Page 56 of Claiming Demons
A large fragment of the ceiling broke free above me. I tried to leap out of the way, but I wasn’t fast enough.
Oh gods, no…
Then time seemed to slow.
There was a flurry of white around me, a silken fall of platinum hair, the fluff of feathers, and strong arms enfolded me. I winced, my eyes shut, and hoped…
I heard the crash of the ceiling but didn’t feel anything, and an eerie, deathly quiet rang in my ears. I risked a peek, but all I saw was a greyish haze.
“Anais?”
The voice was smooth and soft, and an angelic face looked down at me. Behind him, his wings were torn and bloodied, and bits of the shattered ceiling lay around us.
I blinked my other eye open. It was the angel with platinum hair I’d seen earlier, the one I’d been drawn to.
He’d saved me?
Also… he’d said my name.
“Who are you?” I asked, before choking on dust and coughing for half a minute.
The man placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled. Warmth flowed into me and my lungs cleared and the aches and pains of my body faded. At the same time, his wings mended, returning to pristine white.
“Is that better?” he asked.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“To answer your question, my name is Raphael.” A soft strange looked filled his striking silver-blue eyes. “And I’m your father.”
I gaped, eyes wide, not understanding, even as everything sank in. His hair… silver and silken… like mine. His eyes were the same silver blue. Even some of his facial features, something around the sumptuous lips and at the edges of his eyes, matched my own.
But… No…
He was an angel!
And I was… a goddess. My mother had been a goddess.
Mother… goddess
Father… angel.
It took far too long for my mind to make sense of all this.
“Fuck me,” I whispered. Then I realized what I’d just said in front of my father and stammered… “Ah… no, I mean, I… Fuck… How…?”
Raphael laughed. “Sorry, I know that was a lot to dump on you when you’ve already been through so much tonight.”
He looked me over, but it wasn’t the usual scan most men gave me. Instead, there was a note of curiosity and confusion in this look.
“You’ve found your divinity? How? That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he half mumbled to himself, then huffed as if to clear his thoughts. “You’re just as much a mystery to me as I must be to you. I’m sorry, Anais, I wish I had time to talk, but I need to help the wounded.” He helped me to my feet and we gingerly made our way through the lobby out into the fresh night air.
In the distance, I could hear more crashing and the sounds of fighting.
“My friends, they’re still in there. I need to help them!”
I’d somehow spirit-healed Ramsey, but he and Harmonia — who was still injured — were in there somewhere, far below everything. Could they get out?
And Fen…