Falling Sons (continued)

Previously...Delilah has survived her fall from the angelic world and due to her angelic heritage is slowly recovering, but a bounty has been placed on her head and forces her, Tatyana, Gus, Omar and a tag-along Gaven to live on the run...

Chapter Four

Waking up was the worst part of this little road trip. Delilah’s body was stiff and sore. She used her friends as lumpy, hard pillows that left her neck firmer than a board. The scenery hadn’t changed much either. First, she would see the black leather interior and then her two blonde, buff body guards. And last, the endless hills covered in green trees out of either window. She almost always forgot where she was.

But only for a moment.

We’re running. She sighed, trying to adjust herself, but her seat belt was so restraining. It made that little click, click as it ate another half inch of seatbelt. She’d have to unbuckle soon before the seatbelt pressed into her bruises.

“Morning.” Omar grinned from the driver’s seat.

“I have to pee.” Delilah yawned in response.

They laughed.

She wasn’t sure why they were laughing and attempted to shake off her annoyance. Last time she checked, angels used the bathroom too. “What state are we in?”

“West Virginia,” Gus said.

“The next stop is in forty miles.” Omar informed. “Can you make it?”

“Sure.” She leaned her head back as she tried not to think of the way gravity squeezed her bladder, making her feel like it was going to leak out any moment.

“Good news,” began Gus. “There haven’t been any signs of anyone angelic or demonic. I think they’ve lost your scent.”

“Or they are extremely well at hiding.” Omar pointed out. “But that would be, like, worst case scenario.”

Gus shook his head. “I think worst case would be Delilah getting caught and us being killed.”

“Or all of us getting killed.”

“Or—”

“Ok, I get it!” Delilah snapped. “If it’s so dangerous here, why don’t we simply go back to the Angelic world? Fallen can’t get in, right?”

“Yes, but if we took you back to the angelic world the devil would have found out about your survival and he would still be trying to get you to Hell.”

“How long do we have to hide then?”

“Unfortunately, Katrina saw you.” Omar scratched the scruff on his jawline. “We were hoping everyone would look for so long then claim you dead and give up, but now…”

“You may have to fake your death.” Gus finished.

She already fell off a cliff thousands of feet above the Earth. What more could she possibly do to convince these people she actually died?

“We’re trying to help.”

“I know.” She stared at the strange texture of the fabric coating the top of the car. Like carpet, but not as thick?

Tatyana stirred at her side. “Are we there yet?”

“I’ll let you know when we get there.” Gus said.

“I'm hungry—”

Gus reached for the backpack at his feet.

“—and I don’t want any of those crappy granola bars.” Tatyana huffed. “I want real food, like a hot, well-prepared meal.”

“There are some fast food places in fifty miles, we can stop and pick something up.”

“Not exactly what I had in mind, but I suppose that’s better than granola.”

“Bathroom first, right?” Delilah questioned. They had already gone ten miles which meant she only had thirty more to hold it. But if they went the rest of the fifty miles, she’d be waiting for almost another hour. She was two-hundred percent sure she wouldn’t make that grand of a distance. She was already crossing her legs and clenching her muscles.

Twenty nine….

….twenty eight…

…twenty seven…

….twenty six….

….two miles…

…one and a half….

…one mile…

Her heart nearly pounded out of her chest. They were so close she could even see the building in the far distance, almost smell the unpleasantness of urine and bleach—

“Sorry Del,” Omar said. “It looks like it’s closed for construction.”

“WHAT?!”

Bulldozers littered the half torn up parking lot and the building was missing a roof. She began crying with her face plastered to the window as they drove past.

And then, horrified, her bladder began to leak. It was a small drop, almost unnoticed, but the rest thought it was ok. “Stop the car!” Delilah yelled as she frantically struggled to unbuckle and grabbed the Kleenex box on the floor.

The car barely rolled to a stop as she dove over Tatyana’s lap and ran barefoot into the tree line. She hardly noticed the pine cones and rocks that dug into the bottoms of her bare feet. After all, what was a little more pain? She threw down her Pooh Bear flannel pajama pants, not quite making it to a full squat before Niagara Falls poured out underneath her. Her leg muscles shook violently as she held the squat. Not only was she fighting new muscles, but muscles that hadn’t been properly stretched in months.

