Afterlife: A Fall of Angels Novelette (6 page)

“Thank you,” Sal managed to say.  Once more her eyes flicked to Cole’s face.  He simply gave her a single nod before being taken to a place he could never go.

Being in the afterlife these days felt like standing on shifting sand.

“
Necessity brings him here, not pleasure.”

- Canto XII, Inferno, Dante

The seats of the changing council were all anyone could talk about.  Deliberation seemed to be the only language the dead could use anymore.  Sal’s position on the council seemed more and
more sure
.  Cole’s remained to be seen.

But there was one person everyone in the afterlife seemed set on.

The one angel who wasn’t there, yet was supposed to be.

Alex was all everyone could talk about.  Most were anxious to have him pulled back, for him to return to their world and assume the position wanted of him.  Yet Cole heard hushed whispers. 
Whispers about proxies and debts.

He didn’t understand that part.

But he did understand one thing.  Alex was going back to his world. 
Soon.

Cole felt the pull but didn’t have to move.  He was already seated.  He wasn’t the most active being those days.

It wasn’t always easy to recognize a proxy.  Most people who came into the cylinder were terrified.  Most times the proxies were that way too.  But there were times when one would seem just a tad too calm, knew just a little too well where exactly to stand.

And he recognized that curved form.  He’d let his lips trail from that shoulder up to that hidden neck.  He’d traced those legs with his fingertips, even if it wasn’t the body he’d wanted, it was body he could still appreciate. 

He’d invaded that head before.

But he also knew what Emily had done in her
past, that
she hadn’t been allowed to return to his world because of it.  Yet here she was again.

Interesting.

Seeing that none of the other council noticed anything different about “Morgan
Denner
” before them, Cole turned his eyes to the walls around them.

Cormack wasn’t hard to spot among the masses.  He sat with his legs hanging over the edge of the
staircase,
his head inclined forward, his burning blue eyes both sad and hopeful at the same time.

What a fool. 
Falling in love with a girl from the world of the living.

Cole chuckled at his hypocrisy silently.  They were both fools.

The scrolls of Morgan’s life were read, Cole didn’t want to feel bad for what he knew was coming in a few moments.

“Down,” the exalted sentenced.

“Down,” his fellow men condemned.

Cole hesitated for a moment.  Emily’s head had turned in his direction.  He sensed the fear she felt yet there was something bordering on confidence coming off of her.

“Down,” he finally breathed.

The heckles
and cries erupted throughout the cylinder.  Trying not to feel anything, Cole joined Emily on the catwalk and accepted the branding iron.  Emily dutifully fell to her hands and knees, exposing the back of her neck.

“Welcome back,” Cole whispered so quietly only Emily could hear.

Her screams echoed off the walls as he sank the red hot iron into the back of her neck.

“
...Let us descend into the blind world.”

- Canto IV, Inferno, Dante

“You’re different than I thought you would be.”

Cole turned where he was seated along the walkway and saw Cambria ascending toward him, her glorious wings trailing behind her.  He didn’t say anything as he watched her sit just two stairs below him.

“I expected you to be more… bad,” she said as she stared down into the flames with him.

Cole gave an empty chuckle, his eyes never lifting.  “Apparently you’ve forgotten what I did to you.”

“Trust me, I haven’t forgotten,” she said with a laugh.  It reminded him of the bells his mother put out on Christmas.  “There’s no way of forgetting death in this place.”

“So you still don’t think I’m bad?” Cole asked hollowly.  Honestly he didn’t really care.

“You seem to deserve your position,” she said as she rested her elbows on her knees.  “But I almost don’t believe you want this position.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what I want anymore,” he replied honestly.

“Yes you do,” she said quietly.  “You just can’t have it.  And you don’t know how to deal with that.”

Cole glanced over at Cambria, his eyes studying her strong features, her sunlit hair.  “Some of us aren’t meant to ever have what we want in life,” he said.

“And sometimes we need to learn to let go of the things we want but can’t have,” her black eyes seemed to dance as she looked into Cole’s.

Cole reached up and traced his fingertips along her cheek bone, letting his eyes trace her glowing skin unabashedly.  He let his fingers fall to her lips, his eyes lingering there for a long moment.  For a moment, he wondered what they might feel like against his.

He suddenly sat back up, his hand falling from her face.

