Flawed Angel (The Fall Book 1)

by J. J. Dean

  The room settles into silence, my mind reeling that I'd been the first person to give them something without wanting something from them. Is that what Hell entails? Being given something but then expected to return the favor? That would have settled my decision on a big ‘No, thank you’ to Hell had I not already been adamant that I'd remain on Earth.

  "Anyway, thank you, Luna." His gratitude is evident in his words and I give him a squeeze before we separate.

  He gives me a blinding smile, heart melting dimples and everything, before saying, "So, want to order food? The hike up the stairs burnt off the junk we ate earlier, and I could do with a food coma right about now. How about it?"

  I pretend to think on it for a moment, grateful for the change of topic so I don't have to pay attention to the ever-growing cracks in my imaginary walls and tap my thumb on my chin. "Alright, fine. But I get to choose where we order from."

  And then I'm strolling out of the room, leaving Eli standing behind me with a mixture of shock and awe on his face. Before I'm fully out of earshot, I hear his mumble, "Why do I feel like I just got played?"

  I make my way down the stairs with a stupid grin on my face and head to my cell phone that lays abandoned in my purse on the coffee table. I fish it out of its confines and call my favorite Chinese restaurant, ordering enough food for a village instead of three people.

  Just as I place the phone down, Asher comes out of his room wearing his new jacket with a slight smile on his face. He hasn't noticed me standing in the living room seeing as he seems incredibly engrossed in reading the other songs that are on the back of the vinyl case.

  I must have made a noise of some sort, because his head shoots up and his piercing blue eyes bore into mine, the smile falling from his face. I'm still smiling like an idiot, even when his gaze becomes so intense that those pesky butterflies start up again, because he's walking around in the jacket I bought him like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

  "I see you like your stuff." I let out a laugh when he tries to hide the vinyl behind his back as though I hadn't already seen it. I decide to save him embarrassment and move to the blue-rays to pick out a movie to watch while we eat. As I'm browsing, I feel more than I hear Asher behind me. That man may walk like he's as light as a feather, but I've quickly become accustomed to the change of the air when he's around. Yet another unfamiliar thing, but something I'm already used to. How I’m so used to it already is anyone’s guess. I’m just rolling with it now.

  Just as I'm about to reach for a selection of movies to choose from, Asher leans his head down so his mouth brushes my ear and gravelly whispers, "Thank you, peaches."

  He gives me a swift kiss to the cheek that leaves me stunned for a moment, because he kissed me...again…and then leaves to walk towards my vinyl player.

  Eli barrels into the room, shaking me out of my stupor.

  "I'm starving!" he announces, dramatically falling onto the couch with a huff.

  I smile over at him and tell him, "I've already ordered. Shouldn't be long until it arrives. The restaurant is only down the road."

  He gives me a dimpled grin that has my insides melting into a puddle, so I distract myself by snatching the movies I'd decided on from their shelves. I spread them on the table and head to the couch, falling with the same amount of dramatic flair as Eli, who laughs when I land with an oomph.

  Suddenly, the voice of Chris Isaak is playing in the air, the beginning of Wicked Game flowing from the vinyl player. Just as I'm about to open my mouth to sing along, both Asher and Eli yell "Don't do it!" and I'm left to deflate like a balloon when the air leaves me in a rush and I laugh at their newly formed paranoia. What I don't do is tell them that my power doesn't release any time I sing, I have to allow it to flow into the lyrics or melody. It won’t be something I reveal any time soon. Better to keep them on their toes.

  After a little while, there's a knock at the door and Asher calls out that he'll get it. Minutes later he brings in our food and all three of us spend the evening pigging out on too much food and a night filled with action and horror movies.

  Asher

  Once again, I find myself lying awake in bed unable to fall asleep. Only this time, Eli is lying awake staring at the ceiling just as I'm doing.

  "I don't think I can do it, bro. She's nothing like we were made to believe. We were told she'd be easily swayed, timid and easily influenced. I don't know who fuck they were talking about, but it sure as shit isn't our Fallen Angel."

