Her Fallen Protector

by Nichole Severn

  A hand grabbed his burnt forearm. “We have to go now!”

  “I said I’m not leaving her!” He yanked out of Sorren’s grip, his attention deviating from Vdarra long enough to recognize the concern etched into the warrior’s face. “Go, brother. I’ll be fine.”

  Sorren’s hesitation was quickly overridden with another quake. Marble flooring cracked from the impact as heat intensified around them. Sorren gave a final nod in his direction, and then retreated, as the Army of Duemos remained lifeless and frozen.

  Turning his attention back toward her, he shielded his face with one hand and worked to keep his balance with the other as he moved forward. No telling how long she could keep the Deceiver under control and once she let go, he’d kill her in an instant. Waves of flame circled her and her father. It’d be impossible to rip her away. He needed to sever the contact between them somehow, and pray shock kept the Deceiver distracted long enough to get her to safety.

  Hot as a lava bed, the floor smoldered, melted the soles of his boots. Sweat dripped down his forehead and into his eyes. The stinging only drove him. No physical element would keep them apart. Not after everything they’d been through. Taking another step, he forced the searing pain in his body to the back of his mind.

  Jacob, stay back.

  The crystal clarity of her voice in his mind stopped him cold.

  Get out of here. Now.

  “Vdarra?” Her melodic voice melted through him like warm butter and he exhaled hard. “I’m going to get you out of here. Hang on a little longer. I’m coming.”

  No. I know what I’m doing. This is the only way.

  Flashes of her plan escaped her control as she struggled to communicate with him and keep her father’s power at bay simultaneously.

  I can’t hold him for much longer. Please, Jacob. You have to go.

  “No. You’re not doing this to me again.” His voice dropped to a whisper as he fought back tears. “You’re not leaving me. I won’t survive without you. I can’t.”

  Heat raked burns up his exposed flesh. He didn’t know how he’d get to her, but it didn’t matter. He had to try. He wouldn’t let her sacrifice herself for him. Not again. Sharp inhales only filled his lungs with sulfuric fumes as the soles of his boots stuck to the floor. “Just hang on. I’m almost there.”

  Go.

  The circling flames increased in speed, raced until he couldn’t distinguish single tendrils of power, but only the monster as a whole. White light swelled from the epicenter, from her, blinded him in a nuclear-level flash. He protected his eyes from the burst, but desperation took hold as he lost sight of her, energized him in a single breath. He lunged. No second thoughts, no fears, only her. “Vdarra!”

  The blast of flesh meeting the flaming barrier hurled him through the air. He hit the column hard, collapsing to the floor completely as the explosion crumbled the cathedral around him. The breath in his lungs disappeared. In its place, an aching burn as he fought to breathe. Black spots dotted his vision. He had only seconds of consciousness left.

  The tremors quaking through the cathedral subsided.

  He rolled onto his back, concentrated on the stars beyond the vast hole in the ceiling, unable to move. Pieces of marble fell from columns in aftershocks, and he paid them no attention. His heart swelled with sorrow as the tears he’d fought for so long escaped. The stench of burnt flesh coated the air.

  It was over.

  Exhaustion flooded his muscles and mind, pressed him further into the marble floor. The Army of Duemos had been destroyed, only ashes remaining, but the knowledge didn’t lighten him.

  “Vdarra.”

  She’d abandoned him. Again. Silence reigned. He blinked to rid himself of the blood and tears in his eyes. His limbs wouldn’t obey his commands to wipe them away. His eyelids grew heavy, and darkness threatened to overcome him. He searched the stars for any sign of his brethren, prayed for the first time since his fall. “Father, please. Forgive her. Take me if you have to for payment, just forgive her.”

  Blackness descended.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Mumbled voices echoed around him, but he couldn’t make out the words.

