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  “No, he did not; there is a war, hidden even from your eyes when you were a heavenly being,” Ray explained. “Sam will unite humans and angels alike. Those who want chaos want him dead.” He turned his attention to Sam. “Your father is one who knows your worth.”

  “Then why did he leave me to a cracked-out, whoring mother and alone all these years?” Sam asked defiantly. “If he cares so much, then he should’ve come, explained it all; instead Hailey saved me.”

  “He sent Hailey to you,” Ray said gently.

  Hailey gasped. “I thought he was just another charge put to my care. Gabriel himself did this?”

  “In his own way, he has those who are loyal,” Ray explained. “The boy was placed with you because they know you would sacrifice without question even if it meant your grace. Your purpose is now here on earth. Your destiny always lay here.”

  “So you’re telling me they sacrificed her for the greater good that night,” Penn growled angrily. “Great way to use her.”

  “You were meant to be in her path, boy,” Ray snapped. “Nothing is done without a reason. Just like her, you were chosen but not by those in your hell. There is power from the heavens even your dark lord cannot control in his world.”

  The news left Penn reeling, but he stubbornly refused to believe that this was all one great big otherworldly setup.

  “How do we know you speak the truth?” Penn demanded to know. “You live here in isolation; how can you know what is going on in the heavens and hell?”

  “Boy, why do you think I’ve been on this world for so long?” Ray snapped. “I may live here, but there are visitors. From both sides who see me as a counselor, an arbitrator so to speak, to solve matters which neither side can fix on their own. The highest of the high from both factions of dark and light seek me out.”

  Penn nodded. “If what you say is true, what’s this about me becoming a neutral like you?”

  “You can choose to belong to neither and become a dark angel.” Ray sighed. “Ferry souls to the gates but never entering either one.”

  “Would I have to leave Hailey?” Penn asked as the fear of losing her clutched his chest. “I refuse to exist without her.”

  “She is a fallen now, tied to the boy and to you.” Ray smiled. “You will never have to leave her or visa versa.”

  “What about Sam; what does he need to be safe?” Hailey asked. “We love each other, and we promised to take care of him together.”

  Penn nodded in agreement. “He needs us until it’s time for whatever it is he is to do.”

  “I will mark his bones with the old words.” Ray looked at Sam. “The price is pain; I cannot take you under to do this. It must be while you are awake. It will be unlike anything you can imagine. When your time is upon us, those marks will be broken, and your true power will be revealed. Till then you’ll be a boy in school and all things normal. Your power will grow, but you will not see the full extent until the time is right.”

  Hailey gasped. “Is there no way to spare him the pain?”

  “I’ve been tortured before; I can take his pain,” Penn announced. “Channel it through me.”

  “Like I said, it is his to bear alone,” Ray said. “Noble as you both are, he must face this.”

  “Do it,” Sam said stubbornly. “If I’m supposed to become some leader to link mankind and all that shit, I need to bear my own weight and burdens. I can do this. Plus actually getting to go to school and being a normal kid might be kind of cool. I didn’t know I would miss that kind of thing until I didn’t have it anymore.”

  Suddenly, Ray looked up, and his eyes became a cloudy of gray mist. “They come for the boy, to end this all.” He shook his head, and his eyes cleared to the dark pupils of before. This time his face showed his worry. “Both sides are here for the boy. You must hold them off until I complete the markings. They will not harm me, but I cannot stop them from taking him.”

  Penn stood, and a low angry sound left his throat. “Stay here, Hailey. I’ll fight them alone.”

  “No, you won’t; we’re two halves of the same whole. Light and dark, and my love is yours.” Hailey set her lips in a firm stubborn line. “I fight with you.”

  “Go then. Go!” Ray shouted. “I must begin.”

  An inhuman sound filled the air, and Penn knew what it was instantly. “Hell dogs,” he muttered and then turned to Hailey. He kissed her hard and swiftly tasted her lips for what he thought was the last time. Ray the ageless loner might think they were tied, but he felt that he would die that night. He was willing to accept it as long as she was safe. Ray threw a sword, and Penn caught it and handed it to Hailey in one smooth motion. “If they come at you, stay low to the ground and slice the underbelly. They will do down.”

  Together they ran outside, and as they moved, Penn pulled the sword from his back. Dry lightning cut across the sky in jagged swaths as they attacked from both sides. The light and the dark had one intention and that was to take Sam out of the picture. They attacked just as Sam’s first screams pierced the air. Hailey dropped to her knees and clutched her chest over her heart as he screamed and screamed. Penn stood above her fighting like a madman until there was a space in the attack where he could drag her to her feet.

  Tears streaked the chocolate skin of her cheeks. “He hurts. Oh, he is in so much pain!”

  Penn shook her hard. “Nothing matters if you die or I die and they get through to him. Put it aside or use it. Fight for him. Fight now for all three of us!”

