Fallen: An Angel Romance

by D. G. Whiskey

  Draconel screamed, the sound primal and guttural, and tore at her arms. Thanks to the burst of angelic energy roaring into her muscles, she could hold on, but barely. Her adrenaline and determination kept her clinging to him despite his best attempts.

  She opened another channel for the Darkness to flow and used her body as a conduit to send Darkness directly into him, punishing him from the closeness and intensity.

  Draconel sank to his knees as though her petite form was made of lead, his fingers weakening where they attempted to pry her arms from around his neck.

  He had staggering amounts of strength and energy, but Zara refused to give up. She squeezed as tightly as she could, pouring almost all of her Dark reserves into the effort to take him out. His resistance grew weaker, but her own reservoir grew low.

  She started to panic. What if she drained herself dry and it still wasn’t enough?

  The brilliant core of Light inside him dimmed, and as it burned away under her attacks, it revealed a pulsing cord of Darkness wrapped around his innermost store of Light. It was like finding a rotten core inside an otherwise perfect apple.

  The Light and Dark inside Draconel weren’t harmonious like her own energy. They fought each other, the Light chained beneath the Darkness, locked in opposition but inseparable.

  The Darkness shrugged off her attacks, and when she used the Light to attempt to blow it away, the Darkness hid inside Draconel’s Light core, using it as a shield.

  “Zara,” he said, his voice lacking any musical quality. It didn’t sound like him at all.

  She paused. Would he beg for forgiveness? She set her jaw, ready to blast him with the rest of her power.

  “Do what you have to. Then go back to your room at Lighthaven on the night of the attack.”

  “What? Why?” She cursed how she couldn’t just ignore him.

  He grunted, weak fingers fumbling at his neck. “Judge me. Do it.”

  She hesitated. “What—”

  “Judge me!” He screamed, lashing out at her with his elbow.

  Instinctively, she emptied the last of her reservoirs, both Light and Dark, mixing them together until they were one force. She smashed it against Draconel’s rotten core, the expenditure of the rest of her energy leaving her so drained that she could barely pay attention to the result of her attack.

  The combination of Light and Dark did what they could not on their own. Draconel’s core shattered, the Darkness unable to hide from the joint might of her power.

  Draconel’s body faded away underneath her, leaving her clutching at nothing on the ground.

  Chapter 16

  Alexandriel dodged the demon’s clawed swipe, using his sword of Light to block the follow-up burst of Darkness, reveling in the power and speed of his angelic form. He almost enjoyed the battle. If he didn’t know in the back of his mind that Zara was embroiled with Draconel, he may have fought with a grin.

  This was the last demon, and he feinted and struck in a flurry with his sword before he forced an opening and drove it through the creature’s heart.

  Its body turned black, spreading outward from the heart, and it crumbled away, turning to ash.

  He didn’t linger in the feeling of triumph, looking around to assess the situation. Joseph was down, his leg split open from a horrific gash. The outer edges had turned black as if burned. Sophie sat with him, keeping him calm. The wound was dire, but it could wait for a minute.

  The flashes of Light and Darkness from the far side of the room had ended, and there was only a single form lying on the ground. Alexandriel’s heart dropped.

  Had Draconel slain Zara and slipped away?

  He sprinted to her side, his angelic legs taking mere seconds to get him there.

  “Zara!”

  He took her in his arms, probing with the Light to check her condition.

  “I’m fine,” she said weakly. “Just drained, that’s all.”

  Alexandriel frowned, refusing to take her at her word until he couldn’t find anything to repair with the Light. It couldn’t recharge someone else’s reservoirs—only time could do that.

  “Draconel?” he asked.

  “Gone,” she said, her eyes closing as she put her head against his chest.

  “Escaped?”

  She shook her head, but she didn’t open her eyes. “I judged him with both the Light and the Darkness.”

  Alexandriel looked down in awe. She had slain an archangel. It was unheard of. The Angel Killers were called that because they could swarm an angel and take him down with superior numbers. For a mortal to take out an archangel on her own…

  But Zara was no normal mage.

  He stood, carrying Zara in his arms. Again, he surveyed the room.

  I can’t believe this didn’t turn out worse.

  None of them should be alive.

  Regrouping with the others, Alexandriel healed Joseph’s leg wound. He refused to put Zara down, which made it awkward, but he made it work.

  He kept an eye on the rest of the building, peering through the walls to ensure no Angel Killers were planning a surprise attack, but it looked like they had been scattered by the disruption of the ritual and the fight between superior powers.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said as Henry helped Joseph to his feet. “Is everyone good to go?”

  Hearing no disagreement, he led them through the web of hallways, able to pick out the path by looking through the walls.

  “I’m sorry for not killing you properly,” Zara said. Her eyes were open again, and she looked up at him.

  He had to laugh. It was that or remember the crushing pain he’d endured. “What a ridiculous statement. It’s okay, though. I finished the job myself.”

  “Will you get in trouble for that?”

  He sighed. “If the High Court focuses on that, then the balance is worse off than I imagined. Based on the revelations about Draconel, they’ll have bigger things on their mind than punishing a violation of a judgment that a rogue archangel had suggested. I can’t believe he betrayed the Light as he did. There’s been nothing like it since the Fall.”

