Falling Sons

Previously. . .Gabel and Lucifer's bounty party found Delilah and her friends. Tatyana was gravely wounded and Gabel delivered Delilah to his father, Lucifer, only to discover that he would not make good on his promise. This is how their journeys continue...

Chapter Nineteen: Gus

Gus tenderly cradled Tatyana to his chest as she began coughing blood. “Hold on Angel.” He breathed as he carefully stood. “I'm going to get you help.”

She only coughed once more in reply.

He gently moved her hand that was covered in blood. A deep blackish-red gash potted her ribcage. He feared that Katrina’s dagger had pierced her lung.

“It’ll be alright.” He bit back tears. Tatyana needed him to stay strong.

He took to the sky, not sure of where the nearest hospital would be located. He attempted to use his Fallen vision to eye the road for signs, but it seemed faulty. Gus became curious if it was due to his probation of becoming an angel. Just this morning he had found his wings to be grey, the perfect medium between black and white. He was so close to becoming an angel again that he could even feel the presence of the Archangels watching him. This, of course, made his physical relationship with Tatyana very complicated. At first, he had completely ignored her until he found that he could control the burning desire to touch her, hold her, kiss her.

She mostly understood. He thanked God for that. Yes, thanked God. He could do that now. He could speak of God. He could even pray. It provided this overwhelming, amazing comfort that he hadn’t felt since he was a young boy and only a few moments away from becoming a man. But that was so terribly long ago. Aurora had just become pregnant with Aden then. Gus’s father had been close friends with Aurora and Ezekiel. Before Aden was born, Gus fell after losing his father.

In respect to his father, Gus had kept tabs on Ezekiel’s family. Despite being almost old enough to be Omar’s father, they were the best of friends. He had felt sorrow for the first time when he heard that Omar had fallen. He hadn’t wanted the same fate for him so he had taken him under his wing. But Omar always seemed to be a step ahead of him.

“Gus?” Tatyana’s beautiful voice pulled him away from his memories.

“Yes Angel?” He breathed, bending his head down to look at her.

Her eye lids fluttered. “I'm so cold.”

He gently held her closer, pressing her against his warm chest. “Is that any better?”

She gave a faint nod as she tucked her head into the nook of his neck. “It hurts.” She shivered.

“You’ll be better soon, I promise.”

She didn’t respond.

He desperately searched for a hospital.

Gus could sense that she was fading. He hoped she could make it.

“Lord…” he mumbled as he stared up at the sky. “Please save her. I…I can’t live without her.” He choked on tears. “I can’t lose her. I just can’t.” Tears rolled down his face onto her hair and forehead.

“Sweetie, why are you crying?” Tatyana’s words were barely audible as they rolled off of her breath. She rolled her head up to meet his. There was a distant look in her brown eyes, a distance that frightened him. “You don’t have to be sad.”

“And why is that?” He could hardly speak past the lump in his throat.

A shadow of a smile crept upon her lips. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Her eyes glossed over, almost looking like marbles. “There’s no more pain…” her head fell against him and he feared the worst when he didn’t feel her warm breath against his skin. But then he could sense her very slow heartbeat. There was still hope.

Gus almost gave up when finally he spotted the white “H” symbol on a blue sign.

He forced his wings to pump faster as her heart slowed to a point there were several times he thought it stopped completely. I will save her, was all that ran through his mind over and over again.

He landed near the emergency room entrance. He barely gave himself time to land before running inside. “Help! Help please!”

A man came running with a stretcher as a woman yelled for an IV and blood bag. Gus set Tatyana down on the white canvas, her shirt reddened with a rose of blood.

He finally felt the wet, sticky substance that had soaked into his own shirt. And with the weight of her gone, his own injuries. But the pain was only a dull throb somewhere in the back of his mind. He hurried to follow the group of nurses and doctors dressed in bright pastel colors, only to have double white doors slammed in his face.

