by Meg Collett
Clark didn’t know how the air smelled, but he watched the water closely. A dark wave rolled from the sword. It didn’t look like water as it crashed toward the beach. When it hit the sand and drew back out as waves do, Clark understood even watching a colorless television.
“Blood,” Sophia said. An icy tendril of fear shot down Clark’s spine.
The Watcher removed his sword. The entire ocean was a dank, dark color, a fathomless red. The mercenary angel pointed to the water and spoke in a hissing, slithering voice.
“This is your first warning, Michaela.”
The words were a promise, her name a swear word on the lips of her enemy. The angel withdrew, rising back into Heaven. Clark watched his ascent and marveled that the enemy could return to Heaven at all.
A Nephil closest to the television reached over and flipped it off. Only then did Clark realize it was his mother. Everyone was quiet; their breaths shudders.
“We knew this day was coming,” Iris said, her voice quiet and calm. Clark fought the urge to shiver in the chilled room. “We will prepare and persevere. This is our time, my family. We will fight to reclaim Heaven for the rightful, including us.”
Clark couldn’t fight the shiver anymore at Iris’s words. “What does she mean?” he whispered to Sophia. But she didn’t answer. Another Nephil stepped beside Iris.
“We must continue preparing. Double our efforts.” Clark recognized the Nephil as Jeremiah, the other leader of the community besides Iris. “Gather medicines, antibiotics, vaccines, and anything else you can find. Warn the townspeople. Tell them to get ready.”
“We’ll make it,” Iris finished. At her subtle nod, the Nephilim dispersed. Clark doubted there would be time for sleep now. Sophia looked at him with wide eyes.
“Vaccines? What will we need antibiotics for?”
“The Watcher said plague,” Sophia answered. “He turned the ocean to blood. There will be more plagues if Michaela doesn’t give over the Seven Seals.”
Clark knew of the Seven Seals. His mind went back to the dream Michaela had told him about as they waited in the Descendant of Enoch’s compound. She’d had a vision of the end of the world. Abel had the Seven Seals, and as he broke each one, a new horror was released upon the Earth that went far beyond the devastation of a few plagues. Unlike the plagues, the seals brought about an end no one would survive. But the Aethere didn’t know that if they destroyed Earth, Heaven and Hell would perish too.
“She’ll never do it.” Clark reached out and gripped Sophia’s hand. “She won’t give Abel the seals. She doesn’t even have them.”
“We know she’ll never give them up. That’s why we prepare for the worst. Iris warned us long ago. The Watchers threaten us with plagues. People will die in great numbers, but the plagues will be nothing like what is released when the seals are broken.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Clark asked.
Sophia shook her head. “Stay alive. Without the Nephilim, Michaela will never win back Heaven.” Sophia squeezed Clark’s hand.
Clark cursed. For once Sophia didn’t object to his language. “If the seals aren’t in Heaven and Michaela doesn’t have them, where are they?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but Michaela does.” Sophia shook her head. “Iris gave Michaela a cell phone.”
Clark frowned. “Really?”
“Yes. You need to call her. Now.”
7
Michaela wanted to laugh when she thought about the optimism she’d felt driving down to Charleston.
Killing the hybrids, she’d thought, would be easy. She’d swoop in and exterminate them all in a matter of hours.
She was a fool.
The hybrids were machines. Some hybrids driven so mad by blood thirst would blindly attack, snapping their jaws and flailing their limbs. They were easy to kill. But the ones who could think with a human and an angel brain, assemble into packs that stalked in the shadows, and flank their prey were much, much harder to kill. Perhaps impossible to kill.
On the fourth night, running on fumes, Michaela and Isaac’s most loyal Descendants hunkered down in an abandoned warehouse. One Descendant had been attacked earlier and was escorted back to the compound. They were down to Michaela, Isaac, Liam, and three other Descendants. They weren’t much of an army, but Isaac had only brought the Descendants he could trust not to turn Michaela over to the Aethere.
