Read Online Rebel Angel: A Sainted Sinners Novel by Vivian Wood - Free Book Online Page B

“I’ve had this crazy life, always running from demons and angels. And yet, compared to you, I’ve barely lived. It’s interesting. Do you mind?”
    “No. It’s not a great story, really. I left Heaven and Hell for nearly identical reasons.”
    “Really?” she asked, leaning a little closer.
    “Well, you already know that I was classified as a Destroyer. I’m not the only one, there are a few, but Lucifer targeted me before the Fall. He talked me up about this utopia he was going to create, how radically it would change us, change our lives.”
    “I imagine that he wasn’t wrong about that.”
    “It’s funny, in a way. Strange, I mean. In Heaven, I was very isolated. Other angels ushered in new life, served Heaven in various ways. The Destroyers, we were outcasts, and not the kind that band together.” He paused, drawing a breath. “I drifted through my time in Heaven, millennia really. I served because that was my purpose. Honor and duty are the cornerstones of angelic training, and I took them very seriously.”
    “So you did your part, because you were told to do it. To cull souls,” she clarified.
    “Well, it also needs to be done. There’s nothing wrong with what Destroyers do, despite the name. It’s a necessary thing, if a little… off-putting.”
    “Kind of like a controlled burn in a forest, to help regrow things, right?”
    Ezra arched his brows. “Yes, that’s exactly right.”
    “I get it.”
    “Well, Lucifer promised me…” he said, then paused to chuckle. “Well, classic tale. He promised me many things, and none of them fulfilled me. I left Heaven because I wanted a change for myself, not because I wanted to torture and maim pathetic Hellbound souls.”
    “You tortured them?” Aurora asked, looking a little squeamish.
    “No, I wouldn’t do it. So Lucifer, being the literal tricky devil he is, Lucifer returned me to my former position.”
    “He made you a Destroyer again?” she asked.
    “Right. I mean, it’s not exactly a talent, per se. My sword was created for the purpose of culling. I aim with the intent to end a soul’s burdens, and poof. Gone.”
    “So you were right back where you started, after that.”
    “Only worse, because not only was I stuck living in Hell and serving Lucifer, but… I was alone again. I had endless time to reflect on the Fall, on the mistakes I made that led me to Hell.”
    “Sounds pretty harsh,” she said.
    “It wasn’t great. I endured,” he said with a shrug. “That’s what I do.”
    “Endure?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And then you left.”
    “It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that I didn’t have to stay.”
    Aurora smiled. “I get that. You live your life a certain way for long enough, it’s hard to change the only thing you know.”
    “The very moment the idea occurred to me, I was lying in my bed. I stood up, got dressed, and left that very moment.”
    “Just like that? No epic battle or anything?” she asked.
    “No. I think Kirael has a good story, but… it took Lucifer a while to even realize I was missing. I like to think that the worn-out souls just started piling up,” he said. “Sorry, that’s macabre.”
    Aurora nodded, staying quiet.
    “Disappointing? Missing all the action you’d hoped for?” Ezra asked.
    “I think your story is just fine. It speaks to your character, in a lot of ways,” she said.
    “It is what it is.”
    “Ain’t that the truth,” she said, leaning back to stare up at the darkening sky.
    “Oh!” she said after a long pause, pointing. “Look!”
    A shimmering flash, almost too quick to see. Ezra moved closer to Aurora as she hurried ahead a hundred yards, looking around. Another flash, another.
    “They’re almost like lightning bugs, but bigger,” she said, tilting her head back to see a few lights winking throughout the clearing.
    “I think those might be wood sprites,” Ezra said.
    Aurora turned to him, eyes wide as dinner plates. “No way . Actual