Beneath (Heven and Hell #3.5) (5 page)

Yet, still, I could not.

“Callum,” I began, and his fingers bit into the fabric at my waist as he tilted his head lower to hear whatever I was about to say.

But I never got the chance to say it.

We were ambushed, front and back, by two angels with great wings. They were both wearing only black pants and their hair was blond and messy. But none of that would’ve been alarming.

What was alarming was the color of their wings.

Black as night, dirty as coal.

They were fallen.

Up until this moment I had no idea fallen angels walked the earth, and I gasped.

The one behind Callum, the one I could see, smiled, though it was more like a snarl. “Well, what do we have here? An angel and a human?”

Callum thrust me behind him, turning so he could see them both.

“How are you here?” I asked them. “I thought the fallen were banished to hell.”

The one on my left laughed. “We’re on a field trip.”

“What do you want?”

“Fun, power, revenge,” sang the one to my right. “Take your pick.”

“You won’t find any of that here,” Callum spat.

“On the contrary, I think we just found all three.”

“Get out of here,” Callum said, not looking at me. “Run!”

I shot up into the air above everyone’s head as Callum lunged at one of the fallen. He tried to punch him, but the dark angel only blocked the hit and delivered a well-placed blow of his own. Callum fell back onto the ground.

“No!” I cried, grabbing a nearby rock off the side of the hill and throwing it at the angel who punched him.

He caught it and crushed it in his hand.

“Go,” Callum yelled at me, back on his feet and lunging for the dark angel again.

The other one had been watching until this point, but he flew up into the air toward me. I spun around, dashing to get away, but he caught hold of my wing and twisted, causing me to call out in pain. I heard Callum yell and then the sickening sound of pounding flesh.

I was yanked cruelly back onto the ground where I saw several white feathers coming to rest. My feathers. They’d been ripped from my wings. I wanted to weep at the damage.

With a cry, I threw myself at the one who’d wrenched me from the sky, hoping to inflict some pain, but it was useless. He was twice my size and he had cruelty on his side. He grabbed me, spun my body around so he was holding me like a shield, and forced me to watch as his friend hit Callum time and time again.

Despair unlike anything I’ve ever known filled me until I was almost blind. This was my fault. All my fault. I didn’t follow the laws and for that Callum would pay.

“Please.” I choked. “Please don’t hurt him.”

The dark one holding me laughed. “You hear that? The human’s pain upsets her.”

The one fighting Callum answered with another blow. He was bleeding. Red rivulets flowed over his skin and dripped off his chin. His hair had escaped the band and fell all around his face, matted with sweat. To his credit, he never stayed down. He always got back up and kept swinging, only to be swatted away like a fly.

“Please.” I tried again. “Take me. Take me and leave him.”

Both the fallen stopped and looked at each other. “What an interesting idea,” said the one holding me.

“No!” Callum shouted, throwing another punch—that was ignored.

“I’m amazed any angel would care so much for a human,” one said with a twisted grin on his face.

“Yes, well, her wings are still white. That means she’s worth something.”

“True.” The other mused. “All right, then, we will leave your human. What a clever idea.”

I was snatched off my feet and carried into the air, the other fallen rising with us so I was flanked on either side by black wings.

On the ground, Callum raged. “No! Come back! You cowards!”

The fallen only laughed as they hauled me away, not even once allowing me to look back.

* * *

I didn’t see the sun for days. Its absence filled me with such intense despair. Angels weren’t used to darkness; we took joy in the light. We didn’t like the cold, but reveled in the warmth.

The black wings stuck me in a tiny room with only four walls and a door. No one spoke to me; no one came to make sure I was still alive.

I wondered about Callum constantly. How badly he was injured. If he managed to get out of there before the fallen came back and hurt him more. I shied away from the thought of him being dead because even just the briefest flicker of that thought threatened to send me into a pit of anguish.

This was my punishment for my sin. I never should have went back to tell Callum good-bye. I should’ve allowed him to come to the realization that I was never coming back, and he eventually would’ve stopped waiting.

