Which ended up saving my life.
I was already on edge and so when the hit came out of nowhere I was already prepared to fight.
Just as we were back in the troposphere and closing in on Earth, something dark and Lightless came at my side. The other Warrior wrapped his bulking arms around my waist and dove for the ground.
The moment we broke formation, I could feel my parent’s heat at our feet. They were pursuing us in our soundless spiral, but this guy was freaking fast!
I couldn’t sense Jupiter, since he didn’t have a Light or heat to track him with but I hoped he could keep up with this.
I immediately assumed Seth was my attacker. Maybe it was the Council talking about him so ominously or that I had reached a point now that I always assumed the worst of him, I didn’t know. Either way, it was abruptly apparent that my attacker was not Seth.
And that’s when the fear finally started to kick in.
Even when Seth was at his most brutal, I still believed that I could talk him out of anything life-altering… like killing me.
Death was definitely life-altering.
But this guy was not Seth and he was nose-diving for the ground at the speed of sound.
I doubled my efforts to fight back, but his grip around my waist was iron-tight. His chest was to my back, successfully trapping my sword between our bodies. My parents’ presence disappeared and I knew we were alone. He was faster than my parents.
How was that possible?
He picked up speed the closer we got to the ground. Cold air rushed over my brightened, fiery form and warred with the intense heat of my Light.
He had attacked me at just the right moment. We had slowed down significantly to enter Earth’s stratosphere and my body had begun to solidify again. I wasn’t pure Light anymore, but a substantial being made out of Light.
We always had to take on a tangible form to fight, but we traveled as raw Light to move faster. He got me just as my body had started to become human again and I couldn’t just reverse the process without starting the entire planet on fire.
Luckily for me, I had been in this position once before… the night Seth sold his soul.
Scenery flashed by me and I tried to get my bearings for where we were or what kind of landscape we would be crashing into, but nothing made sense going this fast.
In seconds it didn’t matter where we were, the ground was just a few yards away and we were coming in so fast. I waited until the very last second I could and then burst out into as much of an insubstantial being as I could. I felt the heat explode from me and just prayed there weren’t any people around.
Now that I wasn’t as solid as he had counted on, I twisted in his arms and had him grappling to hold on to me. We both spun midair and by the time we crashed into the hard ground, I had the advantage of being on top.
Compacted dirt and solid rocks exploded around us as our impact dug into the side of a mountain. Pain sliced through every inch of my skin and my head hit something unbelievably hard that did not shatter even with the force and speed of my landing.
It was nighttime again on Earth, but two weeks later than when we left. Traveling at light speed and utilizing the wormholes had allowed us to only be gone for six hours, but time had continued on at a normal pace here on planet.
My head spun and spotted as I tried to figure out where I was and if I’d broken any bones. I pulled myself into sitting and pushed out of the thick crater my body created. The guy that had sabotaged my landing lay in a crumpled heap a few feet away. He’d taken the brunt of our fall and even though I knew that wasn’t his intention, he should have planned for a stronger fight from me.
Duh.
His fingers twitched and his head lolled back and forth as he tried to get up. His dark Light flickered from gray to black and back again. He was shrouded in that hazy Light that seemed to suck everything else into its gloom.
I grappled for the handle of the broadsword strapped to my back. My fingers didn’t want to close around it at first but I forced them into submission. Struggling with the weight of the weapon, I drew myself up to my knees and willed my muscles to start working again.
Every part of my body felt broken and crushed- especially my skull. My vision blurred and darkened as I struggled to stay conscious. With whatever was left of my strength I slid my weapon from its sheath and swung it with willful precision across the Fallen’s throat.
The sick slice of blade meeting flesh echoed in this indent into a mountainside we’d created. The tip of the sword dragged across the rocky wall behind the Warrior but went through all that flesh, muscle and bone with the ease of a dull knife through warm butter. The kill was fast and expertly executed. The spray of blood expected but not welcome. I didn’t have time to mourn this enemy and the time for interrogation was over.
I stumbled to my feet and spun around. I would figure out where I was and how to get back home just as soon as the world stopped spiraling.
I faced the rocky ledge that led to an endless drop off and a thousand Shadows took flight as if they were birds that I scared. They swooped as one entity up into the air and hovered overhead, undulating in as one unit.
That’s when I saw the other figures standing at the edge of the cliff.
Three more Angels.
I immediately assumed they were my parents and Jupiter come to rescue me just moments too late.
But then they moved and their weapons glinted in the moonlight and slowly I surfaced from the cloud of confusion the fall had forced me into.
Three more Fallen.
And these ones weren’t incapacitated by a fall from space.
I burst into a ball of Light and lifted my sword again. I swayed with the weight of it, but pulled myself together in front of them.
“Ready to die?” one of them asked me. I could hear the sadistic grin that probably painted his ugly face. He was practically thrumming with excitement for this fight and his friends weren’t any better.
