Forbidden

~Chapter Thirty-Seven~

A/N: Only one chapter and the epilogue left, everyone. TWO PARTS. :'-D

I'm sure you're all wondering how exactly some of this stuff fits together here, so I hope you find out everything you hope to. There's another bombshell in this chapter. ;-) Did any of you figure out the angel part beforehand?

Dedicated to stefanbane for being an amazing writer and friend. I love him and Kale so much. <3

Enjoy, my lovely readers!

Oh, and just so you know, this battle scene has been completely planned out since the beginning of this little novel. I can't believe I'm finally here.

***

~Chapter Thirty-Seven~

It was chaos.

            Meaghan could no longer tell her right from her left: the startling flashes of bright illumination and midnight sparks, punctuated by anguished shrieks of pain, blinded her gaze, her pupils unable to dilate quickly enough. The deafening sounds of livid Enochian, battle taunts, and derisive comments to both kinds shot into her ears, not unlike bullets from a loaded gun. Meaghan was confused, disoriented, and her left leg was completely red from agonizing burns. She couldn’t focus…yet she was expected to lead them.

            Since that horrible, awful day of her betrayal, of her desperate plea, ever since the tips of her wings had been severed, Meaghan had been in training for this very day: the day when they would defeat their enemies, enact revenge on the ones who had hurt them the worst. But now....she couldn’t.

            Not only was this nothing like the organized battle seminars that she had attended, she just simply couldn’t. It was too hard: Meaghan couldn’t kill the members of her own family, estranged or not. The glimmering, angered expressions shot past her, within easy range, yet she couldn’t find the will to attack. These were the angels that she had grown up with from the time she was a fledgling; these were the immortals that had been her best friends, her brothers and sisters.

            She couldn’t hurt them, much less kill them.

            As Meaghan’s ire quickly died, only one thought was on her mind.

What was she doing here?

***

“Wh-What can I d-do?”

            Combatting the shock and confusion, fighting it back down into my system, I struggled to close my gaping mouth. Ignore the bombshell, River. Unfortunately, the task was raucously difficult: I was attempting to swallow two suffocative, overwhelming newsflashes simultaneously. That, paired with the fact that the supernatural was all of a sudden reality, made for the perfect canvas for shock waves.

            I needed one of those medical blankets.

            Erin’s—Arabella’s, I quickly corrected myself—smile softened, relief coloring her glimmering cerulean gaze. The determination never left her expression, however, though she seemed to be attempting to mitigate it for my sake. Behind her sparkling physique, her wings fluttered in what seemed to be a happy action; I turned my gaze downward, fighting the urge to just simply stare at her angelic extensions. An angel….she’s an angel. Literally. I couldn’t cease the thoughts running through my mind: I wasn’t extremely religious, though I was a Christian, and had never truly believed in angels. Miracles, yes. But legitimate, winged, celestial beings? No. Had I been wrong about everything lately?