THE APOSTASY

Ezra Hollen has felt death’s presence her entire life. But, when it comes to her in the form of an angel, she refuses to go down without a fight. It’s not until her scream calls to something darker that she realizes there are things worse than death. And her rescuer is not exactly a savior, as he takes her to the depths of Tartarus. There Ezra learns the truth of who she really is and why she has been targeted.

Valen is an amorini, a hunter, a fallen angel. When Ezra’s scream wrenches him into the mortal world, he is struck by the force of her power no mortal, much less a woman, should be able to wield. A power so dangerous, it just might be what Tartarus needs to force Heaven’s hand. Torn between using her as a weapon and keeping her safe from harm, Valen must weigh the value of Ezra’s life.

As the costs against Ezra rise, she discovers that sometimes the line between good and evil is cut from the same cloth. And, without Valen, there will be no stop to the war and bloodshed that lays on the horizon.

Start reading the first two chapters below.

A lost text of the Book of Ezra

The Hymn of the Sun and the Moon

In the days of war of mankind a woman is born clothed with the sun. Upon her head she shall bear a crown of seven five-pointed stars. At her axis, another woman is born clothed with the moon. Upon her head she shall bear a crown of three six-pointed stars.

A great sign appeared in the heavens: every light in the sky went dark. A loud cry was heard, shaking the earth. Out of its belly crawled the twelve earls of Hell. In their wake was a great army. And on their lips was a battle cry: Death to mankind.

And another sign appeared: a great famine befell the land and a plague of death upon the people. Another army rose from the ground led by six dukes of Hell. Beneath their feet was the red flow of blood. Their tales swept out a quarter of mankind.

The woman who was the sun sat upon the throne of the underworld. An eighth star was added to her crown. At her back were great black wings. In her eyes was the Fury of Hell.

But behold came the night, swift with her vengeance. The key to the lock that would shut the gates of Hell. Within her hand she bore a blade of Heaven. She knew the names of the demons. And it was with their names that she cast them back to their depths.

Therefore rejoice, your salvation is here. But woe to you who, O earth and sea, for the great dragon has been awakened. And he knows his time is short. And the woman who was the sun and the woman who was the moon fought with great strength. But none could say for which side they fought for.

I say to you, this is the Hymn of the Sun and the Moon.

CHAPTER ONE: UNDERWATER
Ezra

Somewhere near Lake Almanor, California
August 8, 2025

Death has followed me my entire life. It stole my mother before my first breath. It stole any friends I made through sickness and hapless accidents. And, just last week, it had stolen my father. One second we were talking on the phone and the next there was the sound of screeching tires and he was gone. I have no more surviving family.

Kellan hadn’t exactly pleaded for me when I broke up with him, but neither did he stop me from going. We had been on the rocks for a while. It was always that way when someone loved the other more. Or maybe he was afraid of the curse that surrounded me too.

I was alone.

I feared death had followed me into the forest. I could feel it the deeper I hiked into the mountains. Some might say I was running from my problems. I might agree with them. What I really wanted was a moment of peace, a moment where death couldn’t touch me. And yet I could feel it lurking.

I’d been two miles each way of my campsite. All telltale signs said I was alone, yet I could feel the pressure of someone watching me. I’d picked my spot in the mountains specifically because it was a well-kept secret. It was just me and the wildlife. I intended to stay five nights beside the lake, but as the sun set on the second night, I’d already made the decision I would leave in the morning. At the very least, I would find somewhere closer to people.

The last of the sun’s light slipped behind the mountain ridge, giving way to darkness and the cicadas’ music. I'd always found their sound to be peaceful instead of shrill. It gave me comfort. But I couldn’t hear if anyone approached my fire over their noise.

For being so independent, I was easily spooked. That’s why I had convinced myself to stay another night, to talk myself out of the irrational fear that stalked me, even if I was cutting my trip short. There wasn’t anyone in those woods with me. There wasn’t anyone for miles.

I picked up my phone and frowned at the No Service signal in the corner. It’s fine. Everything was going to be fine. The car was ten miles away on the side of the road. If anything did go wrong, all of my information was in there. Someone would come looking for me.

You have no one.

I pushed the harrowing thoughts from my head. “Fuck’s sake. Get it together,” I whispered.

