Page 36 of Fallen: Darkness Ascending, Vol.1

CADRIEL

“ W e need to clean this up.” Xathanael clenched his jaw, staring down at the slew of bodies that now took up the majority of the floor in our living area. “And purge this place. We’re moving.”

Faith furrowed her brows, scanning over the three of us as she remained on the floor. She was clearly expended, having never used power like that before. It was truly something to see her handle herself against an angel. An archangel at that. She’d even exorcised him.

“Purge? The fuck does that mean?” The exhaustion was thick in her voice.

She would likely collapse soon. And unfortunately, Xathanael was right.

We need to leave this safe house behind.

It had already been compromised, which was a common side effect of being a fallen, never settling down in one place for long.

I patted Simiel’s cheek, which made him perk up from leaning on me.

He cast me an amused look, but I could see the rumble of concern under it.

He didn’t like to pick up and leave. None of us did, but he was tied with Xath for being the worst at it.

Which I supposed only left me, and I only handled it as well as I did because heaven never felt like home anyway.

“The angels know this place now, Faith. I can’t reforge the wards either.

We’ll need to transfer to another one of our safe houses.

” I offered her a hand to help her up. It was a second before she took it, but when she did, I hoisted her to her feet.

She swayed, grabbing onto my shoulders. “We can transfer most of the contents from here to our new home in a snap, but we’ll need to fly there. ”

Simiel cleared his throat, flicking his eyes from where Faith touched me back up to mine. I nodded.

Yes, dearest. I sense it, too.

Faith was our mate. Just like we had found each other, and then Xathanael. He’d taken quite some time to warm to the idea, and I wasn’t sure how Faith would react either. Still, Xath had hinted at it when he was walking her down from the earlier angelic rage.

Fuck, I’ll need to reinforce the wards at the new safe house.

They need to be able to withstand her. Otherwise, she’ll be a beacon.

Hmm…I should ask about additional safety concerns…

health, pre-existing conditions of any kind, truly, medical history, family history.

I noticed some ASD tendencies earlier, though I could be reading into that.

Gender identity. I can’t assume, right? God, sexual preference. If Faith’s not interested in ? —

Pulling herself away from me slightly, Faith’s movements knocked me out of my thoughts, an unfortunate habit of mine. But she immediately stumbled, her eyelids drooping, and Faith shook her head.

“I don’t think I’m flying anywhere. And, uh, didn’t you notice?” She gestured at her back. “No wings.”

“Oh, darlin’,” Simiel crooned. “I am certain I can carry you for the duration of the flight.”

She eyed him, unable to tell exactly what Simiel meant, going by the furrow of her brow. “We can carry you, Faith. He’s actually serious about that bit. But don’t worry. Not many people can tell when Simiel is being genuine and when he’s just flirting.”

“That’s because I’m always genuine, and I’m always flirting.” Simiel shrugged with a smirk, which quickly turned into him biting his lip with a wild grin. “Or murdering angels. Wouldn’t dare flirt with them.”

Both Faith and I snorted at that, but then Xath was stomping through us so that he could get at the dead body at her feet.

“Remember that part about getting rid of the fucking bodies?” He scowled at all three of us, a palpable malicious energy radiating off him. “Yeah, some fucking help would be appreciated.”

Behind his back, Simiel teased, but he quickly put a stop to it when Xath turned around and let the arm of the dead man swing up and hit Simiel in the face.

At that, both my partner and I began to help with removing the bodies.

We’d created a grave of sorts in the unfinished section of this unused subway station.

The dirt was soft enough to get through, and we tossed all of them in, packing the dirt around them tightly.

Simiel clapped his hands, knocking the dirt off. “Done and done. Ugh, but now we have to move. I fucking hate moving.”

Walking with Simiel behind Xath as he led us back down into the living area, I patted my ornery fallen on the shoulder.

“I know, dearest. But at least you can carry Faith. Silver lining?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. Oh, speaking of silver. Did you see Faith kicking that angel out of the guy’s body? How was she able to do that? I thought it took a hell of a lot of work, a ritual, and several archangels to boot another one. And even that was hit or miss in the past.”

“Indeed. The level of power exchange going on inside her isn’t linear at all. If she were just an archangel, it wouldn’t have worked. But there appears to be something about mixing it with human blood, a human soul, that?—”

“We can talk about all that later. We need to get the fuck out of dodge before they send another battalion.” Xathanael cut me off, and I knew better than to start up the argument again.

