Divinity: The Gathering: Book One (71 page)

I marveled with wide eyes, my mouth in an ‘O’ at the span of his incred
ible wings. Both dark and pure white feathers meshed together to form symbols of supernatural glory, power and darkness, as they fanned out majestically on either side of us.

We were flying! He was flying
over whatever open canyon lie below, and then over a large lake of some sort. He soared smoothly, but at high speeds, ascending to just beneath the clouds.

I could barely hear anything, my ears were popping
, given the altitude and I was freezing, but I loved every second of it. Though I kept my eyes closed to keep from passing out if I looked down, I felt safe and warm in Cam’s arms as he held me firmly against him.

I don’t know how far out he had flown
, but I felt my gut tense and tighten as he began to descend.

I swallowed
hard to suppress the feeling of my stomach rising into my throat. I cracked open an eye, seeing that we were dipping lower to ground. The closer we got, the more the ground began to take shape of  what looked like an abandoned open, shadowed field of some sort, but hard to tell exactly in the darkness.

“Hang tight.” He whispered in my ear.

I shut my eyes again, as he began to descend even lower; my stomach lurching into my throat again the way it does when you’re going down in an elevator or a roller coaster.

That had been the most exhilarating exp
erience that I had ever imagined or dreamed of in my life!

I was breathless when
he let me down gently.

Once we touched down on the solid ground, I quickly turned to catch a glimpse of his beautiful wings
, but it was hard to really see them well in the darkness. I could only see the silhouettes, and they were huge, folded in behind him like a regal bird. He let me down gently, and he caught me just as I stumbled a bit to gain my leverage, since my legs momentarily felt rubbery.

“How’s your arm?” he asked gently touching it.

Truthfully it hurt, but I didn’t care.

“It’s okay.” I lied.

He sighed, “You’re cold, come here,” He said pulling me to him, and hugging me firmly against his body, which was surprisingly still really warm.

             
I held onto him just as tightly as he stroked my hair, my back, and then my unbroken arm to warm me up.

“What now?” I murmured into his torso
, remembering that we were being pursued by Satan and another newly fallen angel, Drake.

“You’re still cold. I’m gonna start a fire,” Cam then said.

I turned my face to look up at him.

“They’ll be able to see us though.” I told him as I shivered.

He smirked, “They can see us in pitch black darkness Star, especially you.” He smiled tilting my chin up.

I wanted to kiss him
, but I knew this was hardly the time or moment to get all romance novel with him right now.

He stepped back away from me
, and I took a moment to catch my breath thinking he’d take a while getting together firewood and something to burn, but in the next second a whoosh sounded and a small bonfire was already burning big and bright in between us. All around us was a large, open wheat field. The wheat still alive, yet dying as fall was settling in, the brittle stalks, swaying in the cold breeze. Thick, dark trees and several rusted silos still sat unkempt beyond them.

             
Seeing his gorgeous face with his wings, though folded in — I was overly enamored and in awe.

“That was incredible. Flying, it’s something I’d never ever imagined in this lifetime and being with you, I’ll never forget tonight,” I then said.

He looked pained as if he were thinking of something that bothered him when I had said that.

“What is it?” I asked.

He sighed, moving back over to me, and then he pulled me back into his the warmth of his strong arms while embracing my cheek, “I’ll never forget this night either,” He whispered before leaning down to kiss me.

It was tender and sweet, he lingered as if savoring my lips
, and I did the same.

“I said she’s mine!” I heard a deep growl from behind us.

              Cam grunted and fell to his knees to my horror, and behind him stood Drake holding his sword.

“Cam!” I screamed kneeling down and grabbing onto him.

“Get out of here, that way… hide until I come for you,” He whispered to me, and nodded towards the wheat field.

That was an automatic no
, but he pushed me away and then his sword instantly materialized, unsheathed into his hand, as if out of his own arm with a slick metal
shink
sound.

Cam turned swiftly and
brought up his sword in a blur of movement, but Drake blocked it with a loud metal clang.

I saw the deep cut that grazed Cam’s back in b
etween his wings, and a few feathers fell away once he moved. I was horrified.

             
Where did he want me to go? We were in the middle of nowhere? Hide where? Get lost in the dark maze of wheat? What if I couldn’t find my way out or get to him in time to help?

I looked around into the darkness
, not wanting to be by myself for even a second, knowing Satan was roaming the area not far behind too. How long would it be before he showed up and even then, Cam wouldn’t be able to fight the both of them.

My heart wrenched, I wasn’t leaving him. There had to be something I could do!

“Star, don’t run. I won’t hurt you.” I suddenly heard from behind me.

It was a familiar smooth, deep and mellow voice.

I didn’t want to turn around to look….I didn’t want to see who it was.

“Cam was about to kill you, you know.” He then said.

              He wasn’t a very good liar. I would never believe that in a million years. Did he really think that would work?

He chuckled, “Believe it sweetheart. Why do you even think he brought you out here at all? You can never escape me. I’d find you in dreams
, and in death sweetie,” He went on.

I trembled, by body shaking in an uncertain fear stronger than the fear burning in my brain right now.

Don’t look at or speak to him Star, he’s playing on your emotions. He’s a liar!

             
I felt him touch my hand, and I immediately flinched and backed away as if he were on fire, still not wanting to look at him, but feeling as if I should.

“I know what happened to your parents,” He then said.

I bit back the tears that threatened to come at any moment. He was going for the jugular now, tapping into the worst pain that I had held within me for a long time. I was feeling ill as balls of leaden ice sank heavily into my gut.

