Til We Fall

Chapter Two

Gabrielle

She stopped for a second outside the bathroom door and cocked her head. She turned towards the bedroom and listened with bated breath. After establishing that Cayden, no, the demon was still asleep, she began walking down the hall. She wondered how she was going to contact Michael, knowing that not even a high-ranking angel like her was safe in a demon’s lair without back-up.

Her long hair was still damp, a few droplets falling to the floor as she moved. She kept a hand on the wall, keeping a connection to the foundation. She walked to the bedroom slowly, almost hesitantly.

There was still a part of the angel that clung to that recognition she had felt when she had first seen him. As much as she told herself to stop thinking of him as a normal guy, that innate attraction kept digging at the back of her mind. She couldn’t help but remember looking into his emerald eyes and feeling that moment of safety, calm and lo- NO Gabby! she shouted at herself, refusing to finish that thought.

Suddenly she was outside the bedroom, the door closed. She stared at the piece of wood that separated her from the mortal enemy who she was probably going to have to kill because Michael ever allowed a demon to live if he was able to send them back to Hell. That singular thought was so repulsive to her, that she froze as she reached for the doorknob.

Come on Gabby! Stop doing this; he is a demon… a DEMON! she shouted to herself, squeezing her eyes shut and taking a deep breath. Slowly she moved forward and pushed the door open, shaking slightly as she laid eyes on him. He was still fast asleep, spread out on his side with one hand under his pillow. His face was still completely calm, not a single line on his face.

Gabrielle dug her fingernails into her palm and forcefully looked away from him. She saw her dress from the night day before on the ground next to the bed. She quickly bent down, scooped it up and walked out, too scared to look at him any longer.

She slipped it on under the towel, before pulling the towel off her body and rubbing her hair through once more. She pressed the heel of her hands to her eyes for a second, before running her fingers gently over the mark at the base of her neck.

It was the mark of an Angel of the Lord, a lily, branded into the skin of every angel. It was the final initiation into the order of Angels, sacrificing pride for pain to show your loyalty to the cause. Letting her hand drop, she slowly blinked open her eyes to look around the room she was in. Green eyes scanning around the normal-looking sitting room, she decided to just suck it up and call for Michael, but that was until she saw it.

It sat serenely on the coffee table, as if it belonged there. Her breath caught as she walked forward and picked up the necklace from the table. On a strip of leather that was braided with a thin strand of silver, hung a wooden ankh with a small, black rune carved into its stem. She clutched chain in her right hand as her left lifted the ankh slightly. The small artifact seemed to call to her, forcing her to look deeper.

Impossible. It can’t be… she thought frantically. Wrapping her fingers around the pendant, she closed her eyes, and was gone…

Cayden

Someone had come through the door, waking him up again. By the time his green eyes had fluttered open, the door was closed again.

Groggily, he pushed himself up onto his elbows and rubbed his eyes. Blinking, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Letting out a low groan, he stretched his arms skyward, feeling his muscles stretch. He vaguely scratched his shoulder with one hand as he reached for his watch with the other to check the time.

Standing up slowly, he let out another groan as his knees popped. Walking a few steps forward he grabbed his jeans from the back of a chair and pulled them on. Turning around to look for a shirt, his eye was caught by something glinting on the other side of the bed.