Firm hands gripped my shoulders tightly, shaking me awake. My eyelids flew open, my heart racing. We were in Grey's penthouse still, but something was wrong. I could tell by the look on Grey's face, as well as the fact that the bed had begun to tremble beneath me. Grey's cerulean eyes were alight in blue fire, wide with fear.
"Grey? What's-," I began, but he cut me off by practically yanking me out of bed and setting my bare feet gently on the cool wooden floors.
"It's started," he grumbled with a tightening of his jaw. I felt my heart plummet through my chest, my throat running dry.
"What do you mean? The Reckoning?" I breathed out in confusion. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins, my soul slowly awakening from its slumber. I felt it throttle the chains that held it back, a low roar rumbling as it fought to rise to the surface.
"Yes. They've flooded the streets of lower Manhattan with Demons. It looks like they're attacking from the south. We've got to get to a defensible position, and quick. If we can fly above the lower clouds and remain hidden, we should be able to find the others," Grey explained hurriedly, striding over to the closet and tossing my battle suit at me.
My heart pounded valiantly in my chest, as if to reassure me that I knew what I was doing. However, I knew that I was likely one of the only Angels who had never fought in a war. I'd seen my fair share of fights and battles, but never a full blown war. I knew Grey had fought in both World Wars, and Siena as well. As much preparation as I'd had, I still had little to no idea what exactly I was walking into.
I put on my battle suit and Grey helped me latch on the armor, checking that the allotted slats for my wings aligned with my scars. I quickly pulled my hair back into a tight french braid, ignoring the few stubborn strands that refused to be tamed. My gaze met the glowing forested eyes that stared back at me in the mirror, and I paused to examine myself for a moment. For all I knew it could be the last time I ever saw myself. I looked all Angel right now with my soul this close to the surface. Luckily, I still had some restraint on my soul to keep from outright glowing. Now wasn't the time to let Lucifer in on my secret.
I tightened my jaw and let out a deep breath as I walked out of the bathroom and found Grey by the window. He stood, arms folded and neck arched downwards, watching the city below us. I could feel the power of his soul saturating the air now that he wasn't holding back. It was nearly suffocating.
"You ready?" My voice broke the cool silence and his gaze shot up to meet mine. Those brilliant eyes sizzled with light as he nodded firmly and walked towards me, taking my hand in his.
"We've got this, Greene," he murmured softly, running his thumb over the back of my hand. I pressed my lips together tightly and nodded, still unsure.
Regardless of how sure I felt, I didn't have a choice. This was what I had been waiting for and training for, what my soul had been created for.
I followed Grey through the hallways of the luxurious apartment building, watching him kick through a steel door with ease to get up to the rooftop. We hurried up a metal staircase, our footsteps clanging against the rickety material and echoing downwards. The lights were flickering rapidly, as if they knew the danger that was coming.
"What about the mortals here? We can't just leave them," I suddenly stopped halfway up the stairs and pulled back on Grey's arm. He tightened his jaw and let out a sigh.
"We can't save everyone," he replied softly, squeezing my hand.
"Grey, we can't just abandon them. They have no one to defend them or even warn them against what's happening," I replied furiously.
"We have to. We have to try to save as many people as we can, and we can't do that if we die trying to save the ones here because we have zero backup. We need to get to the others and stick to the plan," he shook his head, turning back around and tugging on my arm to continue up the stairs. My mouth ran dry as I numbly followed him.
Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives would be lost. I didn't know if I'd completely realized that until now. I'd never experienced this level of catastrophe. I don't think the world had ever experienced anything like this either. This would have an effect on mankind for years to come if we survived this.
If we survived this.
God- this truly could be the end of the world.
Grey rammed his shoulder into another steel door, bending the metal as if it were rubber. He shoved it open with a huff, sending the door flying across the gravel rooftop. It landed with a clang on the opposite side of the roof, sending rocks flying over the edge. I followed him over to the edge, a little cement barrier that barely reached the middle of my shin. I turned, my eyes meeting Grey's as I released my wings, relishing the stretch of the muscles I hadn't used in a few days. Grey did the same, his massive charcoal wings unfurling like massive cloaks of darkness over either of his shoulders. They extended outwards, the sharp feathers stretching away from him like hundreds of iron blades. They even appeared to glimmer in the ashen light.
"You still take my breath away," I whispered softly, holding his fluorescent gaze. His sharp lips curled into a smirk as he gingerly took my hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. He slowly pulled my hand in towards him, bringing me closer and closer to him until I had to crane my neck upwards to meet his eyes.
"When we take off, fly above me. If anything is shot up at us, it'll hit me first and not you. Okay?" He breathed out, narrowing his eyes slightly as they flicked back and forth between mine.