  Zara frowned. “I don’t think he liked what he was doing. It was almost like he had no choice. There was something really strange about the core of his Light…”

  He’d had his own thoughts about that. Why had Draconel trained Zara, given her the skill she needed to defeat him?

  Grace chimed in, walking just behind them. “You know, if we hadn’t come here, they wouldn’t have been able to pull off their ritual. We delivered them what they needed.”

  Alexandriel winced. He’d been played by Draconel so many times. Every time, he’d done exactly what the archangel had intended.

  “Draconel was a master manipulator. He was planning this since before Zara and I met.”

  “Longer than that,” Zara said. “I don’t know why I believe him, but he said he was responsible for my being born. And both world wars, along with Light knows what else. Who knows how long this plan was in the works.”

  That gave Alexandriel more to think about. Draconel had always been kind to him, sympathetic to his disdain for the Council’s policies. He’d even encouraged Alexandriel to give up his position as Attendant to the Light to come to Earth as a Guardian so he could have a more direct impact on the balance.

  Had he been playing me all this time, encouraging me to break the rules and act against the Darkness so he could eventually convince the Council to send me to Earth as a human?

  It was a mind-numbing thought, the patience required for such a long-term plan, but he didn’t doubt Draconel’s cunning. Not anymore.

  They had reached the alley during their conversation and made quick progress north. The walk between the headquarters and the safe house was shorter—shorter than Alexandriel liked. He would have enjoyed putting more distance between them and their enemies.

  A sharp, almost painful call rolled through Alexandriel’s body. A summons, calling him to Heaven. This one wasn’t easy and ig
norable like the one on the night he met Zara. It was deafening in its intensity.

  His suicide hadn’t gone unnoticed, and the only reason a summons had taken this long to come was the likely chaos caused by Draconel’s death.

  “Alex?” Zara asked. “Are you okay?”

  She’d felt his reaction to the summons.

  “I have to go to Heaven. It’s urgent.”

  “That’s not surprising.” She rolled her wrists. “I should be okay to walk.”

  He stopped walking, and Sophie nudged the others to keep going and give them space. Placing Zara gently on her feet, he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I love you, Zara,” he said. He captured her lips, and they shared a long, deep kiss that transcended emotion. When they broke apart, he cocked his head, taking a mental picture of her face, framed by her blonde hair and dominated by those entrancing sapphire eyes. “I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to see you again.”

  She bit her lip, brows knitting together, but she nodded. “I understand. I love you, too.”

  He embraced her again and then took a step back and faded into another plane.

  Police tape blocked off access to the sidewalk beside Lighthaven, but Zara paid it no mind. She used magic to cloak herself, finding it easy now to ask the energy how to achieve tasks she wanted it to do.

  There were no policemen standing guard over the building, which told Zara that the Dark mages must have cleaned up evidence of the slaughter before they left. Otherwise, there would be a manhunt for the perpetrators.

  She hadn’t told the others where she was going. She hadn’t even told them she was leaving at all, slipping out through the kitchen wall. If she’d told them, they would have insisted on coming with her, and she wouldn’t risk anyone if this turned out to be another of Draconel’s traps.

  Zara had debated long and hard with herself over whether she should even come. She had no reason to trust Draconel and every reason to assume he had an ulterior motive. Ultimately, his final words to her had burrowed into her mind and wouldn’t let go. After a few days, she had to see for herself.

  Lighthaven looked better than she’d expected. The good thing about the Light and the Darkness was that they didn’t cause physical damage to inanimate objects and they didn’t make the victims bleed. Sometimes, the bodies faded away altogether.

  The other abilities could be messier.

  I wonder if the police found the vampire under the bookcase, or if the Dark mages took care of him too.

  She didn’t care to find out. She had one task to do this night.

  Her room was untouched. It hadn’t been the scene of any battles. She settled onto her bed, looking around the room.

  Did she want to do this?

  She was already here, and the past couldn’t hurt her, could it?

  Sighing, she tried to settle her rapidly beating heart. Failing to control it, she gave up and sank into the sight she used to view the past.

  Zara spun the dial of power back a few days. Nothing in the room changed—no one had been in or out except for a brief period when a policeman opened the door and poked his head in before closing it again. She slowed as she got closer to the assault on Lighthaven.

  Then Draconel walked backward into the room and turned to face her bed.

  Her heart went into overdrive. She knew his face so well. She’d spent countless hours sitting across from him, taking instruction in magic, listening to him speak. Then she’d struggled against him in a heated battle and destroyed him.

  He remained by the door, facing the bed, as if he knew where she’d be when she came back to view him. His lips moved and expressions flitted across his face in reverse as she continued rewinding the vision.

  When he walked backward out of the room and the door closed behind him, she let the vision roll at normal speed.

  Draconel walked in and wasted no time speaking.

  “Hello, Zara.”

  It was a shock to hear his musical voice speak her name, looking right at her as if he were there for real. Just to reassure herself, she leaned forward and reached a hand out. It passed through him.