I crawled in my tent, rifling for my headlamp. I needed to go for a walk. Sitting there letting my mind play tricks on me was driving me mad. The lantern that illuminated my campsite next to the fire would be plenty, but I preferred having my hands free in case I lost my footing and needed to catch myself. In case I needed to run.

Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I whipped around, shining the little lamp through the forest. Whoever I had felt those last couple of days was close. I held my breath, listening. Waiting.

I dove back into my tent and grabbed a can of bear spray. I fumbled around my bag until I found a hunting knife my dad had given me one birthday. I stuffed it in my waistband, covering it with my shirt. There was still nothing as I crawled back out.

The cicadas had stopped. There wasn’t a lick of sound in that forest save for my own shallow breathing. I held it, straining to hear anything that would give away the location of my stalker.

It had to be an animal. But why couldn’t I hear the damn thing? There should at least be the noise of something snuffling. Coyotes calling to each other. Birds typically sang if there was a predator. Nothing.

Something pale moved between the trees directly in front of me. I cannot describe the utter terror that shot through me as it morphed into the silhouette of a man. How long had he been standing there? As if he realized I spotted him, he stepped forward, the orange glow of the light highlighting his sharp features. He was twice my size, in height and build. I summed up the odd gold sheen of his pale skin to the fire.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,” he said. His pleasant smile didn’t reach his lavender eyes that had a feline slant. His light hair was cropped over slightly pointed ears. He cocked his head. “I’m set up about half a mile. I was out for a stroll when I saw your fire. I thought I’d say hey to the neighbors.”

Liar.

His eyes darted to the two pairs of shoes sitting outside my tent. It was a safety precaution I took to always make it appear like there was more than one of me in whatever space I occupied when traveling alone. His eyes flitted to my hands where I gripped the bear spray.

I realized then I hadn't said anything, too stunned that he was standing in front of me. “You did scare me,” I admitted. “Where did you say you were set up?” I knew he was the shadow that had been lurking at my back. He might not be death, but he was close enough to it. Even if he was by a slim chance telling the truth, a half mile away I should have seen his light bobbing through the woods toward me.

A light he wasn’t carrying. He had been moving through the darkness, or perhaps waiting until the shadows grew to come out from his hiding place.

“Over the hill.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “Do you mind?” He motioned to the ground. I almost told him I don’t, but reason prodded me.

“I do, actually. My boyfriend will be back shortly. He’s funny about strangers.”

There was something inhuman about his too perfect smile. Fake, even. He crouched on the other side of the fire, bringing us eye to eye across the flames. “We both know it’s just you and me. Kellan –isn’t it?– is a long way from here.”

I stood slowly, trying not to move too fast. He didn’t stand, just looked up at me with his wrong colored eyes. Every bit of him was poised to strike. I could run. I still had the headlamp gripped in my fist, the phone in my back pocket, the knife and spray. I would only need to keep away from him until I reached cell service... six miles away. The spray and knife were backup plans.

“I want you to leave. Now.” “You’re not a very gracious host, Ezra.” The dangerous look in his eyes had trickled into his voice.

Every instinct within me screamed to run. “How do you know me?”

“I know all about you. I know that you were abandoned as a child and taken in by a man you called father. My condolences, by the way.” There was nothing sincere within the drip of his voice. “I know that Kellan of yours doesn’t love you half as much as you love him. You take these little trips to make you feel better about yourself. It makes you feel strong and independent.” He spun his finger through the air, motioning to the trees above us. “It’s dangerous for a woman like you to be all alone.”

“That’s enough,” I said, my voice shaking. How could he possibly have known any of those things? I lived a private life. I had social media but posted once a year. There wasn’t anything about my personal life someone could know unless they were close to me. And those people were dead. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The smile that had been plastered on his face fell suddenly. The light of his eyes grew dark and everything about him became unnaturally still.

“You.” The single word hung in the air like a death knell. “I came all the way down here for you.”

In a half second of deciding if I should run or fight, I shot the spray at him. Part of it caught up in flames as it cut over the fire, but it hit its mark. He let out a vicious snarl that sent me running into the forest that I begged to swallow me whole. It was a fierce roar that made me run faster than I ever had.

His overbearing presence pursued me through the dense trees and overgrowth. The only thing I could hear were my own crashing footfalls. I ran blindly, not turning the light on should I gain enough ground. I didn’t want to make myself an easier target in case he had a gun.

