Descent (A Hidden Wings Novella: Prequel) (12 page)

He said a silent prayer. A prayer to a God who had long forgotten him. A God he had forsaken many centuries ago. A prayer not for himself, but for Alaine and Emma. A prayer to keep them safe.

Abaddon stepped forward and reached for his sword.

“Let me do this,” Apollyon
said, taking a step toward him.

A larg
e smile formed on Lucian’s lips, and he nodded. Abaddon stepped behind Samuel and recalled the bind, letting Samuel’s arms free, but then quickly placed the bind on his legs.

“Wings!” Lucian roared.

Apollyon nodded to Samuel, so he called out his wings.

Calling out
ones wings was as simple as a thought, which releases a magical connection between the host and his winged appendage.

In
a moment, the most beautiful black wings spread across Samuel’s back. Wings that had aided him through the centuries. Wings that had taken him to safety, and helped him fight and defeat his enemies.

Apollyon nodded again
and Samuel shut his eyes tight, knowing what was to come. Pain. His mind searched for Alaine. He needed to find her face.

Abaddon took hold of his left wing and stretched it out. With one quick swish, Apollyon swung his sword, severing it from Samuel’s back. Samuel
fell to his knees, pain surged through his body. His wings were a vital part of him.

Before he had a chance to
catch his breath...Swish! His other wing was severed.

Abaddon threw them
off the side of the mountain as if they were trash.

Samuel
’s pain was excruciating, like nothing he had ever endured before. But he found Alaine, in his mind’s eye. He saw her beautiful face and the warmth in her big, brown eyes smiling at him.

“I love you,” he whispered with a smile on his face.

“Stand him up,” Luci
an yelled. Abaddon assisted Samuel to his feet. Blood poured from his open wounds, down his back, and started to cover the ground around him.

Samuel opened his eyes and smiled.

“What makes you smile when death is near?”

“Love. Love makes me smile, and is something you can never take from me. Something you could never kill, and something that will
never die. It is something I have found, and will keep until my last breath, and it will rest with me for all eternity.”

Samuel’s happiness made Lucian furious. “Kill him,” he roared

Apollyon raised his sword
, and then thrust it into Samuel’s chest. Samuel dropped. His legs gave out and the world around him started to fade. Soon his body fell limp to the ground. Lifeless.

Lucian kne
w that Apollyon had never missed his target. Not once, so he never doubted that Samuel was dead.

“
Toss him over the side and let’s be rid of him.”

Abaddon recalled the bind from Samuel’s legs, and
dragged him to the edge of the mountain. He then lifted him over his head, and dropped him down the side, to the razor sharp rocks below.

Alaine:

As soon as Samuel kissed me goodb
ye and disappeared into the night sky, my heart began to ache for him. I knew he needed to go away, and he’d done so every few months for almost a year now, but it was never easy.

I figured
the best and easiest way would be to sleep.

My sleep would always
be sweet because every time I closed my eyes he was there, in my dreams. I never knew how long he was going to be away. Days, weeks, months? Each day harder than the next, and longer than the day before. It was the dead time, the time spent awake, which was the hardest.

I turned off my light and wrapped the blanket around me, wishing it
were his strong arms. I was just about to shut my eyes when I noticed how extra dark it seemed outside. Like the moon and stars weren’t there.

In
the distance I heard dogs barking. But these were not simple barks, they were more territorial. I waited, listening, and a few minutes later a dog yelped loudly like it was in pain.

I jumped from the covers and p
ulled back the curtain, just enough to peek out the window. My chest started to feel heated, and when I glanced down, the bloodstone around my neck started glowing bright red, which meant danger was near.

A shadow, darker than the night
, shot across the window. I gasped, stumbling backwards, and then caught a sweet, yet smoky scent in the breeze.

Fallen.

They were here.

And then my heart sank in
a horrifying realization. If they were here for me, then what would happen to Samuel? I hoped he was okay. I hoped they didn’t find out about us.

Then my thoughts shot to Emma, hoping she was safe. I hope they didn’t know about her or where she was.

There was a loud bang downstairs.

I needed to get out. Quick.

I
grabbed my perfume and sprayed it all over the room to mask my smell, and then ran to my closet and locked the door from the inside. Samuel had rigged it for extra protection, even though a door wouldn’t keep the Fallen out for long.

He h
ad also installed a secret door, with three different sets of tunnels which all connected, but each one led to a different exit.

Taking a deep breath, I tied my hair back into a ponytail, and
grabbed the magical black-leather suit my Immortal father had given me. I wanted to put it on, but there was no time. The bloodstone was getting hotter and brighter. I also didn’t want to use my invisibility so soon, because the longer I used it, the weaker I became, and I needed as much strength as I could to get away.

