Angels of the Knights - Fallon (Book One)

Now, she had no choice but to look him in the eye.

  “I like you, Fallon.”

  She snorted. “I think any girl might look good to you right now.” The minute the words left her mouth, she cringed.

  But, he barked out a laugh. “No, that’s not it. I promise. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel like there is something special about you, and I would like to get to know you better.”

  She shook her head. “There’s nothing special about me.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  An Intuit? She still couldn’t decide. “I guess we can be friends,” she told him, intensely aware that his hands were still holding her by the waist.

  “Can friends do this?” He lifted a hand and caressed her cheek. She leaned into the tenderness of his touch without thought. The feel of his hands on her tapped into an emotional well she assumed dried up long ago. A wave of raw need washed over her and she felt her legs weaken. He pulled her face close to his. It’s been so long! Can I really do this? Kiss him? Or, will I screw it up like almost everything else connected to humans?

  When his head bent to hers, it suddenly no longer mattered. Their lips met. Gently at first, and then more insistently as his tongue probed her mouth. He moved the hand around her waist to the small of her back and pulled her in tight against his body. Her own hands came up instinctively to stop him, but of their own free will curled around his neck.

  He let out a moan of pleasure at the same time that the Kur on her arm flared to life. Her head snapped to the side and she pushed him away.

  Her gaze narrowed dangerously at the three guys passing by on the sidewalk in front of her house. She wondered for a brief second if it could be Professor Marc Ellis, but it wasn’t. All three of the men were young.

  “Oh, so this is where Kade went. Getting himself a little piece of our new neighbor,” one of the guys heckled.

  Kade turned around and the anger etched into his features was unmistakable. “Have a little respect, Ethan.”

  Ethan put his hands up. “Hey, I don’t blame you, dude. She’s gorgeous.”

  “Just shut up and keep walking or I’ll be only too happy to help you on your way.” Kade moved down one of the steps of her porch, but Fallon put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

  The other two guys on the street grabbed Ethan’s arms. “Just ignore him, Kade. We’re leaving.”

  Ethan let himself be propelled down the sidewalk, but Fallon noticed that his eyes did not leave hers for half a block.

  “Who is that?” she asked him.

  “Ethan Kiley, my roommate and supposed best friend.”

  “What do you mean supposed?”

  Kade shook his head. “The guy has been acting really weird all day and even the last time he came to visit me in jail. Not like himself at all. I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with him. Maybe he’s having problems at home.”

  He is a Kjin, that is his problem, thought Fallon.

  “Listen, Kade, I really should call it a night.”

  His eyes held disappointment. “Yeah, me too, I guess. School starts tomorrow.” He paused. “I would like to see you again if you’re okay with that.”

  “I…yes, I would like that.”

  “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

  She nodded and went into the house. After closing the door, she ran up the stairs, quickly changed out of her jeans and into black pants and a black hoodie. She slipped the Aventi into her back pocket.

  Oh, how she wished she could just lie in bed and think of Kade’s kiss, think about how good it felt. But, she didn’t have any time to spare.

  She had to go and kill his best friend.

  Chapter 5

  Painful Memories

  Fallon tossed and turned most of the night, listening to the creaks and rattles of the old Victorian, watching the lace curtains billow in and out of the open window. But, it wasn’t just the unfamiliar noises that kept her up. In the darkness, she could deny reality and choose instead to remember how amazing it felt to have Kade kiss her and put his hands on her. In the darkness where no Kjin lurked, she was just a normal girl dreaming about a boy she just met.

  But, now it was light, and it was hard to escape the truth in the light.

  She could never see Kade again.

  It had been foolish and reckless to ever think she could develop a meaningful relationship. Last night, she had only lost herself in Kade for a few moments and a Kjin managed to get within striking distance. Her focus should be on her duty where a single moment of inattention could mean the lives of those she had been entrusted to protect. Darius and the Knights of Emperica put a tremendous amount of time training and honing her skills, and she could not—would not—allow all of their hard work be wasted.

  As if to drive home the point, the two long scars on her shoulder blades began to throb. The wounds where her wings had been removed pained her most mornings. It was at its worse when she first awoke, but lessened to a dull ache as the day wore on.

  The agony of the actual amputation never left her.

  “Turn toward the wall and put your hands in the manacles,” Darius instructed.

  “Is that really necessary?” she asked, suddenly frightened as she stepped into the small room.

  “Yes. I will not lie to you Fallon. The pain will be unlike anything you have experienced and in order to make clean incisions, you must be restrained.”

  With a deep breath, she stepped over to the wall and lifted her hands to the chains that hung from the wall. Another angel locked the irons over her wrists and then secured her ankles in place into metal rings on the floor.

  Darius stepped up behind her, made three expert cuts in her shirt and it fell away from her body leaving her back bare.

  “While this sacrifice is necessary for your chosen path,” Darius informed her, “it is not required by the Creator. It is a choice you must make and should not be made lightly. Are you certain, Fallon, you wish to give up your wings and become a Knight?”