The time that a normal pee lasted came and went without a single sign of stopping. Was it possible for one human body to hold this much?

She, frustrated, sighed when several minutes must have gone by and she was still peeing. No one came for her though, so clearly it wasn’t actually as long as she thought and definitely not long enough for any of them to think she was dead, injured, or captured. Finally, it came to an end. She casually tossed the used Kleenex by the base of a bush. Knowing they were biodegradable, she didn’t feel too bad. She felt so much better with a now empty bladder, but only to have it replaced by hunger.

“Did you fight off a pack of wolves?” Gus teased. He leaned against the truck, arms crossed. His glamour consisted of a white T-shirt and navy blue basketball shorts and tennis shoes that had seen better days. But the more she focused, she realized the only glamour he wore was his top. His wings were tucked close to his body, almost completely hidden behind his back and the T-shirt he wore was cut in the back so his wings could fit.

“No, it was actually a bear.” Delilah grinned, holding up her fists. “But don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Tatyana climbed out to stretch her legs and to give Gus a quick kiss. She handed Delilah a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

“Thanks.” She climbed inside.

“Better?” Omar smirked.

“Much better.” Even though her leg muscles still trembled.

Dinner took place in a small town that gave ghost town its definition. There were several windows that had cardboard over them while others had curtains made of dust and cobwebs. It reminded Delilah of the Wild West, but completely abandoned. The water troughs were drier than the sand and dirt roads. Every building was made of wood and every shop appeared to be closed. There was a small motel at the end of the strip that had a vacancy sign swaying in the breeze. It creaked like an old swing on ancient metal chains. Across the street was a diner with dull yellow lights hovering inside. It looked like no one had bothered to visit either in a hundred year.

Delilah suddenly lost her appetite as goose bumps tickled up her spine. “We should leave.”

“I thought you said there was fast food?” Tatyana mumbled, staying close to Gus.

Gus turned to Omar. “Perhaps we should keep driving?”

A door banged and they all jumped in surprise.

The diner door stood open, but there wasn’t a person in sight.

She couldn’t sense anything or anyone, but that bad feeling you got when in a dangerous spot made her stomach flip. She almost imagined them on the set of a horror film and the audience was screaming at them to leave before the killer could capture them.

She was about to take a step back to the car when she heard a baby cry. “Did you hear that?” She spun around to eye each individual building like she’d know which one the cry came from just by looking at it.

It came again, more distinctive this time.

“The motel.” She managed two steps before Omar’s hand was around her arm. “What do you think you’re doing?” He demanded.

“There’s a child in there, Omar.”

“It could be a trap.”

“Then I’ll go by myself.” She pulled her arm back and marched toward the motel. Whatever stupid courage she had had was sucked dry as soon as she stepped inside. The shadows chilled her to the bone. The building moaned, threatening to collapse at any moment.

The baby’s cry grew louder as Delilah went up the stairs. The inside looked worse than the out. The top corners were filled with spider webs the size of fishing nets. If she saw anything move in them, she would scream. Everything was coated in a thick layer of grey dust. Very little light came in from the grime covered windows. The stairs creaked with age and for the first time in her life she worried about termite damage. Once on the second level, she approached the entrance to the hallway. Closed doors were on either side. The walls were scratched as if someone or something had marked them up. Any number of things could be lingering behind any one of these doors—

A hand fell on her shoulder and it took everything in her power to prevent a scream as her heart dropped to her stomach. Omar had been right. It was a trap. She wasn’t alone here.

She jumped around, ready to fight, only to see Omar. He put a finger to his lips and cautiously moved around her. “What are you doing?” She hissed, more annoyed by the relief she felt than by him actually being there.

“You honestly thought I was going to let you come alone?” He snorted with disbelief.