“Did you see what I just did to that guy?” I ignored the slight slur to my words and gestured over my shoulder with a wobbly throw of my sword.
“Yeah,” the guy laughed, clearly not taking me seriously.
“Good.” This time I grinned too.
“And why’s that?” They took a menacing step towards me and raised their own swords.
“Because then you know what I’m going to do to you.”
I staggered one more time and did what they hadn’t yet.
I attacked.
Chapter Five
I jumped at the middle guy with sword raised high and fury rushing through my blood.
I didn’t really have any expectations for this fight. I was too confused and too desperate to survive to wonder if I would die or if I even stood a chance. But I was super pissed that I even had to be here. I expected something in the Lower Realm, or on the way there. I had to admit that they’d probably struck at the best time.
Damn it.
All I could focus on was the movement in his arms and the Adam’s apple that stood out on his throat like a blinking beacon, inviting me to cut right through it.
Was that morbid?
Probably. But these people were trying to kill me.
I didn’t have a choice. All higher ways of thinking faded into oblivion and my brain functioned with short synapses of thoughts: Swing sword, dodge blow, aim for throat, cut off head.
I was basically a caveman with the deadliest kind of club.
My sword came down and clashed with his. Immediately I knew I had the better weapon. His metal wobbled beneath the force of my hit and it was because of more than just my strength. My muscles were puny compared to these guys.
As soon as our blades connected, I threw myself back to the ground. My back hit sharp, jagged rocks, but the two other Fallen had both swung out and missed. Their arms flew wildly when they didn’t connect with anything solid and they bumbled into each other.
I hopped back to my feet and crouched low. Be
fore they could disentangle, I reached out and sliced through the guy to my right’s leg. The blade went just as easily through his thigh as it had the other neck. He fell over with a scream of agony.
From my crouched position, I jumped high into the air, flipped over the other two guys and landed by the incapacitated Fallen. Before I could feel any empathy or tsunami of regret rising inside me, I raised my sword and brought it swiftly across his jugular. I closed my eyes against the splatter of thick, crimson blood and then tucked and rolled away from another attack.
When I came to my feet again and faced the two remaining Fallen, my head roared like a freight train at top speed and my grip on the sword weakened.
I jerked to the right and they doubled in front of me as my vision blurred. Or almost doubled. For a second, it seemed like another man had appeared behind them.
I shook my head out and lunged forward. My first swing was clumsy and useless. The Fallen swatted it away easily. My second attack had more control behind it but my arms had started to burn under the weight of the sword and the trauma of my crash. He parried me easily and I attacked again. I feinted right and twirled around to come in left.
He just barely caught my blade before it sluiced down across his neck. He pushed me back and did his own intricate footwork in an attempt to confuse me. If I had been completely with it, it probably would have worked, but he faked too quickly and my brain couldn’t keep up with him.
If he wouldn’t have tried to trick me and just followed through, I would be the one that was headless.
However, that wasn’t what happened. And I got a little bit lucky.
He lunged forward to fake a low hit and then pulled back to strike high. I went in at the same time and lunged low. I didn’t try for the kill strike, instead, I aimed for his belly. He came down with his weapon but instead of his blade finding me, it was his fists that clocked me in the temple. My sword sunk into his belly at the exact same time and we both fell to the ground.
I had been surprised by his hit and my arms were holding the sword now plunged deep into his gut so the momentum carried me over and I hit my head, again, on the unforgiving, rocky ground.
He fell back at the same time and lost control of his weapon. The sword clattered over the edge of the cliff. I couldn’t actually hear the sound of the metal hitting stone over the rushing, violent wind from this altitude, but I imagined it in my darkening head.
Once I landed on the ground, that was it for me. I knew that I was slowly fading but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I tried to convince my hands to pull the blade from my enemy’s belly and use it across his neck or he would be up again in no time. And I would be the one that ended up without a head.
His kind of wound wasn’t fatal unless I finished the job. He would most likely heal first and finish me. He was older, stronger and in control of all his powers.
I was so dead unless I could get to his neck.
I screamed this at myself inside my head but my body refused to respond. I was on full shutdown mode at this point; there wasn’t anything left I could do.
Just before my vision went completely black, I saw his friend walk over- just the outline of a shadowed body, but it couldn’t be anybody else because we were alone on this cliff. My parents hadn’t found us yet and I doubted they could at this point. The friend seemed to be just fine.
And also vaguely familiar.
My eyes fluttered closed and I let the unconsciousness sweep me away. It was like a tidal wave that crashed over me and pulled me immediately under.
I couldn’t fight it, so I didn’t even try.
Just one niggling thought followed me into the dark abyss and that was the vision of the friend dropping his blade across the other Fallen. The vision of it happening replayed over and over and over in my spinning thoughts, but it was too fast for me to decide if it was reality or the wishful thinking of dreams.
Would I be next?
Would the sword find my throat next?
