Genesis of a Hero (13 page)

Without a second’s thought for the selvo fighting with Aaron and the others overhead, he raced. Branches snagged at his robes and hair. He dispatched two injured reidlos before coming upon the sight of Denise lying on the ground at Melody’s feet. Ashley’s robes were shining in the night, but her wings were slowly disappearing. The halo, that had been pure gold when last John had seen her, was fading. She was now in the glory of paradise in heaven.
Welcomed by the Son of God to an eternity of love.

Melody never saw John’s mad rush. Her brillia
nt eyes were locked on Denise - relishing in the kill to come. John flashed by her with one backhanded stroke; then stopped in a skid of grass. He didn’t turn. He didn’t want to see. But he heard her head thump on the ground, followed by her crumpling body. His teeth clenched to hold down the bile that was threatening to erupt from his stomach. He’d sent another soul the eternal damnation of fire.

“John,” Denise cried. Not daring to look at Melody, h
is eyes searched. He rushed to her and embraced her tighter than ever before.

“Are you okay?” he asked with tears streaking the battle grime on his cheeks.

“Thanks to you,” she sobbed. “The others? What about the demons? The Revival?”

“The reidlos are scattered,” John said trying to stop his chest from heaving. “There wil
l be some to hunt down, but most fled when Xavier left.”

“Did you fight him?”

“I did,” John nodded. “I captured him for a minute, but a couple of reidlos attacked me when I was healing him… and he got away.”

Her fingers dug into his back as she clenched. “Thank God you’re okay,” she prayed. “I wouldn’t be able to make it if you were taken.”

“I know the feeling,” John said and helped her to her feet. “Can you fly yet?”

“Yes,” she answered taking a steadying breath. “I don’t think I’ll ever try to use
voxis again.”

“It’s a tough ability to master,” John
said remembering the sight of her falling from the sky. His heart pounded at the thought of what almost happened.

“Let’s go help Aaron and the others,” Denise said grabbing his hand. Her wings sprouted and she leapt into the air. John followed, close to her side, vowing to never let her stray more than an inch away.

Chapter 10: The Road to Troy

“Is it smart to have them in there together?” Harold asked. He was standing in front of the caged cell in the basement of Whispering Trees. Charles and Christy were strapped together with luminescent chains. Both were scowling and cursing.

“I think it will do them some good,” Aaron answered from the doorway. “Let them talk to each other about the failures of following Lucifer. Maybe they’ll figure out they are on the wrong side.
We don’t’ seem to have another way of getting through to them.”

John had his doubts, but he didn’t announce them. He’d returned with Denise and the others early in the morning. The suns first rays of day were shining in the horizon when they’d locked Charles into the cell
beside his sister.

Denise pulled at his hand and he responded without any resistance. All he wanted was to put distance between him and the fallen. He knew he should care about saving them, but at the moment,
his fists were threatening to beat them senseless.

Aaron and Harold followed them out of the prison. Four angels were
sitting on stools, praying against the continued curses spewing from Charles’s grisly mouth.

“
I wish Xavier was in there beside them,” Denise said in a hush. The dank hallway echoed her words.

“And Melody,” John offered sadly.

“I still don’t understand why he let himself almost get killed in Boston,” Harold jumped into the conversation. “He could have killed both of you before we got there.”

“Because of me, I think,” Aaron said with his forehead wrinkling. He’d almost single-handedly caught Charles and beat back the selvo advance. John would forever remember the utter fierceness with which his leader fought. If Aaron
joined the Justice Minsters, John would no longer be considered the group’s best fighter.

“And I think he wanted to make a big scene at the Revival,” Aaron continued. “He was so excited about it. I took it for his desire to spread faith. But he deceived me. He did for a long time. He was able to hide a lot from me. For a while, I was beginning to see that John was right about Charles and the Nightwalkers. I was planning on cancelling
– or at least delaying - our activities at the Revival to hunt Charles down. Every time I brought it up, he shot it down.”

“
The Nightwalkers weren’t as big as I thought though,” John said. “I thought there were at least ten of them. It looks like there were only five. We were both right, a little bit.”

“Still, if we’d been able to hunt down Charles and the others,” Aaron sighed. “It would have ruined his plans of slaughtering the people at the Revival. I think
they wanted it to look like some mass killing or suicide. Like a cult or something. Anything to give Christianity a bad name. The news would have probably reported it along those lines somehow.” He paused for a few seconds as he searched his memory. “He must have been worried that I would let you sway me, John. After the attack in Boston, he showed such… faith. He pushed so hard for the Revival. I fell for it. I put all our efforts into the Revival and barely thought about the Nightwalkers. He used that time to make us think Melody had found her faith. I searched her mind… I didn’t find-”

“It’s not the first time Lucifer has been able to deceive angels,”
Denise said touching Aaron lightly on the shoulder. “And it won’t be the last. It’s what he’s best at.”

Aaron sniffed and produced a small nod. They walked out of the prison and stepped into the bustling hallways of the Cathedral. Angel students were streaming by without a clue of the dangers lurking below. John knew the news would spread. They would soon learn of the attack and defense of the Revival, but for now they remained blissfully innocent. He wished and prayed that it could remain that way.

