Even Angels Fall (Book 3)

Felix

Here I am, the king of the Fallen’s top clans, on the verge of war with Satan, and I’m babysitting.

I thought Peris were a fairytale, like goblins and werewolves. Yet an entire kindergarten class sits in front of me with the intention to help me save the world. The entourage of children cause mayhem at the dinner table, fighting for the last few pieces of pizza, arguing over pokemon cards, and screaming at each other for touching ‘their side’ of the table. I don’t know how I’m supposed to manage 12 kids while dealing with everything else.

I walk out of the house, putting as much distance between us as I can. Which isn’t much. The edge of my property is surrounded by a gate and that gate has enough magic inside it to keep me and everyone in the house safe. Like the Peris, I’m being hunted so for now, I can’t go anywhere.

Ema has followed me out, eating a popsicle that she somehow managed to get all over her cheeks. She’s the leader of this band of nursery goers but for eight years old, she isn’t much help, “I told you to move out. I’m pretty smart, if you get past my looks.”

“Why are you so different? You seem normal.”

She beams an adorable smile, fit for a kid’s modeling in a Macy’s magazine. “I’ve had a long time to adjust.”

I lay on the grass underneath a hundred year old Oak tree. It’s late morning and it’s already sweltering hot out. Despite losing many of my senses due to my age, I can still feel the unlivable heat. I want to enjoy it, to cherish it because I know one day when I’m older, I’ll no longer feel it but it’s hard to appreciate it when it feels like my face is on the stove.

Ema doesn’t seem to mind it, sitting in the sunlight with ease.

“Do you feel it?” I ask her. “The sun I mean.” I’m a little embarrassed. I wouldn’t want anyone asking me about it but I want to know how much Tymician lied about. Every memory I have, there’s some subtle form of disillusion. He’s laughing in the pool, or curled up on the sofa with Miley drinking hot chocolate. Was he ever truly himself with us?

“Oh yeah.” She holds out her tiny hand admiring the sunrays. A small ring lies on her little finger and it catches the light with a glittering shine. “I am dying, remember. I need to eat and sleep like a Newborn. I even feel pain.”

“You’re so carefree. Doesn’t it matter to you?”

“Of course it matters. But there ain’t a damn thing I can do about it.” She shrugs. “Why be all mopey about something you can’t change?”

The screen door pops open and Ox waits to be greeted. He’s Ema’s errand boy and does all the heavy lifting despite his scrawny arms and legs. Being twelve years old, he’s the oldest of the unwieldy crew and proudly displays his might with a raised sunken chest.

Ema jumps up holding out her hand, “What you got?”

He delivers the letter with a soldier’s stiffness and even manages to repeat the message with severity. “MacDill Air Force Base shipped our supplies to six different locations around the United States. In ten hours they will be ready for distribution.” Ox bows, but the maturity ends at the moment as he flicks a middle finger to the Peris peeking out through the new set of bay windows behind me.

She hands me the paper but it’s written in code. Peris use Old Norse as their dialect making it impossible for anyone to sneak up on their projects. I don’t think even Elders know such a dead language.

“Have your Elders collect provisions from these six different locations for their territories.”

“What provisions?”

“Tymician kept a cache in Florida. It contains over three million in artillery, chemical, non-lethal, defense, and tactical to assist in any future war with any kind of enemy. I’ve divided up his collection and spread it out to speed up the process of arming the clan.”

I scratch my scalp. “Just like that. Kio becomes an army.”

“It was always an army, Felix. It’s just seen too many years of peace.”

“Felix!” Tessa’s bellows filters through each window in my house and no matter where I hide, there is no avoiding it. I hear her pounding her way along the floorboards “Felix!”

“He’s out here!” Ema calls sweetly. She laughs as I bat at her to stay quiet. “She’s going to find you eventually. I want to watch.”

The screen door bursts open and Tessa puffs, glowering down at me. She holds the phone in her hand. “What’s this about? Matthias says you’re returning me?”

Ema sneaks behind her, pointing to the door, “I’m gonna--” She slips inside.

Uneasily, I get to my feet but confidence is suppressed by her unyielding glare. I’m constantly struggling to remain passive with Tessa but she’s stupidly gorgeous and I want nothing more than to smear her purple lipstick.