"No. You're not my shield," I shook my head furiously, furrowing my brows in defiance. Grey's thumb pressed against the base of my chin and tilted my head up to look at him.
"Greene. I am your shield," he insisted, his intense gaze boring down into my eyes.
"If anything hits you, I'm going down too. That's my condition," I clenched my jaw tightly, fighting the tears that threatened to well in my eyes. From this moment onward, every second with Grey would be a gift. From this moment onward, the future I had dreamed of with my soulmate could be ripped away. One of these times that I admire his beautiful Caribbean eyes could be the last.
"I can't be your priority, Greene. This was what you were born to do, what your soul was created to do. You were meant to do so much more than love me. If I fall, you let me fall." I almost gasped a little when I met his eyes and found them brimming with unshed tears. Grey never cried. He hardly showed emotion, let alone vulnerability and sadness. "Promise me you'll let me fall."
My heart ached. How could he ask me to promise him that?
I opened my lips to respond, but I was cut off by a massive explosion to the south that shook the ground violently like an earthquake. A massive ball of fire shot upwards into the atmosphere, plumes of smoke streaming out from the Earth as if she herself had cracked open. The heavy weight that began to settle on my chest and the echoing of far off screams in my ears told me that the explosion had stolen more than a few mortal lives.
We were out of time.
The gravel beneath our feet began to tremble, and we glanced over the edge of the building to see plumes of dust and smoke streaming out of the lowest level of the building. It was collapsing beneath us- with hundreds of innocent lives inside. Not only that, but I could see miniature dark figures crawling like ants through the streets like a flood of inky black oil. Every bone in my body ached in agony as I forced myself to look up at Grey, acknowledging that we couldn't save anybody here without killing ourselves. Tears welled in my eyes and Grey reached out, gingerly brushing the tears from my cheeks.
"Now," he mouthed with a subtle bow of his head. With a deep breath, we shot upwards into the sky, forcing our wings to push more and more air beneath us. We needed to get as high as possible as quickly as possible, or we risked being seen. The raindrops in the clouds scraped against my cheeks as I pushed myself faster and faster through them, only allowing my wings to spread out so I could hover after I'd topped the cloud bank. Grey followed suit, bits of grey cloud flinging upwards into the sky with his momentum. He slowed in front of me, hovering for a moment as his eyes narrowed in on the horizon. I turned to look where he was focused, and felt my heart stop when I did.
Not only was the Statue of Liberty ablaze, but the entirety of southern Manhattan was. I could see what looked like an oil spill bubbling up in the middle of the Upper Bay between Brooklyn and New Jersey. Upon closer examination, I saw that this wasn't oil, but Demons being purged from the ocean and swimming towards the shores. The entire coastline was ablaze, and they were moving fast. Everything left behind them was pitch black and covered in grey ashes. This was the future that Lucifer had shown me- this was what he believed was coming, what was inevitable.
"Grey, we have to do something!" I shouted with tears streaming down my cheeks. The sheer amount of destruction and death was overwhelming. It was like my lungs had been filled with a searing acidic smoke and I could no longer breathe. For a moment, I wished I could feel nothing at all. I was absolutely horrified.
So many lives had to have died a horrific death, with no one there to save them in the end, to catch them off that cliff. So many lives, all ending in misery and fear. And to think, this wasn't even all of Hell's army that had caused this.
"We can't- not alone. We have to go, Greene!" He called back, shaking his head and flying towards me to grab me. We'd already spent too much time hovering here, I knew we needed to move, and quickly. But, all of those people-
A whirring sound filled the air and Grey quickly lunged for me, flinging his wings around me as a shield. He grunted as something nailed his wing and ricocheted off into the sky. In utter amazement, I watched as a full ass motorcycle soared off in front of us before plummeting back down through the clouds.
Grey had literally just been hit with a motorcycle, and it had done absolutely nothing to him. I gulped as my mind thought of what kind of Demon it would take to throw something like that several thousand feet in the air with precise aim.
"We have to go. Now," Grey snarled out through gritted teeth as he extended his wings again, yanking my arm with him. With burning tears streaming down my cheeks, I nodded and followed suit, pushing my wings harder and harder until the muscles burned. Grey soared beneath me, eyes glued to the sea of clouds beneath him, watching for anything else someone could chuck at us.
I fought myself not to turn around and look back at the destruction. I knew that if I did, I could be signing mine or Grey's death warrant. However, this entire plan went against my nature. I was allowing thousands upon thousands of lives to be massacred, just for the sliver of hope we had that our plan would work. If it didn't, and we failed, all of those deaths would be in vain. All of this would be for nothing.
So I swallowed my tears and pushed onwards, praying all would not be for naught.
WELCOME TO THE RECKONING
highly recommend boxes of tissues on standby with every update I post from now on.
-TJ