The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 39

XXXIX

URIEL

Day Six. Seven Days Remain.

Vigilant's Office, Morningstar Keep

Uriel expertly weaved back and forth between the lines of Shepherds moving through the hallways of Morningstar Keep as he made his way toward the office. Nervously fiddling with the hilt of his sword as he walked down the sprawling corridors, he found himself paralyzed when he finally arrived in front of Vigilant's door. He had trained with the leader of the Morningstar Brigade between worlds in Purgatory, but entering her office unannounced still terrified him. He flexed his hands, straightened his hair, and did anything he could to put off grabbing the door handle.

"Are you going to keep standing there looking ridiculous, or come in?" Vigilant's spectral voice called from within the room.

"You just like to scare me, don't you?" Uriel muttered under his breath as he entered the room, his cheeks a faint red.

Vigilant sat behind her mahogany desk in silence as Uriel shut the door. She pressed her hands together thoughtfully as she studied Uriel's face, analyzing it without missing a single inch of detail. Vigilant stood up and walked over to Uriel, clasping the boy's face in her hands. "You've done well," she said, peering into his eyes. "You took out a Nephilim that, by all rights, should have easily outclassed your relatively inexperienced team. You secured an invaluable power source and brought us closer to reaching Earth."

Uriel shifted his face uncomfortably in Lady Vigilant's grip. "Thank you, but it wasn't just me, I had-"

"Sit," Lady Vigilant cut Uriel off, pushing him backwards and using her own white flames to create a chair to instantaneously catch him. "You've also greatly disappointed me," she added, crossing her hands behind her back and looking down on Uriel.

"You know, that's admittedly not what I was hoping to hear from you after taking down the biggest Nephilim that Eden's ever seen," Uriel groaned, rubbing his back where it had slammed against the chair. "Couldn't you just punch my shoulder and say 'atta boy'? A little positive reinforcement never killed anybody."

"You're deflecting," Vigilant observed, a scowl forming. "You've been spending too much time around Daken."

Uriel laughed. "Ha! Yeah, because he really loves to hang out with me," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Sometimes it seems like the only time Daken wants to be around me is when he gets to beat me up physically or embarrass me socially. He could barely take three minutes in the hallways just now."

Vigilant remained silent, her gaze boring deeper and deeper into Uriel's skull.

"Fine, fine! You win!" Uriel surrendered, getting up from his chair and pacing back and forth. "Clearly I screwed up. Do I guess until I find the flaw, or are you going to tell me what I did?"

"You let your rage win," Vigilant answered quietly.

Uriel nearly feel out of his chair. "There's no way you could know that already."

Vigilant offered a weary look. "Don't you Shepherds ever get tired of saying that?"

"You just know because you're Lady Vigilant, is that right?" Uriel asked, biting his lip.

"Knowing is my job," Vigilant replied.

Uriel let out a tired sigh as he collapsed back into his chair. "So maybe I did get a little mad fighting. Maybe I did use that to draw a little more power out of my Dawn," he admitted. "But so what? My friends were getting thrown around the room like rag dolls! Kat could've died. So, yeah, I got a little angry. But let's not forget that I also took down this Nephilim, Eglon, and saved the day!" He turned away from Lady Vigilant's burning glare and scratched the back of his neck in frustration as a bolt of heat shot up his spine. "I mean, come on! Artemis just gave me a speech last night about the Brigade not having 'the luxury' of regrets, and now you're telling me I can't get a little mad?"