The Fallen Ones (The Fallen Angels Series Book 1) (15 page)

Ilyana:

After
I wash the last two days off of my skin and throw on my uniform of jeans and a
tank top, I am surprised to find Lizzy already waiting for me outside of my
dressing room. “Ilyana, I am so glad you are back! I was worried after all they
put you through, you would never return!” she reaches in for a hug and I awkwardly
pat her back and respond “They aren’t getting rid of me that easily!” she
laughs at the notion and then buzzes past me for a comb and motions for me to
sit in the chair.

I
so don’t have time for this right now.

I
slowly walk over and sit in the chair “I don’t really have a lot of time right
now, I needed your help with something else actually.” She waves me off and
goes in to comb my wet tangled curls anyways “nonsense, you can’t meet with
Marcus looking like this. I’ll get you cleaned up and then I can attend to
whatever it is you need me to do.” I smile up at her gratefully and begin
telling her exactly what it is I need. “After the caves, there was a lot of
destruction, Lizzy. Those captives weren’t in their right minds and they still
aren’t anywhere near what they must’ve been ages ago before they were locked
up.” From her reflection in the window I can see concern forming on her face “I
can’t imagine what I would do, locked away like that for so many lifetimes with
no release, it’s horrible.” I look down to my hands folded in my lap and feel
my shoulders go slack as she continues to work on getting the tangles out of my
hair “I was hoping you would see it that way, I really was. I need your help
with them. There are at least 40 Nephilim that were released whenever
everything happened in the cave. They’re all at the old enclave still and are
in no way ready to come here. Only one of them is really even aware of all that
is going on, she is trying to clean and care for the others, but with so many it
is basically a lost cause. They need food and clothes and someone to care for
them. Rose is doing all she can, but it is too much responsibility for one
person.”

She
pulls my chair around to face her, and places her small hands that are dampened
from my hair onto my lap and solemnly begins to speak “I’m so honored that you
would trust me with this, I will make it my mission to do everything I can to
help restore them to what they once were. As soon as I finish here, I will go
to the pantries and get everything I can to help them get settled for the
night.” I reach out and hug her, at first she seems surprised by the motion but
she quickly settles into it “I knew I could count on you Lizzy! I don’t know
what resources we even have or how we can help, but with Marcus and Sam on our
side I am sure we can come up with something. For tonight, a few bars of soap
and some food is I’m sure more than enough to help get them started.”

I get
up and walk over to my vanity, I reach in the cabinet and pull out the keys to
my ATV and hand them to her “Here, take this and anything you need from my
apartment, take that too. When you arrive, you will find Rose there. She is a
little quirky, but I am sure she will love you and she can give you an idea of
what all they need.” She reaches out to take the keys from me “As you wish,
Ilyana. But for now you need to sit back down, I’m not finished with you yet.”
She sets me down in the chair and finishes her work, she runs moisturizer
through my curls to help keep them from tangling, she lines my eyes with coal
and glosses my lips. She hands me some jewelry to put on and tells me stories
of how the Nephilim women used to dress in times of battle. She finds a silky
black, button up top that fits me rather snug and shows just a bit of skin
below my belly button, she gives me some dark, designer skinny jeans and a pair
of black combat boots. I’m not exactly sure what’s next for me, but I am
positive that no matter what, at least I will look like a badass. We say our
goodbyes and she rushes out ahead of me to get to work on finding dinner for
Rose and the other captives. I brush my teeth and put lotion on my hands just
in time to head out into my dining room and hear Levi’s plan.

When I
walk through the dining room I am immediately greeted by Sasha, I bend over and
talk to her, failing to acknowledge anyone in the room. I have missed my old,
faithful friend and from the looks of things she has missed me too. She covers
my hands with kisses as I pet her and coo to her. When she finally starts to
stay in one place and settle down, I stand up to take my seat at the dining
table. I see 4 faces staring blankly at me, Samuel, Levi, the man I presume to
be Marcus and a barely recognizable Kailand. I can see that Levi helped him
with his style, his hair is cut into a short, shaggy mess that somehow still
manages to look perfectly planned and in place on him, his skin is completely
clean and he’s wearing modern clothes. I see dark jeans, leather boots peeking
out beneath them and a black short sleeved shirt with a deep V-neck that
showcases a leather cross necklace around his neck. I smile at the site “Well,
don’t you clean up nicely. How does it feel, Kailand?” he lets out a small
breath as though he is relieved at the compliment “I feel crazy, men never
dressed like this back in my time.” We all laugh at the thought and then Levi
speaks up “and what about you Miss Ilyana, you are looking like quite the
badass yourself?” I realize my hands are reflexively reaching down to cover my
exposed stomach, I make myself stop and find myself looking down to my feet and
scratching the back of my neck “Yeah, I guess I have Lizzy to thank for that,
she’s quite a miracle worker.” At that, Marcus chimes in “That she is, and she
has taken an instant liking to you, when I saw her today, she couldn’t stop
speaking about you, you sound like an incredible young woman and I am so pleased
to finally meet you.” He reaches his hand across the table to shake mine and I
instantly like him. He is completely different from the previous Counsel
members I have met and I feel totally at ease in his presence.

