Fallen Angel

Chapter 41: Brannon

Crossing the room it felt like I was faced with a dream, a dream that I didn't want to wake from. Tears slid down Emily's cheeks.

"I didn't run."

"I know."

I wiped the tears, feeling so much anguish it was killing me.

"Is this real?"

Emily nodded, wrapping her arms around my waist. Crushing her into my arms, I sighed with pure relief. Having her in my arms was all that I have wanted for so long now. She quietly cried as I held her and found that even my own emotions could no longer be restrained. The burden was now gone, I knew that she was safe.

She looked up at me, tears that glistened like diamonds trailed down her cheeks.

"A tear from the son of the devil, a rare sight."

Emily wiped away the line of red and leaned up to her tiptoes to kiss me. As my arms wrapped around her waist, I lifted her off the ground and felt how much lighter she was.

"What happened Emily? You've lost weight."

"That is why there is a feast." Nathul said as he began to cross the room. "Seeing an underweight angel is always a concern, especially when it is obvious that she is fleeing from someone."

I looked back at Emily, she nodded cautiously.

"Not far from here, there's an apartment where I was being held. Before that it was the cabin in the middle of nowhere."

Setting her back to the ground I took her hand.

"We were there, in the house across the road."

"You were?" She said rather astonished.

"Yes, there was a thermal coating over the cabin, we had to wait until our bodies cooled before we could go near the place."

Nathul passed us, the wolf not far behind. As we walked to the dining room, the wizard set out a bowl of water and food for the animal.

"There you go friend, if you are still hungry then venture into the dining room and help yourself to something from the table."

"We followed him here."

Emily turned and looked at me with amazement.

"He brought us to you. Right from the cabin to a seer in the woods and onto the wizard in disguise."

"That sounds like quite an adventure."

"It was bloody cold."

Emily looked around me and smiled when she saw Luca.

"Hey fangs, you look like you've been snap frozen."

"Piss off." He growled. "I hope you appreciate it, I was the awesome leader of this group of misfits. They would have been lost without me."

My father rolled his eyes, his lips twitched with amusement.

"Do you know the name of your abductor?"

"Arcaedia. He's in the middle of a self-satisfying party at the moment, probably has no idea that I'd cut through the wall and escaped."

"With other angels or humans?"

"Angels."

He smiled wickedly and gestured to the two chairs.

"Sit and eat, do not worry about Arcaedia. My beloved demons will deal with that particular issue."

My father remained, talking to Nathul as Emily and I moved to the two seats that were side by side.

"Did you know that we were coming?"

"Nathul did. I haven't been here long, just filling the table and uh, hurting myself."

She gestured to the long red line on her forehead, I laughed.

"How did you do that?"

"On the cupboard door. So you've been looking for me?"

I nodded, holding her hands as I leaned sideways on the chair.

"And you're not mad?"

"No Emily, I knew exactly what had happened."

"And Chloe?"

"That photo was an absolute lie, that never happened."

My father frowned as he gazed at Emily.

"Emily, you are terribly underweight. Nathul has set this food out to encourage you to gain some of it back. Please eat."

"Food derived from magic does nothing for the body."

"Generally not." Nathul offered as he walked to the far end of the room to sit in his seat. "However in this instance, you will find that it will be beneficial for you. Please Emily, eat."

She hesitated as she looked at the food, glancing at me with a lot of worry.

"What's wrong?"

"The last two times that I ate, I blacked out. He was drugging me to subdue my powers and keep me captive. That's why I haven't eaten, I learned from the first time and refused any more. The second time he bound me and forced it into me."

I looked up at my father who was standing at the head of the table, his hands gripped the back of his chair as the anger swelled in him.

"We understand Emily." I said. "Here, I'll eat something first and then you will know it's okay."

Taking a sandwich, I took a bite and ate it, passing it to her when she knew it wasn't drugged. Emily looked at the sandwich, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"At the apartment there was a dove on the window ledge. Arcaedia found me talking to it, I hoped that it would find you and tell you where I was."

She looked up at my father who was staring at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know what he was doing until it was too late. Its eyes turned to black and it flew away."

"He freed a demon bird so that it couldn't tell me where you were."

Emily nodded, wiping the tears away.

"It's okay, isn't it?"

"Of course it is." My father said with a begrudging smile. "No demon is free from me unless I say so. The bird will be captured and returned to hell before the hour has passed. Don't worry about it Emily, eat."

She nodded and nibbled on the sandwich, I looked at my father who said nothing more about the bird. We both knew that the connection had been severed, we both knew that the demon was gone for good. Somewhere out there, there was a human that had once been a demon, trapped in the body of a dove and it would be that way until it died, just like any other bird.

My father wasn't a man that lied but he was a man that distorted the truth that benefited the situation. Rather than have Emily become upset at the loss of a demon, he chose his words carefully and offered words that were correct but missing vital components.