Fallen Souls (10 page)

Then his smile faltered. A
sudden wash of bright lights had filled the field, shattering the
dark and illuminating the host of angels. Adrian’s eyes widened,
and she could see horror in them. At first she thought it was her
vision wavering due to lack of air, but then she realized that the
light was real. And it was
angel
light. She managed to turn toward it, her heart
lifting.

Michael emerged from the glow in the
sky, and if Kali could have breathed she would have screamed with
joy. Seraphine had done it, she’d gotten to him in time! And now he
was here. To save her, and to stop Adrian.

And not a moment too
soon,
a voice in her head whispered
wryly.

A moment later, Michael was standing
next to them, his golden hair glowing in the illumination from his
angel light. His blue eyes were filled with sorrow, a deep frown on
his face.

Behind him, Adrian’s followers were
being slowly surrounded by the angels who had come with Michael.
The rebels looked franticly for an escape route, pushing against
one another, and trying to run, but more angels appeared in every
direction to cut them off.

Michael came toward
Adrian, his gaze turning cold and hard, and Seraphine followed
behind, a look of relief and triumph on her face. Kali tried to
smile at the girl, but with Adrian still strangling her, all she
could muster was a twitch of her upper lip. Then a white light
coming from Michael drew her gaze, and made her freeze.
No
, she thought it
amazement
. It couldn’t
be
.

The divine sword materialized at
Michael’s side, glowing brightly with its immense power, and
covered in heavenly flames. The sight of it was breathtaking, and
terrifying at the same time. Kali had never seen the divine blade
before, but she’d heard stories of it. It was the Creator’s own
weapon, and whoever possessed it was endowed with their lord’s
power, in order to execute His will. The sword’s powers were
limitless, and as far as Kali knew, He’d never entrusted anyone
with it before. He’d never needed to.

Michael grasped the sword in his hand,
and every angel grew quiet in that instant. All eyes turned on him,
and the blade he now possessed. Even Adrian’s eyes focused on the
weapon, growing wide with disbelief and fear.

Michael there, holding the Creator’s
sword, was a statement to everyone that he had been given orders,
directly from their father, and the power to enforce them. Not even
Adrian would be able to stand against him now. It was over.
Adrian’s plans were thwarted. He would never see his war, and no
one was going to have to die for his narcissistic scheme. He had
lost.

“
Adrian!” Michael roared.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed, but he refused to let go of Kali, who
dangled from his hand, thrashing. Breathing was getting more
difficult, now, and her eyes shot to Michael, pleading for help.
“Let her go!” Michael thundered. “This is over.”

“
No,” Adrian hissed. He
waved his free arm toward the crowd and backed away from Michael,
his voice cracking with distress. “It hasn’t even
begun.”

“
Wrong, Adrian,” Michael
said quietly, ignoring Kali’s pleas. “You could never have won. And
you will never again see the light of Heaven. The Creator sent me
here to banish you.” As he said the words, he pointed his sword at
Adrian and charged.

Adrian was momentarily distracted, his
eyes growing wide, and for a second his grip let up on Kali’s
throat. She took the opportunity, grabbing his wrist and wrenching
herself free of his grasp just as Michael’s sword lit up, brighter
than the sun. She dropped to the ground and rushed to get away, to
put as much distance as possible between herself and
Adrian.

Finally she came to a crouch, and
glanced up in time to see Michael raise his sword, and another bolt
of lightning streak across the sky. The rebel angels began
screaming, no doubt realizing that Michael was about to kill their
leader, and Michael’s angels did their best to keep them contained,
though they thrashed against them, struggling to get free. Adrian’s
mouth opened, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and his
eyebrows drawing together. Michael’s eyes looked sad, but Kali
could see his grip tighten on the sword. He and Adrian had been
allies once, but now his orders were clear, and he was going to
follow through on them.

Her heart dropped in her chest as he
brought the sword down on Adrian, his face twisting in pain as the
blade sliced through angel flesh and plunged through Adrian’s
heart.

In that instant, a white bolt of light
shot across the field like a comet, blowing Kali’s hair back from
her face and blinding her. She blinked when it receded and saw
Adrian on his knees, his eyes still wide with shock and fear. She
immediately looked to his chest, expecting a large hole. But there
was no wound, she realized in confusion. No blood.

Instead, the light that had been in
the sword was now illuminating Adrian’s chest.

“
You cannot banish me!” he
screamed. The light began to spread, though, up into his chest and
then through his body. That power enveloped him, until his wings
caught fire and singed, becoming dead and black. His flesh melted
away, leaving him scorched and disfigured. The scent of his burning
skin and wings wafted through the air, a black cloud of smoke
rising from his crumpled body, and Kali gagged. Was he …
dead?

