Fallen Angel

Chapter 35: Brannon

My father clutched at his heart, dropping to his knees in the snow. I rushed to him, setting him back against the compacted snow wall behind him.

"What's wrong?"

"A demon." He whispered.

A glowing string of red appeared, floating in the air in front of him as it slowly recoiled back into his heart.

"I've lost a demon."

Catching the end of the string, he looked at the end with watery eyes. A drop of his tear fell onto the pristine white snow, marring it with the blood of the devil.

"Look at the end, it has been severed."

"What does that mean?" Luca asked.

"It means that an angel has found a demon and set it free."

Helping my father to his feet, I wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Losing a demon was crushing to him emotionally and physically. It would take some time for him to recover.

The wolf carried on ahead of us, Luca behind us.

"So do you think that maybe the demon found Emily?" He asked. "Maybe the guy that's holding her captive did this. If it were me and I wanted to hide from the devil, I'd certainly remove the one being that was tied to him if it found me."

My father looked at me as we listened to Luca's musings.

"So can you find out which demon and where it was?"

As my father pulled away and rested against the wall of snow, he retrieved his phone.

"No signal."

"So go back to hell."

The wolf whined, his head turning to a small clearing between the trees. Beyond the clearing was a shack, smoke rose from the chimney.

"I think that our friend wants us to take this avenue boys."

Carefully he stood, using me to balance himself.

"And the land is frozen for some distance, this terrain is quite harsh and I do not know how well I could sink and not disrupt it."

"You'll melt it."

He nodded and turned to the wolf.

"Lead on friend."

The wolf turned back to the path and we continued to the shack.

"Who do you reckon lives in there?"

"This far out, I'd say it would be someone that doesn't want to be found by humans."

As the wolf sat in front of the first step to the porch, the door opened. Darkness with nothing more offered, not a light from the fire place, not a person at the door. My father put his foot onto the step and he turned back with a smile.

"Best behaviour boys. This is someone who does not take fools lightly."

Following him into the shack, I looked back at the wolf who sat upright as he looked at me. Somehow I knew that he'd be there, waiting for me to be done with whoever was in this shack.

Darkness consumed us as Luca closed the door. As soon as the wood of the door pressed against the wood frame, the fire roared brightly. Beside the fire place was a man that seemed as young as me but dressed as if he was an old man. Wrapped in a cloak that kept him warm by the roaring fire, the man looked up with bright white eyes.

"Elstrach, good to see you again."

"And you Anton. Please, take a seat."

My father sat on the chair opposite him, the seer's gaze turned to us.

"And Brannon, I have not seen you since you were but a speck in your mother's womb."

His gaze moved as he shifted his head, looking at Luca.

"Come and warm yourself by the fire Luca, such weather is not made for a vampire."

We sat on the stools beside my father, Luca was the closest to the fire. So close I thought he would catch fire if he wasn't careful.

"Now tell me gentlemen, what brings you to this part of the world?"

"A wolf." My father said.

"Indeed." Elstrach said with mirth. "There are a few of them here at the moment, they have been in almost plague proportion for the past month. I was wondering why."

"We have only been here a day, we've been tracking an angel that was abducted."

Elstrach turned his head and looked at me.

"An angel?"

"A fallen angel." My father corrected us. "Brannon has become involved with an angel and she chose to be with him, another angel broke into hell and abducted her. A little warning would have been nice Elstrach."

"Some things can be seen Anton and some cannot. Just because I am a seer does not mean that I can see everything. There are things that are hidden, clouded by uncertainty. I did not see Brannon falling in love with an angel, I saw a girl with red hair. Without the wings showing I would not be able to detect what she is."

"Rubbish!" My father said angrily as he stood. "You knew what Sarah was long before I met her, do not lie and have us believe that you didn't know what Emily was."

He paced the floor behind us, the seer watched with amusement. White eyes reflected the flames that licked in the air as he looked behind me.

"And what would the devil say if I were to tell him that I saw a future that had his teenage son falling in love with an angel? I cast the stones of foresight out and asked for a vision of what might be. Do you know what I saw Anton? I saw you locking Brannon into hell as a newborn child and removing all of his powers. Once you did that hell began to crumble around you because your son hated you and he lost faith in you, the power of hell began to fall because the trinity was collapsing. I asked the vision what would happen if I said nothing and allowed Brannon to find Emily and to approach you himself, telling you of his love for her and I saw a man that was reasoned with, that did the right thing for his son. What I did, I did because I searched for the right path and ensured that hell remained intact."

Elstrach stood, gripping a cane as he hobbled to the mantle.

"And I did not lie Anton. When I said that I saw a girl it was the truth. In a vision I do not see beings, I see people. In order for me to know her identity I had to ask the vision for information about her."

"Do you know where she is?"

The seer turned and looked at me, shaking his head.

"The person who has taken her had ensured that she is hidden, there is a veil of uncertainty over heaven and all who should dwell within it."

"But Emily is a fallen angel, she shouldn't reside in heaven."

He offered a pained smile as he shook his head slowly again.

"I am sorry Brannon but if I cannot detect a fallen angel it means that she is no longer fallen."