Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 31

Hayden and I stood still as they dispersed themselves around the grand hall of the church, never taking their eyes off us.

“You wished to meet with us?” someone questioned.

It was a man standing by the altar. He was extremely beautiful, as were all the others but you could sense that he was the one in charge here. He had on black pants and a white shirt. Tattoos were going down his arms in symbols that I did not recognize. Looking around, I noticed that every single one of them had the same tattoos.

“Yes. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice. This is Aria Silverton; she is the Angelis Mortis.” said Hayden.

Every eye in the room was fastened to me and the blonde leader stepped down from the altar and came to stand before us.

“I know. We all knew as soon as she stepped foot into our father’s house,” he said.

“How did you know?” I asked incredulously.

The blonde angel before us looked directly at me and I sucked in my breath. His eyes were the color of milky ice. It was unnerving.

“We all know because even though your origins are not of ours, you are still one of us in a sense. You are the Angel of Death. Now, what is it that you need our help with Angelis Mortis?”

Hayden was silent next to me, and I could tell that he didn’t feel comfortable at all; like he was an outsider.

“We need your help because I am being hunted and have not got control of my powers yet,” I said, trembling slightly.

“How can you not have control of your powers, yet you stand before me as the Angelis Mortis. Surely when you turned twenty-one your control should have been solidified on the day of your awakening?” the leader stated.

“She is eighteen. She has not awakened, yet she has been able to use the Angel Fire on a few occasions as well as the element of water once…” It was Hayden that answered.

He never looked up as he said the words and the blonde angel looked back and forth between the two of us. After a while, he stepped back and crossed his tattooed arms.

“You are soul mates. You are awakening prematurely and slowly…” Hayden and I both nodded slightly embarrassed because it was so easy to tell what we were to each other. The rest of the angelic men started to speak in hushed tones as the realization of our true situation came to light.

“Who is the one that is attempting to kill you?” the angel’s leader asked sternly.

I looked at Hayden. I did not think it was my place to tell The Hosts that the person hunting me was his brother. Hayden took a breath and looked the angel in the eyes and a cold look formed on his face.

“My brother, Hunter Levi, is the one after Aria.”

The angel’s face was one of shock, yet he quickly concealed it.

“Alright… How did this all start?” he asked.

Hayden and I explained the situation as best we could. It was all very confusing, and my head was starting to hurt as I tried to make sense of it all myself. The angels were gathered closer now and their leader was deep in thought and did not say a word the entire time.

“By the sounds of it, your brother is working an alliance with an underworld deity,” he said, speaking directly to Hayden.

“You mean the devil?” I asked, interrupting him.

The leader looked at me, and I felt my face flush. “We cannot know for sure because there is so many a pantheon which does mean many underworld deities. It could be Lucifer, or it could be somebody else. We just cannot know for sure.” A chill ran down my spine.

The thought of Hunter working for someone like the devil was scary. Hayden was now explaining what had happened today and that Hunter had cursed me. The angel looked pissed off to no end and turned to the group of angels surrounding us.

“Damien, I need you to go with Aria and protect her. This seems to be significantly bigger than we ever could have imagined.”

A black-haired man who looked to be about twenty-five years old stepped forward. He had golden, unearthly eyes. They were stunning, to say the least, and nothing like the leaders that scared me.

“Yes, Michael,” Damien said. He bowed and then moved to stand next to me.

“Michael...? You’re the Archangel Michael?” I blabbered out aloud.

I did not know a lot about Christianity, but I would have had to live in a hole to not know about the Archangel Michael. He was such a badass; all Archangels are. Michael looked at me and nodded; a smile forming on his lips.

“Wow…” I could not stop staring at him and had a newfound respect for him. It was like meeting a celebrity… sort of.

“Damien’s presence won’t be needed.” It was Hayden and he was watching Damien out of the corner of his eye, standing beside me. Michael’s eyes flashed in annoyance as he faced Hayden.

“You came here seeking help, so Damien will go wherever Aria goes. End of story. The rest of us will try to replace out what we can and be in touch.” With that, they were gone, and Hayden was clenching his jaw. He didn’t want Damien with us.

“Well, at least we got some help. Maybe this will be sorted out quicker than we think…” I said, but Hayden was already walking towards the wooden doors and my anger returned.

“Ass…” I muttered and Damien laughed. I had forgotten he was standing there.

“Some soul mates’ you guys are.” He said cheerfully.

“Yeah, don’t get me started. Let’s go before captain grumpy over there leaves us; I don’t know the way back to the warehouse…”

Damien held the door open for me as we exited the church and the cold night air made me shiver. Damien, seeing me shiver, touched my arm and gold light entered my body. I started to warm up and turned to Damien in shock.

“What was that?” I asked in bewilderment.

“Just a little something from angel to angel…” He was smiling when Hayden started the car and called for us to hurry. Jesse was riding down the street as we descended the steps together. Damien climbed into the passenger seat as there were no back seats.

“Where am I supposed to sit?” I asked nervously.

“Where do you think?” Hayden sounded more annoyed than I had ever seen before. I was kind of nervous about the fact that I would have to sit on Damien’s lap, but after being told to hurry up after the millionth time, I got in.

Turning to Hayden, I could not help but confront him about his sudden behavior.

“What the fuck is your problem? You should be happy Damien is here to help.”

“It’s not Damien I’m upset about…” he snapped. Hayden put the car in gear and sped us away. The drive back to the warehouse was quick and uncomfortably quiet; and I was thankful to get out of the car and away from the brooding Hayden as quick as I could, as well as off Damien’s lap.

Jumping out of the car, I stomped my way to the warehouse entrance and pushed on through. Jesse was waiting and I ignored her. I just wanted to be alone.

“Aria…” she called after me. Giving her my glare of death, I started up the spiral staircase as Hayden and Damien entered. They all watched me go and it only made me want to get to my room faster.

What had Hayden meant by saying that it was not Damien he was upset about? It made no sense, and my head was pounding from the stress of everything. Pushing the bedroom door open, I flung myself onto the bed in a not-so-graceful manner, but I did not care.

Whilst blowing the hair from my face, there was a knock on the door.

“Go away!” Couldn’t anyone just leave me alone for just one night? Rolling over to my side, I almost jumped out of my skin. Damien was standing in my room.