  My heart stutters briefly before picking up its original pace when Eli calls her ours. I'm not sure if he meant it as in our 'mission' or ours, but it does something weird to my chest that I can't decide if I like or not.

  Eli continues when I don't say anything, "She's different, man. Underneath the tough, badass exterior there's a vulnerable woman who has a soft side that runs deep. I mean... she got us presents, Ash. Without demanding anything for them or wanting something from us."

  He pulls himself up to a sitting position, and looks over at me, his face pinched with worry and doubt. His hair is ruffled from the number of times he's ran his hand through the red strands in agitation. He's feeling the exact same as me, questioning our reason for being on Earth and whether we can go through with it. Especially if it means hurting Luna in the process.

  "I like her, bro. I really don't think I can do it. It feels wrong even trying to bring up why she even chose Earth, let alone trying to shove a sales pitch on why she should reconsider and choose Hell in her face." His eyes turn pleading before he rubs his hands over his face with uncertainty.

  It's quiet in the room for a moment before I quietly admit, "I know. I feel the same."

  His eyes snap up to me and the briefest flicker of hope flashes in his eyes before it's gone as quick as it came. "What do we do?"

  I ponder on it for a while, trying to come up with a solution that won't result in Luna hurt and hating us. An uncomfortable tug in my chest makes an appearance at the thought that we'd hurt her so much that she'd despise us. My hand reaches up to my chest where the feeling spreads the longer I think on it, and I subconsciously rub my palm over where my heart lays.

  Coming up with the only idea I can think of to buy us time before Lucifer himself calls me again seeking updates, I share it with Eli who listens intently. "We'll half ass it. We'll give it a go but make a poor attempt. At least we can say that we'd tried if Lucifer asks. If she still says no, then we'll tell him we'd tried everything, and her answer was the same and then we'll leave. We'll go back home."

  His nodding in agreement stops when the last sentence leaves my mouth, and I can feel it souring on my tongue the moment it’s spoken. His expression tells me more than words could how much he doesn't like the idea of leaving her, matching my inner thoughts.

  It's quiet in the room for some time after, so much time passes that I think Eli had finally fallen asleep, until he whispers dejectedly, "I don't want to leave her."

  It's worrying how in sync our thoughts are considering he's my polar opposite, but I can't deny that I feel the same. The tugging in my chest becomes a tightening and I rub it a little harder to ease the ache.

  "I know, and I'm pretty sure I don't either. But if we don't accomplish what we came here to do, then we'll have to go home. We can't stay here. Lucifer won't allow it." I inhale deeply. That dickhole will never allow us to stay, especially considering we're the strongest Angels he has on his side.

  "This is bullshit. We left to have freedom, but Lucifer calls the shots. We answer to him. It's fucking ridiculous." Eli’s voice is low but vehement, the most serious I've heard him in a long while. I can't say I blame him either. We were promised freedom, a life that was ours to control, but instead, found ourselves in the clutches of Lucifer, the only Angel stronger than us. His word is final, and we'd be fools not to do as we're told if the littered bodies of our dead brothers and sisters – who thought to challenge Lucifer - that he keeps in a dank pit in Hell to keep us all in line is anything to go of
f of.

  "It is bullshit, brother. But we'll have to go home, regardless. It's how it is."

  Quietly, almost a whisper, I hear him say, "I already feel like I'm home," before he turns over in his bed and faces the wall. Little does he know, so do I.

  Just as I get comfortable and settled in bed, the whimpering and crying starts.

  "What the fuck was that?" Eli asks, suddenly wide awake.

  Another cry from upstairs has Eli throwing the blankets off himself and clumsily shooting out of bed, getting tangled in the sheets. He's out of the door in only his boxers before I can explain anything to him. I'm not too far behind, my gray sweatpants hanging low on my hips.

  Eli is standing in Luna’s doorway very much like I had the night before, watching her, looking for the invisible something that's causing her to cry out like she is. When he doesn't find anything, he turns to me and whispers, "What the hell?"