Gus was offered assistance in tending to the scratches and wounds on his face and arms, but he kindly refused. His minor injuries would heal within the hour. He was also offered a seat and something to drink, he as well declined those. They questioned him about how this had happened. He came up with a barely passable story about a gas station robbery and how some guy wanted her purse.

After realizing he was in no current condition to tell them what happened, they left him alone. Gus’s hands became knotted at the small of his back and his feet kept him dancing in a forever sullen pace. He listened carefully to the doctor’s struggling. One asked for more blood while another complained she was losing too much too fast. A deep voice confirmed that her lung had been punctured and she was drowning in her own blood. Her body had sent her into a coma like state. She was slipping away, someone.

The heart monitor stopped beeping as Gus’ froze in his chest. An AED was charged. There was nothing. They tried again. Still nothing.

Gus was paralyzed.

Lord, please…

They tried again, this time manually with their hands.

The room fell silent.

Gus’s chest screamed as he realized that he had stopped breathing.

The door opened and a man in dark blue scrubs refused to meet his eyes. Gus couldn’t help, but stare at the man’s blood stained clothing.

His lips moved, but Gus heard not a word. He looked past him into the room as one person cleaned up utensils and another covered his beloved with a white sheet.

His heart turned to stone.

She’s gone. The words ran across his mind. He refused to believe them.

“I'm sorry.” The man’s words echoed in Gus’s ears and yet they sounded as if they were standing hundreds of feet apart. “We tried everything…but she was too far gone when we even began.”

Gus pushed past the man and into the room. He stood next to her forever frozen body. He could see a tuff of her hair that hadn’t been covered by the sheet.

His heart ached.

This feeling of being lost…being abandoned was so much stronger than when he had lost his father. He hadn’t cried then, but he cried now. Sad tears for losing the one person that made him feel like there was a purpose in this life. Angry tears at God for taking her away. Gus cleaned his act up for her and now she was gone.

He rose from her side, knowing what he had to do.

He didn’t give a damn if the Archangels were watching.

Laughter came from the other side of the door, two female and one male. Gus took a deep breath as he tightly gripped onto the sharpened blessed dagger. He swung open the door casually, twisting the dagger between his fingers.

Their chortle broke off as they turned to stare at him. Scout, Katrina and Hound sat around a table with cards and poker chips.

“Oh please don’t stop on my account.” He somberly spoke.

“Gus,” Scout slowly stood. “It’s over.”

“Your game? It doesn’t look like it.”

“It’s an eye for an eye, no more blood needs to be shed.”

“I knew you’d come.” Katrina spat, her back to him. She threw her cards onto the table, dramatically knocking over a stack of green striped chips. “How did it feel to watch her die and hopelessly stand by?” She slowly turned. “To know that you can’t bring her back and now you must live until the Armageddon without her?”

“Unfortunately, you’ll never know.” He spoke in a deep tone before thrusting his arm forward.

Scout screamed as Katrina gasped while the dagger sank into her chest in the same spot where she had pierced Tatyana. He held the dagger firmly in her rib cage until the hand that clutched his arm weakened and the lights faded from her eyes as blood glistened on her lips. She slumped against him as her heart finally beat for the last time. Katrina burst into ashes before floating to the floor.

Scout’s face was stained with tears. Hound’s eyes were filled with the same hatred Gus felt in his heart.

A shock coursed up his spine and through his wings as they turned midnight black and he lost the connection to—he angrily sighed as he couldn’t say His name anymore.

Gus was tired of being angry.

He dropped the dagger as Hound rose with a sword. “Pick it up! I won’t fight an unarmed man.”

“What you don’t understand brother, is that I welcome death. It is my only escape.”

There was pain for only a second and no flash through of his life for it was too many years for only a few seconds of time.

There was only Tatyana’s face before he became nothing.

