by V J J Dunn
She’d caught the angel by surprise with that comment and he laughed. He was still grinning when he answered.
“Reinforcements. Abba’s orders. We have some more to join ranks when we’re called out, but they don’t want to come to Remnant practices. They said they’re here under duress.”
Allie cocked a brow at that. “Too good for us, eh?”
Zad laughed. “Nope. They’re a little intimidated by you. Seems Serariel has been telling stories about how irreverent you are.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
“The only contact these angels have had with humans over the history of the world always resulted in bowing, kowtowing and inappropriate worship. They wouldn’t know how to handle your ability to put everyone in their place, even celestial beings.”
She glanced at Nick, who was snickering. She elbowed him in the ribs. “Shut it,” she muttered, but then couldn’t help but laugh. Her reputation apparently preceded her. He shocked her by throwing his arm around her shoulders, then pulling her close and kissing her temple.
Allie wanted to admonish Nick, tell him that wasn’t appropriate behavior, at least not in front of the team. But she liked it too much, and it shocked her that she actually wanted him to do it again. He quickly released her, though, and cleared his throat, as if he had surprised himself by his actions.
Zad, however, was eating it up. His eyes widened slightly at Nick’s actions, but then he grinned as his eyes moved between the two of them. Allie frowned at him.
“What?” she asked with a scowl.
The angel laughed. “About time.”
Allie rolled her eyes and turned to stomp off, ignoring the laughter from the jerks that trailed her as she started giving orders to the team.
Training went very well, and Allie announced that they would no longer be separating when they were called out to diffuse riots, or other mob-type situations. After the near disaster in Chengdu, she didn’t want to take any chances of the Remnants getting overwhelmed like that again. And, considering there were millions of demons, it was a very good possibility.
There had been even more angels than that, though, but that was before the angel rebellion. No one, not even Abba, knew exactly how many — or who — were defecting this time. But every day, more left to join forces with Lucifer, which obviously sucked.
And broke Abba’s heart.
She wiped the sweat from her face with her arm as she walked up to the group of angels, noticing that they didn’t even look like they’d just spent hours swinging their heavy swords. Actually, Allie realized, she didn’t know how much their swords weighed, because she’d never held one. She’d asked to once, but Zad had told her that the swords were too powerful and if she didn’t know what she was doing, she could wipe out an entire sector of earth.
“Never mind,” she’d squeaked.
That brought up a question and she turned to Zad to ask it. “Hey, I noticed when we’ve come across rebelling angels, that they don’t have angelic swords. What’s up with that? Not that I’m complaining, obviously,” she laughed. There was no way they’d be able to hold their own if they had to fight a legion of angels shooting their super powerful bolts and the other scary stuff she knew those swords were capable of. It was bad enough that the fallen still retained some of their other powers.
It was Metatron who answered, with his usual scowl in place. “When the insurrectionists unwisely and inexplicably made the ludicrous decision to forsake the Heavenly Host, they lost the privilege of retaining the celestial implements with which they were gifted.”
Allie blinked at him a few times. “Okayyy, Stuffy-tron, thanks for that super multisyllabic explanation,” she drawled as she patted his thickly muscled arm. “I definitely will not be getting you a thesaurus for your birthday.”
Metatron cocked a questioning brow at her. “Angels do not celebrate birthdays, as we were not born. We were—”
“Okay, okay,” Allie interrupted him before he went on another long-winded explanation. “It was a joke. Anyway, it’s good to know that they don’t have the swords.”
“But they do still have their special gifts,” Zad added. “Don’t forget that. And some of those are pretty destructive.”
Allie gave him a “duh” look. “Yeah, pretty sure I remember just how destructive those can be.” She shuddered at the reminders. It was bad enough that the fallen angels could grow several stories tall, but add in their abilities — it made them nearly invincible.
Nearly, but not quite.
Chapter 4
I CAN’T BELIEVE you promoted me!” Allie wanted to roll her eyes; it was probably the tenth time that afternoon that Robin had said the same thing. But she knew that her new team second was excited… and maybe a little overwhelmed.
After the long morning practice, Allie had ordered everyone to separate into their teams and have more one-on-one practice, rather than the big group fight they’d had all morning, with some of the angels participating. For the afternoon practice, the angels would just observe.
“Well, don’t be too excited about it,” Allie warned. “It just means that you’ve now moved to the forefront of the fighting.”
Robin laughed. “Works for me,” she said. “I’m sick of being stuck behind Ed all the time. He thinks he has to always watch out for me, like he’s some medieval knight or something.”
Allie laughed with her. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that. He’s definitely, um, protective.”
Robin gave her a look as she dipped her chin. “Understatement of the Millennium. He’s ridiculous, honestly. I’m sooo glad you moved him to B Team. I love him dearly, but sometimes I just need a break from the male nail, ya know? Dude is pinning me down.”
Allie barked out another laugh as she nodded. “Yeah, I totally get you. Back in the Old Age, even after he knew I was gonna be the Mistress of the Remnant Warriors, Jaden was annoyingly protective. I always wanted to punch him somewhere he wouldn’t recover from quickly, just so I could get away from him for a while.”
