The Noru 7: Rage Of Angels

by Lola StVil

  “Thank you.”

  “And hey, you got a good team. They are brave, strong, and they look ready to follow you into hell itself,” he says.

  “Well, I guess that’s part of the job,” I reply.

  “No, that’s not. They aren’t following you because of your title. They follow you because they respect you—not because you are Marcus’s daughter, but because your courage is matched only by your heart. You are more powerful than you know. Never forget that,” he says as he kisses me on the forehead.

  “I’ll try. Some days are easier than others,” I admit.

  “Must be even harder fighting with your husband—yes, that’s right. It’s not hard to tell you two been going at it. The way you both try to avoid making eye contact,” he says.

  “Yeah, it’s been rough,” I reply.

  “Let me guess. He told you not to take the Sive and you did anyway?”

  “Kind of. How did you know?”

  “You may have Marcus’s strength, but you got your mother’s iron will. She’d do the same thing. Drove me and Marcus crazy.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard the stories.” I laugh.

  “She didn’t know how to sit back and let others help her. Had to do it all on her own.”

  “Guess I’m the same way,” I reply.

  “Well, stop it. Marriage ain’t easy, but it ain’t got to be hard neither. Talk to him. Find a way to push through the crazy. Be a unit. Got it?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Look, Pry, I know I’m hard on you all, but I just want all of you to come back home safe. I know firsthand what kind of wicked assholes the angel world has and what kind of evil they can bring down on you. It’s not the demons you need to worry about. It’s the damn angels, if you ask me.”

  “You sound like Uncle Rage,” I shout.

  “Well, that bastard ain’t far off,” he replies. Grandpa then gets on his Port and calls out to me just before he disappears, “You kids have a lot of power, and that is dangerous on both sides. So be careful and be vigilant. Don’t let those bastards get the best of you.”

  The team is about to take off for the Andes Mountains. It sucks that they will take flight yet again without me. Thankfully before they go, the head Healer tells me she’s done running all the tests and that she’d like to see me in my room. The team asks if they can stay for a few minutes to hear the results.

  “It might be prudent to discuss this matter with my patient and her husband, alone,” the head Healer says.

  “No, everyone here is my family. You can talk in front of them,” I reply, trying not to give in to the nervous energy swelling inside me as we all enter my hospital room.

  “Well, it’s highly unusual, but if you insist. I ran a series of tests and—”

  “Wait!” Aaden says as he stands up and addresses me. “I need to see you outside.”

  “Right now?” I ask.

  “Yeah, right now,” he says with certainty.

  I tell the head Healer that I will return in a few minutes, and then I step out into the hallway with Aaden.

  “What is it?” I ask as I study his serious expression.

  “I don’t know what that Healer lady is gonna say. It could be good news or really bad news. The only thing I do know is that I don’t want us to go back in there and be at each other’s throats. I have no idea what it is we’re supposed to do or say to get back on track, I just figured whatever has to happen should happen before we get your test results,” he says sincerely.

  “When you say ‘whatever has to happen’ you mean…you want us to end this? Is that a possibility? Or a certainty at this point?” I dare ask.

  “No! I don’t want us to end this—wait, do you want to end this?” he asks.

  “No!”

  “Okay, so that bomb isn’t gonna go off, good to know.” He sounds relieved. He isn’t the only one. The thought of us breaking up is just too devastating to imagine.

  “Do you really think I don’t know how to love?” I ask in a whisper, unable to look him in the eye.

  “I didn’t mean that,” he insists.

  “Then why did you say it?”

  “I wanted to hurt you because you hurt me,” he admits.

  “Aaden, we can’t do that to each other. We can’t—”

  “I know, Pry. I know. You’re right. It was a crappy thing to do. Even as I was saying those words to you, I knew it wasn’t true. But I couldn’t stop myself. I was destroyed when I thought I lost you, and when you woke up, I just lost it.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with what you did. And I had every right to be angry, but I didn’t have a right to attack you like I did. I should have handled it better. And I certainly shouldn’t have taken off on you. It’s a reflex. I had no idea my leaving made you question if I would return or not. It never occurred to me to go away forever. I am always going to come back. Always.”

