by Mary Ting
Father Sam, Samyaza, rushed through the church and stopped dead when he saw the archangels. “Are you having a party without me? How rude.”
The one next to Uriel growled.
“Barachiel, stand down,” Michael warned. “This was a safe haven for anyone. But you broke that treaty when you procreated with women. I am your prosecutor. There are no laws for me.”
When Michael tipped his head, the archangels began to spread outward. Three to the left, three to the right, and Michael stationed in the middle.
“What is the meaning of this?” Ko roared. “I demand a safe haven. You never mentioned a prosecutor. You tricked me. You will pay dearly for this.”
“Kokabielln.” Michael’s shout busted the window like a mini bomb. “Go. Be gone.”
No one ducked but me. Where the hell were my friends?
Ko scowled, his army crowding around him.
“Michael. We don’t fight among each other. This is blasphemy. Come join me. Let us indulge in beautiful women and create a super species of nephilim. Our offspring can conquer both Heaven and Earth. You and I will be gods. What say you?”
A ribbon of golden light coiled around Michael’s sword when he raised it. Ko blanched, and he raised his own sword, baring his teeth. Just as Michael pointed his weapon at Ko, a crowd appeared through the door. Not just any crowd. Women and children were forced inside.
“Ahhh. Just in time for the party. Come. Come.” Ko smirked.
Ko’s friendly tone twisted something in my stomach.
“Why, don’t be rude, Michael. Put your sword down. Let me introduce you to my friends. A handful of them are nephilim. They are beautiful aren’t they? You can breed your own family line. They will bear your name and your traits. You will never die through them. Think about it.”
Michael didn’t answer, but slowly lowered his sword. He looked upon the people with compassion. I felt sorry for those inside the church. Their lives were in the hands of a monster. So many of them. So many with a sword or dagger by their side.
Ko dragged a teenage boy closer to Michael and placed his sword across the boy’s neck. “Leave now and never come back, or this boy will never see another day.”
“No!” a woman sobbed.
She tried to reach for her son, but a watcher held her back.
“He’s just a boy. Please. He has done nothing wrong. Have mercy.”
“You hear that, Michael?” Ko’s pitch rose. “The mother begs for mercy. Here you have the power to give or end life.” He inhaled a deep exaggerated breath. “Can’t you taste the power?”
“Let him go, Ko.” Michael took a careful, calculating step. “You are not God. You do not get to make such decisions.”
Ko clucked his tongue and pressed the sword harder to the boy’s neck. “No, no. Not one step closer. And you’re wrong. I’ve taken a watcher’s life who disobeyed me. God did not strike me down. Do you know why? He can’t. He is weak. He cannot destroy his own creations, but I can. You see this boy?” He shook the boy he held prisoner. “He’s my own flesh and blood. I love him like a father does his child. But I am also his god. And I am not weak.”
Michael lowered to place his sword down and slowly rose. “For God has given us free will, but you will never return home. You will be banished to darkness until the judgment day. Don’t do this, my brother. Come home with me. I will show you mercy, but you must release the human world.”
Ko loosened his grip on the sword, and for a moment the tension on his face eased. Then he winced, I assumed from an injury as he leaned against the opposite hip.
“Don’t cower, Kokabielln.” Samyaza dragged a girl next to the boy, older than the boy. “Don’t listen to the lovers of God. What do they know? They have not lived like us. And they do not love the mortals like we do.”
The girl...that girl...she looked like Keira, but she wasn’t. But Uriel...he flinched, though subtle, and poised to attack. Did he know her?
Ko lifted the boy by the collar until his feet dangled. “This is my boy. My own flesh and blood.”
“Don’t do this, Ko. You have my word. I will leave.” Michael’s face contorted with torment.
“Too late, Michael. I don’t give second chances. You do as I say when I ask it.” Then Ko sliced his sword across the boy’s neck.
Blood streamed down the boy’s body and dripped onto the floor. For a second, the drip was the only sound until the boy’s mother wailed. A watcher holding her hostage backhanded her. She flew across the room, hit a pew on the other side, and broke her neck.
