Jennifer Murgia - Angel Star

Garreth’s entire body quivered and I jumped back, not knowing what was happening. I stood frozen as his stunning wings snapped and cracked like breaking bones, caving in on themselves to fit behind his shoulders. He moaned and slumped to the stone floor, as if being tortured by an unseen assailant.

“What’s happening?” I went to my knees and reached for him, torn between the urge to run or spend moments we couldn’t afford cradling him in my arms.

“Garreth, please! I don’t know what to do!”

Within seconds, the room became a frosty tomb, despite the welcoming glow of the candles. The chill around me whispered his name. Hadrian.

My heart screamed inside me to run but I couldn’t as the world and everything in it slowed down to a pace only felt in dreams, and the stones around me began to pitch.

Garreth was motionless, lying on the floor at my knees.

I felt a presence behind me and I closed my eyes, knowing once I turned around what I would see. I tightened my grip around the golden handle of the dagger I now held in my sleeve, afraid it might slip from my sweaty hand. Now that I was here, now that I was about to place myself in front of the one I feared, to save the one I loved, I couldn’t think properly. I wrapped my fingers tighter around the beautiful knife, feeling its chill through the cloth, like the cold hard truth of what was behind me now.

Very slowly and deliberately, I stood. Each inch that my body distanced me from the inert form of my beloved Garreth felt painful and wrong.

Hadrian’s breath whispered on the back of my neck. I knew he was waiting; he knew he was winning. The question was, would I allow him to? Was this all for nothing?

The cold steel in my grasp pulled my senses back to the surface. I had brought myself here by placing it through my heart. Was that what I had to do to Hadrian? How on earth would someone defeat a dark angel? My mind raced, sorting through possibilities and coming up empty. This wasn’t like any place I was used to. In the stolen seconds, I allowed myself to think of the safety of home. I realized how alien home had been to me and that I had merely waded through life until now, never really living it. It was Garreth who had brought me to life. He had shown me what I was missing by revealing himself to me.

My blood coursed through my veins at lightning speed; and, with it a fire, something brewing inside me along with the last of what Garreth had given to me, sacrificed for me.

Light.

It was white and hot, like new blood brought to life, and running through me like the night Garreth first gave it to me, only stronger now that it was mixed with my own.

My inheritance. The blood essence of an Archangel.

That essence was derived from Hadrian’s own existence and now I was going to use it against him.

I spun around to face him. “What have you done to him?” I demanded.

Hadrian was silent. Towering over me, his dark wings quivered tensely as he stared down at me in an obvious attempt to intimidate me, but I stepped forward, welcoming the threat. His dark eyes reflected amusement at my resolution. To my surprise, he backed off a little, eyeing me curiously as he paced back and forth across the stone floor, carefully choosing his words.

“Your Guardian, Garreth, was found in violation of—”

“I asked what you’ve done to him.” I felt shaky, as if I might collapse at any second, but thankfully, my voice didn’t betray me. To my surprise, I found myself ready to use the dagger that was so carefully hidden in my sleeve, ready to start and end this war.

“My, my, aren’t we agitated today? If I may continue?”

Hadrian seemed to take pleasure in my endeavor to appear fearless. “As a Guardian he was not permitted to enter the human world and cavort as if he were like the very one he was responsible for. It is unheard of and places the entire society in danger. Your Garreth broke many rules because of his selfishness.”

Hadrian’s black eyes settled on me, keeping me locked to him.

“Garreth said he had permission. It was never done before, that he was the first. He was allowed to.” I looked away, hiding the fresh tears forming that would give away my crumbling resolve.

“And no other will dare make his mistake in the future.

I’ll see to that myself.”

“You don’t care about violations! That’s not why you’re doing this! Haven’t you done enough?” I trembled, knowing Garreth lay as still as death behind me. “You’ll never have your army. You’re no match for your brother,” I spat, clutching at straws with which to wound him.

“Ahhh, Lucifer. Garreth was very informative. I may still have my chance; you see, I have a sizeable army already. But I can’t risk the naïve emotions of another Guardian such as Garreth. May he be a lesson to us all, for he is no more.”

My heart plummeted to my feet at his words. No more?

The ripping pain inside my heart mimicked what I saw in Hadrian’s eyes.

He can’t be…

But I felt the pain endured by Garreth as if it were my own. I was too late. My heart was being ripped out of my chest.

Hadrian stepped closer, placing his wickedly perfect face close to mine. “Remember this, Teagan. I am stronger than my brother. I am smarter than the great Dark Prince and I always get what I want.”

I was momentarily dizzy, blinded by a light that unexpectedly appeared in the room. Hadrian’s breath was still on my face, warm and soothing, and I leaned into it away from the chill of the stone chamber.

“There is something else I desire, something more than the power Lucifer holds in his hands. For, without a taste of it, I fear I am nothing. It is the only way to ensure my existence.”

His voice dripped like sweet honey, touching my soul with a deep torch. I wanted to look away but couldn’t. It wasn’t just his beauty — it was a longing he carried in his dark smile. He touched my forehead with the tip of his finger, leaving an icy heat across my skin, thrusting me into a dream that was so real and inviting I couldn’t bring myself to fight it. Slowly, the pain I had felt over Garreth slipped away from me.

I felt like a ghost watching over myself, and before long I was in the dark night of my bedroom, listening to the fluttering that I knew was Hadrian, comforted by the darkness he shrouded himself in. It was familiar, night after night, never failing — always expected, always anticipated. In my vision, I realized the fear that always accompanied his presence was not what I thought. It was the fear of him not returning to me, of him not torturing me with the dark eyes that forever watched me, leaving me alone and breathless with fear.

I felt the air shift around us. Hadrian’s hands were on my face, closing my eyes with lips I had never felt before. I didn’t want him…I… Who did I want? I couldn’t remember anymore. I was floating. He was holding me and we were spiraling higher, above the stone floor.

His lips were on me, cool and mesmerizing. The downdrafts of his wings pushed us higher off the ground, and I pictured what we must look like from below, the beautiful image of us entwined. It reminded me of looking up at another image, spiraling high above me, but I couldn’t see what it was. It was a dream, forgotten now.

Higher and higher we rose, my insides reeling as he pressed his lips to my neck. His black wings carried us, keeping us from falling, and I felt the gentle breeze from them on my skin. Their tips pricked me as they waved to and fro in midflight, bringing to the surface tiny dots of red on my pale, bare hands that smeared with the brush of his lips.

His melodious voice whispered promises in my ear. I tilted my head back, desperate to hear more — the words, the promise Garreth could not repeat minutes before.