Fallen Angel 5: Falling Stars Page 15

  Because the easiest prey was right there in front of them.

  Twelve fallen angels with broken wings and healing bodies struggled against the escaped soldiers that tied them up with thick chains to the bordering trees. Almost a dozen more badly injured angels with dragging black wings were being hauled from the forest to join the captives.

  Lucifer itched to dive down there, to stop what was happening and free the captured. But he didn’t. He was outnumbered and alone. He shot another glance skyward, desperate for a glimpse of movement through the coiling black clouds above. Nothing. “Hurry, Gabriel. Please hurry back.”

  Returning his sight below, Lucifer knew this was all his doing. He knew he had been duped. Zachias had played Lucifer, set him up by dangling the only thing he wanted as he played him for a fool. Lucifer had never trusted the soldier, but still, he’d played right into his plan. His own offspring had fallen for it too, unleashing a power that had to be contained, a power that gave Lucifer his disgraced wings back, that gave him the means to soar above and return Gabriel to a place he was not welcome in. That act had opened up the gates of Hell, and it had obliterated the door to the Realm of Light, breaking the seal that protected the angelic and kept all that was dark out.

  Lucifer had entered with Gabriel’s light, and with his darkness, he’d ruined it all.

  He’d endangered them all.

  A tingling presence announced an arrival even though Lucifer had not heard a sound. He turned with his hand on the hilt of his sword. But his preparation was unnecessary as soft feet touched down behind him with a retracting flutter of wings. “Gabriel,” her name was a long released breath from Lucifer’s mouth as he spun to wrap his arms around her and crush her to his chest.

  After all that had happened, all Gabriel had survived, not having her at Lucifer’s side had been almost impossible for him to allow. Yet her pleading eyes as she’d held his hand and pressed her lips to his had forced him into submission. “You know we must act. Before it is too late.” She had kissed him one last time—and then she had launched up into the sky, her gray wings driving her away from him at incredible speed.

  Gabriel pushed out of Lucifer’s possessive hold, the blue of her silvery eyes so intense and the slight curve to her lips showing how much their separation had affected her too. “Some of the fallen returned above. But there is no one else. The door to Heaven is gone. There is no access to the angels that made it to Heaven before the fall. I think they are waiting for something. But I could feel incredible power brimming, the same power I felt before the fall.”

  “If there is no entry, why wait? Why not send His angels down to protect the Earth God loves above all?”

  A flutter of wings had Lucifer spinning around to come face to face with Remiel. After returning from the non-injured angels who had gathered, his dipping gray wings and resigned sigh did not instill hope. The angel’s face was a mash of despair and defeat, and his words only confirmed Lucifer’s worst fears. “With no entry, there is no exit. We are on our own. Hundreds against thousands.”

  “And there are camps all over.” Gabriel’s expression was grim. “All run by your former guards and all with imprisoned fallen. The largest aside from this one is being led by Zachias. And they are all connected. The king’s son delivers orders and reports with the use of their black feathers.” Gabriel’s hand on Lucifer’s shoulder didn’t provide him solace as it should have. Instead, the tightening clutch heightened his inner turmoil. “God sees all. He knows all. Even if it has not come to pass. Look…” She pointed over the edge of the cliff and down at the clearing.

  No longer idly at their backs, tightening the chains that tied each fallen to deep-rooted trees, the guards were in action. As hellions held out the broken wings of the fallen, the guards moved at speed, stripping their glossy black feathers away and leaving the fleshy frames of their wings patchy and nude of cover. Feathers of power created peaked piles over the grass—each one a gateway to Above now that entry was wide open to the Realm of Light.

  “It is only a matter of time before they use what they steal to gain access above,” Remiel said quietly. “And if they can get that far, it is only a matter of time before they infiltrate Heaven too. And then all will be lost.”

  “Heaven is locked up tight,” Lucifer bit out. Now that he was free of Hell’s dark souls, he wanted to take his growing guilt out on someone or something. Remiel was the nearest, but the angel didn’t step away even as Lucifer snarled and came closer. “You said it yourself. No entry and no exit.”