I would have to wait until I woke up to find out.
****
Consciousness came back slowly at first and then in a sudden rush of reality. I winced at the force of it, at the weight of the world dumping itself on me all at once.
So, not dead then.
I blinked up into the dark expanse of the sky and felt a heady infusion of déjà vu. I was like this just hours ago, staring up into the vastness of space and waiting to join them.
What had happened since then?
Oh, right.
The Council. The botched reentry to Earth. And the cliff-side battle.
I had killed once. Maybe twice. Was it possible I killed three times? Maybe not? Probably not. I couldn’t figure it out. My brain hurt whenever I tried to use it.
I let out a groan of frustration when I couldn’t figure out where I was. My arms and legs itched, tickled and felt uncomfortably damp all at the same time. I had the horrifying thought that my dress was completely ruined and I was lying in a field utterly naked, but I patted my stomach and felt fabric.
Whew.
It was probably ripped and charred to shreds, but at least all the important parts were covered. My clothes could be protected in flight because of how my body heated supernaturally. It was like my skin, hair and everything I wore absorbed into some magical force field. My dress became part of me and when I returned to human, so did the dress.
Not human. It returned to its dress state.
But crashing into the side of a mountain protected nothing. The dress was as much a casualty of war as I was.
I couldn’t even be sure I would survive this night. The dress probably had zero chance.
Finally, I felt coherent enough to take in my surroundings. A fire blazed a few feet away from me in a pit dug out in a sanded area. It was a legit fire pit… like something premade from a campground.
But that didn’t make sense.
I kept scanning the area on my back until I found the hulking figure on the other side of the fire. He sat on the ground too, with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms wrapped casually around them.
He looked huge like that- so packed with muscle and virility that I thought I would swallow my tongue. His amber eyes watched me intently as the flames blazed between us. I felt, more than saw, a muscle tick in that chiseled jaw.
So now I had to ask myself… had Seth been part of the trio? Had he been sent to kill me?
Or had he rescued me?
I was afraid to ask him. I didn’t really feel up for another fight and I didn’t want to set him off. Although, by the looks of it, I already had.
“Hey,” I tried to speak. I had been hoping for soothing and gentle, but what I got was a croaking frog sound that didn’t even resemble human.
“Hey.” His one-word response was enough to tell me that this was not the good version of Seth. This was not the man that had my best interest at heart or thought deeply about the eternal consequences of hurting me.
This was his Mr. Hyde version.
This was The Hulk.
This was the side of him that was so angry and hurt that if I had to guess what was going through his head right now, I would say, a thousand different ways to kill me with his bare hands.
I pushed up to my elbows and double-checked my dress again. Check. All the girly bits were covered. I squinted against the fire and tried to take in more of Seth, but blinding pain stabbed me between the eyes instead.
I flopped back to the ground and groaned again. When I found the strength to open my eyes, Seth hovered above me. His hands cradled my head and he pulled me up so that I was half in his lap.
“Are you alright?” he asked in a growly voice. His hands trembled against the back of my head and his face had turned into a hardened mask. He had that fuzzy aura around him again.
He was fighting the Darkness but I could tell that it took its toll on him.
“What happened?” I asked him.
“You were attacked. I told you it would happen.”
/>
“That you did,” I tried to smile but I couldn’t make my face move. My body had started to heal but it wasn’t happening fast enough. Shoot. “I probably should have listened.”
He had definitely warned me, but to be fair, I had expected something to happen in the Lower Realm. Waiting until I returned was… genius. Stupidly genius.
Especially after that waste-of-my-time trip.
“You have to be smarter than your enemy, Stella. I won’t always be able to save you.” His fingertips pressed into the back of my skull. My sensitive head screamed against the added pressure but I recognized his struggle and chose to stay quiet. I needed to tread carefully right now.
“That’s what I have you for.” I reached up and rubbed the palm of my hand along his roughened jaw. He hadn’t shaved in a while. And while he was nowhere near mountain man status yet, he still had a healthy growth of stubble that covered the lower half of his face. “You’re looking a little worse for wear.”
He closed his eyes at my touch and leaned into me. “I was worried about you,” he whispered. “You were gone for a long time.”
“Light speed,” I reminded him. “I’m sorry you had to wait for me. I’ve really only been gone a couple of hours.”
He shook his head, adamant. “No. You’ve been gone forever.”
I struggled onto my knees so that I could face him. The world tipped to the right and I went with it. Seth caught me around the waist and held me upright. His lips twitched in the corners and I savored the moment that he almost smiled. I missed that.
I missed him smiling.
“I’m here now,” I promised him. “And you owe me ice cream.”
His lips twitched again and then pulled all the way up on one side. My heart hammered in my chest. A half-smile. And I did that.
Tears wet my bottom lashes but I refused to let them fall. It was just that… there was no cruelty in this moment. There was nothing dark about this smile or malicious in his touch.