The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) by J.J. Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

the cockpit stood a dark figure, casually watching all of them
with a small smile on his face.

Chapter
5

    There was a moment of
silence. No one moved as they stared in disbelief at a man who
shouldn't, who couldn't, have appeared on a plane flying over the
middle of the ocean.
    Chris was frozen in place
at the end of the aisle, maybe forty feet from the impossible
intruder. Natalie was standing beside her seat, to his left. He
stared at the man, if man he was, taking in every detail and thinking
how out of place he looked.
    The stranger was tall and
slim. He was completely bald but had a neat goatee, black with flecks
of gray, etched around his thin lips. His pointy and somewhat hooked
nose looked like it had been broken at least once and pointed to the
left slightly.
    He was wearing formal
clothing, which added to the unreality of the situation in Chris'
eyes. A black suit with tails. A cummerbund, cream colored, wrapped
around his waist behind the one button that closed his jacket. And he
was holding a silver-handled walking stick.
    In short, the man looked
like he had just stepped out of a nineteenth century formal party and
into the modern day.
    While Chris assessed the
stranger, he seemed to be doing the same thing to the occupants of
the plane. His eyes flickered from face to face, first to the five
staffers, then to Margaret, whose eyes were shining worshipfully, and
finally to Natalie and Chris.
    The man's expression
changed a little as he regarded each face in turn. Slight contempt
when looking at the staff members, a flinty look at Margaret that
made her shrink back into her seat. An amused twinkle in his eyes for
Natalie and for Chris...utter disdain. He could feel himself
dismissed as trivial and unimportant in that lightning-fast look and
felt a beat of anger mix in with his fear.
    Arrogant bastard, he
thought and then realized that he should be feeling some relief.
Obviously this guy, whoever he was, didn't know about Sariel. With a
flash of insight, Chris somehow knew that that was why he was still
alive.
    Finally, all five staffers
rose to their feet at once. Before they could advance or take any
action, the man waved at them languidly and they froze, statue-like
and still.
    “ Please, my
friends,” he said in a pleasant, smooth baritone. “Please,
don't get up on my account. I approve of you rising for a guest, but
I'm not as formal a fellow as I appear.”
    From behind the stranger,
the door to the cockpit began to open. The man made a slight gesture
with his right hand and it slammed shut again.
    “ We don't need any
interruptions from your beloved Judge Hawkes or his oafish cook, now
do we?” He raised his voice. “Stay in there, adjudicator.
I'll attend to you momentarily. I wish to have some quiet time with
your servants first.”
    “ We aren't servants,
whoever you are,” Natalie said forcefully. Chris turned his
head slightly to watch her, while keeping an eye on the man. “We
are friends and colleagues.”
    The stranger looked at her
in a friendly fashion.
    “ Oh, my dear
Natalie. Don't be so naive. That fellow uses whomever he needs to, to
achieve his ends. Surely you must know that by now.”
    At Natalie's surprised
expression, he smiled broadly. “Oh yes, I know who you are,
dear. More importantly, I know who dwells within you, clasped on to
your soul like a leech. Sucking on your essence for her own
satisfaction.”
    Natalie scowled and Chris
saw her steady herself against another twist of the plane's motion.
She narrowed her eyes and stared at the stranger in determination.
And then her eyes widened with surprise and the man laughed.
    “ No, no, I don't
think so. I don't want Gloriel to interrupt our time together. Let
her sit in there and contemplate her impotence.” He made an
indifferent gesture. “She's only an angel, after all. And not a
very powerful one at that.”
    “ Why you...”
    Natalie surged forward and
he smiled as she too froze in place.
    “ Uh uh, my dear.