  As though a bomb had gone off next to his head, only a persistent ringing in his ears and the pain in his shoulder and thigh let him know he’d survived. His arms, legs, head… everything ached. Bruised and battered, he worked to open his eyes. Blurry images assaulted him, dark forms staying just out of clarity. A hand landed on his arm, but he couldn’t fight his assailant off. Exhaustion had taken over. His arms stung from the burns, but he pushed past the pain.

  Vdarra.

  “Whe…re..is…” Molasses seemed to make his tongue heavy, but the ringing in his ears lessened. Shouts and voices came into focus.

  “Don’t try to talk, brother. I’ve got you.” Whoever had a hold of him forced him to stand.

  He tried to shake the headache away. Focusing on the hand around his good arm, he took in the details of blackened fingers tinted with blood and the man the hand belonged to. “Sorren.”

  A wave of dizziness made him overcorrect his balance and he landed on one knee. Sharp concrete and marble bit into his skin. The hand remained in place, holding him upright, and stung the burns on his arms. His shoulder ached from Isabel’s arrow, and his wings had burned to nothing, leaving only a small amount of evidence to their existence. He rubbed his face at snail speed, fighting the exhaustion and the stinging. “Where—where is she?”

  “You mean Duemos.” His brother’s monotone voice made him shudder. “We found her.”

  “Vdarra.” He searched Sorren’s expression for any sign she might still be alive. When only empty sympathy reflected back at him, he swallowed the lump in his throat, too overcome and tired to scream. “Take me to her.”

  “Israel—”

  “Take me to her!” Silence overcame the disaster site at his shout. Soldiers froze in place, stared in his direction, but he only had attention for one. He inhaled slowly and struggled to both feet. “Please. I have to see her.”

  Sorren studied him for a moment, eyes narrowing, one corner of his mouth thinned. For the space of a few breaths, they stood frozen, each considering the other. Finally nodding in approval, he turned, motioning for Jacob to follow. “She’s outside.”

  Step by heavy step, he forced his feet to move, his mind lost to another time. Pure love laced the images flashing across his mind’s eye. He didn’t want to open his eyes, too engulfed in the way she smiled, the silkiness of her hair, her brown gaze burning with laughter and passion. As they reached the surviving great west doors of the cathedral, Sorren turned back to him. “This will be hard for you, but please, don’t touch her. We’re still collecting,”—Sorren paused as if searching for the right word—“evidence.”

  He pulled the magnificent door inward and a rush of fresh Indonesian air filtered inside.

  Jacob breathed deep, steeling himself. Horror lay ahead, but the slight hint of citrus on the air drove him forward. No one could hurt her now, yet the thought didn’t ease the agony in his soul.

  “Where is he?” His voice strained. “Where is the Deceiver?”

  “Gone. Merely injured from the blast.”

  “And Isabel?”

  “Same.” An undercurrent of sorrow laced Sorren’s voice. “She fled right after Vdarra—Duemos—attacked the Dark Lord. I imagine he isn’t very happy with her. She’ll have a target on her back from now on.”

  “I’ll find them. They won’t get away with this.” Clutching the shoulder the arrow had gone through, he stumbled another step. He followed Sorren onto the cathedral’s front steps and froze. Faltering, he fell to his knees. His mouth fought to express the joy coating his every thought. Did she really think she could get away from him? “I thought you were dead.”

  She gave him a closed-lipped smile, a fresh wave of tears coating her cheeks, but said nothing. Ash and remnants of the cathedral clung to her skin and hair, impossibly brightening her radiance.
Blood from a single cut along her scalp had dried and crusted down one side of her face, yet the brown eyes he’d never be able to forget shone with joy upon seeing him, and he couldn’t look away. The loss of his extrasensory awareness of her eluded him. She stood in front of him, but wasn’t really there. Or not a demon any longer.

  Vdarra reached for him, but was quickly jerked back by the guards at her side.

  “No touching,” Sorren said.

  “How’s this possible? The power, the blast—” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “It should’ve killed you.”

  “Yes, tell us exactly what happened.” Sorren crossed his arms over his chest, armor slick with blood.

