Defiant Destiny Ch. 04

Layla felt the power I tried so hard to suppress and read the fiery promise in my eyes.

She seemed shocked to hear my fierce declaration and gasped. Layla evaded my gaze and looked down. I felt her anger and determination fade through our bond - shyness and hope taking their place. I waited for her to speak her mind, for I was confused about this shift in emotions. Cyrea must have noticed it too and placed her hand on Layla's thigh, giving her a comforting squeeze.

"...You would do that for me?" she replied in a soft, tentative voice as she shyly met my gaze. "You would...take a soul to protect me?"

I felt my anger dissipate immediately. Oh, poor thing. It was heartbreaking to see how insecure she was about someone caring for her.

I instantly wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in my lap to give her a long, gentle and loving kiss. I made sure my bond towards her was fully open so she could feel each and every emotion as I put all the love I could muster for her in that kiss.

"Of course I would, my sweet," I whispered to her lovingly. "I will protect you till my dying day," I promised her and I felt her breath hitch and a tear fall on my chest.

Through our bond I felt her relief, joy and love for me. It made me smile. I slid my hand through her brown, wavy hair and pulled her closer to me, deepening the kiss. Another tear fell on my chest, and another. "I feel your love for me!" she whispered in my mind, baffled.

Layla held my face in her hands and broke the kiss, the most wonderful smile on her tear stricken face. "Thank you... Nobody has ever loved me..." she shakily whispered with a sob.

I suddenly felt a pang of compassion coming from Cyrea and I felt her crawl on my lap to cradle Layla from behind. "We do, sweetie," she whispered, softly placing a kiss on Layla's markings between her shoulder blades. "We do..."

Despite the intimate position we found ourselves in (and still very naked) there was no lust at that moment. Through both bonds, all I could feel was joy and love. Layla reveled in it, and we let her savor it for as long as she wanted...

***Samuel***

The stench of fear reached my nostrils. A small, satisfied smile tugged at my lips. I knew it - he had sinned. His fear was proof.

I narrowed my eyes at the angel in front of me who was trying to formulate words for his pathetic attempt at a lie.

The infidel... That utter and complete waste of an angel! I clenched my jaw, forcing out my breath through flared nostrils and made little effort to hide my immense displeasure.

My hand gripped my trusted celestial sword and I felt my anger ignite its celestial flames. The weakling before me sank to his knees. "NO! No! No.... Samuel.... Please..." he whimpered pathetically, "I will not stray again! Please! It was but a single mistake, have pity on me..." he squirmed, the stench of his fear penetrating the air around us.

I grabbed a handful of his hair and lifted him up in the air, hovering his sweaty face a few inches from mine. His quickened breath breezed on my face and I saw the sheer terror in his eyes. The lowlife knew what he deserved and what was coming to him.

"I only pity the innocent. The guilty had a choice," I grumbled, letting my disgust fuel the holy fires of my sword. The angel's eyes went wide and he shrieked a terrifying scream, right before I cut his head clean off with my sword.

His headless body slumped against the grand golden gate that I guarded, and slowly sagged into the clouds below it. Both the head and the carcass gradually began to disintegrate into shimmering light, and a pale orange hue seeped out of the remains. I still held the head in my hand and slowly turned it around, watching how its extremities gradually broke down into an illuminated mist. That same pale, orange misty hue seeped out of it and swirled towards the headless body, reuniting with the rest of it.

I stowed my sword on my belt and let the fingers from my free hand sift through the orange mist that was his soul, feeling it trickle along my fingers. 'In his next cycle he must do better,' I dearly hoped, watching his soul swirl before it would dissolve in preparation for rebirth.

For a long moment I stood there, feeling that fragile soul trickle through my fingers and contemplated whether I should just remove it from the eternal cycle all together - after all, this worthless angel had shown he could not resist temptation and did not deserve his Holy task. He had not been corrupted (yet), but he was definitely tainted after he had succumbed to sin - there was a chance his next cycle of rebirth could lead to a similar path of immorality.

The ears, lips, chin and hair of the head had now completely dissolved into the glowing mist that fell down towards the cloud I stood on and seamlessly integrated with it. Within moments the hair, and thus my grip on the head, had disintegrated too and what was left of the angel's head fell down upon the clouds with a soft thump. I cast a quick glance at the body that had also mostly dissolved into the clouds and peered down at the angel's orange soul as it swirled above the remainder of its corpse.

