Darkened Soul (When Watchers Fall)

by C. G. Blaine

  “I gave her part of all my lives,” I say quietly. “Plus, I have, like, five things at your apartment and forgot to ask Hannah to bring something from mine. Why? You bring something better?”

  He smirks and loosens the knot on his tie. “No, but I have an excuse.” He drags the loop over his head before dropping it over the urn. “I’ve only had a mortal life for twenty-three days, and it’s all revolved around you.”

  His hand glides over mine, and he winks, walking away to give me a second. I wait until he’s far enough away that he won’t see what I pull out of my other pocket.

  “You can have this for the sake of ceremony,” I tell Nyla, “but I’ll need it back.”

  I tip the urn and put the picture all the way under to keep it from blowing away. During my stint in solitary—when I wasn’t talking to him—I found it tucked away in the box he keeps in his closet. Given the quality and style choices, I’d place them in the early nineties. Cass is midway through an eye roll while Rosdan mean-mugs and Chaz flips off the camera. The guy beside him has dirty-blond hair and a different shade of blue eyes, and he has an arm slung over Chaz’s shoulders.

  Samy, according to the name on the back.

  “I told you they’d both be blond,” I say before I catch up with Chaz.

  Now, we each have our angel.

  The group disperses rather quickly after everyone’s left their offering, which I will get to figure out what to do with later. A few of the lineages linger. Amadeus and two others who have formed alliances over the years. They warily approach like Chaz might strike them down at any moment. They must have deep-dived into his life force to sense the darkness or the unique energy tied to his angel soul.

  “Nyx,” Amadeus says, reaching for my hand, “you have our sincerest condolences.”

  The three men and four women with him stop staring at Chaz long enough to mumble similar sympathies.

  Amadeus motions to them. “You’re familiar with the children of Rameel and Arkas.”

  Chaz tenses beside me, and his eyes dart to Rosdan as he makes his way from the barn. “I’ll be right back.” He walks off toward Rosdan, glancing over his shoulder once in Cass’s direction.

  “Yes, of course,” I say, forcing a smile. “Papa always had such nice things to—”

  “The Fallen.” Amadeus lowers his voice while most of the others track Chaz and Rosdan’s every movement across the yard. “I didn’t realize any of them still remained, let alone three.”

  “They look so normal.” One of the women grasps on to the shirtsleeve of the man next to her, not looking at me. “Are they dangerous?”

  What she’s really asking is if the fairy tales of the monstrous Fallen Watchers are true. If they murder with abandon and rip mortal men to shreds. I could ease her fears, but I’ve had a really shit month, so when she glances over for my answer, I shrug.

  “Thank you for coming,” I say, walking away.

  Chaz turns around then, his lips curling up at me before he narrows a glare at the others. Rosdan’s beside him, arms crossed, and once Cass and Hannah drop in, they appear anything but normal. Three towering and muscular angels alongside a Nephilim. To everyone behind me, they look absolutely terrifying.

  With everyone gone, the last thing to do is shut up the house until I decide whether or not to sell it. We go inside, so I can double-check that all the lights are off and see if anything else needs to be done. It feels final, walking through the downstairs for the last time. The others wait by the door until Chaz and I meet them there.

  “Oh,” I say, pausing by the banister. “The curtains in the upstairs bedroom need to be closed.”

  Chaz tugs my hand for me to stay. “I’ll grab them.”

  Relieved to not have to see the lake again through the window, I half-smile and mouth, Thank you.

  On his way past, he drags his fingers across my stomach. The first outward sign of affection he’s shown me in front of his brothers. He’s kept me close all day, but from the looks they give each other, demon duty distracted them from noticing.

  Chaz climbs the stairs as Cass’s jaw clenches. He walks out the door without a word, and Hannah flashes me an apologetic face and follows him, leaving just Rosdan. He pulls at the back of his hair, staring at the wooden floor.

  “I should unplug the TV,” I say, but really, I’d unplug the couch if it meant not standing there.

  Stepping down into the den, I smell a familiar cologne hanging in the air.

