I angled my body to face Daniel more and settled into the spongy ground. “But first of all, can you tell me where I am? I’m guessing I’m no longer on earth, considering I’m sitting in the middle of clouds on something that doesn’t quite feel like the ground.”
Daniel’s shoulders sagged. “You’re correct. You’re no longer on earth, but most unfortunately, you’re not in heaven, either.”
“Heaven?”
“No, we are currently residing in Emunda.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to mean something?”
That amused expression lit his ethereal face again. “For an angel, you’re quite uneducated.”
Suppressing an eye roll, I said, “Well, in my defense, until about ten minutes ago, I didn’t know I was an angel.”
“True. Very true. In that case, since you are ignorant of what Emunda is, I shall enlighten you.” He spread his arms wide. “Welcome to the land of lost angels, a land for those cast from the gates of heaven. My fellow divine beings who reside in this realm have been deemed unworthy of our maker’s heavenly grace at this time. However, we are still blessed enough to not be cast into the gates of hell, so this is where our maker put us.”
“Our maker? As in God?”
Laughter lit his turquoise eyes. “You could say that.”
For a moment, my heart stopped. “So does that mean I’m stuck here now too?”
“Oh, no. Nobody is stuck here. This is just where we reside when we’re not allowed in the heavenly realm, but it does not mean we cannot depart. There are many options for whence we could travel. Is there one in particular that interests you?”
“You mean other than earth?”
Daniel clasped his hands loosely in his lap and rested his elbows on his knees, drawing my attention to his shoulders. His rounded muscles pressed against his white shirt, and in a way, his lean, strong build reminded me of Logan.
I sucked in a breath, the pain threatening to suffocate me. Logan. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. Logan was engaged to Crystal. He had a fiancée. Technically, that meant he was no longer my boyfriend. Our relationship had ended as quickly as it had begun.
“What ails you, my young angel?” Daniel’s amused smile vanished, worry in his tone.
I forced a smile, pushing the pain down. “Nothing. Just something I was running away from on earth.”
“So perhaps earth isn’t where you would like to reside. Would you like to visit the fae lands? They’re quite beautiful, especially this time of year.”
“Fae lands? Is that where the fairies come from?”
He smiled again, the beauty of his face taking my breath away. Another twinkle sparkled in his eyes. “For an angel, even one that came to fruition on earth, you’re quite uneducated on multiple levels. Are you really suggesting that you didn’t know of the fae lands?”
“No, I didn’t know.” I ducked my head as my cheeks heated. “A month ago, I thought I was the only supernatural on earth. Since then, I’ve been enlightened that I’m one of tens of thousands of supernaturals, and that’s just in the United States. Apparently, there are even more worldwide, and there I was, thinking I was a special snowflake, when really I was just one of the masses.”
He tilted his head. “But you are special. An angel living amongst the humans and supernaturals … I can’t say I’ve heard of that before.”
“You haven’t? But I’m not a full angel, right? Cause honestly, I always thought I was a witch, and you said I’m not exactly like you but something different.” I held up my arm again. “And look at our skin. Yours glows more, and you’re”—I waved at his face—“you know, ridiculously good looking. Is that an angel thing?”
An amused smile tilted his lips up again. “Angels are known for being ridiculously good looking. Speaking of which, you’re quite beautiful as well.”
My cheeks heated. “But as you said, I’m not quite like you. So what am I?”
His head cocked to the side. “Well, you are part angel—that is for certain. As for what else you are…” Daniel shrugged. “Only your mother can tell you.”
My breath hitched before I forced my lungs to expand. “I would ask her, except my mother is dead.”
Chapter 23
Daniel’s eyes dimmed. “I’m sorry to hear that. I did not know.”
“It’s okay. How could you? We just met.”
We sat in silence for a moment on the spongy surface. The misty trails of clouds swirling around us lifted. My breath sucked in when I spied waterfalls, light-pink mountains, and fields so beautiful I stopped breathing in the distance, but then the fog descended again cutting off my view.
“So what do I do now?” I asked. “I came here to find answers. A psychic told me to look for Daniel and that you could help me. And she was right. I’ve found you, and you’ve given me some very meaningful answers. I’m grateful for that—don’t get me wrong—but what now? Every time I find another answer to explain what’s going on with me, I find more questions that leave me even more confused.”
“What are you confused about?”
“According to you, I’m part angel, but according to my mother and the people I met in the supernatural community, I’m a witch. So what does that make me? Part witch and part angel? Is that what a supernatural healer is?”
His eyebrows drew together as a pensive expression grew on his face. “You could be part witch. You are undeniably an angel, even if you’re not a full-blooded one. Otherwise, the Emunda portal would not have accepted you. And if your witch ancestry was confirmed as you suggest, then perhaps that’s also true.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t an angel?”