I sneer at my own thought. I haven’t been this sexually frustrated since I was a teenager. And it’s not like I can do anything about it anyway. “Tessa, listen-”

“No, you listen! I like it here and I’m staying here. I’m not going to let you use me like I’m some kind of tool. I’m a person! I have feelings. We’re not all emotionally stunted, growth stunted freaks!”

“Tessa!” My voice tumbles over hers in a triumphant moment and I smirk, “I don’t want you to go.”

She blinks, “No?”

“No.” I chuckle moving to the banister and resting my back against it. I fold my arms across my chest watching the emotions flitter across her face. I have to be careful. I don’t want to lead her on but I also don’t want to lead her off. Isn’t that a cliche somewhere? I don’t want her but I don’t anyone else to have her?

“I’ve gotten used to you. It’s nice having you around.”

“Really?” She twists her fingers in front of her and a smile creeps on her face. “A few days living with me and I’ve won you over, huh?”

“But.” I murmur. “Aside from the fact that you are an Angel and you don’t belong in a Fallen House, Isis has five of my members in her possession. I need them back.”

Her happiness deflates upon this. In my chest, it feels like gravity just yanked my heart into my belly.

I swallow and shift, strengthening my assertion. “Matthias agreed to give them to me. By some miracle, he’s gotten Isis not to seek retribution for Veronica’s actions. Kio gets a clean slate.”

“As long as I go back.” She nods even as disappointment shines on her glossy lips, “Guess I’ll go get ready.”

“Tessa.” I reach for her hand, latching onto her fingers. “You can come back anytime you want.”

“Yeah. Isis will keep me during the week and I’ll come on the weekends and holidays.” Her fingers pull out of mine.

My head falls back. Her devastation shouldn’t affect me and yet here I am, thinking of ways to keep her. It’s better that she leaves. My stupid crush needs to be severed.

“Krasnyy!” The rough rasp of Russian reaches my ears. It can only belong to one man.

I rush for the gate, “Dion!”

His head pokes over the iron bars depicting his massive height. “You’ve changed the locks. Good thinking.”

As I open the door for him, he stops, rigid, staring at the entrance of my home. If I didn’t know any better, I might believe there was trepidation in his restraint.

Dion’s palm rests over his medallion. “Why don’t you tell your friends of my arrival? I’ll wait.”

I know better than to force him but it doesn’t mean I’m not confused. I hurry back inside but it seems pointless. Ema and her lot are gone.

I search the kitchen, the pool, upstairs, and even the garage but they’re nowhere to be seen.

By the time I get to the front door, Dion pulls open the screen. His eyes scan the area as if to make certain. “I leave you alone, Krasnyy, and you get yourself tied in with a shoddy circle.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let us speak of something else. I do not want you to mention them to me. A blind eye, da?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“Where are your wards?”

Nervously I take a seat on the couch. I watch him as he steps lightly, analyzing every item in the house with an identifying eye. He’s placing it all into memory. He touches the map on the dining table. He shifts the laptop toward him.

“I’m kind of using them as couriers. I’ve recently set up territories for the Elders to rule. I’m trying to get everyone on board.”

“Territories. What a terrible idea.” He mumbles, turning to the wall.

Ema and her kids have a color-coordinated military attack. There are statistics and logistics of our military might. From what she tells me, there is even information from the Grigori about the army building in Sheol, they are all colored in red.

My gut coils. Why am I untrustworthy? Dion is on our side. He fights against the Darkness. Doesn’t he?

“Why is it a bad idea?”

He shifts along, reading. Would Dion know Old Norse? He’s Erelim, it’s possible he’s knows every language there is. “Elders are egotistic. You give them power, they will use it against you.” He tells me off handedly. “Unless you have the power to stop them.”

“You make it seem like they are unreasonable.”

He chuckles, glancing over at me with a glint shining in his brown eyes. “You’re catching on, krasnyy.”

Dion heads on into the kitchen and I follow him, clenching a chair to the dinner table. He checks the fridge for something to drink but it only makes me angry. If Tymician was a liar who never needed a cup of water or bite to eat, then Dion doesn’t need it either. He’s deceiving me too. I won’t continue to be fooled. I will learn these Elders before they manage to kill me.

“I heard you got close to Kyla.”