“John, I’m sorry,” Harold said quietly as the four of them strode through the front doors of the angel training grounds. The valley outside was bright and clear; and for a brief second helped soothe the horrors of the night. “I should have came with you. When am I ever going to learn to just follow your crazy lead?”

John laughed and slapped his friend on the back.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not. I’d probably get you into trouble at some point. I don’t tend to think about stuff before I do it.”

“Well, whatever happens,” Harold smiled in his genuinely friendly way. “I’ll never doubt you again.”

John shook Harold and Aaron’s hands then let his arm encircle Denise’s waist and guided her into the trees. They walked in silence along the winding banks of a narrow river; and finally stopped at the edge of a narrow lake. “I should have been nicer to Xavier all these years,” John whispered into the wind.

“Don’t blame
yourself,” Denise said turning him so he looked down into her eyes. “All of us were around him. We should have seen that he needed help.”

“But I’ve been jabbing at him since we were in school. All of it was stupid. What if it was part of him… falling?”

“He fell because of Sherry’s death,” Denise consoled taking his face in her hands. “That’s where we should have seen that he needed us.”

John leaned forward and kissed her.
The doubts and fears moved towards the back of his mind at the touch of her skin.

They walked
, hand in hand, all the way around the mirrored lake. Mountain peaks rose above and birds whistled in the trees. John did his best to let the peace of God’s creation absorb through his body. Not for the briefest of seconds that day, did they stray more than a few feet from each other. John did his best to make Denise laugh; and she reciprocated by making him truly smile.

Near dusk, he walked her into the halls of Whispering Trees. “I have something I need to go do,” he said. The thought had been circling and forming in his head all day. “Will you meet me here at midnight?”

“It’s not a Justice Minister thing, is it?” she asked warily.

“No,” he chuckled.
“Nothing dangerous.”

“Okay…” she slipped from his grip but not before giving him one last kiss. “I’ll be waiting.”

“Blindfolded?” Denise questioned five minutes before midnight.

“If you would, please,” John said with a grin.

“And where are we going?”

“That’s a secret, obviously,” he
laughed. He helped her secure the silk blindfold and led her to the gate to heaven. “Hold on tight. I’ll lead you through the gate.”

She didn’t say anything, but tensed a little. “I won’t let you go,” he promised and stepped into the shining arches. They popped out in the sanctuary of an empty Cathedral. Moonlight and stars shined through a high window. John guided her into a long hallway. A lone man waved and watched them suspiciously, but John held his fingers in front of his mouth. “Okay, I’m going to carry you now,” he said after they left through tall, wooden doors.

“What do you mean?” she asked turning her blindfolded eyes towards him.

“We are flying somewhere… so I need to carry you.” Without waiting for her response, he scooped her into his arms and jumped into the air. She leaned her face under his chin and wrapped her arms around his neck. Even though he’d felt them in that place hundreds of times now, it didn’t stop a thrill from shooting down his spine.

“How long are we going to be flying?” she asked after a couple of minutes.

“Not much longer,” he assured
as he got his bearings. Barely any vehicles sped by on the dark roads below. Not even the normally heavily trafficked interstates were lit by car headlights. John let a current of air raise them high over the scene, then begin to drift slowly down in circles. When they were a hundred feet over their destination, he flicked with the Spirit and a line of candles lit into a ten foot wide heart-shape. He gently unfastened the blindfold and Denise blinked as she took in their surroundings. He set them down right in the middle of the heart of candles.

“John?” she asked looking around. Directly outside the candles, four lions were sitting on their haunches as if watching over the proceedings with utmost interest. “Are we at the Sacramento Zoo?”

“Yeah,” John said quietly and expectantly. He produced a bundle of fresh flowers picked from mandevilla vine in the giraffe’s enclosure. “Denise, we’ve known each other for a long time. I know we haven’t been dating very long yet, but I know how much I love you. I don’t want to ever be away from you again.” He stopped as tears glistened at the corners of her eyes. The male lion huffed an affectionate sounding growl. He almost seemed to be smiling encouragingly at John.

“I love you too John,” Denise whispered. The moonlight was sparkling on her face as she looked at him.

John knelt and reached into his pocket. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And eternity in heaven. Denise Gibson, will you marry me?”

“Yes, of course,” she cried tears of joy. All four lions let go with tremendous roars.

“Thanks Brutus,” John laughed. “Now go with you.” He made a shooing motion and the lions slunk into a corner of the den. John slid a diamond ring onto Denise’s finger and pulled her down beside him. Their lips came together. It was bliss like he’d never known before. For two hours, they sat in the lion’s den and laughed and cried. The moon had reached its summit when Denise stood to leave.

“So, how many kids do you want?” John asked playfully.

“Let’s discuss it after we get married,” she said smiling. She took his hand and they jumped into the night sky with one last roar of approval from the lions.

If you enjoyed the story of John Decker and Denise Gibson, make sure to buy Angels without Wings: Scepter of Faith by Chris Smith. It’s the first book, in a five book series, that follows John and Denise’s grandson, Troy Decker as he struggles to find his place in the wonderful world of angels. It is available in paperback and eBook. Find Angels without Wings on Facebook or go to the website for more details.

Thanks… and always remember: For God, we fight.