The Fallen Ones (The Fallen Angels Series Book 1) (13 page)

I
scoff at her disrespect, I don’t even know Marcus but I would defend anyone
against this woman “So you mean to insult the judgment of your peer and
co-elder?” she ignores my question and speaks over me “As for your other
charge. You are responsible for the murder of your adoptive parents. When we
learned of the destruction that followed you prior to your arrival here, we
were willing to believe it was due to your own inexperience or age. But, in
conjunction with your recent crimes. We can no longer dismiss it as such.”
That’s it. I am officially infuriated “The murder of MY OWN PARENTS?” I shout
at her “You are a bigger piece of work than I thought! I have never murdered
anyone. You KNOW I was being followed by those monsters! – I have witnesses!
They were the cause of the destruction! They murdered my parents – and would’ve
murdered me given the chance!” I am inches from her face when I stop speaking.
I feel an arm at my side pulling me back and don’t even bother to look and see
who it is. Guinevere is not breaking eye contact with me “Witnesses? You mean
the half-blood simpleton standing beside you – or his whore of a sister that
already sold you out? Listen to me when I tell you, your witnesses mean noth…”
I cut her off. I have been pushing my power back but she has not only offended
me and the memory of my parents, but she has now made the mistake of shaming my
only friends. My power has been boiling and now it is steadily pouring over to
her “NO! YOU LISTEN TO ME GUINEVERE! I AM NO MURDERER, KAILAND AND THE PRISONER
ARE NO TERRORISTS AND MY FRIENDS ARE NOT SIMPLETONS OR WHORES. BUT IF YOU THINK
TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF ME – WHEN I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID TO THOSE PRISONERS
– THAT WERE ELDERS WITHIN YOUR OWN COMMUNE NO LESS! THEN YOU ARE THE BIGGEST
FOOL OF ALL!” she is no longer making eye contact with me. Her face is turned
down and she is clinging to the table in front of her. Julius is cowering close
to the ground like the measly wimp I knew he was the moment I saw him.

I turn
to address the rest of the room “I suppose you all are my jury?” I look at the
30 or so faces across the room and see some begin to nod “Then let me tell you
of these terrorists she speaks of. I met them quite by mistake one day in
training. They are being held in a prison with dark magic – if they are the
elders own prisoners, who is it that is holding their own captives? These
prisoners are not traitors. They are Nephilim like you and I. Family members
left over from battle after these Elders standing before you silently killed
each of the 6 remaining elders. This woman and this coward of a man standing
before you, bringing these accusations against me were willing to kill off and
hide anyone that might get between them and their crooked schemes and
comfortable lifestyles. They have been deceiving you for centuries – while your
true leaders have been locked away starved, turning into stone.” I look around
and see many faces looking up at the elders differently after hearing my words
“I may not know much yet, but I have been told that I am powerful enough that I
can help free your original counsel. So, today I am drawing a line in the
sand.” I raise my voice “You WILL STAND WITH ME! OR I WILL DESTROY YOU WITH
THEM!” I feel my power flooding out and the ground beneath me is shaking.
Everyone around me is cowering to the ground. Levi is crawling up beside me
“You need to draw your powers back in – it’s too much and if you don’t, none of
us will be left to stand with you.” I hear the alarm in his voice and
immediately crouch down on his level and begin to draw deep breaths. When I
feel the room around me start to calm I begin to stand again. I look around me
and see that people are shifting, some further away from me and many closer. I
notice that Alya is still in the back corner crying and I give her a pleading
glance but know that her mind is made up. I look at Ephraim and see that he is
feeling the blow of her rejection as well. I place my hand on his forearm in an
attempt to calm him and he just looks away from her “I’m on your side. No
matter what.” He mutters to me as he turns to face the counsel, I do the same
as Guinevere speaks up “I see that you mean to bring dissension amongst our nobility.”
A large man standing close to me speaks over her “The protocol indicates that
in times of conflict like this we must bring in Elders from other compounds to
reach a determination.” Guinevere pulls her eyes shut and lets out a low growl
“Correct. We shall both have our trial. In the mean-time. We will put the girl
under house-arrest.” I narrow my eyes at her “I assume you will be under house
arrest as well then?” she scoffs at me and the man speaks up again “Protocol
would state that Miss Malakhova’s expectations are quite fair.”

