Alyssa Morgan - Dark Surrender

I’d first like to thank my awesome editors, Laurie and Lucy, for their constant enthusiasm, and for helping to make Grace the best story it could possibly be.

Thanks, as always, to Mom and Dad, who are the best PR reps a girl could ask for.

And last, but never least, thank you to the readers. I hope you enjoy taking another journey with the characters who live in my head. Thanks again! Alyssa

To R. who believed I was a writer before I did, and encouraged me to follow my dreams.

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:14

Prologue

Alexandria

500 A.D.

Kyriel had no desire to return to Heaven.

Funny thought for an angel.

But then, he wasn’t an angel anymore. Not really.

He’d been stripped of his wings and most of his powers Ages ago. God had banished him and the other angels to Earth for their sins, and they’d finally given up on the idea of ever returning to Heaven. Some sins were unforgivable.

Why, then, had he agreed to assist Gabriel by chasing a Holy Man half way around the world?

A warm breeze blew through the tower window and played with the ends of his long, blonde hair. Kyriel lifted his head from the maps on the table and glanced out the narrow window, down to the Mediterranean harbor below, watching ships with great masts loading and unloading their cargo at the docks.

Why was he here? Maybe he was bored after all these Ages. Maybe he’d come along with Gabriel because he was excited by the prospect of searching out a few more Holy relics – Egypt was full of them and he couldn’t get his hands on enough.

Or maybe Gabriel’s promise of redemption had proven to be more important to him than he’d thought.

Kyriel’s current lifestyle wasn’t winning him any favor with God. Pride.Envy.Lust.He had a list of sins, and the longer he stayed on Earth, the more he added to that list. He was a fallen angel. Redemption wasn’t something that belonged to him, it wasn’t something he deserved, but that didn’t stop him from wanting it. Left on Earth to rot, he was merely a shadow of his former self. He had no powers, no glory. The Exalted Ones frowned upon him and his kind.

Kyriel was abandoned. Only Gabriel could show him the way back.

A strong gust of wind blew open the door to his tower room with a loud bang !

Kyriel anchored his hands on the ancient maps and scrolls spread out on the table as the Archangel Gabriel swept into the circular room with all the force of a raging storm. The howling wind swept out the door and it slammed closed, leaving them in silence.

“The last Magi is dead !” Gabriel declared, pacing the stone floor, his sandaled feet kicking up clouds of dust.

Then it was exactly as they’d feared.

Kyriel stared out the tower window, gazing across the azure blue sea. He’d hoped to be done with this chase and on his way back to Heaven.

Now it looked like his journey was only beginning.

Why hadn’t Gabriel’s mysterious source warned them of the danger sooner?

Lucifer wanted the three rings that held the power to open the Gates of Hell and free him from his eternal prison. The angels had made it their task to keep him right where he was, and with all three Magi dead, someone else would have to be charged with the mission of guarding the rings.

“Are you certain Melchior is dead?” Kyriel wondered if he’d missed something.

“Without a doubt,” Gabriel replied, his hand toying with the hilt of the golden sword strapped to his waist. The mighty weapon looked oddly out of place with the shorter length Egyptian garments they’d picked up after their earlier arrival in Thebes. “The priests are already preparing him to enter the afterlife.”

“And the rings?” Kyriel asked, shifting in his chair.

“The rings are gone.” Gabriel sat down on the wooden bench along the wall and leaned his head back, releasing a frustrated sigh. “The priests said Melchior didn’t have them when he arrived in Alexandria. He knew Lucifer was coming after him so he entrusted the three rings to an excommunicated priest living somewhere in Palestine, who in turn assigned each ring to a Keeper, and then scattered them to different locations. None of the Keepers are aware of the others, and only this priest knows who they are and where they can be found. We’ve got quite a search on our hands.”

Kyriel didn’t mind a challenge. He was good at sniffing out treasures. Perhaps Gabriel had picked him for the right reason.

“If I can find this priest, I’ll find the rings.”

“No,” Gabriel said with a firm shake of his head. “We’ve decided to leave it in the hands of the humans for now.”

“Is that wise?”

“The angels haven’t exactly proven themselves trustworthy,” Gabriel reminded in a chastising tone. “Lucifer has demonstrated that he can seduce them as easily as the humans. The rings are safer if no one knows where they are.”

“What am I supposed to do now?”

Kyriel could return to his home, where his servants would prepare him a feast fit for a king, fill his cup with an endless amount of wine, and then he could take a few beautiful women to his bed and make love to them all night. He had given up everything to have such an indulgent life, and now he lusted for the familiar comforts of his old world. He envied the angels their wings.

How long was God going to punish him by keeping him on Earth?

Kyriel studied the maps before him, his gaze roving over the different lands and imaginary boundaries. Lands and boundaries that had changed over time, and would continue to change as time moved on. He would be here to watch it all happen. It was miraculous and tedious at the same time. What would he do to fill up the lonely centuries?

Gabriel rose from the bench and stretched his arms over his head. “I need you to stay on Earth. I want you to watch.”

“Watch what?”

“Any time there is a planetary alignment, just like on the night the Christos was born, Lucifer will try to draw the rings together to complete a full alignment of all the planets, and he’ll be able to use that power to help break open the Gates of Hell. We all know what would happen if he ever got out.”

Total destruction of everything Kyriel had come to love about Earth and the humans.

“So I watch ?” Kyriel gave a derisive snort. “That’s perfect.”

“It’s a very important task,” Gabriel insisted, that clever twinkle in his eye.

The one that told a person he was already two moves ahead in the game.

“It sounds very important,” Kyriel said, not impressed.

He thought he’d be getting a task more suited for the type of angel he’d once been.

A Warrior.

Gabriel sidled over to the table and inspected the different maps he had spread over the surface. “What do you want with these old maps of Mesopotamia? The place is practically wiped out. Soon the humans will start calling it something different.”

“Which is precisely why I want these maps.” Kyriel rolled up the ancient parchments and placed them back in the leather cylinder case. “They’ll be extremely valuable one day.”

And Kyriel would take great pride in having them hanging on his wall. Another of the many mementos he’d collected to help mark the passage of his time spent on Earth. His banishment from Heaven had already lasted longer than some civilizations.

“I don’t know why you bother collecting so much human stuff,” Gabriel said. “You’re going to need a bigger home to store it all. What’s the point?”

“I enjoy collecting, and a bigger home is no problem.” Kyriel couldn’t explain his passion for wealth and treasure to the Archangel.