Broken Halo: Fallen Angels Trilogy, Book One

by Marcel, Zoey

  “Oh, I can be good and sweet, Less.” Sonya winked at her and traced a line down her arm, “Is that what you were hoping for?”

  She pulled away, stunned. Her lower lip quivered and her eyes were misty. “What has he done to you?”

  “Aw, are you going to cry now, Less?” Sonya taunted. “Is life too hard and sad for you?”

  Tears spilled from her eyes. “Who are you?”

  Sonya's eyes changed. “Who do you think I am?”

  “Oh, my god, you are one of them!” Less backed away nervously, “Please don't hurt me!”

  “But what if I want to?”

  “No, please!”

  “What will you offer me in return for your safety?”

  “I...whatever you want. When I was still living I knew a fortune teller whose prophecies were always right. I could take you to see her.”

  “We shall go together and bring her back here. I want to know my son's future.”

  ***

  The fortune teller stared into the crystal ball with dismay. “Great evil and darkness are in this child's future.”

  Sonya smiled. “Good. My baby will grow to be strong and powerful, won't he?”

  “Oh, without question. He will seek vengeance against a human and devote his existence to torturing him. I see him mating and claiming this man. I also see him being slain violently.”

  “The man he claims?”

  “No, your son. He will be killed in a great battle. He achieves great power and then loses his life in the pursuit of more. The other man survives and ends up happy.”

  “My son can't die!” Sonya shrieked, grabbing the woman by the dress. “I want the name of his future murderer!”

  The fortune teller looked afraid. “I don't think I should say.”

  “Who is it?” she yelled.

  “A black angel will kill him.”

  She looked at her innocent baby in his cradle. His eyes were opened as he watched them as if listening to their conversation. “Then I will simply have to slay every black angel to prevent that from ever happening.”

  “Or you might try keeping your son from ever turning evil,” the fortune teller suggested.

  “Bite your tongue. My child will be mighty and none shall stop him.”

  “If you could see what I see in his future -” the fortune teller was cut short and began choking for air as if being strangled.

  Sonya and Less turned to see the infant sitting up and staring at the old woman intently as she suffocated. Something buried beneath Sonya's approval told her it was wrong to let the woman suffer. “That's enough, Sully.”

  The baby continued strangling the old woman by some unseen means. Less was practically going hysterical as she tried to help the old woman, but there was nothing she could do. A great force threw her against the wall.

  Sonya was proud of her baby, but a small thread of conscience gnawed at her. “Sully, stop! Now.”

  The old woman fell on the floor, trying to pry invisible hands from her neck. Sully was six months old and already he had apparently inherited dark powers from his parents. Was this an ability he acquired from Nimbus or Jude? Had they been teaching him satanic skills behind her back?

  “Sonya, make him stop!” Less shrieked, “He is killing her!”

  Sully laughed. It would have been adorable if it wasn't so damned creepy. Sonya tried to pick him up, but he shifted into a miniature dragon that looked like Nimbus' true form and jumped out of the cradle to approach the fortune teller who was lying on the floor. He let out a mangled, little roar and approached his mama, expecting praise. Sonya picked him up. He looked quite cute even in this form, but she was concerned for the old woman.

  Less checked for a pulse. “She is dead. Your son killed her!”

  Sully nuzzled Sonya and she locked him in the cage with a blanket. He wasn't turning back into a baby, which meant he likely didn't know how. She would need Nimbus' help getting him to turn back. She stared at her baby in utter shock. “What have I bred?”

  Sully made tiny, happy cooing sounds as he snuggled in the blanket. He looked so harmless and innocent, but he had just proved himself otherwise.

  “I'm a murderer,” Sonya realized.

  “He killed her, not you,” Less argued.

  “He is my son. I'm responsible for him. Less, I have a demon baby. What am I going to do? I can't let him do this to people.”

  “Maybe if you prevent him from becoming evil in the first place like the fortune teller said.”

