Fallen Souls (9 page)

Kali watched her go, her
heart flailing against her ribs.
Please
get back soon
, she begged silently. She
would do her best to keep Arian and his army here, but didn’t know
how long that would work. Or what they would do if they discovered
her. Seraphine had to get back to Heaven and warn Michael in time
for him to gather the forces of Heaven. If she was lucky – if they
all were – he would get back to Earth in time to stop Adrian and
his minions. Before they could follow through with their
plans.

In the meantime, she had
to do everything
she
could to stall them. Keep Adrian and his followers
here.

“
Were you going to let
your human armies kill me too?” she asked, turning her attention
back to him. It didn’t really matter, as she already knew the
answer. But she had to buy Seraphine some time, and part of her
wanted to hear him say it. There was a piece of her heart that
thought it might all be a mistake. But if he said that he was
actually going to let her die …

“
It would’ve been a shame,
but yes,” he replied, completely at ease with the thought of ending
her life. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her anger. “I can’t
afford any leniency, even to you, so you can imagine how relieved I
was when you made the right choice before it was too
late.”

“
You’re heartless!” she
snapped. Louder than she’d meant to, but she was far too angry at
this point to hold back her disgust. The fact that this angel – her
friend – would throw away her life that easily hit her in a place
she hadn’t thought it would. And it infuriated her.

“
Excuse me?” he asked,
tilting his head to the side. The eyes of his six lieutenants
zeroed in on her as well, and the angels nearby began moving
closer.

She’d made a mistake, she
realized, speaking so loud, and blown her cover.
Already
. But now that it
came down to it, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

All she felt was anger at what he was
doing.

“
You don’t care about
anyone except yourself!” she shouted, jutting her chin forward and
finally jerking away from him. “You’re doing this for your own
good, not that of the angels! You want them to fight – and die – so
that you can rise up.”

His face twisted into a scowl as he
turned his body toward her, giving her his full attention. Her
outburst was drawing a crowd by this point, and her eyes darted
between Adrian and the group closing in on her.

She gulped. No hiding who she was now,
but at least she was proving to be a great distraction, and as long
as they didn’t kill her before Seraphine got back, it just might
work. She spared a glance at the field, still full of angels
waiting for Adrian to give his orders to attack Heaven. Why hadn’t
he sent them off yet? How much longer would he keep them
there?

“
Don’t you understand?” he
asked, taking a step forward. Kali took an involuntary step back,
then cursed herself for letting him intimidate her. It was
unbelievable, and she hated to admit it, but she feared him at this
moment. The dark snarl that crossed his features wasn’t the
expression of an angel. It was the expression of a monster. He
didn’t care about any of them, or how many lives he’d destroy in
this pathetic attempt to rule Heaven.

He wasn’t the angel she’d
thought he was at all. She didn’t know
what
he was.

“
You’re right, Adrian,”
she snarled back, glaring at him and ignoring the fear in her
heart. “I don’t understand how
anyone
would follow you on this
mission.” She had to keep him talking. Seraphine
had
to have reached
Michael by now, and Kali had to keep Adrian and his group busy
until the two of them returned with the hosts of Heaven. They
couldn’t let this fight get back to her home, or let Adrian’s
followers get to the humans. If they did, they would murder
hundreds of unsuspecting avenging angels.

“
You’re smart, Kali,” he
muttered, taking another step toward her. This time she refused to
move back, though every part of her being was telling her to run
away. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she tried to keep
the fear from showing on her face. “You’re strong. Beautiful.
Perfect. Why, if He’d created such perfection already, would He
make something so flawed? Why would He give them what
we
deserve? He has
chosen them over us. I would never make that kind of mistake. Those
mistakes only opened the other angels’ eyes to the truth. When I
rule, I will treat the angels as they
should
be treated. Surely you can
see the wisdom in that reasoning.”

He looked so casual,
discussing the imminent deaths of thousands of angels and humans,
his hands out to his sides and a smile on his face, but the
irritation in his eyes shone through. Once more he moved forward,
and now there was less than a foot between them. Where was
Seraphine?
Kali’s lungs felt like they
couldn’t get enough air, as if they were being cut off by the panic
building in her chest. The girl needed to hurry, or Kali was going
to be done for.

“
I
am
smart, Adrian,” she replied,
narrowing her eyes and closing the gap between them with one small
step. He grinned and laughed as if amused by her attempt to prove
that she wasn’t intimidated by him, but she growled back. It was
time for someone to stand up to him, and she was as likely a
candidate as anyone. “Smart enough to know my place. Maybe it’s
time you learn
yours
, because it’s not on the throne of Heaven. No real leader
would kill his people just to further his own selfish
agenda.”

“
A few must be
sacrificed,” he said without any emotion. Disgust for the being
she’d once considered her friend rolled through her. How could he
be so callous about the lives of his own kind? And where was
Michael? Her gaze shot to the clouds for just a moment.
Come on Seraphine
, she
thought
. You should be back by
now
.

“
And your own followers?
They’ll die too,” she hissed, pushing past her hate and motioning
to the army he had gathered. She knew that he didn’t care about
their lives, but she had him to keep talking. She expected Michael
and Seraphine to show up at any second, and couldn’t keep her eyes
from darting between Adrian, his followers, and the angry storm
clouds as they argued. The faith she held for them to arrive was
diminishing by the second, and every time lightening shot out above
her head, her heart raced, hoping it was the angel light of the
cavalry. But all that followed was the rumble of the thunder
shuddering through the sky.