Don’t speak to him, don’t believe him…he is a l
iar.

             
I heard his footsteps slowly begin to circle me as I shut my eyes and turned my head away from him. I felt the brush of his hand along the back of my hair, and I cringed, wincing to stifle the fear and tears from exploding outwardly to his satisfaction.

“Come on, aren’t you even the slightest bit cur
ious? I know you are. I know all about human nature. Come with me and I’ll reunite you with them and your grandmother. I can give you and them anything your hearts have ever desired. Don’t bother hiding, it’s pointless.” He whispered.

I felt as if I would faint, the violent illness gripped me slowly and increased with intensity by virtue of his mere proximity to me now
as I closed my eyes. I suddenly remembered the story that Drake had told me in the park.

Ironically, he may have been talking about hi
mself…not just Satan.

My heart bled at the mention of my pa
rents and my grandmother even coming out of his mouth given the fact that he had known they were all dead and slowly my fear and pain — began to turn into anger.

I could feel the heat and energy of the emotion begin to churn and rise in my core, coalescing and joining forces with my adrenaline rage and hatred of this b
eing.

“No. I’m not gonna hide this time. You touch me or Cam and I throw myself into the fire,” I whi
spered, my breath was still a bit shaky as I stifled the tears, but they were tears of anger now, I refused to cower and show fear or weakness anymore.

I slowly began to turn around
— to finally face him and slowly opened my eyes.

His eyes were aglow but he was beautiful. A b
eing this dark and vile shouldn’t be this beautiful; it made no sense to me.

He laughed, low and guttural as if he knew he had me now.

“No you won’t. I know you. You’ve tried to before though haven’t you? Many times before and you can’t do it. Not because you’re a coward or because you think it’s a sin.” He said smugly.

How he had known all of that complet
ely stunned me, though it shouldn’t have. Maybe he had been the one to kill them himself.

In the distance somewhere, Cam was fighting to defend and save me and I needed to help him; to keep myself from harm while he was occupied with Drake.

My mind began to work desperately. I began to back up towards the growing bonfire, but as if he had calculated my exact move, the fire suddenly winked out completely, cloaking us all in complete darkness. Fright and my fears took over me once again. The darkness — I was terrified of complete darkness, and Satan knew it.

At any moment
, I expected him to come charging at me, to take me in one swift move like the bird did with the baby in my dream. He could have done anything at any given time to me apparently, so I did the only thing I could do to gain Cam and Drake’s attention, seeing as maybe together, they could do some damage to Satan in some way.

I opened my mouth and unleashed the highest
, most ear-piercing scream that I could force out of my lungs, pushing all the air I had in me up and out…my vocals cords straining and raw.

I felt the sudden jolt
of an extremely powerful energy and heat surge up from deep inside of me at that moment, and it made me gasp in both surprise and shock. It didn’t hurt me at all and it was — familiar. It was the power, heat and energy that I had felt in my last dream towards the end, when the angel had me.

In the next instant,
a sheer and blazing white sphere closed over me like a giant shield of protection, just as Satan lunged for me.

I stared in awe as the bubble illuminated the entire area around me within a few yards r
adius, and I could see again. Where had it come from? Who was doing it?

Satan slammed into the protective sphere getting the shock of his life as it zapped and burned him. He screamed and cursed angrily with rage, smo
king and then fading into dark wisps of thick, oily, viscous vapor.

In a flash, Cam wa
s suddenly in front of me immediately after hearing me scream and then, so was Drake. They both momentarily gaped in awe, forgetting about their own current battle as well as Satan, and judging by the expressions on their faces, none of them had any clue what the sphere was or where it had come from either. Drake took the momentary distraction to sucker punch Cam, and though he stumbled, caught off guard briefly, that one hit was all it took to remind him that they were fighting. Satan had disappeared…for the moment. Or had contact with the sphere killed him?               Though at peace and protected in the sphere, my fear and anxiety of Cam being hurt or killed was enough to make me break out of it. As soon as I set foot outside of it, it dropped and disappeared altogether.

Wher
e had it come from? Had it been another guardian angel somewhere? It was alien and elaborate enough to strike both Cam and Drake with surprise, and powerful enough to shock Satan into oblivion, so — had I killed him?

              Cam and Drake continued to exchange powerful blows and swings of their swords at first; making me crazy when Cam was hit really hard, or had been slammed into a rock and grunted in pain. I looked around for Satan, even though I couldn’t see anything. I expected him to come at me from out of the darkness where I couldn’t see, which he could have done easily and then he’d have me, but I didn’t have time to think or worry about him.

Then I had a sudden revelation.

              I couldn’t see Cam and Drake anymore but I could hear them; their eyes were glowing in the distance like sinister embers against their silhouettes, which told me where they were though I couldn’t tell which one Cam was from here. I would have to take the chance as I took off running at full speed towards their fighting forms in the darkness, outlined by only the moonlight and stars that seemed to grow brighter, the closer I got.

              The natural luminescence of the moon began to shimmer more brightly, like a large beacon throwing enough light for me to catch sight of them, in order to distinguish between them. Something…some other force was helping me — helping us, both me and Cam I think, I believed it.

             
Now that I could see, I was horrified to see Cam on the ground, his wings limp and he looked hurt — badly. Drake stood over him, sword high in the air, and Cam had to have been hurt to not be doing anything to block or ready himself for the attack.