I don’t know how he could possibly have known any of those things. I’d never seen that man in my life.

Creature, my mind screamed. A predator excited about chasing down its prey. The purple hues of his eyes had lit up when I bolted.

Pain erupted in the back of my right shoulder with the force of a punch. It struck me like a flaming rod, burrowing to the front of my chest.

I screamed. I stumbled into a tree, nearly losing my footing when the pain intensified. Don’t stop. Keep going! I pushed off with my good arm. The lake came into view faster than I thought it to be and I turned right, cutting across the fine sand of its bank.

Don’t stop!

He stepped out of the tree line ahead, stopping me in my tracks. I looked behind me to be sure, but there was no one chasing me. I could have sworn he was right behind me, just about to grab me. My nostrils flared and I took a hesitant step back as he turned out his palms and walked toward me.

He laughed. It was music, rising high and then abruptly cutting off as he snapped his teeth together and breathed, “You’re fast.”

“Leave me the fuck alone,” I growled. The burrowing sensation crawled, expanding what felt like little legs across my back. I held the spray out in my good arm, but he was too far away for it to hit him again.

He waved his hand and my wrist jerked of its own accord, slinging the aluminum can right out of my grasp.

How did he do that? A new wave of fear roiled in the pit of my stomach.

He approached me casually, letting his hands fall to his sides. “That spray is a bitch, but it is not going to stop me. Do you think you can take me?”

I was as surprised as he was by the challenge that came out of my mouth. “Why don’t you find out?” I sounded braver than I was. The adrenaline was pumping heavily through my blood. Running hadn’t stopped him from materializing before me, so I would fight if I had to.

The pain made me strangely lucid as I broadened my stance. I held my right arm close to my chest and the other fist in front of my face.

In the time that I blinked, he was standing in front of me. He cracked his forehead against mine. I stumbled back and then abruptly dropped to my knees. There were three of him when he scooped me from the ground and tossed me over his shoulder. I blinked until the world stopped spinning. Blood ran down the front of my face into my eye.

There was no splash when he entered the water. I pressed my palms against his back to look up. We were already well away from the shore. The gasp lodged in my throat when I saw the ripples left by his feet on top of the water.

Wrong. Wrong. All of it.

A moment of clarity hit me, and I reached for the knife still wedged in my waistband. I pulled it free, gripped it with shaking hands, and stabbed him in the back. I gritted my teeth, fighting the way my right shoulder tried to lock. I pulled the bloodied blade free and slid it as hard as I could between his ribs. Bone met metal as I thrust a third time with a grunt, and twisted.

“You little bitch,” he snarled.

He hunched forward, throwing me over his shoulder. I flew through the air, the sky falling away from me when I landed on my back with a loud smack. Ripples peeled away from the impact and splashed against his ankles. The grip he latched to my forearm constricted. His face was twisted into a monstrous snarl when he said, “I also know you can’t swim.”

Ice cold water swallowed me whole, enveloping me like a black blanket when he let me go. The knife was lost in my panic as I clawed for the surface. When my face broke, I screamed.

“Help!”

Searing pain latched hold of the back of my scalp as he dug his fingers in my hair. I sucked in as much air as I could before he pushed my head under. I gripped his wrists in an attempt to free myself, but his was iron clad. When he pulled me up, I screamed again.

He hoisted me on top of the water and leered. “Scream all you want. No one is coming to save you. You are alone. You are unwanted. And you are at my mercy.” Each sentence was a blow. An impact to the fight boiling within my blood.

The water wasn’t completely solid beneath me, but it was firm enough to kneel in while he touched me. With one hand still fisted in my hair, he slammed the other into my back. My face smacked against the water like it was concrete.

“You pathetic little waste. Did you really think you could fight me and win?”

The cool kiss of steel sliding up my shirt made everything else around me incredibly vivid. I could smell the soft scent of lavender and mixed with it was the metallic tang of blood. The stars were bright. The water was as clear as the sky. Everything was strangely beautiful. And in that moment, I knew I was going to die.

Death had finally caught up to me.

Iron pain cut into my back as the top of my shoulder was sliced open. A second lashing crisscrossed the first, down to the curve of my hip. This time when I screamed, every star in the sky winked out.