  She nodded just as they attacked again. She fought her own kind with agility and power he didn’t know she possessed. He didn’t even get a chance to teach her to fight, yet she did so with grace and skill. He fought for her, and anything that got too close was cut down. Hailey was his light, and he refused to let anyone—demon or angel—extinguish that light. All the while thunder rolled, and the clouds twisted and moved in turmoil. Sam’s screams went on and on until Penn too thought he was being tortured and wanted to go to him. While Hailey fought she cried, and he saw her tears fall as brutally as she brought the sword down for a killing blow.

  Somehow in the fight they were pushed apart, and Penn fought through the mayhem to get back to her. It seemed all of hell was purged from below to fight. They wanted the bounty on his hand and on Sam’s. Penn refused to give an inch. Even as his body took cuts and bruises, he fought on until there was nothing left. He looked around for Hailey, and while he did, Sam’s screams abated. A crack of thunder shook the walls of the canyon. The angels that were left looked up in surprise and horror before they disappeared—all except one. Penn recognized him as the one who led the attack in the small apartment in New York. He was relentless as he attacked Hailey, coming at her with two swords, and she was driven to the ground under the onslaught. He was an angel from the warrior cast, and there was no way she could beat him. Penn moved with speed across the rocky ground to save her, yet it felt as if his feet were stuck in quicksand.

  “You are not sanctioned!” Hailey cried out as the angel towered above her.

  “No!”

  He roared the words as the angel smiled and brought his sword down. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

  “Choose!” Penn heard Ray cry out from the entrance of his home in the rock wall of the canyon. He looked over to see him standing there with his hand outstretched. It was him who slowed down the killing blow directed toward Hailey.

  “I choose to belong to neither side; I choose to be neutral!”

  Penn roared the words as he reached Hailey and covered her with his body. The angel’s sword would come down across his back and cut through him. This was his fate, and he accepted his death. Except the blow never came. He never felt his body being cut by the heavenly blade. He looked up to see the angel frozen with his hand held high to bring the deathblow, but he could not move. Horror was on the angel’s face as Penn pulled Hailey away from danger. They fell on the dusty dry ground and looked on as a flash of lightning hit the sword that the angel
held and travel through his body. With a flash of light the only thing left was dust, and his cry was carried away on the wind.

  Penn moved his hands over Hailey. “Are you hurt in any way?”

  “No, but you’ve changed,” she said gently and touched something at his back.

  Penn stood, helped her to her feet, and tried to look over his own shoulder. He caught a glimpse of dark feathers, and when he looked under his arm he saw the ending of his dark wings. He had chosen, and now he was a dark angel.

  “Well this is new,” he murmured amazed.

  He looked at Hailey as her own wings spread, and now the tips of her feathers were black. Without a word they rushed into each other’s arms, and Penn took her lips in a long, hard kiss. They were alive and together.

  “I’m okay too, by the way.” Sam limped forward, and Penn could see he was pale from what he’d been through.

  “You look good enough, kid.” Penn chuckled. “We were the ones fighting out here.”

  “Well shit, demon, how about you let someone write on your bones and see how you stand up,” Sam replied.

  “You did well, boy; you might be worth protecting after all,” Penn teased.

  “It is done, no one will come after him any longer,” Ray said with a smile. He hit Penn lightly in the shoulder. “Your biggest challenge is yet to come, boy, matching wits with a surly teen. Teaching him will be a monumental task.”

  “I’ve been doing good so far,” Penn said. “Besides, he kind of grows on you like a bad fungus.”

  “You’re the fungus,” Sam snapped.

  “Boys behave.” Hailey grinned. “Thank you, Ray, for all that you have done.”

  “You found each other, all three of you. Now your destiny is set,” Ray replied. “Go now and watch the boy. Make sure he follows his path.”

  “We will, ageless one,” Hailey said and kissed the old man’s cheek.

  Penn took her hand and kissed it gently before they walked away from Ray and headed back to the car in the dark.

  “One of you could flash us to the car just like that,” Sam grumbled good-naturedly.

  “Kid, we just fought a horde of demons and angels for you; shut up and walk,” Penn said tiredly.

  “Yeah, you’re supposed to me immortal and all that crap. You should still have some juice,” Sam pointed it out. “All gruff and no stuff.”

  “Kid, don’t make me box your ears or something like that,” Penn snapped. The boy always knew how to press his buttons.

  “Sam, the name is Sam. Box my ears; are you from the fifties?” Sam retorted.

  “Come here, let’s find out, you little….”

  “Boys, behave,” Hailey said gently.

  They both went silent, and Penn reached out to ruffle Sam’s hair. In turn Sam punched him in the shoulder; it was their kind of truce, and it was for her. Penn had to admit the three of them together worked. Forever didn’t seem like such a hardship; he would be on neutral ground for an eternity and love the angel who walked by his side for longer than that.

  The End

  About the Author

  Dahlia Rose is the best-selling author of contemporary and paranormal romance with a hint of Caribbean spice. She was born and raised on a Caribbean island and now currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her five kids, who she affectionately nicknamed “The Children of the Corn,” and her biggest supporter and longtime love. She has a love of erotica, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and the things that go bump in the night. Books and writing are her biggest passions, and she hopes to open your imagination to the unknown between the pages of her books.

  Sugar and Spice Press

  Where romance is everything nice.

  www.SugarNSpicePress.com

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