Rise of the Fallen Read online

  “Can we go to school yet?” I asked, still staring out at the rising sun.

  “Sure. Do you want to get changed first?” Soul asked helpfully.

  I ran upstairs and changed into the clothes that I wore the day I burned the house down. Running back down the stairs, I almost gave myself a heart attack as I stumbled on the last few steps. Soul looked amused as he opened the front door for me.

  As we got into the car he asked me a question, “Are you going to come back?”

  I shook my head. He sighed and backed the car out of the driveway.

  “Cael probably wouldn’t like it if I came back,” I said, hoping to make things better but failing. Soul clenched his fist on the steering wheel.

  “So he matters more then me?” he asked bitterly.

  I cringed at the tone of his voice, which was threatening but at the same time slightly pathetic. We sat quietly for a moment and my curiosity led me to think about where Zacharia could be. I looked over at Soul – his eyes were glued to the road. He was capable of making someone “disappear”, but I still trusted him a little. There was something about Soul that made me sure that he would not be the one to end my life – that was one positive point I suppose.

  “So … heard from Dorian lately?” Soul’s quiet voice brought me out of my thoughts.

  I immediately pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked. Sure enough, there was a new text message from Dorian.

  “How’d you know?” I asked softly, opening it.

  “I didn’t – lucky guess,” Soul smirked.

  I read the message silently to myself. Enjoying your time with Soul? D.

  I sat silently staring at the screen until it went dark.

  “What does it say?” Soul enquired.

  I held the phone up to his face. Soul laughed loudly and took the phone from my hands and started texting a reply.

  “Should you be doing that while you’re driving?”

  He just laughed. “Oh please, it’s not like I’ll die if I crash.”

  I looked at him in exasperation. “That’s not the point, Soul! You could hurt someone else.”

  He rolled his eyes. “So?”

  I shook my head in disgust and stared out the window. We were moving quickly, probably over the speed limit.

  “You think too much,” Soul said, passing the phone back to me. “What did you say to Dorian?” I put the phone back in my jacket pocket.

  Soul chuckled mischievously, “Never you mind.”

  I sighed and kept looking out the window, smiling slightly as I saw the school parking lot coming up. Cael was leaning against a tree close to the administration block. As Soul pulled into a car park I grinned and ran out of his car, jumping into Cael’s open arms. As we hugged I heard Soul mutter something under his breath.

  Cael laughed quietly but his voice was strained, “Emilie … what were you thinking?”

  CHAPTER 8

  “Well, I wasn’t thinking,” I said truthfully, refusing to let him go.

  I felt him smile. “That makes a lot of sense then, doesn’t it?”

  I nodded and continued hugging him. I vaguely felt Soul’s eyes on me.

  “What are you looking at, demon?” Cael asked Soul in a cold voice, though he was still hugging me warmly.

  “She’s my girlfriend. Take your hands off her,” Soul practically growled.

  Being controlling was definitely Soul’s worst trait, and it was beginning to bother me.

  “I’m not letting her go and I don’t care if she said yes – she didn’t mean it and we’re leaving.”

  I pulled back a little before I spoke. “Oh, where are we going?”

  “Victoria or Perth, I haven’t decided yet,” Cael smiled.

  “Emilie, aren’t you even going to speak up for yourself? You love me remember,” Soul said in disbelief.

  “How could she love you? It’s not as though you’ve been completely truthful with her from the start. Why don’t you just tell her everything that you’ve been hiding?” Cael said, drawing me closer.

  “Fine, I work for Lilith and her instructions come from Samael. I work with so many demons I’m not even going to try and tell you all their names. My main job is to look after the elementals that work for us,” Soul said.

  “By ‘work for us’, you mean the elementals that you capture and force to do your bidding,” Cael said bitterly.

  I interrupted Cael and looked at Soul in confusion, “But I already knew most of that, Soul.”

  “Tell her the next part, Soul.” Cael’s hand travelled down my arm to rest around my wrist.