“Oh heavens, no. Only angels are allowed in Emunda. Angel blood is required to activate the portal transfer from whence you came.”
“So part witch and part angel. Hmm…” My thoughts drifted back to when I’d first entered the Supernatural Force’s headquarters. Millie, one of the fairies employed by the SF, had scanned my wrist. The SF’s technology had identified me as a witch, but their scan hadn’t picked up my angel blood. Perhaps that was because normally, angels didn’t walk on the earth—as Daniel had said—so the SF didn’t have a means of identifying them.
“So does my angel side explain my dark and light powers?”
Daniel cocked his head. “The powers inside you? The dark and the light, as you say? Yes, those are angel powers.”
“And are your powers dark and light too?”
Daniel leaned back on the spongy, opaque ground, as if settling in for a long chat. That delightful smile curved his lips up again. “If you’re speaking of the power inside us that makes us what we are, yes, it is dark and light.” He arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Does that also mean that you are uneducated on what our powers are?”
I frowned. “Um, kind of. I’ve always had my light, but I’ve only recently discovered my dark.” I explained as succinctly as possible the incident with the rogue werewolves. “It was that encounter that awoke my dark power. I killed them with it.” I shuddered, remembering the evil force swirling inside the rogues and how I’d blasted the dark power from my palms into them, stopping their hearts. “And I didn’t just kill them. The power that shot from me was red, not gold like my healing light, and it basically turned them into gelatinous goo. They were a bit hard to clean up.” I winced. I hated thinking about that incident.
“Gelatinous goo?” A chuckle escaped Daniel. “I haven’t heard another angel describe a reckoning quite like that, but I suppose that’s an accurate term.”
“A reckoning?”
“It’s what we call it when evil is banished or destroyed.” When I just stared at him blankly, he added, “It’s what we were created for. Well, part of what we were created for. We carry divine power that thwarts evil and destroys it when necessary, but we can also foster life and heal. What you just described was your dark angel power activating as it was intended.”
“You mean my dark power killed them b
ecause they were evil?”
“From the sounds of it, those rogue werewolves were entirely evil, so yes, that’s exactly what happened.”
“But why did I not know of my dark power before then? Why did an encounter with three nasty rogues bring it out? I’ve encountered evil people before.” An image of Dillon, my biological father, flashed through my mind.
“All angels recognize pure evil when presented with it. How do you say it on earth…” He tapped his chin, then his eyes lit up. “Ah yes, it is like an internal sensor. Our powers rush forth when evil awaits. As for why you didn’t know of your dark power before then”—he shrugged—“I know not.”
“Do you know how I can get rid of my dark power? So I only have my light again?”
Daniel jerked his head back, a shocked expression crossing his face. “Why in the heavenly realms would you want to destroy part of your angel powers?”
“Because I don’t know how to live with the dark. I can’t touch anybody—not that I ever could before—but it’s so much worse now. Every time I get anxious or afraid, the dark power comes rushing forward. I very nearly killed Phoenix—an innocent supernatural back on earth—and I almost accidentally killed my boyfriend several times.” I paused and took a deep breath. Just thinking of Logan made an unbearable ache rise in my chest. “Well, ex-boyfriend now.”
“I don’t like seeing that sad face of yours, young angel.”
I shook myself out of my melancholy and faced Daniel squarely again. “You might be able to live with both of your powers just fine, but I don’t know how to. I need to either banish my dark power back to where it came from or I need to learn how to control it. I can’t go around potentially killing innocent people because I don’t know how to handle my angel powers.”
I frowned. Did I really just refer to my powers as angel powers?
Funny how quickly I was coming to accept it. Perhaps it was because the past few weeks had been one eye-opening experience after another.
“Dearest, Daria, dare I ask what you’re thinking?” Daniel’s turquoise eyes glittered with delight.
“Nothing. But back to the matter at hand, can you help me? Do you know how I can get rid of my dark power?”
Daniel shuddered, his sculpted shoulders shivering beneath his loosely flowing top. “I would never help another angel rid themselves of their power. I am fairly certain I would never be allowed to enter the gates of Heaven again if I were to commence such an atrocious offense. However, if I were to help a young angel in distress, such as you, perhaps that would put me in a more divine light with our maker.”
“Okay, I have no idea what you just said there, but does that mean you’re going to help me?”
Daniel chuckled, his eyes twinkling once again. “Why, yes, Daria Gresham. It would be my pleasure to assist you.”