  “I don’t know.” She closed her eyes and he suddenly wanted to trace his fingertips over her eyelids to be sure she was real.

  He shook the thought from his head. No. She didn’t deserve his comfort.

  “The last thing I remember is forcing all the power I had left into my father. I was trying to overwhelm him long enough to make sure everyone got out.”

  Her attention locked on him, beautiful brown inviting him closer. “And it worked. He tried to use my power against me, and that’s when things went nuclear. The blast broke us apart. Next thing I knew, one of Sorren’s warriors was pulling me out of the rubble.”

  “You gave the Deceiver all your power?” Sorren asked.

  “Somehow I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle mine and his together.”

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Sorren’s questions didn’t mean a damn. He needed his own answered. Now. “How could you do that to me again? You saw what your decision to fall to earth did—it tore us apart. How could you agree to give yourself up if you didn’t turn over the Seal?”

  “Jacob, I—”

  “I loved you, Vdarra. You’ve saved the world from your father, but I’ve devoted the last ten years of my life to finding you—”

  “I couldn’t let him have you, dammit!” she cried, her eyes abnormally dark. She balanced on her knees, swayed to one side, unfocused, out of breath. Darkness stained her clothing. The wound. How could he have forgotten the wound? “He gave me a choice. Go back to him or watch him torture you for God knows how long. What was I supposed to do? Watch you suffer?”

  “Yes. I would’ve died, been called back to Heaven. I would’ve found you again.”

  “The entire point of threatening you was to make me regret choosing you over him. Do you honestly believe he would’ve let you die?”

  She was right. “No.”

  “I chose the best option I had at the time, Jacob, and saved us both. Doesn’t that count for something? We’re alive. We won. The Deceiver is gone. We can move on. ” Sweat and loss of color blemished her face. “Please, I wouldn’t have left you in any other situation. Because I love you, too, dammit.”

  He reached for her. A hard edged command rolled off his tongue. “Let her go.”

  Sorren barred him from reaching her. “She broke our deal and she’ll be charged in our courts. She’s a demon, Israel, a demon who raised—”

  “She’s not a demon anymore.” He confronted the warrior head on. He worked to control his features even though his insides tumbled like a rockslide. Sorren’s armor had been damaged in the battle. With precise hits, he could bring him down easily, but he and Vdarra wouldn’t make it out alive. Not with the surrounding angelic army. “Can’t you feel it? She doesn’t have any power. If you arrest her, you’ll be sentencing a mortal, an innocent, and I assure you, after I break her out of your custody, I’ll hunt you down—”

  “Jacob,”—she stared up at him from her knees—“He doesn’t have any other choice but to arrest me if he wants to be reinstated up there. I broke our deal. I raised that army and I should pay the price.”

  …

  Her mouth went dry as Jacob approached. He wouldn’t harm her, but his stature and fiery gaze brought her to her feet. Automatic defense. If the guards at her side weren’t holding her, she would have stepped back.

  “That wasn’t you. He knows that.” Jacob narrowed his eyes in Sorren’s direction. “Don’t you know what you’ve done here today? You weakened their enemy. They owe you their lives—”

  “I didn’t hand the Seal over when I found it like I promised. Remember?” She shifted her attention toward Sorren. She paused, trying to find the right words. “I’m sorry. For ten years I didn’t know where I came from or who I was, whether someone was looking for me. When I had it, the Seal showed me things I couldn’t remember. It gave me the answers I’ve been looking for and I just couldn’t let it go.”

  “I would’ve given you answers if you’d only asked,” Jacob said.

  His words hit her as if she’d been drenched in ice. Embarrassment heated her face, but the icy tendrils remained clutched around her heart. She’d have to tell him the truth. “You couldn’t give me the answer I wanted.”

  She fought to raise her hands to rub her face, mostly to escape his penetrating search, but the guards held her tight. “I wanted to know…” She closed her eyes, afraid her tears would escape. No. She couldn’t hide her feelings anymore. “I wanted to know if the feelings I had for you were because of my past as Duemos, or because of who I am now. I needed to know if I loved you.”