  “Alright.” Soul’s eyes met mine. “We want you Emilie. We want you to join us. We didn’t need Cael, as we already had Zacharia.”

  I felt anger rule my emotions and my temperature climb. Cael let go of my wrist and took a step back.

  “I told you he wasn’t to be trusted. It’s completely up to you if you want to leave with me,” Cael whispered to me.

  Soul looked at me in disbelief, “Don’t you think that if I didn’t care for you, you would already be with Lilith right now? I love you and I fell for you. It’s not allowed but it happened, and I am being completely honest right now.”

  Even if he had fallen for me, how long would that last? How long would it take for him to tire of me and hand me over to Lilith?

  “I don’t care, Soul. Anything I said to you before doesn’t matter now. It’s over. I want to leave with Cael.”

  I almost willed myself to calm down so my temperature wouldn’t peak and erupt in flames. I reached out, brushing my hand against Cael’s. He took it instantly.

  “You can’t be serious,” Soul said, his voice rising.

  “She is serious. Just leave us alone,” Cael said, pulling me back in the direction of the school stairs.

  “Fine. You have no idea what you’re doing, Emilie. I’d never even considered making you return to Lilith. But I suppose I don’t have a choice. You are nothing to me anymore,” Soul said. His voice was perfectly smooth but I could see he was hurt.

  At that comment Cael strode swiftly back to Soul.

  “Stay away from her,” he growled at Soul.

  “You’re not going to hurt me. You’re harmless,” he said, laughing and shaking his head.

  “I am not weak,” Cael retorted.

  “Stop,” I said as I saw a few cars pull into the parking lot.

  Cael stopped arguing and his stance relaxed as he grabbed my hand and led me away. I heard Soul’s car door slam and turned around to see him driving back down the street. I almost ran to keep up with Cael.

  “Why are we walking so fast, Cael?”

  Cael slowed down a little but we still moved at a relatively fast pace. It was far too easy to resist the urge to turn around and look behind us; I had absolutely no desire to know where Soul went or who might be watching us. We walked along the discoloured grey concrete path, occasionally passing neglected gardens of oversized bushes and wild flowers, speckled with dark chunks of tree bark and litter. Cael was silent but I could see a smile on his face.

  His sandy blond hair blew away from his face as he walked; his eyes seemed brighter than usual and held an emotion that I assumed was happiness. We reached the oval steps and sat down. His blue jeans were baggy and I noticed he was wearing his black Converse shoes and the black t-shirt that I had bought him for his birthday last year. Neither of us spoke but I felt myself noticing more things about Cael than I had previously. It was a little odd.

  Cael seemed almost perfect, his eyes glittered in the morning light and his hair shone golden. He was leaning back on his elbows, although I was sure that the hard concrete stairs were uncomfortable. He was looking out at the oval, watching as everything came to life. Birds flew down from the trees and a stray neighbourhood cat lurked just beyond the fence line. Cael seemed so carefree and relaxed, which was definitely a change from usual.

  “You okay, kid? Don’t worry about Soul. He can’t do anything; he won’t do anything
,” Cael said reassuringly.

  He leaned over and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I hugged him back.

  “I’m not worried about that,” I said.

  “Then what are you worried about?”

  “Nothing, I’m not worried at all,” I smiled, and hugged my knees as I stared out over the oval.

  The vibrant green grass seemed to sparkle as the small droplets of dew caught the light of the sun. Cael leaned back on his elbows.

  It was such a beautiful and peaceful day; I found it difficult to remember the situation I found myself in. For a moment the fear for my life and the lives of others melted away – but even in the tranquillity of the oval I couldn’t quieten my thoughts.

  Quite frankly, I was more afraid of Dorian than Soul. For some reason Soul seemed harmless; perhaps because he had never threatened me before. Or maybe it was because I knew that he wouldn’t hurt me, just yet. I could have thought about this for much longer if Cael’s voice hadn’t interrupted.

  “Your phone is beeping, Emilie,” Cael said, looking over at me in a completely relaxed manner.