I wondered if Sinead was looking for me, if anyone cared that I was gone. Or if they were told I was no longer one of them and I was to be left to suffer for my offense.

Then through the thick walls of my cage came a rumble. It began in the ground and erupted into the air. Accompanying it was the sound of screams, the sound of shouting and fighting. I didn’t know what was going on. It had been completely quiet until now.

And through all the chaos, another sound erupted.

A roar.

It went on for moments or hours. I didn’t know. I sat there and waited. I listened until a hushed silence fell around the space in which I was trapped.

I think the silence was more frightening than the noise.

But it didn’t stay silent for long because the door to my four-walled prison was ripped away and tossed aside like it weighed nothing at all. I expected to be grabbed, to be hauled outside where something horrible would ensue.

When nothing happened, I looked toward the door and was met by a pair of glowing silver eyes. So silver, in fact, they reminded me of the time I flew beyond the earth to see the moon. The moon really wasn’t yellow. It was a glittering bright silver that was so clear I was sure there were spots I could’ve seen right through if I tried.

I stared so intently at those eyes (they seemed so familiar) that I didn’t notice the body they were attached to until it was right upon me.

It was the body of a beast.

The body of a hellhound.

I screamed then, and the thing growled, cutting off my sound and reaching down with its great jaws to take my torn and tattered dress in its mouth. I expected it to yank, to roughly rip the fabric away, but instead, I was gently tugged, almost as if I were being asked to move forward.

So I did.

Staying in this box wasn’t preferable, and I figured that outside I would have a greater chance to get away. It was nighttime, the only light coming from the stars overhead, but it didn’t matter. Angels had impeccable vision.

Once we were clear of the room, I saw it was really just a sturdy shack. The animal released me and sat back, staring at me as if waiting for instruction.

Tentatively, I took a step back. The beast did nothing. I took another and another until I noticed there was something incredibly soft underfoot. I looked down. Black feathers were scattered about, creating a carpet over the grass, making the night appear even darker than it really was.

These were feathers from the fallen.

I looked back at the beast, who was still watching me, and a flash of angry silver shot through his eyes.

I turned and ran. I ran so fast my feet barely touched the ground, and just as I was about to spread my wings and soar, I was grabbed from behind. I stumbled and fell. Something hard landed on top of me. All the air went out of my lungs with a great whooshing sound, and then I looked up.

Callum was the last person I expected to see.

But he was there—messy hair, scruffy face, and chipped tooth.

I gave a cry of relief and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him completely against me. He was alive! I heard him chuckle into my hair and it made me smile. It was a sound I never thought I would hear again, and I hadn’t realized just how truly depressing that had been. But my relief was short-lived and I gasped.

“We have to run!” I exclaimed, pushing against him. “There’s a beast!”

He untangled himself just a little so he could stare down at me, brushing a few strands of my hair away from my face. I smiled, pushing my cheek against his hand. “We’re safe now,” he murmured.

And then he kissed me.

The feel of his lips against mine was overwhelming. It was all-encompassing and it was everything I never knew I was missing.

Is this what it’s like to truly feel?

It was a rollercoaster of emotion, most of it awful… but then there were moments like this, moments that made an angel wonder what else she’d been missing her entire existence.

Without thinking, my wings shifted, wrapping around us both, closing us in and blocking out everything that surrounded us.

He pulled back sooner than I would’ve liked to smile down into my face. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“How did you find me?” I asked, confusion clouding my euphoric feelings.

He didn’t speak, but his eyes flashed silver.

I gasped. “No,” I denied, shaking my head.

“I can explain,” he started, and I gasped again, pounding on his shoulders for him to let me up. He moved and I stood, shock spearing through my entire body.

“What have you done?” I cried.

“I didn’t have the strength to keep them from taking you,” he said. “So I went and got the strength to get you back.”

“By becoming a beast!?” I yelled.

“By becoming something more than human, something that existed in your world.”

“In my world?” I said, horror dawning through me.

“Now nothing can keep us apart.”

I laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Hellhounds are
not
part of my world. They are
prey
for my kind.”