Awaken the Soul

by Michele G Miller

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” I ask them both. “I know you sense what she is to me. I know you know how important she is, not only to me but to you.”

  A slow grin works its way onto Father’s face. “Perhaps there is more of me in you than I thought.”

  “Perhaps.” I nod. “Or perhaps I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Vivienne is safe.”

  He stiffens, his head snapping toward Elias. Something passes between them. Elias lies for me all the time. Does he know? Does he suspect Elias’ true allegiance has been with me since the day he was forced to watch over me?

  “Yes, I imagine you will,” he says after a moment, turning and tucking his inky-black wings close to his large frame. “This reaper, Sebastian. He disobeys his laws by remaining here. He lost his invisibility, thus making him dwell in a host. His existence is forfeit because he threatened my future.”

  “Thank you.”

  That is what I expected. He will say it is for me, for what I will bring to his leadership when I pledge my allegiance to his ranks. But I’m not fooled. He’s curious to figure out why the Creator gave me a human soul mate. A human I’d known and been around all my life. I’d always understood bonds to be undeniable, and ours feels that way now, but why didn’t it before? Why did it take her near death for the bond to click so strongly? I check the clock on the wall. First period ends in two minutes. “I promised her I’d be back in time for our next class. I don’t like leaving her alone.”

  “I will meet her.”

  My wings bristle at his command, and I swallow hard. He isn’t using his abilities on me, but he could. He could compel me to do his bidding any time he wants. It’s what makes this all so damn difficult. “Eventually.”

  My pocket vibrates. Father cocks his head, his eyes following as I pull out my cell and answer.

  “Zara?”

  “Is Viv with you?” Zara asks breathlessly through the phone.

  “What? Why?”

  “Breckin, I’m aware of your reputation. You don’t play by the rules, but Viv does, and if you—”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Zara? Where’s Viv?” I interrupt.

  “She was called out of class, and she never returned. I grabbed her stuff and went to find her in the office, but they acted as though they had no idea what I was talking about. I figured you’d bribed them or something, since neither of you are in chemistry, where you should be.”

  “I had a family issue and had to leave campus. She was probably worried and is on her way here. I’m sure it’s nothing. I need to go.”

  “Okay, but—” I end the call, shoving my cell in my back pocket and looking at Elias and Father.

  Sebastian has her. She wouldn’t have left campus. A growl rips through my chest as I swing at the nearest lamp, the glass shattering as it hits the wall.

  Game of Survival

  Vivienne

  I can’t breathe. We fly at such a pace, I cannot find a way to take in air without it being forced into my lungs. My eyes burn, and my skin pulls from the pressure being exerted. It’s like the force of a roller coaster, but infinitely more powerful. I tuck my head into Sebastian’s leather coat, hating the inferred intimacy, as I hang on with every ounce of my strength, praying he doesn’t drop me from the sky to my death.

  When I fear my body will be ripped apart by the wind, we slow, and his arms loosen.

  I scream.

  Opening my eyes, I cringe and duck as we fly through the dense forest along the rocky slope of a mountain. Are we still in Havenwood Falls?

  His arms release me, and I slip. “No!” My hands and arms hold tighter, my legs stretching around his. “What are you doing? Don’t drop me, please!”

  My head jerks back, his fingers digging into my scalp.

  “Can’t you fly, pretty one?” His blue eyes shine as he laughs.

  I peer over my shoulder at the ground below. Rocks. Jagged, loose, snow-covered boulders cover this section. I beg, tears pouring from my eyes as I climb his body, working to maintain my hold. It’s no use. My muscles tire quickly, my sweat-covered palms slipping as we weave between trees. The moment my legs lose their connection with Sebastian, I anticipate the fall. Closing my eyes, I whisper Breckin’s name. I picture Mom sitting at home, wondering what happened to her only child. I picture Zara and all my friends—will they find my body? Will I be another missing person like Heidi Bennett?

  My eyes meet Sebastian’s. “I don’t want to die. Please?”