  Hex.

  I suck in a breath to scream but barely get out a squeak before a hand clamps over my mouth. He pulls me against his chest with his arm around my middle.

  “Shh, love,” he whispers in my ear.

  But I thrash against him and kick out my feet, catching the lamp on the table and sending it crashing to the floor. In a blink, Cass appears by the couch. Sparks fly from his hands, but when Hex lets go of my mouth and slaps his flaming palm to a sigil painted on the wall beside us, Cass vanishes.

  I spin as Hex releases me and glance around until I see Rosdan outside the doorway. He looks distorted, the sound muffled as he bangs on an invisible barrier that’s keeping him out.

  “What the hell?” I shove Hex in the chest. “Today? Really? I haven’t even spread Nyla’s ashes yet, and you’re—”

  “Saving you,” he shouts. His shoulders slump, and he rakes his hands through his hair until it sticks up every which way. “I’m sorry about Nyla, I am, but you’re not safe with the Watcher.”

  “And I would be with you? You’ll hand me over to Abaddon, so he can kill me again.”

  Both Cass and Rosdan are at the blocked doorway now. Cass looks ready to murder someone, and for once, it’s not me.

  “I won’t.” Hex comes forward, and I withdraw. A hurt look crosses his face. “I’ve been working on something big, Nyxie. I needed Abaddon distracted for a while.”

  “So, you sacrificed me.”

  “I knew you’d come back,” he says, frustrated.

  “Well then, all forgiven.” I take a step, and he grabs my arm.

  He checks the doorway. “You need to come with me. I’m the only one who can protect you right now.”

  “Pretty sure we have that handled, asshat.”

  I follow the low voice to the fireplace. Chaz straightens up from where he was leaning against the brick. He shifts his attention from Hex to me. The look he gives weighs down my chest, and I shake my arm away from Hex.

  “How the fuck are you even in here?” Hex asks, genuinely interested. “Even if you had your light, I have this place blocked from all things divine.”

  Chaz crosses the room, stopping beside me. “Good thing I came equipped with the darkness then.” Shadows spill from his palms and vine up his arms, sweeping over mine closest to him as they go.

  Hex cocks a dark brow. “And the game just got interesting.” His eyes dart between us before they settle on Chaz again. “Fine, consider this your warning. The other Uppers know, and word is spreading like wildfire—kill the Watcher to kill Abaddon. They’ll be coming for you.”

  Chaz shakes his head and smirks. “I wonder how they found out.”

  A smug smile spreads across Hex’s face. “Not a damn clue.” His gaze slides to me. “Stay alive, love.” He quickly looks at the floor and then up again before he disappears.

  “Fucking Uppers,” Cass says from the doorway.

  The barrier is down, and Chaz passes without acknowledging me other than a quick, “Let’s go.”

  Not sure what I’ve done to deserve the cold shoulder, I scoop down for the scrap of paper at my feet as I follow. I crumple it in my fist until after Cass drops us at the apartment, and Chaz heads to the kitchen. I shrug off my coat and sigh once I unfold the note. Hex’s number.

  Since I programmed it into my phone the last time he gave it to me—in case he got ahold of mine and called—I throw it away in the bathroom trash can. I’ve just stepped into the hall when I screech, startled by Chaz’s sudden appearance in front of
me.

  I barely have a chance to process him before he crowds me back against the bedroom door, his face severe. Once my back flattens to the wood, he boxes me in with his hands on either side of me.

  “Would you have gone with him?”

  “What?” I ask.

  “If I hadn’t teleported in,” he says, his voice softening, “would you be with him right now instead of with me?”

  His eyes reiterate the question, his brow furrowed, and I shake my head.

  “No. Not unless he—”

  Chaz’s mouth presses hard to mine, all his doubt from a second ago gone. I hook my arms around his neck as he picks me up and turns the doorknob, using my back to push it open.

  “Good,” he says against my lips. “Saves me from tying you up again to keep you.”

  He smiles, and I laugh for the first time since Nyla died. Then I kiss him again, knowing it’s true.

