Descent (A Hidden Wings Novella: Prequel) by Cameo Renae Page A

me do this,” Apollyon said, taking a step toward him.
    A larg e smile formed on Lucian’s lips, and he nodded. Abaddon stepped behind Samuel and recalled the bind, letting Samuel’s arms free, but then quickly placed the bind on his legs.
    “Wings!” Lucian roared.
    Apollyon nodded to Samuel, so he called out his wings.
    Calling out ones wings was as simple as a thought, which releases a magical connection between the host and his winged appendage.
    In a moment, the most beautiful black wings spread across Samuel’s back. Wings that had aided him through the centuries. Wings that had taken him to safety, and helped him fight and defeat his enemies.
    Apollyon nodded again and Samuel shut his eyes tight, knowing what was to come. Pain. His mind searched for Alaine. He needed to find her face.
    Abaddon took hold of his left wing and stretched it out. With one quick swish, Apollyon swung his sword, severing it from Samuel’s back. Samuel fell to his knees, pain surged through his body. His wings were a vital part of him.
    Before he had a chance to catch his breath...Swish! His other wing was severed.
    Abaddon threw them off the side of the mountain as if they were trash.
    Samuel ’s pain was excruciating, like nothing he had ever endured before. But he found Alaine, in his mind’s eye. He saw her beautiful face and the warmth in her big, brown eyes smiling at him.
    “I love you,” he whispered with a smile on his face.
    “Stand him up,” Luci an yelled. Abaddon assisted Samuel to his feet. Blood poured from his open wounds, down his back, and started to cover the ground around him.
    Samuel opened his eyes and smiled.
    “What makes you smile when death is near?”
    “Love. Love makes me smile, and is something you can never take from me. Something you could never kill, and something that will never die. It is something I have found, and will keep until my last breath, and it will rest with me for all eternity.”
    Samuel’s happiness made Lucian furious. “Kill him,” he roared
    Apollyon raised his sword , and then thrust it into Samuel’s chest. Samuel dropped. His legs gave out and the world around him started to fade. Soon his body fell limp to the ground. Lifeless.
    Lucian kne w that Apollyon had never missed his target. Not once, so he never doubted that Samuel was dead.
    “ Toss him over the side and let’s be rid of him.”
    Abaddon recalled the bind from Samuel’s legs, and dragged him to the edge of the mountain. He then lifted him over his head, and dropped him down the side, to the razor sharp rocks below.
     

Alaine:
    As soon as Samuel kissed me goodb ye and disappeared into the night sky, my heart began to ache for him. I knew he needed to go away, and he’d done so every few months for almost a year now, but it was never easy.
    I figured the best and easiest way would be to sleep.
    My sleep would always be sweet because every time I closed my eyes he was there, in my dreams. I never knew how long he was going to be away. Days, weeks, months? Each day harder than the next, and longer than the day before. It was the dead time, the time spent awake, which was the hardest.
    I turned off my light and wrapped the blanket around me, wishing it were his strong arms. I was just about to shut my eyes when I noticed how extra dark it seemed outside. Like the moon and stars weren’t there.
    In the distance I heard dogs barking. But these were not simple barks, they were more territorial. I waited, listening, and a few minutes later a dog yelped loudly like it was in pain.
    I jumped from the covers and p ulled back the curtain, just enough to peek out the window. My chest started to feel heated, and when I glanced down, the bloodstone around my neck started glowing bright red, which meant danger was near.
    A shadow, darker than the night , shot across the window. I gasped, stumbling backwards, and then caught a sweet, yet smoky scent in the breeze.
    Fallen.
    They were here.
    And then my heart sank in a