I felt pride well up at fulfilling my role as Gatekeeper so diligently - how I kept heaven free from sin by removing the rotten ones. My smile withered and I closed my eyes immediately, taking a deep breath to correct myself, 'I must not feel pride. I must not give into the temptation of sin.' With an angry huff I opened my eyes to stare at the almost disintegrated remains. I am not Alexis. I can withstand temptation with a nobility only equalled by God.

The mere memory of Alexis fuelled my anger like no other, however, for I had allowed him to fall. I had allowed him to get away with his horrific sinful behavior. My hand traveled towards my sword and unlatched it from my belt, its celestial flames instantly powered by my fury.

I would not make that mistake again.

With a venomous roar I stabbed my sword in the middle of the swirling orange particles that were the sinner's soul and let the sword's holy flames blaze brightly. Where the soul had been gently swirling moments prior, almost ready to pass on into the eternal cycle, it was now fizzling furiously and within moments it silently exploded into nothingness. I was panting from all the anger and disdain that coursed through my body, and my sword was crackling loudly and intensely, dispersing the clouds around me.

I would not make the same mistake I made with Alexis.

A content sigh coming from behind me distracted me from my anger and my eyes landed on a female angel with exceptionally fluffy wings who was taking in the scene with a satisfied look on her face. She tore her eyes away from the disintegrated corpse and her eyes sparkled when they located mine. She opened her mouth to blurt something, but closed it again, evading my glance. The anger coursing through my body turned into tired annoyance. At least she remembered I disliked her tendency to ramble.

"I knew it. I knew it!" she gloated, utterly delighted. The superiority in her stance and tone was hard to miss. Letting out a deep sigh and suppressing the strong desire to roll my eyes, I let the flames of my sword fade and reattached it to my belt.

"Isabel. You sent this angel to me?" I asked her tersely, though I knew her answer already.

"Oh yes, Sir! Oh, I most definitely did! I had my eyes on him for a while now, and when he met up with that human woman, I knew he would sin with her, I knew it! Just like I saw Alexis do and..."

Her happy chirping was instantly silenced by my deathly stare.

"I'm sorry, Sir..." she mumbled, remembering I did NOT want to hear that traitor's name ever again! His mere survival remained a blight on all things pure and sacred, on all angels - on me.

Isabel seemed to whither under my furious gaze, but then I corrected myself and softened my stance. After all, if not for her useful talent to spot sinning angels, I would have not known about Alexis's trespassing in the first place.

I sighed. I should have seen it myself at the time - I failed the Holy Lord tremendously by not noticing that Alexis had sinned. My annoyed glance shifted to the short, poofy angel who thankfully still remained silent. Maybe she had been sent by our Lord to guide me and prevent me from making mistakes? I suppressed a scoff - no, not even our Holy Lord would be so cruel as to force her obnoxiousness upon me.

The object of my irritation shifted uncomfortably on her feet, making her poofy, golden wings ruffle in the sunshine. "Samuel, Sir, I am aware you do not wish to hear of...well...you know," she mumbled, skittishly evading my stare, "but I do have news of him you would be very interested in. If I may, Sir..."

Merely thinking of that traitor Alexis made my anger flare up and I noticed how Isabel again shriveled at my stare. I sighed deeply, consciously calming myself and remembered not to shoot the messenger.

"Speak," I instructed her.

By now I had grown accustomed to seeing that abhorrent smug look in her eyes whenever she discovered sinful information about our fellow angels, but that look was nowhere to be seen. If anything, she almost tried to hide behind her poofy wings before delivering the news she had uncovered.

This did not bode well.

Isabel weakly cleared her throat. "Well, Sir, it has come to my attention that uhm... that Alexis may be working with demons to entice angels to sin on a grand scale... He has been seen working together with a strange demon to achieve this. This... uhm... this demon is unlike any we've seen before, Sir. He does not fit into any of the known types, so I'm still trying to find out more information about him, and any accomplices........."

My mind did not register the rest of her sentence - it could not...

I winced my eyes shut to prevent succumbing to the tidal wave of feelings that flooded me upon hearing this news. Seething rage and disbelief surged through me. However, it was the deep shame that wrecked me - instead of atoning for his sins, and having learned a valuable lesson from his dismemberment, Alexis chose to sin even further.

It was my fault for letting him live, therefore it was my fault for this messy consequence.

Slowly I opened my eyes to gaze at a trembling Isabel.

I would make damn sure that I was the one to fix this mess.

"Isabel!" I barked at the poofy angel, unable and uncaring to simmer the rage that laced my voice. "Find out all you can. If taking his wings was not enough, I will take his SOUL!"