The crying had subsided, but Delilah’s curiosity got the best of her. Why would there be a baby in a place like this? Even though she felt like she was being watched, she opened the first door to the left. The window was open, providing excellent sunlight and a gentle breeze. A sack was half empty with potatoes next to the door. The walls that separated the rooms had been knocked down exposing dozens upon dozens of blankets and pillows with sleeping children. In the corner, by the window, sat a young girl no older than sixteen or seventeen nursing the baby Delilah had heard crying earlier.

The girl looked up, surprised to see her. “How did you get in?”

“The door was unlocked.” Delilah quietly answered. Wouldn’t she know that if she lived here?

“It’s never unlocked unless…” Her eyes grew large as she shrank into the corner. “You aren’t one of them, are you?”

“One of who?” Delilah could barely breathe. This girl didn’t live here, she was a prisoner.

“The evil winged men.”

She looked over her shoulder, but Omar was gone. The door across the hall was open, exposing no more than ten sleeping women in tattered clothes from the age of late teens to mid-thirties. All of them were human and each one looked pregnant. “No, I’m like you.” Delilah lied, part of her wishing it was true. “I'm human too.”

“And your friend?”

“He’s good too. We don’t want to hurt you.” Delilah took a step into the room. “What is this place?”

Steps came thudding up the stairs and the girl whimpered, curling around her child. Omar appeared in the doorway, looking frantic. “Delilah we’ve run into a Fallen breeding ground.”

Chapter Five: Aden

Aden had been waiting nearly two days for Milady’s return. Perhaps she had gotten smart and figured it would be best if she didn’t come back.

It was well into the night when the door to their home opened and quietly shut.

He lit the candle next to him with a simple flick of his thumb, using a match he’d been holding for hours. “Where have you been?” He questioned, staring at nothing in particular. If he met her gaze directly, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from glowering.

She jumped with shock, clutching her chest as if she were having a heart attack. “My goodness Aden, you scared me.” She put on a small smile, one he had learned to be very fake. “What has you up so late?”

“My wife.” The words tasted bitter on his tongue. “Milady, where have you been?”

“So nosey you are.” She lightly pulled on the strings to untie her blood red cloak.

“As your husband, I need be when you go missing for two days.”

“Well, I thought it had been obvious.” She turned to him with straight lips and glowing eyes. “I was out looking for your sister. The stupid girl fell hundreds of feet. It’s not like she could have gone far, but there isn’t any sign of her. Perhaps that nasty half-breed brother of yours—”

“Don’t,” he stood as he slammed his fists into the table, “talk about my family like that. You don’t even have a right to speak of any of this since it is your fault.”

She gasped. “My fault?”

“As if you didn’t know. You knew Gabel would change, that’s why you moved the wedding to sunset. And I so blindly allowed you to! And Delilah—I should have believed Gabel when he said you were forcing her to do all of those preparations for our wedding. But I didn’t want to think you were capable of such deceit.”

She began laughing.

“You’ve torn my family apart and all you can do is laugh?” He felt a stab in his chest. What kind of monster did he marry? He really didn’t know her at all.

“Do you think that I feel sorry for them? Any of you?” She spat. “I’ve got my own problems, tenfold of what they face. I will never feel sorry for them.”

Aden brought his hand up and was about to strike her when she caught his wrist.

“Don’t even think about it.” She hissed before moving away.

A dusty black substance was left on his wrist from her hand. He brushed some off onto his fingers and rubbed them together. He almost mistook it for dirt but it was odorless. “Brimstone?” He questioned.

“What?” Milady turned, horrified.

“Why…why is there brimstone on your hands?”

“I told you, I was looking for Delilah.” She was caught so off guard that she could no longer lie with a steady voice.

“Why were you in Hell?”

“I wasn’t.” She argued. “I was on Earth looking for—!”

“We both know you don’t give a damn about Delilah. You haven’t cared for her since you first met her. Now tell me, why you were in Hell?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.”

In a fit of rage, he yanked open the door, nearly pulling it off its hinges. “Out.”

Her jaw fell. “You can’t be serious.”

Aden opened it wider. “Out.”

“You’re going to break tradition, break a vow made before God—!”

