The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) Read Free

logic might have returned,
if the door hadn’t creaked open.
    As the door came to a halt against the wall, a man
in the shadows pointed a knife at her. In the darkness and with her fear,
Sophie thought his face seemed strange, misshapen even, which only added to her
paralysis.
    Standing at the end of the bed, still holding the
knife, the man frowned at her. When Sophie made no attempt to save herself, he
lifted the blade and moved closer. At that moment, with her fate seemingly out
of her hands, Sophie felt free. This sense of freedom was interrupted when a
bullet ripped through the intruder’s head and into the wall just inches from
Sophie.
    Once the man collapsed to the ground, a woman stepped
into the room and moved towards him. Lopping off his head, the woman then gazed
at Sophie in the same way the first intruder had – as if shocked by her
passivity. Before the women could speak, they heard a noise from the kitchen. Sophie’s
savior turned in a smooth motion and disappeared into the dark apartment where
a struggle ensued.
    As a battle raged in the living room, Sophie fell
out of bed and crawled past the headless man to the bathroom where she locked
the door. With her only escape route perched too high, she climbed into the
bathtub, closed the shower curtain, and pulled her knees to her chest.
    Shutting her eyes, Sophie tried to calm her nerves.
Outside the bathroom, objects crashed to the ground and bodies bashed into
walls. Then as quickly as the commotion erupted, the apartment fell silent.
    Sophie considered taking a peek to see how the
battle ended. She even thought to make a run for help. Instead of doing
anything useful, she cowered and hoped for the situation to fix itself. This
plan worked until the door crashed open.
    Sophie cried out then shielded her eyes from the
brightness as the bathroom light switched on. Just outside the shower curtain,
a figure approached and Sophie could do no more than listen to her pounding heart.
    Pushing back the curtain, her savior stared at her
while holding a gun in one hand and a bloody sword in the other.
    “You’re hiding? Really?” the woman asked. “We
don’t have time for this. You need to grab your essentials, so we can go.”
    “Go where?” Sophie asked, not budging.
    “Not sure. East, I think,” the woman said,
glancing out of the bathroom door with a grumpy expression. “All I know is we
need to bolt before more of those villains show up.”
    “Villains?”
    “Yeah, that’s what we call the bad guys. Classy,
huh?” the woman said, eyeing her reflection. Wiping a smudge of blood from her
cheek, she turned back to a frozen Sophie. “Oh, you don’t know the score, huh?
Well I’ll tell you in the car, but for now we’ve gotta hustle, Sophie.”
    “How do you know my name?”
    “God told me,” the woman said, slipping the gun
into a holster. “Yeah, no more playing around. You need to get up now.”
    Grabbing Sophie around the bicep, the woman yanked
her into the bedroom.
    “Get dressed and pack whatever is super important.
We’re leaving in three minutes. Now, get to it.”
    Sophie only stood where the woman left her, not
moving, not getting to anything.
    “Are you mental?” the woman asked. “When these
villains work in packs, it’s bad news. And four of them just showed up to kill
you. Who knows how many more are on their way?”
    “Who are you?” Sophie asked, slowly pulling on a
pair of jeans. “Why is this happening?”
    “My name is Lila and you and I are the same
although you clearly don’t know what that means. I’d loved to explain it right
now, but like I said, we’re going to have company soon.”
    When Sophie made no attempt to pack, Lila sighed.
    “Fine, you want some details, I’ll give you some
details,” Lila said, wiping the blood from her sword on Sophie’s bedspread. “An
hour ago, I got a vision about you helping me find a rogue hunter named
Joaquin. It seems these villains snagged that transmission and decided