For Love of an Angel (The Fallen Warriors Series) (3 page)

"You’re no ordinary angel," she said, turning so she faced him head on.

"This is true." Michael threw her a sad-looking smile, and in a flash a pair of wings sprouted from his back. Full and appearing soft as down, they crested a foot above the crown of his head and dropped all the way to the ground in a majestic fall of feathers.   

They were amazing. Spectacular. Too beautiful for words.

They were also black.
Black
, not white.

She was right. He was far from ordinary.

"You’re...you’re..." When words failed her he supplied the response she’d both expected and feared.

"I’m Fallen."

Chapter Three

A
Fallen. She had a Fallen angel standing in her freaking living room! With the color of his wings, there was no doubt. Only the Fallen had black wings. That little piece of knowledge had been drilled into her head over and over again.

When her throat started to close up on her, Eva doubled over at the waist, trying her best not to hyperventilate, but failing miserably. An electrifying touch grazed along her back.

"Be calm, Eva," Michael’s powerful voice spoke.

"No, stay away!" She straightened and retreated, not stopping until her back hit the wall.

 "Don’t scream." It was impossible to gaze his reaction from this distance, but his voice sounded hard as stone.

"I don’t understand what you want with me," she choked out. "You’re Fallen. You want to destroy humans."

His laugh was harsh, grating. "Now you’re just spouting ignorant propaganda. I want no such thing."

"But...but...you’re Fallen," she whispered.

He let out a very human-like sigh and turned to face the window. "As I said before, clueless." His black wings fluttered, folded inward toward his back, and shrank until they were completely gone.

Amazing. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have believed it. They were there one second, large and awe-inspiring, and gone the next. There wasn’t even a groove or ridge in his back to mark the spot they’d grown out of.

Hello, he’s facing away from you
.

Oh, yeah. This might be the only opportunity she’d get. If she could make it to the front door, she might be able to run. Or at least go out to the hallway where she could scream for help. Once the Consortium Guards were notified, the place was bound to be crawling with angels in no time at all. The Fallen were public enemy number one, and humans were advised to contact the Guard if a Fallen was spotted. Not that it ever happened. These guys usually kept under the radar.

Go, Eva, go!

Glancing toward the hallway leading to the front door, she forced her feet to move. But she made it no more than two steps when her feet rooted into place so abruptly that she would have keeled over onto her face had she been able to move at all.

"I wouldn’t try that if I were you," the angel said without turning around.

Shit
. Maybe if she screamed Travis would hear her. It was a long shot. These walls were surprisingly thick. Still...

She opened her mouth but her throat closed up on her once more.

Damn these angels and their freaky powers.
Tears of frustration pooled in her eyes but she blinked them back.

He pivoted to face her and unadulterated fear slithered up her spine. She was powerless, completely at his mercy. Had been from the very beginning, though she’d tried to convince herself otherwise. And if there was one thing she’d learned about the Fallen, it was that they had no mercy.

"You have nothing to fear from me, beloved."

Yeah. Right.

Somehow she managed not to pass out from fright. Though that might have been preferable to this—having to watch in mute paralysis while he stalked toward her with a look of determination written all over his face.

He stopped in front of her, running a hand through her curls before nudging her chin up so her eyes were level with his. "I don’t like rendering you defenseless," he murmured. "However, I need to ensure you won’t try to call for the Consortium. That would be a mistake. Were angels to descend upon this place, it would not end well for either of us."

What did he mean? Would she be condemned to die just for having been seen with him? The angels couldn’t be that cruel, could they?

Michael searched her face intently, as if looking for something. When he let out another deep sigh, she figured he hadn’t found whatever it was he’d been looking for. "I’ll make you a deal, little Eva. Surely you realize I could have killed you a hundred times over by now had that been my intent."

There are worse things than dying.

"The same with rape," he added, as though he’d read her thoughts.

Well, she couldn’t deny the truth of his words. He had every advantage if he wanted to hurt her.

"What I want is to share something with you. Something of import. After I’ve said my piece, if you wish me to leave I’ll do so. But first you must promise to hear me out. No screaming, no attempts to flee. Do you agree?"

He’d return her freedom, possibly even leave her alone, and all she had to do was hear him out? At this point, what did she have to lose?

Eva tried to speak, but it came out as a strangled squawk. With a flick of his hand, he unstuck her throat long enough for her to croak out a "Yes".

"Very good, Eva." He relaxed and turned away.

A second later her limbs kicked back into action. Her knees gave out and she practically fell to the ground before locking them back into place.

"Take a seat," he ordered, nodding his head in the direction of her couch.

Okay
. She had agreed after all.

Slowly, she edged toward the couch. It took everything in her to do it. Her instincts still screamed at her to flee. Sitting would put her at even more of a disadvantage. However, it didn’t seem wise to piss him off right now, so she sat. Only then did he take his eyes off her.

He turned and stalked back to the window, staring out while he spoke. "How much do you know about the falling of the veil?"

The question froze her in place. "Not much." Though she’d always been curious. "I know that one day we were all living our normal lives, and the next, we found out angels existed. The news programs said the veil between the worlds had collapsed, destroying your dimension. That angels were stuck on Earth."

"That much is true," he replied. "We were aware of your dimension before then. We had the ability to cross over. Some angels did, returning with tales of your species. However, as a whole our kind had no need or desire to live here. Our own world was sufficient for us. But then the dimensions collapsed onto each other, and our world was gone."

That was no doubt tragic, but still... "It can’t be all bad here, can it? I mean, your kind is worshipped as gods." At least,
regular
angels were.