It rang across the mountains, calling back to me. Over and over again I screamed as the blade dug farther into me, flaying me repeatedly. My scream was muffled as I sank farther into the water. The blows didn’t stop. Not even when I had started to choke on my own broken sobs.

Something landed behind us. I felt it the same way I had felt the presence of the monster tearing into me. The water rippled from a void of darkness that had expanded across the water. It lapped against my face as I lifted my chin. The lashings came to an abrupt halt.

A high-pitched whistle cut through the air, keening like the night wind. I could hear it draw closer, hurtling towards us from the shadows. I dug my shaking hands into the water, bloody from whatever the monster had just done to my back, to gain some sort of leverage to scramble to my feet.

I made it as far as a single knee before keeling over. But not before the distinct sound of flesh being pierced registered.

An arrow anchored into the side of my assailant’s neck. He reached for his throat, letting me go, and then there was blackness around me once more as the water crashed over my head. It burned its way into my throat like razors.

I gasped when I surfaced. I swam awkwardly away from the monster, but my face ducked under the water as I struggled to stay on top of it. My arms were screaming in protest, my back tried its best to seize, but if I didn’t move, I would drown.

My face barely broke the surface as I thrashed.

A figure stepped out of the darkness, their hand reaching for me. I latched hold and they pulled me out of the water against their body. A swirl of smoke and ash flitted before my eyes. Solid ground met me as I stumbled on the shore, my rescuer holding firm on my elbow.

“Help me,” I choked. It came out as a garbled slur. I fell to the dry ground at his feet, the world spinning. I was going to be sick. The man—I could tell by his broad shoulders—turned me over, and that’s exactly what happened. Lake water blew out of my lungs. I struggled to breathe again as fresh, sweet air burned its way in.

My teeth snapped together as the frigid water finally seeped in. It was so cold.

He stood suddenly, stepping over me so that I was between the shield of his legs. I leaned into his shin as I shuddered, desperate for the little warmth his presence provided.

The pale man with the lavender eyes and pointed ears stumbled over the top of the water. He was maybe ten feet from us, his face curled into a mask of rage. He snapped the arrow clean and ripped it from one side of his throat and then the other, discarding both ends with a flick of his wrist. With a wound like that he should have been like me, on the ground bleeding out. It phased him no more than a scratch.

In his fist was a curved golden sword with a pommel that wrapped around his hand. The edge was tinged crimson. My blood.

“She is not yours to take,” the monster snarled.

The man, his figure covered in jet black clothes, strung the bow at his side and aimed it at the creature. He looked between us, his dark features unreadable beneath the shadows covering his face.

“What does an angel want with a mortal?” he asked, the question accusatory.

Angels weren’t real, and if they were they certainly didn’t look like him with his wicked face and cruel eyes. They didn’t murder people. I closed my eyes, trying desperately to hold onto reality that was quickly slipping away. When I looked again, the angel was still standing on top of the lake, the water beneath his boots a giant black mirror.

I was losing too much blood. That was the only explanation for what was happening. I was hallucinating.

“She does not have an adelfi–” the angel started.

“What does an angel want with her?” the man growled. His voice was too smooth and even. Rage rolled from him in waves. Wisps of smoke coiled down his back and up the length of his arm to that taut bowstring. The shadows around us crawled closer to my rescuer with outstretched hands and tapered, gnarled fingers. “You are no keras and yet you slaughter her.”

“You have no right to her, Valen.” The angel looked between us, probably gauging if he could get to me before he took another arrow. His tongue darted between his lips.

“I have every right to her so long as her heart beats. Your race puts you outside of your limits.”

“She is not what you think she is,” the angel pleaded, his voice cracking in rage and desperation. He raised his blade, taking a step forward before whatever look Valen gave him made him halt.

There was enough light on the man’s face above me that I saw him smirk. “Oh, I know exactly what she is,” he said, his voice sinister. He looked down at me with golden eyes burning bright as fire. “She’s mine.”

He released the arrow and dropped down to a crouch. The sharp keen of its whistle rang through the air.

Smoke swirled around as he took me into his arms. “Don’t let go,” Valen said against my ear. He tucked my head beneath his chin and then he was all around me. Like the water, I could feel him everywhere, enveloping me like a giant black cloud. The last thing I saw were ashes in the air and then everything was aflame.