The girl that looked like Keira pulled out a dagger from the back of her waistband and stabbed Samyaza with it. As soon as she took off, Uriel flew down the aisle like an arrow, his sword in front.
To my horror, not only did Uriel slay several watchers with his sword, his feathers darted out from his wings like mini daggers, stabbing watchers in the throat. Then like boomerangs, they came back around to him. When he reached her, she jumped in his arms. His lover? His friend?
Then I was no longer inside the church. For a second a calm peace and the smell of pine engulfed me, and then I stood among trees. Water trickled in the distance. A few yards from me, Uriel and the girl landed.
Uriel’s massive wings folded to a close. “You have no choice but to run, my love. I will find you.” Uriel caressed her cheeks, his eyes so tender on her, his voice urgent.
“I want to go with you. Why can’t we be together?” Tears dampened the girl’s eyes as her body trembled.
In the sunlight, her eyes shone bright as Michael’s sword and her wings flapped before she closed them.
He inhaled a deep breath. “We can’t ever be. Look what almost happened to you. If they ever find out, they’ll kill you.”
The girl shook her head frantically. “Ko and Samyaza don’t know about us. I swear it.”
Uriel wiped her tears and laced his fingers through her hair. “You stabbed Samyaza. That’s a death sentence. Though I’m glad you did it. I wouldn’t have been able to save you in time.”
“Those idiots have been training us, men and women. I’m very good with swords, better than most men.”
“I know.” Uriel pressed his forehead against hers and sighed. “I have to go. It hurts me to leave you.”
“I know, my love. As it does for me.” She stroked his face with each word. “You need to go back. I’ll be okay. I’m going to go over the mountain and stay with my cousins. Don’t worry about me. I’m stronger than I look.”
Uriel pulled back and smiled. “I know you are. Please be careful. I promise. I will find you.”
The girl kissed Uriel’s lips and pulled back. “Go, my love. I hate goodbyes. Find me as soon as you can. I have something important to tell you. It’s going to change our lives.” She flashed her wings open and soared like a bullet through the forest of trees.
Light consumed me and everything went dark.
Chapter 16
Present
Enoch
I jerked and opened my eyes.
“Welcome back.”
Father Sam. No, Samyaza disguised as a priest. His three minions stood behind him with stoic expressions.
I scurried off the altar Ko had broken with his sword and rose. “Stay away from me.” I backed away, searching for Jonah and Mayra. When I bumped into a body, I spun to see I had run into Jonah, and whirled back to Samyaza.
Samyaza placed out his hand, like one did when trying not to scare a lost dog. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not the same watcher I was back then.”
“It’s okay, Enoch.” Jonah placed a strong grip on my arm. “He’s okay. He’s not the same as before.”
I relaxed my shoulders and then tensed up again. “Where were you? You told me you were coming with me?”
Samyaza paced to the other side of the altar. “I told you we would go with you but only interfere if necessary. Were you in any danger?”
“No.” I thought about it again. Was I?
“You were in the past, so
they couldn’t see or hear you. You would have been in danger if a demon followed you into that dimension, but none did.”
I rubbed the back of my head and stared at the shattered windows. Archangel Michael had busted them with his roar. How strange it was to know not humans but angels had damaged this structure—to have actually witnessed how it had happened.
“Did you get what you needed?” I suddenly became furious with Samyaza for digging into my past. But then I thought, if that was my past, who was I? Too occupied with the horror in front of me, I hadn’t had time to register the implications.
Thinking I could have been an archangel seemed impossible. Was I a watcher? One of the mortals, or even one of the nephilim? But then I remembered Uriel and the girl alone in the forest. They were so much in love. Why would I have seen that?
“You’re questioning what you saw and why you saw it.”
Father Sam’s wicked smile made me sick to my stomach. I had seen how he had tried to kill that girl. It wasn’t the fact that the girl was someone that looked familiar to me—it was the fact that he’d held a human being and planned to kill her as if she were merely something in the way.
