The close proximity of the angels brought a constant, low thrumming in Vass's head. He usually associated it with the presence of the enemy, but its pitch and intensity had shifted somewhat, almost becoming soothing and familiar. He realised it wasn't a new sensation, but one that had been changing for some time—perhaps since he first met his father.

Darkness showed from the windows of the large front room. It was close to midnight. Almost the end of the Summer Solstice. Several angels moved about the room, with many more in the back bedrooms and down the hallway. This was a spare hideout, he had heard Zuriea say to the others, made up of several spare rooms in an apartment complex. The Commanding Angel returned to her own hideout with her team, and Vass sensed it was because she did not want him knowing where they stayed. Zuriea was the only one to openly express mistrust and loathing towards Vass—and rightly so, he felt, considering what he was—but the others had been welcoming and understanding enough, sometimes surprisingly so.

"I wanted to tell you something," Lahabiel said. She sat beside Vass, on a sofa by the back wall. Their human companion, Sean, sat nearby. "Tell the both of you," she added, looking between them. "I feel that Camael did not simply die, or vanish."

"Then what, then?" Sean asked, sitting forward.

"I believe," Lahabiel said, "that he ascended to Heaven. Not just from his wounds. The light that surrounded him... it was purer and stronger than any light that releases when an angel is greatly wounded."

Sean nodded gravely. "I know. It was... powerful, is all I can call it. Felt like it almost popped my head. It were different to what I felt when your one showed up. She hit me like a truck, Sephiaza did. A dark, intoxicating truck."

Vass remained quiet, finding it hard to discuss his mother with them.

Lahabiel nodded. "She had a purer form of darkness than most demons. This world would break apart with all of our pure forms existing on it. It's also why I believe that Camael tapped into a pure light in that moment. Perhaps he even became a pure angel, for an instant. And perhaps it was that which removed him from this plane."

Vass turned as someone approached. His hand jittered slightly. He didn't expect any attacks from the angels, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being surrounded by people he was meant to hate.

Laylah came to them with a tray that held teapots, cups, and plates of biscuits. It was a strange, mundanely human sight that gave him pause. He wasn't used to such warm hospitality.

"Too much talking can dry the throat," Laylah said softly as she placed the tray in front of them.

Her eyes darted to Vass, and they sometimes lingered on him, he noticed. Perhaps she was afraid of him, but he felt there was something else too. Something familiar with her. "You are very kind," he said to her.

She stood over them and gave a small, unsure smile. Her grey-blue eyes shone in the warmly lit room, but they were lined with tension. She paused a moment before saying, "How are you, Vass?"

"I... I'm not sure how I am, to be honest," he said.

Her smile strengthened a little but her eyes softened with sympathy. She glanced at Sean and Lahabiel and then back at Vass. "If you need anything, if there's anything I can do, I'd like you to know that you are free to ask."

He nodded, watching her closely, and pinpointed the familiar sensation from her. She must have been infected once, and while she had fully been healed since, it was that connection to the darkness that linked them both. She probably felt it too.

"Thank you, Laylah," he said.

She nodded to him, and to the others, and turned and left them to it.

"She likes you," Sean said, with a hint of humorous goading.

Vass gave him a blank look. Under other circumstances he could have even chuckled at Sean's amiable and bold manner.

"She is worried for you," Lahabiel said. "We all are."

"Well, maybe not all of you," Vass said.

"Perhaps not all, correct. Camael was a dear brother to us all—"

"The best of us," Sean cut in.

"—and we want to help, and to understand, his son. If you no longer pose any threat to us, and you want to stand with us, then we are here to embrace you."

Vass nodded and found himself looking over the room while he thought. The one called Chayy stood quietly by the window, looking out with a troubled, lost expression. Beyond the room, he could feel the presence of other angels looking over their injured brethren, while others prayed or rested. He felt like the day had lasted a month, and he had been moving and thinking non-stop.

Eventually he turned to Lahabiel. "There's nothing left for me," he said honestly. "But, I know this much. I'll help you—help you all—in whatever way I can. If you'd let me. My whole life I've been torn between a mother who hated me and a father I had never met, who I thought was the enemy. I have nothing left."

"Maybe your place is with the angels," Sean said. His cool eyes locked onto Vass and drew him in. "I know what it's like to have nothing left. Maybe we're all right where we're meant to be."

Vass studied the man, seeing the pain and strength in his expression, and eventually nodded. He nodded a second time with more conviction, and almost found himself smiling. "Maybe we're all right where we're meant to be," he repeated.

Lahabiel laid a hand on Vass's shoulder, rubbing him gently, and then turned towards the tray of tea. "Now," she said. "This Summer Solstice is coming to an end. We have a lot to plan, and to learn, going forward. I have a feeling that we are in the strongest position we have ever been in. We just need to understand how to use it." She looked over them and added, "And, if we truly learn how to bring a pure angel to this plane, if we decide we want to do so, then perhaps we could summon a familiar friend."

Vass perked up. He shared a wide-eyed look with Sean, and slowly, eventually, they began to smile. 

[Thank you for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment and click the Like star. I'd love to hear what you think of the story. Thanks!]   

That's it for Dark Light 2. I hope you enjoyed this sequel, and it lived up to the original. It was an emotional ride for me to write, and I hope you had a good time with it too. There are no intentions of writing a third book at this time (but then, I didn't think about writing a second one!) so this is likely it for a glimpse into the ongoing battle between angels and demons in our modern world. I'd love to hear what you thought of it all. 

This will be published on the 21st July 2017 as part of an anthology of stories with various genres, all set during the Summer Solstice. Look out for 'That Summer Day vol.1' by Solstice Publishing on Amazon.