Read Online In the End by Alexandra Rowland - Free Book Online Page B

wind. Lalael took two quick steps onto the wall and flung himself into the air; his wings beat just once and then he remembered and knew what Lucien had been about to say. Crippling pain shot through his back, and his injured wing crumpled. And then everything went strange.
    Falling, the angel mused, in the distant way as when one is about to fall asleep, really wasn't that much different from flying – except for the ground, and the part where it was getting closer in seconds that stretched slowly into eternity. Everything was slowing down. It wouldn't even hurt when he landed, would it? No, he'd touch down, soft as a feather. And why weren't his wings working, again? Oh, right, pain. Not good. Pain like white fire in his right wing, but that was okay. He'd be fine. He'd touch down like a feather, get up, and brush himself off and go back upstairs.
    Oh, Lucien would be angry and worried, and wasn't that just weird? That a manifestation of evil should be worried about someone like him. But Lucien wasn't really evil, he was just a Fallen – an angel who'd made a few crucial mistakes at the wrong time, like Lalael had done just now, not to mention all the other times. Lalael could have been a Fallen, what with all the mistakes he had made, but he wasn't, was he? He supposed they mustn't have been crucial enough.
    But all those years in the Forsaken Lands must have affected Lucien in some way, right? Could anyone spend thousands of years in eternal torment without some sort of side effects? Was anyone that strong spirited? Lucien didn't seem like it. And how long had he been falling now? It felt like hours; Lalael wondered what would happen when he hit the ground.
    Suddenly there was a tightness like wide metal bands around his chest, and with a yank that knocked the breath out of him, the ground began to fall away in big swoops, accompanied by the thunderous sound of beating wings and a strained whimper in his ear.  The swoops slowed and his vision steadied, but then, with a final hiss and groan of exhausted pain, Lucien lit upon a roof. Fortunately, the apartment had smaller office buildings to one side, and it was upon one of them that they had landed. Lucien let go, and the two of them crumpled and staggered. Lalael caught himself on a nearby wall as Lucien fell over with a whimper of pain. 
    He lay on his back and tucked his wings away, panting laboriously. “Dammit, Lalael,” he gasped between breaths, “What'd you do that for?”
    “ Didn't want to talk to you.” Lalael wheezed. A piercing headache had suddenly taken residence in his temples, and his ribs ached. “Forgot about wing.”
    “ Next time –” Pant, wheeze. “Don't jump off a building.”
    “ Good idea,” Lalael agreed, gasping. “No need for drama.”
    To their mutual surprise, Lucien began to laugh, great shuddering cackles that left him limp and grinning.
    Lalael slid down the wall and stared. “You only look like a demon when you laugh,” he noted; Lucien laughed harder. Lalael felt himself begin to smile too, just a tugging on the corners of his mouth. Lucien rolled onto his stomach and slapped Lalael's ankle.
    “ What was that for?” he demanded.
    “ For making me fly until my wings went to jelly. We could have died!” Lucien said as he shoved himself off the ground and stood, trembling with leftover adrenaline. Lucien seized his wrist and heaved the angel up; Lalael grinned at the Fallen and giggled as he almost fell over again. They hadn't died, though, and so... it was exciting. Exhilarating. Lalael couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so alive.
    Then his head cracked on the concrete wall. “And that,” Lucien said, letting go of Lalael's hair, “was for being a bastard the last few days. I think you owe me and Antichrist, poor kitty, an apology.”
    “ I'm sorry! Danama !” Lalael pressed a hand against his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
    “ Apology accepted,” said Lucien, and smiled. “...I didn't thump you too