Shadow after shadow I shoot at him but he cocoons himself in darkness and none hit their mark. I breathe heavily. All I can do is fight with shadows. My fire would have no effect on another demon.
“I know you care for her but this is a losing fight. You are no match for me. How can you hope to defeat me?”
I teleport above him but he swats me away like a fly.
“You’re not even a demon anymore.”
I growl and send a wall of black shooting at him. It staggers him and I slide in for another attack but he sidesteps and wraps his fingers around my throat. I teleport away before he crushes my larynx.
“If you were, you would have ravaged her soul and left her broken and hollow.”
I can’t keep this up. I’m out of breath and energy. Kest is older and stronger. He’s right; I can’t beat him. Before I can attack again, he teleports and slams me to the ground. My head smacks against the concrete and I slither away.
“I’ll finish what you couldn’t. I’ll use up all her light and when she is just an empty husk then I’ll kill her and send her soul to hell where it will writher and scream for all eternity.”
“No,” I croak.
“No? What say do you have?”
He catches me by the leg; shadows lift me up only to slam me down against the floor. My ribs crack and I cough up blood. The pain sweeps over me and threatens to knock me out but I have to stay awake. I have to for Natalie. Kest places his foot on my chest and presses down. More blood comes up.
“Lower the shadows, you can’t beat me.”
Blackness creeps in and I fight to breathe; my lung is punctured though and I’ve hit the concrete too many times. My healing can’t keep up with the trauma. I won’t be able to fight it much longer. I’ll fail. My shadows will fail. I won’t even be with her for the end. I’m sorry, Natalie. I tried. Love wasn’t enough.
Somewhere far away I hear a voice.
“He might not be able to beat you but I can.”
As the voice speaks, the pressure is lifted and I can breathe a little better.
“What are you?” I can hear Kest’s panicked voice ask. I struggle against the fog, trying to see who has him so scared.
“Just a human,” says the voice. “A human who made a deal.”
No.
I fight the pain and turn my head. Natalie stands before Kest, blue fire dripping from her finger tips, a vacate look in her now too bright eyes, and burning off to the side with blue fire, the remnants of my shadows that were keeping her safe.
No.
“You won’t hurt anyone, ever again,” she says.
The fire that drips from her hands spreads out, forming a circle around Kest. Natalie raises her arms and the flames grow higher. Kest stands still in shock. His eyes look scared. Slowly, she brings her hands together and the ring grows smaller and smaller until her hands come together like she’s praying. The flames follow suit and converge onto Kest. Howls of pain come from the flames as Kest’s whole being is burned by the holy fire.
No.
I watch as Natalie stands before the flames. Her hands together, still dripping fire, the blue light casting across her face, and tears streaming down her cheeks. After a minute the screams stop and she separates her hands, bringing them to her sides. The flames extinguish, leaving nothing of Kest behind. She turns towards me, water pooling in her grey eyes that are glowing because of the fire inside of her.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
No.
Her eyes close and she collapses onto the floor.
“No!” I scream.
I teleport to her, my injuries forgotten. I cradle her. Her body is so cold, like she’s made of ice. I search with my hands and my ears to find a pulse but there’s nothing. Only stillness. Only silence. I sit in the silence; the dead silence, until dawn breaks outside and I’m no longer surrounded by light and darkness, but just different shades of light.
Something rustles in the rafters and I tense, ready to fight and defend. Defend what though? There was nothing left to protect. My eyes stare straight ahead. Bare feet come into view along with white pants and the tips of white wings.
“What do you want?” I growl.
“Easy, shadow one,” the angel says, “I’m only here for her. You are safe.”
“What?” I ask, confused. I look up and see the angel’s face. It’s the same one that showed up at Natalie’s house.
“I’m here for Natalie. Our deal must be fulfilled.”
“You,” I say accusingly. “She made a deal with you.”
“That is correct.”
“What was it?”
“We would give her the power to vanquish the demon threatening to kill her and her loved ones. Also she wanted no action to come against you.”
I gritted my teeth.
“In exchange for what?”
“In exchange, she would become an angel.”
No.
“You can’t do that to her!”
“The deal has already been made. You have no say in it.”
“Did she know? Did she know what she was agreeing to?”
“We explained everything clearly to her, she still agreed to the terms.”
