Light erupted from her hands, striking the men to either side of her. They let out gasps and fell to the side, releasing her.
She squeezed harder at that inner fount of power, pushing against it with all her might.
The Light spread, pouring forth from her arms, then her chest. Soon, every part of her shone with it, glowing. Her skin felt hot, flushed, and pleasurable, like she’d just lain in the sun for an hour. The Light grew in intensity until she couldn’t see anything else.
Screams rose, the sources lost in the light, but they only made Zara more determined. The Dark mages deserved pain for what they’d done. She would make them wish they’d never attacked her and Alex. She would—
One by one, the screams faded away. Maintaining the Light was growing harder. It flickered, losing its brightness and intensity.
When she could see again, Zara looked around, wary of a counterattack from the surrounding men, ready to spring to Alex’s defense.
She blinked. Not only did none of the men remain, but that pervasive, unsettling Darkness had disappeared. The street appeared normal, although it was still emptied of other people.
Did they run away? Or am I really going crazy? No, I can’t be. There’s Alex.
He still lay on the ground, unmoving. Zara rushed to him. His arm was bent at an unnatural angle and there was far too much blood on the ground.
She sank to her knees beside him, pushing his shoulder to roll him onto his back.
A loud gasp left her mouth, an involuntary response to the devastation in front of her.
Deep cuts sliced his face open, blood running down in thick rivulets to drip off his chin. The thick, coppery scent of it plugged Zara’s nostrils, and she fought the urge to be sick.
His breaths came in shallow, irregular gasps, so weak that she thought they might stop any second.
“No, Alex.” She whispered the words, unable to put any more strength into them.
Zara fumbled at her clothes, searching for her phone. She had to call an ambulance, had to…
Her purse was still at the restaurant and her phone was inside. She had no way to call for help. The street was still conspicuously empty, not a soul in sight.
“Help!” she screamed. “Is there anyone there?”
There may be more Dark mages out there, but she had to take that risk. Alex didn’t look like he would survive more than another few minutes. Her mother hadn’t looked this bad after years of struggle against cancer.
No response. It was like they had the city to themselves.
“Alex, come on,” she said, taking his good hand in hers and holding it tightly. “You can’t leave me. I need you.”
He’d shown her nothing but goodness, and she’d led him into a trap. It was her fault he was dying.
“Don’t go,” Zara whispered. She reached out with her other hand and stroked his bloody cheek. Her fingertips were soaked in the slippery stuff, but she didn’t let that faze her. “Get up, Alex. Please.”
The bright spot deep in her mind, the one she’d pulled to summon the Light, pushed at her, pulsing again. Without thinking, she pulled it to herself, seeking comfort as she continued to stroke Alex’s cheek.
She could at least be with him at the end.
The wounds on his face stopped bleeding, and Zara’s heart stopped. Surely, that would only happen if he were gone.
The gasping breaths had stopped, confirming her worst fears.
“No!” she shouted, leaning forward and taking his face in her hands. “No… I’m so sorry, Alex.”
She bent her head and softly kissed his lips. They were bloodied, and the tang shocked her. She paused—something wasn’t right.
Withdrawing, Zara looked more closely at Alex. His chest rose and fell. The breath came easier now, stabilized. She’d mistaken the difference as him not breathing at all.
Was he getting better?
“Alex!” she mouthed, in wonder at the sudden recovery. She squeezed his hand in hers and returned to stroking his cheek. The spot inside her pulsed, and she felt flushed in her whole body. She clutched at it harder, instincts guiding her actions.
The cuts on his face didn’t look as bad as they had when she first turned him over. In fact, they were getting shallower as she watched.
“It can’t be,” Zara breathed.
It was. In disbelief, she stared as the cuts shrank, the flesh knitting back together. At first, small white scars crisscrossed his skin, and then those, too, disappeared.
His breathing had deepened, and he sounded like a healthy sleeping person.
She looked away from his face for the first time in a few minutes. The broken arm lay at his side, straight.
Color had returned to his cheeks. Aside from the blood smeared across it, he looked no different than this morning. It was a miracle.
His eyes flicked open.
“Zara. What happened?”
She looked at his face and couldn’t help but smile. “Alex, I have no idea.”
Alex groaned. He patted himself down, but aside from some deep soreness, he felt fine.
That didn’t match up with the last thing he remembered before being knocked unconscious.
There was a sharp scent in the air, one he’d smelled many times in the past.
The scent of judgment.
The Light always left telltale signs behind when used against the Darkness, and that one he could detect even if he didn’t have access to any of his angelic senses.
It took little imagination to figure out what had happened. There was no sign of the Dark mages, and he was in better shape now than he was before he blacked out, with a possible Light mage kneeling at his side.
“Well, this is quite the role reversal from the other night,” he said.
Zara started at his words. “The Light…” She trailed off.
Indecision warred across her face.
She must be so confused. Poor girl, her entire world is about to change. Already has.