“You either tell me everything or you leave. And if you don’t do either, I’ll go to the High Archangels and tell them everything you’ve done and personally make sure your wings get torn.”

“No, not my wings.” She tenderly stroked them as she wrapped them around herself.

Aden stood fast in his decision. “What will it be?”

Naomi had been one of the most beautiful women in the angelic world. She had each desired curve. Seductive, wide hips for child bearing and a face that made men fall to their knees. She had been asked for her hand in marriage more times than she could count, but it was hard to get married without parents. It didn’t seem right without a proper blessing. Besides, she had her eyes on someone else. Ezekiel’s brother, Zachariah, was the most handsome, single angel there was. With his one blue and one brown eye and perfect smile, his wavy light brown hair, bronzed skin and square jaw; she could only imagine how beautiful their children would be. When he asked her to enter a courtship with him she couldn’t have been happier. All courtships ended with an engagement and engagement always meant marriage.

They were Warriors together, a happy, over-joyed couple. Nothing could split them until one fateful day when Zachariah was given a mission and Naomi was reassigned to be a Guardian. She had been bathing in a sacred pool on Earth when Naomi was raped by a human.

Shortly after, Naomi found out she had conceived a child. She tried to hide her pregnancy and punish the man who had raped her. She grew a bitter heart as she made sure he had the worst of luck and hit bottom. But that wasn’t good enough for her. Once he hit rock bottom she made sure he kept getting deeper. Broke, homeless and starving he was finally thrown into jail after the human crimes he had committed.

That was two months before she gave birth. And all the while, Zachariah understood. He even helped her pick out a name for the baby.

Milady was born on April 13th, during the middle of the humans’ Great Depression. Milady was six pounds and seven ounces, stretching to a length of eighteen inches and wingless.

Naomi’s mid-wife barely had time to assess the situation before Naomi had weakly gotten up, took her new born child and fled.

She said nothing to Zachariah before leaving. Years later she would find out he spent four years searching for them.

Naomi reassigned herself as a Peeper and raised her human child on Earth. By the time Milady was four, Naomi knew her daughter was special. Her brain was more developed and she had the strength of an angelic child. By the time Milady was six, Naomi told her that she was an angel. When Milady was seven, her father was released from prison and freely roamed the streets. Naomi feared that he would find them so she kept them constantly moving. Two years later, he committed suicide but the wickedness inside him turned him into a demon.

. After two attacks from her father and life-threating injuries from those encounters, Naomi felt she had no choice, but to get her daughter wings so she could return to the angelic world where they would be safe. She took Milady to her friend, who was a Fallen and a practicing shadow man in New Orleans, on her tenth birthday. He said he couldn’t help, but knew someone who could. The child would have to go alone. Naomi was hesitant, but agreed. She waited for nearly twenty hours in that tiny Voodoo Shop before her daughter came back with glistening white wings.

Milady’s hands fell into her lap, eyes shining with moisture. But she didn’t let her tears face. “Everyone had welcomed us with open arms. My mother later found out that Zachariah had stopped fighting because he felt he no longer had anything to fight for and was murdered by my father just a few short weeks before we had arrived.”

Aden didn’t say anything, just waited for her to continue.

But she didn’t.

“That still doesn’t explain why you were in Hell.” He was glad the edge was still in his voice because he wasn’t sure if he could have mustered it up on his own. He never knew she was born without wings.

She picked her head up, meeting his gaze. “The shadow man took me into Hell where I met Lucifer. Being a child, he had looked like a nice man. He had a clean face and nice clothes, a soft smile. His red eyes had scared me, but his voice had soothed those fears. He asked me what I wanted and I said wings. There came an ache in my back, but I had wings. I couldn’t have been happier. But I didn’t understand the price they came at. He said there would be another girl when I grew up. A girl who would need his help too. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that it was Delilah.” She stared at her hands.

“Why didn’t you just walk away and lose your wings?”

“I never even told my mother. She doesn’t know where they came from.” She shook her head. “Everything that’s happened…everything is my fault.”

“Milady!”

“He owns me Aden.” She breathed. “If I don’t succeed, I don’t just lose my wing. He’ll take my soul.”