“Thank you,” he
said,
his voice a little firmer than he had meant it to be.

“For what?” she asked, her face slightly dazed looking at his sudden change of mood.

“For making me forget for a moment.”

“A moment is better than never at all,” Cambria said as she stood.  Without another word, she turned and descended into the heat below.

“
Here one must leave behind all hesitation;

here
every cowardice must meet its death.”

- Canto III, Inferno, Dante

Things had gotten so totally and completely out of control. 

He’d seen Jessica, twice, among those along the wall.  What she was doing, he had no idea.  But being there, she was in more danger than she could possibly imagine.

Time had run out.  The entire afterlife knew it.  There were only moments left.

All had gathered
,
the staircase crowded with his brethren.  They waited anxiously for Alex’s return, for him to finally meet his fate.

Cole’s stomach felt hollow.  He’d always believed Jessica would figure out a way to save him, to somehow beat the afterlife.

But yet again the afterlife was going to win.

The air shifted and grew colder.  Everyone shifted where they sat or stood, leaning forward in anticipation. 

A cry echoed throughout the stones, barely audible at first, growing in volume quickly.  It seemed to fill the air between and around each of them.  And just when Cole thought the sound would drive him mad, Alex suddenly appeared before them and instantly collapsed onto his hands and knees.

All fell silent in that instant, as if this moment weren’t quite real, as if Alex himself were an apparition that might vanish at any moment.

Suddenly, Alex’s head snapped up, his gray eyes falling on the council.

“No,” he breathed, his eyes hardening.  “I won’t stay here.”

The afterlife suddenly
erupted,
some cheering, some hissing and calling words that helped earn them the brands on the backs of their necks.

“It is your time,” the exalted leader started.

“I cannot stay,” Alex said as he slowly rose to his feet.  “Not when Jessica is still there unprotected from him.”  Alex’s hand rose to point directly at Jeremiah.

“Explain
yourself
,” the leader said, his eyes narrowing, growing stormy.

Alex’s eyes shifted from Jeremiah’s face, to the leaders, and then to Cole’s.  They stared at each other for a long moment, a million unconnected words passing between them.  Cole gave the smallest of nods.

“He’s been back in the world of the living, trying to bring death to the woman I saved,” Alex condemned.

“Liar!”
Jeremiah shouted, pounding his fist on his stone armrest.  Small cracks formed on its surface.

“You had better have some explanation for us brother,” Richard said, turning hard eyes on Jeremiah.  “You understand it is forbidden to return to their world, to cause harm to any of them.”

“He lies!” Jeremiah bellowed.  “The man simply wishes to fight his fate.”

“No,” Cole interrupted, his insides turning hard.  “What the boy says is the truth.  Our brother has been back, has tried to take the woman’s life.”

“As has our leader!”
Jeremiah accused, turning burning eyes on Cole.  “As punishment he eradicated my entire living family!”

Shouts broke out, among those around them, and those on the council.  The accusations a few exalted made from the walls around them were enough to drive Jeremiah at their throats. 
Literally.

With madness and death in their eyes, a few of his kind dove at Alex, determined to drag him below without even a trial.  The blue
eyed’s
dove as well, fighting and clawing at each other in the air as they collided with the walkway.  The new conveyor who had replaced Cormack sprinted out from the tunnel, his fist instantly colliding with the jaw of one trying to get to Alex.

A circle formed around Alex, determined to protect their intended new leader from the vengefulness of the condemned.

A smile curled in the corner of Cole’s mouth.  He had to give it to Alex.  It took a lot to cause a war like this in the afterlife.

The black-eyed council member to his right leaned toward Cole.  “It’s been nice serving with you, brother,” he hissed.

“Oh, this isn’t over yet,” Cole said in a low voice.

“Enough!” Cole and the blue eyed leader bellowed at the same time.

The entire afterlife fell silent. 
Finally.

“That is enough,” Richard repeated.  “You will all calm yourselves and let the proceedings go as usual.  I will not have a war starting under my watch.”

Roughly shoving another man away, Jeremiah finally returned to his seat.  Cole felt his entire frame tense as they sat side by side.  Cole felt on edge.  Something big was about to happen and he didn’t need Jeremiah making things crash and burn.

“You, my boy, have caused a great deal of stir around here,” Richard said in a voice filled with authority.  “The voices of most have been heard.  Can you tell what is happening here lately?”