Fallen Angel

Chapter 31: Brannon

Shrugging the jacket tighter to my body, I rested my head against the glass. Waiting for things to happen was frustrating. The view out the window was a winter wonderland, the snow seemed pristine. Freshly fallen and coating the land like a blanket.

This town was pretty small, I'd seen a few people walk past the house but aside from that it was rather uneventful. The street was made up of old cottages, the town looked like time had forgotten it. Buildings made of wood rather than steel and concrete. No major shopping centres, just one little corner shop. I hadn't seen a car as yet and for some reason I don't think I will.

A month had passed since Emily's disappearance and it was just that, disappearance. It was like she had just vanished completely, not a trace to be found. She wasn't in hell, she wasn't at her apartment or at the school. Everywhere I looked, I could not find her. Now we were approaching from another angle. Now we were being underhanded and true to what we were, evil.

Being the son of the devil, I formed an integral part of a trinity that kept a heavy presence of power in hell. With my parents we were what made hell more dominant than heaven and they were determined to bring it back to favour them. They thought that Emily's departure from my life would make me hate my father for not protecting us, they thought that I'd be upset and walk away from hell but they were wrong. It had done what they didn't think it would, it had made me angry. So angry that the scales had tipped further to us. Heaven was sinking and hell was rising.

Luca held out a cup to me, steam rising from it.

"Cocoa. This place is so damned cold."

I took the cup from him, wishing that I had it in me to laugh at him. He was dressed in a thick snow jacket and pants, underneath it I knew he had several layers of thermal underwear. The beanie was pulled down tight, sitting over it was a faux fur trapper hat.

"You should go home."

"No way, as if I'd miss out on this."

"Your parents will freak out if they realise the danger you're in."

He shrugged, leaning on the wall opposite as he sipped his warmed blood.

"They know that the devil and his son have my back, I'll cut a deal with your old man if I croak."

"Maybe I might send you to the pit, defrost you first."

Luca gasped as he turned to my father, a puff of air escaping.

"You need to get a bell or something."

My father smiled, his eyes narrowing at my friend.

"If I were to do that I would not be able to sneak up on you Luca, I do love making you jump with fright."

He turned to me, waiting for the answer to the question that I'd been asked every hour on the hour for the past six hours.

"Nothing."

We were watching a house that we had been told had an angel in it, one that would help us in our search for Emily. Our source was a reliable witch that my father trusted emphatically. I trusted my father but this witch, I wasn't so sure. We'd been here for a day and we hadn't seen a single person in or around the house.

"Can't you just ghost it and go over there?" Luca asked, sounding like a groan.

"If we could we would have." My father responded. "It is a guarantee that if there is an angel in that house then they would detect us in an instant."

"What about a vampire?"

I looked at my father who said nothing to Luca's question.

"Well?" I asked.

"I'd rather not put Luca in direct danger like that Brannon. I made a promise to his father that I would ensure that he was safe and that is not safe."

"But I can, can't I?"

"Yes." My father said softly. "But whatever mad scheme you two are concocting you can forget it, it won't work. Hearts beat, lungs breath, blood pumps. No matter how you try, you cannot avoid detection."

Luca frowned as he looked from my father to me, trying to figure it out. I was a little lost too.

"What are you Luca?"

"A vampire."

"And what is it that vampires do?"

"Uh, drink blood?"

My father nodded, waiting for us to figure it out.

"You're suggesting that I kill an angel, drinking his blood? Isn't that like really addictive for a vampire?"

"And that is why you cannot do it. Imagine a vampire that lusts for angel blood being friends with the devil's son. You would not be able to control the urges Luca, you would look to Brannon and lust for his blood."

"I'm sick of waiting. I want to know if she's in there. I want answers."

His hand reached for my shoulder, gripping it firmly.

"And you will get that Brannon." My father said. "But you need to be patient. We've been here for nearly twenty-four hours, our bodies will have cooled suitably."

I nodded and watched as he turned back to the kitchen. We had to wait for our bodies to cool down because my father had been warned of a thermal coating over the house that was like a shield. It alerted the occupants to the presence of bodies that were warmed to a certain temperature, namely those that lived in hell. This shield was enough to convince my father that whoever was in that house had Emily or at the very least, didn't want a visit from the devil or his demons.

Once we were at the right temperature we would be crossing the snow covered road and knocking on our neighbours front door.

My gaze returned to the view of the cottage that was almost like a log cabin.

"What are you going to do if this was intentional Bran?" Luca whispered. "What if she was lying to you the whole time?"

I turned back to him and smiled, one that warmed my cold heart.

"Then I'm going to kill her."