Guinevere
stands up and hits the table in front of her “Fine. If she so much as steps
outside of the compound, she steps outside of our protection we have provided
her the last few weeks. Julius and I will accept the same. Until we are able to
conduct a full trial. No more & no less.” The man looks rather smugly at
her then turns to me “Are her demands acceptable?” I look at Levi or Ephraim
and they both shrug – so much for guidance “Fine, those terms are acceptable.
Are we done here?” I look around the room at all the wide-eyed faces and for
the first time Julius speaks up “Tomorrow we will contact the other compounds.
For tonight, you are all dismissed.” Everyone begins to move around the room,
Guinevere is among the first to leave and she refuses to break eye contact with
me until she steps outside the door. When she exits I immediately feel the
oxygen rush back into my legs and I allow myself to stumble back into a chair
behind me.

The
room is now empty of every except for Ephraim, Levi and the man that spoke upon
our behalf I turn to him “Thank you for your help. I believe tonight would’ve
ended much differently had you not spoke up.” He laughs “Maybe I shouldn’t have
then. Guinevere has been in need of someone that would put her in her place for
as long as I have lived here.” I smile at him and reach my hand out to shake
his “I’m Ilyana as you may know. What is your name?” he takes my hand and
shakes it “I’m Samuel, the current historian of our little enclave.” I stand up
so we can all make our way back to the apartments “Samuel, is it safe for me to
assume you are on my side?” he laughs again – as young as he looks there is
something very old and comfortable about him “Yes, Ilyana. I think it is safe
to assume that anyone that felt your power in there is on your side.” I blush
at his compliment and secretly hope I didn’t scare anyone too much “Well, I am honored
to have met you and I can assure you that I am on your side as well, Samuel. I
want to help whoever will allow me to.” He nods his head in agreement as he
exits ahead of me “I suspect we will be needing a lot more of your help. For
tonight we should all rest though.” I wave goodbye as he exits and look to
Ephraim and Levi. They look how I feel “Thank you both. You don’t have to stand
with me, but you did. That means the world to me.” Levi gives me a bear hug and
kisses the top of my head “I can’t believe we got all dressed up for this…” I
laugh at his nonchalant comment and grab Ephraim’s hand to pull him with Levi
and I as we all make our way back to the apartment building.

Ilyana:

As
soon as we make it back to the apartments I give Levi a bear-hug goodnight and
head to my room to undress for the night. I can see some of my boxes have
already arrived so I quickly open the first one labeled “clothes” and pull out
the first tank top and pair of sweat pants I see. I pull my hair back into a
loose pony tail and grab my running shoes. After all that happened tonight, I’m
not willing to trust Guinevere for a minute. I don’t know how I’m going to do
it, but tonight’s the night. I am going to get Kailand out of that cave and
anyone who gets in my way is going to pay. I’m relieved to see the living room
and kitchen lights are all out and I hear some serious snoring coming from the
guest bedroom. I quietly step out into the hallway of the main apartment
building after checking both ways and determining that the coast is clear. I
reach the stair case and no sooner than I go to open the door do I hear the
apartment door behind me shutting. I stifle a gasp and look up into the face of
an infuriated Ephraim. “Really, Ilyana? They put you under house arrest and literally
the first chance you get you sneak out, and in a hot pink pair of sweat pants
that are bedazzled across your ass?” I gasp and grab my butt in embarrassment,
I would NEVER pick out pants like this for myself, he growls under his breath
“I’m sure your brave escape won’t be noticed by anyone!”

