Fallen: Celeste

by Tiffany Aaron

  “The ultimate act of selfishness, I guess.” Adam sat down next to Celeste. “How do you know what he wants?”

  “We connected while I was sleeping.” At Adam’s eager look, she shook her head. “It was a place out of time. I couldn’t get a hint of where he might be. I think our best bet is to go back to Joe Louis today and scout out the entrances. He probably uses the same one every time. It should make it a little easier for us to get a track on him.”

  William nodded. “You two go and do that. I’ll do some more searching around the house we found. I know that someone saw Tomas. I just have to find that person and get them to talk to me.”

  “What did Father Michael have to say?” Adam asked.

  William studied Adam for a minute. “He said that the time has finally arrived. Tomas must be stopped tonight or there will be consequences.”

  Adam saw Celeste shudder. Jakar had just walked in and his face went white. “Consequences?”

  “You don’t want to know, Adam. Trust me. When a situation gets out of hand, there are results that are harmful to all of us.” Celeste caught Jakar’s eyes. There was fear brimming in the demon’s face.

  “So Father Michael is more than just a priest, huh? Does he have a direct line to God or something?” Adam joked.

  Three sets of eyes impaled him. William was the one who answered. “You could say that he is the mouthpiece of God here on earth. Here in Detroit anyway.”

  “Like an oracle?”

  “Father Michael would be extremely annoyed if he knew you were comparing him to an oracle. He is closer to Him than anyone else because his soul is pure. God gives the priest information that is helpful to us.”

  “So we can trust what he’s telling us to be true.” Adam saw the others nod. “So, in fact, we’ve just been issued a deadline of tonight. After that, all bets are off and it’s every angel and demon for themselves, right?”

  “Yes, and you don’t want to be here if that happens.” Celeste was finishing her breakfast. “I have to stop by the office to check on my other cases. Adam, I’ll meet you at the arena this afternoon. William, we’ll catch up with you right around game time. If I can pinpoint the entrance Tomas uses, we’ll lie in wait there for him.”

  “What should I do?” Jakar asked.

  Celeste looked at William then back to Jakar. “We have a box of evidence that needs to be planted. When we’re done with Tomas, he isn’t really going to be able to confess to the killings. So we have to give the police everything they need to make a solid case against Tomas. William will show you the house Tomas murdered one of his victims in. Plant the evidence there. If William comes up with a witness, get him to the police. Then if you think anyone might be listening, pray. We have to end it or all hell will break loose.”

  Jakar nodded. “It’ll be done.”

  * * * *

  “This is it. I feel the tag his last victim put on him. He’s been here recently.” Celeste and Adam were standing outside the east entrance of the arena.

  “So if we come here tonight, we should be able to catch him.”

  Celeste nodded.

  “Shouldn’t we notify the police? They’ll want to be here.”

  “No, we can’t. Things need to be done before the police can have him. William will take care of Tomas.”

  “But…”

  “Don’t worry. Tomas will be punished and the police will be able to prove that he was the one doing the killings. If the police try and grab him first, he would never be caught. The police don’t have the power needed to capture Tomas. Trust me, Adam. His punishment will be worse than anything mere mortals could think up.”

  “Will William kill him? Isn’t that what he wants?”

  “Tomas wants to die, but that won’t be his punishment. He would be getting off too easily. I can’t talk about what William will do. He is the only one who knows. I have never asked him what he does to the fallen he takes.” Celeste smiled at him. “We have a couple hours before the game starts. I need to recharge.”

  A grin crept across Adam’s face. “I think we’ll be busy enjoying ourselves.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the car.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “He’s here,” Celeste said into her microphone.

  “Can you feel him?” William’s voice came over the earpiece.

  “Yes, he isn’t trying to shield from me. He knows I’m here. It doesn’t seem like he knows that you’re around though.” Celeste made her way slowly through the crowd, trying not to alert Tomas that she could see him.

  “Don’t do anything. Wait until we get there,” Adam commanded her.