Robin nodded. “Yep. You get it.”
Their man-bashing moment didn’t last long, as they needed to get busy practicing. Allie had the teams separate, with the instruction that each team leader needed to be watching for the member they wanted to promote to second.
The problem with practice was that it obviously wasn’t nearly as intense as true fighting was. Allie knew that no matter how hard they trained, no matter how many moves they learned, it would never equate to what they would face when they fought the demons and the fallen angels.
But it was all they had.
Since Robin had immediately assumed her leadership position and was competently directing D Team’s training, Allie wandered among the other teams, watching as they focused on their moves, calling out encouragement and criticisms as she went.
The sun was dipping low on the horizon when she spotted Zad and Metatron appear with a team of angels under a clump of trees on the outskirts of their makeshift arena.
Their new arena wasn’t nearly as large as the one they’d used in the Inner Circle, but it was certainly preferable. It was cooler, not dusty or dry and so much more pleasant, especially with the fragrance coming from the thousands of blooming flowers. It helped to cover the smell of blood from the multitude of injuries the Remnants always acquired during practices, which was a huge blessing, one which Allie was extremely grateful for.
“Sup, boys?” Allie asked as she approached the angels. These were different angels than those who’d shown up for the morning practice, and these new recruits stared at her like she’d grown another three faces. Like a cherub. Speaking of…
“Hey, why don’t Jophiel and Rikbiel join us now that they don’t have Pit guard duty?”
Zad cocked his head toward the west, where the Gardens entrance was. “They’re now guarding the Paradise Gardens.”
“Dang,” Allie muttered as she chewed her lip and looked over the dozen angels watching the training. It would have been nice to have the
cherubim fighting with them. With their four faces and multitude of eyes on their wings, they would have easily prevented problems like she and Nick had the day before. That many eyes made for awesome lookouts.
She glanced back at the others. “So, you guys ready to join Team Demon Reamin’?” She punched Zad in the gut when he rolled his eyes.
Metatron sighed, probably at her team name. The guy had zero sense of humor.
“These are some of the Host that did not wish to practice with you,” he told her as he glanced back at the others. “But when Abba ordered more reinforcements, He wanted them to see how you mortals fight.” He smirked down at her.
Allie sighed too, but it was more like a growl. “Okay, well, let me know if you wanna join in. We could use fresh blood out there.” A yell caught her attention and she turned.
Davida was on the ground, holding her stomach as blood seeped through her fingers. Allie groaned and Zad laughed.
“Looks like you got your wish for fresh blood,” he joked and Allie gave him a look over her shoulder as she trotted to the fallen Remnant.
“I’ll take her to the Healing Quarters,” she offered, then held her breath and closed her eyes as she reached down to place her hand on Davida’s shoulder to transfer them both.
After Davida was patched up, Allie sent her to her quarters for a shower and rest per Healers’ orders, then she headed to the Inner Sanctuary. She wanted to ask Abba why the Remnants’ new and improved demon-proof uniforms were allowing so many injuries.
After He gave them the new uniforms, they’d been fairly wound-free, with just minor injuries occurring, or where the uniforms didn’t cover them, like Sven’s neck in Chengdu.
“Yo, Daddy-O!” she called when she walked in the vast room. Martyrs, apostles and angels all turned to look at her, some grinning and some scowling. The scowls always made Allie wish she could give them an Old Age hand gesture, but she figured Abba wouldn’t appreciate it.
Abba laughed at her and motioned to her to join Him. When she reached His side, He took her hand in His and Allie jumped at the contact. Touching The Creator was always a shock… and an amazing blessing.
“What can I do for you, daughter?” He asked and Allie lost herself for a moment in His amazing eyes that held all the colors of the universe.
She blinked a few times to clear her head. “I, uh… Oh! I remember,” she said, and He laughed while grinning at her. He knew the effect He had on others.
“Why are our uniforms broken?”
Abba’s eyes traveled down her black uniform with the golden swirls that distinguished her as the Mistress. The other Remnants’ uniforms had silver swirls, but Nick had been given an all-black uniform with no swirls to distinguish his higher rank. Allie thought it was kind of strange to not have any decorations, but then with Nick’s darker personality, it made sense. He wasn’t really a swirly kind of guy.
“Your uniform looks fine to Me,” Abba told her with a grin. “Do you want more gold?”
Allie laughed. She knew it was real gold on the black rubbery material. “No, I’m good. Any more gold and I won’t be able to walk.” That wasn’t really true; the uniforms were very lightweight.
“What I meant was, why are they allowing so many injuries? I just came back from the Healing Quarters with Davida, who had a serious abdominal wound. Krish said it could have been fatal.” Of course, with the healers’ abilities now and the improved bodies in the new age, injuries healed a lot faster. Davida would be back to practice tomorrow.
“Ah,” Abba said as He turned and led her to some chairs on the side of the Sanctuary. Allie frowned slightly when she noticed He was taking her out of hearing range of the others. She glanced at the angels in the room and wondered if any of them were suspects for being possible rebels.
