Page 37 of Fallen: Darkness Ascending, Vol.1

All I could do was laugh. But I knew it was true. When the time came, and we all fully delved into our connection, it was going to get messy and violent and intense. That’s just how we were, and being a fallen only shot that up even more.

The new safe house was nearly identical to the last, only this time the narrow room that had been our living area was able to stretch out at least a few feet longer in both length and width. That was especially beneficial since we’d gained another body.

Faith roamed her stare around the room while Simiel and Xath were off laying the initial foundations for the runic protection wards.

I had gone down to the security room first thing to reestablish the feeds and monitoring systems since the house’s existing structures hadn’t been made live since we weren’t living in it.

The nephilim had followed me here, clearly uneasy about being left alone in the central area.

I could understand that. She hadn’t said much, though, just a few random questions here and there.

“You have all these cameras set up already? How did you even figure all this stuff out? Do angels just like know everything?”

She stood behind me over my right shoulder as I went through the feeds and typical protocol that I had set up. I didn’t look back, continuing to work as I answered her because I didn’t want to wait a moment to ensure this safe house was indeed safe .

“I did have all these set up, yes. It is easier to install things in all the potential safe houses we might use so that picking up and leaving is easier. We are forced to move around quite a bit. And I taught myself when we fell. It turns out that I have quite a penchant for technology. Also, not to be pedantic, but fallen angel. We’re not one of them.

I’m…I’m not sure we ever were. They also don’t know everything. Far from it.”

“Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t—I mean, the assholes did try to kill me—but what’s the big beef with the angels?

” I looked over my shoulder at Faith. She looked at the floor, her fingers weaving in and out of her hair.

When she glanced up, she winced, biting her lip.

“I’m probably not supposed to ask, huh? Sorry.

I’m curious about it. This is all… a lot . I didn’t think this shit was real.”

“It’s fine.” I sighed, finishing up with the final touches necessary to ensure I had a bead on the entire safe house, and then turning in my chair to face her. “I’m probably the best one to ask about it, anyway. Simiel and Xath…they get…testy about falling. And I don’t blame them.”

“Testy? I mean, is Xath ever not testy?”

That earned a laugh. “No. It’s worse when he thinks about falling, though.

We…Well, fuck, I’ll go with the ‘blunt thing’ as Simiel says.

We fell shortly after Xath—Simiel and me.

The battalion, the one you actually met, demanded that Simiel kill me when I refused to denounce Xath.

He was supposed to do it and denounce Xath as a way to prove his loyalty. You can see how well that worked out.”

Faith’s expression was a mask of shock, but there was a rising anger behind her eyes that surprised me.

Slowly, her brow furrowed, all of her lit by the glowing monitor behind me in the dark room.

I kept the tech room dim, relying on the screens and a few ambient lights.

Standing here in front of me like this, Faith’s angles and curves were stark in the high-contrast illumination.

I could photograph her like this and never capture the raw beauty and fury she exuded.

“How could they ask you to kill your friend over a disagreement? What bastards! Ugh. The fuck did Xath do that was such a big fucking deal?”

I felt my jaw tense reflexively. “I should allow him to tell the story for himself, but I’ll say that he went against the highest edict. And falling…it’s a permanent, never-ending punishment.”

Taking a step closer, Faith’s brows knitted together all the more. “Never-ending, how so?”

“Faith, this isn’t?—”

“Tell me. I want to know. I want to understand.” She was damn insistent from tone to presence. I’d hand it to her .

“We cannot rest. We roam the earth for all time. Sure, we have these safe houses, but invariably, they are discovered, and the angels try to kill us. We’ve been trying to survive like this for centuries.

It…has been easier lately, but not by much.

Your presence, well, it adds another complication to our existence. ”

Her jaw dropped at that. “I…I didn’t realize. Well, god fucking dammit.”

“He did, didn’t he?” I nodded absently, eyes finding the floor. “Though something brought us to each other, the three of us, and of course, now you. So that’s…something.”

