Demitria knew he wouldn’t have even an ounce of trouble getting back to the infirmary, but she didn’t care. The message had been clear enough.
She should have left him to rot in the open.
Eighteen
KELLAN
By nightfall Kellan was still wandering the town alone. Watching the people that dared to poke their heads out from whatever building they’d holed up in as he neared. He could tell these people had suffered at the hands of beings like him. Could see the devastation that lay within the cracks of the town, the weary looks on their faces as they peered at him with wide, frightened eyes. In a way, he found himself feeling…almost sorry for them.
The girl hadn’t returned. It wasn’t hard to locate her within the community, and she was very clearly avoiding him. He just hadn’t made it a priority to find her. She’d had hours to herself, and was sure to have leveled out by then.
Ducking into an empty building, he entered a large room. Wooden crates littered the area, dust settled on top of them in a thick coat. Along the back wall a ladder led to the roof. Upon inspection, a hatch was propped wide open.
So, she’d been hiding here all day.
His movements were swift as he ascended, popping his head out the top. The human sat there with her back to him, transfixed along the horizon beyond their community. Staring. Watching for anything that should come this way.
“There is nothing out there.” He said, climbing the rest of the way out.
She didn’t turn to meet him. Instead, the girl pulled the hood of her cloak up and over her head as if it was a shield. Little good that would do.
With a sigh he added, “Your community is safe.”
“I don’t like you being here anymore than they do.” She said, “I’m trying to do what’s best for them. But out there… I panicked the other day.”
Her expression was hard when he took a seat beside her. Against his better judgment.
The air here was cool. Colder than he remembered, but the night sky was just as beautiful. Deep blues faded into black as a million little iridescent stars lit up the sky. The full moon cast a soft glow along the buildings. He’d have to admit, Earth did have its beauties.
“You didn’t hesitate when I showed up, which leads me to believe you don’t simply just…freeze up. What happened?” Kellan kept his eyes trained on the shimmering sky above them. He didn’t expect her to answer. If their roles were reversed, he wouldn’t have.
But the human surprised him.
“When the Ascension happened ten years ago my family was attacked.” She started. “I was only ten when it happened.” The girl closed her eyes as her expression turned grim. Pained. Like she was imagining the words she was about to say. “My mom hid Jace and I in a cupboard when thatthingcame for us. We watched, silent, as it ate her alive. Tore her to pieces in front of our very eyes. Her eyes never left mine the entire time. She didn’t scream, just silently cried. She didn’t want us to be afraid.” A heavy sigh left her lips as she tilted her head up, gazing into the sky above. The moon’s glow pale on her skin, illuminating it. “I couldn’t utter a sound, or do anything to stopit. And it knew we were there. Our fathers came in as it was stalking toward us. We watched as our only remaining parents were torn to pieces.” She gulped, and he knew she’d been holding back tears. He could almosttastethe salt in them.
Kellan and his siblings were told about the early years of the Ascension when the underworld had originally risen and some of the angels had gone rogue, but this? Hearing her firsthand account wasn’t what he’d expected. Sure, he’d done some gruesome things himself, but he had done them because he didn’t have a choice while under rule of the council. The attack she’d described was horrifying. Sadistic. Kellan didn’t have words to describe what her kind must have faced.
“I remember the look on its face when it killed them. Rage, but something else. Glee. It enjoyed killing our families. Seeing the absolute terror in our eyes as we hid. It smiled—fucking smiled with their blood still dripping from its mouth.” Her body trembled. “And then out there, it remembered me from that night, and everything—” Kellan turned to face her as she choked back a sob, her words cut short. He watched the tremble of her fists clenched in her lap. Seeing the demon the other day had shaken her, he could see that now. It was no wonder the girl had been nothing more than a ghost of what he’d glimpsed when they’d fought.
He didn’t know what to say at her confession. Emotions…humanitywere not his strong suit. But the girl had brought him here to save his life, even if she hadn’t needed to. Had sacrificed their safety for his own. Honorable. And as the nagging feeling of his own childhood was threatening to break through, Kellan knew he could find some form of common ground with her. The trauma he’d endured similar to her own. It was something he and his siblings had all pushed aside for far too many years as an unspoken rule, never to be mentioned. But this felt right.
“Long ago, before any of this, I lived with my family on Eden.” The quickening of his own heartbeat was unexpected. He wasn’t used to emotions besides rage, much less sharing. “I watched my mother die, through no fault of her own.” He joined the human in gazing up at the stars once more. “Angels and man were not supposed to cohabit together, but some broke the rules. We lived in a small forested village along the coast called Daire, where many of my kind resided. We were Horsemen, and we lived peacefully with our families. Our fathers were around when they could be, but we weren’t supposed to be there.” He paused for a moment, unsure if he should continue. She still hadn’t faced him, but Kellan knew she was listening. “The women—our mothers, were stolen from here… taken to Eden without their consent and hidden away. Some were forced to bear us, while others grew to love their captors. Our fathers. Committing themselves for as long as the males would have them. When the High Council found out about us, we were punished. They made our fathers watch while they slaughtered the wives. That was the only repercussions they faced for interfering with humans. I was no older than you were when they killed her in front of me. Punished for a crime my father had committed.”
“Kellan, I?—”
“I remember the sound she made when the council slaughtered her,” He admitted. “When they drove my father’s own blade through her chest. Hearing her scream in agony before they slit her throat from ear to ear and forced us to watch as she bled out on the ground before us.” Kellan wouldn’t admit to anyone that her screams still haunted him to this day. “They beheaded her. Gave it to my father as consolation, but he wanted nothing to do with her, and forced my siblings and I to discard her body. I held her desecrated head in my hands while my brothers dug a grave, and my sister wept beside her body.”That was the first time he’d ever felt blood dripping through his fingers.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered.
Kellan stared at her, at a loss for words at the softness on her features that had something within his chest tightening.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Losing a parent… someone that you love is never easy. It changes you.”
As unusual as it was, Kellan knew she meant it. Knew that as she uttered those words to him, she was talking about herself, too. Going through the things he had incited its own war within, and he could only imagine she’d suffered the same. Kellan felt himself feeling sorry for her. It was a strange feeling for him. One he hadn’t felt for years. Eons, even.
“This war… it should have never happened.” His eyes refocused into the darkening night sky, and his words came out slow. “But we cannot interfere until requested to do so.” Kellan ran a hand down his face.
“Why did it take them so long?” Guilt. The sound of her voice. The pained expression in her eyes. “Why did it takeyouso long?”