  Even if he were to tell me to leave, I couldn’t. I won’t. I’ve been in love with Chazaqiel since long before I met him. I’ll be in love with him long after he gets back his light. In this life, and into the next.

  The week after the funeral sets a new pace around the apartment. Cass rarely stops by when he takes his turn with my charges. If he does, he brings Hannah and is less than his usual chatty self. We haven’t talked about Nyx or the blade, and I know why. My brother told me where he stands on this matter. He views Nyx as a liability, and that certainly won’t change now that I fell for the one woman who could easily sign my death sentence.

  Rosdan has shown up every morning like clockwork, taking advantage of his charges’ mother working from home in an effort to “get to know her children.” Get to know in a sense that she can still call up Ros at any moment, so he’ll swoop in and save her from them. He tinkers with the weapon here or ducks across the hall and then tries to swing by in the evenings when all his charges are tucked safely away in the McMansion.

  Meanwhile, my living room has enough dusty-ass books stacked around that it looks like a monastery library. Since I have limited options on what to do, I spend most of the day sifting through them, trying to find anything remotely helpful. Any mention of a dagger crafted of divine steel or weapon imprisoning the light of God.

  Of course, my reading would go a lot faster if I were surrounded by nuns and not Nyx.

  “Stop fucking watching me,” I tell her without looking up from my page.

  “But I like looking at you.” She shifts on the couch above me, and her bare foot nudges my shoulder.

  I dodge my head out of the way when her toes climb my neck. Fucking seducing me with her damn feet. Slamming the book closed, I whirl around and climb on top of her. She laughs as I cover her body with mine and nip at her jaw.

  “You fucking better.” I graze my lips over hers and tug at her bottom one with my teeth until she whimpers. Then I kiss her once more and slide off her all the way to the opposite end of the couch before I lose all will to research.

  I switch to a different book with a crumbling tan cover, and she leans over to pick up my other one from the floor. She lies back again and flips it open, placing the bottom of it on her chest.

  “Fluent in Latin?” I ask, biting back a smile.

  She pretends to ignore me, turning the page. “Fluent in jackass?”

  I chuckle and lower my eyes to my own work.

  Within a few excruciating pages, she disappears into the bedroom. She mentions yoga or some shit, but I wave her off, already buried in mind-numbing passages.

  After a while, she reemerges in some crisscross-strapped bra and leggings that hug every curve. Hannah did me no favors when she and Cass gathered clothes from Nyx’s apartment.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding.”

  “What?” she asks, throwing her hair up into a messy knot on the top of her head.

  I groan and restack the books, tossing the scrolls on top. “You’re a fucking distraction.”

  Not even tempting myself by going near her, I head to the bedroom with a plan to lock myself in until I get through this shit. Before I even shut the door, someone blows it out of the water by knocking.

  “I ordered food,” Nyx calls.

  Fuck. She’s prancing around like a goddamn wet dream, and now, she’s bringing food into the equation. I sigh, setting the pile on the dresser, and go back to the living room.

  As I round the corner from the hallway, my first thought is that I’m going to murder the delivery guy if he looks at her tits. But that’s quickly overshadowed before I even see where his eyes land—because the delivery dude is wearing a shitty uniform with dress loafers and a designer watch.

  It happens fast.

  Nyx holds out the cash, and her hand extends over the threshold.

  “No!” I shout, but it’s too late.

  The demon’s eyes flash red, and I teleport just as he latches on to her wrist. I reappear where Nyx was standing, missing them by a fraction of a second.

  I no more than think about the amulet, and it activates in my pocket. Chasing down the Upper who just abducted my chick must rank pretty high on Samy’s list of worthy causes. My darkness scatters, but the light hones in on the demon’s. I switch to shadows and flash into the hallway right as they materialize.

  “Chaz!” Nyx whimpers.

  The demon arm across her throat shifts, and the arrogant asshole it belongs to grins behind her. “Chazaqiel,” Braxis says. “Long time.”

  “Not long enough.”

