Earth Angel (Angels and Seers: Book One) Read online

Chapter 2

  The hand reaches higher, looking for purchase so the owner can pull himself up. Sam. This super strong member of the Earth angel royalty who probably just got done fighting the universe’s greatest villain in the sky high above us. The one I’m supposed to partner up with to save everyone, quite possibly everyone in every universe. For just a moment, it’s all too much to take in. I almost turn and walk away.

  Something deep inside stops me, though. This is important. I can’t let the universe fall to a madman if there’s something I can do to stop it. Working with the angels is part of my role as a seer, though this is certainly one of those “above and beyond” assignments.

  Remember, I silently remind myself. Harry gave his blessing, and the archangels chose you personally for this. You’ve got to stay and see it through, not only for their sake, but for everyone else who calls this planet home….humans, angels, animals, everyone.

  So, I stay and watch, waiting to see if Sam needs any help out of that hole, not knowing what to say. It quickly becomes obvious he does require assistance. His arm continues to rise, but does so slowly. He is stunned, and probably injured.

  As more of his arm reveals itself over the crater’s edge, I marvel at the elegance of it. I can’t help it. It’s truly a thing of beauty. Long and well-muscled, this is the arm of someone who is used to hard physical labor. The sculpted triceps alone would make most women go weak-kneed. Good thing I’m not most women. I can appreciate the attractiveness of the arm without wanting to run my hand along it, feeling the hard angles. The only arm I want to touch is Harry’s, which was so different, with its lean, flexible muscles. His arms weren’t large and hard at all, but they were strong, and without an inch of fat on them. I miss them.

  As an Earth angel, Sam will no doubt be wearing the standard garb of his caste, which consists of a beige tunic, loose dark green pants tied at the waist with a light yellow rope, and beige sandals that appear to be made out of straw. The adults wear these odd teardrop-shaped blue stone pendants, too. I’ve never seen one on a child angel, but every adult angel of every caste has a pendant of some kind, except the guardians. Different castes wear different colors, but they’re all shaped the same. There’s no lore in our family on why they wear them, but they must be important.

  He likely won’t be wearing a halo. Most angels only wear them for ceremonial occasions. The Messenger Angels, who wear them all the time. Again, this is a mystery, but I’ve always thought their caste must be required to wear special uniforms, to easily distinguish them from other angels, even at a distance.

  As the wide sleeve of the tunic drops back to his shoulder as he raises his arm, I see I’m right about his attire. Classic Earth Angel. However, once the whole arm is visible above the crater’s edge, I notice the bunched up fabric is splattered with blood. I lean in to get a better look and see blood dripping from the ends of some of his gleaming white feathers, too. He is hurt. But, unlike other angels who fought Jonathan in the past, he is alive. That’s a start.

  Jonathan must have knocked Sam out of the sky with a lot of force during their fight, causing him to fall to the ground hard enough to make the crater in which he now kneels. The fact that he’s only bloody is not so unusual, as angels don’t injure easily. Some cuts and bruises from a fall that would have obliterated the physical parts of a human are only minor annoyances on Sam and his kind. The fact that he was injured at all speaks to the violence of his confrontation with Jonathan, as well as Jonathan’s power.

  OK, decision time. Sam is too injured to pull himself out of the crater or he would already be out of it. Two options present themselves to me. Option One, I walk away, pretend I never saw anything, and let this war play out as it will, without my involvement. Option Two, I help Sam out of the crater and become part of the cosmic battle that’s just arrived at my door.

  Let’s be realistic. There really isn’t an option.

  I can’t let the Earth, and possibly the universe, go undefended now I know what it’s facing, especially since I’ve been specifically told I’m one of only two beings in this universe who can do something about it.

  I also can’t ignore the painful moaning coming from the crater. I’ve never once walked away from any living creature that needed help. That’s just not me. I’ll hate myself if I ignore him now. Harry, my brothers, my grandparents, and pretty much anyone who knows me would happily point to the constant stream of stray animals parading in and out of my life since childhood, as I nursed them back to health and adopted them into good homes, as testament to my intolerance of suffering.

  I don’t see her, but I can feel Kira smiling. She knows what I’m going to do. Irritating little thorn in my side. She knows me at least as well as I know myself. Sometimes I think she may know me more even better than I do.

  Pretending I don’t know she’s gloating, I walk up to the edge of the crater and look inside. Sure enough, it is full of tall, muscular, bloodied, dirty angel. Actually, take away the blood and dirt tossed on him when he hit the ground, and Sam is a good looking angel. One of the most attractive I’ve seen, truthfully, which is actually saying something, since all angels are generally beautiful. In addition to muscles so sculpted you can see them through the fabric of his tunic, Sam has fair, perfectly smooth skin and floppy blond hair that is parted on the side, just reaching his ears in the front and short and shaggy in the back. It’s falling a little bit into his right eye at the moment in battle-formed disarray. His nose is long and straight, and his lips are bright red and full in a sensual kind of way. His eyes are perfectly almond-shaped, evenly spaced, and full of that distinctive angel blue that’s so bright it can almost be used as a flashlight in the dark. He reminds me of one of those statues of the Greek gods you see in museums, only alive and moving.