“
By the orders of the
Creator!” Michael roared once more. “I banish you from both Heaven
and Earth! You are to spend eternity in Hell with your followers,
for the sins you have committed upon Heaven.” Adrian’s wings had
charred off now, leaving almost no trace behind, and he writhed on
the ground, the pain plain on his face. Kali tore her gaze away
from the gory sight of Adrian burning alive and took a deep breath,
trying to slow her heart. His followers were roaring in disbelief,
and her attention went to them; their eyes were wide with fear, and
they were backing away from the angels who encircled them. They
already knew, she realized. They’d seen what awaited them in
Hell.

And now Adrian was taking them there
with him. As they deserved.

The land began to shake,
and suddenly the soil beneath Adrian crumbled. It was going to
swallow him whole, she realized with horror. He was
actually
going to go to
Hell. He screamed, then, his charred face drawn up with shock as
the ground fell away. He spread his still-burning wings, attempting
to gain leverage as he clawed at the ground to keep from falling,
but those once-glorious extensions were now nothing more than bone
and a few feathers. And the land underneath him was collapsing
faster the more he struggled against it, like quicksand. His
struggle was in vain.

After several painful moments of
struggle, he slipped out of sight, and Kali turned away from the
gruesome scene, cringing.

It was over. Her heart broke for the
angels that would be cast out with him, and even ached for Adrian.
Thousands were going to pay the price for his greed, and yet she
felt sorry for him. Not for the monster he had become, but for the
angel she’d once thought of as her friend. The angel that would
never again be able to return to Heaven. He thought he was superior
to the humans, but in the end he would burn for all eternity
alongside them. And what would become of him?

She had seen the human souls that
escaped from Hell, and what they changed into after being locked
away down there. Would Adrian turn into one of those mindless
demons she had hunted down? Or something … worse? She closed her
eyes and let out a shaky breath as a tear slid down her cheek.
Suddenly the Heavens opened, and rain poured down on them, as if
the Heavens were weeping with her. For a moment she wondered if
they were. She opened her eyes and lifted her gaze, letting the
cold rain wash away her tears.

Then, the moment she began to walk
away, she felt something grab a hold of her leg, and a searing hot
pain shot through her. She cried out in agony, the skin on her
ankle feeling as if it was melting away. Whatever had grabbed her
dug further into her flesh, tightening its grasp, and she didn’t
have time to react before it jerked her backwards, wrenching her
toward the hole that had opened up around Adrian. She screamed, but
it was cut off by the terror swelling in her chest as she dug her
nails into the ground. Her eyes shot up in time to see Michael’s
own widen with fear.

“
No!” he shouted. He ran
for her, desperately trying to reach her, and Kali’s arms went out,
tearing at the dirt, and trying to grab hold of anything. But the
unknown weight continued to yank her backwards, toward the hole in
the Earth. Michael was too far away to reach her in time, she knew
without looking again. That knowledge shot chills up her spine, and
sent her heart into overdrive.

She looked down into the
hole at her feet, and saw to her horror that the object wrapped
around her ankle was Adrian’s still-burning hand. He stared up at
her from below, leering with what was left of his face.
No!
she screamed in her
mind, stricken with panic. He had grabbed her, she realized in dull
shock, and was trying to take her with him. She was going to be
trapped in Hell with him, his followers, and all the souls she’d
sent back there. She was being ripped away from the Earth, but
worse, she was being torn from her true home forever. After
everything she had done to save Heaven … if he took her down into
the ground, she would suffer the same fate as he and his
followers.

Her gaze flew back to Michael’s
outstretched hand, but it was too far for her to reach. He couldn’t
save her, but watched with pain and sorrow as she slipped down,
down, and finally let go of the earth.

As she fell, spiraling
toward the flames of Hell, her wings began to smoke and turn the
darkest shade of black. She hadn’t earned this punishment, her mind
protested. She had done everything, risked
everything
, to save Heaven. She’d
followed Michael’s orders and stopped a war, at the risk of her own
life! And now she was being cast to Hell with Adrian, and there was
nothing Michael could do about it. She tried to think of a way to
stop her descent, but the closer she got to Hell, the worse the
sensation of being burned alive grew, and it started to block out
her ability to think straight. Her anger became muted by the
anguish shuddering through her body.

Finally, certain that she was about to
catch fire, she screamed out in agony, and her vision turned
black.

Ash laughed — an evil, hollow sound — and
grasped his knife more firmly. Kali blinked slowly, her heart
breaking. This wasn’t her Ash, she reminded herself. This wasn’t
the boy who’d sold his soul to save his sister, or fought by her
side. This wasn’t the boy who had changed everything she thought
she knew about life, love, and herself.

“
I’ll die before hurting
you,” Kali repeated, lifting her chin. He possessed the greater
strength now, she knew, and would beat her even if she fought. At
least, in the end, she would die at his hand rather than someone
else’s. Maybe he would still win his soul back that way.

A boy who sold his soul to save his
sister’s life.

A fallen angel turned demon, seeking
her redemption.

And a surprising love story that could
save them both … or destroy the world.

Join Ash and Kali, and a
cast of dark characters, as they fight for the fallen angels of the
world, the right to choose their own path, and the one thing they
never thought they’d find – true love
.

COMING SPIRNG
2015