CHAPTER TWO: CHILD OF THE STARS
Ezra

Vélos, Tartarus

A powerful wind ripped the breath from my lungs. Then we landed, cold stone slamming into my knees. The air that had been ripped from my chest now barreled into me and I gasped. It took only a second for my mind to register that we weren’t by the lake, but in what seemed to be a room.

I leaned forward, still clinging to the man caged around me. I opened my eyes and shut them immediately when everything spun. Smoke crept into my eyes, forcing fresh tears to roll down my cheeks.

I took another deep breath. We had been in the mountains and though the image was blurry, I saw gray walls surrounding us now. I shuddered as I let go to press one of my hands to the smooth surface beneath my boots.

Pain wracked my entire body. I made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a cry as I fell against the stone floor. My back felt like it was gone entirely.

I flinched from a warm touch that splayed across my torn flesh. At once, I wanted to scream and then bite down. Bite on something hard to stifle the scream building within my chest. There was nowhere I could go, no way to curl away from him. I bit my lip as the heat intensified from Valen’s scalding touch.

“Shh,” he crooned as I whimpered. “I’m fixing your back. Keep still.”

The whole thing lasted only a minute but it felt like an eternity as he worked his way over my shoulders, down the length of my spine, and then to my hips. It was only after he stopped that I could finally breathe again. I shuddered as he withdrew his touch and gritted my teeth against the pain. Whatever he had done allowed me to shift and ease to my hands and knees. My shirt fell loose on my shoulders as I looked back at him. And then all thoughts ceased.

“Kellan,” I gasped.

He wasn’t Kellan, and yet the resemblance was uncanny. He didn’t have his crooked nose or short hair. He didn’t have his gray eyes. But their faces, their build, their height…they could be twins.

Something struck me in my chest when I met his burning gaze. Though it was still dark I could see him more clearly. His curling black hair was cropped at the sides. The longer part of his fringe cut across vibrant gold eyes that were framed with thick lashes and, above them, thicker brows. His full lips were still parted like he wanted to say something else but was waiting for me instead. Though his skin was dark fawn, like the desert sands, it had the same iridescent glow as the attacker. The…angel.

He was the fiercest creature I had ever seen. His irises glowed, heated and hungry. Possessive.

She’s mine, he had said.

A chill trickled down my back. The same powerful urge to flee still pounded through my blood, but I couldn’t move under his gaze. He kept a firm grip on my hand, as if he could sense that I would bolt the second he let me go.

He’s not Kellan.

He was something more.

He had asked me a question. My name, I think? “Ezra,” I said, clearing my throat. My voice was raw, my mouth dry. “What’s happening?” I looked past him, my eyes going wide as I took in the stone walls and massive pillars that separated floor-to-ceiling windows. It must have been some sort of elaborate dream. Perhaps my paranoia had finally won to create a terrible nightmare while I slept safe by my fire.

Everything felt wrong. The air was brisker, the night sky—what I could see of it—clearer and more vibrant, but despite all the beauty that came to me in flashes, it felt like a warning sign. Get out, it seemed to hiss at me.

Valen scanned my face as he held out his other hand to help me to my feet.

He was barefoot, his jeans rumpled and his long-sleeve shirt worse off, though it fit a bit tighter than the pants. He leaned his long bow against one of the pillars. Beyond them were mountains, far different from the ones we had been in. These were black and carnivorous peaks that shadowed an even darker forest beneath them.

And the sky! I had never seen so many stars, so many colors. It was a cosmos.

“What is happening?” I repeated, my voice shakier. I did another take of the room now that it had leveled out. We were in a bedroom. His, maybe? I couldn’t see much in the darkness save for half a bed with sheets thrown on the ground like someone had been in a hurry to get up. “Who are you? Why did you take me?”

“I took you because whatever that angel was going to do to you was much worse than being in my company.” There was a subtle edge in his voice. Something sinister.

Why did he look so much like Kellan?

Valen circled me. He examined me from toe to head, taking his time in doing so. There was a predatory shift in his composure that made me think he wasn’t just assessing me but stalking me.

I had to get out. Something was incredibly wrong.

“Ezra.” The way he said my name drew my eyes to him from darting around the room for an escape. “Did he say anything before he grabbed you?"

