Flawed Angel (The Fall Book 1)

by J. J. Dean

  I’ll never doubt shock factor again when he chokes on his inhale of breath, spluttering and turning a brilliant shade of red. While he's preoccupied with trying to breathe properly again, I walk closer to him, almost toe to toe, and bend close enough to his ear that he'll hear my whisper. "Just remember that next time you want to act like an asshole. I don't even have to touch you to make you embarrass yourself when there's a hundred people watching. Now, have a nice day, Mr. Crowe."

  With a wink, I move around him and walk to the front door of the building and wait for Noah’s return. After a couple of minutes, he walks out of a door from behind the huge desk and smiles sheepishly at me. "Forgot where I put my wallet."

  With a smile, I tell him, "You're fine. Ready? We should get going before Devon recovers."

  "Recovers from what?"

  "I may or may not have induced a coughing fit. You don't need to know more than that." I quickly brush off his questioning look and dramatically swing my arm towards the door. "Shall we?"

  He looks back to where Devon is still hacking up a lung, and back to me before distractedly mumbling, "Sure," and opens the front door for me like the gentleman he is. As we step outside, I link my arm with his as he shoves his hands in his pockets and we make our way down the steps in comfortable silence, only receiving a quick glance from Noah when my arm hooks around his.

  "Did you want to go to the movies, or did you have something else in mind?" I ask him once we reach the last step.

  "Movies sounds good. We'll decide what to watch when we're there. I can be bribed with popcorn to watch a chick flick, too, just so you have more options," he replies with a grin and a soft blush on his cheeks.

  However, before I can respond, a high pitched, bone chilling noise sounds out all around us. The air gets infinitely hotter and my once calm heartbeat picks up its pace, pounding so hard I'm almost positive it's going to crash its way out from under my rib cage. Noah and I immediately throw our hands over our ears, attempting to block our eardrums from the skull splitting noise.

  "What the fuck is that?" I try to yell over the sound, but my voice is drowned out by the unnatural pitch that's ringing in my ears despite my efforts. My head becomes fuzzy, white specks fill my vision the longer the noise continues and before I almost lose consciousness, I hear Noah's worried shout, "LUNA!"

  Suddenly the wind is being knocked out of me and my back hits the floor when someone tackles me from the side and my head becomes all the more blurred.

  Devon

  It takes me longer than I care to admit to control my coughing fit after the infuriating woman's revelation. It also took longer than I'd even like to think about for the hardness in my pants to go back to its original state after having Luna so close after her little confession, smelling her citrus scent mixed with spearmint in her breath.

  I'll be damned if it doesn't piss me off more than she has.

  Granted, she's only retaliating because I can't seem to help acting like miserable, stuck up asshole around her. But still, she has the uncanny ability to drive me damn near insane. And not just with the ridiculous shit that comes out of her mouth.

  When I was assigned this mission, I was not informed that the Angel I was sent to retrieve would look like Luna. I was not prepared for her beauty, headstrong personality, or the way every cuss word rolls off her tongue like she was meant to speak them. And I hate that it affects me the way it does. I'm here for a mission, and a mission only. I haven’t been sent here to get hung up on a damn girl, one that drives me up the wall with only one conversation. Thankfully, Noah made me aware of who the Angel was before I met her, so I knew who she was the moment my eyes landed on her. I’d seen her before, when I was looking for the Fallen, but never would I have imagined it would actually be her.

  Just as I've gained the ability to breathe without needing to cough after every inhale, a sharp, ear ringing sounds pierce my eardrums. I slap my hands over my ears and run to the front desk, practically diving over the top of the wooden piece and reach the duffle bag I keep hidden underneath. Inside, I retrieve noise cancelling earbuds and pull them out of their packaging.

  From outside, through the shrill wail, I hear Luna's muffled voice yell, "What the fuck is that?!" and I realize she and Noah are outside with no way to protect themselves from the noise. Shoving the buds quickly in my ears, I grab another two packets and I'm running through the door faster than the human eye could see.