They were cold and hungry. The night was alive with predators, and they couldn’t trust the tiniest sound or flicker of movement. The constant alertness that bordered the fringes of fear had taken its toll days ago.
Exhausted, Michaela raked her hands over her face. The others dozed fitfully around her, but she couldn’t bear to close her eyes. The adrenaline that had coursed through her system earlier now made her sick and achy. So when her cell phone rang, piercing the tense silence, she jerked, kicking over a thermos of coffee.
Swearing, she fumbled to answer the phone the way Iris had shown her. “What?” she snapped.
“That is not how you answer a phone.”
Michaela recognized Clark’s voice, because of the wave of relief overwhelming her. Hearing him in all his sarcastic glory eased her tattered nerves. Tears threatened the backs of her eyes, but Michaela took a deep breath and pushed the emotion away.
“What do you want, Clark?” she asked. Isaac sat up next to her. He looked as worn out as she did. Black shadows seeped beneath his eyes. His hair was dirty and sticking out. He wrapped his thick jacket around him for warmth.
“We need to have serious etiquette classes when you get back,” Clark said.
“Clark,” Michaela warned, her warm feelings toward him dissipating quickly. Isaac rolled his eyes.
Michaela heard someone murmuring to Clark. “Fine,” he huffed. “Calm down. Are you okay?”
The handful of Descendants sat around her, all with various injuries. They’d need an entire army fighting the hybrids to be simply okay. “Yeah,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Are you sure?” Clark paused, likely narrowing his eyes as he listened to the waver in her voice. “Are you killing them?”
“We’re trying,” Michaela said, pinching the words tightly together. “Why did you call?”
“Fine. Okay. Straight to business. Have you seen the news?”
Michaela looked around the empty warehouse. The homeless—some of the only humans left in Charleston—had retreated upstairs when Michaela and the others entered. The air stank of feces and urine. Rats and other creatures scampered in the darkest parts. The occasional dirty syringe littered the floor, making walking treacherous.
“No,” she said, her voice dry.
Clark sighed. “Well, maybe you should…”
“Clark, that’s not going to happen here. Charleston is gone. What happened?”
“Charleston is gone? Really?”
Michaela wasn’t surprised he didn’t know given the farm’s isolation from the outside world. She also hadn’t seen many reporters sticking around in the city long enough to report the devastation. “What was on the news?” she pressed.
Clark paused, as if he was confused. “Are you not by the water?”
“No. We were pushed pretty far inland.” That was an understatement. They hybrids were spilling from the confines of the city, pushing into new territories and new blood. “What’s the deal, Clark?”
“I don’t know the best way to put it, but basically a Watcher turned the Atlantic into one big blood pool. It’s gross. Fish are dead. Everything stinks. It’s not just the Atlantic either. It’s like all the oceans and rivers, dude,” Clark paused. Michaela pictured him chewing his lip. “The Watcher had a message for you.”
Michaela waited. She didn’t trust her voice. Anger like a white-hot sun flared inside her. She was getting a bad feeling about this. The Aethere were pushing things to the limit in their madness for purity. They had a reason for not killing the hybrids, and Michaela felt like she was about to hear it.
“He said the Aethere wants the Seven Seals. And that you should bring the seals to them or else they will unleash more plagues on the Earth,” Clark finished.
“Plagues? That’s the word he used?” Michaela asked, her fears confirmed.
“Yeah. That part was pretty clear.”
“You’re still preparing food? Medicine? Gather vaccines and antibiotics—”
“There’s something else,” Clark said. “Two angels were cast out of Heaven yesterday. Their wings had been taken. They told us that Abel and the Aethere were demanding the End of Days, which is why they want the seals, I guess.”
Michaela sighed heavily into the phone. She should’ve known it would come to this. Abel wouldn’t care about Earth once he had Heaven the way he wanted it. Except he didn’t realize his version of the end of the world included his precious Heaven.
“What are you going to do?” Clark asked when she didn’t respond.
“I’m not giving Abel the seals,” Michaela said. Isaac stiffened beside her. They shared a glance of understanding, because apart from Michaela, he was the only other being who knew the seals’ location. Isaac turned and woke the others.
