SHAMSHIEL Cain slumped over, his body falling forward, arm outstretched to where Verity’s body lay. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing it to be a nightmare, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Angelic tears leaked around my lashes as I forced my eyes open. Cain’s eyes were closed, his mouth pressed into a thin line, the rise and fall of his chest steady. For a fleeting moment I was jealous of him, that he was missing some of this hell on Earth. A scream simmered in my chest, bubbling up and up before forcing its way out of my mouth unbidden. Throwing my head back it burst forth, a scream like none I had ever heard before. It thundered across the barren battlefield and those remaining froze in place at my cry. I was powerless to stop it, this vocal manifestation of my pain as my heart broke into shards and stabbed at my very soul. “Any last words, Shamshiel?” Baraqiel asked, the sword in his hand dripping blood. Verity’s blood. The crimson color trickling down the light metal in slowly r
CAINI let my rage wash over me as I roared my fury to the sky, hoping that God himself would hear it. Verity’s dead body lay not too far from me, and when I came to, her glassed over eyes had been the first thing I had seen. As I stared into their depths I felt my heart break all over again, my teeth grinding in rage. I sprang up and searched for the first enemy I could find. It just happened to be Penemue, Shamshiel currently busy with Baraqiel. With a shout I rammed into the asshole, taking him to the ground easily. He kicked me off him, the blunt force to my gut causing my breath to burst from my lungs. I rolled onto my side before struggling up, I knew I was in bad shape, but my adrenaline was pumping and my anger simmering just below the surface; so I kept going. The monster in me was out for blood. Like a wraith my dark soul shrouded me as I sized the angel up. Penemue was no weakling, but he wasn’t me. I was physically stronger than most, and had a huge advantage. After all, t
CAIN The fucking angel was heavier than I had anticipated. Or maybe it was that I was just that weakened. Whatever it was hauling his feathered ass across the desolate landscape to the nest was a bigger undertaking than I had imagined. I could feel his life beating out of him in time to his heart, the bond between us slowly growing fainter. Castor would be our only hope, but I had to get him there first. Shamshiel was trying to hide the extent of his injuries from me, and he was succeeding; at least outwardly. If it weren’t for the bond I wouldn’t know how bad they were, but I did. I also knew he had no interest in living anymore, something I felt as well. At least he could die. Jealousy tore through me at the thought. Never before had I hated my curse from God as much as at this moment, wishing that I could die. With Verity, for the first time in my ridiculously long life I hadn’t viewed my immortality as a curse. Instead I was happy to be able to spend all of Verity’s days with h
CAIN Never in my stupid long life had I anticipated feeling so many emotions at once. Sadness, panic, fear, anger; it was all boiling inside of me in a cacophony of emotions that was about to erupt. Yet it couldn’t, as I felt Shamshiel’s life end Liam and Cassie attacked, yelling at me to run. So I did. I ran until I thought my chest would explode, as fast as my battered legs could move, while hauling the newly dead body of an angel. I remember back then, back then before my world ended. Before Verity was in my life, when I thought I had nothing more to lose. When the worst thing that had happened was that God had cursed me, how naive to think that things wouldn’t get worse. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been true. While Shamshiel and I didn’t see eye to eye a lot, and were opposites down to our bones, he had been the first one to give me a home to go to. As my chest tightened I remembered my time wandering the Earth, what I had endured for centuries. Always on the fringes o
LIAM Cassi and I had seen Cain make off with Shamshiel. While the fighting had slowed as most everyone was either dead or in no condition to fight. Cassi and I weren’t exactly in stellar shape ourselves, but we were managing, barely. However when we saw Cain gently place the angel on Kokabiels bloody wings and head off we knew we had to follow. Shamshiel looked bad, hell he made bad look good; and Cain wasn’t far behind him. We decided to tail them at a distance to ensure they arrived safely, we knew they had a target on their backs. Thankfully that had been the right choice as Cain was stopped by two Nephilim, a male and female. Both the Nephilim had clearly not been part of the battle, they looked fresh and way too clean; and Cain was definitely no match for them. Not in this state at least. Cassi looked at me and I nodded, we would have to intervene; it was the last thing I could do for Verity. “Run Cain!” She yelled as we surged forward from our hiding place. Cain’s eyes went w
CAINI felt the bond sever the moment Shamshiel took his last breath. It felt like my heart had a bitch of a cramp, not like the searing pain when Verity’s was snuffed out. This was quieter, subtle, just like the man himself. Leave it to the damn angel to try to sneak out of this life without me. Anger and rage poured out from my throat, my head angled back at the sky, the spines of Kokabiel’s wings slipping from my hands and slamming onto the ground. It just wasn’t fair, why did he have to die? Why wasn’t it me? I wanted to die, why, why was he taken instead? Hearing my raw screams the angels Shamshiel had left to guard the nest came flying quickly. After all, I was maybe a half mile away at this point and this asshole had the audacity to die on me. The sound of wings ripping through the air assaulted me right before I took a forearm to the throat. A croaking noise came from me and the breath was forced from my throat, the angel glanced down before realizing who I was and promptly dr
CAIN No one at the nest had been happy about my appearance, again their instincts warned them to stay away, that I was dangerous. They skirted me warily, all except the infuriating angel. I didn’t require much, a place to lay my head and the basics, as such I had been given a room close to the training area. It worked out well, I was able to unleash my violent tendencies there without harming anyone. My room was plain, cavern like, a pallet and not much else. Shamshiel had recognized my inherent need to wander as well, and made use of that. Sending me on longer missions either by myself or with a small group of Nephilim. Over the centuries his offspring got used to me, to my curt personality and rough ways. Eventually they would come to spar with me, and Shamshiel would sometimes watch, a smug smile on his face like he’d done me a favor. In a sense he had, the gaping hole that had been eating away at my soul was slowly closing. It wasn’t exactly a friendship, but whatever it was it w
LIAM THREE YEARS LATER I looked out the office window, drinking in the mostly barren landscape but pleased to note several small looking saplings, their greenery a welcome sight. The attack on us three years ago had turned out to be widespread, from the Officials and fallen that were aligned with them. Their goal had been to wipe out the things in their way. Mainly us and the “friendly” angels. Of course women were to be taken captive, with the goal of procreating. As in all wars the humans were divided, many defected, choosing to join the side they thought was winning. Our base had gone down significantly in number, but now that the Officials were no more and the fallen aligned with them were mostly gone we could focus on repair. The remaining opposing forces had fled, and once we had regrouped we hunted them down like the dogs they were. Eliminating the angels and Nephilim, and jailing the humans who came willingly. As the years passed we dealt with them on a case by case situation