  I lean over the edge of the crater a bit, looking more closely at his face. He has some bruises on his angular cheeks that are already starting to heal. His left wing is carefully folded and tucked under his shoulder blade, out of sight where angels keep them when not in use. His right wing, though, is fully deployed, and he is gripping it tightly with is left hand, doing what he can to stave off the pain. The injury is on the wing; my examination lets me see his tunic is torn at the top and what looks like a piece of bone is sticking out of it. This is the source of the blood dripping down his feathers. A broken wing bone. Ouch! That’s a pretty serious injury for an angel. It can disable them for a while, whereas most other injuries heal as quickly as they’re incurred. The bruises on his face I just noticed are already completely gone.

  He is biting his bottom lip hard, eyes looking upward, trying hard to not make a sound, but failing miserably. His moans may be quiet ones, but I can still hear them. Geez, he is a tough one. He’s got to be in absolute agony with that broken bone! His determination to be silent, along with his pure stoicism, is impressive.

  Brave face or not, he needs help out of that crater. Being the only one for miles who I know for sure can see him, that help will have to come from me. I guess this is going to be my introduction to my partner in saving the planet.

  “Hello?” I call, leaning as far over the edge as I can without falling in. “Are you Sam?”

  He turns his head slightly to look up at me. “I am. You are a seer.” It is a statement, not a question, as no other sort of human would be able to see him to know to speak to him.

  His voice is a rich, melodic tenor, not too high and not too low. It is also incredibly strained as he tries to speak normally, not wanting to give away just how much pain he’s in. “How did you know my name?”

  “Kira, my guardian angel, told me you were coming.” I keep my voice gentle and soft, knowing my tone will have a soothing effect on the pain. If I keep it light, almost like a caress, the pain won’t seem as bad, something I learned in the Peace Corps. “Let me help you out of there.”

  “How did your guardian know I was coming?” He pulls on his broken wing, bringing it closer to him and moves slightly away, looking at
me from under heavily lidded eyes.

  He’s suspicious. I can’t blame him. There’s a war beginning, and Aaron and Kira said he didn’t know anything about me. I have to get him to trust me. Oh, it just keeps getting better.

  I tell him the whole story, quickly, since I think this Jonathan won’t wait too long before he comes looking for Sam. Crazy, power-hungry types don’t like to be seen as weak by letting a challenger get away, and we are very much exposed out in the open in the cemetery.

  I end the tale with what I hope is a trust-inspiring statement. “Kira and Aaron said you weren’t informed of any of this, so I don’t blame you for being wary. But really, I’m here to help you.”

  He looks at me intently, blue eyes boring holes into my very soul, trying to determine if I’m telling the truth. If he could touch me, he’d be able to tell in an instant. One of the powers that come with being an angel. As it is, he has to use other, less direct forms of deduction.

  “Your fiancé was killed to make room us to work together.” His voice is still strained, as if every word is an effort. It probably is. That wing has to be (metaphorically) killing him. “You must hate me.”

  “I’m not happy about it,” I admit. “But I don’t hate you. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “And you’re willing to help me, knowing what you know?”

  “Yes. If we’re all that stands between the Earth and slavery under this Jonathan and his army, I’ve got to do what’s necessary to protect my world and my loved ones. You must do the same thing. You’re already doing it. Why else fight an angel who has killed every known challenger to date?”

  “Yes, I must protect the Earth as I’m sworn to do, and keep my family and kingdom safe at the same time. And you’re right about Jonathan. He’ll be coming after me soon, and probably bringing his trusted advisors with him. He can’t let it be known he let an opponent get away. If you help me, you’ll be on his radar. You’ll be putting yourself in danger.”

  “I think I already am, just standing here talking to you. Besides, if the archangels know about me, it probably means the ones in Jonathan’s army know, too. I may be on their radar already. Once I start doing something that shows them I know my role in this, they’ll come after me. We may as well be together when that happens. Kira says we have to work together to have a chance. Neither of us can do this on our own. We’re a team whether we like it or not. Now, will you let me help you out of that hole?”

  I really want to get him out of the hole and away from here before Jonathan shows up, and people start coming back into the cemetery. Anyone who sees me will think I’m interacting with a ghost. It will either freak them out or make them think I’m crazy. I don’t need that kind of hassle. I’ve got to hurry him along in this trust exercise.

  “You can ask Kira if you want,” I offer, as he gazes at me skeptically. “She’s right here.”

  “I can’t see her,” Sam says, gritting his teeth even more. The pain must be increasing the longer he lets the break go untreated. The bone needs to be set and his whole arm put in a sling. “Guardians exist at a higher vibrational level than us. Only archangels and seers can see and talk to them.”

  “Kira, you never told me that,” I whisper accusingly.

  “It never came up,” she replies, sheepishly.

  “Vibrational level?” I ask Sam. I think I know what he’s talking about, from my high school physics classes, but I’m not 100 percent sure.

  “All matter vibrates. The higher the vibration, the more transparent the object or person. Seers are gifted with being able to see anything at any vibrational level. There may be some other creatures out there who can do it, too. I’m not sure. But it’s a rare ability. No one ever told you?”