Chapter Six

“A what?” Delilah couldn’t have heard him right.

“It’s a Fallen breeding ground, all of those children are half-breeds. We need to go. Now.”

She looked at all of the sleeping kids. They seemed so…human.

“Delilah please, we really need to go.” Omar took hold of her arm.

She turned to the teenage girl with the baby, wanting to leave her with some sort of reassuring thought, but something was off. The girl smirked and her eyes changed colors.

“He said you wouldn’t be able to see through the new glamour.” Her voice almost had an echo to it as if there were an entire choir chanting.

Horrified, Delilah watched as the girl’s clothes turned black and her hair became shorter. Her body grew longer and wider. The baby and blanket turned charcoal black before bursting into hundreds of silk feathers. The black wings wrapped around the Fallen as she finished standing.

Turned out, she was a he who stood over six feet dressed completely in black with a mop of flat black hair that fell into his blood red eyes. His smirk, menacing, with canines sharper than pinpoints. He let out a long, low whistle before taking a step forward. “Well hello beautiful.”

She turned and ran.

She didn’t look when she heard the struggle between Omar and the Fallen. She didn’t stop when roof tiles were torn off by Fallen coming in that way. She heard them fall and land. There were at least five of them. All of them sounded bigger than her.

Was she even strong enough to fight? The better question was, would she even stand a chance if she fought?

The front door was thrown off of its hinges, flying down the hallway. More Fallen crowded in. Half-way down the staircase, her right foot fell in through the old wood. She frantically tried to yank out her foot, but no matter what, it wouldn’t come loose. The wood chaffed and scratched her skin.

She desperately tried to remember her self-defense class she took years ago. Maybe she should have paid more attention, maybe she should have gone to more than one session.

Warm hands grabbed her waist from behind her. She brought up her elbow, hoping she’d hit something. The grip loosened as a howl filled the air. She lifted her free leg to kick the guy nearest to her as he came up the stairs, falling a little deeper into the staircase.

She wished Omar had let me put on actual shoes and not just flip flops before they came as her toes jammed into the bottom of the Fallen’s chin. She swallowed back tears and curse words. He fell backward onto the ones behind him. She lost her balance from the kick and fell, her head smacking against the skull of another person. Her teeth rattled together.

Her vision ran black for a second as the chaos continued around her. She blindly flailed her arms to keep away her attackers, sure she’d hit something.

She went to pull her foot from the stair once more by putting her weight on the rail. She almost immediately regretted it as the sound of cracking wood came. She screamed as the railing gave way and gravity pulled her down. Her foot throbbed with pain as it tore from the stair.

“Delilah!” She heard Omar call out. He came onto the landing before she dropped into someone’s arms.

“Gotcha,” Gus’s voice whispered into her ear.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and let her tears soak his shirt. How lucky had she gotten to have Gus be the one who caught her?

“It’ll be alright.” He hurried down the hall.

“Omar.” She gasped. “You can’t leave him alone!”

“Delilah, we have to leave.”

“Omar!” She screeched, trying to claw herself from Gus’ arms. They couldn’t leave him. There were too many Fallen. He wouldn’t make it out alive. “Omar!”

“Go Delilah!” Came Omar’s breathless response. “I promise I’ll find you!”

And with that they were separated.

Gus hurtled over tables and chairs through a very dusty and very unused dining room. The exit sign, that probably once burned bright, hung dimly above the door that looked rusted shut. Gus ran at it and nudged it open enough with his shoulder to wiggle out. As he ran back to the truck, she peered over his shoulder and saw Fallen advancing in the room, coming after them.

At the truck, Gus threw her onto the backseat which was far from comfortable and moved around to the back of the truck. She stared down at her ankle horrified. A large piece of wood stuck out. The blood drained from her face. She couldn’t feel it. Not only did she have to emotionally handle losing Omar, she would have to endure the physical loss of amputation. She cried harder, not wanting to lose her foot. What kind of ballerina would she be with only one foot? Not her, that’s who. She wasn’t talented enough to dance with a prosthetic.

