Fallen Angel Reclaimed: The Complete Series by Lacey Carter Andersen
17
Surcy triedher best not to look at the angels torturing an innocent woman. Well, she didn’t know if the woman was innocent or had committed some crime by Caine’s standard, but nothing warranted this. Nothing! Angels were not created to hurt humans. It went against everything inside of her.
The more her shock faded, the more her anger built. She ached to call her soul-blade to her, to slaughter her brothers and sisters who preyed upon this woman like cats with a mouse.
Humans were meant to be punished or rewarded in the afterlife for their crimes during life, not while on earth.
We are better than this!
Tristan’s powerful gaze flickered to her for a brief moment, and then away. She realized her fists were clenched and that goose bumps were running up and down her arms.
Releasing her fists, she took a steadying breath. What is wrong with me?
As the woman opened bottle after empty pill bottle on her tiny table, her hands shook more and more with each movement. Surcy tried to focus on the emotions befitting an angel… not emotions, the actions befitting an angel. Her job wasn’t to feel, it was to do.
But only what Caine commands me to.
When she was an angel, her job was to search out demons and destroy them to protect humanity from the dangerous creatures. So what was her responsibility now? What was she supposed to do when the angels appeared to the bad guys, and the demons were the good guys?
When the woman couldn’t find any drugs, she stood, her shoulders hunched over. Her daughter took her hand and helped her into her shoes.
“What are we allowed to get at the store?” the girl said, peeking beneath a messy curtain of brown hair.
“Whatever you want,” Daniel answered, with a smile. As he knelt near the girl,
Surcy couldn’t take her gaze from him. The gentleness in his dark eyes surprised her. "Is there anything you’ve wanted so bad you can taste it?”
The girl hesitated. “Could we get ice cream?”
“All the ice cream you can eat!” Daniel promised.
She laughed and tugged on her mom’s hand. "Let's go, Mom!"
And for the first time, her mother’s hunched shoulders lifted for the briefest moment, as if the weight pressing there had eased. She smiled. “Maybe mint chocolate chip?”
Her daughter squealed. “This is going to be the best day ever!”
Surcy's heart swelled. She touched her chest, a frown tugging at her lips. The feeling warmed her in a way that felt wrong, like she was ice being melted from the inside out.
An angel is meant to be cold. To be unfeeling. It’s how we execute justice without our emotions complicating things.
The words that played in her head. If someone told her them, she couldn’t remember, but she felt they were true deep inside.
Yet, feeling again… felt right.
Mark opened the door, and their small party trickled out. Something tickled the back of her neck. The slightest cold breeze. She stiffened. It was the angel’s breath. They were following them.
Four angels stood on the lawn, all of them massive men with white wings.
White wings meant that they were Caine’s most trusted servants. And most powerful.
How do I know that?
She kept her eyes on the sidewalk as the angels surrounded them.
The little girl began to babble. She was talking about all the things she wanted to buy. Her smile seemed to fill her whole face.
“You can’t go,” an angel with dark eyes whispered behind the mother. “You need your pills. You need your medicine. You know what will happen if you don’t. Think of the pain. Think of your suffering.”
The mother was slowing, her face even paler than before.
Surcy felt something overwhelm her. She strode forward and took the woman’s other hand.
Carys startled, as if she’d been somewhere else. Somewhere far away.
“Your daughter is lovely.” Surcy tugged her forward, keeping her going.
The woman winced. “She’s the only good thing I’ve ever done.”
Surcy pulled her along, faster. The angels were moving closer, whispering amongst themselves. Did they know she was angel? Did they know her men were demons?
“It wasn’t just one good thing you did,” Surcy reassured her, hoping her words weren’t coming out too rushed. Too panicked. “Many right decisions were made to turn her into the smiling, wonderful girl before us.”
“She’s smiling now,” the angel grated out, anger coming from him in waves. “But you’ll ruin her, too. Just like you ruined everything else.”
The woman’s steps faltered. “I’m feeling tired. Maybe we shouldn't go today.”
“Just a little further,” Surcy tugged on her hand. “Look how excited your daughter is!”
