Page 59 of Fear the Fall

The line stops suddenly, eyes lifted to the sky. That’s when I hear them. Angel wings flapping in the air, feathers rustling. I didn’t realize how much I missed that sound until now.

“What do we have here?” Leeanna says from my side. “Finally, you showed yourself. Foolish demon,” she sneers.

I watch the thing closely. He doesn’t so much as flinch. No fear, which is something different. He really is arrogant.

In the blink of an eye, he disappears, and demons melt back into the shadows.

Coward after all. Or simply smarter than most, which doesn’t bode well. A stupid demon is much easier to send back to Hell.

“He’s got bigger plans. No way was he going to waste even a portion of his army on this fight,” Leeanna muses. “Glad to see they didn’t have time to tear you limb from limb.”

“I didn’t think you cared what happened to me.”

“We need you for the war. After? I couldn’t care less.” She says it, but the way her chin quivers gives away the lie. Despite my fall, Leeanna does care.

“What’s going to happen when I get back into Heaven? You’ll have to drop this better-than-thou act.”

Her eyes narrow. “You’ve got a long way to go before that’s even a blip of a possibility.”

I shrug. “We’ll see.”

“What was that thing around his neck?” Michael cuts in, drawing both Leeanna’s attention and mine.

“A witch’s medallion. He ate the heart of the witch who gifted it to him.”

Leeanna grimaces. “That only made him more powerful.”

“He’s able to create some type of barrier to shield himself and the surrounding area.”

I leave off the part where I called out to Lucifer and he never came.

“Most barrier spells with a medallion last only a short time.”

Would’ve been great to know that minutes ago. Then again, the angels hearing me call out for help from the devil wouldn’t bode well for me.

“We know you have connections to covens in the area,” Leeanna grinds out. “We need you to find out what they know that could be helpful to us.”

“You want me to consort with witches?”

Michael’s head snaps to hers and she nods, but her eyes are cast down, knowing what she’s asking is wrong.

“In this instance, if they have information we need, we have to.”

“Leeanna, you can’t ask that of her.”

“She’s fallen, Michael. Who else can go to them?”

He purses his lips but appears to come to the same conclusion she did. I’m their only chance of working with the witches.

“Fine, but if I do this, you both have to promise you’ll speak on my behalf if and when the time comes for me to stand trial to get back into Heaven.”

“If that happens,” Michael hisses, “I’ll speak for you. Assuming you toe the line in every other aspect. Work against us, and you’ll get nothing from me.”

It’s my turn to nod.

I step up to Leeanna. “Why did you meet with Zeke earlier?”

She stiffens. “H-how do you know about that?”

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