He takes a swig out of the milk carton. “I almost had her too. Unforeseeable, what happened next.”

“Erelim Elder Ariel arrived.”

“Yes. A pleasure, as always.”

I can see it, despite his attempt to cover it up. “You’re angry.”

His eyes drift over me. My victory is demolished by such a glance and I unconsciously take a step back, unsure what I’ve done.

He takes one more sip from the gallon and sets it down on the glass table. Wiping his mouth, he moves out to the pool deck. I follow but I keep a wise distance. I have the distinct feeling I’m in the presence of a unhinged lion and I’m simply waiting for him to swipe his massive claws at my face.

“You’re a good kid, Felix.” He breaks the silence with his usual demeanor and it instantly relieves my weariness. “But kids like you die, so quickly.” He looks over his shoulder with a smile, “It’s your honesty.”

I step back as he turns towards me.

He laughs, “I won’t hurt you, krasnyy. You’re Ty’s lad. And though in the future, you may question my loyalty, Tymician raised me. I will protect you when I can.”

I’ve had a sense he’s been betraying me for a while and now I’m certain of it. I stupidly look around for a weapon but what chance do I have against an Erelim? “Why are you searching for Kyla?”

“You asked me too, as I recall. To save your Soul and Eric’s.”

“Why does Lucius need her?”

“How should I know?”

My fingers curl into tights fists. “Do all Elders lie as well as you?”

He chuckles through tight lips. The action itself is forced. He steps along the concrete and only stops when we stand shoulder to shoulder. “There’s that honesty. Not all of us are as forgiving, krasnyy. Remember that.”

I grip his bicep, which is impeccably large and I barely hold a third of it. “Why’d you come here?”

Dion turns his head, his long brown hair twisting with the movement. “I got wind of an assination attempt on your life. There’s a body on Second street that you might want to clean up before the neighbors see it. But I see you’ve got ample protection. I’ll leave you to it.” He shrugs out of my hold.

I hear the screen door slam but even then, I’m frozen where I stand. I don’t know what happened between us. I always trusted Dion since the day I met him. What’s different?

Am I changing? Am I finally seeing the world as I should have viewed? Am I looking beyond the veil Tymician set in front of my eyes and finally noticing the polluted pool that Elders and the world actually live in?

Or is it Dion? Is he tearing away the mask he’s lived behind, the easy fun-loving guy he’s been for as long as I’ve known him and allowing me to see the jutting anger that boils inside of him?

“Felix?” Tessa whispers from Miley’s balcony. “Who was that scary man? I’ve seen him before.”

“Where are the kids?” When she shrugs, I bulldoze through the house. “Ema! Ox! Liddy!”

“We’re here.” I here Ema’s tentative murmur. Ten of them group together in front of Tymician’s office, wide-eyed and frightened. She keeps her hands latched onto Liddy, the smallest and youngest of the group, a little blond girl of six. “He’s gone?”

“He’s gone. Where did you go?”

“The tunnel.” She points to the back of the room where a wall length mirror lies. Beyond that lies the underground tunnel that stretches beneath Bear Valley. I hardly use it, I actually forgot it was there.

“It’s made of steel and has the magics of the Iyana. He can’t sense us there.”

“Why are you afraid of him?”

Her brows knit, “He’s the ruler of Tiya.” When she sees my confusion, she forces, “Tiya hunts down all types of exceptional Souls. They have a prison full of Specials, Pure Souls, Peris, Titans, anything they can get their hands on. They’re killers.”

“Clan Tiya is as old as Kio. It’s a founding clan. Why would the Ruling allow them to exist if they do stuff like that?”

“Because the Ruling wants us too.”

—

Everything I learned about the world is beginning to crumble. I was raised to believe in the equal balance of good and evil. I was taught that love and hate work together, like a push and pull of gravity. But the reality is becoming uglier.

Ema’s little feet show up in my peripheral. “If you’re wondering if it gets worse, Felix, it gets a lot worse.”

I look down at her. The sun shines bright and she only seems positive with a jubilant grin. “How can you be so calm about it all?”

“There are good things out there. Ice cream. Candy.”

I smirk, cackling. “You are unbelievable.”

“Thanks.”

