Read The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) for Free Online Page B

out there,
he wondered. He hadn't seen an angel fly yet in the real world. Could
they? Chris thought of Sariel's wings, grimacing at bit at the memory
of the maimed one. If they were both whole, could he fly? Chris
doubted it. They were big and strong, but Sariel was huge. He could
not imagine those wings being able to lift the angel off of the
ground. So if one of the Four was after them, how was it flying?
    He caught himself. You're
assuming that whatever is out there, if anything is, looks like an
angel. It could look like anything. Chris sat back and waited. We'll
know soon enough.
    The lights inside the
plane seem to glow brighter as the darkness outside became complete.
Natalie leaned across Chris and peered out of the window.
    “ Can you feel
anything, Nat?” Chris asked in a whisper. She squinted into the
blackness and then drew back with a gasp as a blast of lightning
followed by a deafening boom shook the plane.
    “ I'm not sure,”
she said heavily. She sat back and gripped the armrests so hard that
her knuckles turned white. “Gloriel only knows that some
malicious presence is almost on us.” She closed her eyes for a
minute and then turned and looked at Chris.
    “ We could really use
Sariel right about now,” she told him.
    “ Yeah, no kidding,”
Chris replied shortly. “I keep calling but I might as well be
talking to myself. There's no answer.” He slapped the side of
his head. “What the hell good are these angels if they only
show up when they're in the mood? What's he doing anyway? All he had
to do was lock up Lilith and come back. How long could that take?”
    Natalie looked alarmed and
grabbed his hand as he was about to slap himself again.
    “ Stop that,”
she said firmly. Chris looked at her in surprise. He hadn't realized
that he was actually hitting himself. “Smacking your head isn't
going to do anything but give you a headache.”
    “ Fine. So what can I
do?” He had an idea. “Is there any way for Gloriel to
reach him? Maybe some form of angel Twitter or something?”
    Natalie giggled at the
idea. “Um, no Chris. He's in Purgatory. You know that. She
can't go there. She isn't allowed to
go there. Only Sariel and the others who followed him into exile are
permitted entry. And only he can come and go as he pleases.” At
Chris' look of disappointment, she shrugged. “Those are the
rules, after all.”
    “ Yeah,
okay.” He sat back in his seat with a disgruntled sigh and
stared out into the darkness. Another bolt of lightning flared,
turning the clouds into a monochromatic sea of light and shadow. This
time the plane suddenly banked sharply and dropped with a sickening
lurch.
    “ What?”
he gasped and swallowed hard to get his stomach out of his throat.
There were several cries around the cabin and Margaret's choking
laughter peeled more loudly.
    “ Keep
it up, you old witch, and I'll knock you out again,” Chris
heard Beatrice snarl. Margaret hissed but her laughter turned into
muffled giggles.
    Chris
leaned his head back against his seat and stared out at the gloom.
Lightning flashed again, but this time it seemed to last seconds
longer. And in the eye-searing light, Chris abruptly leaned away from
the window, almost butting heads with Natalie.
    “ Hey,
be careful,” she said with irritation and then saw the
expression on his face. “What is it?”
    “ S...s...something
just went by the window,” he stuttered. His voice must have
carried in the small cabin.
    “ What?
You saw something?” It was George, a row ahead and across the
aisle.
    “ Yeah,
something. But I don't know what. Just a black streak against the
lightning.” Chris' voice was trembling and he took a ragged
breath. Get it under control, man, he told himself. “Maybe it
was a trick of the light.”
    He
had barely finished speaking when a loud bang echoed through the
plane and they were suddenly in a steep ascent, the nose of the
airplane pointed almost straight up.
    “ Oh
crap,” Natalie exclaimed and