  I reach the outside to see Luna swaying on her feet, her hands slipping from her head, looking like she's a blink away from passing out onto the pavement. Noah isn't too far from her, but not close enough to catch her if she falls.

  Before I can make an attempt to catch her before she catches a face full of concrete, movement to the left of me catches my eye, and what I see has my blood turning to ice, my entire body turning to stone, and the realization that Lucifer has decided to play dirty.

  Standing at the end of the street are more than a dozen Hellspawn, all standing in a cluster, semi-hidden by the trees that are lined on either side of the road. Although they look like normal humans right now, I know what they're hiding. What looks like your average human is actually a monster Satan himself created, ones with teeth as sharp as knives, in rows of two on the top and bottom of their large gaping mouths, sharp black nails and bloodshot yellow eyes. Their mouths, when attacking, will open abnormally large, their jaws snapping and becoming lax enough to garner more space for the number of teeth that lay inside. The shrill scream is used on their victims as a demobilizing tactic, causing enough pain that it renders their victim helpless and unconscious, allowing them to pray on them easily enough. No one, not even an Angel, can withstand a Hellspawn's scream.

  A fact proven when Noah falls to his knees in pain.

  "Noah!" I call for him loudly, and as soon as his eyes meet mine, I'm throwing a set of earbuds at him, hoping my aim doesn't fail me.

  My attention is pulled back to Luna when she visibly sways, and her gray eyes roll to the back of her head. Just before she falls, I notice the cluster of Hellspawn make their move.

  Without further thought, I'm racing towards Luna before they can reach her. I have no time for a soft landing, so the moment I reach her, I barrel into her, tackling her at her waist and take her down to the ground none too gently.

  I don't hesitate, however, tearing into the packaging for the other earbuds and shove them into her ears. She lets out a pained groan underneath me, her eyes closed tight.

  Giving her a shake of her shoulders, she groggily opens her eyes enough for me to mouth, "We have to go. Now."

  She proves her lip-reading skills are up to date when she nods her head slowly, still reeling from the pain and almost passing out, but stands, unsteady, with some help from yours truly. I look over to see Noah racing the short distance towards us, and I see the moment he realizes the danger we've found ourselves in.

  Hellspawn will kill any Angel that doesn't abide by Lucifer, which means Noah and I are as good as dead if they get within an inch of us. Luna, being a Fallen, has no side, which leads me to believe she's in just as much danger as us. Fuck.

  I look over toward the Hellspawn and see they've gotten a lot closer than I'm comfortable with. A tug at the bottom of my shirt has me turning my attention to Luna, who's looking a lot more alert now. I'm distracted by the feel of her hand when it brushes my back above my shirt, just above my waistline, but I ignore the tingling trail her hand leaves through the material. Her eyes a have widened as far as they'll go and her grip on my shirt has tightened to the point that her knuckles are turning white from the strain.

  "What the fuck are those and why are they running towards us?" she says, my eyes watching her plump lips as she speaks each word clearly.

  When I look up, it's to see a lot more Hellspawn than I'd previously estimated. They've spread out as they run, creating a barrier at the end of the street to prevent us from making a sneaky escape past them. A noise behind me has me turning and spotting anoth
er four of the monsters standing far too close.

  Without further delay, I decide blowing my cover to Luna is better than being torn to shreds by ruthless beasts and conjure one of my gifts from Him. A brilliant emerald glow forms around my body, expanding slowly as I concentrate on creating a protective circle around the three of us, expanding it a couple feet out from us. The glow flashes bright enough that Luna has to cover her eyes before it settles, and a reasonable sized ring surrounds us. The ring of power will repel any dark entity that will come into contact with it, burning them should they touch the now invisible barrier that surrounds us.

  I feel Luna move away from me and I look down to see her staring at me in equal parts awe and fury. I see her mouth form the words, "Divine Territory," and realize she's realized I’m an Angel, placed the name to my power and likely which side I've come from.