“That’s probably a good idea.” Clark paused as if he was unsure about something.
Michaela gathered her things. She stuffed her baseball cap and jacket into her backpack. Two long, curved knives hung from sheaths at her hips. “I’m coming back.”
“To Pennsylvania?” Clark asked, shocked.
“Yes.” Michaela looked at Isaac, who nodded. Liam and the others waited behind him. Michaela set off through the warehouse. “Things will get worse, Clark. If the Watcher warned about plagues, we have to prepare. The hybrids will be the least of our worries.”
“That’s fantastic. Thanks for sharing the good news.”
“Just get ready.” Michaela hung up and tucked the phone into her pocket.
They came to a set of doors with a wooden plank wedged through the handles. Michaela paused, hand on the board, and looked back at the Descendants. “Ready?” she asked, eyebrow cocked.
They nodded. Silently, she pulled the board free and eased open the doors. She drew her knives and slinked into the dark night.
8
Michaela peered down the alleyway, craning her head to look in all directions. The shadows winked dangerously. Around any corner could have one of Lucifer’s hybrids. She gritted her teeth and motioned the others out behind her.
They didn’t talk, yet everyone knew what they needed. They’d left their cars in a secured garage near the Ashley River in the heart of the city. With transportation, they could get out of the city safely. Except the cars were all the way on the other side of the city. They’d planned to stay close to the cars, moving them as needed, but the hybrids had pushed them farther back into the outskirts of downtown until they were miles away, leaving them stranded.
They swept down the alley, weapons drawn even though only the words Michaela had used on Cassie could bring down the hybrids. Hitting a hybrid with a bullet barely slowed them, but the guns gave everyone some peace of mind even if they hardly used them. Michaela trotted in the lead; Liam brought up the back. She didn’t hesitate when she came to the street.
Sticking to the few streetlights still casting light onto the litter-strewn asphalt, Michaela hurried, scanning each car as they went. They were all looted. Tires were gone. One was turned over on its side. Some were even spray painted. Michaela hissed in frustration. They weren’t going to find a working car around here.
Every second they spent exposed only increased the chance a band of hybrids would find them. The streets were too exposed. The debris littering the city provided ample shadowy cover for the slinking hybrids.
Michaela drew in a long breath, scanning the street for the next safest spot to move to. She started toward an overturned truck that would provide good cover when she saw the shadows moving. She screeched to a stop, gun raised.
The others were quick to react behind her, crouching, ready to fight. Then Michaela caught the scent. She sighed and lowered her gun, nodding to the others to do the same. This wouldn’t be a fight. Or at least she hoped it wouldn’t be.
Gabriel and a group of six fallen angels wove their way through the cars and debris in the road. They didn’t carry weapons like Michaela and the others, because their wings were safety enough. They didn’t need the precious few seconds Michaela’s gun provided against a hybrid if they could just fly away. They walked toward Michaela’s group with ease and swagger.
Michaela’s heart clenched at the sight of Gabriel. His dark jeans couldn’t conceal the way his muscles worked underneath the fabric as he strode toward her. His peacoat flapped open in the wind, his wings tucked tightly underneath. His unyielding gaze, scorched her skin. He seemed to eat her whole out there on the street, and it made her traitorous stomach flip with excitement.
“Funny seeing you here,” Gabriel commented when he was within a few feet of where Michaela stood. His lips twisted into a nasty smirk, but it never reached his black eyes, which, oddly enough, looked sad. Of course, Michaela didn’t know how to read his black eyes like she had his gold ones.
“Of course I’m here,” Michaela said. “I didn’t mean to cause this, but I’m here now to fix it.”
Gabriel threw his hands into the air. “We’re saved!” The fallen behind him chuckled. Michaela’s grip tightened on the gun hanging at her side. The weight of her knives were heavy at her hips.
“Say what you want, Gabe.” Michaela narrowed her eyes at him. “But I’m here. Why are you?”