“
Again,” he repeated
slowly, not even flinching at the idea of his army being
slaughtered, “sacrifices must be made for the greater good. It’s
that simple.” Her eyes went to his followers, who seemed equally
unaffected by what he said. These angels were actually willing to
give their own lives for something like this? They would follow
Adrian, knowing he planned to sacrifice them? In her mind, she
envisioned him sitting on a throne atop his fallen soldiers, with a
smile on his face. The image made her blood boil.

“
You have no idea what
you’re doing!” she exclaimed. “All you’ll accomplish is massive,
unnecessary death, for
your
ego! And I won’t allow that to
happen!”

“
How exactly do you plan
to stop me?” He laughed, his whole body shaking, and Kali clenched
her teeth together. “You’re strong, but you aren’t going to be able
to fight your way out of here.” He motioned to the field behind
him, where most of the angels had gathered to watch. She followed
his gesture with her eyes. He was right – there was nowhere to run.
And Seraphine was taking longer than she should be.

Then another, worse
thought occurred to her. What if Seraphine hadn’t made it? What if
one of Adrian’s followers had seen her flee?
No
, she told herself. She couldn’t
think that way, or she’d be lost. Seraphine
would
come through, she assured
herself, and Adrian would be finished before he was able to carry
out his insane plans. She had already stopped him from leaving on
schedule, she was sure of it.

“
I don’t have to,” she
replied quietly. His smile faltered at her change of tone, and she
felt a sick sense of smug satisfaction. She wasn’t sure where her
backup was at this point, but it was the last argument she had in
her favor – the idea that someone would come for her. She pursed
her lips and crossed her arms, deciding to play it for all it was
worth. “Seraphine has already left, to go warn Michael. He’ll be
here any second to stop you. That will be the end, Adrian. Give up
now and he might show you mercy. Though I don’t believe you deserve
it. Not after what you’ve been planning.”

His mocking expression froze, then
twisted into disbelief and fury.

“
That was a mistake,” he
growled as he lunged toward her. She jumped backwards and pulled up
her bow and arrow, the weapons materializing out of thin air as she
called them to her. When her feet hit the ground again, she was
pointing an arrow at his chest.

“
Don’t even think about
it,” she snapped, stopping him in his tracks. She couldn’t battle
her way out of here – there were simply too many. She just had to
stand her ground until backup arrived. She didn’t want to hurt
anyone if she didn’t have to, but she had to defend herself, and
they didn’t have to know that she wouldn’t use lethal force. If
they attacked, she would fight back. But she would do it without
causing any serious damage. There were plenty of ways to subdue an
opponent without killing them.

Except for Adrian.
Him
, she’d
kill.

A cruel smile spread across his lips,
and he laughed. He likely knew she was bluffing. She could stop
this right now, though, and envisioned plunging an arrow into his
chest, then shuddered at the thought. With no leader, the others
would never attack. But did she truly have it in her to kill him?
She wasn’t sure. She had killed so many before, but those had been
demons. They were uncaring creatures with no sense of right and
wrong …

Then again, how was Adrian any
different? He was willing to commit genocide, allow his own people
to die, just so he could rule Heaven.

Her eyes flitted to the crowd behind
him. She had to stop them, whatever the cost. Even if it meant
taking things into her own hands. Seraphine and Michael would just
have to deal with the aftermath when they got there.

With that thought, she released the
hold on her arrow. It zipped through the air, heading straight for
Adrian’s chest. But the arrow merely grazed his cheek as he flung
himself out of the way.

Kali’s mouth popped open in disbelief.
She didn’t have much time to be surprised, though. His followers
began to run toward him, drawing their own weapons, and forcing her
to go back to her quiver for another arrow. There were so many of
them. How was she going to be able to stand against such a
number?

Suddenly Adrian recovered, squaring
his shoulders and raising a hand to stop the other angels. “No!” he
roared. “This is my fight.” She didn’t have time to line up another
shot before he attacked. He knocked the arrow away and grabbed the
bow, snapping it in half. Kali crouched and kicked out, catching
him swiftly behind the knees. He stumbled but turned on her again,
landing a hit to her gut and knocking the wind out of her
lungs.

He was stronger than she’d
anticipated, and faster, but she had something he didn’t: years of
practice in fighting demons, while he’d been stuck in Heaven. She
was able to redirect his next punch, grabbing his fist and
launching him toward the ground as she brought her knee up to
collide with his nose. Lightning streaked above them, illuminating
the cold look of fury that overtook his face as he got up off the
ground. The crowd rooted him on, but their screams were lost in the
boom of thunder.

And their cheers didn’t matter to her.
She attacked him again, lashing out with a right hook, and he
stumbled. When he recovered, he shoved her backwards with so much
forced that she flew toward the edge of the cliffs. She stood
slowly, the effects of the fight starting to weigh on her, and
Adrian landed a kick to her ribs that sent a whole new wave of pain
shooting through her torso. She coughed and tried to catch her
breath, but he didn’t give her much time, rushing forward and
grabbing her by the neck to cut off her air. Kali clawed at his
hands, but he only tightened his grip. She was out of time, she
realized with dread.

“
Seraphine will
not
make it to Michel,”
he hissed, shaking her violently. She strangled on a laugh, not
wanting him to see her fear that he was right. “You will die here,
and it will be for nothing. We will still invade Heaven, we will
kill all of the humans, and the Creator will bow to
me
.”

“
You’re wrong,” she choked
out with the little air she had left, not sure if she believed it
herself. He gave her a condescending smile and shook his
head.