“He knew who I was.” I shook my head. “He knew things he shouldn’t have. I tried to outrun him and then he was just there.” I motioned to the spot in front of me, flinching as it pulled the taut flesh of my back. He had appeared before me like magic. “He said fighting was a waste.”

The corner of his mouth curled. The color of his eyes shifted, glowing brighter. There was no denying that was hunger staring back at me. “You tried to fight him?”

“I stabbed him, but that’s when he threw me in the water.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead. Hot pain once more stretched out its fingers, seeking the front of my chest. I gritted my teeth. “I think he shot me.” He must have. If the bullet got any closer, it would worm into my heart. “In my shoulder. It keeps moving.”

Valen cocked his head, his eyes dropping to my chest and then to something behind me. “The burns will take a few hours to heal.”

“No, it’s something else. He shot me before he cut me.” I tried to point at it, but it only aggravated the pain.

Valen stepped behind me before sliding the scraps of my shirt aside. His fingers crawled over my shoulder, stopping when a flash of heat made me tense. “Fuck,” he growled. “Brace yourself. This is going to hurt.”

I leaned against the pillar as he instructed and nodded.

His finger delved into the wound. It didn’t feel like a bullet as he pulled it out. It was like a cord, a string. He tugged and, inch by inch, I felt it draw out from the place in my chest. My nails bit into the stone. Fresh tears spilled across my face as he gave another tug, ripping the needling tendrils and all its agony with it.

Sweet relief rushed through the length of my arm.

When I looked back, it wasn’t a bullet at all, but a silver tendril of light between his fingertips. In a flick of flame, it went up in smoke, disintegrating into nothing.

He ran a hand through his thick hair. By the hard press of his lips, whatever that was wasn’t good. I didn’t like the way his eyes skirted over my body again or the way their fire burned a little brighter.

“What was that?” I rolled my shoulders, trying to rid a new ache that was starting to settle in my bones.

“I’m going to get someone.” He held up his hands. “There are wards that guard the entire tyre, and more guard this room specifically. He will not come for you. He knows it would be a death sentence to even step in Tartarus.” The coolness of his voice made me flinch.

I couldn’t have heard him correctly. Tartarus wasn’t a real place, but the meaning of its name couldn’t have been clearer.

I cowered into one of the pillars. “What are you?” I blurted.

He slowed in his cross of the room. He looked at me, his gold eyes darker than they were before. “An angel,” he said slowly.

The smoke, the ash, the wrongness that reverberated through the air of wherever he had taken us. I shook my head. “You’re not.”

“Think of me as your guardian angel,” he purred, flashing a dark sneer that sent every hair on my body standing straight up. “I saved you, remember?”

He didn’t wait for me to say anything. The latch closing was another warning signal to my brain. Run! I spun around the room, looking desperately for anything I could use as a weapon. But I was in no condition to fight. I barely had energy to remain standing. There was something wrong with this place. What was worse, there was something wrong with Valen.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that he looked so much like Kellan.

Had one monster been traded for another?

This isn’t real. I dropped to the ground with my fists pressed to either side of my head. Breathe. You’re going to wake up soon.

Wind moved through the room, cutting through my wet shirt and making me shiver. I looked down at the mud on my hiking boots, the blood on my arms. It was real. All of it.

Get. Up.

An intense pain shot through my back and grabbed hold of my arms. I winced, thrashing from the invisible assault that raked through me. I hunched forward as another wave hit me, then settled just as quickly. This wasn’t the same thing as the tendril. It made the lashings of the angel’s blade bearable. It was everywhere and startlingly violent.

A few seconds passed before I could catch my breath. What the hell was that? I ran my hands over my back and arms, feeling for another wound the angel might have inflicted. There was nothing save for tender, charred flesh.

When Valen did return it was with a thin framed man with skin as dark as soil and a shaved head. I retreated farther back when he approached me, his stride fast and direct. I knew I couldn’t jump without falling to my death, but they didn't know how desperate I was. I hopped on top of the balcony ledge and he stopped. The moon shining behind me illuminated his round face. Like Valen, one of his eyes was a vibrant amber color, but the other was a dark blue. Those eyes dropped down to the candlestick in my grasp.

It was the closest thing I could find as a weapon in the unornamented room. One more step and I would use it to bash his brains in.

