Page 42 of Fear the Fall
The crashing continues. It’s getting closer. Malachi and the others spread their wings before they all take to the skies, retreating. As soon as they are out of sight, the loud sound ceases.
Zeke and I share an ominous look. The cemetery is eerily quiet. Not a single bird chirps or branch rustles. The wind that once whipped through this place is gone. If the lack of noise isn’t odd enough, the bigger question is what could’ve frightened off three archangels?
“Victoria.”
The word is whispered in my ear for only me to hear. Chills cascade over my body, leaving me cold to the bone.
Lucifer.
He’s here, and that is not good for me.
When we’re back at the loft, Zeke holds me in his arms and strokes my hair. I haven’t stopped shaking since the cemetery.
“Baby, you’re safe,” Zeke coos in my ear. “They were just playing a horrible prank.”
If only that were the reason for my trembling.
“Angels don’t prank, Zeke.” My teeth chatter. The cold that slipped under my skin is bone deep and not retreating, no matter how many blankets he layers me with.
“On Earth they do.” He inhales. “They won’t get away with anything like that again.”
Theybeing Leeanna and Malachi. Two angels who at one time were my family. We had each other’s backs. Now, they’d throw me to the wolves. The sequence of the night’s events runs through my head and keeps getting stuck on the interaction between Zeke and Leeanna. So many strange comments and looks of longing. I might never unsee them.
I’m torn between wanting Zeke here and wanting him far away from me. He came to my defense, but his affection for Leeanna is clear to anyone with half a brain. With that thought, the chills subside and give way to a burning anger. An unfair anger.
“Are you going to tell me what was up between you andLee?” I say her name with disdain I can’t help.
Not only were we once friends, but I’d been her mentor. Didn’t that count for something? I didn’t fall to betray her. I fell because I was duped. She’s an angel; she surely knows the entire sordid story.
“We were in the same legion,” Zeke starts, sounding resigned to this conversation but disinclined nonetheless. “We went to Earth often, and each time we were there our feelings...,” he says through his teeth, as though the admission hurts, “grew.”
I puff out my cheeks, wondering how the heck that worked once they got back to Heaven, and he doesn’t disappoint, moving right into that topic.
“When we’d return, things went back to normal, for the most part. But with each trip back to Earth, when we returned, a little bit of those feelings came back too.” He runs a hand down his face. “We decided to fall together,” he admits, and my mouth forms an O in surprise at this turn of events. “Needless to say, I fell, and she didn’t.”
“Oh. Wow,” I say, processing this news. “Let me make sure I understand this,” I say, not trying to come off as hoity-toity, but truly wanting to understand. “You fell in love with an angel, decided to fall together, and when the time came you did, and she chose to let you fall without following.”
I want to push and nag for more sordid details, because that’s my current mental state, self-sabotage. Zeke doesn’t allow it, pushing forward and making it clear the entire conversation has him vexed.
“That pretty much sums it up,” he says.
“I’m sorry, Zeke. That’s... awful.”
I mean every word. I don’t like it, but I care for him. He was as duped into falling as I was, and it isn’t fair. Add to it that he’s still harboring feelings for her, and that just plain sucks. The truth is, I get it. We both have a past hanging over our heads. Unfinished business has a way of sticking around and screwing with your life. I get that more than anyone. Case in point, my dreams as of late.
Having witnessed Zeke and Leeanna’s whole reunion, it was obvious the feelings were not one-sided, but I’m not about to point that out. Maybe that makes me selfish—definitely makes me selfish—but I’m going to hang on to the one thing that is looking up for me here on Earth. God can deal with Leeanna. I need to help Zeke move on.
“I don’t want to talk about Lee or the past. I just want you,” he says, burying his head in my hair. “I freaked out when I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m fine,” I say, snuggling into him. “I’m badass, remember?”
He chuckles. “That you are, babe. A total badass.”
We both laugh, falling into our own comfortable silence, until Zeke breaks it with the one question I was hoping to avoid.
“What do you think scared off the arcs?”
Saying his name is the equivalent of summoning him, and nobody wants that. Plus, I’m exhausted and don’t want to discuss the events of tonight.