Page 34 of Fallen: Darkness Ascending, Vol.1

SIMIEL

T hese stupid motherfuckers .

“What the hell is that?” Faith winced slightly as that feedback noise of the angels’ descent drilled louder and louder, a dentist’s drill bit right to the eardrum.

Humans shouldn’t be able to hear it, of course, but Faith was only half human.

And it was kind of a trip to see just how the mechanics of that worked out in practice.

Sure, she had angel abilities and shit, but it looked like she had some human hangups as well.

Her brain didn’t want to perceive the sound, but her ears could.

Eeesh. That…sucks.

“The angels like to announce their presence. If you can hear it, that means you can hear ultrasonic sound waves—an angelic trait.”

Leave it to Cadriel to make the explanation of some seriously cool and annoying shit sound so utterly bland. Why do I love them again? Doesn’t matter. I do.

“It’s like nails on a goddamn chalkboard.” Faith looked between the three of us, still assessing, calculating, her hands going up to shield her ears.

It didn’t stop them from bleeding, the red juice leaking between Faith’s fingers as the sound reached max decibels. Flexing my wings, I noted how Xath twirled his blade and Cadriel clenched their jaw.

T-minus ten seconds.

I had to hand it to Xathanael. He’d managed to calm Faith down before, and he’d even opened up about the fated flock thing.

It had taken him eons to admit that shit about the three of us, and we were angels back then.

He still couldn’t bring himself to enjoy the fated part, though.

Because actually dipping his toes in our fallen pools would what?

Taint him? Fucker, we’ve already fallen. Just screw us already.

“Three, two…” Cadriel was damn good at sensing them, and he signaled the dicks with wings arrival. “...one.”

The air did this weird pop thing as the angels materialized from the ethereal plane. It was always like that, even when we’d been among them. Traveling from one realm to the other did something to the ether, like you were stretching through a barrier that didn’t want to let you in.

Kinda like anal.

And then the small room was too fucking full. Hell, it had been a tight squeeze with the three of us, and then we added Faith. With four more people in here—angels who didn’t want to suck in their wings—it felt very much like we were sardines in a can .

“There you are,” a deep voice rasped, and I looked over toward the angel on my left, standing just behind the very obvious battalion leader.

“We have come for the nephilim. Relinquish it now, and casualties can be avoided.”

“Seriously?” I cocked a brow at Mr. Head Honcho.

He looked like any other angel might, too full of themselves to see how ridiculous the robes looked, and clutching a sword that gently burned.

“You just pop in like a bunch of fucking tourists, and expects us to do whatever you say. Did y’all forget that we fell?

We’re not doing dick. Unless you’re looking to get pegged, cutie. ”

I winked at the angel who’d demanded Faith. There was no way in heaven, hell, or earth that I was fucking that. But I knew how uncomfortable it made them, and the look of abject horror on dude’s face was too fucking good.

“Simiel,” Xathanael scolded, and I rolled my eyes, offering him a look that read, “Eat me.”

“Hey, oops, looks like everyone forgot.” Faith stepped up next to me, glaring at the angels in front of her as the air around her hummed with power. “But, haha, I’m in the fucking room. And I’m not going anywhere. I’ve had enough impromptu trips for the day. So, pass.”

Dick Tips giving the orders took a step closer to her, and I couldn’t stop the flare of energy that released from me, my protective instincts surging. Oh, ho ho. Damn, she really is meant to be with us. Well, these angels are definitely screwed now.

“You will come with us. You are the property of the heavens, and it is only for His Holiest to decide if you will be permitted continued existence.”

“Excuse me, let me clarify something.” Faith shook her head, and surprisingly, it was Xathanael who stepped up and cut through the angel-ese talk.

“He wants to take you to heaven and kill you.”

Snapping her eyes to his, that gold glow back in them, Faith was the picture of shock as she took in what Xathanael had said.

Sure, the angels may have mentioned letting God decide, but it was fucking unlikely.

We didn’t have a regular connection with that asshole.

Only a handful of angels had ever even seen him, and they were dead now.

For all we knew, all the talk was as much of a myth as most humans believed it was.

We’re just another fucking species, aren’t we? Still…hell is very real, so someone cast the OG fucker down. God can still eat it, though. No one gets Faith.

