Angels and Misfits

Chapter 3

5 months later

Alex

Watching her like always. She does the same thing daily. She feeds the animals, tends to the small garden she has, and then bathes in the river. She doesn’t speak to people, and somehow manages not to need to go to town for anything. It’s possible no one even knows she is out here.

Went through a rough winter, but survived. She had a bout of fever, but he reluctantly healed her. Such a powerful being shouldn’t succumb to an early grave for something so mundane as an illness.

No, not Nora.

She took a while, but eventually learned how to catch fish, even build a fire inside the house. She bathed regularly in the river, and managed to not have that strong manure stench anymore. Now, she was herself.

Natural.

Like a lily of the valley. 

Alex would know. They are his mother’s favorite flower. His father planted them in her garden back home—along with all of her other flowers—but the lily of the valley was her favorite. 

As of recently, he didn’t realize how much that smell reminded him of the happiness between his mother and father.

His father was a high-ranking member of the legion of angels. High enough, he was named in the holy book some of the humans read and use to worship on Sundays. Right before they tended to their selfish desires and took innocent women and burned iron into their flesh just to watch them suffer.

His mother, Laila, tended to her garden regularly. She was mostly quiet, keeping to herself, but she was outspoken when it came to family. Alex, his father, and his brother, Gabe. For the three of them, she could be…strong-willed.

She always meant well, though.

Nora finished tending to the horses and checking her fish traps. If she followed the same routine, she would chop wood with the ax left behind by the previous owner, and then head to the river to bathe.

Once she was immersed in the water, he would check her provisions inside the house. It was a routine of his own. Check to make sure she had things she needed, see what she would be close to running out of, and if she would attempt the nearby town to purchase whatever she needed.

It was a three-day ride for her, and she always waited until the last possible minute to make the trip.

No other creatures had made their way nearby, so she was safe from being hunted by other beings. Those creatures created under the goddess were just as beastly as the demons. He hadn’t yet met one that was worth protecting or letting live.

Hence, how easy it was to end that vampire’s life on the road that would just as easily eat Nora and leave her to die alone. Then the one that wanted her for himself.

If he could burn that one’s body more than once, he would have burned it every day.

It wasn’t even comforting to believe the thing was burning in Hades. Enduring an eternity of torment.

No, he’d prefer to just do it himself.

She wasn’t chopping wood today. While he was caught up in his thoughts, she sat herself down on a rock. Her hands held her up while she leaned back far enough.

She was too far for him to hear, so he moved in close enough to listen but not capture her attention. He knew exactly how far her listening range was. How close he could be to her without going noticed.

He knew every little thing about Nora’s daily life; enough to know he could stand merely ten feet away behind a large tree and listen in to another one of her one-sided conversations with her dead mother.

“I’ve never felt so alone,” she breathed out. “You used to tell me that I’m never alone. God is always with me. Well, here I am, and have nothing. No one. I needed you. I needed you here.” She was quiet, he wondered if she was getting in the water, but she remained still once he peered around the tree. 

“I don’t know what I wanted after you died. We both knew it was happening, but I’m not ready to do this alone, mother. Why couldn’t you have met a different man? I’ve had dreams now.” She picked up a small stone on the rock and tossed it into the river. “The same one I told you about before. The one that I thought would kill me after I buried you. Like he’s watching me. His eyes are always on me.”

She was dreaming about him?

She still remembered him? Of course, she did, he was one of the few people she had spoken with in the past several months.

“I didn’t see much of him, but those eyes…he was beautiful. If he was a nice person, I know you’d try to make him bread or something. Try to befriend him. Like that one boy. Luke, I think? The one you thought wanted to marry me?” She sighed and shook her head. “Just another man who wanted to hurt me. Test me. I never told you he touched me, though. When no one was looking.” He watched her shoulders tense. “He told me if I ever said he touched me, he would kill you and make me watch, then he would kill me.”

Luke was going to Hell. Alex would make sure of that. 

“This is what I wanted. To be alone. If you want to be alone, are you allowed to feel lonely? Maybe if I just miss you?” He heard the sniffles and watched her finger swipe across her cheek. “I don’t want to be alone. I just wish someone was here with me.”

