Chapter 1 – Meeting the Archangels
My name is Stella Munroe, I'm 21 and this is how I choose to die. People always walk all over me, so let someone hit me. My life is hell and I'd rather be dead. Stella shoved the tear-stained note in her pocket and stepped into the street. She closed her eyes and heard a car horn, then strong arms pulled her out of the street.
"What are you doing" she asked, smacking the man's arms away. He frowned.
"I should be asking you the same thing. You stepped in front of traffic like a madwoman" the man snapped, making Stella flinch.
"I was trying to kill myself" Stella snarled then turned to walk away. The man jogged after her and grabbed her arm.
"Wait! What's your name" he asked.
"Stella, what's yours" she returned, glaring at him.
"Lucifer" he replied with a smile. Stella stared in shock, then disbelief.
"Bullshit" she said. Lucifer let go of her arm and took a bow.
"The one and only" he told her, meeting her warm brown eyes. "Now, before you give up; I want you to listen to me" he said, and Stella shrugged.
"After you" she waved his forward and followed him into a café.
"I'm destined to fight my brother Michael and its part of the apocalypse. So, if you want to die, don't you want to die fighting to punish those who hurt you" Lucifer asked her. Stella smiled and nodded.
"I'm working with the devil" Stella snickered. Lucifer held her hand and smiled.
"I want to show you just how special you are" he told her. Stella looked to him confused.
"Why did you save me? Why are you trying to make me want to live" she asked, pulling her hand away.
"Because there's something about you…I don't know exactly what it is but I felt like I had to save you. You have a light inside of you" Lucifer explained, keeping his eyes on Stella.
"How can you see a light when all I see is darkness" she asked, tears rolling down her cheek.
"Because there has to be a light at the end of the tunnel for you" Lucifer told her.
TWO MONTHS LATER
Stella waved to Lucifer as she left the cabin. She needed to clear her head, and a place up high would give her that. She walked up a hill and into a warehouse where she climbed a ladder to sit in the rafters. She jumped when three people appeared below her. A really tall guy, a shorter guy and then third was a light inside a circle of flames. The light died down and Stella realised it was a man. She listened to their conversation, their argument. The guy in the flames clicked his fingers and another man appeared, the arguing continued then the shorter man hit the fire alarm and left with the tall guy and the other guy. Stella slid off the rafters and used her power to slow her fall.
"Whoa" the man, Gabriel, he'd called himself. Stella used her power to move the water to douse the flames then looked to Gabriel.
"Hi" Stella smiled.
"Who are you" he asked.
"Stella, Stella Munroe" Stella told him. Gabriel stepped closer, brushing her wet hair from her face.
"I'm Gabriel" he said.
"I heard" Stella smiled. "Why did you seem like a light" she asked.
"I don't-" Gabriel stopped and then smiled, rubbing his face then resting his hands on his hips and laughed. "Soulmate" he said.
"Soulmate" Stella asked.
"I'm an Archangel. I'm not sure if you heard that part, but I am. Angels and Archangels have soulmates, I just never thought I'd find mine" he explained. "Once you bond with them, you can track them wherever they are, and you can feel what they feel. It's powerful" he told her. Stella started laughing, she turned and walked away a few steps before she turned back to Gabriel.
"A few months ago I nearly committed suicide" Stella told him, Gabriel frowned and stepped closer, but Stella stepped back. "But then a man pulled me out of the street, he said his name was Lucifer" she said, noticing how Gabriel went wide-eyed. Stella let the tears roll down her cheeks and sniffled before continuing. "He told me he saved me because he saw a light in me" she finished. Gabriel stepped closer and pulled Stella against his chest, letting her cry into his shoulder.
"Did he hurt you" Gabriel asked softly, and he felt Stella shake her head before she pulled away just enough to look him in the eye.
"He cares about me, or at least acts like he does" Stella told him.
"You can't trust him. I want you to come home with me. I can keep you safe from him, give you a fresh start" Gabriel offered, and Stella smiled.
"No" she said, Gabriel looked at her confused.
"What" he asked.
"No" Stella repeated. "He has kept me safe. He saved my life and I owe him. He offered me a chance to get back at all the people that have caused me pain in my life. My father for abandoning my family as a child, the man who killed my brother – who was a bystander – in a gang shootout, all the people who bullied me in school…I need this" Stella explained, a fire in her eyes.
"He's a murderer. You don't need to become what he is and you wouldn't want to. He's using you, from what I saw, you have power. He'll use that" Gabriel argued.
"He already has" Stella said blankly then turned on her heel and left.
"You will not believe what just happened" Stella said as she entered the cabin, Lucifer sat up from the bed and turned to face her.
"What" he asked.
"I met your brother Gabriel" Stella told him as she flopped on the couch.
"He's here" Lucifer asked, smiling. He walked over to Stella and sat beside her, giving her a quick kiss and resting his hand on her knee.
"He offered to keep me safe from you, I told him I wasn't interested" Stella explained.
"He thinks he can protect anyone from me?" Lucifer laughed. "Baby, I have given you the power to do whatever you want. I gave you the ability to control vibrations. You can deafen someone with a flick of your wrist or snap their neck if you want to make it quick and clean" Lucifer said. Stella nodded, she couldn't stop thinking about Gabriel, his face when she left.
"I know" she said as she stood. She walked over to the window and saw Gabriel watching them. She had half a mind to sell him out to Lucifer, but the other half wanted to run to him.
"I love you, my Stell" Lucifer told her as he snaked his arms around her waist and nuzzled into her neck. Stella kept her eyes on Gabriel, noticing him frowning as he watched Lucifer kiss her neck.
"Stop" Stella said, spinning on her heel and pushing Lucifer away. She felt angry, jealous even. This wasn't her. Lucifer looked to her in confusion as Stella bolted out the front door and into the tree line where she'd last seen Gabriel. "Where are you" she called out, looking around in the darkness.
"Right here" Gabriel said, Stella spun on her heel and hugged him.
"Why do I feel like this" she asked.
"It's the bond. It's like a magnetic attraction" Gabriel told her while rubbing her back. She was clinging to him for dear life.
"I'll take you home" he said. Stella felt a rush of wind and then she was in an apartment. There was a dog on the bed and a table full of chocolate, the TV was off, with a few DVDs on top. Stella walked over and picked them up then quickly put them back down.
"This is your place" she asked, walking over to the bedside table to see a few magazines.
"It's not a mansion or anything, but I'm kind of in witness protection. To the outside world I'm the trickster, Loki" he told her, watching her nod while she walked around her new home.
"My favourite part is the dog" Stella smiled, kneeling down to give the dog a belly rub.
"Spot, the Jack Russell" Gabriel smiled as he leant down next to her and scratched behind Spot's ear. Stella glanced at Gabriel and smiled, truly smiled for the first time in a long time, a smile that reached her eyes.