  Knowing she won't wake up because of how far deep into the dream she is, I keep my voice low but loud enough to be heard. "She's having a nightmare. Seems as though it happens nightly. She had a nightmare last night, that's why I was in here this morning. I stayed with her all night after I left her dream and she wouldn't let me leave, albeit subconsciously."

  "You used your Dream Jumping gift? What the fuck is she dreaming about that's making her sound like she's being skinned alive?" he whisper-shouts, anger evident on his face.

  I answer simply, giving nothing more than the bare basics. He's a smart guy, he can work it out without me spelling it out for him. "The aftermath of her Fall."

  His mouth falls open in shock and clear understanding dawns on him immediately, his face becoming pained for Luna, who's lying in the same fetal position she'd been in when I found her last night. The same cries and anguish pour from her, pleading for the pain to stop. Eli's hands clench into fists at the body wracking sobs that overtakes her, and he turns back to me and demands, "Make it stop, man."

  "Planned on it." I step around him and kneel next to the bed, repeating what I'd done the night before, blowing an ice cool breath of my power over her face before settling on the floor next to it. I've no idea what Eli does with himself when I'm sucked into the exact same dream that's been haunting me since last night.

  Instead of looking around at my surroundings, I spot Luna immediately and head over to her. She hears the gravel under my feet, and croaks, "Asher?"

  A pained scream breaks out of her, hitting me square in the chest so hard my knees almost buckle, "Yeah, peaches. Me again. Just try to relax, okay? I'm here."

  I reassure her over and over again, stroking her hair away from her dirt-covered face and smoothing my large hand over her skin. Just with the simple touches, she visible calms down, biting into her lip when the pain strikes again, or sobbing and shoving her face into my thigh to muffle a scream when the magnitude of the pain grows. Through the entire thing, I stroke her hair, whisper that I'm with her and she'll be okay. She's the strongest Angel I know. She goes through this shit every fucking night, reliving the horror over and over again, yet she's still sane enough to cause me to jizz in a coffee shop full of fucking people. A damn warrior, this woman is.

  I tell her as much while I'm calming her and receive a laugh that quickly turned into a pained groan when her back moves even a fraction of an inch.

  We stay that way until I hear her sigh softly and her dream begins to flicker, indicating that she's falling back into a dreamless sleep. Before she fully drifts off, she squeezes my hand and the next thing I know it, I'm back in Lunas room.

  "That happens every night?" Eli asks quietly from where he sits on the edge of her bed, not too far from where Luna has curled her body around my head again.

  "Happened last night and tonight. Only reasonable to assume it's a nightly thing. And if that's the case, she's been going through that shit over and over since she fell. Fucking Millenia." I shake my head in anger and hurt for the woman softly stroking her thumb over my rapid paced pulse even though she has no clue she’s doing so.

  Eli whispers, "Fuck me," under his breath before looking over at Luna wo shuffles a little closer to my head. She did the exact same thing last night, moving closer and closer until she almost fell out of the damn thing, so I do what I did then. I lift myself off the floor and pick her up, moving us onto her bed where she wraps around me like a damn spider monkey. She instantly settles when my tattooed arm wraps around her back and secures her to my body.

  "That's fucking adorable, bro," Eli says with a soft smile, still watching Luna as she sleeps soundly, a soft sigh leaving her parted lips. "Mind if I jump in there with you guys?"

  With a shake of my head, he smoothly slides into the giant princess bed, careful not to jostle it too much. He settles in on Luna's side and tucks an arm around her waist, ignoring mine that wraps around her shoulders.

  We lie in silence for a little while, Luna's soft snoring filling the room while my thoughts run ragged. It's not too long later when Eli whispers, "I'm not doing it, Ash. She suffers enough after deciding not to choose at all. I'm not going to be the one to convince her to uproot the life she's made here for fuck knows how long, and to choose a side she wanted no part of in the first place. I can't do that to her. Her suffering will be worth nothing if I did."

  I agree with every single word, the same thoughts plaguing me since last night when I endured her torture with her for the first time. Seeing it a second was the proverbial nail in the coffin.

