The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) Read Free

chased the
dazed expression from his face.
    “ Is there such a
place, sir? I thought the Nest was your main headquarters.”
    “ Our main one, yes.
But we have other strongholds in the world. I just have to decide
which one is the most secure at the moment.” His voice became
steely. “The Nest will be rebuilt, stronger than ever. We'll be
back and then...”
    Natalie had been standing
silently while the judge and Chris were speaking. Chris thought that
she was still in shock. Her eyes were wide and unseeing and he
wondered if she was remembering the others who had been lost.
Murdered, he corrected himself. But suddenly, Natalie cut the judge
off in mid-sentence.
    “ We have to go,
judge,” she said, her voice edged with urgency. “We have
to go right now!”
    He looked at her in
surprise. “We are leaving, Natalie. But we need to have a plan.
I have to determine which location is...”
    “ No, you don't
understand. Something is coming for us. It's on its way now.”
    She sounded panicked, a
tone of voice that Chris hadn't heard from her before. Natalie
panicked? What the hell was coming?
    She actually grabbed the
judge's arm and was pulling him up the stairs. Judge Hawkes pulled
his arm away gently and took her shoulders in a firm grip.
    “ Is it Gloriel? Is
she speaking to you?”
    Natalie shook her head.
“Not speaking to me; screaming at me! Get out, get away. She's
terrified for us. Whatever is coming is beyond anything she's ever
felt before.”
    After a long searching
stare, the judge nodded abruptly.
    “ I would be a fool
to ignore the word of an angel.” He looked at Chris. “Let's
move, We have to get away from here before whatever did that,”
and he nodded at the vault, “comes back to finish the job.”
    “ Yes sir,”
Chris replied. He followed the man and Natalie as they almost ran up
the stairs and back on to the main level.
    The three of them dodged
around debris as they raced toward the main entrance. No one spoke;
they saved their breath for running.
    As they burst through the
front door, the group of staff members who had been standing together
and talking turned to look at the judge in surprise.
    “ Everyone, back in
the cars. Right now!” Judge Hawkes called urgently.
    Confused or not, the staff
was disciplined. No one questioned him. Everyone just turned and ran
for the vehicles parked out in the middle of the lawn.
    They piled into the cars
and the driver of the vehicle that the judge, Natalie and Chris had
jumped into turned and breathlessly asked where they were going.
    “ The airport. Move
smartly, now. I'll tell the others.” And the judge pulled out
his phone and called the other two vehicles, telling them their
destination.
    “ Follow us closely,”
he said to them. “We won't speed and attract attention, but we
aren't going to dawdle either.”
    Natalie and Chris watched
the man make the calls, both of them trying to catch their breath.
While the judge called the airport, Chris leaned over and spoke to
Natalie quietly.
    “ Are you okay?”
he asked her, concerned. Her face was the color of milk and her
expression was frighteningly blank.
    She didn't answer for a
long moment, and then her eyes slowly tracked back to Chris' face and
she took a shuddering breath. She shook her head.
    “ No, I don't think
so.” She sat back slowly in her seat and closed her eyes,
pressing her fingertips against her eyelids. “I have never
heard Gloriel afraid before. I mean, I've been scared many times, but
an angel? They aren't supposed to be afraid, you know?”
    Chris nodded even though
she still had her eyes closed. “Yeah. I'm still new at this
angel stuff, but I can't imagine Sariel afraid of, well, anything
really.”
    “ Exactly.” She
opened her eyes and looked at Chris curiously. “Speaking of
which, any word from on high?”
    “ On high? Oh, you
mean Sariel? Nope. Nothing. He's in Purgatory dealing with Lilith, I
guess. As for when he's coming back? That's anyone's