  I jumped slightly, pulling the phone from my pocket. Flipping it open I read the message: I thought I might divulge something rather important to you, Emilie. It was not the wisest of decisions to upset Soul. He is rather put out with you at the moment and I personally have never witnessed him in a mood like this before. His disregard for others and his rage make me somewhat proud of him. I will see you soon, Emilie. D. Dorian’s message came over in three separate texts making me laugh.

  Cael looked at me.

  “Dorian …” I said.

  I was half expecting him to show some disappointment or anger, but he seemed calm.

  “I figured that he would try and talk to you. It wouldn’t surprise me if he and Soul were close acquaintances.”

  I had absolutely nothing to say to that. Cael surprises me when he comes out with things like that. I wondered how long he’d been thinking about it before he finally said something.

  “What’s wrong?” Cael’s voice was gentle.

  “Nothing.”

  We were both silent and, once again, the only sounds that I could hear came from the trees and the birds.

  “I met someone,” Cael said suddenly, staring at me with a smile on his face.

  “What do you mean?”

  He laughed, “She’s an elemental. She’s only young but she’s beginning to recover her previous life, or rather, how she died.” Cael seemed excited about it.

  “How old is she now?” I asked.

  “She’s nearly thirteen years old. She’s an earth elemental.” Cael was still smiling.

  “Young …” I commented, laughing.

  “Just young in this form, she told me that she was over four hundred years before she died last time.”

  I nodded in silent recognition.

  “I asked her to join us,” Cael said.

  My eyes snapped up to meet his in an instant. “But she’s just a child! We can’t afford to be worrying about her!”

  Cael spoke over me, dismissing my complaint, “We’re picking her up in two days, just before we leave.”

  “What about her human parents? I doubt they would let her go,” I said brusquely.

  This was going to ruin everything. I could barely take care of myself, let alone help raise an elemental child in a ‘normal’ environment.

  “Her human parents were killed by a demon two weeks ago. They were possessed by demons and killed themselves by swallowing some sort of poison. She was watching the entire time,” Cael looked at me as though I were some heartless fiend. “The bodies are still in the house and the neighbours will be asking questions soon.”

  I sighed, “Okay, we can’t just leave her.”

  He smiled and leaned over to hug me. “Her name is Holly. She’s powerful so you don’t need to worry about protecting her. She’s smart too, she’ll basically raise herself, once she remembers everything about who she was, that is.”

  I sighed and nodded in agreement, but this time Cael didn’t say a word.

  I was relieved that he remained quiet, I was far too anxious to deal with anything else. I looked out at the sky. The good weather was slowly fading.

  The sky darkened, with dull grey clouds covering almost every inch, drowning out all natural light. Cael stood up suddenly and stared up, the wind started to build up into a strong gust. It blew hundreds of leaves from the trees in mere seconds. When nearly all of the trees were bare a loud rumble of thunder crashed in the distance. Cael jumped and grabbed my arm, pulling me up. In seconds the entire oval was engulfed in a thick blanket of silver rain that fell like heavy bullets, drop after drop striking the soft ground below in quick succession.

  “It’s Lilith,” I shouted through the rain.

  Cael looked at me for a moment, transfixed by something, before pulling me back through the pouring rain until we reached the undercover area just metres from the oval stairs. The rain pelted down onto the tin roof in echoing metallic beats. For a moment I thought it was hail, as the droplets seemed louder and heavier than usual. As we stared out at the storm, Cael wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in closer. I looked up at him and he stared down at me for a while before leaning down to kiss me gently on the lips. It only lasted a second before he pulled back, probably because he was sure I would reject him. He turned his head away and once again looked out at the storm, though his arms around me didn’t falter for a second. I knew I didn’t feel the same way, and I knew it was wrong to lead him on, but I felt safe in his arms. I leaned forward and rested my head on his shoulder, until a familiar voice interrupted us.

