Chapter 22 ∣ So, This is Love
-Harlan
The sentinel angel was crippled by the arrow pierced through his chest, the stunned look on his face was priceless. The asshole deserved it, threatening my mate...but the only worry I had was the color of the arrow was nothing like I'd seen before.
This energy...it's dark.
It pulsates with life as blood trickled out of the sentinel angel's mouth, running down his chin while his grip fell away from the nasty ass sword, he'd used to completely take me off guard. With his hand, his fingers shakily touched his chest where the arrow embedded itself, his breathing erratic while his eyes widened in disbelief and shock. Blood cascaded down from where the arrow penetrated, but the arrow remained a solid form of energy.
"Look at you, weaker than my love and you're supposed to be a sentinel," I chuckled while pushing through the sting of my own wounds, the pain by far worse than anything I'd ever experienced before.
Much more painful than when even Tyco ripped a fragment of our soul away.
Much. It's...
What the hell is this?
My handheld my forehead as I groaned in indescribable pain, the sentinel angel losing all motor function as he fell from the sky. I watched as his buddy called out to him, even half-ass attempting to come to his aid and catch him. It never would have worked in time because he hit the ground with a solid thud.
I had my own problems as I felt a shift and disconnect between my inner demon. It appears he were being spliced from my body, splitting our soul in half. I focused on trying to keep it together, gritting back the ever-growing pain while my gaze slowly lifted to see my heavenly beauty fluttering yards above and away from me.
Isis held a deeper set purple bow, that energy coming from it deceivingly stronger than expected. She appeared shaken herself for just a moment, but in the next, she grew still and analytical, the beating of her feathery white wings the only sound emanating from her.
I searched the sky as my breathing was ragged and uneven, having noticed the reaper that had appeared on the scene unexpectedly only minutes prior. I'm half surprised it didn't descend upon the sentinel angel and take its soul for the fun of it, just to stick it to the celestial beings. No, I wasn't even close, it appears almost statuesque while the demonic hands held the scythe in its grasp.
The air caught in my lungs...the second Isis' wings stopped; the energy drifted away from her as she plummeted down toward the Earth's surface.
"Isis!" I screamed as she fell faster than I could react, my wounds bleeding out while I attempted to keep a hold of my own wings, feeling my other half slipping away from me.
I couldn't steady myself in time, her body connecting with the ground and lying motionless. A few seconds later, her heart was faintly beating, her breathing coming very short as she continued to not move otherwise.
It was hard to fly down, but the second my feet touched down and I solidly landed on the ground, I let go of my strength and my demonic features receded. It took all my focus to even begin to heal, but the blade had done its damage and I wasn't sure if it would be reversible.
My steps were staggered as I made my way to her, hearing Icarus shouting, "Isis! Harlan!"
He was worried, the human cared.
There was so much blood...but it wasn't hers. Thaddeus had landed just a few feet away from where Isis now lay face down, her wings completely limp and almost appearing broken. It would appear that she'd been forsaken...cast out of Heaven and left to fall on her own for what she had done.
Maybe she truly would have been redeemed if she'd left and returned to Heaven, but after killing another being, and none other than another angel...redemption would never be at her fingertips, out of reach for all eternity.
"Isis," I breathed out harshly as I collapsed to my knees beside her body. My hands reached out with my blood fresh on them and touched her shoulder, shaking her slightly as I called out, "Isis?"
She didn't move. There was no response.
Tears began to well in my eyes as they threatened for all to see. I don't think I'd cried a single day in my immortal life...except for the moment I ever so carefully flipped her over and cradled her head against my chest. I clutched her body to mine as though it were my lifeline, my blood staining her perfect skin that was dirtied by the ground. Her hair was in disarray as I gently stroked it back with one of my hands, trying to get a clear look at her beautiful face.
"Isis..." the tears fell the second her heartbeat faded away once again, crying into the top of her head as I buried my face against it. She was everything I didn't deserve, and it was almost fitting that she and I would never be together. Her light was the most precious thing I'd ever had the honor of knowing. For the short time that I did...I would be eternally grateful...if I didn't die alongside her.
"Harlan! Harlan!" Icarus' voice drew near, and his footsteps could be heard as he circled around so he was now standing on the other side of Isis as I held her. His steps became very small as he walked slowly and cautiously, asking, "Harlan?"
I couldn't bear to even look at him, holding my angel closer to me as I felt my own pain tearing through my body...the loss of her and my own wounds mixing a brutal punishment that I couldn't take.
"Har-"
"She's dead!" I finally garbled out though my voice I no longer knew as my own.
"She can't-"
"She...is...dead...!" I lifted my head and my eyes locked with Icarus'; his breathing uneven as he gazed down upon the angel who had protected him. The look on his face was foreign to me, pain and care for another not a very notable trait for him. He shakily fell to his knees, not believing a word I said as his eyes looked over Isis and then rested on me.
When Icarus did speak, it was very quiet, "I didn't know this would all happen...I didn't want her to get hurt."
"You couldn't have done anything," I snarled back wallowing in my pain, "you're just a useless human. A simple human that will fade away with your legacy being that of kickstarting the killing of an entire species," I glowered at him and motioned around us, "I dislike the vampires very much, but no species deserves genocide!"
"It's not my fault...Lilith didn't tell-"
I scoffed and chuckled darkly, "You honestly think that hybrid would give the vampires a choice...an opportunity to be transported back to Hell before she unleashed her ultimatum?! You're stupider than I thought for being a brilliant scientist."
Icarus was left speechless, his eyes downcast as he remained silent.
Pain rippled through my body and it finally crippled me, my muscles spasming as I tried to keep Isis in my arms. I fell to my side, still holding my beautiful angel against my chest as she lay with me. I didn't want to let her go; I didn't want to let go of everything we could have had.
"Harlan!" Icarus' voice cut through the ringing in my ears.
I was able to get out, "There's nothing you can do..."
"There has to be!" Icarus got to his feet and searched all around him for a solution to this problem. He can't save a life, he only knows how to take one, but here he was, worried that a demon like me was about to die.
And here I was...cynical until the very end.
"You have other things to worry about I'm afraid..." Icarus knew I was referring to Lilith and how long it would be until every vampire was dead. Maybe the humans really would be next, but I wouldn't get a chance to even see if that truly was how the world would take a dark turn.
Keegan...fucking bastard for sending me out to find my mate. If it wasn't for him, I'd have never known what life really could be...damn you, but at least Adrasteia will be safe in the Dominion Plane.
I couldn't even lift my head off the ground now, my energy spent. There wasn't enough left in me to even attempt to faze with Isis, but then again, she was already dead, and I'd rather die holding her in my arms, the only true happiness I ever knew.
My eyes slowly closed as it pained me to breathe, my heart slowing down substantially as any warmth I held left me. Icarus was still frantically yelling, the noise drowning out in the background as it became muffled silence, just the sound of my heartbeat drumming slowly in my ears remained.
As my heartbeat slowed, I could heart another beat steadily, right next to my body as though it were radiating through me. I think a small smile crept onto my face, but I could never have known. What I did know for sure, is that I felt a warmth from her touch, holding Isis brought back that warmth my body no longer held.
A very faint shift in Isis' position in my arms made me sigh happily, something soft and warm touching the top of my shoulder, right before I felt a sharp sting followed by a flooded pleasurable rush.
I knew I was on death's doorstep, what I could feel like a final heartbeat about ready pulse...then it struck me that the reaper must have been here for me.
I love you so damn much fluffy wings...
I drew the last of the air from my lungs as something slipped through my mind that I couldn't believe.
I love you too Harlan.
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To Seduce an Angel by K. A. Young.
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