The Impact (Book II)

Monster

The fire had long since snuffed itself out, leaving only the ashy remains of wood. Chris handed Will off to another angel and approached the remains, kneeling down and passing his hand over some embers. A small flame leaped up at his presence before calming down.

"It's been at least six hours since the fire started. This was no accident." He stood back up.

A force struck me from the side. My wound from the Human-Turned-Demon flared as Zach slammed me into a tree with his hand around my throat. My vision blackened.

"Zach! What are you-!" Emily attempted to approach, but Chris grabbed her by the shoulder and shook his head.

When my sight returned, I saw his eyes blazing with fury. "She's a traitor! She tried lying about her involvement with us to save her own skin!"

Rayi stirred and growled, [Now isn't the time for this squabble! We should get out of here before whoever set that fire comes back!]

I choked out, "Zach, we need to leave before the arsonists come back."

He snarled, "No, we're settling this now! Why did you lie about us, demon?"

A new pain bloomed. For a moment, it wasn't my son pinning me. It was Will when Luke ordered to kill him with his bare hands. He had turned green and lacked the resolve to do it.

Zach could and would kill me. He may have been destined to become the Angel of Life, but he would always be crueler than his father could ever be.

From behind him, I saw the angels who came with us keeping back any who would come to my aid. My brow furrowed when I didn't see Keith. Emily timidly called, "Zach, let go of Mom! She has to have a good reason why-"

He whirled on her, spitting, "Stay out of this!"

She flinched, hurt shining in her eyes. He gave me a little shake when I still hadn't answered. I glowered at him.

"I wasn't doing it to save my own skin; I was doing it to save yours, Emily's, and Cole's. You aren't like me or Keith; we're undeniably demons. I may be a demon, but I would never turn my back on my children. You're all I have."

He seemed skeptical, but his grip around my throat relinquished. An Archangel dressed similarly to a doctor walked over to me. He spun me around and made a tsking noise as he examined my back.

"No good, wound festering, infection set in. Maybe-no definitely..." He trailed off and I felt something warm slathered on my back.

I wanted to push him away and stress we couldn't stay here but when I glanced around at my family and saw how weary and bruised they were, the words died in my throat. My eyes found Will, who had yet to say a word since his pseudo Fall.

As though he sensed my gaze, he lifted his head, the fire in his eyes dead. He looked like a man beaten down and that frightened me. Nothing they did in Hell to him had broken him, but his wings were his pride and joy. With only one, he would never be able to fly. He bowed his head again, as though ashamed to even look me in the eye.

An Archangel with half-moon spectacles looked around and suddenly grew alert. "We're missing that demon boy."

The Archangel behind me backed away, his sickly green wings twitching with agitation. "No good. Why didn't anyone watch him closer?"

"Why would we have to? He's just a boy." A barrel-chested Archangel questioned.

"You clearly did not hear what he did to a Lesser Angel guarding him down in the dungeons then," the Archangel with spectacles sniffed haughtily.