The
small talk stops as I take my seat at the table. The men all go to take a seat
beside me and Levi stands up “Okay, so we are all agreed that Guinevere and
Julius have to be stopped, they’ve gone utterly mad. They are power hungry and
scared so now they have taken to bullying and manipulating us.” Everyone nods
their heads in acknowledgement as he continues “They have taken Ephraim hostage
and if we do not strike back soon, I know that one of us will undoubtedly be
next. As long as Guinevere is aligning herself with these monsters, our safety
is at risk and we cannot take that for granted.” I have seen Levi in so many
different ways since we have arrived here, he has become my best friend and my
greatest ally throughout all that has happened but the Levi standing in front
of me is a completely different person than the goofy boy who became my family
in the woods. He is authoritative and calculating. He reminds me of a commander
preparing to lead his troops into battle.

He
keeps talking “I think we all can agree that the greatest asset we have on our
side right now is Ilyana, she defeated the demons in the cave and is the only
Nephilim I have ever seen that was capable of bringing Guinevere to her knees.

Well
this is taking an unexpected turn.

I
listen as the men nod in agreement with all that he is saying. “I think that
there are others like us that are tired of Guinevere’s tyranny and constant use
of fear tactics, but without someone else to follow, they are rushing to Cairo
to join her because they know they have no other options. I think we need to
give them an alternative and Ilyana is it.” I can feel my heartbeat speeding up
and my palms beginning to sweat at what he is suggesting. He can’t possibly
think I am capable of leading anyone. They all agree as though we are going to
go through with this. Marcus speaks up “So what is our first move Levi, how do
we show everyone that they have an option before Guinevere gets to them.” Levi
sits down in his chair and leans towards us as he starts to give us the details
of his plans, before the words fall out of his mouth, I find myself standing up
and my palm slams on the table in front of me “You are crazy if you think I am
a good alternative, you didn’t see what happened in the cave back there Levi,
it’s a miracle, I didn’t kill everyone on this island then!”

I feel
Kailand reach out and grab my hand as he carefully rubs his thumb across my
knuckles in the comforting way that is so clearly him and for the first time he
begins to contribute to the conversation as he looks me square in the face
“Levi is not asking you to lead us into a battle, we talked a little while he
was helping me get cleaned up. He is proposing that we put you on a platform to
give others hope. I know I’ve missed a lot being locked up, but everything he
described sounded like this island, these Nephilim have fallen under a complete
dictatorship. They are afraid of their own shadows, the consequences of their
every choice, consequences that are imposed and executed by Guinevere.” Marcus
clears his throat and adds his perspective in “What the boy’s saying is true, I
may’ve spent the last few thousand years filling an empty seat as a member of
the counsel, but I never did anything more than that. She had the final word in
every matter and now she is proposing we align ourselves with our mortal
enemies for a little bit of comfort and security. Our people were meant to be
warriors against injustice that was always created at the hand of these demons,
if we align ourselves with them and give them our power and resources for war,
what is it that they will be fighting? Who will they be fighting? Any enemy of
theirs is a friend of mine and that’s how it should be.”

I
realize he is right and take a deep breath as I sit back down, I feel Kailands
hand still comfortingly holding mine and for a moment I think about Rose and
imagine pulling away, but much to my own shame I continue to do what I have
since I first met Kailand – I take from him. I take the comfort and the calm
that he is offering and I allow myself to settle into the ideas being put on
the table before me. I want to be appalled with my actions, but I just can’t
be, it feels right and I don’t even know who she is to him yet anyways. “I’m
sorry Levi, I know I said I trust you and would do whatever you said, I just
never thought you would propose something like this. But the truth remains that
I still trust you and I would follow you into hell itself if you said it was a
good idea.” I smile his way and he looks relieved as he smiles back at me
“Alright then, so since we are all agreed, it’s time to work out the details
and get our friend back.” He stands again and begins spreading out maps of the
enclave that Samuel carried here with him. He discusses plan after plan of how
we will draw support. Press conferences, hearings, meetings, flyers… His ideas
are endless and though I have no clue how I will play the role that he is
asking of me, I know that we have no other option so I am resolved to do my
absolute best at whatever it is that he asks of me.