He could enlighten her, bring her out of the darkness that swirled around her thoughts and clouded her mind. He would have to, but they didn’t have time for it right then.
A shout from far away caught their attention.
“We don’t have time to talk,” he said, sitting up further and getting to his feet. He extended his hand to pull Zara up. “We need to be as far away from here as possible.”
He was glad for the need for action. It gave him time to consider his words and exactly what he could and couldn’t tell her.
“My purse is at the restaurant,” Zara said, pulling his arm in that direction. Neither of them had let go after he helped her up.
He shook his head. “We can’t go back for it, Zara.”
“But all my stuff is in it! My phone, my wallet, my keys. Other stuff.”
“I hate to point it out,” Alex said, “but your stuff isn’t that valuable. Not enough to risk our lives over. They knew we were at the restaurant, and they probably already have your purse. Going after it is just walking right back into another trap.”
He could see the automatic protest die on her lips. “I guess my phone is ancient. And my wallet doesn’t have much money in it, although it will suck replacing my ID. What about my keys, though?”
How much should he shelter her from the truth?
She’ll figure it out on her own soon enough.
“I think they already know where you live. It’s no coincidence they ambushed you around the block from your apartment two nights ago. This attack tonight proves they are targeting you. We can’t go back to your apartment, Zara. I’m sorry.”
Her face became grim, but there was no surprise there. She’d already come to some of the same conclusions herself.
Smart girl.
He led them away from the scene of the altercation, taking as many quick turns as possible to throw off any potential tails. Not for the first time, he cursed the uselessness of his mortal form. If he could access his angelic powers for just a few seconds, he could
make sure they were taking a safe route away from danger.
Finally, they took the stairs down to a subway station.
“Should we go to the police?” Zara asked as they waited on the platform. “They could help us, right?”
There was no way he was going to bring the police into this. There was very little chance that they hadn’t been infiltrated by the Dark mages in this city.
“That’s not a good idea,” he said. “The fewer people who know who and where we are, the better.”
She nodded. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Zara’s energy had flagged as they made their escape until she appeared to barely be able to climb the stairs down to the subway. Considering what he guessed of her role in the fight, it wasn’t surprising. That high of an energy expenditure for a human mage would be draining.
Zara looked up at him with bleary eyes. “Alex?”
“Yes?”
“How do you know so much? It’s not a coincidence you saved me the other night, is it?”
He’d expected the question sooner or later. He still wasn’t sure how he wanted to answer it. Luckily, the arriving train gave him the excuse he needed to put off the explanation a while longer.
“No, it wasn’t a coincidence. I promise I’ll tell you everything later, but we need to get out of the range of the wrong ears first.”
She accepted that. Not that she had much choice.
What am I going to tell her?
Zara’s exhaustion dogged her. She let Alex guide them and make all the decisions. She could barely pay attention to where they were, concentrating on holding tight to his arm and continuing to place one foot in front of the other.
After what felt like hours, they entered a hotel lobby. Zara had only been in one a couple of times in her life, and then only to duck out of the heat for a few moments. Hotels were for people with disposable income, who could afford to travel.
She couldn’t pay attention as Alex arranged a room. The receptionist said something about only king rooms left, but Zara wasn’t even sure what that meant. In her exhausted, near-delirious state, she kept seeing the way Alex’s wounds had knitted up under her fingertips as she stroked his face. That wasn’t possible, was it? Was she going crazy? Alex had wiped his face off, so she only had her memories to rely on, and in her current state, that was a tenuous ledge to stand on.
Alex took her hand again and pulled her into an elevator. They were alone.
She tried to summon the words, the questions that had been rounding her mind like a hurricane for days, but she couldn’t get anything out.
It didn’t take long to get to their floor, then their room. It was a comfortable room with cozy furnishings, its own bathroom, and a king-sized bed. It looked like a hotel room from a movie.
He guided her to the bed, and she sat down, buoyed by a feeling of relief that rushed through her and abolished a bit of the tiredness cobwebbing her thoughts.
Alex sat next to her and put his arm around her. It felt nice, comforting.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked, his voice quiet as if afraid she would break.
Zara nodded. She was still having trouble sorting out her thoughts and what she wanted to ask him. There were so many things that it overwhelmed her.
Life had gotten so strange, so quickly. People were trying to kidnap her! This made twice that she had been accosted by men with strange abilities. Two traps, and she’d walked away from both. Would she survive a third?
What if another trap was laid with more cunning? Goosebumps covered her skin as she looked at Alex.
Who was he?
She trusted him, but when had that started? He’d come from nowhere and even admitted that there was more to him appearing to her than she knew.
Memory of the way he’d tackled the men chasing her, tried to defend her and suffered for it, softened that accusatory train of thought. Those weren’t the actions of a man trying to worm his way into her confidence. Only a truly good man would put himself into harm’s way for a woman like that.