  “Feel like coming the easy way?” he asks. “Or do I need to give you more motivation?” His grip on her tightens, but he won’t waste his only leverage so soon.

  “You know I like to play hard to get.” I notice the ripple at the end of the hall by the elevator and blink to his other side, placing myself between him and his exit strategy. “Looks like you still have a bad habit of leaving your portals open.”

  His eyes cut behind me, and I wrap the chain of the amulet around my hand, crystal in my fist while I wait for him to move. But then another portal opens behind him. And another fucking Upper steps out and nails Braxis in the back with a fireball. Zagan—even douchier.

  Braxis lurches forward, his arm slipping from around Nyx.

  I teleport to her. She grabs on to me just in time for the amulet to light up, and I blast Zagan with divinity as soon as he pops up next to us.

  Then Lowers start slinking out of his portal, and I glance back to the same by the elevator. They brought the sewer rats.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  In a matter of seconds, the corridor fills with demons, flames start flying between Braxis and Zagan, and I teleport to the apartment door. I shove Nyx through it and spin to face the hell breaking loose on the second floor.

  She yanks on my arm from behind. “What are you doing?” she shrieks.

  With Kai and Avery so close, I can’t just chill behind a barrier and let it all play out. The Uppers seem more concerned with duking it out over who gets to kill me and claim Abaddon’s title than actually killing me, so I only have to worry about the dozen Lowers stalking in my direction.

  “Sorry, gorgeous,” I say over my shoulder. “We have a rat infestation I need to handle.”

  I jerk the door closed before she can argue, tightening my grip on the amulet. With the douche twins bouncing around on one side, I swing right. I pick the Lower closest to the elevator, appearing beside him. He lights up nice and pretty, and I hurl him through the portal he came out of. Since he doesn’t poke his head right back out, I move up the hall. Each flash of light drives the other Lowers away, and they almost make it easy.

  I clear the first side and am marching toward my next target when the door beside me yanks open.

  Rosdan looks at me, shadows swirling around and up my torso, and then he leans his head out to check down the hallway. “Holy shit,” he says.

  He launches a bolt of light at the nearest set of demons, and they fly all the way to the other end, landing between Braxis and Zagan.


  Rosdan catches the amulet when I toss it—in case he loses his light left over from whichever charge helped get him here. He drops, I teleport, and we surprise the shit out of a Lower. I snatch hold of an arm and look away, bracing for the rush of light Rosdan sends through the demon until the darkness tears out of his mouth. The remaining Lowers vanish through the portal before I slump the body against the wall. He or Cass will have to drop it to a mountainside later.

  The Uppers fume as they face us, but when Braxis dematerializes, he reappears by his portal at the opposite end of the hall.

  “Next time, Chazaqiel,” he calls. And then he nods. “Armaros.”

  Ros smirks and flips him off.

  Once he steps through his portal, we turn to the last demon standing.

  Zagan holds up his hands in surrender. “Fair enough. I’m a patient demon, and I can wait. But remember, you can’t hide forever, and—”

  The amulet illuminates in Rosdan’s hand at the same time his head whips over his shoulder. I teleport without checking to confirm Tweedle Dick has reemerged from his portal behind us. Only a fireball catches me in the side at the last instant, searing straight through my shirt and skin.

  I land on my back in the living room. “Fuuuck.”

  Nyx screams from the door where her face is pressed, her snoopy ass trying to watch through the peephole. I wince, pushing myself up to sit against the couch as Nyx runs across the room. She dives at me, clearly missing the massive fucking scorch wound.

  I choke out, “Baby, wait,” while she scrambles onto me and throws her arms around my neck. My forehead drops to her shoulder. “You are fucking killing me right now, woman.”

  She sits back fast, covering her mouth when she looks down. “Oh.”

  I cough out a painful laugh because she’s fucking perfect. Then I rest my head back on the couch, and she moves my shirt up, so she can flatten her palms against my chest.

  “You’ll be thirty by next month if you keep healing me at this rate.” I reach out to push the hair off her face, and she turns into my palm, her melty eyes connecting with mine when she shrugs.