I squeezed into the small tra
p door and before closing it I sprayed the closet again, and then locked it quietly behind me. I was now in complete darkness, and the only light was that from the bloodstone glowing red around my neck, making everything seem eerie.

From the outside, you would never know there was a trap door there.

As I made my way down the narrow tunnel, I could hear footsteps hammering above me, and then a loud crash as if they kicked in a door. My heart hammered against the walls of my chest, and I prayed that the spray would conceal my scent long enough for me to get out.

But now, the question was which exit to
take. If I took the exit out the front, I could run into the trees across the street, and then on to the undercover car parked a few blocks away. Samuel had thought of everything. Every detail in case this day ever came. I doubted it would, but now I was glad he had prepared me. He’d been around for hundreds of years, knowing that anything could happen at any moment.

I climbed through t
he dark tunnel and went to the back of the house first to check the wind. It was blowing away from me, and toward the back of the house, so it would carry the scent of the spray. I just hoped they would pick it up, and not my own. I gripped bottle in my hand, took in a deep breath, and sprayed as much of the perfume as I could. I then doubled back, and checked the front of the house.

It appeared to be clear, but the Fallen could be anywhere.
I sniffed the air, but the smell of the perfume was much too overpowering.

Shaking
, I concentrated on my gift. Soon everything around me became a translucent haze, and I knew that I was now invisible to them. I pushed out and focused on one tree across the street, and ran as fast as I could to it.

As soon as I reached it I heard movement behind me
, and then a stench filled the air, burning my nostrils.

Darkling.

Whoever sent them, really wanted to find me, and now I was surrounded. One of the Fallen was soaring above me searching the surrounding area. His black wings were outstretched, shining in the moonlight, searching the surrounding area. Further off in the distance another one was circling.

The Darkling
had entered the house, and I could hear things crashing inside. They were trashing the place. There was no way I could return, and no way to make it to the car. It was too late, and no one else was on the road in the area. I would stick out like a sore thumb.

I needed t
o find a safe place to hide.

I felt heat burn my chest
and caught my gasp.

A Darkling stood feet away
from me, sniffing the air around it. It was onto my scent, but confused because it couldn’t see me.

If I moved
, he might hear me, but if I stayed, it would run right into me.

I he
ld my breath and started to take a step toward the street. I knew that I could run faster on the pavement, and could avoid tripping over any rocks or twisting my ankle in any holes if I went through the trees.

There was
a low, guttural growl behind me. I turned back, and the Darkling was now a few inches away. It took another deep breath, like it had figured out something was there. I quickly ducked, as it swung is sharp claws at the air where I was standing.

HOLY HELL!
That was way too close!

It
looked bewildered, like it thought it was going to hit something, but didn’t.

I could feel myself getting weak
er. My gift was making me tired, and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold it. I quickly shuffled to the road on hands and knees, and as soon as I hit the pavement, I jumped up and ran. Ran as fast as I could in my bare feet. I didn’t know where I was going, but I took off down the street sprinting for my life.

One of the Fallen
swooped right down in front of me, making me jump and fall backward, but he obviously didn’t see me because he did the same thing a few yards away, scouring the area. I jumped back up and continued running.

A few blocks away lived an old couple
, the Mercers, who I visited frequently. They were friends of my parents, so I would take them baked treats as often as I could. They had two Rottweilers named Bill and Ted, and every time I visited, I’d bring each of them a raw steak. They adored me, but they
hated
everyone else.

The Mercers built them a large
sized doghouse, a lot bigger than those two mutts were, and even put soft dog beds in it. I asked them why, because the dogs preferred to sleep in the grass, but they said it was because Bill and Ted were their babies, and they wanted them to have a place to sleep in case it rained or became cold. I understood, even though their babies could rip the limbs off of anyone with one bite.

That was the only place I could think of which would be safe enough to hide.
Bill and Ted’s doghouse. Plus, I would have the added protection of the two meanest dogs on the planet. As I ran, my body began to tremble. I was getting weaker and weaker. This was the longest I’d ever called my gift, and I didn’t know how much longer I could stay invisible.

I pushed. P
ushed with everything I had left in me, and finally made it to the Mercers front yard. I collapsed on the grass, and when everything became clear, I knew I had become visible again.

The gift had weakened me
to the point that I couldn’t stand. My legs were like Jell-O, so I pulled myself with my arms, digging every last ounce of strength I had left in me to survive. I was running on pure adrenaline now.

Bill and Ted saw me crawling
in the grass and immediately began barking ferociously. They didn’t know it was me, and were just protecting their territory.

“Bill! Ted! Shut-up you stupid dogs!” I snapped.

As I got close enough for them to see me and catch my scent, they stopped and began jumping up and down, like they usually did in expectation of a treat.