Page 7 of Fallen Angels

“Ain’t no windows, neither,” I hear the sprite’s voice, but I can’t see him. He might be in Dragan’s cell that isn’t in view from mine.

“Nothin’ but these bars,” the sprite continues, in that nasally and whiny tone of his. “How they ‘pose to get inside? Fuck, how’d we get inside?”

Then I see him beside Cambion. The two pace the cell, Flumph leaving behind tiny footprints in the dust. I feel a smile on my mouth—of the four of us, I believe Cambion dislikes the sprite most. Fitting he should end up with the little bastard as a cellmate.

Suddenly a door opens from the far end of the hallway, shedding light into the dungeon. I’m able to see more of the prison and I realize there’s one main hall with cells to the left and cells to the right. Eilish and I share a cell at the end of the hallway and Cambion’s cell is just beside us, to the left.

Maybe owing to a rude awakening from the light, I hear a growl from one of the front cells and I watch as Dragan appears in front of the prison bars. He glances to his right and then his left, spotting Eilish and then me. When he first sees her, relief washes over his face, but once he realizes we’re imprisoned together, his expression transforms into one of anger. No doubt he can see her rumpled clothing and with his expert sense of smell, he can probably scent the sex still hovering in the air.

“You son of a..,” he starts as he glares at me.

But he’s interrupted when three or more soldiers walk through the door. They ignore Cambion and Dragan, with their eyes focused solely on Eilish.

“You,” the first soldier says while pointing at her. “You’re coming with us.”

I move to stand in front of her as they march down the short hall.

“Why?” she asks, her voice betraying her fear.

“Variant requests your company,” one of them answers.

“What’s he gonna do with her?” Flumph yells.

“What do you think?” one of the guards responds, his lip lifting with a sneer.

“No,” Dragan shouts as he wraps his hands around the bars and gets a sizable shock for his trouble.

The soldier closest to the cell waves what appears to be an iron key across the face of the prison bars. In response, the bars begin to glow and he places the key into a lock I can’t see, cranking it to the left. The bars in front of us suddenly dissolve into thin air with a hissing sound that ricochets around the entire cell, making it sound as though the walls are suddenly closing in on us.

The sound distracts me, and the soldiers use the momentary diversion to their advantage. The guard closest to us unleashes something that appears to be a glowing orb from between his hands and the power hits me square in my chest. The magic is so powerful, the orb throws me backwards until I hit my head against the stone wall behind me and I’m then knocked on my ass. Instantly the soldiers surround Eilish, one grabbing her from either side as she attempts to fight them off. But she’s easily overpowered, and I’ve been struck dumb by the strength of the orb.

“Remember what you are, Eilish!” Dragan yells as the soldiers pull her from the cell. She kicks and squirms, but there’s no way she can free herself. She must soon realize this for she stops fighting and goes limp as they carry her between them. I wonder what Variant has in mind. I have a fairly good idea—to kill her of course. No doubt, he’ll sample her body first.

And there’s not a fucking thing anyone of us can do about it.

The last soldier to exit my cell secures the prison bars behind him with simply a nod. The iron bars reappear as I struggle toregain my wits. Whatever power hit me is strong and I feel as helpless as an infant.

“You’re powerful! Don’t forget that!” Dragan yells at Eilish’s retreating figure. Moments later, she disappears through the door and it closes behind her, leaving us to our solitude of darkness.

I regain my composure and force myself to my knees. Then, using the stone wall for support, I pull myself up until I’m standing.

Eilish will soon be dead,I think to myself.And we’ll be next.

“Fuck!” I yell as I bashmy fists into the stone, tearing open my knuckles and streaking the wall with blood.

She can’t die like this!I scream at myself.I was supposed to protect her! Fuck!

Flumph flies upward and then attempts to wedge himself between the bars, but the reinforcement wards zap him, and he falls to the ground. After that, he doesn’t move. I wonder if the shock has killed him. Cambion reaches over and nudges him and, as I watch, Flumph’s eyes flutter open, even as he shudders in pain.

***

DRAGAN

None of us speaks a word at first. There’s really nothing to say.

I feel a cold void deep within me at the thought of what Variant is going to do to Eilish. He’ll kill her. I have no doubt. And the truth of that hard reality eats me, sucks away my breath and leaves me feeling like I want to die, myself.

“What will he do to her?” Cambion asks, his voice low and haunted.

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