Chapter Twenty: A short Chapter for Milady

Having her wings gone was worse than anything else Lucifer had done to her. And then when Milady had seen Aden…he wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to suffer. When she tried to help him escape, she got chained to a chair and beaten. “No food or water until she learns her place.” Lucifer had said.

And he kept true to his word.

He didn’t even try to make a deal with her.

It has been two weeks since she had had either. There was a small pinch of hunger in her stomach that she could handle, but the dehydration created hallucinations. She wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t anymore. Everything felt real. She dreamt once that her tears were blood only to find out that she had been hit in the head and had bled into the eyes. Another time the long shadows became snakes with venomous fangs. And the worst was over and over again she dreamt of getting her wings torn. The pain more real each time.

Delilah was presented to her a day ago. Milady knew Delilah wasn’t dead yet because Milady, herself was still alive. She assumed Delilah was real. It was the first time Milady had seen her here.

Milady wondered how long this torture would last. She wanted it all too simply end.

Just as she was beginning to nod off, a bright harsh light burned behind her closed eyes lids. She blinked against it only to see Aden still tied to a post, unconscious. She wondered what Lucifer had done to make him forever rest.

Today, there was another light on a second post, but no one on it. She wondered what had been done with Delilah.

It wasn’t long before a door opened on the far side of the room. There was a soft moan of pain as chains jingled against one another.

Delilah’s hair was a curtain around her face as she heavily breathed. The scaly demon that brought her in flung her up against the post where she wailed with pain as he quickly fastened her to it.

It bit her arm with its monstrous mouth and eyeless face. It didn’t really have hands, more of long, massive talons. Milady tried not to stare so the hallucinations wouldn’t take advantage of her mind.

She waited for the door to close before she spoke. “You tried to run?” She guessed.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Delilah didn’t pick up her head, sounding completely defeated.

“I'm sorry.” Tears burned Milady’s face. “I'm so sorry.”

“I…don’t blame…you.” Delilah breathlessly said. “I was meant…to die here.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Why not?” She sounded as if she said it through clenched teeth. “The Archangels won’t save us, or at least not me.”

“They’ll come, they’ll come.”

Suddenly, Delilah cried out with pain.

“What is it?” Milady panicked, searching blindly in the dark. Had Lucifer come back without her knowing? Was this it?

“My arm, it burns.” She screamed.

The door opened and the click of a cane came.

Milady took a deep breath.

This was it.

This was the end.

Another click of the cane and Delilah’s post and chains burned gold, pulling the life, immortal and if any mortal, out of her. She wailed and thrashed trying to escape it.

“Stop!” Milady hoarsely cried. “Stop please!”

Lucifer ignored her and with another click of the cane, a fire ignited below Aden. His unconscious body didn’t fight the flames. Prayed that he couldn’t feel it.

The air filled with the rancid scent of burning flesh and feathers.

She forced herself to turn away as tears flooded from her eyes.

“You don’t want to see your lover in his dying seconds?” Lucifer questioned as he towered over her.

She bit her lip as she tried to stop crying. She had made herself a promise a long time ago that she wouldn’t show him fear or weakness, but that time was long gone.

He smacked her across the face, sending her head flying back. The sting throbbed stronger with each passing second.

“I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!” His voice bounced off of the walls.

“I don’t want to remember him like that!” Milady turned to the fire, only to see the flames recede, exposing only a charred post.

“I do have some kind of heart.” He calmly, almost gently, spoke to her. “It’s made up of the hearts I steal from souls. I wonder what kind of heart I will get from you.”

Terrified, she watched as his lower jaw fell as if it weren’t attached to anything as a wrenching pull began in her chest.

Chapter Twenty-One

Running seemed like a good idea, though it didn’t get Delilah anywhere last time. And this time, it only concluded in a worse beating. Demons had fought over her. She couldn’t tell what they were saying in their bizarre alien language, but she knew it couldn’t be good.

When they finished with her, she was chained and dragged. She tried to think of a part of her that wasn’t hurting, but the throbbing pain was continuous from her head to her toes and even in places she’d never experienced pain before.