  “Aaden, I don’t want to be married to a guy who always comes back. I want to spend the rest of my life with the guy who never leaves. Can you be that guy? Can you be the guy who stays no matter what?” I ask, turning to face him.

  “For you, yes. Yes, I can be the guy who stays. From now on, we stay in the room. No walking or flying away. Promise. Okay?”

  “Yeah, okay,” I whisper.

  “I didn’t know how strong your connection was to the idea of Summit. I didn’t know how much you had attached it to your dad,” he admits.

  “I should have told you from the beginning. I hid that part because I felt foolish. Just hanging on to an idea, like that idea would bring him back. I didn’t want you to think I was crazy.”

  “Baby, if you can’t be crazy with me, if you can’t stop being in leader mode with me or be vulnerable with me, then how is our relationship different from your relationship with the rest of the world?” he pleads.

  “I didn’t say the thing about my dad because I didn’t want to be the little girl who missed her daddy. I’m the First Noru and can’t be that girl.”

  “Yeah, Pry, you can. You can be that girl with me,” he vows.

  “I guess I should have; it would have helped you understand. I am sorry. Our marriage is important to me. And I made it collateral damage. But we can fix it, right?”

  “We have to—we already have the tattoo, remember?” he says with a smile.

  “Yeah, and it’s expensive to get it lasered off,” I reply.

  “Well, our tattoos say ‘no bullshit.’ So maybe it’s time we really lived by that. If we agree not to do something, we can’t turn around and break that agreement. We have to be able to trust each other.”

  “Okay, deal. But you promise that if something does happen to me, you will live out your life,” I reply.

  “Fine, I will live out my life. And get remarried and stuff.”

  “What? No! You are to mourn for me for the rest of your life,” I order playfully.

  “Okay, deal.”

  “Aaden…I’m serious. If something happens to me, promise you won’t take your life. Please.”

  “I promise. And you promise me that we will make major decisions together.”

  “Yes.”

  “Come here, I’ve wanted to do this since you woke up from the warehouse,” he says as he pulls me close. He places my face in between his hands and kisses me hungrily. When he pulls away, I feel a sharp pang of disappointment. I want more of him. Not just his kisses, I want more of his love, his compassion, his light.

  Please let the virus be gone. Let me have a chance to have his daughter someday.

  Once we are all back in the room, the Healer asks again if we wouldn’t like to have some privacy. I assure her that my team is cleared to hear what’s going on with me. Aaden sits beside me and takes my hand, and together we brace ourselves.

  “As you well know, you were brought in here having lost a fair amount of blood. In fact, had you not had the strength of a Noru, you would have died,” she concludes.

  “Thank you for all your help; y
ou saved our leader,” Swoop says.

  “It’s our pleasure. However, there’s more. The virus, as you can tell, is gone, hence the mark fading from your skin. I take it before the battle with Ever, you and Silver were ‘together’?” the Healer says.

  “Yeah, they were together all right. That’s what caused the earthquakes. It had nothing to do with the end of the world. It was just these two going at it,” East jokes. I grab a pillow and throw it at him; East ducks just in time.

  “Well, the good news is, there was a Sib made in the process,” the Healer informs us.

  Aaden and I look at each other, both too overwhelmed with happiness to speak. But then his expression quickly changes.

  “You said there ‘was’ a Sib. Is the Sib gone? Did we lose…” Aaden can’t bring himself to finish his thought.

  “Let me see if I can explain this in a way you can understand. Most angels think that they are pregnant when the Alexi lands at their feet. But the Sib comes before the bird. The Sib forms in minutes or in days, it varies. But it gets here first. It sends a beacon to the Alexi, letting the creature know that it is ready for travel. When you were struck with the virus, the Sib was not strong enough to send out a beacon as of yet. Then the virus hit, and whatever strength the Sib had was all but drained,” the Healer says.