  “I don’t have a big circle of angel friends. They go about their business and we go about ours. We only interact rarely. The only angels we talk to regularly are our guardians. The subject of vibrations has never been mentioned. And the only other seers I know are my own family.” I wonder if my grandmother knows about vibrational levels. She is, after all, the current keeper of the angel lore book in our family. I’ll have to ask her. Later.

  He practically squints at me, then suddenly lets his facial muscles relax, relief flooding his features. He leans his head back against the crater wall. “OK, then. I officially recognize you as an ally. You can help me.”

  “Excellent. And I officially recognize you as well. Now, can you give me your hand on your good arm?”

  If he can stand, it shouldn’t be too hard to pull him out of there if he uses his feet as leverage.

  “Yes, I think so.” Gingerly, he removes his hand from his injured wing, wincing mightily as he does so. He holds his hand up to me and I grab it with both of mine. Unlike the tiny guardians, most angels are the size of humans, or even taller. Archangels are giants; I’ve only ever seen one, but their lore is well known within my family. Most are the size of three to four normal-sized human males. Any one of them could have just stepped out of this crater.

  That actually would have been a lot easier. With all that muscle on Sam, he’s going to be heavy. I’ll need all my strength to pull him up.

  “This is probably going to hurt a little,” I warn him. “That broken wing will get jarred a bit when I pull you out of there, and I know that’s going to suck, but you’ve got to be brave. Can you do that for me?”

  “I’m not a child,” he sounds slightly insulted. “I’m the eldest son of King Josiah and Queen Leah of the Earth Angel kingdom, heir to the throne, and battle trained practically since birth. Of course I can do it. Just pull.”

  Oh good. A sign of royal snobbery. Super. I shake my head in silent frustration. I hope it’s just a sign of his frustration at the pain from his injury. This will not be a productive partnership if he treats me as anything other than an equal. He may have royal pride, but I’ve got some of my own. I know as a seer, we are essentially equals, at least on this planet. Higher caste angels may have some right to take on superior airs, but not him. Not an Earth Angel, even if he is royalty. I know my place as well as he knows his.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” I say sarcastically. “Should I call you ‘Your Majesty?’”

  “No. Sam is fine.” He smiles at me then, all royal bluster gone, and for a moment, it’s like the sun is shining ten times brighter. He is even more gorgeous when he smiles. And it’s a genuine one. Good. No pretension here. I was right about the injury frustration. That’s understandable…and a relief.

  “OK, Sam,” I say gently, smiling myself. “My name is Lucy Ariel McDonald. You can call me Lucy. I am going to pull you out of this hole, and together, we will save the planet, and the universe if need be. Sound good to you?”

  “It does, Lucy,” he says, nodding, that bright smile still stuck on his shining face. Man, hearing him say my name sounds like a choir singing! I brush off the bashful, blushing feeling it gives me.

  No crushing on the angel, Lucy! Harry may have given his blessing to this new life plan for us both, but would he feel the same about you flirting with the angel who was sent to replace him? I don’t think so. Angels are attractive, I remind myself firmly. Occupational hazard for a seer. Don’t be distracted by it.

  “On three,” I command, composing myself and hoping he didn’t notice my momentary lapse into teenage ridiculousness.

  He nods his assent.

  “One, two, three!” I pull hard on his hand and he digs his heels into the side of the crater. He comes up standing, balanced against the side of the hole at a high enough level to step easily out of it.

  Suddenly, he is standing beside me, only a few inches taller than my five foot ten frame, sweat dripping down his face from the spike of intense pain the pull sent shooting through his wing. He immediately puts his good hand back over the broken bone, applying soothing pressure. In spite of it all, there is miraculously still a hint of a smile left on his face, even though I know he must be in agony.

  “Thank you,” he says, panting a lit
tle, and stooping over slightly. He doesn’t take his eyes off of me. Instead of suspicion, there is now only gratitude in his gaze.

  “My pleasure. I couldn’t just let you stay in there and suffer. We’ve got a planet to save.”

  “It truly is extraordinary, what you did,” he insists. “Not many seers, or even angels, would do it. Jonathan is dangerous. Few would put themselves at such risk for a stranger.”

  “Would you do it for me, even though we just met, knowing what you know about the archangels’ plan for us?” It’s a weird question, but I actually want to know.

  “Yes,” he replies without hesitation.

  “Then we’re on the same page.” I put my hand on the arm he’s using to cover his broken bone, touching it softly, the fabric of his beige tunic soft like silk under my fingertips. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll take you back to my apartment and patch up that wing. I’ve got basic first aid training, so I know how to set and bind a broken bone, even an angel one. You’re in good hands.”

  “I knew that the moment I put my hand in yours.”

  There is that rush of deep, fluttery feelings again. I know those feelings well. Harry may have been the love of my life, but he was not my first boyfriend. I know what the beginning of a romantic relationship or crush feels like. Damn it! This may be more difficult than I thought, and I’m not talking about winning the war. That, I’m beginning to suspect, is going to be the easy part.