She tried not to look at the demon that dragged her. She had seen a scaly rat tall and talon feet. She didn’t wish to see the face. A small part of her thought it was a similar demon to the one that had attacked her so long ago in her apartment. But there wasn’t the smell of garbage and decay. Instead, the air was thick with death.

Delilah’s arm burned fiercely as the demon’s venom began to sink into her blood stream. It felt like her arm was on fire as she began to run a fever.

As the devil strut into the room, she highly doubted he even noticed her. Her breaths came in raspy waves as she tried to focus. Her vision was like trying to focus a crappy camera with water damage.

Suddenly flames burst next to her and horrified, she watched as Aden’s clothes, hair and wings caught ablaze.

“No!” She cried, her vision only becoming blurrier. “No!”

Her brother, a love, melted layer by layer as he charcoaled like an insignificant dried leaf.

She couldn’t pull herself away.

Finally, it was over. Nothing was left, but a black post and dying flames.

The devil stood over Milady. She couldn’t quite hear what they said. A white ghost outline of Milady began to pull out of her chest, getting closer to the devil until finally an entire form of her like a ghost and floated in the space between them. It pressed into the devil’s chest and ran into his open mouth. Milady slumped forward; eyes blackened hollow pits, her skin an unearthly grey.

Delilah’s stomach flipped and she threw up the little food that was in her.

She wished she could wipe her mouth as the sour taste lingered on her lips and tongue.

As if just remembering that she was there, the devil turned to her. “This is all your fault, you know.” He coolly swung his cane. “You could have prevented this.” He eyed Milady’s useless body and the pile of dust and ash that was now Aden.

Delilah tried to struggle against her restraints, but she felt so weak and tired as her arm went numb, the one with the demon bite, and the rest of her body ached as she felt the chains draw the life from her.

An exhausted cry escaped her lips as the metal bit into her skin.

“It’s a shame that things must end like this.” He was only inches away from her now. He lifted a hand as if to touch her face. “You are such a beautiful flower.”

She turned her head away.

He grabbed a handful of her hair and breathed in deeply from it. “You would have given me beautiful grandchildren.”

She wanted to kick him, but her frail body refused to do so.

“We were almost related you know, you and my son.” Lucifer smiled. “It would have simply killed Ezekiel if you had.”

“You would never be family.”

“No?” Lucifer stared at her with a curious gleam in his eyes. “You weren’t going to pick Gabel then?”

“I will always pick Gabel, but you would never be a part of us.” She proudly hissed through the pain.

He reeled back as if he were going to strike her with his cane when something the size of a large boulder came crashing through the wall.

“There is a door.” Lucifer sounded truly annoyed that the intruder hadn’t used it.

The person who had entered straightened himself, chest deeply rising and falling with each infuriated breath. Dull grey chains hung from cuffs around his wrists. “I thought something more dramatic was in order.”

Delilah’s heart fluttered slightly at the sight of Gabel. He was so beautiful in a dark and forbidden way. The short hair was curled and matted to his forehead with sweat. His arms scarred and bleeding from the chains. She could tell that he was drained and yet he came to save her.

“How touching, you came to say goodbye.”

She gasped as the chains dug into her skin more. She thought she could hear the sound of her flesh sizzle. Her head fell forward as tears burned her eyes. She knew she should be strong, but she just wanted the pain to go away.

Lucifer t’skd at Gabel. “Not so fast.”

The sound of physical contact filled the room. She exhaustedly looked up to see the devil fall to the ground. Gabel walked past him and came to her. He wrapped his hands around the chains.

Delilah screamed as the pain only increased. “Don’t,” she breathlessly spoke. “You’ll only make it worse for both of us.”

His eyes met hers for the first time since he had entered the room. Oddly, they were grey mixed with the nervousness and fear that they had had when he was about to kiss her for the first time. She wished they were back there, holding one another’s gaze, unbearably warm on the volcanic level of hell. But now the bottom of his eyes were brimmed with tears.