The smirk fell from Gabriel’s face. His stare was hard and long at the way she gripped her gun. “I have a message from Lucifer.”
“Let me guess. He heard about the Aethere’s ultimatum delivered by the Watcher.”
“He did. And he says that if you give him the seals, he’ll call back the hybrids. If you don’t…he will release even more.”
Michaela looked away. Her gaze traveled along the broken windows of the old buildings. Trees ruined and jagged poked into the night sky. Papers fluttered along the road. Dark stains spotted the ground occasionally. She smelled blood in the air.
Humans were going to die no matter what she did, no matter the number of hybrids. She’d told Gabriel she was ready for a war, and she was. She wasn’t going to hand those seals over willingly. She would fight until the very end. She looked back at Gabriel.
“Why am I not surprised? Tell your master,” she spat, causing Gabriel’s face to harden, “that I accept no threats. No one gets the seals, because the world is not ending. But if they want a war, I will give them one.”
Gabriel laughed, like he was covering his pain with more pain. “I should’ve known you would choose the option that gets the most people killed.”
Michaela took an angry step forward. She was almost nose-to-nose with Gabriel. She smelled him—fire and sweat. But the slightest bit of his old hardwood scent came through. It burned her nose with familiarity. “I won’t hide from this. We would rather die fighting for what’s right.”
“How noble,” Gabriel sneered.
Michaela reached out and yanked Gabriel forward by his loose denim shirt. The fallen behind him surged forward, but the Descendants at her back were quicker. The fallen stilled.
Having his face so close to hers caused her hand to tremble slightly. His chest heaved below her fist. He had to feel her shaking, yet his throat bobbed like he was affected by her proximity too. Her eyes drifted down to his lips, which were chapped and torn like he had been biting them in frustration. Being this close to him, she could almost forget about everything around them. But then she met his black eyes and remembered.
“Stop acting like this.” Michaela growled the words an inch from Gabriel’s mouth.
He smirked. “But this is who I am now.”
“No. No, it’s not.”
Michaela let him go. They were completely different now. She could barely find a trace of the old Gabriel in this n
ew one’s body. She looked away; the sight of him, the angel she had loved—and still might—hidden behind a façade, left her sick to her stomach.
“Can I ever say I’m sorry enough times for you to forgive me? Is there anything I can do to make it right? Or will you always hate me for forcing you to become a fallen?” Michaela whispered the words to a dirty spot on the road inches from Gabriel’s boots.
“Well—”
“Because I’ll only say this once more. After this time, I’m done—done with you, done with apologizing.” Michaela looked up, glaring into Gabriel’s surprised eyes. Her words were commanding, quiet, the voice of a General she hadn’t used in a while. “I’m truly sorry, Gabriel. I hate it with every inch of my soul that you had to sign over your soul. I never would have asked that sacrifice of you, but this is the last time I apologize for something outside of my control. So as of now,” Michaela took a deep breath to steel her nerves, “I’m done.”
Heavy lines formed on Gabriel’s brow. The others around them were quiet, seeming to shrink away from Michaela’s words. But Gabriel leaned toward her. His black eyes softened, and Michaela caught the hint of golden filaments firing from their inky depths. Her shoulders relaxed. It seemed as if she’d finally said the right thing and gotten through to him. The mask fell away from his face as if he was about to take all the hurtful words back. He opened his mouth to speak.
Motion caught Michaela’s attention. Confused, she looked to the spot behind Isaac’s shoulder. It took her only a second to process the sight.
“Isaac!” she screamed, horrified.
The hybrid had slunk in from the shadows while no one had been paying attention. It loomed over Isaac, its dirty and blood stained teeth sank deep into his shoulder. Isaac fell to the ground, flailing and cursing. The hybrid fell with him, biting and clawing all Isaac’s vital parts.
Michaela sprang forward, reacting a breath before the others. She was across the road in two bounding steps, her gun ready. She jerked the hybrid back, tearing Isaac’s skin even more. Blood soaked the ground beneath her feet, and she fought for purchase.