I can’t be as positive as she is. Everything Tymician taught me is a lie and I don’t know what to do now. “Dion said Tymician wanted to mold me. Is that all I am? A clay doll? Worse yet, I’m an unfinished clay doll.”

“I don’t know what Tymician wanted. All I know is what he saw in you. And it wasn’t clay.”

I rest my hand on the top of her head, “You get smarter everyday.”

She bats at my hand and I lift her up, spinning her and twisting the small swell of her body. Her laughter and squeals bring out the barrage of children and I’m tackled on my front porch.

I look toward Liddy. She hugs her pink blanket tight to her chest watching the festivities with doe eyes, blue and large. Her blond hair pins to the back of her head, unkempt. I manage to get out of the pile and wipe her up off her feet. But I’m thrown off guard when she starts screaming and kicking. I nearly drop her as I put her back down and she runs inside.

Ema rests a hand on my shoulder. “Her father killed her. Don’t take it personally.”

I get up off my knees staring at the door. It’s hard connecting with Peris. They’re children and no matter how much they want to be seen as adults, they’re not. They have the personalities of kids. They may be smart, knowledgeable of things that I don’t even know about, but when it comes down to it, they want to be taken care of.

However, they are still Fallen and we are no different. “My father killed me too.” I murmur thoughtlessly.

“You gonna let me in?” A voice yells across the yard, “Or do I gotta sit out here with the garden gnomes?”

Miley and Meryl rush down the sidewalk with aggravation boiling on their twin brows, “Don’t even bother. She’s insufferable!” They pound up the stairs and are gone with no more explanation.

I hurry to the gate, peeking through the iron bars. Disheveled and slightly underdressed, Elisa presses her face in between the poles. She pouts with a puffed lip, looking up at me with large round eyes. The look would be award winning if mascara wasn’t smeared across her eyelashes. I’ve asked her to come to Bear Valley to protect my wards and myself since Phil left. She seemed the only one that wouldn’t turn me down. But she may be the worst person for the job as I look at her now.

“It’s hot.” She whines.

“Like you feel heat.”

She beams. “You got me.”

I open the door for her and she saunters in, whistling, “Big place. You must have money.” She throws her tangled hair over her shoulder to look back at me. “Buy me a car and I’ll forget how short you are.”

I don’t even realize Eric is there until he forces the gate from my hand. He chuckles, holding her large suitcase, “Be careful of that, mate. She’s a bit off her trolley.”

“So!” She heaves up the steps spinning around to look down at us. It’s obvious she does it on purpose, if only to express the bounty of her breasts and the length of her naked legs. “If I’m going to live here, I want the house to be blue.”

“What? No, Elisa, let’s go inside and talk.”

“I like it out here.”

“It’s too bloody hot.” Eric complains climbing around her. “I’ve been charting this tote around, listening to this slapper. Now, I’ma phone my girl, and take her out. Any problems with that?” He glances back.

I shake my head, surprised by his assertiveness.

“Brill. Cheers.”

Ema latches onto the door as he dashes up the living room stairs. She grins, meeting Elisa with a brave hand. “Hi! I’m Ema.”

Elisa stares at Ema for a full thirty seconds before she shakes her head, “Nope.” And she shoves past me heading for the exit.

“Where are you going?”

“I didn’t sign up for that.” She sticks a cigarette between her lips, hustling down the sidewalk.

I clamp a strong hand on the gate, keeping it shut. She struggles against it, leaving the burning cig in her lips as she latches two hands and shakes the door with brutal aggravation.

Resigning, she blows putrid smoke into my face. “You’re an idiot.” She points two fingers at me, spinning on her foot. “I’m a new Elder and you give me the Eastern seaboard. You took Morgantown away from Veronica and when she finds out about it, she’s going to be furious. You are messing with a chain of command that’s had its feet buried in these lands for thousands of years.”

“You going to tell me my place too? Because I’m getting really tired of people telling me shit.”

Her eyes widen and her tirade ends abruptly.

“I don’t need a lecture. I didn’t want to be here but I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. So are you going to stick around? Because I am messing with the chain of command. I thought you might like to help me with that.”

She takes in a long drag, letting it burn the paper deep into the center. “You are adorable. I’ll follow you anywhere, cuteness.” She spins on her heel. “I’ll be taking that room. Send up a bottle of whiskey and prepare my bath.”