  "You're right, brother."

  My mind wanders, thinking up plans and ways to get out of the mission we'd accepted. I think of every scenario, everything that would go wrong and every result that had the potential to become a reality. Suddenly, a plan forms. It's not an airtight plan, but it's definitely something to work on. The plan becomes clearer the more I think on it, and with one glance at my brother lying on his side, tucked around Luna's body and her soft curves suctioned to me, the more I decide the risk will be worth it if I can execute the plan the way I think it'll go.

  "I've got a plan, but it needs a shit load of work. You in?" I whisper the question, determination infusing the words.

  "Didn't need to ask, bro. I'm in. I've got your back like you've got mine."

  With that settled, I slowly start to fall asleep until a sleepy, "In a while, crocodile," falls from Luna's lips.

  I breathe out a short chuckle, surprising myself and Eli, who pokes his head up around Luna's and whispers with surprise, "Did you just laugh?"

  "Shut the fuck up and go to sleep," I growl, shoving my free hand into his face and pushing it into the pillow.

  He snorts before settling down, and before I know it, sleep wins out and I'm falling head first into blissful unconsciousness.

  Luna

  I'm being suffocated by warmth. Is that a thing? Surely it is, because I feel like I'm melting, and I have no idea why. Am I still in bed? Have I suddenly taken up sleepwalking and found myself in a sauna? Not that it would surprise me considering all the changes that seem to be happening around me.

  Opening my groggy, I'm met with a solid chest, tattoos on the left side and bare on the right. Asher is in my bed again? And then my brief memory loss dissipates, and I remember him Dream Jumping and comforting me again. How does he keep ending up in my bed though?

  I start wriggling to save myself front the insane heat I'm trapped in, wondering how Asher is giving off so much warmth, when a grunt from behind me sounds out when my ass connects with a rock-solid boner. If Asher is in front of me, that has to mean…

  "Flower, it's not right to do that to a man when he's already struggling with self-control," comes Eli's sexy sleep ridden voice from directly behind my ear.

  What is happening right now? I went to bed alone and wake up to not one seriously smoking hot guy lying in bed with me but two. I could still be sleeping, but the iron hard rod that's digging into my left ass cheek is telling me I'm wide awake.

  I whisper, "Could I be hallucinating?" and don't expect an answe
r, but Asher gives me one instead, surprising me because I had no idea he was awake, too.

  "No, peaches. You're awake and talking too early in the morning." One eye flicks open and I think I see his mouth twitch with a suppressed laugh when he catches my wide eyed expression. He closes his eye again and ignores me, opting to sleep some more.

  Seeing as Asher won't be answering my questions as to how I came to find myself overheating in a seriously hot as hell man sandwich, I awkwardly roll over, making sure to shove my ass out enough that I jostle Asher as I turn. I'm snickering into my hand when he growls and grabs a hold of my hip so stop me from moving further.

  When my giggles stop and the bed stops shaking from my silent vibrating, I lift my head up to see Eli already watching me with a cute half smile on his face, a single dimple winking at me from the right of his mouth.

  Not one to mince words, I ask, "Not that I'm opposed to a snuggle buddy, or buddies, in this case, but would you care to explain why you and Ash are in my bed?"

  "You were having a nightmare, and I panicked and ran up here. Asher stayed to help you, so I stayed, too." And then I'm rewarded with a cheesy grin and a look that resembles a puppy that did something good and expects a treat for it.

  "Well, I appreciate that, but you two are kind of overcooking me. What are you guys even made of? Fucking furnaces?" I ask, trying to wriggle some more to get some breathing room. All I manage is shuffling closer toward one furnace with mussed up red hair, and away from the other with tinted blue locks. How has this become my life in such a short amount of time?

  When I shuffle closer by accident in my attempt to get comfortable, his shaft brushes my leg and I'm made all too aware that the prime piece of perfection is only in his boxers. Something I don't need in my already flustered state.

  "Your dick keeps touching me," I blurt with all the finesse of bull running through a china shop.