“Come on out.” Gus said to Tatyana and Gaven. “Angel, I need you to drive.”

“Me?” Tatyana climbed out of the bed. “But why?”

“Delilah got injured.” Was all he said.

“Is it bad?” Gaven questioned as he opened the door behind Delilah’s head. She sat up so he would fit on the backseat with her, but she couldn’t stop crying. She leaned against him and winced as she tried to move her foot. Maybe she could feel it. Maybe it wouldn’t be a complete loss.

Gus slid in on the other side of her and inspected her foot. “Go Tatyana!” He demanded when he realized they hadn’t began moving yet.

We couldn’t have been going any faster than thirty miles per hour.

“Tia?” Delilah tried to control her breathing as the pain in her foot increased as the adrenaline from the fight wore off. “Remember that time we were driving through that real shady part of town and we saw that guy on the corner? And then you sped down that road at like ninety miles an hour because we thought he was going to kill us?”

“Uh huh.”

“When was that?” Gus looked between the two of them before going to Delilah’s ankle.

Delilah ignored him. “Now is just like that time.”

“But—” Her hands tighten on the wheel.

Gus poked the end of the wooden sliver.

The pain shot straight up Delilah’s leg like a shock of electricity. “DON’T TOUCH IT!”

The car lurched forward.

“Easy Angel.”

Tatyana took a steady pace, dust and rocks flying up in their wake.

Gus climbed over the front seat and reached inside of the glove box. He pulled out a lunch-box sized red bag.

“First aid kit?” Delilah marveled. The tears had subsided, but now she was working on a nervous sweat.

“I figured traveling with humans, I’d need it.”

He didn’t even bother with the zipper as he tore off the top. He snatched a half-full bottle of water off of the floor and gave it to Gaven. “Here,” he gave him two small pills. “It should ease the pain.”

“What are they?” He questioned.

“Ibuprofen.”

“Shouldn’t she be taking these?”

“They won’t have any effect on her. And trust me, you’ll need them.”

Gaven didn’t seem to want to argue and quickly swallowed them down. Delilah hardly had time to grab his hand as Gus pinched his fingers around the marker-sized splinter and yanked.

She screamed so hard her lungs began to burn. Her ears rang because it wasn’t only her scream, but Tatyana and Gaven’s as well. Her knuckles, on the hand that clutched Gaven’s, were bone white.

She was about to stop and take a breath when Gus unscrewed the cap to a hydrogen peroxide bottle. “No, no, no—!”

She could hear it sizzle as it foamed and sank into her wound.

Her nails dug into Gaven’s flesh.

Gus cursed under his breath. “There’s more blood than I had anticipated.”

“Shouldn’t we take her to a hospital or something?” Gaven whimpered.

“She’ll heal too fast.” Gus mumbled. “Delilah lighten up on him, you’re going to crush the poor man’s hand.”

She hadn’t even thought of that. She was stronger than Gaven, like a lot stronger. How…bizarre was that? She dropped his hand like a hot potato and watched him massage it as the pain in her foot dulled.

Gus quickly slapped a three by three inch Band-Aid on top of the wound before wrapping it in layers and layers of gauze.

“We’ll have to change it every couple of hours until it fully heals, but you’ll live.” Gus smiled, his body relaxing ever so slightly with this crisis adverted.

He began to climb up front. “Angel, scoot over.”

“But Gus—!”

“I got it.”

“Are you sure?” She slid over to the passenger seat, straining to keep a hand on the wheel.

“Are you alright?” Delilah looked up at Gaven.

His face was chalk white despite his tan and appeared as if he would pass out any moment. “I’ve…” He swallowed. “I’ve been better.”

She took his hand and lightly kissed the tiny, bleeding cut marks left behind from her nails. “I'm sorry.”

He let her hold onto his hand as if it were hers to keep.

They continued to drive, even well into the night. They decided not to make any food stops until day break and reached the next state.

She knew she should have been worried about Fallen coming after her, but she felt so safe in Gaven’s arms that it let her forget, even momentarily.

Before she fell asleep, she thought of Omar and hoped that he would be safe and come back to her soon.