  “If you’re watching this, then you likely succeeded in releasing me from my torment. You have my eternal thanks. You’re likely feeling lost, because I doubt I’ll have a chance to explain. That’s why I’m here.

  “Near the dawn of time, I was an idealistic if somewhat gullible angel. I was lured by the sweet promises and tempting talk of a charismatic leader. Foolishly, I agreed to be bound to his will, his faithful servant to help him achieve his vision.

  “That angel was Lucifer, and his lies were exposed soon after, but it was too late for me. He and the other Disgraced were cast out of Heaven, but I remained behind, his agent to disrupt the Light. It didn’t take long before I regretted my impulsiveness and tried to escape my bonds. His magic cages my soul and commands my loyalty. I can’t act overtly against my master in any way. I can’t even expose myself as Hell’s agent.

  “I’ve done reprehensible, unforgivable things because of my mistake. I’ve hated that younger, foolish version of myself for almost the whole of existence for the cursed life he’s made me live. I’ve tried to disrupt Lucifer’s plans or kill myself hundreds of times over the millennia, and it’s never worked.”

  Draconel took a moment to gather himself. Zara was overwhelmed with the confession and considered pausing the vision to give herself time to wrap her head around it, but she was held captive under the sway of his words.

  “Then Lucifer commanded me to mate with the strongest Angel Killer in many human generations. Her own mother was one of Lucifer’s lieutenants, a fallen angel. It was an experiment to breed something to upend the balance. I saw my opportunity then. My daughter would have only the barest shred of mortal blood and would walk equally between the Light and the Dark, containing the full power of each. Her abilities would be extraordinary—are extraordinary. They may finally have what it takes to release me.”

  He paused and cleared his throat. Zara had never seen him so affected by emotion. Draconel closed his eyes and hummed three notes. They were soft but enchantingly delivered, and they made Zara’s heart stop. She would recognize those notes anywhere.

  Unable to help herself, Zara joined with Draconel as he continued to hum the simple tune, the one she’d known since she was too little to remember. The one thing she could count on to calm her mind.

  “I used the distraction of trapping the Beacons to slip you away from the Angel Killers and deliver you to Susan Thompson to raise. I told her to keep you isolated from others, especially men, at all costs. Intense emotions and sexual activity could have awoken your Light and Darkness too early. You had to be hidden from both Heaven and Hell until your powers matured and were ready for me to train you.

  “I watched over you for your entire life, spending as much time with you as I dared. I had to cloud your memories so that you wouldn’t remember me, but I know you remember the lullaby I wrote for you.

  “Zara, you’ve made me prouder than you know. Please forgive me for all the deception and pain I’ve caused you. Your entire life has suffered from my selfishness.”

  Tears welled in Zara’s eyes as she watched Draconel—the archangel of music, her father—speak to her for the last time. How had she never noticed they had the same blue eyes?

  He sighed. “I hope you’re watching this. I can’t live with myself any longer.”

  Silence reigned in the Courthouse.

  There were even more angels than when Alexandriel had been sentenced to live as a mortal. It looked like every single angel, even the Guardians, was there.

  He’d just finished briefing the Court on the events that had transpired on Earth since he’d arrived there and Draconel’s claims of what he’d done on Hell’s behalf.

  No murmurs filled the ranks. It was a lot to digest and a much more somber occasion than his earlier court date.

  “Draconel had always been the loudest propon
ent of maintaining the separation between Heaven and Earth,” Metatron said slowly. “I trusted him because he spent more time there than any of the archangels. I deferred to his recommendations. It appears as though I had been too trusting.”

  None of the other archangels looked to be in a hurry to speak. Alexandriel could read the thoughts behind their eyes because he’d already gone down the same path. If Hell could sneak an agent into the High Council of Archangels itself, then how could any one angel prove himself trustworthy?

  Alexandriel took advantage of the silence.

  “Our fear of getting involved with mortal affairs was planted by Draconel thousands of years ago to advance Hell’s goals. We played right into that. Because of that policy, the ranks of Light mages on Earth have been decimated and the Darkness has been running rampant. We need to change course.”

  Uriel raised an eyebrow. “Does your pet human play into your eagerness to open closer relations between Heaven and Earth, Alexandriel? I can't believe you are neutral on this issue.”

  “That is a factor,” Alexandriel conceded. “At least my biases are in the open. Zara is remarkable, unique, and beyond powerful. She destroyed Draconel by herself, and she had to fend off three of the Disgraced for part of the battle. We daren’t leave her vulnerable to Hell’s overtures, and she will be key to restoring balance in the world.”

  Michael frowned. “She sounds dangerous, Alexandriel. How can we trust one so steeped in Darkness to help return power on Earth to balance?”

  Alexandriel shrugged. “She is dangerous. But she’s also the epitome of balance, Light and Dark in equal measure, both bending to her will and working together in ways I’ve never seen. Most importantly, she makes the choice to be a good person, and that’s more important than parts of her she cannot change. After all, Draconel was entirely of the Light, and look at the damage he’s wrought.”

  Troubled looks greeted his words.

  “We need to take care of the Light first,” Gabriel said. “We should make sure that Heaven is secure and safe before we extend ourselves to Earth.”