  A smile graces his supernaturally perfect angelic face as he grasps my wrists and pries me away—as simple as plucking a piece of lint from his shirt—dropping me.

  I have one moment to scream before I land hard and roll, coming to a stop when my arm cracks against a snow-covered rock. The snap of bone in my forearm sends pain throughout my entire body. The sound vibrates in my teeth. Biting my lip so hard I taste blood, I scramble into a ball and search the sky. Where is he? Where did he go?

  The swoosh of wings is nearby. I push to my feet and run.

  Tripping over limbs, tearing through bushes, and slipping on ice, I play hide and seek with an angel in the sky. His laughter trails me, and his shadow mocks me, never straying far from where I am. My toe snags a limb, and I pitch forward. I twist in time to save my arm from impact and slam head first into a thick pine. Warmth oozes down my face as white flashes behind my eyelids. It hurts. My broken arm, my weak legs, the throbbing in my head. Red drips to the white snow, and I lift my hand to the wound.

  “Breckin?” I whisper his name, praying against all hope he hears me as the reaper lands.

  Sebastian’s shadow blocks the sun. His mottled gray and cream wings remain fanned out, like any moment he’ll take off again. He’s proud of what he’s done—victory wreaths his face. But what is my cost?

  “I knew you were special the moment I was sent to reap you. Death’s orders are always the same, but for you . . . they were different. Your blood told the story. It has been thousands of years.”

  “What do you want with me?” I drag myself backward, my hand searching the ground for a weapon as I go.

  “Had he left you to me, your soul would be free. I never considered doing anything but my job.” He walks forward, keeping his distance as I push backward. “But he is the son of an angel,” Sebastian says with distaste. “He interfered. He broke the laws, and he opened my eyes to what you are. What you can be.”

  Bile rises, burning my throat as the world spins. “What am I?”

  The question barely passes my lips when snow flies, and Breckin lands, his body crouched before me. The muscles in his back flex, ready for a fight as his wings stretch out, taking up twice the space as Sebastian’s.

  “You,” Breckin peers over his shoulder, “are my soul.”

  He scans me, verifying I’m relatively unscathed before focusing on Sebastian. My shoulders shake with relief. Using the tree at my back, I work into a standing position. Dizziness swamps me. I clutch the pine, my face pressing against the rough bark as I work to remain on my own two feet.

  “You dare take her from me?” Breckin growls. “This will not end well for you, reaper.”

  Breckin leaps into the air, throwing himself at Sebastian, a flash of movement to my already blurry vision. The ground shakes, and thunder-like sounds echo through the forest as their bodies connect. Sebastian soars backward, twists, then launches at Breckin.

  They fly through the forest, breaking branches and tumbling trees like dominos. Tangled limbs land on the snow a few feet from my position. I cringe as Sebastian punches Breckin, but Breckin returns the punch as though it was nothing. Back and forth they struggle. They’re indestructible beings, fighting a cage match neither looks to win.

  “Will she join you?” Sebastian drawls when they part, stalking each other. His blue eyes look past Breckin. “Will she turn her back on her calling for you?”

  My stomach drops. Phantom butterflies within my chest flit about, tugging me toward Breckin while, at the same
time, holding me back.

  “You don’t know?” Sebastian laughs. “He didn’t tell you.”

  Is he talking to me or Breckin? My question goes unasked as Breckin’s wing lifts, blocking my view, and more voices shout from above.

  “Vivie, move back,” Breckin orders above the others.

  Breathing through the pain of my broken arm, I hide behind a tree. My legs refuse to move farther.

  A moment later, a hand cups against my mouth as an arm wraps around my waist from behind.

  “It’s me,” Elias says, picking me up off the ground and swiftly moving away from the fight.

  “Elias? No. Help Breck. Where are you going?” I claw at his hands. His grip tightens, and I kick at his feet as he runs farther into the forest. He can’t fly—we won’t go far—but he runs with speed. Breckin’s voice fades into the background, and my soul shreds, ripping a sob from my chest. Fear consumes me. “Elias, please. What if something happens to him?”

