Dorian
“Dad?” I asked the man kneeling next to me. He sure looked like my dad but different.
“Yes, Dorian it’s me.” He said as his features slowly returned to what I remembered.
“But how?”
“Because this is bigger than some two-thousand-year vampire sorcerer. It seems that some of the Fallen have heard that his grimoire was not destroyed and decided to get involved.” He answered me as he looked around the jungle.
“That’s why you can use your abilities again, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s what allowed me to come here to heal you. I’m mad that I wasn’t able to save Talia and Khloe.” And he was angry. You could hear it in the timber of his voice. That’s not something that I can remember him ever being. “Come on, let’s find some clothes for you before your mother gets here. I dropped her off when I felt you fall.”
“You felt what they did to me?”
“You’re my blood. I’ve always been able to find you and your sister or sense when you’ve been hurt.” I must have had a confused look on my face because he continued, “It’s one of the perks of being an Angel.”
“I should be dead! I was dead, wasn’t I?” I said frantically while I checked my body over, only to find now sign of what had happened to me. “How?” I pleaded with him.
My dad looked down at me with all the love and compassion that he had always shown Talia and me when we were growing up. “You might have been clinically dead but your soul had yet to depart. That allowed me the time I needed to heal you. I know this is a lot for you to take in. Now, I need you to get up and get dressed.”
“Ok, my clothes are back that way,” I said pointing behind me. I got up and made my way over to my stuff. “Dad, could you check to see what happened to Alan, Steven, and Kim? As soon as I’m dressed I’ll help you.” He nodded and headed off in the direction I indicated. Something told me they were all dead but I was still holding out hope.
I found my stuff, dressed, and put my gear back on. Then headed off in the direction I knew Kim had gone to set up her sniper hide.
As I approached where her hideout was, I noticed someone kneeling next to a small body. “Mom, is that you?” The woman turned and I was relieved to see that it was her. She had tears streaming down her face. “She didn’t make it, did she?” I already knew the answer to my question.
“No son, she didn’t. I always liked her. She never took any shit from the boys.” Her voice broke.
“This is my fault. If I had been better prepared. Maybe brought more with me, Kim would still be alive. Talia, Khloe, and Joseph wouldn’t have been taken.”
WHACK!!! My head about spun around from the slap my mom had just given me. “The Fallen are responsible for Kim, Alan, and Steven’s death. Now pull yourself together. We have some Fallen to hunt.” I hadn’t seen my mother this animated in a long time. I wondered then if this was what attracted my dad to her.
Dad found us a few minutes later. “I found what was left of them. It looked like they were shot and then torn apart. I took care of their bodies.” He said as he looked down at Kim then back up to mom. “Do you want me to do the same with Kim?” Mom nodded to him and she led me away from them.
He held his hands over Kim’s body and started speaking in a language that I had never heard before. My mom spoke softly. “He’s giving her last rights in the language of the Angels. Then he will burn her body with Angelfire.” After she finished, his hands began to glow intensely. Then, within the time it takes to blink, Kim’s body erupted into a blinding white flame. When the after image cleared from my vision, Kim’s body was nothing but ash.
My mom turned to me. “Take me to where my girls were taken. I need to get the scent of the kidnappers.”
I turned, leading them back over to the temple. “Mom, they didn’t have any scent.”
“Oh, don’t worry. They had a scent. You just wouldn’t have recognized it. I have been on this hunt before. They will wish that one of the Host had come after them when I’m done with them for hurting my children.” The venom in her voice made me cringe a little. She was beyond pissed. I could not blame her, but then again, they had swatted me aside and left me for dead like I was a toddler.
We approached the area around the temple the witches and the Fallen had occupied. My mother signaled me to stop as she approached with her eyes closed. My father came up next to me. “Can I have my sword? I’m going to need it to determine who these three are.”
I nodded to him and let my M4 hang from the combat sling. I unclipped his scabbard from my belt. “How will that help?” I asked as I handed it to him.
“When I gave up my ‘powers’, my sword was my only link to the Divine Host. I could only become ‘mortal’ with one condition…” He trailed off as though he was remembering a conversation from long ago.
“That if you came across any of the Fallen, you would stop them.” I finished for him. “But how is mom able to scent them? I can only scent everyone else.”
“No one knows. Not even the Host. It’s what made us a great team when we hunted the Fallen before.”
I walked over to where Dutch’s body had fallen. I looked down at him and thought. This all started with you. I’d bet everything I own on it. You couldn’t wrest control of Boston from my mother, so someone came to you with an offer that you couldn’t turn down. Look at you now. They have my mate and sister because of your bitch ass. I only wish I could’ve ended you instead of Joseph.
“I got their scent!” My mom exclaimed. Dad walked over to her and drew his sword. Instead of the actinic light that it usually gave off, the blade was now so black that it absorbed the surrounding light.
“What the f…” I said as I looked at them.
My dad looked down at the blade and then met my eyes. “Oh this, yeah how do I explain this. Once the sword has the scent of the Fallen its nature changes and it becomes the ‘Sword of Judgment and Retribution’ it is like Azrael’s blade, in that it can harm the Fallen.” Holy crap on a cracker. My dad was the Angelic Host’s version of Wyatt Earp. Did that mean my mom was his Doc Holiday?
My dad interrupted my thoughts. “Once it has their scent it will tell me where they are. They are no longer in South America. From what Tak is telling me they have returned to the North East. He’s not good with modern geography.”
“Your sword talks to you and has a name?” I asked him skeptically.
“Not talk like you and I are doing. It’s more like he shows me images of the surrounding area from the trail that the Fallen have left behind.” He answered.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they didn’t travel by plane. Please tell me that you have a faster way to get home? I’m guessing you do since both of you are here.” I said, exhaustion beginning to set in. I just wanted Khloe and Talia back.
My dad nodded. “Come, let us go home. Then we will get the rest of our family back.” He held out his hand to me. I walked over and took it. I noticed that mom had stayed quiet the whole time during our conversation. The three of us linked hands as my dad started talking in his angelic language. I looked around and observed that we were encased in a golden light that seemed to block out everything around us.
When the light faded, I noted that we were now standing in the living room of our family home in Rye, NH.
My mom looked at me and before I could object to where we were she commanded, “Go, get cleaned up and get some sleep, son. You aren’t going to be any good to them if you’re falling down from exhaustion.” I nodded to them, then stumbled towards my room.