  “You saw what he just did.” Sonya knelt beside the old woman, “I sense life in her still. Less, she is still alive. Don't you know how to check a pulse?”

  “I'm sorry. There really wasn't a pulse a minute ago. She was dead.”

  “Well, she is breathing now. Are you all right?”

  The woman croaked an unintelligible bit of rubbish before forming words. “Yes. How will you save Sully?”

  “I don't know.”

  “You are his mama. Why would you want to change him?” the fortune teller asked.

  Sonya became baffled. “You just said I should save him.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I don't know. I can't let him do this. What if he becomes more evil and powerful than his fathers? Do you know how much damage he could do with that kind of power and how many people could get hurt because of it?”

  The fortune teller smiled darkly. “You should be proud of that possibility. Would you really slay every black angel to protect him?”

  Less sounded nervous. “Sonya -”

  “Don't interrupt,” Sonya scolded her. “Yes, but after that show I'm starting to think I would do my son more good as a black angel. I could raise him right like you said and he would never become evil or hurt anyone.”

  “Sonya -”

  “For god's sake, Less, what is it?”

  “Look at your son.”

  Sonya turned to see the cage was empty, though the door was still locked. “He is gone. Where -”

  Chills of terror raced up and down her spine as she slowly turned to look at the fortune teller. The old woman's eyes flashed orange and she snarled and took off. Sonya ran after the body her son was possessing.

  “How is he so powerful and smart at so young an age?” Less asked.

  “I don't know. Apparently a vampire-demon-fallen angel hybrid was a very bad idea. Oh, Less, I don't see him. What if he tells Nimbus and Jude, or anyone from the underworld? They will kill me and raise him into a devil.”

  “What about what the fortune teller said? If you raised him without their influence he might stand a fighting chance at becoming good.”

  “He is a demon, Less. How can he overcome the very evil nature embedded into him?”

  “Well, how did you?”

  “I prayed...before I was ever claimed. I prayed that no matter what happened I wouldn't lose my conscience completely. The only way for me to become a crusnik was to be made a demon first,” Sonya recalled.

  “Why didn't you flee to heaven's gates the second Nimbus brought you back from the underworld?”

  Her heart ached. Nimbus was the reason. She had been hopelessly in love with him before, but after being mated to him and finding out how much he adored her, she couldn't even entertain the idea of leaving. That and it was next to impossible to overcome this new dark nature of hers.

  Seeing Sully murder an innocent person brought her back to her senses. She must do something or they would continue to breed these vampire-demon-human hybrids now that they knew it could be done successfully. They would have armies of these things. Her son would grow more evil and one day be killed for it. She must save him. She must protect the innocent, even if it meant never seeing Nimbus again. Her heart was cut at the thought. Perhaps when he saw her as a black angel he would be moved to join her. She had become a demon for him, how could he not be willing to repent for her? She would save him. Perhaps this was meant to be all along. She could do good and have Nimbus by her side. She wouldn't have
to sacrifice everything anymore. They would be free.

  ***

  Sonya led Less far away from the manor to make certain she was safe while Sonya met with Cassiel. She stood outside the gates of heaven with him.

  “You are a succubus now, I see.”

  She nodded. “My son is evil.”

  “Demons generally are.”

  “I need you to make me a crusnik.”

  There was a heavy pause. “Why?”

  “What do you mean why? So I can save my family.”

  Cassiel sighed. “That is noble of you, Sonya, but it has to be for yourself.”

  “It is, but can't I help my family in the process?”

  “Repentance is up to them. If they don't want to change then they won't and nothing you can say or do will ever alter that.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. “I have to try. I can't lose them. I would do anything for them.”

  “I know, but what would you do for redemption? If made a crusnik you will be obligated to feed off vampires. Can you do that? Could you kill Nimbus if you had to?”

  She felt a sharp pain in her chest. “Nimbus isn't a vampire.”

  “What if he was? Could you look him in the eye and slay him? Drink the blood of the one you mated?”

