Curse of the Fallen by Eve Archer
Chapter Eight
Dominick
The helicopter touched down on the landing pad outside the stone fortress, the wind from the propellers causing the nearby tree branches to bend and flutter.
“Are they here?” I bellowed over the deafening noise of the motor, as Gadriel strode toward us across the lawn. His black suit fit his broad frame snugly, the dark-blue shirt peeking out as the wind blew his jacket open. Despite his reputation as a charming cad who loved little but sex and parties, now he appeared every bit the fierce deputy.
“Assembled as you requested, Dom.”
I walked briskly between him and Rami as we headed for the imposing castle rising from the small, rocky island, my pulse quickening as I tipped my head back to take in the sight. Unlike the traditionally whitewashed Greek houses with bright-blue domes, our castle had been built long before the country’s colors had become a staple of the architecture.
Constructed from sandy-brown stone, the structure was built like a castle, with high walls and both round and squared-off turrets at the four corners. The roofs were flat, and the windows arched, recalling Moorish influences, but the sawtooth battlements brought to mind medieval battles. Regardless of the design that had been influenced by the many civilizations we’d seen rise and fall, the fortress of the Fallen was sturdy and fortified.
We walked through a massive, arched entrance that led to the central courtyard, where the Mediterranean sun streamed down from above. A stone fountain featuring an angel with folded wings stood in the middle, and my fellow Fallen sat around it on various chairs and ottomans. When we entered, they all stood.
A fallen angel with long, brown hair worn in a man bun stepped forward. “We’re relieved you and Rami were not hurt in the attack.”
I clasped him on the shoulder. “Thank you, Tamiel. It is good to see you and have your support.”
It was good to see the Fallen who ran our operations on the coast of Spain. His skin was browned even more than usual by the summer sun, and gold strands glinted in his hair. He gave me an easy smile and stepped back as more of the Fallen added their voices to the welcome.
A sense of belonging swept over me, my shoulders relaxing as I scanned the faces of my fellow Fallen. It had been too long since I’d been back to the island and too long since a large group of us had reunited. I’d seen most of my brethren here and there over the years as I’d flown around the world checking in on our various properties, but not all together. I realized with a sharp pang that I’d missed our unity.
In the first years after our banishment, we’d stayed together and formed our own villages wherever we’d gone, but our numbers had been notable in the primitive and sparsely populated lands, and our impressive stature and significant strength had not gone unremarked. Whispers that we were gods—or worse, demons—had plagued us. It hadn’t been long before we’d needed to find a place where we could live without drawing attention from the humans, and the small island in the Aegean had been the ideal solution. After years living off and on within the confines of the island, society developed enough for us to rejoin its ranks. We’d finally split apart and moved throughout the world in smaller groups, our empire connected but wide. Still, we always returned to our first earthly home.
“I am also glad.”
I jerked my head up at the gravelly sound of Asbeel’s voice. Rami shifted next to me and Gadriel stiffened.
“I didn’t know if you would come,” I said, as he pushed through the crowd to stand in front of me.
“My pledge to you and my fellow Fallen has never wavered.” Asbeel thumped a fist over his heart. “Especially when it comes to demons.”
“You no longer believe I have made deals with our enemies to save my neck and sacrifice yours?”
His eyes dropped to the ground as some of the other hissed their disapproval behind him. “I was foolish and spoke too quickly. I did not understand your change.”
I studied him, holding his gaze when he returned it to mine. “I did not change, brother. I only opened myself to a female like I have not done since before we were cast down.”
“Because she is marked?” the fallen angel Chazaqiel asked, pulling my attention to him.
“That was the original interest,” I admitted, glancing at him.
Unlike Asbeel, Chaz’s curiosity was not challenging, and his green eyes held nothing but the desire for knowledge.
“But there is more to her, and more to our connection,” I said. “I am not sure the extent of our connection, but I do know that she is mine. I will protect her with my life.”
“Then we will stand with you,” Chaz said with a single, sharp nod.
“To the end,” Asbeel added, his voice steady.
I locked eyes with the Fallen who’d challenged me on the yacht, but I saw none of that anger and defiance in Asbeel’s expression now. I extended my hand, clasping his arm at the elbow. He returned the grasp, his grip firm.
“I will not lie to you,” I said, once we’d released each other, addressing him and the fifty or so other angels assembled in the courtyard. “This attack was personal. It was led by Jaya, and it was about me.”
A dark rumble passed through the group.
“The she-demon you amused yourself with years ago?” Asbeel asked.
“The amusement was mutual,” I said, hearing the defensive tone in my voice.
Someone muttered something about it always being mutual with succubi. I was clearly not the only Fallen to have sampled the pleasures of the skilled demon seductresses, although I was the only one to have provoked a war with the demons over it.
“She took your human because she was jealous?” Chaz asked.
“We don’t know,” Rami said when I bristled at the question and at the possibility that Ella was being held by an envious succubus. “All we know for certain is that Jaya is working with the demons. She’s also connected to the Solano family, although we’ve yet to tie them to the attack.”
“Solano?” Tamiel furrowed his brow. “The bit players who’ve been nipping at our heels for the better part of the past fifty years?”
Tamiel might control our interests in Southern Spain, but he was aware of the competing families, even if their influence rarely reached him.
“The same,” I said, gritting my teeth as I thought back to Mateo showing up at our palazzo in Venice, and then the youngest son, Anthony, appearing at the charity event and chatting up Ella. I couldn’t link them to any of this yet, but my gut told me they were in it up to their pomaded hair. My heart raced as my thoughts went to Ella. I didn’t know where she was or who exactly had taken her, and I had no way of knowing if she was safe, or if she was being tormented by Jaya. Anger coursed through my veins, and I fought to not to fly into a rage at the idea of her being touched by a demon—or a Solano.
“We have to find her,” I gritted out, my fingers biting into the flesh of my palms as I clenched my fists. “She doesn’t deserve to be punished for my past.”
“And once we find her?” Asbeel asked. “What do we do to those who took her?”
Since the dark demons were the twisted offspring of our long-dead human wives, we had always been reluctant to kill them—and forbidden to do so without provocation. But after thousands of years, their demented souls were nothing like the Nephilim they’d once been. It was time we accepted them as the irredeemable demons they’d become.
“We kill them,” I said. “For defying the Fallen and taking what is mine.”
“Finally,” Gadriel whispered, shaking his head.
I twisted my head to look at him, surprised that the fun-loving angel harbored such a death wish for the demons.
He twitched one shoulder. “The evil in this realm has only increased, and the archangels are absent guardians. It’s time we reclaimed dominion.”
I grinned at him. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Gad.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “As soon as we’ve crushed this uprising, I’ll happily go back to fucking and drinking my nights away.”
“That sounds more like you,” Dan muttered, earning himself as elbow in the ribs from his friend.
“What are your orders, Dominick?” Asbeel pulled himself up to his full and significant height.
Rami and I had discussed our strategy on the flight from Rome, isolating the most possible locations the demons might have taken Ella, focusing on places we knew Jaya favored. Before I could assign targets, Rami cleared his throat.
I pivoted to him as he stared at his phone. “What is it?”
“The Solano plane that left with Anthony before our meeting?” His eyes didn’t leave his screen. “It returned to Croatia right away.”
“To get the don like we suspected,” I said.
He shook his head. “It left again directly after the attack. Without the don and without filing a flight plan.” He looked up, and the unspoken words hung between us.
But with Ella.