  “But the virus is gone now. Summit can regain her strength, right?” I plead.

  “Summit?” the Healer replies.

  “They named her already,” Diana explains sadly.

  “Okay, well…Summit was already small to begin with, hence not being able to call to the Alexi. But after the virus, she went from small to possibly not existing at all,” the Healer says gently.

  “What do you mean ‘possibly’? We need to know for sure,” I push.

  “Like a human fetus, a Sib excretes a chemical in the blood of the mother. Our equipment was able to detect that chemical. But only a trace amount.”

  “What does that mean?” Aaden asks.

  “It means in a few hours, if the Sib was strong enough to hold on, Alexi will come. But if it wasn’t…” The Healer stops speaking and bites her lower lip.

  “So we have to wait and hope Summit gains enough strength? Is there a way we can give her more strength? Is there a way we can make her stronger?” I beg.

  “No, all you can do is wait and see. I’m sorry,” the Healer replies.

  “It’s gonna be okay. She’s strong. I know that in my heart. She’ll be okay,” I reply as I look at Aaden. He kisses my hand and agrees with me.

  “Summit will find a way to get to us,” Aaden replies.

  “I wish that was all the news I had,” the Healer says.

  “There’s more?” East asks.

  “Yes. The two Sives that were in your body were queens. Much like a beehive has its rulers, so do Sives. Only queen Sives can split into two. That means they were extra powerful and ate very quickly. The damage most Sives do in hours, they did in minutes. That is why you are so weak,” she says.

  “Okay, so is there a mixture to make me stronger?” I ask.

  “You don’t understand. The Sives ate almost eighty-five percent of your soul.”

  “What? How can that be? Shouldn’t she be knocked out if that was the case?” East shouts, in great distress.

  “Normally, yes. But again, she’s a Noru. So the remaining fifteen percent is working really hard to pick up the slack,” the Healer adds.

  “So what do we do? How do we fix this?” Aaden pleads with her.

  “Here’s what you need to know: There’s a new procedure called Sempra. It’s the process in which we create a synthetic soul and incorporate it into the existing one,” the Healer replies.

  “Does it really work?” I ask.

  “Yes, we’ve had great success with it. You would have your strength back almost immediately. If you are no longer pregnant, this procedure should work very well. However, if you are…”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t get it. Just explain it to us as plainly as you can,” I reply, desperate to stay calm.

  “Right now, the Sib—Summit—if she is still inside you, she has a forty percent chance of growing strong enough to signal to Alexi. Now, if we do the procedure, the trauma to you would be minimal, but it would lower Summit’s chances for survival.”

  “You said she had a forty percent chance of survival. How much lower would her chances be?” Diana asks.

  “It would go from forty percent to five.”

  “Then no, we won’t do the procedure, right?” I reply, turning to Aaden.

  “My wife is right, no procedure,” he says.

  “I understand. But you should know that right now you are very weak, Pryor. You would not, could not survive an attack,” the Healer warns.

  “So if a demon attacked me, I wouldn’t be able to take a hit. Got it. I’ll just make sure they never get the drop on me,” I reply.

  “Pryor, you aren’t getting it. Forget about a demon, or even a Quo, hitting you. If a human walked in here and punched you in the face hard enough, you’d die—instantly. That is how weak you are,” the Healer replies.

  “That can’t be—I’m the First Noru.”

  “You are an angel with most of her soul missing. If you don’t get this procedure done right now, your days as the First Noru are over.”

  In the past few years we have encountered situations that I never thought we would. I can say that very little surprises me at this point. But sitting here listening to the Healer tell me that my days as leader are over…I never saw this coming. I can’t begin to wrap my head around what she’s saying. It’s one thing to have to choose between Summit and the team. But choosing between Summit and the world is just not fair.