  The world melted away. “And?”

  She took a moment to answer, her patience so fragile, her body exhausted. “When Isabel attacked you, I realized I didn’t need the Seal to tell me if I loved you. I’d fallen in love with you on my own. Duemos only helped.”

  He stepped forward, but the guards blocked him from her.

  She straightened, lifted her chin. “I remember everything and a deal’s a deal, but understand me when I say I’m not Duemos, nor will I ever choose my father’s ways. So I won’t fight if you want to take me into custody, but you have to promise me something first.”

  Jacob’s eyes widened. “Vdarra, no. I can’t take any more of your promises—”

  “Go on,” Sorren said with a single nod.

  A lump formed in her throat. “Will you please find those bank security guards’ families, make sure they get help? Take whatever money I have and give it to them. It’s because of me they died.”

  The span of four breaths passed before Sorren answered. He uncrossed his arms, hands dropping to his sides. “Release her.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “You’re free.” Sorren stepped forward, so close his breath tickled the exposed skin at her throat. “No fiend would’ve chosen such selflessness. You have a good heart and Jacob’s right. You’ve done us a great favor today.”

  Both guards dropped their hold on her. She didn’t bother asking for further explanation, but instead rushed forward, drowning herself in Jacob’s embrace. She inhaled the scent of burned flesh and blood, but underneath, his cinnamon aroma grounded her. Committing it to memory, she ran her hands up and down his back. She wrapped one hand around the back of his neck and pulled him to her, pressed her lips against his. His response nearly took the breath from her lungs. Having him in her arms chased the nightmares of the past few days to the back of her mind and opened a brighter future right in front of her eyes.

  He hissed in pain. The wound in his shoulder. Dried blood crusted around the edges, but the majority of the hole had been cauterized by her outburst inside.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Just be gentle with me. I’m not used to being so beat up,” He cracked the smile she’d been waiting hours to witness.

  They’d made it. They’d survived.

  His hand slipped under the seam of her shirt. His fingertips grazed the semi-healed wound he’d given her and she pulled back. “Still stings.”

  “What a pair we make.” His smile fell. “Will you ever forgive me for stabbing you a second time?”

  She traced her thumb under his eye, smoothed away the dark circles and the lines between his eyebrows. Just as her urges had demanded in Rio. Cradling his jaw between both hands, she slipped her mouth ov
er his briefly. “Only if you forgive me for separating us a second time.”

  “What happened to Damien and Isabel? I figured they’d want a front row seat to all this.”

  “Damien is dead,” he said. “Isabel escaped. She’s on the run with nowhere to go, but we won’t see her again. Not after you singlehandedly weakened her master.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “And the Seal?”

  “Your father still has it, but the ring is worthless now. The army it controlled is gone.” He rubbed her shoulder with his good hand, and brought to mind other areas that could use a good rub down.

  “I can’t believe this is all over.” She hugged him closer, yet kept her attention on Sorren. She gave him what she hoped was a grateful smile. “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

  He bowed, his armor separating to show an already-healed wound. “I admit you two have done more than I can repay you for. Maybe you’ll consider joining our cause?”

  “And fight against my father?” She smiled up into Jacob’s face, nearly losing herself in all the possibilities of their future. Together. Reading the answer in his eyes, she shook her head. “No, I think we’ve done enough fighting for two lifetimes.”

  “Let me know if you change your mind.” Sorren turned his back to them, calling orders to the remaining warriors.

  For the first time, she took in the carnage left behind. Her knees nearly buckled from the sight of the destroyed cathedral.

  “What now, mate?”

  His words pulled one corner of her mouth upward. Studying the aftermath, she turned in his arms, her back pressed against his front, and leaned her head against his shoulder. The cathedral had been demolished, but Sorren seemed to be taking care of the site. Soon, another cathedral would take its place. The idea gave her a small sense of comfort. Twisting back around, she stroked his jawline. “Let’s go home.”