Alex turned and leaned back into the tree. This got too personal. It was one thing to watch her every move, but it was wholly different to listen in on her feelings—

“I can feel the powers coming back. Whatever that witchy woman did has worn off. She said it wouldn’t last long. There are no witches around like her. Only the evil kinds. The ones that worship the devil. I’m handling them, and I can feel my strength coming back. I know you hated the idea of using the witch to help, but it worked.” A weak groan escaped her lips. “What kind of man did you marry that this happened?”

He listened in on her, his hands began to shake. She was feeling her powers…coming back? When did they see a witch?

What did her full strength look like?

Months of watching her live life like a normal human, and now he was going to see what it looked like.

No one told him she saw a witch. His father came to him one day. Told him where to find her, to wait for her mother to pass, and then end her life. He watched her for a few weeks before that night in the rain.

In all this time, she was without her power?

She actually could have died when she got sick. She could have actually died plenty of times.

She wasn’t even feeding herself regularly on the long voyage to this place.

“I guess it’s pointless asking that now. You’re gone. Maybe you’ve found him, maybe not. I just hope you found peace in death.”

He turned the corner of the tree again to check on her, and caught her standing up to remove her dress. 

All the scars, the burns, the blemishes in her otherwise perfect skin. Alex couldn’t differentiate if it was her vulnerability that angered him or the fact that she let herself be weakened for men to do such things to her.

Had she fought back, what would it have looked like?

Even if she killed them for what they did to her, she would be justified. 

Her long, lilac hair ran down her back in waves, as she dropped her garments to the side and stepped into the water.

He knew he should look away. He always tried…but he needed to make sure she…didn’t drown. Or slip and fall.

Now would be the time to head inside while she was distracted and check her provisions. Make sure she was getting close to needing to ride to the little town that wasn’t so close by.

One last glance at her head emerging from the water, and he turned away before she turned around completely.

He didn’t need to see those silver eyes after she had been crying. 

He started toward the house, and noticed a familiar figure in the distance. He looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, Nora wasn’t paying attention. His wings expanded, and lifted him from his place over to the figure.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

His father, Michael, frowned. “You were supposed to take care of this, Alexandriel.” His eyes moved to the girl in the water. “The Nephilim is still alive, and you’re watching her like a predator. Yet, you’ve made no moves to end her life in months.”

Alex swallowed. “She’s done nothing wrong, father.”

“You don’t make those decisions,” Michael snapped. “You don’t make any decisions. You take orders, and you follow them.”

“I also made a promise to never harm an innocent.” He stuck a finger in Nora’s direction. “That girl is an innocent!” he growled. “She’s done nothing wrong her entire life. If anything, she belongs with our kind. We can help her—”

“To what? Cause another rebellion in Heaven?” his father scoffed. “You’re too close to this one. She’s gotten into your head. She’ll bring Lucifer back—”

“You know as well as I do Lucifer isn’t her father. She looks nothing like him.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed toward Nora. “If Lucifer isn’t her father, who is?”

Alex threw his hands up. “No one knows! Her own mother didn’t even know. He married her and then left. False name and all.”

“I still don’t understand why you’ve watched the girl for months without either approaching her or killing her. Instead, you’ve watched her like you—” he stopped and his face turned visibly red. “You’re done, Alexandriel.”

“What? No!”

“She is an abomination! You’re too close to the girl.” He shook his head. “It would be a terrible thing for you to develop any feelings toward the girl. She cannot fall in love, and I will not stand by while you fall prey to her devilry.”

Alex tightened his fists at his sides. “She’s not evil, she’s innocent. We can help her. I can help—”

“You can help no one. You need to go home. Take some time. I’ll deal with the girl myself.”

“But—”

“Go!”

It was one thing not to follow orders, but to outright defy his father, a commander among the angels, was the first step to losing his wings and being cast out to live on Earth.

He took one last glance at Nora, and prayed it wasn’t the last time he saw her.

That maybe his father would see what he saw.

That she may be worthy of life. She was worthy of a full life.

If her powers were coming back, he didn’t know who would survive between them. But Nora wasn’t capable of a fight. That was an absolute for Alex. 

So, it was more likely his father would come out of that battle.

Note: I'm so happy to use my Angels playlist now. I was loving my Jack and Anya music, but this music is life for me... just know, after this, things will move a little quickly.