  Fallon had already heard the screams from the other angels. Julian had gone through before her and when he came out, his usual smiling face was ashen and tormented. But, her mind was firm.

  “Yes.”

  Darius didn’t waste any time. A blazing hot thrust stabbed through her wing, and her back arched as she screamed. It felt like he was cutting off her arm! But, white feathers drifted around the floor next to her as the Elder pulled and sawed through her new appendage. Fallon tried to bear the torture in silence, but she couldn’t stem the tide of cries and groans that erupted from her throat. By the time Darius moved to the second wing, she hung listlessly from the manacles, no longer able to stand upright. Mercifully, halfway through the removal of this wing, she blacked out.

  Fallon shuddered. She had only had her wings for a short time, but still missed the blissful energy that emanated from them.

  She stretched her aching shoulder blades again with a soft moan and got out of bed to shower. She just hoped she could leave the house without seeing Kade. Right about now, he and his roommates would be wondering where their friend, Ethan, was and why he didn’t come home last night. She left the body out in the open so he would be discovered quickly. There was no point in prolonging the grief for Ethan’s parents and friends.

  Undressing quickly, she stepped into the hot shower idly wondering why the Kjin picked Ethan. According to Kade, his friend had only started acting differently the past few days so it was a new possession. Did the Kjin simply trade an older body for a younger, healthier one? For some reason, she didn’t think it was that simple. This was the third Kjin operating in this area and it gave her a disquieting feeling that she was missing something crucial.

  Her cell phone rang, so she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel before running back into her room. “Hello.”

  “Good morning, sunshine.”

 
“Julian? I thought you were still sleeping in the next room!”

  “No, I left about an hour ago, but didn’t want to wake you. You sounded like you were having a pretty erotic dream.”

  Heat crept up the sides of her face. “Okay, no more sleepovers for you.”

  He laughed.

  She toweled her hair dry with the phone balanced in the crook of her neck. “Did you have fun at the party?” He had not been home when she returned from dealing with the Ethan Kjin.

  “A gentleman never kisses and tells, Fallon.”

  “Exactly. That’s why I’m asking you.”

  “That hurts.”

  She laughed. “Keep your secrets then, but don’t be such a stranger, okay? Let’s get together again sometime before this year ends.”

  “I’ll try. Be careful, Fallon. Love you, babe.”

  “Love you, too, dork,” she told him and snapped the phone shut. It took several minutes to get all of the snarls out of her long hair and then she just ended up throwing on a baseball cap after she dressed.

  She hefted a backpack that contained a single pen and flew down the old Victorian stairs. It wasn’t like she could have known she’d be attending college when she arrived in Alden.

  She took the time to grab a granola bar out of the cupboard in the kitchen and then walked out the front door. She stopped short on the front stoop when she saw a group of girls passing by on the sidewalk. In her opinion, of all the different types of humans, teenage girls were the closest to Kjin without actually being them. They weren’t evil, of course, they were just…well, mean. Not wanting to get caught up in the mean, Fallon avoided them at all costs.

  She glanced over at the white house next door. Thankfully, Kade was nowhere in sight.

  Tugging her baseball cap down over her eyes, she fell in behind the girls and joined the growing trail of young people making their way to Alden University—a short four-block walk.

  Once she arrived on campus, she found the registration office without difficulty. A long row of students waited to pick up their schedules, so she stood in line with them.

  When she finally made it to the counter, she accepted her schedule from the clerk and was relieved to see Forensic Science typed across the top. At least Father Tomas hadn’t signed her up for something way out of her comfort zone like Engineering. But, in order to have the access she needed at AU, she did have to play the part of a college student and, unfortunately, that meant attending classes.

  She had two that morning and hurried to the first one—Psychology. The Professor was a portly old guy who apparently viewed himself more as a stand-up comedian than a teacher and spent most of the hour and a half telling inappropriate jokes and ribbing his returning students. The Professor of her second class, Biology, could have been speaking a foreign language for all Fallon understood a single word he said.

  Now that the classes were over, she needed to find Professor Ellis’ office so she could start her surveillance and figure out a way to kill the monster.

  She walked back toward the administration wing where she picked up her schedule that morning. The same woman was behind the desk.

  Fallon put a smile on her face. “Hi. I am just wondering where I can find Professor Marc Ellis’ office.”

  The woman raised her eyebrows. “Professor Ellis is not even teaching any classes this semester. Why do you want to speak to him?”

  Crap. She learned early on to avoid drawing attention to herself when asking questions. In and out. One question, one answer. Nothing more. Unfortunately, it was too late now. “Oh, I was just going to interview him for an upcoming project.”

  The woman snorted. “A project already?” She muttered something under her breath about demanding professors, and then waved a hand in the air. “Mr. Ellis’ office is on the second floor of Bartlett Hall, but he’s not there. He won’t be in until Friday.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Fallon said and backed away quickly before the woman had time to remember her face. She pushed out of the building at a quick walk. Intent on searching for Bartlett Hall, she didn’t hear his footsteps behind her, but did smell his spicy soap scent a few seconds before he clasped his hands around her waist.