“It will be determined by the judge of all things, and this is no place for you, fallen .” Dick Tips practically spat the word, and goddamn, I had been waiting for one of them to pull that shit.

Xathanael was wound up tighter than a drum most of the time, but when you insulted him because he chose individuality?

Oh yeah, angel fucking soup.

“Then you shouldn’t have stepped foot in my home.” Xathanael glared, that sword of his pulsing with power as his teal eyes flared brightly. Goddamn, he was hot. “So I suggest you leave before things get… messy .”

“Xathanael, this might not—” I put my fingers on Cadriel’s lips, silencing them. They meant well, but there was no peaceful out to this situation, and fuck, I was aching to tear apart some angels. They just tasted so damn good with barbecue sauce.

“Honey,” I glanced over at my sweet partner, “don’t spoil my fun. I want to see if Faith can ram her fist through their chests. I’ve been so good. I deserve this.”

They rolled their eyes, but the side of their mouth lifted in a smirk. I knew they couldn’t resist the charms, and I also knew that they couldn’t deny that seeing Faith rend these assholes limb from limb would be fan-fucking-tastic.

“Excuse me,” Faith shot me a look, crossing her arms over her chest, “stick my arm through what now? ”

I smirked, but she turned back toward Dick Tips. “Now, see, the fallen want me to go all supernova, and I’m not thinking we need to do that. Maybe you should just go?”

God, I was in love. Faith was so damn pretty when she threatened a bunch of angels, and her entire being was thrumming with intense energy that shook the whole room again.

The angels in front of us didn’t seem to care, though, scoffing at the idea that Faith could be so powerful.

Sure, they’d come to collect her and kill her just in case, but it didn’t mean they actually bought it.

“Do not resist, nephilim. Come with us. Now .”

“She will not be going anywhere.” Cadriel stood in front of Faith, and I turned down the corners of my mouth as I looked at them, so very impressed. “And she has a name.”

“Which is Faith, hilariously enough.” A barely perceptible thrum of loss rang through her aura, and I remembered what she had said about the chief.

It didn’t slow her down, though, she stood just behind Cadriel’s and my arm.

“I’m not looking to cause any trouble, and you know, I’m damn good at keeping my nose down and obeying the rules, so I really don’t think you need to fly me off to who knows where because I might be a threat. That’s pretty fucked, actually.”

That was the thing about angels, though, particularly archangels.

They didn’t see shades of gray, and they didn’t allow anything to risk the order of heaven.

If they let Faith live, that meant other angels could pursue relationships with humans, and that was the real problem.

Because as an angel you were to be devoted to “Dick on High,” and a lover could interfere with that.

Dick Tips at the front took a step forward, raising his sword, which burned brighter as the red color of his eyes flared.

“Come or die. There is no other choice.”

I looked at Xathanael, silently asking if we were going to step in anytime soon. He eyed me with his classic “be patient” face. Ugh, annoying. Still, I had a feeling he meant to wait for Faith to make the first move, as his eyes flicked to her before meeting mine again.

“Well,” Faith’s voice shook me out of my thoughts, “you know, apparently, I’m real damn good at death. So…”

As the word hung in the air, I could feel her pull at the invisible threads of energy around us.

It was sloppy and new, something that was so different compared to the innate control angels had, but her essence wound around them regardless, and Faith’s eyes glowed gold as a wind tunnel formed around her.

Let’s fucking go.

Dick Tips swung first, his flaming blade slicing through the air toward Faith as he leapt forward.

She held up her arms in a reflexive gesture and just like I had, bitch froze—in mid-air no less.

He dropped like a stone, and I grinned from ear to damn ear, snagging his blade and jamming it down through his stomach before he could move.

The squelch of his flesh cutting, the blade sinking through his intestines, was delicious.

Sure, an angel didn’t precisely need all those guts.

That’s where the blade came in handy. The smell of burnt meat filled the air as the fire tore through the angel’s host, seeking out the grace that animated the body.

I twisted the blade ninety degrees, and a flare of white lit up the shadows between all those useless vital organs.

Energy cracked, and Dick Tips went limp.

“And just like that,” I looked up at the others, swiping through the warm blood splatter on my cheeks and licking it off my finger, “it’s one down. Three to go.”

“Kill them all!” The next angel in charge said, and the room erupted into chaos as the three angels remaining surged forward, and my flock and I rushed up to meet them.