  Divine Territory is one of ten exceptional gifts He blessed Angels with. Only one Angel possesses gifts greater than my own and the other Angels, but no one knows what happened to that Angel. My gift, however, has the ability to repel and destroy, while simultaneously purifying any area it touches. And I just flashed my hand in the most blatant way to Luna in order to rescue us.

  Lunas jaw tightens, her teeth clenching together in frustration, so I pull her face into my palm. I watch her eyes briefly flash Silver, mine no doubt flashing Emerald in return, and wait until her angry eyes fall to my lips. "Now isn't the time to be pissed. We'll deal with it later. Right now, we need to get out of here."

  Looking around us again, I notice the Hellspawn have gotten a foot away from the barrier, the entire ring of protection surrounded by the monsters. If their looks of vicious glee that's shining in their eyes is enough to go by, it looks like they know how far up shit creek we are, and just how paddle-less.

  I push Luna behind me where she grips onto the back of my shirt despite her anger, and I decide that using my second gift won't create any more damage than what's been done. I lift my hands out in front of me and push my power into them, thanking all that is holy for being blessed with the gift of Divine Weaponry.

  With my palms facing one another with a wide space between them, sparks of green flash between hands, and I wield an iron sword. The handle is encrusted with stunning emerald jewels, with the power trickling down my arms and into the middle of my palms. The moment the weapon is created, I'm shoving it toward Noah who doesn't hesitate to accept it.

  Luna's pokes her head around my back and watches my power in full form, so when she taps my back and I turn my head to face her, she mouths, "Bow and arrows."

  I don't ask questions; the next weapon I create is in the form of a wood and silver bow with a dozen silver arrows. Luna snatches them from between my hands the moment they're created and tucks them to her chest. I then create a double-sided iron axe for myself before letting go of my power.

  With all three of us wielding our weapons, I feel my confidence rising slightly. Maybe we won't die today.

  Luna moves from around me until we form a triangle, each of us facing one another. When I look at her face, a breathtaking display of fierce determination takes over her entire features. She looks at me with steel in her eyes, and then tells me, "I'll distract them, you and Noah take down as many as you can. You'll have just over three minutes."

  I don't bother questioning her. The confidence she exudes is enough for me to comply. She looks at Noah and nods before turning her back to us. Noah and I share a brief glance before we follow suit.

  I can feel Luna moving to the side of me, her elbow grazing my arm and then nothing. I focus on the Hellspawn and notice their feral grins slowly fading, their eyes becoming heavy-lidded and sleepy. What the fuck?

  I turn to see each of the creatures in a sudden state of exhaustion, like all of their energy has been sucked out of them, leaving nothing more than drowsy, half asleep beings. In their state now, they look nothing like the lethal beasts they were created to be, but a herd of humans who haven't had a decent night sleep in weeks.

  I pull out my ear-buds, deciding to risk their screams, and am greeted with the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. A gentle, feminine voice sings a stunning rendition of Prayer by Hayley Westenra, the softest melody floating through the air, every note perfectly hit.

  With wide eyes, I turn to face Luna, whose hands are glowing bright silver and an almost invisible stream of power flows effortlessly through the tips of her fingers. I suddenly realize what she meant by distraction. And I quickly figure out where that Angel I mentioned before had disappeared to. Fucking Earth.

  She sings them into submission, causing them to fall into a dream like state, delirious enough that they couldn't possibly cause any harm without tripping over themselves.

  Then I remember we only have three minutes to take down as many of these things as we can. I tap Noah on the shoulder and motion for him to take his ear buds out. His eyes widen in surprise just as mine did when he hears Luna's singing, but I shake him out of the trance, his eyes snapping to me.

  "Kill as many as possible."

  And with a final nod, we're flying through the air and attacking any Hellspawn that we can reach. We swing our weapons, slicing through the monsters like hot knives through butter, heads rolling and limbs falling in a disarray. Thick red blood splatters the cement of the road and stains our clothes, but we battle through the hoard, taking down creature after creature.

  All too soon, Luna's song nears its end and the effects of her power starts draining from the Hellspawn, all while we stand in the middle of them, slicing and hacking our way through their bodies

  Suddenly, it's quiet, Luna's soft singing unheard.