“Great!” I jumped to my feet, readying myself for whatever was to come. “So what do we do? Do you touch me and instill me with your vast knowledge and ability to control my powers? Or do you show me how to push it down when it tries to rush up? Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
He pushed himself up, coming so gracefully to his feet that he reminded me of a cat stretching in the sun. “Heavens no. We shall do nothing like that. However, I will train you. Based on what you’ve shared, I suppose you are somewhat similar to our newly appointed angels. When they come into their powers, they are also somewhat confused and show a lack of basic training.”
“Really?” I grinned. “You’ll train me.”
“I suppose so. I’m not exactly busy at the moment.”
“All right, so what do I do?”
Daniel opened his mouth but then cocked his head. He stepped away from me, as if listening to something in the distance.
I craned my neck, straining to detect whatever he heard, but all I heard was … nothing.
“Did you hear something?”
A grim expression settled on Daniel’s face. “It seems there is some trouble on earth regarding you.”
“Trouble on earth? How do you know that?”
“I was just given a message. Would you like to see what I’m talking about?”
Unease tingled up my spine. “Is everything okay?” My thoughts immediately drifted to Cecile and Mike. I slapped a hand to my forehead. “Oh crap, are Cecile and Mike looking for me? Are they worried?”
“Well, someone is definitely looking for you, but I don’t think it is these Cecile or Mike people you speak of.” Daniel waved his hand in the clouds.
The cloud dispersed, as if he’d pushed aside a curtain to reveal a window-like view. I gasped.
Through the makeshift window I could see my boyfriend, correction ex-boyfriend, pacing up and down the length of a room within the Supernatural Force’s headquarters. My heart beat harder. Just seeing Logan made my stomach flip.
Even though the view didn’t have sound, I gathered Logan was yelling. Thick veins in his neck strained, fiery red tinted his cheeks, and the way he constantly flexed and unflexed his hands led me to believe he was royally pissed off.
My heart jumped into my throat, but that was quickly doused when a stinging sense of betrayal hit me. I wondered if Logan had just returned to the SF with Crystal following our supernatural marketplace excursion.
“Do you know this person?”
“That’s Logan Smith.”
As much as I didn’t want to care anymore, as much as I wanted to look away and not be bothered by the sight of him, I would only be lying to myself if I pretended seeing him didn’t affect me.
My heart thumped so wildly I could barely breathe, and my powers sparked to life beneath my skin. My body’s reaction to him had always bordered on extreme, angel powers or not.
“Is he okay?” I asked, even though I internally kicked myself for caring. “He looks really upset.”
Daniel laughed. “Upset? That is accurate if slightly understated. I haven’t seen a werewolf this upset, as you say, in quite some time.”
“You know that he’s a werewolf?”
“Of course. Don’t you?”
That time I did roll my eyes. “Of course I know that he’s a werewolf. He’s my ex-boyfriend.”
“Well, perhaps that explains his anger. I’ve been informed that your absence on earth has created a few dilemmas. I’ve been instructed to return you from whence you came.”
“But what about teaching me how to control my powers? How am I supposed to not kill anybody if I don’t know how to keep my dark power under control?”
“Why, I shall join you. We shall return to earth, and to this”—he waved his hand toward the image of Logan storming about the room—“this ex-boyfriend werewolf of yours, and from there, we shall commence your training.”
“Really? You’ll come with me?”
Daniel chuckled again. “Why do I have a feeling that training you will prove to be more amusing than anything?”
“I don’t know how amusing I’ll be, but I’m really happy that I’ll learn to live with this power, or suppress it, or whatever you want me to do.” My gaze drifted to the window again, my excitement over being trained by Daniel dimming. I wasn’t sure how I was going to face Logan again, and I didn’t want to watch him marry Crystal.
“Shall we go?” Daniel held out his elbow for me.
I slipped my hand through the crook of his arm, briefly realizing that his touch didn’t activate my gift, before I stepped to his side. “Yeah. I’ll follow you.”
Dragons in Fire
Download Dragons in Fire, book three in the Supernatural Community series
I’m kicking myself for being so trusting, but that trust led me to a whole new realm—a world I never knew existed.
Now that I know what I truly am, I must learn to control my powers so I can return to my life as a supernatural healer. Thankfully, I have an interesting, if unusual, instructor to help me along the way.
But focusing on my lessons proves challenging when a certain werewolf refuses to give me up.
Now, with Logan wanting to claim me while I’m struggling to learn how to exist in the supernatural community, my life grows increasingly chaotic.
But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming.
Little do I know, a threat looms over the entire community, and I’m destined to play a huge role in the war to come.
Download Dragons in Fire now!
Supernatural Community
Download Angel in Embers, the final book, in the Supernatural Community series.
Thank you
Thank you for reading Power in Darkness, book two in the Supernatural Community series.
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