He oh so gently cupped her face with his large, warm hands. “I can’t let you die here. I will get you out.”

She closed her eyes as his hand fell away.

Her body was scorched by the flaming chains inside and out. She cried out in pain as it only increased, reminding her of the last time she was here when suddenly it stopped. Cool air rushed around her, almost suffocating her as she limply fell forward.

“I got you.” Gabel cooed. “I got you.” He cradled her to his chest.

Delilah turned her head up and his lips brushed hers. She pulled him closer, tasting the sweet saltiness of his lips and the heaviness of them. They gasped for air in between intimate kisses. For a moment it was wonderful bliss.

She pulled away whimpering as her arm stung from the venom.

“What’s wrong?” His handsome face was painted with emotion once more. What she would give to have the only emotion be happiness. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head and stiffly pulled her arm between them. The bite mark itself glistened with her red blood, but underneath her pale skin the veins had turned black and ran like vine work all the way up her arm, the rest hiding under her shirt.

He moved the sleeve aside to expose her neck and shoulder. More of the intricate black lines snaked up her neck and curved down her shoulder toward her chest.

“The poison will reach her heart any minute now.” The devil’s voice sounded crisper, younger. “I have what I need from her. Now it’s your choice Gabel. You can either kill her or let her become one of us. From the looks of it you don’t have much time.”

Delilah gasped for air as the pain became overpowering. “Gabel,” she winced in pain. “It’s ok.” Tears silently rolled down her face. “It’s ok.”

He brushed his lips across her forehead as tears wet her skin.

“It was always you Gabel.” Her hands curled into fists, the nerves and muscles. Refusing to work anymore. “In the end, I was always going to pick you.” She couldn’t tell if her heart was beating too fast or not at all. The pain in her chest was excruciating as if someone had reached inside pulled everything apart.

Gabel gently set her down. “Hold on, stay with me a little longer.”

She hoped he understood that she wanted to turn, so they could be together forever. From the sadness in his eyes it seemed he did, but it wasn’t what he wanted.

He drew a sword from his side and she closed her eyes, embracing the end.

Suddenly, she heard his quick footsteps running away from her. Her eyes flew open just in time to see him knock down his father with the hilt of a sword.

“I will never serve you!” Gabel cried as he swung the sword high.

Delilah’s body laid frozen while on the inside she was wide awake screaming with pain as she felt the poison eat away at her insides, seeping into her heart, consuming her whole.

Then almost as a second thought, she watched a dark figure come up behind Gabel. She wished to yell out to him, to warn him of the danger he clearly hadn’t sensed, but she couldn’t open her mouth.

She watched as his face went slack while the sharp end of a spear stuck out of his chest where his heart should be. His sword slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground as he stumbled to his knees.

Every inch o her being drowned in the loss. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t move, like cement had been poured inside her.

The spear was pulled out of him and his hand went up, gingerly touching the profusely bleeding wound before he looked up at her. “Delilah, I love you.” The words were carried on a breath as the light faded from his eyes. As he fell forward, he turned to dust.

I love you too. She sobbed.

Just when she thought she was going to be trapped in this paralyzed body forever, her lungs contracted, filling her body with air. She wheezed as she shoved her hands into the rock floor, feeling like her back split open.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Gabel

After everything faded black and the pain had gone, radiating warmth filled Gabel and bright light flooded the space behind his eye lids. Gabel slowly blinked at the golden light and sat up to find himself dressed in white in the presence of a golden aura of sunlit.

He knew he was dead, but had he made it to Heaven?

“God?” He slowly stood and eyed his wings. They were whiter than a dove.

“My child,” a voice came from somewhere inside the massive golden cloud.

Instead of fear, Gabel was filled with peace and reassurance. “How…?”