I
prepare to defend myself but then something catches my attention “So you are
saying that I should’ve put on darker colors, maybe a hat or camo shirt if I
wanted to sneak out successfully?” I describe his outfit in full detail and
feel a smug smile spread across my face as I realize I won this battle, he
speaks up “Okay fine, then where are we going?” unfortunately that’s not at all
what I was expecting from him. But I am too stubborn to back down and still feel
too guilty to lie to him “Well, I don’t know where you are going, but I am
going to the caves, I don’t trust Guinevere at all and we need to take action
before she does!” I continue walking and push my way through the doors and
start running for the gates in hopes of escaping before anyone catches a
glimpse of my bedazzled rear-end.

I make
it outside the gates in no time and stop behind the wall to allow myself a
chance to get my bearings when I hear Ephraim stop beside me “Why are we
stopping now? Don’t you have a prison to break into?” I try my hardest not to
answer but quickly realize my sense of direction is no match for the pitch
black night sky overhead and then I get an idea. I’ve been trying to keep my
powers in, maybe I could focus them out some – like a tracking device. I
stretch my powers forward as much as possible in search of that warm, yellow
aura that surround Kailand “Bingo! It’s that way.” I point up ahead and look to
Ephraims face for confirmation and see a look of surprise on his face “How did
you even know to do that?” I shrug my shoulders and explain that it just felt
right. He looks a little perplexed at first but it doesn’t take long for his
walls to come back up “Well, after you then.” He says stoically.

We run
for what feels like an eternity but in reality was probably only a half hour,
before heading into the cave on the beach, I attempt to walk around outside and
see if there is any better way of accessing the prison. I’m at a complete loss.
So I head directly into the cave and as soon as I pass through the entrance I
see the prison come to life “Alright, it’s time to go, Kailand!” he looks confused
for a moment “Time to go? How is that even possible? This kind of thing takes
time to plan and no offense, but I really don’t think you are strong enough for
all of that yet.” His words frustrate me but I can’t blame him for being
completely honest and it serves as motivation “Well, Kailand! I don’t have a
clue how I am going to get you out. But the elders know about you now so we
really don’t have time to figure it out.” He rushes up from where he is
sitting, Ephraim is pacing like a caged dog behind me “He’s right Ilyana, this
takes planning and I don’t have a good feeling about doing this right now.” I
am surprised that he would display that much doubt so openly “Well, then maybe
you should head back and sneak off to wherever you were heading to before you
decided to babysit me for the evening.” He scoffs at me and pushes on
“Seriously, Ilyana! We know you are powerful. We know you want to rescue your
boyfriend, hell even I want to help rescue them after what I witnessed tonight
with the counsel! But do you seriously think that you can free them by sheer
force of will?” I refuse to let his words get to me
. Just find the right
angle, this is just like any other puzzle I’ve ever done in my life, I can
figure it out if I just put in the right amount of effort.

“So
you’re just going to ignore me then while you stare at the wall like it’s going
to reveal some new answer to you?” I stop what I am doing and turn to face
Ephraim, I can feel tears about to break but I refuse to let them fall in front
of him “Ephraim, you don’t understand, I just can’t let them stay here another
night! This all feels wrong and I know that time is running out!” just then I
hear a new voice speak up from behind me “The girls is right! You two should be
ashamed of yourself, just look at the power rolling off of her, she’s the
answer to the prophecies.” Kailand nearly gasps as he looks into the face of
the old woman who’s hair he was so gently brushing when I found him that first
day “I thought I’d lost you! We were wrong Ephraim, she can do this.” I face
Kailand and don’t allow myself any further time to think about what just
happened, I press my hands against the wall, I shut my eyes and bite my lip and
push all the power I can possibly muster up into the wall. I have never felt
such a huge surge all at once and I am shocked when my body starts to literally
hum with power. I open my eyes and look at the wall to see that nothing has
budged but the entire wall is pulsing with a bright blue light. The display
catches me off guard so I stop pushing my powers just long enough to appraise
what is happening around me, through the prison walls I can see Kailand against
the far back wall positioning himself protectively in front of the other
captives and I glance at Ephraim and see him squatting down and bracing his
body against the wall on the opposite side of the cave with his hands covering
both of his ears.

