Sariel grinned menacingly. "Then I kill you. Blood must always be shed for balance. You know that by now, son."
"Thirty days," I repeated.
"Thirty days, oh, and do try not to get shot or develop a sickness that's not yet found a cure."
"I haven't agree
d."
"You agreed the minute the words fell upon your ears." Sariel raised his hands above his head.
A clap of thunder sounded.
Severe pain ripped through my legs as I fell to my knees onto the cold wet pavement.
Heart racing, I reached for my chest only to find that my skin was warm to the touch.
"Thirty days," he whispered and disappeared.
Shaking, I rose to my feet, stumbling past buildings. When I finally made it out of the alleyway and into the lit up street, I glanced at my reflection in the store window and almost got sick.
My skin had color.
And my eyes… were blue.
DIVINE UPRISING
Excerpt
When men began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose. Then the Lord said: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years." At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.
Genesis 6:1-4
CHAPTER ONE
Athena
MY WHOLE LIFE I'VE been taught to be good.
I've been good.
I remind myself of that every time the job gets to me. On days like today, when I look at what I've done — repentance comes to mind.
I took in the complete and utter mess around me. By the looks of it, I clearly had a lot more in store at the end of my life than normal people.
Normal.
The word itself mocked me.
My feet touched the cold slate of the floor. Blood pooled around the spike of my leather heels, instantly making me feel irritated that I'd have to clean them.
It had been too easy this time. We were supposed to be looking at the apartment across the way. Adonis convinced the real estate agent that I needed my space, so we boarded the elevator alone, and when we reached the fifth floor, headed to the room where the human was waiting.
It was over before she could even pull the trigger on her .45 Auto, not that it would have done much damage.
But after we found out she was trying to trap us for the Phantoms, her only remaining option was death — not that it was an option to begin with. Death rarely was.
I rolled my eyes and knelt down by her body. I was literally standing in a mess of my own creation. The form was pale and lifeless. Its entire source of energy… gone.