  It's like watching in slow motion as the power leaks completely from the beasts, the vicious, feral gleam sparking in their eyes when their minds return to their normal savage conditions. Like a trigger that's been shot, they fly into action, black claws flying towards me, just missing the bare flesh on my arm. Dagger like teeth are everywhere, wild growls filling the otherwise dead air around us.

  An arrow is suddenly flying through the air, whizzing just passed my face, almost nicking my cheekbone, and I hear a, "Shit, my bad!" from Luna.

  More arrows are shot through the air, hitting their targets with deadly precision, the clang of Noah's sword echoes off the concrete when the metal connects with the ground, and the sound of the air parts for my axe as I wildly swing at any Hellspawn that come too close.

  It's not enough.

  We find ourselves backed into a figurative corner, a building blocking our exit to the left of us, and Hellspawn to the right. They creep closer and closer, murderous intent palpable with every move they make.

  Just when I think our time is up, Noah steps forward and shields us with his body before his left hand - that isn't holding his sword - glows a gold light bright enough to rival the damned sun. He lifts his glowing hand above his head, and just before the creatures come any closer, slabs of concrete are falling down onto them, the sound of snapping bones and the sickening squelch of flesh and blood fills the air. Any creature we hadn't slain before is promptly crushed under the weight of the newly formed cement, a pale gold glow covering each slab.

  Noah's hand is outstretched in front of him before the glow fades and he lowers it to his side. He turns to face us and flinches. I look to where his eyes are focused and I find a very furious looking Luna right behind us, her eyes sparking bright silver, making it impossible to see anything but the blinding light where her eyes should be visible. Her entire body is vibrating, but I can't make out if it's from the adrenaline or pure fury.

  Fury is confirmed when she grinds out, "I fucking knew it."

  Luna

  "I'm surrounded by nothing but lying, betraying bastards and assholes. Sur-fucking-rounded by Angels who are playing tug-of-war with my Goddamned life, pulling me towards Heaven and pushing me towards Hell!" I'm yelling loud enough for the neighbors to hear, but I don’t have it in me to give any more of a shit. Not with the blindi
ng rage that’s rushing through my body like a venomous poison at the ridiculous hurt I'm feeling.

  Stupid? Yes. Can I help it? Not one bit.

  I knew why they were here, but to have their powers flashed in my face like a neon sign that says, 'you’re an idiot,' is a bitter pill to swallow. Especially with Noah, of all people. Sweet, shy, gentlemanly Noah.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  "Luna, I turned the mission down. I swear," Noah calls up to me from the stairs underneath the ones I'm practically sprinting up - a floor underneath me - in an attempt to get away from the two lying assholes that followed me home, even when I made it abundantly clear they weren’t wanted here.

  I let out a derisive snort as I take the steps two at a time, climbing up the stairs like it's my life mission to put as much distance between us. Devon says absolutely nothing as they meander after me, and I'm more than grateful for it. If I have to listen to that dick utter a single sarcastic retort right now, I'll not be held responsible for my actions.

  "Please, Luna, let me explain," Noah tries again, sounding a little breathless after running up almost five sets of stairs.

  "Your explanation can kiss my ass," I snap, just as I reach my door.

  The wooden door opens before I even need to pull the key from my bra, Eli's high raised eyebrows the first thing I see, his face full of surprise. I don’t spare a second to talk to him, but push passed his lean body, and slam the door shut, angrily kicking it for good measure. When I turn around, it's to see both Eli and Asher staring at me with varying emotions ranging from bewilderment to shock and concern.

  Unfortunately for them, controlling my anger at this particular moment is impossible, and seeing their faces knowing they're only here to do Satan's bidding, yet letting them into my life regardless has my bubbling anger spilling over the fucking cauldron. I mean, how desperate for company, other than my dear Francis, was I? A rhetorical question considering I'm glaring daggers at my desperation in the form of two Angels who've been trying to play me since the moment my eyes landed on them. I've never felt like a bigger idiot in all of my long ass existence.