  “Damn, he saw me. He’s taking off. I’m going after him. Follow me when you can.” Celeste pulled the earpiece out and took off after Tomas.

  “Shit!” Adam and William chorused. They knew Celeste was going to try and take down Tomas by herself. William caught hold of a trace of Celeste’s power and led Adam after her.

  Celeste was surprised to see that Tomas didn’t jump into a car. Maybe he really did want this to be over with. He was leading her down towards the river, away from the busy streets of Detroit. He had a place in mind. When she got too far behind, he would slow down. When she got too close, he would speed up. She wasn’t worried. Celeste knew that Adam and William were coming along behind her. They would get there in time to help.

  Finally Tomas stopped in the yard of a dilapidated church. He turned to face her as she came through the gate. She studied the fallen. He had lost the glamour that most angels, even the fallen ones, had. She wondered how he had ever convinced any of the women to go with him. He must have used his power to disguise his insanity and general filthiness. She felt a wave of sadness pull at her. She always hated having to end the life of a fellow fallen.

  Tomas looked up at the church façade. He laughed softly. “It is only fitting that it ends here on ground that is sacred to Him.”

  “You led me on a good chase, Tomas,” Celeste complimented him.

  “Yes, I did.” He was smug. Then a frown crossed his face. “Of course, you cheated.”

  “How exactly did I cheat?”

  “You brought Bradford to help you. You knew you couldn’t do it alone.”

  “I didn’t ask him to come. He was ordered here.”

  “Who orders Enforcers around? You’re just as leaderless as we are.”

  “We take our orders from the same person we did when we were angels.” Celeste took a step forward. She knew Tomas was armed. She hoped she could distract him long enough for William and Adam to show up. Both would have a gun. What a day to leave hers at the office.

  “Why would you take orders from Mika’il? He did nothing when we were banished. He does nothing now. We both know if he wished, he could kill me with a wave of his hand.” Tomas gestured with the gun.

  “He doesn’t need to. That’s what Enforcers are expected to do.”

  “Oh, so this is some type of salvation by good works project. How many of your fellow fallen do you have to kill before you can get back into Heaven, Celeste? What happened to salvation by faith alone?”

  Celeste took another step forward. She felt a light brush in her mind. William was close. “I have faith in Him, Tomas. But He no longer has faith in me. I turned my back on Him. I was determined to show that angels should hold a dearer spot in His heart than mere mortals. I refused His love. It is only right that He punishes me.”

  Tomas’ eyes gleamed with madness and rage. “We weren’t given free will. He expected us to worship Him. He expected us to take those feeble fragile mortals into our hearts. How could I love something inferior to me?”

  “So you kill them.” She was close enough to him now. She hoped the guys would make an appearance soon.

  “Yes, I kill them. In the end, they begged God to save them. He never did. He allowed me to take their lives. If He loved them so much, wouldn’t He have stopped me?”

  “Maybe He should have, Tomas. But I can guarantee you those women wer
e greeted with open arms when they got to Heaven. They’ll be happy there. You and I will never see it again. We deserve our punishment. Those women didn’t deserve to die because of your arrogance.”

  “Arrogance?”

  “Yes. The one trait all of the fallen have in common is our belief in our own superiority. That was our one sin. In His eyes, we are all the same.”

  “That’s right, Tomas. If we had realized that before we rebelled, we wouldn’t be here now.” William stepped from the shadows.

  Tomas turned to challenge him. That was the opening Celeste was looking for. She leapt forward, slamming her body into Tomas’. Their strength was equal. She would need every advantage she had. Her hands grabbed Tomas’ wrist. She tried forcing the fallen to drop the gun. He held too tightly. His lips pulled back in a snarl. Letting go with one hand, he slammed his fist into her face. She felt her lip split. Stars flashed in her eyes. The pain pinwheeled through her head.

  She squeezed her hands tighter around his wrist. She felt William and Adam circling, looking for an opening. Tomas slammed his elbow into her face again. She felt her nose break. She certainly wasn’t going to look pretty when this fight was over.

