Free Genesis: Falling Angel by Keily Arnold

made me sick. The Fallen were as empty as she, and I suppose it comforted her to be around beings as soulless as she.
    She claimed I had a soul, though. It was dark with the sin of lust, but it existed nonetheless. As long as I didn’t die on earth, I wouldn’ t return to Hell. So I didn’t really give a damn about what color my soul was. Lilith cared that I even had one. It was why I wasn’t leading the other six sins, and the Fallen was. She claimed I was too human for her.
    I could see her point, really. Humans had marked me. When a human shares such an intimate act with another human, it marks them. They develop bonds, chemicals that scream for more. Incubi were different. Incubi fed off the life force, taking some of what that human was and making it their own. My body was filled with emotions, and my head was filled with voices. It was a curse. The seduction was wonderful, sure. Being able to charm anyone, male or female, had its perks. After a while, it became dull. Feeding was almost painful with my almost flawless memory.
    Although I could have anyone I wanted, whenever I wanted, there was a drawback. Incubi were the lowest of the low. We were worthless in the eyes of other demons, whores forced to mate with humans over and over again. We were amusing in a way, as we were as ruled by hunger as much as vampires. Even the humans didn’t acknowledge us, spending time focusing on the damn bloodsuckers. We were almost invisible. We were a complete joke.
    My musings had led me to being oblivious when the sun started to rise. I blinked a few times at the light, and then looked to Gabrielle. Her forehead was scrunched up, her eyes tightly shut. Her jaw was clenched. Someone didn’t like the light, apparently.
    Her eyes opened and she shielded them groggily. “Did I sleep through the day?” she asked, looking at the colors of the sky with horror.
    I bit my lip to keep from laughing, and then replied, “No. The sun is rising. The colors can be very similar.”
    She looked relieved, yet unsure of how to respond to my presence. Her white dress was fairly dirty, her golden hair tangled from a night of tossing and turning. It was strange. I had expected a tidier angel.
    Her stomach growled, and her eyes widened with shock. She looked to me as if to say, am I dying ? This time, I burst into laughter. I fell over from my seat on the ground, holding my sides. Once I’d calmed down enough to answer her, I found her staring at me quizzically. I decided to clear things up for her. “You seem to know a bit about anatomy and human culture. However, there’s one thing that puzzles me here. Don’t you know that humans get hungry?”
    I assumed she was blushing since it was hard to tell through her sunburn. “Of course,” she said, arms crossed over her stomach.
    “Well there’s no food here,” I said. “It could be a while before we find any. A few days, even.”
    She made no move to complain, smiling softly. “I knew this would be hard. I’ll be fine.” Her eyes turned up to me. “You know a lot about this new world, I bet. Human or not, you’d have to know about the seven cities. Please teach me!” She exclaimed the last part of her sentence with such vigor that I was momentarily stunned.
    Teach her? What was I supposed to teach her? The earth was overrun, dying. The humans were suffering. The cities stood proudly, heavily fortified and filled to the brim with demons. What was I supposed to say beyond that? “What do you want to know?” I settled on.
    She frowned, pondering this. “I want to know about the cities. What’s in them? What are they like?”
    “I guess I could give it a shot,” I said slowly. I would not name my brothers and sisters. The angel would never have to know of them. I would try my best on the cities. “The city we’re outside of right now is Ira, or Wrath. It’s made of entirely stone, save for this big iron gate. It’s mostly the place where human slaves come from. It was also the