Queen of Angels: The Fallen Book Two

Chapter Fifteen

All I know is this day couldn't get much worse. And yet it did. I don't know how I'm back here again, sitting across a booth with Mr. Pierce in front of me. This time, however, he is not alone. Right before closing, he decided to bring a friend with him to a little impromptu meeting.

"Amelia, I would like you to meet Clarice. Clarice was meant to be the new Fallen commander of the group, however you've taken her position. She does have a few of my demons under her pledged wing, however, she deals best with adolescence." The woman beside him is tall and her cheekbones are fierce. Her long, straight and black hair makes me think that she is a vampire, except I obviously now know that she isn't. The last thing I expected was for her to smile endearingly at me.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, my dear."

"I wish I could say the pleasure is mine, but I didn't really expect any of this. I'm literally wearing a coffee apron."

"My dear, as a Fallen, you shouldn't even be working in such an establishment. There are wealthy demons just like Mr. Pierce out there that need Fallen like yourself in order to control their adolescent teenagers. It's a very important part of our ecosystem." Ecosystem. Is she serious?

Mr. Pierce clears his throat before speaking. "Amelia, I am here to give you one last opportunity to revoke. Clarice is way more efficient at handling boys like them, and you are not capable of doing it forever."

"And why not?" Although I didn't mean for it to sound like a challenge, it certainly did come across that way.

"I gave you an opportunity. I even gave you a reason. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and a chance to leave. You have chosen not to take me up on my generous offers. This could have gone peacefully, but because you were not able to successfully do that, I am afraid I will have to take medicine to my own hands from now on." My eyes narrow at him. "I will give you until morning to message me and tell me that you have considered my offer and are stepping down. If you do not, the actions that I will take will be far more drastic. I will only ask once more." Both Mr. Pierce and Clarice step up outside of the booth and head towards the exit. The last thing I needed was for him to be so threatening about it. But if he wants to behave that way, then that is fine. I need to prepare everyone for what might happen.

On the way home, I cannot help but feel that I'm being watched. Throughout the entire experience, I had two crows gawking, squawking, and swooping down towards me as I took a step. It's unusual for ravens to do that, but here we are. As I finally wake my way to the front door, I go in and slam the door shut behind me. I only have moments to breathe when I realize that many of my boys are actually in the living room waiting for me to come home.

"You're late." Oliver states.

"You're observant." I respond.

"We were worried about you." Niles mentions. Although seemingly a little bit like he didn't want to admit it.

"Our favorite vampire caught me on the way out. Let's just say I got a little bit angry on my way home. I didn't take the usual route either. It ended up being longer than expected. I'm sorry if I worried you." The concerns seemed to shift about my well-being, to about the fact that Mr. Peirce once again found me at my place of work.

"What did he want?" Hugh asks the question that everyone was thinking.

"He wanted to give me the ultimate to give you all up before the morning."

Nolan and Oliver both stand up and walk towards me. "What's the ultimatum?" Nolan questions.

"Something along the lines of death, fire and brimstone, I don't know. He just said he will only ask once more, and I'm assuming then he'll rain hell down on us of some kind. To be honest, I'm getting a little bit tired of this shit. And I'm usually nice to my boyfriend's parents."

Oliver snickers, "If you told me you accidentally stabbed him during your meeting, I would have applauded."

"I believe you." I sigh and rub the temples along my head. "This has seriously been such a crazy day."

"Let's go upstairs. You can change and relax for a moment, and then if you want to come back down and tell us what happened, you can. I mean it is getting pretty late." Also, knowing that it's somewhere around 1:00 AM, I turn around and I head straight up the stairs.

In one way, I'm getting a little bit over how many stairs I have to take just to get up to my room. Thanks to the adjoined bathroom that Oliver and I have to our bedroom, which is the only one on the top floor, I'm able to fully do whatever I need to in the bathroom without the worry that someone else is going to intrude by accident. As I take off my work shirt, I throw it into the hamper basket inside the bathroom and I brush my teeth. Oliver is standing in the threshold, gawking over me.

"I can't tell if you're staring at me in lust or hunger." I smile, watching him look me up and down.

"Love. Definitely." Goosebumps come to my surface when he says the words. He doesn't drop the L-word too often, but when he does it makes my head spin. "You know, technically, even though you're the daughter of a Fallen, you're not actually one." I turn around and lean backwards on the bathroom sink and face him.

"I'm not sure I follow."

"As the daughter of a Fallen, technically you have to prove whether or not you are one. Your first test as to whether or not you become an Angel."

"As in, bright glowy wings and a Halo and white robes? I can get most of that from a costume shop."

He chuckles and steps closer to me, putting both of his hands around my waist. "Not quite. You're still human, but with Angel blood in you. Angels have their own special unique powers, each one completely individual from the next. You're so close with all of us and you're advancing so quickly. I can only assume that's part of it. But I think your big test is coming."

"What makes you say that?"

"There are a lot of demons that are born human and have to prove themselves to become what they should be. In every single one of those circumstances, they usually are embedded with a mark. Depending how that mark shapes is how that person ends up becoming that creature or not. And it looks like yours is starting to rise." My eyes widened and I looked down at my body, but I don't see anything. But as I look over my shoulder, I can see in the mirror adjacent to me that there is, in fact, something on my back. "I think it's trying to form into a pair of wings. Either way, when you're all done, you'll find out what you are. I assume Fallen will have their wings disappear."

"And what angels get a weird tattoo in their bodies?"

"The marks usually disappear altogether. They remain quite faded. Don't worry, it won't look anything like a tattoo. But I am proud of you. It clearly means you're ready for a test."

"You can say I'm ready all you want, but the truth is I don't know what I can do. How can you all forgive me for the way I acted the other night? How am I supposed to feel connected with everybody when all I did was accuse them all of lying to me?"

"You might feel that way, but it's not how we feel. We trust you wholeheartedly. That's why we pledged to you."

"But do you all trust each other?" His head tilts and confusion, but I shake my head. "Never mind. I'll do my best." As I head back out the room, I grab another T-shirt and throw it over me. "I know I said we'd come back downstairs, but I'm feeling so tired suddenly." I say, grabbing my head. The room is starting to look a little bit fuzzy. I felt tired before, but not quite like this. And what's that funny smell? I turn around as I hear something collide with the floor and I see Oliver lying flat. I go to rush over to him, but I feel my knees hit the ground and eventually everything goes black.