CHAPTER ONE
"Estielle?..." said a cool, calming voice, "Estielle... You need to wake up."
She groaned, prying her eyes open against the light.... and then she remembered the pain.... Searing white agony down each side of her back, from her shoulder to her hip. Trembling with agony, she looked down, seeing light grey feathers.... her feathers....
"I'm sorry child," said the voice.
She looked up, making eye contact with the Archangel, "Vlad..." She croaked, "Please.....kill me-"
"Now now, we can't have that," he replied with a faint smile.
She hated him, she had always hated him, he was the Archangel of knowledge, all knowing, all powerful and all too full of himself. He had made her life misery from the moment she awoke in the White halls, she was different from the others, light grey feathers, black hair and eyes that shone like sapphires, she looked nothing like the other angels. Even Vlad as an Archangel had simple black feathers and blonde hair with dark brown eyes, all lesser angels had white feathers, this made her unique, but unique isn't always a good thing....
"For your sin of lust, you are sentenced-"
"You did this!" Estielle cut him off.
"... You are sentenced to exile," Vlad finished, barely pausing after her outburst.
Grabbing her by the hair, Vlad dragged the angel to a gaping hole in the floor, he forced her to her knees before tearing her cloak from her body. Estielle shuddered with shock at the sudden sensation of cold air on the wounds down her back. Now the tears came... not from the shame of her nudity, not from the pain of her wounds, but simply the injustice. She had served with faith for six hundred years, only to have her sanctity taken from her by a violent Archangel.... the same Archangel now holding a glowing white hot brand, shaped like a heart.
She couldn't help but flinch as he grabbed her hair, yanking her head back the brand pressed into her right cheek, she screeched, the smell of burning flesh permeating the air. It was only moments, but for Estielle, it may have been hours before the brand was removed, her eye swelled shut almost immediately, her jaw aching, she couldn't hear properly, still imagining the sound of her sizzling flesh.
"May god have mercy on your soul."
And with a sharp push, she tumbled into the hole, she glimpsed her destination, Earth....
Better than Hell
... her eyes drifted closed. The fall from heaven isn't a short drop from the top of the highest clouds, it's a fall through an alternate dimension, that can take many hours to reach, and that's in a controlled fall, having her wings torn from her body and thrown tumbling into the abyss,
"God... Please let me die..."
Darren growled in frustration, he didn't understand what was so hard to understand...
"If you keep this up, you're going to attract attention," he said calmly.
"From who exactly?" a deep voice replied.
"The Archangels you fucking imbecile," Darren sighed, "if you find a sinner and take his soul so be it, but leading innocent humans into sin in order to harvest them, will attract the attention of the Archangels, and I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER WAR!"
"Yes my lord," the voice said, "I understand."
"Do you?" Darren asked sarcastically.
The shadow in the back of his mind had already faded,
Why are the most powerful demons also the most god damn stupid?
With a sigh, Darren stood up, taking in his surroundings. His leather backed chair sitting by the window, he had a wide view of his city from his penthouse office, lightning cracked in the distance, lighting up the room, he briefly saw the charts on the walls, detailing his economic exploits, the fine painting of his late father handing above the fireplace. With a sigh, Darren grabbed his keys from the desk, it was late and he needed a drink.
The problem of soul harvesting was a complicated one, souls were valuable to demons, they could give power if eaten, gifts in the underworld if given and forgiveness if released. This makes soul harvesting a touchy subject, demons around the world are driven by their desires until either killed, driven from the earth, or accepted into heaven, however the latter has only happened seldom over the last thousand years, Angels on the other hand exist to serve God, who condemns the desires of demons. After the last war, both sides had taken heavy casualties, but ultimately, the demons had lost and it was Darren's job to preserve the balance and prevent the next holy war.
That's what lead to his little chat with Droth,
Fucking idiot demon
... stepping into the elevator he couldn't help but sigh and rub his temples as he made his way to the ground floor. He ignored the polite nods in the main foyer from the staff as he made his way outside, his black Rolls Royce was parked in its usual spot, just outside the front entrance, in the centre of the covered drive through. Hitting the button on the remote, he heard the familiar click of the locks release and climbing into the seat he finally allowed himself to relax.
The engine started with a rumble he pulled away, slowing to allow a truck to pass, he listened for a moment as the rain finally hit,
"Even heaven is taking a piss on me right now," he moaned to himself.
CRASH!
The car bounced, all the airbags blew at once, smashing Darren in the head and pinning him into his seat. He sat in stunned silence for a moment before the rage kicked in, twisting in his seat he kicked the door, hard, tearing it free of the hinges and flying across the street. Darren pulled himself free from the wreckage, he was covered in white dust, looking around quickly, there was nobody in the immediate vicinity, but as he turned, the receptionist from the hotel quickly ran out to see what happened.
"Oh my god what happened!?" Shrieked a small blonde haired woman.
Darren ignored her, turning to look at his car, he spotted it,
Shit....
There was a woman, it appeared that she had thrown herself from the hotel, she'd landed on his bonnet. The woman was pale, with black hair, stripped naked and had an aroma of burnt flesh about her. Darren reached out to touch her face, he actually felt a small pang of sadness,
How could someone so beautiful end up like this?
He lightly brushed her hair aside to better see her face, frowning he spotted the brand on her cheek.
"No...." He whispered.
The woman's eyes shot open, like two great sapphires that bored into his very soul, she twitched,
"Please... Don't..." she slurred, before vomiting up a large quantity of blood and her eyes drooping closed again.
Darren quickly turned back to the receptionist,
"Helicopter now!" he yelled.
"But-"
"NOW!"
The woman quickly scurried away, hitting a button in her pocket, Darren could hear the emergency alarm going off inside the hotel. With a sigh, he turned back to the woman, grabbing the edges of the twisted metal, he slowly pulled them out, widening the gaps around the beautiful woman so he could lift her out without injuring her....
God I need a drink....
The helicopter arrived in minutes, Darren helped load the woman onto a stretcher, before climbing in beside the paramedic,
"Take us to my home, I have a private clinic."
"Sir," confirmed the pilot.
Darren just rolled his eyes, the war was over, he was just a humble businessman now. Twenty minutes later Darren had transferred the woman onto a large comfortable bed, his personal physician was attending to the woman.
"Doesn't seem to have any broken bones," Doctor Grey said, holding up a set of x-rays, "but she's bleeding internally, I'm not sure how to treat this kind of wound on a demon, let alone and angel."