  Tears trickled down her face. “I won't ever have to because he is an incubus.”

  “That is another thing, Sonya. Being a black angel doesn't automatically make you good. All it does is restore your angelic nature, but your demonic attributes will still exist. You will be half angel and half demon. That's what black angels are. Their souls are divided perfectly in half as a sort of metaphor for their inability to make up their minds which side they are truly on. You will be hated by demons, feared by vampires and the disgust of angels. Only mankind will be grateful for your services and God will commission you,” said Cassiel. “You may seek companionship if you are lonely, but should you bed vampires or demons you will damn yourself. Your only hope of redemption now is to slay vampires and protect mankind from them. Avoid other types of demons, lest they try to sway you, or render you harm. Never let a vampire bite you or drink your blood.”

  “Why not?”

  He gave her a look that said to just obey and not question anything regarding her second chance.

  “I will do whatever I have to,” she agreed.

  “You can't ever sleep with him again. Your succubus nature will constantly long for your mate and forbidden liaisons, but you must resist keeping the company of demons.”

  Never touch Nimbus again? Sonya was crushed, but she must do this. “I understand.”

  “Kneel.”

  She knelt and Cassiel laid his sword on her shoulder and gave a brief speech and she said her vows. He stepped back and told her to rise. She gasped when she felt plumes behind her. She had wings again – black wings. “Thank you, Cassiel. I won't let you down.”

  “You must do this for God and yourself. It can't be for me.”

  The sultry tone of dusk broke through the celestial stillness. The voice sounded familiar and hostile. “Sonya!”

  Her heart fell when she saw Nimbus standing there. The blatant disapproval on his face instilled fear in her and a steady rush of exhilaration at the thought of him spanking her for being naughty. No. The look in his hellfire-orange eyes said he was out for blood and the heavy weight on her chest told her that this was not going to turn out the way she had hoped. “Nimbus, what are you doing here?”

  “What the devil are you doing here?” he growled as he closed the distance between them.

  “Sully killed an old woman. I had to do something.”

  “So you stabbed me in the back? I thought blood mates were supposed to be loyal to one another.”

  “You have my devotion. I just want to save our son.” Her hands were shaking violently at the rage in his eyes and her heart was pierced over the anguish she saw in them.

  “Will you read him scripture to save his little demon soul – the one he doesn't have?” Nimbus taunted. He slapped her face hard.

  Cassiel drew his sword, face teeming with irascibility.

  “Cassiel don't.” Sonya felt her mate's suffering in that slap, “The fortune teller said Sully would turn evil and be killed by a black angel.”

  “So you decided to join our son's future murderers?” Nimbus shouted. “Why not assassinate them?”

  She was near tears. “But don't you see? If we raise him right he won't ever be killed by them.”

  He glared at her. “Do not drag our son into this. You weren't thinking of anyone but yourself. Is that why you let me claim you – so you could become demonic and then betray me by becoming a crusnik? You used me to redeem yourself?”

  She wept. “No! I wanted to save your life.”

  Nimbus grabbed her by the throat. “And your soul! I can hear your thoughts, you traitorous witch!” He snarled at Cassiel to keep him from protecting her, “You don't care about me, or Sully, or Jude.”

  “Maybe not Jude, but I do care about you and Sully with all my heart.” She gasped for air when he released her and turned his back to her.

  “You are a bloody liar!” Nimbus shouted. “Jude is a vampire. You would have to kill him if given the chance. Could you slay one of the fathers of your child? What about Sully? Our son has vampire in him. Are you going to kill him in the name of redeeming yourself?”

  She hadn't thought about that aspect of her son. “Of course not!”

  “How do I know that?” He yelled. “You betrayed me in the worst possible way. How do I know you aren't the dark angel prophesied to kill him? How do you know that in seeking to avoid your destiny you haven't actually sealed it in stone?”

  She sobbed. “Please don't say that. You can come with me. We will fight evil together and protect our son.”