 Alya:

I am
once again pacing my room in Guinevere’s new compound. I have been to Cairo
many times in my life, but never like this, every time I step out into the
hall, I see the demons standing guard outside of every door. I know they are
our ally now, but they still make my skin crawl. I never quite expected to be
in this position, pitted against my own brother. I am struggling each moment
with whether or not I made the right choice, but I know deep down inside that
there is no other option. No matter how kind Ilyana seemed or how much
potential I saw in the girl, she doesn’t have thousands of years of history
backing her. She has done nothing to assure the safety of the Nephilim weaker
than her and she has caused nothing but chaos since she arrived.

When
Guinevere asked if I would join her, I said yes without hesitation, she
promised me protection if I offered her my fealty. She said I was important in
this new journey, that I could tip the scales in our favor and save a lot of
Nephilim from the doom of being allied with Ilyana. She said I would be the
mouth-piece of the new era of peace. But so far, all I have managed to do is
get disowned by my brother and spend countless hours crying in my room,
wondering if there was anything I could’ve done differently.

I
resign myself to sitting in the corner and staring outside the window just as I
hear a knock on the door, before I bother to respond Julius shuffles in the
room “Guinevere has a job for you to do girl, come make yourself useful.” I
wonder to myself what the task might be but he doesn’t give me any time to
respond, I follow him out the front door into the hallway as he heads to the
throne room. I walk past the demons beside me and I offer a small smile to the
one closest to me, he responds by sticking his slimy tongue out to lick his
near non-existent lips, the gesture is unnerving and causes me to speed up.

As
soon as we reach the throne room I see Guinevere sitting in the highest seat. I
walk in front of her unsure of what it is she wants from me, she does not seem
to notice or acknowledge me at first so I speak up “Julius said that you needed
me?” she sharply turns my direction and regards me with a look of annoyance.
There are two demons standing guard on either side of her and she locks eyes
with them and nods my direction without acknowledging me. The demon speaks up
“You will bow to her majesty and address her as such.”

Well
this is new…

He
grabs the staff in his hand and takes an intimidating step towards me.  I
quickly drop to the ground “Of course, your majesty, I do apologize. How can I
be of service to you?” she reaches out and touches the corner of his sleeve as
if to hold him off, suddenly I am getting the feeling that more than an ally to
the Nephilim they have become a new pet for her. She speaks slowly as if she
cannot be bothered by my presence. “Yes, Alya. It looks as if you can finally
make yourself useful here. We have released statements to multiple compounds,
some will be joining us shortly but more are hesitating out of fear of the
unknown. For some reason, I can’t quite understand – the Nephilim always seem
to take a liking to you and given your unusual ability to manipulate time as
you travel, you could prove to be an asset to us. I need you to go to the other
counsels, starting with Rome, and tell them what an amazing fortress it is that
we have built here. Convince them, to come.”

I try
to digest what she is asking me to do. I understand that she cannot leave
herself, but if the other Nephilim are happy to remain unprotected where they
are, there is really no reason for us to convince them otherwise, I try to take
a different approach when I speak up “I will do as your majesty has requested,
but do you think it wise that we push them so early on? Don’t you think that as
they sit back and watch us thrive they will eventually, naturally want to be a
part of that?” she looks me square in the face and a condescending laugh
escapes her mouth “You are a fool to think you know better than I! I have led
you for centuries and this is the gratitude I get from you? Foolish girl. You
will go and you will convince the others to join you, do not forget that we
have your brother in captivity, I don’t understand your displaced love for him,
but I am keeping him alive, merely as a favor to you and depending on what you
do next, you might find my gesture of gratitude to be quite fickle if you
cannot put your talents to use for me.” I know exactly what she is saying and I
don’t like it one bit, I should’ve known better, but I am completely at her
mercy now “Yes your majesty, I will leave at once. We best have our servants
begin preparing rooms, because soon this new haven will be full.” She waves her
hand to send me off and I quickly find myself running in the direction of my
room to pack. I have no clue how I am going to get myself out of this one.