“You are a child of God, Gabriel. You are one of my original Archangels, reincarnated each life cycle. And even in the end you stayed loyal to me, even disowning your biological father.”

“Delilah?” His heart stopped or rather figuratively since it no longer beat.

“She has Fallen.” There was no tone to his voice, only monotone, very matter-of-fact.

“Lord, please…” Gabel knew he should feel miserable, but he still had that sense of security around him. He almost didn’t want it. He wanted to be able to feel the loss of Delilah. He wanted to be able to mourn the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“You can do something.”

“Me?” Gabel wished he could see a face to match the deep, fatherly tone. “Give me knowledge Father.”

“You will become her Guardian.” He began.

“You’re sending me back?” Gabel finally felt something other than the comfort—disappointment. “Have I done something wrong?”

“Protect her well and choose what you may.”

“I don’t understand!” He felt as if he were fading away.

“Everyone deserves a second chance.” Was the last thing he heard before the warmth was gone and the world dimmed.

Gabel feared he was going to wake up in Hell, watching Delilah’s oh so still form bleed black blood. He would have to face Lucifer once more. How could he change that? What could he possibly do differently?

God had called him, ‘Gabriel, His Archangel.’

What did that even mean?

An angry car horn brought him out of his reverie. Hot neon signs glowed in the night, illuminating the town like day. The night life was alive with bumper to bumper traffic and humans loitering the streets and sidewalks. Gabel sat on a roof top.

“I can’t believe you were assigned to be a Guardian,” his brother, Aden, shook his head. His brown hair fell to cover his face.

Gabel eyed him with curiosity. Aden was perched on the corner of the building, tightly gripping onto the bright silver sword inscribed with holy marks and blessings.

Gabel looked out into the dark crevices of the night. Gabel could suddenly sense Delilah—his Delilah—he just couldn’t find her.

“What bothers you brother?” Aden’s face warped with concern.

A scream filled the night.

“Delilah,” Gabel breathed.

“What was that?” Aden questioned.

“Nothing,” Gabel mumbled before dropping. He knew exactly which alley to go to. It was so fresh in his mind though it seemed like it had been ages ago. Aden was close behind him. “You go after Omar.”

“Omar?” Aden froze. “How do you know it is him?”

“I just have a feeling.”

It wasn’t until they landed in the alley and saw Omar over Delilah about to take advantage of her that Gabel realized God had sent him back to give them a second chance, to save all of them.

He remembered everything.

The pain and the death.

…but did they?

Gabel carefully approached Delilah while she cowered in the corner.

Her eyes met his and there was a moment of recognition in them. His heart skipped a beat as his palms grew sweaty.

Her fiery hair, long once again, glowed in the lighting, her eyes shinning with fear.

“Are you alright?” Gabel whispered afraid if he spoke any louder he wouldn’t be able to control his voice. He gingerly touched her forehead where she bled. He knew she would heal quickly, but still couldn’t bear to see her injured.

“Do I know you?” She asked.

He tried his hardest not to smile, even though his heart was in his gut. She didn’t remember him. “I'm pretty sure I would remember such a beautiful face if we had.”

Her face turned crimson. “Your wings…” She reached forward to touch them.

He was shocked. She wasn’t freaking out like she had the first time. Perhaps part of her did remember.

“Gabel, help is coming for her.” Aden walked into the darkening alley. “We need to go.”

Delilah’s eyes came up to his.

He willed her to remember. She had to remember.

And in that moment, when he could hear the ambulance only a few blocks away, something flickered in her eyes as if a switch. “Gabel?” She breathed tasting his name on her tongue.

“Did you erase her memory?” Aden questioned as he neared.

“Yes.” Gabel lied. “She won’t remember a thing.”

Thus concludes Falling Sons: Part III

Thank you so much for reading! If you've enjoyed these chapters please make sure to check out the first book Rising Stars by L. M. Williams (available on amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any other platform you purchase books from!)