Her voice came out soft and weak. “I'll try. If it's just a little further.”
But what’s the plan? We take them to the store, and then what? Return them here to torture the woman some more? And what are the angels’ plans for the child? They want to get to her too, but why?
As they made their way out of the neighborhood, the angels walked behind them in a line.
“There’s something off about these people,” the blonde-haired angel murmured, and Surcy could feel her gaze burning into her back.
“I don’t trust them,” another muttered back.
“Quiet,” a third hissed.
She glanced at her demons. They had false smiles plastered on their faces, but she could sense the tension radiating from them. What’s the plan, guys?
Daniel took her hand and nodded at his brothers.
Leaning closer to her, he whispered in her ear. “In ten seconds, teleport us back to the building top.”
Her eyes widened. All of us?
It was tricky, but she could do it. And she could keep her teleportation path hidden from the other angels.
But am I really going to do it?
Behind her, the air tingled. The angels had called their soul-blades to them.
Shit!
Using her magic, she teleported their party.
Wind swept around them for a moment. She gritted her teeth, and spread her awareness over her entire group, keeping them close. Behind her, she could feel the glowing trail of magic, which would lead the others straight to them. Blowing softly, she sent the path scattering like stars.
When they arrived back on the rooftop, she fell to her knees, dropping Daniel’s and the woman’s hands. Mark was beside her in an instant.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice worried.
She nodded.
It shouldn’t have been so hard, but she wasn’t fully recovered from whatever she’d been through. She could feel it in her bones. She needed to heal and regain her strength.
“What just happened?” the woman said, backing away.
“It’s okay.” Daniel turned his attention back to her. “We just brought you somewhere safe, so we could talk.”
The woman pulled her daughter closer and took several steps back. “I’m tripping. I’ve ODed somewhere. That’s what’s happening. This isn’t possible.”
“Mom.” Her daughter looked between her mother and them. “I thought we were getting ice cream.”
“None of this is real,” the woman murmured.
Mark held up a reassuring hand. “Listen, we’re here to help. We know what you’ve been doing. We know about what you can do.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “I’m just a druggie. I can’t do anything.”
“You can sense things about other people. If you touch them, you can see pieces of their past and future. You know who they’re meant to be with.” Mark spoke with absolute certainty, but with kindness.
She shook her head and took another step back. “I can’t. Dr. Marshall says I’m imagining it. That my brain isn’t quite right.”
Surcy’s gaze slid from the woman to the edge of the building not far behind her. She's too close to the edge. I hope Mark knows what he’s doing.
“Your doctor was wrong. Everyone is wrong.”
She took another step back, tightening her grip around her daughter. “They’re not. What I do—it’s not possible. It’s all in my head.”
“No,” Mark slid closer to her. “Just because humans can’t explain your abilities doesn’t mean they’re not real. In fact, all of us have unique abilities.”
The woman stared at all of them, moving back. Far too close to the edge of the building. “This isn’t real. I’m insane. I’m useless.”
Surcy tried to uncurl her wings, but her shoulder only gave a painful twing. We can’t let her get closer. We can’t let her jump!
“Then how do you explain us appearing on the top of this building?”
The woman closed her eyes. “None of this is real.”
“Mom?” There were tears in the girl’s eyes. “I’m scared."
“You don’t have to keep living like you have, being tortured by those bastards. The voices filling your mind with doubts and lies. We can help. Please, give us a chance!”
She opened her eyes, fear and hope warring in her gaze. “What am I then?”
Mark dropped his hand. “The Goddess of Love.”
Something darkened her face. “Liar. I’m no goddess. And no one knows less about love than me. This is all just some twisted trip I’m on.”
Daniel opened his mouth.
The woman jumped back and with surprising quickness, flung herself and her daughter over the edge.
A scream tore from Surcy’s lips. She reached for them, seeing nothing but the daughter’s terrified face, but she wasn’t fast enough.
They fell.
For a second, time seemed to stand still, and then, Tristan leapt over the edge of the building and sped after the humans falling to their deaths.
As Surcy stared after them, a horrible realization hit her. Not even a demon could survive that fall.