  “His father is here,” he pants, an edge to his voice. Is that bitterness? Elias thinks of Breckin like a son. It’s in his tone. “Hamon will take care of the reaper. Breckin is fine. I need to move you to safety.”

  His words make sense, and he is attempting to help, but my body doesn’t listen. I have no control over my reaction. My legs kick, and my head butts against his chest as I flail. A deep-seated knowledge that Breckin is being threatened has awakened, and my soul fights to return to her other half. Elias curses as I lean forward, throwing him off balance, and his arms loosen. Taking advantage, I punch at his arm and jump free of his grip. It was a mistake.

  Falling to the ground face first, I land on my stomach, and black, all-consuming pain rips across my arm. Moisture and warmth immediately cover my skin. My sleeve is soaked in blood. I roll to my back, screaming in agony as I push the sleeve up. A bone protrudes through the skin.

  “I’m trying to protect you,” Elias hisses, falling to his knees and reaching for me. I flinch. Elias’ face changes, his worry wiping away and leaving an unreadable mask. “I’m sorry, Viv,” he says gruffly.

  My head shakes. “I need Breck, please,” I beg, willing my limbs to move, to run back toward the faint sound of yelling, but the pain is too much. My muscles lock.

  “Everything will be okay,” Elias says, lifting his arm. Everything goes silent.

  When It’s All Over

  Breckin

  My father, an avenging angel full of malice and power, is a jarring sight as he lands in the snow between Sebastian and me. I risk a glance at Vivienne and find Elias dragging her away. Relieved, I focus on Sebastian.

  “Hamon.” Sebastian nods in deference.

  Father glances my way. His mouth twists as he takes me in. I spit blood on the ground, aware the look I’m receiving is because of my weakness. My energy pulls, healing the wounds Father frowns down upon.

  “You challenge the son of an angel, reaper?” He questions, his words full of distaste.

  “I defend myself. Your son interfered with my job—”

  “My son saved his soul mate,” Father interrupts. He tucks his wings and moves forward. “You are inferior to us in every way. Did you think you could win something from me?”

  The reaper’s eyes go wide. His jaw slackens as he looks around the forest. Elias and Vivienne are gone. Father stands before him with an angel blade at his waist, and I’m ten feet on his other side. He’s trapped.

  He leaps into the air, but it’s too late. Father grabs his ankle and throws him to the ground like a sack of grain as I rush forward. Sebastian scrambles back, but Father is a blur. The divine, even fallen ones, are more powerful than lesser angels, and before I can blink, Father has the reaper from behind, pulling him into a standing position.

  “You damned her,” Sebastian says between gritted teeth, glaring as he claws at Father’s arm. “You should have let her die.”

  “How? How did I damn her?” I shout as Father jerks back, choking the reaper. “What is her calling? What do you know?”

  Sebastian grunts, his lips parting, but his words never exit. My father’s arm arcs around his shoulders, and the glow of an angel blade flashes as it slices across his chest.

  “No!”

  Sebastian’s eyes glow, flaring wide, before closing as he crumbles to the ground, leaving the remains of the human host he inhabited before us.

  “Why did you kill him?”

  “Your soul mate was hurt.” His gaze flicks over my shoulder. The snow is red with blood. “Find her and send Elias back.”

  My jaw clenches as I study him. There will be time for explanations later. Leaving him behind, I grab my phone and jump into the air in search of Elias and Vivienne.

  “Your battle skills need work.”

  I turn at the displeasure dripping from Father’s words. I’d assumed he’d be gone a while, taking care of the mess with Sebastian—even he answers to someone. Or so I thought.

  Controlling my contempt, I nod. “There hasn’t been much need for fighting here.”

  He killed Sebastian, with a simple slice to the chest. It was nothing for him, but it’ll cost me everything, eventually. Including Vivienne.

  “There will be.” He walks to the opposite side of my bed and looks down at Vivienne’s still form. She’s a mess, with her knotted hair and dirty, tear-streaked face—but she is beautiful. And she is mine. I tense as he reaches for her now healed arm. The primal urge to challenge him for the audacity to touch her consumes me. Father or not. My face must tell the story, because he pauses, withdraws his arm, and inhales deeply. My teeth grind.