“Easy, Diriel,” Valen crooned. “She’s a fighter.”

I never took my eyes off the newcomer as I tightened my grip.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” the man said. He looked up at me with the same frown Valen still had plastered on his face. After a long moment his eyes widened, and he took a couple of steps back. He turned to Valen and hissed something. Whatever it was, Valen didn’t seem all that surprised.

“Get down,” Valen said softly, but firmly.

I wasn’t brave enough to jump but I wasn’t going to let them know that. “I can hear you just fine from here.”

The other man—Diriel—cursed and something like a smirk touched Valen’s lips. “You did right in taking her, but she’ll serve us no purpose if she’s dead.” To me he said, “Get. Down.” The two words were issued like a thunderclap. I hugged the pillar tighter.

That’s when it hit me. The smoke and ash that flitted around their bodies. The sheer power of their wrongness. It finally made sense.

“You’re Fallen.”

Hearing the title didn’t even faze him. “And you’re going to wind up just like us if you do not put both feet on the ground,” Diriel growled.

“We are not going to hurt you,” Valen added, his gaze fixated on me like a hawk to a rabbit.

Fallen angels. Demons. Evil.

My nails scratched over the stone surface as I struggled to make sense of what was happening. Bad. Wrong. All of this was wrong. They were wrong.

A candlestick wasn’t going to do shit if they really wanted to hurt me. I had barely survived the first angel. What the hell was I going to do against two of them?

Neither of them moved. They might be annoyed, but they stood by, waiting patiently.

He saved you. The little voice in my head nudged my foot forward and before I knew it, I was standing in front of them. Valen wouldn’t have protected me to kill me. But he was Fallen. And he saw everything. Every time my chest rose, or my hands quaked, his eyes were there, drinking up everything I gave him. Rescuer or not, he was still a predator.

I held my breath when Diriel turned his hands out to me. It took everything in me not to hit him over the head and bolt. Fear had rooted me still but even wanting to run, I knew there was nowhere for me to go. I could hardly comprehend the manner in which Valen had brought us here.

Diriel took hold of the candlestick. “Let go. Neither of us is going to hurt you.”

My breath hitched as Diriel slid his other hand under my wrist. The candlestick dropped as soon as he touched me. I couldn’t move as a current raced through my body and Diriel took hold of my other hand. His coarse fingers curled over mine.

His two-colored eyes held me in a trance as all feeling drifted away. The need to run was a distant hum in the back of my mind. Fear, pain, and the desperation I had felt moments ago simply vanished.

With a sudden twist of his hand the darker male had my wrists ensnared in an iron hold. A powerful current bolted through my fingertips, lighting ever nerve ending in my body. I stood rigid, my body tensing, freezing. It was like someone had thrown me into an ice box.

“Diriel!” Valen snarled. He sounded far away, as if I was trapped beneath the ice I could feel frosting over my skin.

“Do you have any idea how reckless you are?” Diriel bit back. His grip tightened as he looked between us. A lick of frosty wings brushed down the length of my body, cooling the pain slithering in my back. Tiny snowflakes formed over my clothes as they froze.

I clung to the little bit of heat left in my body. I held it close like my life depended on it. Maybe it did. I tried to blow into it, fan the flames to warm me. Fog slipped from my lips.

“Let her go.” Valen’s voice was as quiet as death.

“Did you know what she was when you took her?” His lips curled, his fingers tightening to the point where I could feel the bones of my wrist strain beneath his grip.

“No. My curiosity got the better of me, and be glad of it. Let her go, Diriel. She is our salvation.” Reverence reverberated through the hollow of Valen’s voice.

The icy tendrils started to hurt. They slithered down my arm, through my shoulder and across my back to the other side. Even after Diriel let me go, throwing my hand away like he had been burned, it still radiated through me.

He stepped to the side as Valen came to mine. As soon as he touched my face the fire within caught and feeling returned. I shuddered in his embrace. Desperate for the warmth his body provided, I clung to him. I focused on the heat and dragged what I could into me, though he offered it willingly.

“It wasn’t an archangel or keras that had her. Though he tortured her like a keras would.” To me, he said, “You’re going to be all right.” He spoke to me like you would a frightened animal. I still clutched Valen as I met his impenetrable gaze. The little bit of familiarity eased my urge to run, if only for a second.

