Free Ash & Flame: Season One by Wilson Geiger Page A

angel and Kevin behind, Ithuriel's words like a haunting echo in his head. He told himself that it couldn't be true, that Katie couldn't have been a Grigori, one of the Fallen. He'd loved her, and she bore him the blessing that was his daughter. She just got sick is all.
    My wife was no demon . He had to stop for a heaving breath to calm himself. He wasn't sure if it was because his thought was true, or because it wasn't.
    ▪▪▪
    Ithuriel called for him from inside the dome, and Kevin frowned.
    He hesitated, watching Ren walk past, and wondered what the Malakhi had said to make him look like he was walking away from a plane crash. Kevin didn't much like the idea of the man walking back on his own, but he wasn't about to ignore the Spear.
    Kevin could be accused of being blunt, but he sure as shit wasn't stupid.
    He shook his head at the retreating Ren, and ducked inside the dome's doorway, pulling the door shut behind him. The gloom settled, and he strode towards the waiting Malakhi, the angel standing near the center of the massive arched hall.
    "What on earth did you do to him?" he asked, his deep voice echoing throughout the dome's interior. "I couldn't tell if you scared some sense into him, or scared what little was left out..."
    The words trailed away as he caught the somber look on Ithuriel's face. Even in the shadows he could tell there was something wrong, from the Malakhi's pale cheeks, and his red-rimmed eyes, dark hollows underneath. The angel's gaze drifted past Kevin, unfocused and far-off. He'd never seen the angel like this before, and the first hint of worry jabbed at him.
    "Ithuriel?"
    The angel's eyes flicked back to Kevin. "You must watch over him, Kevin. Him and the girl. I fear what the Grigori have planned for them both, because I cannot see it."
    "I-I will." Something was wrong here. Kevin could see it in the Malakhi's face, in his stance. Had Ren done something to him?
    Right, like Ren could have done anything to the angel.
    Kevin didn't want to hurt the girl, of course. Truth was, he wasn't sure that he could even if he tried. He'd taken on demons, cultists, those that had reneged on their own humanity, but this was different. No matter what was inside her, she was still just a little girl. If it came down to it, could he do what he had to, just because she was something she didn't want to be?
    Her father, though, that was different. Even if he didn't deserve it.
    And that was the problem.
    He didn't.
    "There are so few of us left," Ithuriel whispered, almost to himself. As if Kevin wasn't standing a few feet in front of him.
    Kevin's thoughts of Ren and his daughter fled, replaced by a growing concern for his commander. He'd long ago come to terms with his own fallibility, but the Malakhi, he wasn't supposed to act like this. He had been like bedrock, ever since he had first found Kevin. This was unseen territory.
    He started to say something, but thought better of it. What could he say? How was he supposed to inspire an angel, a divine weapon of God?
    "I do not eat or drink. I do not sleep, do not need to stop to rest," Ithuriel continued, his words stringing together, gaining momentum. "Still, the times have changed. Our Father, my Father, He is gone from us, and without Him I am a flawed creature. My strength is failing, I can feel the ebb of it..."
    "No, it's not," Kevin said, worry shifting into something else, his tone more harsh than he'd intended. A spark of anger bit at him, hearing the angel talk this way, sounding so...weak. If anyone else heard this, the survivors' will, their grit and their faith, would shatter, and Haven would fall along with it. It still might, in its own time, but not like this. Kevin wouldn't, couldn't, allow that. "You can't talk like this—"
    "I was Made to hunt down those that sought darkness, those that relished the ash and flame." The angel's eyes glistened, and he let out a deep, quivering breath. "But when the darkness is everywhere, when this world has