He claimed he had changed. And it seemed as though he had. Jonah and Mayra trusted him. I supposed I could as well. I had no idea of their history together, and I had no other options.
“Enoch, have a seat. Let’s talk.” Father Sam gestured to the first pew.
I hadn’t realized when I had first sat on the pew how it was barely holding itself together. The other end had been chopped off. I pictured a sword slicing through it, held by the watchers or the archangels. In fact, most of the pews were broken or chopped into pieces.
“What do you want to talk about?” I carefully sat down.
Jonah, Mayra, and the other three who never spoke kept their stance behind Father Sam. I swallowed, nervous.
Father Sam kept his distance with his hands folded to his waist. “Where did you travel to?”
I scowled. “You were there with me. Why are you asking?”
“I want you to tell me. You saying it confirms your location and your admission.”
I sighed. “I was at this church in its better days.”
Father Sam waited in silence, eyes pinning me, waiting for me to continue.
“Some watcher named Ko entered bleeding, and you were there too.” My tone rose accusingly.
Father’s Sam expression turned grave. “I know. Like I’ve said before, I regret the things I’ve done. I’ve repented and I’m trying to do right by mortals.”
No time to dwell on the past, so I carried on. I told him I had been taken to the forest, but I didn’t tell him about Uriel and the girl. Something in my gut told me not to, not yet.
“What happened at the forest?” he asked.
“You were there. Don’t you know? Must I tell you every detail?” I should sound more respectful, but exhaustion gave me bad manners.
“No. But something happened when you left the church. You were still in the past and we were sent back to the present.” Father Sam pulled up a broken pew and used it as a chair. “Who was there in the forest?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but shut it. My gut instinct told me not to tell him. “Nobody was with me. I was in the forest for a second and then I was here. What does that mean?”
“Who cares who was in the forest? Is Enoch Uriel or not?” Jonah asked impatiently.
Father Sam stood abruptly, frowning. “I can’t be sure, but—”
“We don’t have room for errors.” Mayra stormed toward me and poked my forehead.
“Watch it.” I swatted at her hand.
“Are you Uriel or not? Cause we need him. The whole freakin’ world is depending on you. So if you are, stop hiding or whatever you’re doing and get your shit together.”
Jonah shoved his hair back and bent beside me. “Try to remember who you saw at the forest. It’s very important.”
“Why?”
“Because you were taken from us, taken out of your original location. Something important happened.”
I bent over and ran my fingers through my hair, inhaling deep breaths. What do I say? I feel so lost. Help me. Perhaps I was Uriel, but I would never admit it, especially when I felt no connection to this being.
Peering up, I said with conviction, “I didn’t see anyone. But if I did, what would it mean?”
Father Sam stood up, rubbing his temple. “You would be who you saw.”
I swallowed. He was lying. He wanted me to be Uriel. Father Sam would say anything to make it true. Perhaps he had planted those images in my mind. A second ago, I believed I might be Uriel. But hearing him say it, I didn’t want to be.
I rose and rolled back my shoulder, the ache gone. “I’m not Uriel. I did what you asked, and now it’s time for me to go home. Jonah you want to take us home? You’re still my friend, right?”
“Sure, of course.” Jonah looked at Father Sam for confirmation and headed toward me. “Mayra, let’s go.”
“Let me know if Enoch remembers. Maybe you can do something about it,” Father Sam said.
Dim sunlight blinded me when I stepped out. Jonah and Mayra bumped behind me and halted. The most horrifying sight came to view. The countless demons that had stood by the barrier still remained, waiting. Their glowing eyes focused on me, promising pain, promising death. They weren’t done with me yet.
“Never mind them. Let’s go.” Jonah placed his arm around my shoulders.
No, not his arms. Something soft. His wings. Not just his wings, Mayra’s wings too. Their wings wrapped around me like a warm blanket and we bolted to the sky.
