The Ascended (The Saving Angels 3)

"Yes," I said, turning toward my friends so I could check on John. I was surprised to see that my friends were already assisting him from the small clearing. Paul and Jacob had his arms around their shoulders, helping him navigate the uneven ground.

"Will he be okay?" I asked, watching them disappear from sight.

"Yes, although his body will need to recuperate from the trauma he suffered. He would have perished if not for you."

"I didn't do anything but call you," I said.

"Yes, you used your Gifts to summon an Archangel."

"Do you mean I could have paged a different Archangel?" I asked skeptically.

"Paged?" he questioned before answering me, filing the new word into his ever expanding human lingo base. "Yes, you have been gifted with the power to contact any angelic being in the Heavenly Realm."

"Any?"

"Yes."

"Wow that's insane," I said, squatting down on my heels. "Where were you when I sent you the message?" I asked.

"I was in the presence of The Light."

"Whoa, that's crazy. Did The Light give you permission to heal him?" I asked curiously.

"No, those decisions are mine alone."

"Then why didn't you heal the others after Victor's last attack," I asked reproachfully.

"I cannot heal a demon attack Krista. If so, I would have done so many years ago," he said with more passion than I had ever heard him use.

His passion and strange exhibition of emotion rendered me speechless. I leaned back on my hands, reclining backwards as I digested his words. He had always carried himself so regally and standoffish that it was unnerving to think that he had once lost someone he had cared about.

"Who?" I asked bluntly after several minutes passed.

He turned to look at me with penetrating blue eyes that bore through me. Just when I thought he was going to ignore my question, he finally sighed heavily. "One of your kind. She is someone who once belonged to another. It is wrong for me to exhibit feelings for her."

"Why? Is she still with the other person?"

"No, that bond was broken many earth cycles ago. It is wrong because I was not created to feel human emotions."

"That's crazy. You're supposed to exist all these years without ever feeling something for someone else?" I asked indigently, mad at the injustice of it.

"It is my place Krista."

"Place smace," I grumbled. "So, what happened to the Guide you were in love with?" I continued, not wanting him to stray far from the subject at hand.

"How do you know it is love?" He asked earnestly, seeking an answer that even with his infinite wisdom seemed to elude him.

"Because of the way you talk about her. Usually, you're so stiff—no offense, but for the briefest of moments, you seemed almost normal," I gently teased.

"I cannot be certain that what I feel for her is love. I was not created to recognize such feelings."

"Do you think of her at least once an earth day?"

He nodded slightly.

"More than once a day?" I persisted.

Once again he nodded in acknowledgement.