  She was trying to refocus when Adam shouted. She felt the shock of the blade as it slid into her stomach. She gasped. Letting go of Tomas’ wrist, she wrapped her arms around the wound. Tomas leveled the gun at her. William and Adam were converging, but she knew they wouldn’t get there in time. She couldn’t stop Tomas. It was taking all of her power to keep from bleeding to death.

  The first bullet hit her in the right side of the chest. The second shot hit her in the left side. As she fell, she tossed her power to William. With her power, William wrapped Tomas in a net, capturing him. Tomas cringed. He knew what was coming.

  Adam ran to Celeste. Pulling her into his arms, he whispered to her, “Don’t die on me, angel. I need you here.”

  She touched his cheek. “It’s too hard. I miss home.”

  Tears welled up in his eyes. Shaking his head, he said, “I’ll be your home, angel. I’ll be your Heaven if you just stay with me.”

  Celeste turned her head to see William touch Tomas on the forehead. The fallen angel wailed. He fell to his knees sobbing. His face went slack as he became trapped in the hellish loop the Enforcer created in his mind. William nodded to her. There might have been sadness in his eyes, Celeste couldn’t tell.

  The pain swelled. She moaned. She felt Adam’s tears wash her cheeks. Looking up, she stared into his green eyes. She saw how much he loved her shining in his eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder if his love would be enough to block out all her thoughts of Heaven. Was it right for her to force him to become her world?

  As she slid into darkness, she heard him whispering over and over, “I love you. Don’t leave me.”

  * * * *

  Adam looked up as William walked into the waiting room. The Enforcer’s eyes were tired. He had done all the talking when the police arrived so Adam could go to the hospital with Celeste.

  “Anything yet?” William sank onto one of the couches, scrubbing his face roughly.

  Adam shook his head. “It’s been two hours. They should know something, don’t you think?” Adam held out his hand to William. “Thanks for taking care of things for us. I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it. Not with Celeste in surgery.”

  William shook his hand. “Don’t mention it. I know Celeste would do the same for me.” He waved Adam to the spot next to him. “It may seem bad, but Celeste is tough. She’s far tougher than you and I have ever given her credit for. She’ll make it out of this just fine.”

  Adam groaned. “I might not. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget all that blood. It was ten times worse than when my mother died.”

  “You had already lost your mother. You knew it was inevitable that your father would kill her. In a way, you were just marking time until he did. This time, you don’t want to lose her. You weren’t expecting she would get injured.” William sighed. “I wish I could tell you this was all a dream. You’ll wake up in bed and Celeste will be curled up next to you. For all the power I have, I can’t turn back time or change the outcome.”

  “I know, William. To be honest, maybe dying would be better for her. At least she’s not stuck here going crazy.”

  “Don’t ever think that. If she dies, she’s in hell. On earth, she has someone to love her. Celeste is the most powerful Enforcer on earth and the strongest.” William’s eyes darkened with love for his friend.

  “Aren’t those the same thing?”

  Shaking his head, William focused on him. “No. She is the strongest amongst us because she’s always been willing to risk her heart.”

  “You aren’t?”

  “Oh no. I have never been fond of caring for your kind. You mortals are frail and fragile creatures. You can die so easily. It’s better to use you for power and then walk away. I run away from love every chance I get. It’s easier to run than to take the chance on losing a part of myself.” William stared out into the waiting room, watching people as they talked quietly.

  Adam thought about Celeste’s hesitation when he told her he loved her. “I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t want to take the chance anymore. She never said she loved me out loud.”

  “It was a forgone conclusion that Celeste would fall in love with you. Unlike most of the Enforcers, she has never been able to shut herself off. I know she acts cold and distant at times, but inside she’s trying to find a way to keep her heart from breaking. It’s more than sex for her. She can’t help but fall in love.”

  “I certainly wasn’t looking to fall in love, but here I am in love with a fallen angel who can’t even say she loves me.” Adam didn’t want to think about love right then. “So what’s going to happen to Tomas?”

