Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Valory
There were moments in life where we realized, without a doubt, we were insignificant.
Even being an angel, and being on the righteous side of things, I’d never felt like I was above anyone. But the moment I saw Mercy reach out to the wolf, the moment she glowed, I understood the truth with absolute certainty.
My faith always preached that in the grand scheme of life, we were nothing. Not unless we accepted God as our savior, only then we were worthy.
Worthy of blissful fields of gold and heavenly rewards.
But as I looked at Mercy, glowing like a goddess, I was aware of two things.
One, was that we were not insignificant.
The other was that peace was not something you strived for. It was something you gave.
When the light left Mercy, her entire body went limp in my arms. The wolves whined and whimpered, howling as they retreated , slowly.
Endor made no move to follow them, both of us equally shocked from the sight of what we’d just witnessed.
Artists and poets often described our souls as golden beams of light.
But in truth, the soul was not just light. It was also... dark.
For one could not exist without the other.
I looked at Endor, catching my breath. His dark eyes gazed back at me, full of concern, but also full of something else that startled me just as much as Mercy’s soul on display.
For in those deep, dark eyes, I saw love and forgiveness.
How could a demon be capable of such things?
Mercy rolled her head against my shoulder sleepily as he sauntered toward us. I was frozen, my grip on her tight as Endor stood before us, reaching out to brush some of her damp, dark hair from her pale face.
His eyelashes stood out against his tan skin, black hair falling in his eyes like shadows across a sunlit sidewalk.
“I can take her from here,” he said softly.
Endor was always sarcastic, bitter, and a pain in the ass, but then...
In that moment, on the edge of the forest, under the moonlight, stroking Mercy’s damp hair, I couldn’t deny my insides ached. I was tired and I was weak.
After igniting my smite, which had scared the wolves off enough to push them back, I was more than exhausted.
I wanted to argue, to fight his insinuations. I could take care of Mercy just fine on my own. I could?—
Endor moved his hand from Mercy’s hair, reaching for me and tucking some of mine behind my ear.
The gesture made my heart flutter, made my breath catch.
It was oddly comforting.
“The fight is over for now, Valory,” he said, his voice smooth like butter.
Somewhere in my brain, I could remember Matthew’s voice, his slippery tone as he told me to poison the demon before me.
To shackle him to the earth and ensure we won the claim on Mercy’s soul.
But as I looked in Endor’s tired eyes, as his warm palm smoothed over my chin and neck, I knew he was feeling the drain of his own powers from the wolf’s bites.
“The fight is never really over, Endor,” I told him, hoping he understood. Because I couldn’t even begin to comprehend that when I looked at the demon before me...
I felt like I was drowning. Drowning in a sea of deep, shadowy eyes and solid warmth.
Endor gently lifted Mercy into his arms, and I didn’t fight him.
But the emptiness I felt when she was gone was so much deeper than I’d expected.
I held myself, trying to keep the warmth her body provided me.
Endor offered me a soft smile.
“There is a train that leaves in about an hour and a half. It... it would be easier if we... used our wings.” He said the words carefully.
My wings snapped open of their own accord, ready for flight, and I braced myself for his.
But they did not even vibrate, and I realized that Endor was more affected than he let on.
A part of me thought that was a good thing. Perhaps I would not have to poison the demon, after all. Perhaps fate was already showing its cards.
I looked at Mercy, so small, so lifeless in Endor’s arms. She could have killed those wolves, easily, with all that soul energy radiating off of her.
But she chose to give those wolves something else other than anger and revenge.
She gave them forgiveness. She gave them peace.
Perhaps, if she was capable of giving such grace, I was, too.
I curled my wings around Endor, settling my hands on his hips. The motion brought me right up against Mercy’s body, against him. Her head rested on his shoulder, his face only inches away from mine in the tight confines.
His body warmed where I touched him, soothing like a comforting fire in the middle of winter.
I gazed down at Mercy between us, a sort of sadness blooming in my stomach, mixed with love and pride.