  Still, she yelped. A high-pitched, girl yelp! One of the most powerful Knights of Emperica just yelped like a schoolgirl.

  “What are you doing?” he asked her.

  “I…I had to talk to the clerk,” she muttered angrily. More at herself than him.

  He took her hand and started to walk. “Come on.”

  She pulled back. “No, Kade, I can’t…I have to…”

  He turned to her, and she noticed that his eyes were rimmed red. “Look, I had some bad news today and just need someone to talk to.”

  “I wish I could, Kade,” she said apologetically.

  “Ethan’s dead.”

  She put a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything. Just be with me. I need you.”

  This was crazy! She had to find out more about Professor Ellis. She had to find a way to stop this Kjin from hurting any more innocent people. Just this morning, she made the decision that she couldn’t see Kade again.

  “Please.”

  The pain in his voice affected her on a visceral level, and her mouth betrayed her head. “Okay,” she said and let herself be pulled away by the force of Kade.

  Chapter 6

  The Guardian

  “I wonder what happens when you die,” Kade wondered aloud as he stared up at the sky with his hands behind his head.

  “You go to heaven.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  “I know so.”

  She saw the corners of his mouth twitch up in a wry grin. “I wish I could be that confident.”

  Fallon reached over and grabbed his hand. “Trust me. I have an inside connection with the big guy.”

  “Do you now?” He turned on his side and propped up on an elbow to look down at her lying in the grass next to him. “Thanks for being here. For a minute there, I didn’t think you would come.”

  She laughed. “You really didn’t give me much of a choice!”

  He gave her a dimpled smile. “No, I didn’t.”

  They had been together for hours now getting to know each other, snuggled in a remote section of Highland Park adjacent to AU, a popular hangout for college kids

  She learned that Kade’s parents lived locally, but he had been out on his own since he was eighteen and joined the local sheriff’s department. He never wanted to do anything other than be a cop, but since that part of his life was over, he enrolled at AU to study Physical Education. He had a younger sister named Chelsea and a dog named Titus. He talked about his friend, Ethan, and she laughed with him as he recalled some of their best childhood pranks.

  Fallon let him do most of the talking and only divulged that she lost her parents and brother to a home invasion some years back and now lived by herself in Buffalo. She actually traveled all over the east coast in her efforts to track the Kjin, but her apartment in Buffalo was her primary residence. She didn’t call it home, because it wasn’t. A home was a place of comfort and memories and love. Buffalo was a place to lay her head at night.

  Because of the criminal nature of her loss, Kade wanted to know more about the incident that took her family from her. “Tell me about the home invasion. Were the perpetrators ever caught?”

  “No.”

  A look of sympathy filled his eyes. “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you. You were so young.”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “That’s why I always wanted to be in law enforcement. To get scum like that off the street. I’m sorry you had to go through that, Fallon.” He reached out and rolled a piece of her hair between his fingers. “You’re very beautiful,” he told her huskily. “But, it’s not just that. There is somethi
ng special about you. I don’t know. You just seem to have this aura around you.”

  “I’m just a girl who likes a boy.” Really? She would have to wear a muzzle if this kept up.

  He reached out and turned her chin so she had to look at him. Desire burned in his eyes. “Now, that’s something I can get used to hearing,” he murmured and lowered his lips to hers.

  It was a sweet, tender kiss but one that ignited a fire raging through her body. More for the intimate emotional connection it forged between them than in physical need. His mouth moved over hers slowly, but left her breathless with the promise it held. She never wanted him to stop.

  “Help! Somebody help me!”

  She jumped to her feet in a flash. Probably a little too fast if the look on Kade’s face was any indication. Fallon sprinted to the sound of the cries.

  “Help! My daughter!”

  A woman waved her arms frantically at one of the scenic areas common in upstate New York that overlooked a large gorge. Fallon rushed to the waist high, cobblestone wall where the woman pointed and looked down. There, thirty feet below, a young child crouched on the edge of a small protrusion in the cliff face.

  The child’s mother lifted a leg to climb over the wall, ready to try and rappel down herself.

  Fallon grabbed her arm before she fell, too. “No, let me. I have some skill in rock climbing.”

  The terrified woman hesitated, apparently unsure whether she wanted to put the fate of her daughter in the hands of such a young girl. Something in Fallon’s face must have convinced her because she scrambled back over the wall. “Are you sure? Can you save her?”

  Fallon nodded. “I can.”

  Kade caught up to her. “Boy, you’re fast. What’s going on?”

  “There’s a little girl stuck in the gorge. I’m going to go down and get her.” She ignored his look of disbelief. “Can you find a rope or something that I can tie around her waist? Then, you can pull her back up.”

  “What? No! You’re not going over that wall! I’ll go.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’ll need your strength to pull us up after I get down there. Don’t worry. I’ve done this before. Just get me the rope before that little girl falls.”

  She actually wasn’t worried about the child in the least. She had already seen the glow of the guardian angel next to her.