  “Pry, are you okay?” East asks.

  “Yeah, fine,” I reply as Aaden and I exchange looks of concern.

  “Is there any way you could be wrong about this?” Diana asks.

  “I wish I were. I ran multiple tests. The results are the same. Pryor can stay weak and give Summit a good chance at being born or she can get the procedure, get back her strength, and battle evil again. However, she would be giving her child a five percent chance of survival at that point,” the Healer replies regretfully.

  “There has to be something else you can do. There has to be another way. She shouldn’t have to make this choice,” Swoop pleads.

  “I’m sorry. But I really do want to impress upon you the time aspect of this decision. If we are going to do the procedure, it should be as soon as possible,” the Healer reminds us.

  The team asks her a bunch of questions, but in the end, there is no getting around it: it has to be Summit or the world.

  I know that the team needs to get back to the mission. Even in my daze, I know that time is being wasted. I should be the one to order the team to get back to work, but I can’t find the strength. Aaden can see that in my eyes, as both my husband and the second in command. He tells the team to go to the cabin and get the weapons my grandfather has in the mountains.

  “Guys, we need to stick to the plan. You need to go get the weapons,” Aaden says.

  “We can’t leave Pry like this. We have to help you guys,” Swoop says as she sadly places her head on Aaden’s chest.

  “I know, Bird. But the fact is we are quickly running out of time. Regardless of what Pry and I decide, we still need you to get the ashes from Apex. So let’s stick to the plan. You guys get going. Head for the mountains.”

  “Fine, but before we go, there has to be a quiet place around here where the couple can make up their minds,” Diana says.

  “Well…yes, I suppose so. There’s a garden out back. It should be fairly peaceful,” the Healer says.

  “Okay, we’ll talk things over and be right back,” Aaden replies as he places a soft, thick blanket around me. Dylan holds the door for us and we head out into the hallway.

  We walk into the garden and immediately encounter the scent of jasmine and lilies. The garden is small but well maintaine
d. It’s illuminated by small floating beams of light that hover above the stone pathway. In the center of the garden is a little cascading stone pond full of fish. The only sound we hear is the water streaming through the rocks as it makes its way to the center of the pond. Along the pathway is a bright red bench that looks out onto the water. Aaden and I hold hands, make our way to the bench, and sit down.

  “It’s really quiet out here. You’d never know we are at war,” he says.

  “Yeah, maybe we can find somewhere in this garden to hide so reality doesn’t find us,” I reply.

  “I have a feeling it would,” he says sadly.

  “Yeah, probably,” I say mostly to myself.

  “Babe, we can figure this out together. Okay?” he offers.

  “Yeah, okay,” I reply, unable to meet his eyes. He gently turns my head so that I am facing him. I didn’t want him to see me cry, but it’s too late now.

  “I know, I know…” he says as he pulls me close and lets me sob on his chest. When I am finally able to talk, he wipes my tears away and reminds me that I am not alone.

  “Whatever you want to do, I’m behind you,” he vows.

  “Our daughter is a fighter; for her to hang on as hard as she’s been doing…she’s already amazing. And the thought of doing anything that could cause her to die before we even meet her…” I reply as I shake my head in disbelief.

  “I agree. I do. But we can’t leave you in this weakened state,” he says desperately.

  “You remember the first battle tournament we had in school? Where we had to battle in front of a crowd and get graded on it?” I ask.

  “Yeah, it was a big deal. My dad fought to be allowed in. He watched me battle with this big grin on his face. He was so proud,” Aaden recalls.

  “Yeah, my dad was too. Uncle Jay and Miku came to see the twins, and Easton’s mom came to see him. The only one who wasn’t there was my mom. She had to be on the front line of a battle with some evil entity that was sucking souls out of humans as they slept. I was so disappointed and hurt that she didn’t show up.”