  “You will prepare. You will train.” His eyes never leave her face. “If you plan on keeping her.”

  Is that a threat?

  “I have until April,” I remind him needlessly. He can’t bind me to his ranks until I turn eighteen.

  “I can send fighters here.”

  “No.” I stand, disliking the advantage he has with me sitting by the bed. “Thank you,” I say, merely to appease him. “We’ll be fine. I’m sure he told no one about her.” Other than you, of course.

  He doesn’t realize I know. He assumes Elias is useless at anything other than watching over me, because he no longer has wings. Elias—the Dominion angel who ended thousands on both sides of the war between Heaven and Hell—a glorified babysitter. How does he not see it? Elias is the one who told me the reaper knew exactly who I was the day I healed Vivienne. Elias is the one who found out what Sebastian did with that knowledge.

  The reaper went to Father and cut a deal.

  When Father ordered me home this morning, I should have known. Vivienne’s capture at school, the way Sebastian toyed with her in the woods—it was all planned. The only part that didn’t go the way I, or the reaper, expected was the part where he met his end at the tip of an angel blade wielded by his supposed ally.

  His betrayal doesn’t bother me. Father isn’t trustworthy. I’ve known this for years. His loyalty is to himself and himself alone. Sebastian wanted out of Death’s servitude. He wanted a larger role in the things to come. I understand the reaper’s motive. What was his?

  “Why did you kill him before he could answer my questions? What do you know?”

  Vivienne stirs, and Father cracks his neck, his eyes narrowing before he steps back.

  “You have until your birthday. Elias will keep me informed of everything here,” he says, ignoring my questions. I reach for Vivienne’s hand, already dismissing him.

  “Breckin, you owe me her life.”

  He’s out of the room before I can speak, but his words send flames of anger through my veins. I owe him her life? Yes, he saved her. Does he think he owns her, too? Will he use her to rein me in? Will he use me, to get his hands on her? Vivienne’s thumb rubs against mine, and I refuse to taint this moment with one more thought about his motives.

  “You healed me.” She licks at her lips and blinks several times. “Where were you when I broke my leg skiing two years ago?”

  Pushing
her hair from her face, my thumb smooths over the cut in her brow as I sit on the edge of the bed.

  “Yes, I healed your arm and a pretty nasty cut on your forehead, but you still have some minor cuts and bruises.” I place a kiss on her forehead and linger, my lips hovering over hers. “And probably a bit of a headache, thanks to Elias.”

  She turns her head to the right and winces. Yep, there’s the soreness. “Are you hurt?”

  Warmth floods my chest at her concern. This human girl could have been ripped to shreds by Sebastian, and she asks about me?

  “Angel, remember. I heal myself.”

  “Elias hit me?” She confirms more than asks.

  “You weren’t cooperating, and I needed to get you away from the fight,” Elias says from the doorway. His presence confirms Father is gone. I sit up. Kissing her can wait.

  “I’m sorry, Vivienne. I’m sure Breckin can take away the pain.”

  She offers me a crooked smile before turning toward him. Her jaw drops. “What happened to your lip?”

  “He hit me.” Elias points out, his fingers touching the split lip. “Then he warned me if I healed myself, he’d do it again.”

  Vivienne’s blue eyes flick between the two of us, then she bursts into laughter. Grabbing a fist of her filthy, blood-stained sweater, I pull her into a sitting position and wrap her tightly in my arms. I kiss her temple, my soul quieting for the first time since it found her a week ago.

  I Get to Love You

  Vivienne

  “Who could have predicted Breckin Roberts would lose his heart to a lass like you?”

  “Gee, thanks, Z.” My hip bumps hers as we watch Breckin walk across the overly decorated school gym for some drinks.

  She giggles. “Every time he looks at you, I blush. You two are in so deep.”

  She has no idea. “The decorating committee outdid themselves. I barely recognize this place.”