  The hard breaths through Lucifer’s nose flared his nostrils, but Gabriel’s hand around his bicep made him stand down. “There is no way in,” she said with more reason and control than Lucifer could ever maintain.

  “What is closed can always be opened,” Remiel replied. He clasped his hands in front of him and cast his eyes down as if the weight of Gabriel’s and Lucifer’s stares were suddenly too much for him. “Where there is a will, there can be a way.”

  “Heaven can be invaded?” Gabriel looked down at the captured angels again. A contemplative fear took control of her beautiful face before she returned her focus to Remiel. “How?”

  The angel shook his head, and Lucifer wanted to crack him in the face. Remiel knew something, Lucifer was sure of it, but there was no time for feuding amongst themselves. Every moment that passed got their enemies closer to their goal, and when they found the Realm of Light vacant, they would never stop until they got through to Heaven too.

  “Remiel, take flight.” Lucifer shoved the angel in the chest, forcing him to meet his piercing gaze. He didn’t have control over Remiel, but he didn’t need it. “Return to the non-captured fallen and order them to spread out. We need to take away our enemy’s route to the Realm of Light before it is too late. Fire grew from Lucifer’s hand, expanding until it was a coiling ball in the center of his palm. “Burn the feathers and do not get caught. Take out any being that tries to use their pass to gain access above.”

  “There are too many.” Remiel’s wings flared out, but his feet didn’t lift off. “We will never stop them all in time.”

  “No, we won’t,” Lucifer agreed. He knew how many hellions had lived below the surface and how many now scoured the Earth. Add his once-loyal soldiers and the odd hybrid to the mix, and they were dwarfed in numbers after the fall. Lucifer’s offspring were missing in action, and there had been no sign of the vampires…or even Michael. His brother was likely dead. Despite understanding the archangel’s motives now, Lucifer would not have changed his actions even if he’d known them at the time. Lucifer felt residual anger at Michael’s final betrayal, but he also felt guilt, two emotions that he tried to ignore as they warred inside of him. He cleared his throat and shook the past away. “But we have to try. The less that travel above, the better. Now go, act, and we will see you above thereafter.”

  Remiel nodded once and then he was gone with a mighty flap, his wings disappearing in all the darkness that stretched out above them.

  Gabriel linked her fingers through Lucifer’s, giving his hand a squeeze. “Ready to stem the invasion?”

  The light that burned in Lucifer’s other hand reflected in her hope-filled eyes. Gabriel believed in him, and she was by his side—right where she belonged. All hell was about to break loose, and Lucifer knew he shouldn’t, but he needed one last moment, one last touch. If everything went awry, this could be his last chance.

  The fire doused from Lucifer’s palm as he reached up, capturing Gabriel’s face with gentle hands. His lips found their home against her own, her gasp inviting his tongue inside to taste her one last time. The rebounding moan up Gabriel’s throat encouraged Lucifer, as did her soft hands as they gripped his corded back and tickled his sensitive feathers. Their bodies molded together, scarred and yet whole, a perfect fit that was meant to be.

  Lucifer’s grip shifted, one hand sliding down Gabriel’s body and grazing her breast in a way that made her gasp. Falling down the curve of her wais
t, he palmed her hips. Gabriel’s faster breaths and nailed grip on Lucifer’s back urged him on, and he gathered the length of her robe up, bunching it until one of her bare legs curled around his own. “I love you more than life itself. More than Heaven or Hell and all the power in the world.”

  Gabriel was all Lucifer had, and for her future—her safety—he had to go along with the plan. He had to fight alongside the angels who had shunned and forgotten him. For her, Lucifer would do it. He would do anything.

  Gabriel smiled, planting her hand over Lucifer’s racing heart. “The brightest star of us all, my Morningstar. My heart. Whatever happens, never forget that you are worthy. Never forget that the light in you can never fade. I see it now. I have always seen it.” Gabriel’s lips brushed over Lucifer’s, then kissed their way down his chin and neck until they met the sensitive spot right above his collarbone. Her breath on his heated flesh made him shiver. “I love you, Lucifer, and I always will.”