She opened her mouth, intending to ask who he was.
“What am I?”
As soon as she asked it, it felt right. That was the linchpin, the key to everything that had happened.
Alex raised his eyebrows as if surprised at her choice of question.
“I’ll be honest with you, Zara. I don’t know.” A stab of despair shot into her, but he raised a hand as if to ward off precisely that reaction. “I have a good idea, but I can’t say for certain, not yet. First, I’ll need you to tell me what happened after I was knocked unconscious.”
She drew in a breath that rattled between her teeth. Slowly, haltingly, she told him about how badly he’d been beaten, how she couldn’t do anything but watch, how much she’d hated herself for standing there and not doing anything of value.
“You did nothing wrong,” Alex said. “You’re not a fighter.”
“But I could have done something sooner!” Zara said. “I know because I did. I called the Light, and once it was over… none of the men were around anymore, and the Darkness was gone. If I’d done that earlier, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Alex nodded, no surprise showing at her words. “I’m not hurt anymore, though, am I?”
His face was unmarred, perfect. Beautiful. But in her mind, she could still see the way it had been, cut up and bloodied, on the verge of death. It chilled her.
“No,” she admitted. “I think that was me, too. I thought you would die. You were barely breathing, and you had a broken arm, all kinds of cuts and bleeding, and who knows what else wrong. But I did… something. And I watched you get better until you woke up.”
“Were you touching my skin while this happened?”
Zara cocked her head to the side, remembering. “Yes. I held your hand, and…” she flushed, suddenly embarrassed.
“And?” His face was gentle.
It seemed so personal. But as she looked at him, she recalled when she’d woken to his hand on her cheek after the first attack. She could admit to that, but she couldn’t tell him she kissed him.
“I also touched your cheek.”
Zara buried her head in his shoulder, taking comfort in his presence and hiding her reddened face. She could feel him nod.
“That’s about what I expected,” he said. “Although some of it still makes little sense.”
Again with the cryptic statements. Zara needed answers.
“I’ve told you everything I know, Alex. Even things that make me think I’m going crazy, or maybe I’m already inside an asylum somewhere and am too far gone to even realize. I need you to tell me what’s going on. You know more than I do. I deserve to know the truth.”
He exhaled. “You do deserve the truth, Zara. I’m sorry it’s been so long coming.” He paused, and his hand stroked her back softly. It comforted her more than she expected. “There’s more to the world than most people know. Magic exists and is an important force.”
She started to speak, a challenge to his statement, an automatic gut reaction to being told that magic was real. It died on her lips.
I’ve seen way too much crazy shit over the past few days. Why would I not believe in magic? In many ways, it makes more sense than any other explanation he could give.
Instead of speaking, she settled back into the crook of his arm and nodded.
“There are different magical abilities, but they can all be placed into two categories, Light magic and Dark magic.”
Just like when he spoke of Light and Darkness during the attack, there was a subtle inflection in how he said the words.
“The men who attacked you that first time, and who jumped us tonight, were all Dark mages. That means they pull from the infernal powers to fuel their magic.”
“Infernal?” She’d heard the word before but wasn’t in the mood to think too hard after the ordeal she’d been through.
“Meaning they get their energy from Hell, evil, and the baser instincts of man.”
He nodded. “The Light magic is based in goodness, and Heaven, and the more noble parts of being human.”
Zara bit her lip. “How does magic fit in with religion, though? I thought magic was one of those things that just didn’t fit in with the Bible and all that churchy stuff.”
Alex hesitated. “The Bible was written by men, and men are flawed and don’t always know the full truth. Heaven is home of the Light, and Hell is home of the Darkness. The balance between them is where Earth lives, the prize that each fights for.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of it all. Magic itself had been a shock, but magic based on good and evil? It sounded farfetched.
You saw Alex healed in front of your eyes. Farfetched things are happening, so maybe it takes a farfetched explanation to make sense.
“So, if there are Dark mages who use evil magic, and Light mages who use good magic, what does that make me?”
“You’ve called the Light, right? And from what you told me, you healed me as well. Both of those are Light magic abilities.”
“So I really healed you?” A part of her still didn’t believe it, held out that she must be crazy.
He took her hands in his. His eyes were a brilliant emerald and stared into hers as if searching her soul. “You really did. And I can’t thank you enough. I thought I was going to die there.”
Did she imagine it, or did he sound wistful?
There was still so much he hadn’t told her. “What about the Light? When I used it, I heard those men scream, and then they weren’t there when the Light died down. Did… did I kill them?”
She hadn’t let herself consider the question to that point, instead stubbornly believing the Light had sent the men somewhere else. There were enough holes with that theory that she knew it couldn’t be true. There may not have been bodies, but where would they have gone?
Alex hesitated, and she waited to see if he would try to lie to her. Now that she’d confronted the question, she knew deep down what the answer had to be.
Fallen: An Angel Romance Page 8