Chapter 17
Unwanted Visitor
Malum
One girl straddled me and rocked, another licked my neck and ran her nails through my hair, and the third sucked my toes. I groaned and stroked their breasts. It had been a while since I’d taken three women to bed together. I’d had more before, but I was too tired.
My two old lovers had showed up at the nightclub and I thought, what the hell. They knew me, my true form, and yet they wanted me. Sometimes, when they asked, I would deglamorize and become the beast in bed.
“My lord...”
A familiar voice echoed in the hallway and then a door exploded open. My girls shuffled off me and stirred under the blanket. I growled and was about to raise my voice, but I shut my mouth when Liana emerged from the shadow, Oni and Micah by her side.
“What?” I snapped. I leaned against the bedframe and raked my hair back with an irate sigh.
“I’m sorry, my lord.” Liana got on her knees and dipped her head low. The other two mimicked her. “I didn’t know you had company.”
Had it not been Liana, I would have kicked them out, but my heart always softened for her.
I cleared my throat and found my soothing voice. “It’s fine. What brings you here?”
Liana nudged Oni.
Oni made a throaty gruff sound, his hands at his side slightly trembling. “I reached out to Marcus as you asked. We all met at a club. Enoch was there. But...but...he got away.”
Oni’s delivery had me annoyed, but the fact that Enoch still hadn’t been captured brought me to another level of fury. As my body shuddered to calm the wrath building inside me, the bedsheet and the blanket clutched in my fists began to sizzle. Though my fingers didn’t burn through the materials, my fists blazed like hot lava rocks.
“Father. Your hands.” Liana stood, moved to approach me, but hesitated. “You mustn’t burn the bed. Please.”
Her tender voice helped me steady my temper.
“Tell me what happened.” I shoved my arms through the sleeves of the robe I had grabbed from the hardwood floor, got out of bed, and tied the robe. Then I slid the sheer curtain to block their view of my girls and took several steps down to their level.
“Enoch had help,” Oni said, still kneeling on the floor. “Keira and her partner Daniel intervened.”
I moved closer, strokin
g the stubble on my jaw. “How did Nephilim Unification hear about Enoch? How would they know you were going to be there?” I paced the length of my triple-king sized bed. “A watcher must have leaked the information. Unless NU knew about Enoch already. Which is highly possible. They must have followed him. Then what happened?”
Micah raised his head, still kneeling. I could have told him to relax, but the girls fidgeted under the sheets behind me. And a part of me felt guilty that one of the humans was the girl that had been with him the other day.
He could smell her pheromones—there was no doubt about that. It would only matter to him if he cared about her more than he should. He should know better than to care for such girls. They were broken. They had no place to go. In the end, they only cared about themselves and did whatever it took to stay alive.
The girls made my customers happy, and my customers returned because of them. That was all that mattered to me.
“Father. Send me with Oni. I’ll bring my best solider and—”
“No, Liana. We have to be discreet. I’ve already explained.”
I sounded harsh, but I didn’t care. Liana didn’t seem to understand the importance of staying under radar. But I also had to reason with her. She might do things irrationally and out of spite. She was still young and sometimes her temper got the best of her. She had demon blood in her, after all.
She pressed her lips and narrowed her eyes, looking hurt. “You send me out to do worse, and yet—”
“This has nothing to do with the level of danger. You’re an excellent solider. One of the best I have. When it’s time for you to step in, you’ll be the first to know. Oni and Micah, find me Enoch. Liana, I need you to manage the club tonight. Now, I have unfinished business to attend to.” I gave them my back, took a step up, and halted at a familiar click from an expensive pair of men’s dress shoes.
“So rude, Brother. Have I not taught you any manners, or have you forgotten?”
I spun toward the door, gritting my teeth. “What do you want?”
“Is that the way to greet your elder bother?” Dominic’s dirty blond hair covered one of his blue eyes as he swaggered in like he owned the place. He was dressed in a tailored black suit, no doubt the most expensive kind, and his tie matched his ruby lips. “It’s good to see you too. It’s been so long, Malum. How have you been?” He glanced around and set his eyes on my people.