If we made it to Jasper Springs, Mercy would find what she was looking for.
I wanted to be selfish. To covet this sweet soul for Heaven, but also for myself.
Because I’d never known love like this.
“Valory...” His voice was pained, pulling me from my treacherous thoughts.
“Yes?” I asked, fighting the tears that begged to be freed.
“Come on, we all need rest.” He said the words, but it felt like there was some other meaning hidden beneath them, something I wasn’t quite getting.
I nodded, forcing the thoughts from my brain.
“Of course,” I said, and then I carried us through time and space, focusing on the train station. On the beginning of the end.
The sun shone on us like a warm blanket as I carried us through the atmosphere, and within seconds, we were touching down on hard, smooth concrete. Before I could even begin to process what had happened, or feel the weariness in my wings, Endor let out a grunt and stepped away. I didn’t miss his stumble, and that is when I saw it.
His wing.
The blood.
He was hurt. Badly.
A strange sense of sadness formed in my chest and I moved to grab him, without thinking. Grace flooded me, as did the desire, the need to heal.
To heal a demon.
“Your wing,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. Endor’s fiery gaze met mine, but he looked away almost as soon as he caught mine.
“I’m fine,” he grunted as he turned his back, and I noticed him trying to sheath his wing. One solid, black feathery wing shook, but it didn’t move, almost as if it was stuck. His back tensed, his shoulders tightened, and I could see the faint hint of a grimace in his jaw.
“You are not fine,” I told him as I picked up my pace, my own wings fluttering behind me. Grace lit me up like a powder keg, and it felt... so good.
Powerful.
“I can assure you, I am?—”
I grabbed hold of his feathers, pulling him back, and he yelped, unable to hide the pain. He stopped immediately, his breath coming in rapid pants.
“The fuck, Val, I–”
One glance at my hand and I had to note the contrast of his dark feathers, his crimson blood against my pale skin.
It was so... startling, but yet... beautiful.
Like a piece of gothic art.
Grace flowed through me without a second thought, tendrils of bright, nearly white golden light stitching lines between his feathers, shimmering against the deep black of his feathered wings. My gaze fell, transfixed on the threads of grace as they stitched his broken wing, until the threads disappeared, like fireflies into the forest on a dark, summer night.
Mercy shifted in his arms, but she didn’t stir.
When the light disappeared, all that could be heard was the sound of our breathing and the slightest rustle of feathers.
Endor’s wing softly tickled my forearm as he retracted it from me, and it was only a flash of a second before his full wingspan popped out, flexing as if it had been dormant too long.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, his tone strangely vulnerable. He didn’t look at me, but he didn’t have to.
He turned, giving me his back as he headed for the entrance to the station. With our wings on display, no one could see us, but it was hard to ignore the crowd of people, nonetheless. Even if they couldn’t see us, we could see them.
“I know,” I said as I followed him through the crowd to a bench inside the terminal. He settled there as Mercy stirred in his arms.
Funny how the girl could sleep through jolts of energy and flying, but the moment we stopped moving, she woke up.
It reminded me of children who could only fall asleep when their parents rode them around the block in their car seat.
“Wh... what...” She rubbed her eyes, which went wide when she saw Endor. Then she turned to look at me, and I could see her excitement.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” Endor said, his voice steady, strong.
Mercy turned to him, swallowing nervously.
“The wolves, Randy, I?—”
“Shh...” I took a seat next to her and she turned to look at me. “It’s okay, they... are okay... I think.”
Mercy sucked in a deep breath.
“The important thing is those fucking monsters are gone and you’re safe and?—”
Mercy’s gaze fell and I felt the shift, sensed it—the tension, the drop in the air—before it happened.
And before I knew it, the familiar vacuum wanted to drag me down into the abyss of memory once more.
Without thinking, I settled my hand on Mercy’s thigh. Something squeezed my hand, the warmth seeping into my skin as my palm against Mercy’s thigh heated like a flame. I had all of two seconds to look up and see Endor’s shimmering eyes, before the world bled into darkness once more.