Of course she did, because Natalie was a Sacrificer. She would do anything to help the people she loved; even if it meant giving up eternal peace to fight an eternal war. As an angel she would fight until either there is no more fighting to be done or until she is killed.
“Don’t you guys have enough warriors?”
“Soldiers are always welcome.”
In other words, they were running low on fighters and looking to recruit. Maybe heaven wasn’t doing so well and that’s why Kest said the boss wanted to make waves in the system of things.
“What will happen to her?”
“I will collect her body and soul to be prepared for transformation.”
“What does that mean?”
“Her memory and mind will be wiped, made clean to be filled with the Lord’s will.”
“She won’t remember anything? Who she was will be gone?”
“That is correct.”
Angels have no emotions. They are vessels for orders and salvation. All those emotions Natalie felt so strongly and purely, gone. Her life and memories, gone. Her family and friends, gone. Me, gone.
“I won’t let you have her.”
“You would go against your love’s wishes?”
“I-”
“This is what she wanted. This is what she chose. You can die here to defy them or if you are victorious then you keep her soul trapped, in nothingness because as soon as it enters heaven, it is ours.”
She was right. Even if I won in my condition, I couldn’t bring Natalie back. I could try and keep her from becoming an angel but was being trapped in a limbo any better? Natalie had made her deal and I wouldn’t go against it. I loved her too much.
“Okay.”
I look at Natalie one last time, rememorizing everything about her. I stand up, cradling her in my arms. Her body is cold and stiff. Natalie is gone. I place her in the angel’s arms and kiss her forehead.
“Goodbye, my love.”
The angel nods and wraps her wings around herself, concealing Natalie. I blink and they are gone.
Silence.
I listen to the silence and for the first time in my life my eyes fill with water instead of fire.
Epilogue
(5 months later)
Natalie’s funeral was beautiful. All her family was there. They were devastated and they all mourned her loss while celebrating her life. None of them doubted that she was happy in heaven. I had spun a story for the family about how she died and why there wasn’t a body. I told them there had been a fire. I actually had to burn her house for it. It was a lame cover up and it made no sense but I used my powers to help push them to accept it. Well, except for Grandma Pam. Pam couldn’t be fooled so I told her the truth. I think it gave her peace knowing that she
had died taking out a demon. I kept Natalie’s fate of becoming an angel to myself though. It would do no good for her to know that part.
After the angel took her, I went home. Like always, Shadow knew. Leo though was anxious and confused for weeks. He meowed and paced constantly. Eventually, I think he realized what happened because he has calmed down. He’s not relaxed like he used to be when Natalie was alive but I can only hope it comes with time. He sticks close to Shadow and I think Shadow likes having him around. Leo keeps him company while I hunt.
Turns out Kest kept my indiscretions to himself. After no one came for me I made a trip down below and everything was fine. Kest was considered missing, likely killed but there were no leads besides it probably being an angel. The region had lost its overseer though and a replacement was needed. Thanks to my exemplary record, I was offered the position and I decided to take it.
I took it because it was expected of me. Every demon wants to move up in the ranks; it would be a red flag if I had turned it down. But a part of me worried I just didn’t have it in me anymore to make deals. Being the region overseer meant I was the go between the demons and hell. I could make deals if I wanted but I was kept busy keeping demons in line, smoothing over incidents, and transferring demons between locations when the time came. I was doing the paperwork while the others dug the ditches so to speak.
After a while I asked if I could start a new project. One that I hoped would benefit hell and its wants. It wasn’t a hard sell, my higher ups readily agreed and put me in charge of the project and gave me unlimited resources. That’s what I was working on now. Reports from across the world were spread out all over my table. A huge map was tacked to my wall. Two colors of tacks were stuck to it; yellow for possible, green for confirmed. I called it ALT. Short for Angel Location Tracking, and it was going to lead me straight to Natalie.
Note from the author:
Thank you for reading my book. I’m very proud of this book and hope it and its characters touched your heart in some way. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please consider taking a moment to leave a review or getting in touch with me; I’d love to hear what you thought of it.
Thanks!
Tiffany Allen
About the author:
Tiffany Allen is a long time book lover of 21 years. She was born and raised in Oregon but spent her high school years, plus a few more, in Alaska before moving back to Oregon. She spends most of her time reading, writing, taking pictures, running a vlog, and enjoying time with her loving dog, August. Softest Shadow is her second published novel and she plans to have many more.
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