Diriel let out a long, heavy sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he tilted his face back. “Fuck.”

“Let’s get you changed,” Valen said.

I didn’t question when he pulled the scraps of my shirt away and handed me a pair of black sweats out of thin air. It struck me a little too late that I was half naked, my shirt hanging on by the collar. I held them to my chest. He turned his eyes away and fixed them on Diriel instead. I changed as quick as I could, noticing that Valen had placed himself between me and the other male when his two-colored eyes fell to me.

Diriel hissed. It started as a whisper and rose higher until he was laughing. It was a sound unlike anything I had ever heard. It was silver bells and thunderous wooden drums. His laugh was a symphony. More joyous than the one the monster had laughed.

“You have damned us or saved us.”

Valen flashed a dangerous grin, and yet his eyes, those wicked eyes, never lost their edge. “Fortune has finally graced us.”

“I want to go home,” I finally managed. I took a couple of steps back, putting three feet between me and Valen before he caught me in that bright stare.

“If I take you back, you will be slaughtered.”

“Why?” My eyes darted between them.

“You are a Nephilim.”

“A gift,” Diriel clarified.

“That angel was one of many that would kill you,” Valen said.

Fear is a funny thing. It had paralyzed me before but slowly, as the heat finished winding its way through my body, feeling returned to me. The subtle pain in my body grounded me, and I found the fight that had been within me before.

“You just tried to kill me.” My voice had lost its tremor.

“I was cooling your fire,” Diriel argued.

“What is that? A Nephilim.” I looked to Valen.

“A child of angels and mortals,” he said, his lips curling into a genuine smile. He was breathtaking when he smiled.

I shook my head, clearing my mind of whatever spell he was trying to cast. “I’m adopted,” I said, irrationally. What they said was impossible. This entire situation was impossible.

Valen shook his head, smirking still. “Your father would not have been an angel. Whoever you got your blood from passed eons ago.”

“Or perhaps he lies in chains,” Diriel suggested. “I could not see him.”

“Take me home,” I interrupted. Even as the words left my mouth, I knew that’s not what I wanted. What was there to go back to except death? After stalking me my entire life, it had finally caught up to me. I had nothing to go back to. But I didn’t want to be here.

“You are home. You should have been here all along,” Diriel said matter-of-factly.

I shook my head. “I’m not what you say I am. He was wrong and so are you. I am no one.”

It was as if I had struck Valen. His passive countenance narrowed as he said, “You are everything.”

Diriel crossed his arms. “We need to tell the others. We can hold off on the other courts for now, but Bishop and Jinn need to know.”

“Jinn is with the Murder.”

“Valen.”

He cut a fiery look at Diriel.

“The rest of Tartarus will come looking for her as soon as they catch wind of her. We need to prepare for it. We don’t know how much time we have before this gets out. And who is to say the angel won’t bring an army and break through? They’re not likely to let her slip away.”

“Enough,” Valen growled.

“You would save me from a monster to hold me hostage?” I needed to make my case if they were to let me go. “I’m not a Nepha-whatever. I’m human.”

“We have made no error,” Valen said firmly.

“What makes me so much safer with fallen angels?” As much as I wanted to disbelieve them, the harsh reality of hit too hard. They were angels. Strikingly beautiful in features as well as the sound of their voices. Even the way they gestured and walked was flawless. My attacker had been too. But it was their power that I was so certain of. It emanated from them like a beacon in the midst of shadows, hugging close to their presence. They curled around Diriel’s feet like a cat and draped along Valen’s shoulders, tied about his throat like a cloak.

Diriel’s eyes narrowed the same time his lips curled, flashing white pointed knives. That mouth of his made him look more vampiric than the human costume he wore.

A new thought raised bumps along my skin. Is this what demons really look like, or are they more monstrous underneath?

“Heaven sees you as an abomination. Here, you are nothing short of a miracle. We protect our own,” Valen said. His gold eyes were incredibly dark and when his teeth flashed, he had the same sharpened points to them that had not been there before. He turned to Diriel. “Leave us. We say nothing of this until I have decided what to do with her.”

Diriel sucked the back of his teeth. “Your Majesty,” he said in a mocking lilt. He turned on his heel, throwing a wary look over his shoulder at me. “At least she’s got one thing right. Those bastards are monsters.”

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