He’d always been rather “my way or the highway,” and right now wasn’t the time to challenge him, not that I was opposed to it.

“We scrub our place, blackout Faith, and go.”

Blacking out Faith’s life on earth fell to me. “I can remove her digital footprint, but what are we going to do about the co-workers at the bar?”

“Eat ‘em?” Simiel smirked, rubbing his hands together and literally licking his lips like he was getting ready for the best damn bar-b-que around.

Xath paused, but it ended with an abrupt sigh. “No. Can’t leave more bodies. Too conspicuous. I’ll wipe ‘em.”

Both Simiel and I pulled up short just in front of the door to the safe house. Xathanael could sense our shock, spinning around to glare at us as per usual.

“What?” His aura flickered with wrath, this need to destroy pulsing through him as he raised his brows at us.

“You don’t wipe very often, is all. I believe we are just?—”

“We’re fucking flipped sideways is what.” Simiel cut me off and shoved past me, getting right up in Xath’s face. “You’re wiping them? For fucking real? What’s gotten into you? You hate dealing with the humans for any length of time.”

“I want to get us out of here, and you…you both will do a better fucking job of convincing Faith to haul ass than I will.”

Another stretch of silence, and all I could do was watch Xath and Simiel square off against each other.

It was typical for their dynamic, but this was something else.

Something that even I, with my poor social acumen and disregard for norms on most occasions, could pick up on.

Similar to how I’d seen a bit of myself in Faith, those tendencies we shared, I could see a kinship established between Xath and Simiel in that moment, forged from a singular understanding.

It was for Faith.

Well, unholy shit indeed. Xath is recognizing the bond, even this little bit. Wouldn’t have bet on that.

“Fine.” Simiel nodded once, this subtle gesture that was the most anyone was going to get out of him when it came to “deeper” emotions.

Xathanael may have been on of the most emotionally constipated fuckers I knew, but Simiel was right behind him. Beneath all that sunshine and sarcasm was a lot of pain, which he showed no one except me. And I’d had to earn it out of him over the course of centuries.

“I’ll go now. Be ready to leave when I get back. I’m not sticking around for another fucking battalion to come and smite us.”

Not waiting for a response, Xath hurried up the stairs to where he could fly to Faith’s bar. He’d disappear from sight once he was high enough, and he’d be able to wipe the human quickly enough. We needed to make sure Faith was ready. Simiel glanced over at me, shrugging one shoulder.

“Well, let’s get our nephilim ready then.” He walked beside me as we went back down to the now-empty safe house, having shunted the contents through the ether to the waiting runic circle in the new one. “So…about Faith.”

There was so much behind those simple words. I’d gotten better at understanding when Simiel was provoking conversation.

“Yes? Just say what you want to, love.” I offered him a smile. “I do not wish to live in confusion. Today has been stressful enough.”

“We’ve all basically acknowledged it, but, umm, yeah, looks like this flock just got that much more gender diverse. Do you umm…”

I cocked my head. Was that what this was about? “Do I feel attraction for her even though she’s female?”

“I forgot how blunt you could be.” Simiel laughed, shaking his head as he pulled open the thick door that led downstairs. “Yes.”

Deciding not to address the blunt comment, I nodded back at him. “I can feel attraction regardless of gender identity or presentation.”

“So are you?” Simiel eyed me, his brows up to his hairline.

“Are you ?” I probed back.

“I’m attracted to everyone. You know that.”

Simiel was shrugging it off. That meant this went beyond the usual sexual or aesthetic attraction. The flock thing was there, so that made sense, but it appeared that Simiel was feeling a little reluctant, which was a surprise.

“I am aware that we both share pan, or as you like to put it, omnisexual preferences. But are you asking because you feel you need confirmation that it is not just me who feels drawn to her?”

Rolling his eyes, I received another nod. “The blunt thing really works in your favor sometimes. Yes. I do.”

“I feel drawn to her, yes. I would like to pursue that, yes, and I believe you and Xath do as well. Though, Xathanael will likely be a dick about all of it because it’s him .”

Simiel snorted. “Ha. Okay. Cool, thanks for that. I guess it’s time to get this show on the road. And because I know you get me and shit, I’m going to admit that I’m really looking forward to Xath tearing her apart. Ugh, so hot.”