Fallen Angel

Chapter 15: Brannon

Luca had found himself a couple of playmates for the beginning of our night. My usual was to drink my sorry ass into oblivion before slinking back home. We were in one of the private booths which weren't as private as the name would suggest. A sheer cloth around the booth was not private.

We sat on cushions on the floor in a u shape, a low table in the centre. Alcohol infused blood flowed freely for the turned vampires, for the born ones like Luca it was alcohol-infused feeders. And said feeders were giggling at his attention. I sank back another glass of whiskey, wondering how many it would take to make me forget the pain of my reality. She wasn't interested in me, I was just a job. But I knew that I wanted her, I wanted so much more than just yesterday and today.

Do I follow my heart and risk my world or do I listen to my father and be doomed to a mediocre love at some point in the future?

"Aww, look at Bran." Luca pouted. "The poor thing has been lied to by a girl."

He grinned as he turned to the woman on his right, the fangs glistened in the light that shone from the tea light on the table.

"Maybe he needs to get out to there and find himself a chicky, forget about his angel."

The woman on his left smiled at me, the one on his right was more enamoured by Luca as he twirled a lock of her hair in his finger.

"If you wanted privacy you should have gone to the bathroom like everyone else." I returned, getting to my feet.

I ignored Luca's chuckle, pushing through the soft white cloth and into the poorly lit aisle. There were a dozen rooms on each side of the wood path, a little deck that ran the length of the room. I followed it out to the main section where the majority of the vampires were.

Here they danced and drank, listening to music. Sometimes it would be a live band, sometimes it would be a DJ, tonight it was karaoke. Strangely though, the music was playing softly but there was no one singing. I looked at the back wall where the screen was, the words still floating across it. None of it made sense until I saw the crowd had turned to the doorway, something had caught their attention.

It was then that I felt her, the divine presence of an angel. Cutting through the thick crowd, I made my way to the doors and saw Emily surrounded by hungry vampires.

"Back away," I growled.

The vampires looked at me with defiance which was not surprising. To them, she smelled like the best meal they had ever had and would ever have. Determinately I walked to her and staked my claim over her, I don't know if it would work but it's all I had.

"Mine, leave now or I will drag you to hell."

Some held fear, some hesitated and some were still defiant. I glared and waited for them to turn away, reluctantly they did so but they remained far too close for my liking.

Pulling Emily out into the lobby, I could feel the anger swell. She was crazy for coming into a vampire club.

"Do you have some kind of death wish? What makes you think that you could stand up against them and survive?"

"Because you'd protect me." She said softly.

I was blown away by the statement and the scary thought was that she was right. Going against the vampires was something that was hard to do but I would protect her if she needed me.

The tears slipped onto her cheeks, sliding over the soft rosy colouring. When I reached to wipe them away, she flinched as if she feared me. It was a wise thing, there was a lot of my father's anger in me. The only thing that tamed the savage beast within me was the love and guidance from my mother.

I looked at the wetness on my fingers, angels tears slowly soaking into the skin of the damned. Because I was damned, no matter how hard I tried to cast away the shackles of this life, I was destined to walk a path of pain. It was killing me to think that I could have Emily if she wasn't an angel.

"I would," I whispered, pulling her closer.

Her eyes widened as my fingers trailed over her jaw and neck, feeling the delicate skin. Maybe perfection wasn't the lie that I'd always believed it was. My thumb traced over her bottom lip, feeling the anxiety change to anticipation. Desperation filled me as I leaned closer, taking a tentative kiss. Like her, it was soft and sweet, filled with so much need and everything that I could ask for.

As the vampires began to close in on us again, I pulled away from the kiss and looked into those pretty lilac eyes.

"And I will do it for you now."

Wrapping her into a bind, I sent her into the stratosphere with the hope that she wouldn't come back down until I had returned to Luca and told him we were leaving.

The vampires sneered at me as I walked through, robbed of their prize they were not impressed with me. Did I dare say that I couldn't give a shit? Of course I dared.

Pushing the white cloth aside earned me a gasp from the half-naked woman.

"Dude, learn to knock," Luca grumbled.

"On what, your head? Time to go, Emily was here. I just shot her up into the stratosphere to keep her from the vampires."

Luca frowned at me like I was crazy.

"You did remember there's like a crazy-ass storm out there, right?"

I could feel the bind tug at me, something was pulling on Emily.

"Go and get her, I'll be down on the street. Find me when you've saved her, dumb ass."

Stretching my wings out I shot up through the building and into the sky, searching for where she'd gone.

Her body was in a cocoon, her wings wrapped around her as a thermal insulation from the cold. The clear shell was slowly rising in altitude. Darkness surrounded us as I tried to move her to a safer place. Go higher and it's colder, go lower and it's filled with lightning.

Keeping hold of her wasn't easy, the cocoon was slippery and the cold kept freezing any attempt at thawing her out.

But that wasn't my only issue, at this height, I was becoming cold. I could feel the frostiness seeping through me, I had to bring her down to the lower levels and risk the lightning.

Pushing her down, I found a gap in the clouds to try and free her from the cocoon. It was still cold here but nowhere near as bad as the higher altitude.

"Come on Em."

I broke through the shell over her face, waiting for her to open her eyes and take a breath. Desperation filled me as I pulled the pieces away, her limp body plummeting when she slipped from the shell.

Catching her quickly, I pulled her to my arms, hoping to rouse her.

"Emily, wake up."

I'd killed an angel. Even though I was only trying to protect her, I sent her too high and she'd died because of it.