  “He’ll spend the rest of his mortal life in a mental hospital.”

  “Mortal life?”

  William looked uncomfortable for a moment. “The difference between Celeste and me isn’t just that she can love someone. In addition to being an Enforcer, I’m an Avenger. I’m the one who deals out the punishment to the fallen we capture.”

  Adam noticed the faraway look that came into William’s eyes. He realized William had depths to his soul he would never show to anyone except Celeste. Those depths had been wounded by William’s fall from grace and from his chosen repentance. “What does an Avenger do?”

  “Tomas is mortal now. I took away his powers. He has become the one thing he hates the most. I created a loop in his mind showing him what he once was and what he now is. Most of the fallen can’t deal with it. They tend to go catatonic and thus suffer in silence. Even if they did talk, no one is going to believe they’re fallen angels. Most mortals aren’t that imaginative.” William gave Adam a smirk.

  Adam didn’t get a chance to say anything else. The surgeon arrived with news about Celeste. Later as he sat, holding her hand, he thought about William’s words.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Adam stood staring down at Celeste. She looked so cold and pale lying in that hospital bed. The machines beeped quietly in the background. The doctors had told him there was no reason why she was still alive. Celeste had taken two bullets at point-blank range in the chest. Tomas had also stabbed her in the stomach. By all laws, she should be dead.

  “You can’t kill an angel,” William’s voice came out of the darkness that clung to her room.

  “Not even a fallen?” Adam didn’t turn from his inspection of her face.

  “Not unless they want to die, which might be the reason why she hasn’t regained consciousness.” William moved closer. His eyes glowed in the shadows. “Of course, if she had a reason to stay, she might come back.”

  “If she didn’t come back, where would she go?”

  William shrugged. “To whatever version of hell she has waiting for her.” His voice compelled Adam to look at him. “You might be able to reach her, if you chose to.” With those words, he disappeared
from the room.

  “If I chose to? Why wouldn’t I want you to come back to me?” Adam sat down next to her bed. He took her cool hand in his. Tracing her long fingers, he remembered each touch from them. “But is coming back to me the best thing for you?” he whispered. He had seen how the darkness had been stealing into her eyes even in the short time he had known her. As much as she might have loved him, she had a longing for home. He kissed her hand and leaned his head against her arm.

  He was so tired. He hadn’t slept in two days. He had paced the waiting room while she was in surgery. He had stayed by her side until the doctors had moved her to a private room. His eyes were dry and gritty. His clothes were rumpled. At least Jakar had brought him some new ones so he didn’t have her blood on his shirt. He closed his eyes, softly whispering a prayer that she would still be alive when he woke up.

  * * * *

  “Do you really want her to come back to you?” The voice was deep and resonant.

  Adam jerked upright. He was standing in a strange room. The walls gleamed a brilliant white. It looked like a waiting room except there were no chairs. There was only a large desk at one end of the room.

  “Are you selfish enough to wish she would return to you? Even though living on earth could drive her mad?” The voice sounded from behind Adam.

  Adam whirled around to find an extremely tall man standing behind him. The man was leaning casually against the wall between two windows. His hands were shoved into his pants pockets, but just by the way he held himself, Adam knew the man was ready for anything. The charcoal gray three-piece Armani suit was tailored to fit the man’s build. The burgundy silk tie and linen dark blue shirt spoke of taste and comfort. The man’s radiant gray eyes stared at Adam with searing familiarity. Adam felt like the man knew all of his secrets, especially those held deep in Adam’s soul that he never acknowledged, not even to himself.

  “Of course, I know all your secrets, Adam. That’s my job.” The man grinned. “Are you going to answer my question?”

  “Who are you?”

  “You may call me Mika’il.”

  Adam wanted to ignore the man, but his presence filled Adam’s mind until there was no thought of anything else. “No, I don’t want Celeste to come back if it means she will suffer. She’s had enough pain in her life.” He felt his heart clench. He didn’t know what he would do without her, but he wouldn’t ask for her to return because of his pain.