"Most of my kind believes they are gods in comparison to humans," he answered tonelessly. "Once we realized we were stuck on this world, there was dissension among us. There were those who felt humans were beings who deserved our respect, who felt we needed to learn to share their world. And then there were those who thought humans to be a pestilence on this world. Something to be eradicated."

"The Fallen," she whispered.

"No."

He turned to face her, and at that moment another bolt of lightning struck outside, illuminating the upper half of his face. She couldn’t help the shiver of foreboding that went through her whole body. Even from this distance she could read the stark truth in his eyes. Whatever that truth happened to be, she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it.

"Just the opposite, Eva. My kind, the Fallen, were cursed because we
supported
humankind."

Her mouth dropped open. "But...but angels—"

"You are nothing but cattle to them," he bit out as he strode toward her. "Lower than cattle. Why do you think they barely show themselves to humans? Why do you think they build their towers in the sky, away from the human population?"

Eva fought a gasp when he squatted in front of her. The urge to scoot further back onto the couch was almost overwhelming. The only thing that stopped her was the knowledge that her sleep shirt would lift up her thighs if she did, and she wasn’t wearing any underwear.  

"Most angels want nothing more than to destroy your species. Given what you’ve seen of their treatment of humans, look into my eyes and tell me you don’t believe me."

"I..." There were so many things she’d never understood. The curfews instituted on order of the angels, the random assignment of jobs, the abolishment of wages. Angels had explained those things as necessary in order to promote peace and safety among humans. Most people had bought it, or if they’d questioned it they kept it to themselves. But her mother had doubted from the very beginning.

"They’re turning us into slaves is what they’re doing, Eva. And we’re going along with it, smiling blindly while they lead us to our own slaughter."

Even now, years after her mother’s death, she still couldn’t get those words out of her head.

Could her mother have been right all along?

She moistened her suddenly dry lips. "If that’s true, why are we still alive? I mean, angels have been calling the shots for over a decade. You have strengths and abilities we humans can’t match. Why haven’t they gotten rid of us, then?"

Michael gave a hollow laugh. "Don’t you get it, beloved? You’re free labor. They’re using humans to build their towers, to prepare the world for their comfort. And the entire time they’re doing this, they’re also making you dependent upon them. Making you weaker. When you are no longer necessary, you will all be exterminated."

"No." She shook her head in denial even while his words sang of truth.

"It’s true."

He reached out and closed his hands over hers. The low vibration humming off his fingers sent tingles of awareness through her whole body. Seriously, she could understand why humans were so cowed by them. If there ever was a being who seemed worthy of worship, it was an angel.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I don’t want you to fear me. Because you should know.  And because I’m determined to stop them."

A hint of his desperation washed over her.

"Why?" she couldn’t help but ask. "Why do you care so much?"

"It’s not right, Eva. Eradication of an entire species. It goes against everything I stand for. Against everything all of my brethren once stood for, before they became corrupted by the loss of our world and their sense of power over your species."

This was all so surreal. Not the least of which was the fact that, even though he spoke of the extinction of humans, she was still so aware of his body next to hers. His thumbs began a slow swirl over the back of her hands and she shuddered, her nipples hardening to the point of discomfort. Why did she have to be so sexually in tune to this being? That should be the farthest thing from her mind right now.

It took a physical shake of her head to clear her mind enough that she could utter her next thought. "Is that why you’re Fallen? Because you defended humans?"

Michael released her hands and lifted to his feet. He slid across the room with the fluid grace of a panther. The muscles in his bare back popped with every move.

Stunning. He was utterly stunning.

"There were little more than two dozen of us, including me, my mate, and my sisters," he said, returning to the window. "No more than a tenth of our total population. We objected quite strenuously. When the others realized they couldn’t bend us to their will, we were cursed by our kind. Our wings were singed black, the ultimate shame for an angel, and we were imprisoned. After we were paraded in front of our brethren as a warning to those who might sympathize with the humans, we were sentenced to die. Twelve of us, less than half, managed to escape our prison."

Something about the flat way in which he spoke gave her pause. "And the rest?"

"Burned alive. The only way an angel can be killed."

Oh God. She wouldn’t wish that form of death on anybody. Wait a second, he’d mentioned...

"Your sisters? Your...mate?"

"Dead," he replied without turning to face her. "All but one sister."

The automatic words of condolence she longed to speak died on her tongue. They meant so little at any rate. She’d never had siblings, never been married, and she hadn’t known her father. But Eva knew the pain of losing a mother. No words could ever offer enough comfort. The fact that he was an angel and not human didn’t change that in her mind. He obviously had feelings too.

In the end she just murmured, "Sorry."

He half-swiveled his upper body around so he looked at her. "Does that mean you believe me?"

"I..." She blinked at the realization that she did. For one, if he was bent on destroying humans like the Consortium claimed, wouldn’t she be dead already? On top of that, she sensed he was telling the truth. Sensed it in the timbre of his voice, in the rigid set of his back. And if there was one thing she’d always had, it was an uncanny ability to tell whether or not someone was being false—her truth compass, she called it. It was the same feeling that had always made her doubt the doctrines spouted by the Consortium.

"You know," she said, "I think I do believe you."

A shadow of a smile crossed Michael’s face. Turning, he placed his hands on the windowsill and leaned forward. He shifted his gaze straight up to the sky.

"What are you doing?" she asked him. "That’s like the third or fourth time you’ve stared out the window."

"Looking for sentinels," he responded in a low tone.

"Sentinels?" Her curiosity got the better of her. She stood and headed toward the window. It was small enough that she had to stand close to Michael, so close she could feel the heat coming off his body. "What are sentinels?"

He cast her a gaze that looked distinctly amused. "Angels who take turns flying over the land, standing guard. They’ve been trying to smoke us out ever since our escape over a decade ago. Have you never noticed them?"