  Gabriel gazed up at Lucifer and he looked deep into her eyes. This was their last fleeting moment of intimacy. The hunger to lift her legs around his waist and bury his ready hardness inside her called to Lucifer. The desirous look in Gabriel’s eyes and the way she gasped as his gaze fell to her parted lips almost brought him undone. But they had had their time. Now was Lucifer’s chance to make up for his mistakes, to undo all he had unknowingly set in motion.

  Relishing the taste of her with one last sweep of his tongue, Lucifer pulled away breathless. Releasing Gabriel with painful reluctance, he called back the fire, letting twin orbs spark and then grow from his palms. He lifted his hands, drawing his arms back, ready to thrust them forward to deliver the balls of fire to the first two piles of feathers. The moment they hit, everything would change. Their presence would be known and they would become targets. “Ready, my love?”

  “Always.”

  Lucifer drove his right arm forward—until it was wrenched back with a snap of blinding light.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The ground shook as Lucifer barked in surprise, flinging Gabriel around so that she was behind him. His fire remained and he growled, stance hunching like a wild animal. What Gabriel saw through the trees shocked her as a beacon of light lit up the darkness. It couldn’t be. She’d seen the state of him in Hell, seen him fight to protect her until Lucifer flew her above. Gabriel had been so sure he’d perished, that Cyrus, his men, and all the hellions had grounded him before he could take off after them to safety.

  She had been wrong. Dead wrong.

  “Michael,” Gabriel gasped out, staring as he stalked forward, his white wings fanning in the breeze and black hair blowing back from his hardened face.

  A large part of Gabriel rejoiced in the fact that Michael was alive and repairing. The lacerations marring his arms were dry and had mostly pulled shut while the bruises had faded to brown surrounded by fading dirty yellow. Michael had survived and he’d escaped with his life. The other part, the sight of driven intent that sparked in his silver eyes, made Gabriel’s heart pound with confusion and fear. In his hand was a wavy, blue-glowing dagger with the sharp tip missing. The same weapon that had threatened Gabriel and her daughter, and then been used by the enemy to weaken and imprison Lucifer. Michael’s other hand clung to a strand of pure light—the object that had stalled Lucifer’s driving hand of fire by curling around his wrist.

  “No. Stop! What are you doing?” Gabriel darted around Lucifer, the tilt of the ground taking her off balance.

  “Michael turned on us in Hell,” Lucifer snarled as he sliced his sword free of its scabbard. “He tried to stop me rescuing—”

  Michael yanked the luminous tether at the same time, coiling Lucifer up in a moving tornado that spun right back at him. “I am doing what needs to be done.”

  Roaring as Gabriel fought for purchase on the suddenly undulating ground, Lucifer cut diagonally through the air, aiming for Michael’s neck.

  Gabriel screamed, but the sound cut off before it could gain momentum and volume. She was choking, the air stripped from her lungs as her hands flew to her throat.

  Lucifer’s kill strike failed as his eyes shot to Gabriel—and Michael drove the blazing blue dagger into his chest. He went stone still, mouth gaping with the promise of a threat that was powerless to escape.

  Gabriel went to her knees and watched as Lucifer did too. Unable to gasp a full breath, her wide eyes at Michael begged for answers as she fell to her hands. “M-Mic…w-why?”

  The cause of Gabriel’s inability to breathe revealed itself as eleven figures appeared through the trees. Vampires. The ones she’d fought to keep from the pits of Hell. The ones she had begged God to show pity on with the offer of a different future, one free of bloodshed and pain. A future to redeem them before their end came with the prospect of an eternity in Hell or among the light in Heaven. Out of the eleven, which excluded the youngest named Bathory, Lord Ruthaven was staring at her, his silver-blue stare focused and his raised hands tense with splayed, bent fingers. Ice crackled over Gabriel’s neck and inside her parted mouth, turning her flesh blue. Somehow Ruthaven was immobilizing her, freezing her neck, mouth, and from her hiccupped gasps, her lungs too.

  “I cannot have our enemies above. Not yet,” Michael said, his expression hard and strained as if he were forcing himself to do something that he was not entirely at ease with.

