“Fallen,” he said, looking down at his hands. “I’m Fallen. It’s how I’ll forever be known.”
“Fallen from?” I asked, hoping he meant a tree or something else high and not the place I was thinking because if I was right with my guess, our newest partner was a fallen angel.
“Really, Thena, sometimes you can be so dense, “Adonis piped in. “You’re a fallen angel? One of the Originals?”
“We should go.” Seth rose and bit his lip. “And to answer your question, does it matter what I was? All that matters is what I am. I am defined by it, and I live by it.”
He stretched his hands over his head, making me immediately regret having stood so close. His body was perfect. “What’s important is that we complete our mission and rendezvous. I refuse to meet with your angels. I can never look at the face of perfection again. Not without feeling… suicidal,” he finished, and a shadow crossed his features. “So I can only be a partner to both of you until you meet with the rest of them.”
“Right,” I said, looking to Adonis. “So what next?”
“Next we go down.” Seth grinned happily.
“I thought we were already there,” I replied, ready to punch the wall. If one more person talked in riddles I was going to lose my mind.
“Just where is down?” Adonis held out his hand and possessively brought me into the cage of his body. The exact way a protective lover would have done.
I wanted to say, “Easy, tiger,” but instead I found it sweet that he felt the need to protect me from all things male. As if I couldn’t protect myself. Please. I’d slit Seth’s throat in less than a minute if I had to.
Except you’re losing your touch, are you not, sweet?
I whipped my head around, desperately trying to see which direction the voice had come from.
“Thena, you okay?” Adonis asked.
Seth gave me an odd look. Both men waited for me to say something. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. I nodded my head and pulled away from Adonis.
Seth reached out and touched my skin. “Better?”
And suddenly it was.
“Yes, uh…”
“Don’t worry about it.” He seemed almost embarrassed. “Ready yourselves. Where we go, no Seeker has gone before.”
“Cute, you should tattoo that somewhere on your body,” I said under my breath.
Adonis laughed. Seth seemed less amused. Do angels never joke? Even fallen ones?
As Seth led us out of the club, I was half-tempted to ask him more about his life, as well as if he had wings. I’d never seen wings before. Not even Michael’s. Sometimes I wondered if they even had them. These were the things I should not have been contemplating while Seth led us down a darker hallway than before.
“You afraid?” Adonis whispered into my ear. I closed my eyes, imagining it was just the two of us, and my stomach did a nervous flip-flop.
“No,” I said, unsure of myself.
“Good.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll never leave you, Thena.”
“Let’s go, you two,” Seth called from ahead.
Yes, taskmaster; we’re coming.
We walked down a series of darkened hallways that looked a lot like Hollywood’s version of a haunted house. I was fully aware things really do go bump in the night, so I’d admit to being a bit more on edge.
We stopped in front of a giant black door. Of course, everything is black when you go down. Naturally.
“Before you can fight your enemy, you have to know him…” Seth pushed open the door. It groaned under the pressure.
I gasped as we walked inside a room filled with what looked like stars. Everything was black. It felt like we were standing outside of the universe looking down at the planets. I could see Earth, Jupiter, Saturn — it was trippy to say the least. The stars nearly blinded me from where I stood.
I’ve seen some pretty crazy things in my lifetime. This had to be the coolest out of all of them.
“Where are we?” I asked, hoping he didn’t say down one more time, lest I punch his perfectly chiseled jaw, sending him into the nearest planet on my right.
“It’s a portal of some sort. Only a few know of its existence. And now for the story.” Seth raised his hand above his head, light shot out from his eyes and fingertips, and the room around us started to spin. I held onto Adonis for support. He was like a rock, immobile even though the room was spinning out of control.
The noise of the spinning was just as unbearable. I was ready to cover my ears, and then everything froze. Stars were no longer on the walls, but right in front of my face, objects were paused mid-air like someone had walked in and pressed pause on a movie.
Seth cleared his throat and closed his eyes.