Page 30 of Fallen: Darkness Ascending, Vol.1

SIMIEL

J esus christ, Faith was fucking trashed, and currently falling ass over tea kettle from the railing she’d been climbing.

Dammit. At least the place is abandoned .

Pulling my wings into reality, I jumped off the mezzanine, angling myself in a nose dive so that I could scoop up Faith before she smashed into the floor below. With my arms wrapped around her, I flared my wings, catching the air and abruptly halting our descent.

Excellent form. Ten out of ten from the American judge. Oh, but the Russian continues to be an asshole with a 9.6.

Touching down, I set Faith on her feet, standing behind her so that I could pop my wings back into the ether where they’d be cloaked.

Damn, she was even prettier in person; her warm skin was smooth as silk and colored just like smoky quartz.

With her fluffy, natural curls, this bountiful curtain of hair surrounded her.

With fuck-me lips and that ethnically-ambiguous quality most ethereal beings had, she was a damned looker.

Even has little freckles all over her face.

She spun around, her eyes as wide as the alcohol would let them be.

“You know, I have to hand it to you. Getting drunk must’ve taken a fuck ton of booze. Well done.”

She reeled backward, nearly tripping, but her aura was humming with anger and confusion, which was probably zapping that alcohol right out of her system.

Jabbing a finger in the air toward me, Faith glared daggers that I could almost feel with her honey brown eyes, something itching inside my skin when she focused on me intently.

Interesting. Cadriel’s going to have a fucking field day.

“Who the fuck are you?! How the fuck…” She shook her head, clearly piecing together the fact that we shouldn’t have landed so gracefully if I’d just jumped with her, but she couldn’t see my wings, so the math wasn’t mathing. “Are those…Fuck, I’m drunker than I thought.”

Wait a minute. “Are what, darlin’?”

There were a number of things Faith could be staring at, but going by her eyeline, I didn’t think it was the tattoos or piercings. And it definitely wasn’t the black cargo pants and combat boots. Those were downright normal for this part of town.

“Your voice…” Faith’s face screwed up into a look of confusion that was way too fucking adorable, and if it weren’t for the waves of power radiating from her like a massive fucking warning sign, I would have dispensed with all this damn ca ution and gone straight to tasting her skin. “Are you fucking Southern ?”

“Ha!” That one actually had me tilting back with a laugh, my hand coming to my chest as I thought about all the ways that was really damn funny. “If you’re talking about Southern America, darlin’, that’d be a no. Now, if you mean a little bit more south, then…”

God, this is actually pretty fun. But shit, I need to get her level, and we need to leave. Those righteous assholes are going to be looking for her real damn quick like. And they never like it when I pull out the wings.

“Wait,” Faith seemed to correct herself, shaking her head, which sent her slim brown ringlets bouncing, and blinking repeatedly as she stared at me, “no. That’s not important. Please fucking tell me those are some sort of super realistic prop.”

Well, now, that was something. There were very few beings that could see into the ethereal realm.

Sure, we didn’t know what type of abilities Faith was going to have, but if that was one of them, things just got a hell of a lot worse.

There was no way the angels were going to go easy on her before considering what she was. Now? Yeah, no.

“I want to be real clear here, sugar.” I took a step forward, feeling debris crunch under my boots, and popped a toothpick between my lips. “What’s a prop?”

Faith threw her hand out toward me, her brows up to her hairline. “Your fucking wings!”

She gestured wildly behind me, waving her hands up and down like I was some kind of moron for not putting two and two together.

The scent of ozone drifted higher in the air, and that hum to her aura was getting stronger.

Shit, she was damn powerful, and even with Cadriel’s information, I didn’t know what that entailed.

How had we all gone this long without noticing her?

How his High & Mighty allowed that to happen was a fucking joke.

I mean, come on. The birth of a nephilim?

It was unheard of, and Faith was in her thirties now.

No one had noticed her all this time? The odds of that were fucking infinitesimal, and yet, here we were.

“Christ on a mother fucking cracker.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Okay, we don’t have time to discuss this here. We need to go. Come on.”

Stepping closer again, I reached out for Fatih, ready to zap us the hell out of here before we had a whole host coming down on us looking to do some smiting.

As much as I loved the idea of chowing down on some angel bits, it was going to be damn difficult if there was a bunch of them—and with a nephilim to worry about.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Faith snatched her arm back, her fury obvious on her expressive, doll-like face. “I don’t have any idea who or what you are. Why the fuck would I go anywhere with you?”

Dammit, couldn’t just one thing go my way? I needed to get Faith back to the compound, and she was beyond furious. I held up my hands, a mock surrender, and cocked my head down toward her feet. The dirt and broken bits of pew and floor were starting to rumble.

And I could swear I saw a flicker of gold in her eyes, that aura of hers gleaming, too.

“Faith, look.” I nodded down again. “We need to go. This is getting way too intense, and the an?—”

“How the hell do you know my name?” Slamming her foot down, Faith shook the church, but she didn’t even seem aware of it. “Are you some fucking stalker?! With wings?!”

Shit. I need to move. We need to get home and ? —

But as I tried to shift forward, I couldn’t.

My muscles weren’t listening to me, and I noticed the slight pressure on my body.

Seraphim could exert their control over their brethren.

They wouldn’t. Not unless it was a last resort, but it was possible.

That meant Faith’s power was at least on par with that of the seraphim, including the fallen ones, such as myself .

Yeah, okay, hot as hell, but now? Fucking hell. This is bad. The goddamn angels are going to pick up on this. Time to fucking go .

“Look, I’ll give you all the juicy details, Faith.

I promise.” My hands were still up, and I couldn’t do anything to put them down, not until I distracted her, got her off her game.

“I know what you are. Aren’t you a little curious about why people keep dropping like flies around you?

About these here wings and why you can see them when others can’t? ”

Her mouth fell open, and I could tell that the alcohol’s effect was completely gone now.

Worse, I could smell the change in the air.

The angels were zeroing in on this place.

They’d be here any second, and even with the power Faith was so clearly packing, the two of us wouldn’t be a match for them.

Especially considering she didn’t know what she was.

“W-What? How do you…”

Faith’s words drifted away, and the shock was enough to get her powers faltering. I shook myself free, hurrying toward her as the rumble in the room picked up from an external force. Faith’s glowing eyes darted around, the fear and panic wild in her eyes as I circled my arms around her.

“Yeah, I’ll explain all that when we get back. For now, this is faster.”

Her stare widened, and Faith leaned back, pushing against my chest. “What’s faster?!”

And then I put my hand over her heart, sending a tiny jolt of energy through her. I hoped it would work. Dealing with a nephilim wasn’t an exact science, but then Faith dropped into my arms, her body limp.

“Perfect. Let’s get you back home.”