  Cael pushed me behind him and glared at the tall figure standing before us. Dorian grinned at me. He shifted his long, dark hair out of his face with a smooth motion that I remembered so well. The one thing that amazed me was that he still managed a timeless grace, regardless of the current century, and regardless of the fact that he had changed human form. He wasn’t the same Dorian that I knew years ago. He was slimmer too. It was almost as though he was frozen by time into the figure of a handsome yet powerful young man. Today, though, his eyes were the same steel-grey eyes that he’s always had.

  “What do you want?” Cael asked. I could feel his heart pounding.

  “I just wanted to congratulate Emilie on her brilliant failure. After all, without you,” he said, gesturing to the growing storm around us, “all this would not have happened.” His voice was smooth and alluring, and he was mocking me in every way.

  “Why are you really here, Dorian?” I was interested to know what he wanted.

  He looked at me and laughed. “I am … representing Soul, in a way. He doesn’t handle rejection well at all.” Dorian was visibly amused by the entire situation.

  “So you’re good friends with Soul then?”, Cael asked in a tense, hard voice.

  “Indeed I am,” Dorian replied with a grin before tilting his head slightly to look at me. “You sure can pick them, Emilie dearest.”

  I blushed and looked away. The storm was still raging around us with the occasional crash of thunder and the continuous sound of raindrops falling.

  “You shouldn’t be here, Dorian,” Cael said.

  “Yet I am – and I doubt you could make me leave,” Dorian laughed humourlessly.

  I walked around Cael and stood in front of Dorian. “So he’s been talking about me then?” I enquired.

  Behind me I heard Cael whisper for me to come back and let him handle this, but I chose to ignore that.

  “Indeed he does, sweetheart. Is that a problem?” Dorian said in that silky smooth voice.

  I shook my head. “No, but what exactly did he tell you?”

  He smiled slightly. “You, my dear, have been around that commoner for far too long. Your grasp of the English language has diminished so much that it almost all sounds like slang. But you need not worry about what Soul says; at the moment he is just displeased about the way you are behaving.”

/>   I took another step towards him and put my hands on my hips impatiently, causing Dorian to chuckle.

  “Always impatient, my dear. All he says is that he regrets losing you. I cannot say that I blame him for that, after all, I regret that too.” I dropped my hands from my hips and frowned in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean, Dorian?”

  “Oh, how I do love hearing you say my name, sweetheart,” Dorian smiled.

  I rolled my eyes in disgust, or was it embarrassment? He grinned and gestured for me to approach, but with a brief look back at Cael, seeing the expression of pure anger on his face, I didn’t move an inch. Noticing my hesitation, Dorian came over and whispered in my ear.

  “I didn’t want to say this in front of Cael, but I am truly sorry that I succumbed to Lilith. I should never have let you go.” His voice was gruff and heavy and I almost would have believed him if I hadn’t seen the attractive yet mocking grin on his face.

  “You tried to kill me, Dorian. Did you honestly think I would believe you now? You’re such a liar,” I laughed dryly.

  Another loud crash of thunder, combined with a dozen flashes of lightning, made Dorian jump.

  “Why so jumpy, Dorian?” Cael asked mockingly, as he pushed past me and stood before him. It would have looked more threatening if Cael wasn’t at least a head shorter than Dorian. Dorian looked down at Cael as though he were insignificant.

  “Lilith is angry. I can’t say I blame her. She is concerned that Soul has ruined her plans. Everyone is scared – at least, everyone who is smart enough to be scared.”

  Cael was silent and I looked from Cael to Dorian, “So you’re just here to brag about your information?”

  Dorian shook his head. “I am actually here to find something that Soul left. Lilith told me that Samael needs it, so I have to find it.”

  “Why did you tell us?” Cael asked, clearly as confused as I was.

  Dorian shrugged and started to leave.

  “Not that this hasn’t been fun, but I really must get a move on, I don’t wish to fall out with Lilith. After all, I am one of her favourites.” He turned and disappeared down the path. Cael faced me with amusement in his eyes.