When
Ephraim realizes I’ve stopped he springs up and begins to charge me “Are you
completely mad? You just announced your presence to the whole damn island! Good
luck breaking anyone out now!” I look back at Kailand and catch a concerned
look on his face “I’m so sorry, I had no clue! I just know we need to do
something now! What else could I have done?” Ephraims arms go slack at his side
as he considers what I just said, I hear Kailand speak up behind me “I’ve never
seen power like that from a single being. I didn’t even know you had that much
in you. You need to go. If that couldn’t break through these walls then nothing
can, but you could be in a world of trouble if you get caught trying to…” His
breath catches and I notice he is no longer looking at me but staring behind
me. I turn around slowly and see that Ephraim is already bracing himself for an
attack. After weeks of out-running them, I should’ve known they would catch up
to me.

There
are at least a dozen of the demons standing less than 10 feet away from us
right now. I try to think of everything that Levi and Ephraim have taught me in
training and brace myself for what I realize will probably be my death. For a
long time no one says anything and then one moves towards Ephraim in a way that
I can only describe as slithering, and regards him carefully “I would have
expected you to be smarter than this. You bring a newborn Nephilim to the
compound and let her play with power outside of your walls. Bad for you, but
good for me.” The creature begins to slide his hands over Ephraims neck and
slowly lift him off the ground. “No, you will not harm him! That was the deal!”
I look over and see Alya talking to Guinevere calmly.

I
can’t even keep silent anymore “Alya, what are you doing? You can’t possibly be
on her side after seeing her prance in here like she is friends with these
beasts!” I wait for a response that I realize isn’t coming. For a moment it
feels like time is suspended while we all wait to see who will make the first
move. The creature that had Ephraim off the ground is now slowly lowering him
at Guinevere’s nod and he speaks up again as he looks at me “Kill the girl,
I’ll handle this mutt.” The remaining creatures begin to charge me, I hear
Kailand kicking the walls, catch site of Ephraim throwing the beast off of him
in a desperate attempt to help me and see Alya shaking as tears fall out of her
eyes “I’m sorry Ilyana, I’m so sorry!” This moment is too much for me. I feel
my body begin to shake with nauseating levels of power as I begin to fight the
beasts before me. I brought nothing more than a pocket knife and it’s not even
enough to fight them. One of the beasts lunges towards me in an attempt to
knock me over and before I have a chance to realize what I am doing I grab onto
his neck and feel it snap beneath the force of my arms. I am shocked by how
easily it gave under my force and struggle to hold back the vomit that is
forming in the back of my throat as I am covered in silver fluids from his body
as another beasts charges me, this time it catches me by surprise and takes me
to the ground, I grapple as good as I can and try to find an advantage – any
advantage I might have over this disgusting creature. He pounds his fist into
my stomach and I feel the other beasts follow suit and begin to kick my back, I
cry out and look over just in time to see Ephraims body go limp while Guinevere
commands the beast that was holding him, the sight is too much for me to take
in. My body goes completely numb, I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel the blood
trickling down my face, the bile in the back of my throat, I don’t feel the
hands and feet that are clawing at every part of my body, threatening to rip me
apart, all I feel is fear for my friend and disgust at our own kind sitting
back and allowing this to happen.

Before
I can even form a cohesive thought, I let out all the power I have ever had in
me, the sheer force of it going through my body is enough to make me feel like
I am going to explode and I let out a scream as I feel the blood boiling
beneath underneath my skin. I see cracks forming in the body of the creature
closest to my face just before he ruptures in front of me, after all of his
pieces crash to the walls and ground around me like a broken mirror, I see
complete and utter destruction. I see various scattered body parts from all the
creatures that were just assaulting me. I see their disgusting fluids leaking
all around the ground and I see light beginning to come in from the entrance of
the cave. It doesn’t take me long to notice the absence of Alya, Guinevere and
even Ephraim. The thought of what I may have just done to one of my only allies
is enough to finally bring the tears out that I had been holding in. I turn to
face the prisoners and see Kailand running full speed towards me, no wall, no
invisible barrier, I feel a small smile pull at the corner of my mouth as the
room around me goes dark and I hear the angel in front of me calling my name as
he reaches forward to catch me.