The Bliss (The Angel Star Prequel Novella) Read online

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  Beneath me is a fleeting moment humans call morning that wells a deep purple mist rising from the earth, fading into the sky, where it will seep into the void, and become lost. Somewhere down there is my brother. Millennia have passed, but I know he is alive. And all the while I feel as if something is pulling me there. It is in this moment where I too am condemned to the Bliss.

  The clouds thin, revealing the patchwork panorama of a small town still sleeping beneath the indigo dawn just blooming toward the east. Somewhere down there is my charge, a quiet man with a good heart. Nearby sleeps a little girl, her fists clenched tightly against her pale pink nightgown.

  For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Archs would give such a simple man the responsibility of being the Eighth Gate, why he must be guarded so closely, but Rafael tells me it is my job as Guardian to watch, that all will be explained in time. Just as the heavens were forged by a mighty hand, so were the division of the Gates and their purpose.

  Just midway through my Reflection sentence, the soft approach of footsteps catches me off guard. Turning, I am struck by the curious light in the pair of eyes staring back at me, the deepest violet, they appear almost black. Vayne tilts her head, trying to see through my silence. I see why Lucifer found her beautiful. Her red and gold feathered wings catch the rays of the sun, mesmerizing me.

  “I know what Lucifer asked of you,” Vayne speaks with such a softness I almost don’t depict the secrecy that hides beneath her words. Her voice is mesmerizing, making everything around me feel as if it is moving. The breeze has now died, yet her fiery red hair still blows on its own accord. There is a look in her eyes I cannot quite fathom. If Guardians knew love then she could most definitely have loved my brother, but Vayne has always drawn questionable attention to herself, and Lucifer had always sought out anything that went against the grain.

  I want to trust her, because what I see in her expression is much like what I’d seen in Lucifer’s; an illusion that I might possibly be drawn closer to what’s become of him, and suddenly, I am tempted to tell her everything - about what I saw in his eyes as he came out of the Bliss, how he watched the others, how he tried to understand them because he was drawn to the darkness they harbor. How he instilled his own dark opinions in the young soul he was supposed to protect.

  “He went straight to her, you know, straight to the one who opened his eyes,” she tells me.

  The memory of Rafael’s sword strikes me as if I too was dealt the blow that blinded Lucifer for all eternity. I clench my jaw and look at her. “He no longer has eyes.”

  “Ah, but that’s where you are gravely mistaken,” her own light up at this notion, causing the black of her pupils to grow even darker. “He sees what we choose not to.”

  I shake my head.

  “Look at this, Hadrian,” Vayne’s arms are spread wide. “How they watch you, always seeking Lucifer inside you, always trying to learn where they went wrong.”

  “Archangels aren’t meant to fail,” I tell her.

  “Ahh, but they do, don’t they. Your brother was an Arch, and that’s where the others are wrong. He didn’t fail, he succeeded. He’s exactly where he wants to be right now.”

  I cannot help myself and my eyes trail to the edge. Lucifer’s words ring through my head. I picture my brother in darkness, serving an eternal sentence, waiting, and suddenly I am filled with temptation.

  A curious smile forms upon Vayne’s lips. “It’s right where they want you to be, as well.”

  Her comment lashes at my back, and I turn away from her, wondering what she knows that I

  do not.

  “Why do you think they replaced him so quickly? Did you earn the title of Archangel? Did you not see the faces of those who have worked so tirelessly to prove themselves to the Seven, only to watch it simply handed to you?”

  Vayne steps in front of me. “You are the Watched now, Hadrian. You are the Seven’s link to the darkness Lucifer has come to desire,” she urges. “Prove your brother is right. Prove the Gates are so much more than the Archs ever believed in the first place.”

  Smiling, she backs away and before my eyes, she is airborne, her arms shrinking to become tiny wings, her face elongating into the rest of her body. She is in flight, beautiful, wicked, and not a soul in Heaven seems to pay mind to her as the raven she becomes dives into the clouds below after her long lost love.

  I make no attempt to move from the Bliss, and I suppose part of me wishes for Rafael and the others to return. But all is quiet. As if I’m left here on purpose to struggle with my own thoughts, and I cannot help but wonder if Vayne’s words ring true; that the Archs are somewhere nearby, watching to see what I will choose to do. Even with the passage of time, do I still feel compelled to follow him?

  Vayne's words still echo in my mind as I remove myself from the Bliss and stretch my limbs. I walk forward, slowly, feeling where the pearlescent clouds touch the sky. I don’t look back. I don’t say a word. My body is weightless, white wings turning gray against the heavens. My decision solidifies . . . and I fall.

  There is a burning fire that consumes me, confuses me, and I hear voices crying out to me. Wanting me. Needing me. Tempting me. Too many wishes—too many to decipher. I am overwhelmed and lost. Where is Lucifer?