“Okay, what’s up with that? Xathanael said something about a flock? Is this another fucking angel thing I need to worry about?”

I don’t know what it was about her or this situation, but I was tired.

I was so damn tired of having something in front of me and watching it slip away or remain too distant.

Xathanael was part of our flock, but he never accepted the bond.

It killed me every day to see that. I loved him as much as Simiel, and I knew my partner felt the same.

Now, we were presented with Faith, and I wasn’t about to let her get away by slow-playing it again.

I just couldn’t.

Reaching out, I took Faith’s hand and yanked her forward.

It closed the distance between us, making her yelp slightly, and then I lifted her, situating the nephilim on my lap, forcing her to straddle my legs.

The connection was instant. I could feel her in my bones, this zinging electricity that wove through the fibers of my corporeal being, the one I’d claimed when I’d fallen.

Fate was still such a damn mystery even to a centuries-old being like myself, and I knew the angels upstairs had as much of a clue about all that shit as I did.

All that meant that there had to be something else behind what we knew, because how was Faith here, destined to be ours, to be mine ?

Nephilim weren’t meant to be accounted for in the grand design because they were a blasphemy. And yet …

“Cadriel, what are?—”

“You can feel it, can’t you?” I dragged my fingers down her arm, watching the hairs rise under my caress.

She was heavenly, a literal fraction of it, not corrupted by a fall and not untouchable because of angelic loftiness.

My body responded to hers so effortlessly, my wings flickering into the material plane as her core brushed over my thickening erection.

“You’re meant to be with us…with me. Your soul recognizes my grace, corrupted though it may be. ”

Faith’s eyes were lidded as I roamed my gaze over her face.

Her expression was a swirling mix of confusion and fear and arousal.

Fluttering breaths racked her, making her chest rise and fall rapidly.

The gentle swells of her breasts pressed against the fabric of her thin black shirt.

She’d worn a light leather jacket, appropriate for the weather, but she’d disregarded it once we’d arrived at the new safe house, and her luminous skin was downright edible.

The gold hum in her eyes increased, and my fingers found her throat, squeezing gently as I ate up the sight of her constellations of freckles that danced over her shoulders and chest up to her neck and face.

Instinctually, her head tipped to the side, allowing me access to her throat, and sharp fangs descended into my mouth.

Angels ate nothing, consumed nothing. But a fallen, oh no.

We needed to sustain our life force with that of another.

Humans, angels, other fallen, it would all do.

As long as we took in every bit done to the bone.

Hunger rushed through me, making my cock throb as the folds beneath it became ever slicker with potent lust. I would devour her, tasting all Faith had to offer, but I had no intention of killing her.

Hurting her was another story.

“What is that?” Faith’s whisper was raspy and pained. “I…I can feel your…Oh fuck…”

Her eyes were wide with fear, but that scent of arousal hadn’t backed off, and now I was too far gone.

The monster beneath the human exterior was rising to the surface, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Without thinking, I pulled Faith’s throat to my mouth, sliding my tongue up her flesh.

Fucking heaven, the taste of her. My fangs, a sharp row of them perfect for tearing, pulsed, leaving indentations in her skin as I hovered them just shy of biting.

“It’s come on so fast…so strong…” I fisted her breast, making Faith gasp and grind against me. “I have to have you. Now .”

Striking like a viper, I clamped down, and Faith’s blood flowed into my mouth. The surge of bliss was unlike anything I’d known before, something about her nephilim essence like cocaine right to the brain.

“Ahh!” she screamed, writhing against me as I held her to my mouth, my grip iron.

The cry never lost volume but blended into a desperate moan, and I felt Faith’s fingers lace through my hair before tugging on the roots.

The scent of fresh tears hit me, and she trembled in my arms. “Are you going to…kill me?”

Yanking my fangs free, I met her stare, the frenzy of need taking hold. “No. So much worse than that, little nephilim.”

Her eyes flared, and I saw them flick upward as she stared behind me. We weren’t alone anymore, and Faith’s indoctrination into our flock of fallen was about to be a beautiful, bloody baptism.