchers who slept with human women?”
Cas nodded. “If we’re right, and that’s what you are, it means one of the original fallen angels returned earthside and created you. You’re the first nephilim to walk the earth since the great flood.”
I stared at him in horror, feeling cold terror creep over me.
“Cas, Hargreaves, and Deliah told me what Heaven did to the nephilim…”
He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight against his chest. A moment of panic surged through me, but the memory of what I had experienced paled now in comparison to the danger before me. I circled my arms around him, holding on as tight as I could.
“I am not going to let anything happen to you, Faith, I promise you,” he murmured into my hair.
“We,” Amadi corrected, and I looked over at him as he crawled up the bed and took one of my hands.
“Yes, we,” Sam added. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, baby girl.”
Alex leaned forward and touched my face. “You’ve got some pretty strong protectors here, sweet one. Whatever comes, we’ll face it together.”
I met each of their gazes and gave them a weak smile. Alex was right. Whatever danger was coming, I had them. And I knew they’d fight for me. All of them.
I looked into Cas’s eyes and nodded. “We still have to find Rose.”
He smiled. “I know, we will. If anything, she might be able to give us a clue as to who your parents were.”
And what I am, I added silently.
“There’s just one thing I need to know,” Sam said suddenly, staring hard at Cas and me.
I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he’d overheard us the night before. “What’s that?”
“Why does Cas call you Peaches?” My face flamed red, and Cas burst out laughing.
I smacked him on the arm. “Don’t you dare!”
Chuckling, he moved out of reach and turned to Sam. “Well, it’s fairly simple. When Faith and I started going out, I first met her in a bar. I walked up behind her and thought she had the most perfect ass I’d ever seen. Like a lovely, juicy round—”
“Peach!” Sam finished, and the guys erupted into laughter.
I sulked, secretly trying not to grin at the sight of my tough, supernatural men giggling like little girls. My men. I quite liked the sound of that, and Cas’s suggestion danced briefly through my head. I smiled to myself, snuggling under the covers and leaning my head against Sam’s arm. My men. My guardians. My lovers?
* * *
Continue the journey in Wrath of the Fallen Book 2: Nephilim The Summoning.
For news on upcoming releases, please visit my website:
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Wrath of the Fallen
The Concordia. An organisation that exists to keep the balance between the forces of Heaven and Hell and to protect those that live between - mortals. For milennia, mixing angel and human blood was the most abhorrent crime any divine being could commit. Now the lines are being blurred and those guilty of crimes in the past are clamouring for release.... and revenge.
Nephilim The Awakening
Everything I was told about Heaven and Hell was wrong. Now I know the truth.
When I left home six years ago, all I wanted was a normal life, and I am pretty happy with what I’ve found. An apartment, friends, a bar job in my favourite club. Life is just fine.
But when my eccentric adoptive mother goes missing, I find out that she was so much more than I thought. A witch working for the Concordia - guardians that maintain the balance between Heaven and Hell on earth and protect humanity from their inhabitants.
Discovering I have supernatural powers of my own that she kept hidden from me all these years is just another fight my mother and I will be having when I finally track her down. At least I have help. Going on the hunt for her with five powerful (and majorly sexy) guardians on my side, I think my chances look pretty good.
I will find her. Even if it kills me.
Problem is, it very well might.
Nephilim The Summoning
A creature born of darkness and sin. I am Nephilim.
The discovery of what I am has left me reeling, but it has also left me with some amazing powers, a gorgeous pair of black wings and four hot guys in my bed. You’ve got to look on the bright side.
Caught up in a world of powerful relics and ancient gods, I am torn between trying to rescue my mother from her kidnappers or tracking down the powerful artefact they are seeking. The Concordia cannot find out what I am, or I shall be condemned for eternity, but it seems like I am not the only one keeping secrets.
I need to rely on the powers and devotion of my Guardians, but I’m not sure who I can trust. When everything around us is falling apart, will we be able to stay together?
Or is there a worse betrayal ahead?
About The Author
Elizabeth Blackthorne
Elizabeth lives in the northeast of England with my husband, four minions, a crazy sprocker spaniel and seven cats.
An avid reader since she was a kid, she decided at the age of seven that she wanted to be a writer. Since then she has been an archaeologist, barrister, photographer and cake decorator, but story telling will always be her true passion.
Sitting down at her computer any chance she gets means she can scribble out a few lines in between potty training, ferrying kids about, and the housework. (Kidding, she tries not to do too much housework - it's bad for the soul.)
Nephilim the Awakening (Wrath of the Fallen Book 1) Page 26