  He snorted in disgust. “I know this is difficult for your naive, little mind to fathom, but I am evil. I'm not an angel, a saint, or even a black angel. Where you cry over lost souls, I rejoice over them. What you call sin and perdition, I call ecstasy and paradise. You cannot change me. I'm a bloody demon and so is Sully. Don't pretend you turned your back on us to save us. You can't and if you walk, you do so on both of us forever.”

  She wailed. “Please don't make me choose. I want both.”

  “You can't have both! You already chose. You belong to me.” Nimbus held up his hand and clenched his fist, holding eye contact with her as an invisible pressure suddenly squeezed her neck as though he was choking her. “I mated you. We are bound eternally no matter which side you choose to be on. You are out of your bloody mind if you think I'm going to let you walk away from me and our son.”

  Sonya struggled to breathe as a tear rolled down her cheek and she whispered: “I'm so sorry. I love you.”

  Something moved through Nimbus' eyes. He looked touched, but he squeezed harder when Cassiel advanced. “You interfere and she dies.”

  Cassiel halted and Nimbus released Sonya so she could breathe again. “Be gone.”

  Nimbus grinned, but there was no joy in the expression, only the deepest of loathing. “You would like that wouldn't you, Cassiel? With me out of the way Sonya will pay more attention to you.”

  Cassiel's violet eyes narrowed. “Enough.”

  “Go ahead. Stab me. You know you want to. You have since the great rebellion, haven't you? Well, now is your chance,” Nimbus challenged.

  “Nimbus, don’t!” Sonya pleaded.

  “Bite your tongue, woman!”

  “Your purpose here is finished,” Cassiel told him.

  “So how exactly does one go about killing a crusnik, Cassiel?” Nimbus asked slyly, “Is fire one of the ways? Shall we find out? That would automatically send her to the underworld I suppose. She could be with her husband and son forever like a good woman would.”

  Nimbus opened his mouth and sparks of fire shot out and landed close to Sonya, but nowhere near close enough that he had actually put any thought into aiming. She knew he missed her deliberately.
He was bluffing, but Cassiel didn't know this and acted before the flame even touched the ground. He plunged his sword into Nimbus' stomach.

  Something inside of Sonya died when she saw her husband with a massive sword in him and Cassiel pulling the weapon out of him. “Nimbus!”

  She dropped to her knees next to him and cradled his head on her lap. His body was turning to stone.

  “Oh god! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left,” she sobbed uncontrollably, “Nimbus, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

  His breathing became desperate and shallow as his skin hardened to granite from the bottom up. “We could have been happy together, you stupid girl. We were. You will remember that when I'm gone and it will haunt you forever.”

  Sonya wept, knowing it was true. His words gave her chills even as they killed her.

  “Damn you. It doesn't change anything. I love you, Sonya.”

  Her heart broke, melted and healed over those words. It was the first time he had ever said them to her. She knew he loved her, but to hear them made the knowledge of his affection all the more genuine. Why he had waited until now to say them was damned frustrating, but he said them in the most pivotal of moments when she needed to hear them most. He said the words and meant them. He might not have said he forgave her with his lips, but his eyes said he did.

  “I love you too,” she sobbed, “so much. I'm so sorry.”

  “Kiss me,” Nimbus begged. He who had never begged for anything in his life, not even mercy or forgiveness. He now begged for one last kiss from his mate.

  Sonya joined her lips to his, tongues tangling in a sad, desperate union that was crumbling all around them as she heard his breathing stop and felt the cold, rough touch of stone against her skin. She pulled away in time to see his face hardening into stone and the light left his captivating eyes before they too went still and silent to their granite death.

  “No!” She bawled loudly, emitting noises of sorrow she had never heard escape her before, even when she lost her soul. Grief turned to vindictive rage as she turned and glared at Cassiel while she rose to her feet. “Bring him back.”

  “And damn your soul for eternity? I think not. Have you learned nothing?”