Once they were seated, Abba turned to her. “It isn’t that the uniforms are ‘broken’, as you said. The Remnants’ swords now have the same abilities as the angels’, but with a lesser range. The bolts won’t shoot very far, for safety reasons. After the fight in Chengdu, I felt it was a necessary change.”
Allie’s eyes bugged and she wanted to yell at Him, but thankfully she stopped herself. For one thing, she didn’t need to yell at The Creator. For another, she didn’t need to draw attention from the others.
Somehow, she managed to keep her voice at a moderate level. “Um, don’t you think that would have been useful information for us to have before we went out to practice today?”
Abba cocked an eyebrow at her. “Didn’t Zadkiel tell you?”
Allie scowled then and Abba laughed. “I guess not. Well, I’ll leave you to deal with him as you see fit. But, daughter, just remember that your sword can now injure my angels, so take that into consideration before you deal with him too harshly,” He grinned.
There had been a dozen more serious injuries by the time Allie returned. She transferred directly to Zad and swiped her sword across the back of his knees. He yelped as he went down.
When he was on his back, he yelled up at her as she stood glaring down at him. “What was that for?”
Allie sheathed her sword and planted her fists on her hips. She noticed that some of the other angels had drawn their swords and had moved to a fighting stance in a half-circle around her, although Metatron was looking on with a bored expression, arms crossed over his chest.
The Remnants who were fighting close by turned when they saw what the angels were doing and moved toward them. She saw Nick look up from across the field and knew he was just a split-second away from transferring to her. Allie put her hand up. She definitely didn’t want a Remnant-Angel fight breaking out. For one thing, the angels would destroy them.
“That little flesh wound was for not telling me about the swords,” she said, sarcasm coloring her words.
Zad grinned good-naturedly as he stood. Allie hadn’t cut him deeply, just enough to get his attention. She knew he’d already be healed by the time he stood. The other angels put their swords away, moving back and the Remnants slowly returned to their practice, still eyeing the angels.
“Figured it out, huh?”
Allie smirked at him. “No, I went to Abba to stupidly ask why our uniforms were broken, since the Healers are having to do double duty with all the injuries today. Why didn’t you tell me?”
The warrior angel shrugged, his sky-colored eyes twinkling. With his long blond hair, he was the perfect example of what the Old Age artists thought angels should look like. But in reality, the Heavenly Host were as varied in coloring as humans. The only difference was the angels had a permanent glow to them, and they were all insanely beautiful.
“I thought you’d figure it out when people started getting hurt. Not my fault you’re slow.”
Allie sneered at him and he laughed, so she punched him. “So much violence,” he mock-scolded as he rubbed his stomach, like she’d managed to hurt him, which was laughable. “Save it for the demons.”
She turned her back on him without further comment. They could go back and forth all day — and had before.
Allie decided to transfer to Nick to let him know about the swords. She put her hand in the air to get his attention and made a sweeping motion to let him know she was coming.
“Hey,” she said when she appeared at his side. He shocked the boots right off her feet then when he kissed her on the cheek. While a cheek kiss was a common gesture in the Millennium, it wasn’t something she and Nick had ever done with each other.
“Hey,” he breathed against her skin and Allie shivered. She needed to get control over her attraction to the guy, especially when they were on the field, but Nick had always drawn her, for some reason. He was like a drug from the Old Age… intoxicating and addicting. Before her traitorous body leaned into him for more attention, he straightened. Thankfully.
Allie glanced at the Remnants who were closest to them, hoping they hadn’t noticed their exchange that, though very brief, had been slightly more intimate than just a cheek kiss. No one was lookin
g at them though and she breathed a sigh of relief.
When she looked back at Nick, he was smirking. “What?” she asked with some annoyance.
He cocked his head to the side. “Are you embarrassed of… us?”
Allie’s head reeled back at that. “What? No! Why do you say that? That’s just… but there isn’t an ‘us’ yet, is there? I mean, we just… we barely, uh, talked about it.” She was rambling, and afraid she was starting to sound like a crazy person.
Thankfully Nick didn’t comment on her pathetic attempt at voicing what she was thinking. “There is an ‘us’ and I want everyone to know it,” he declared.
Allie frowned; another bossy male in her life was not something she wanted. Before she could get into an argument with the guy — which she’d save for later when they were somewhere with privacy — she shifted gears.
“I wanted to let you know that our swords don’t have restrictions on them any longer. So, we need to let everyone know to be careful.”
Nick’s brow cocked at her attempt to redirect their conversation, but he didn’t mention it. “Yeah, I figured that and already told my team.”
“What?” Allie asked in surprise. “How did you know?”
Nick shrugged. “Injuries. Kinda obvious that the uniforms weren’t stopping all the blows, and since it wasn’t like the uniforms could have gotten broken or anything, I figured the swords were more powerful now.”
Allie felt her cheeks heat at that and was glad that he didn’t know of her conversation with Abba about the “broken uniforms.” She felt foolish then.
“Okay, well, that’s good then. I’ll, uh, just go make sure the other teams know.” She walked off without looking back.
She’d barely finished telling the last team about their swords’ abilities when another call came from Abba.
Go to Kingston and rescue Alejandro.
Allie’s eyes widened. Alejandro? Why would the Chief Witness need rescuing?
Chapter 5