  “The feathers—” Gabriel cramped as she crawled forward, her throat closing up as she tried to get words out. “We—”

  “I know. I heard it all.” Michael tipped his head sideways, motioning two of the vampires over to take Lucifer by his arms.

  The dagger was left embedded in Lucifer’s chest, keeping him frozen in a state of shock and fury, his eyes stuck on Gabriel as sweat sprouted all over him.

  Michael came closer and kneeled before Gabriel, tilting her face up so she would look at him. “Yet I could not allow it. I need the Realm of Light vacant for as long as possible. I need to end her—” Michael’s words cut off before they were finished, and he rocked back on his heels. Dropping his finger from Gabriel’s chin, he rose up with a sniff. “I must do all I can to protect Heaven and our God. Their longevity must come first.”

  Gabriel dug her nails into the dirt, craning her head up at a painful angle to keep Michael’s face in view. Something had passed over his expression like a shadow, a ghost of emotion. Regret. She could see it plain as night, that same look he’d had when he confessed to standing by and letting fate take its course in the path to her death at the hands of humans. But this was not about killing Gabriel or letting her die. It was more than that.

  Worse than that.

  The hint of silver tears welling up Michael’s eyes told Gabriel all that she needed to know. All that had been kept secret from her for so many years. It was a hunch, but the prospect of it being true made Gabriel’s heart beat as if it wanted to punch right through her chest. The lure she had felt above before their fall had been a clue. A Godsend. “H-her?”

  A tear spilled from one of Michael’s eyes, trailing down his face. He wiped it away with a rough swipe as if the stray tear were a traitor. “I am sorry, Gabriel. I know you will never forgive me. She does not deserve this. It is not her fault.” He gritted his teeth and pointed at Lucifer. “It is his!”

  “Sh-she…lives?” Gabriel felt like the invisible hands around her throat were ready to snap her neck in half. “My…dau…?”

  Michael’s anger fell like his grief as he lifted his face to the sky. To where she was? “I discovered what Lucifer returning you above would do when Cyrus and Darius reunited, and I failed to stop it. I tried to soar you above myself. I tried to prevent this. Now I have no choice.”

  “There is always a choice, Michael,” Lucifer’s sudden rasping words shocked them all and had Michael whirling around. Unshed tears added a silver sheen to his eyes. “You know that better than anyone. Do not do this. My daughter. You regretted the attempt you made on her unborn life once when you failed. Michael, I
beg of you, stop this before it is too late.”

  The dagger had slid out of Lucifer’s chest a fraction now that no one was holding the weapon in place. Michael strode forward without hesitation, removing the blue glow from Lucifer’s pained face as he hammered the blade back in. “She is the key to Heaven’s destruction. It is inevitable now that Hell’s beings can travel above.” Facing Gabriel again, Michael shook his head, glistening tears drying up as if he’d made a decision. “I am sorry. I cannot save you both. Evangeline must die.”

  Evangeline? Hearing the name of her daughter, the pure life she had brought into this world and that she’d thought had perished because of her choices, flooded Gabriel emotions like she’d never felt to this extent before. Something burned inside of her, fierce and protective and desperate in a way she had never been before. Now twitching with lacking breath, Gabriel was so close to losing consciousness. But she refused to give in to the sweet surrender her muscles begged her to take. She refused to go down. Gabriel lifted her eyes, and a haze grew in from the edges, stealing the clarity of her sight and mind.

  But then she saw Lucifer.

  Pure unadulterated malice strained his golden face with harsh lines. He was staring right at her, his mouth no longer frozen with unspoken words that begged for the life of his daughter. Instead, Lucifer’s lips curled with a menacing silent growl. His nostrils flared with loud breaths while he kept his palm turned away from the watching vampires who stood ready to react if they tried anything. The ember of a flame danced in the palm of his concealing hand.

  An ember that needed the freedom to blaze to life.

  Lucifer’s eyes flashed to the dagger in his chest and then at Lord Ruthaven before returning to her almost too fast to notice. But Gabriel didn’t miss a beat. She knew what Lucifer was going to do. One last act of love, one last outburst to save her from the power that threatened to turn her world black as Michael took the one thing Gabriel thought she had already lost. The one thing she refused to let go of now that she knew she had a choice.