Angels in our Midst

An action filled story with love, and heros.

                     Prelude

It was two in the morning when the pounding in my head began. I sat up, and rubbed my eyes reaching for the aspirin that should stop the pounding. That’s when I realize that it is not in my head there’s someone at the door. Trying to rise out of bed I topple over flat on my stomach, the room is dark and my head is spinning the pounding is in my head now as well as the front door. No the back door I jerk my head around. There it is at the front door again. What the hell is going on?  Beyond confusion I walk blindly to the front door first. Right before I open it, I catch a familiar scent. Plastic; even worse burnt plastic. That’s the way all the officials smelled. Panic sets in. there is only one reason why they would show up here, at this hour. My heart stops. They know. Chills ice my feet frozen to the floor. I hear them discussing the decision to bust open the door.  The feeling I can only describe as motionless is what I became. They say it is impossible to stop thinking but I swear I did right there. The pounding is replaced by drilling. Second by second they get closer to me. Death gets closer. Right as I realize I need to do something a hand covers my mouth and an arm reaches around my body. Everything gets blurry as I inhale the cloraphil, it burns as it enters my body, but I don’t fight it. I was as good as dead anyway.

 Chapter 1                                         

Idra looks stunning. She is the perfect picture of what a beautiful bride should be. The long white dress fits tightly, highlighting all of her curves, up to the flowing sleeves which are detailed with a string of pearls placed a perfect centimeter apart. Even if I hadn’t spent countless hours watching Munaca design the dress, it would not have been hard to tell it was her design. Munaca was the bride’s younger sister and she had quite an eye for fashion. In all honesty the dress was barely noticed, neither were the piles of curly chocolate hair surrounding the tiara placed on her head. The gaze of almost every guest was glued to her eyes.  Those gentle kind eyes have a passion behind them today, with the eyeliner around her eyes in the swirling pattern that resembled bird’s wings, and the crystal powder shimmering just below her brows. The exact make up her mother had worn on her wedding day. There was not one person who would deny that she was the spitting image of her mother at her age. The thought of this brings tears to lightly water my eyes. I notice I am not the only one as I see many of the guests dabbing their eyes. Nolan stands with his hands behind his back nervously watching her float towards him, as if it is all he can do to not run to her. They hold each other’s gaze as if nothing could become between in. Idra finally reaches Munaca, her maid of honor, and hands her the bouquet. Nolan eagerly grabs her hand helping her up the last two steps. The love between them is felt throughout the entire crowd. It is a good thing that the wedding was held outdoors because if the all the emotions had been stuffed into a room it would have surely burst open.  Mr. Calum is speaking now. Since our only pastor had been killed in the past weeks raiding, Mr. Calum had agreed to marry the two. More like he had volunteered. This marriage meant everything to our quarter. Nolan being an outsider, even though he has lived here since the age of 5, will prove that we do not need to stay confined to our quarters, that we are capable of mingling. There are some extremist that believe mixing our quarters would result in the end of our Dallarium. The Dallarium is what we are called as a whole. There is the 4 quarters. Everyone knows that four quarters equals a dollar, not very original of you ask me, but this is how things are done.  Nolan is from Bawldfick, the quarter most commonly favored. His mother ran away from his abusive father when he was only 5. She was murder. Her case unsolved. As if solving murders was something our quarter did. You could just as easily get away with murder as you could steal from the blind. Murders rarely happened though because we all had a bond with one another. That is why her case is so bizarre. She had no enemies. She had only done everything she could to repay the members of the quarter for allowing her to stay and even providing a home. She had no enemies. No known enemies. We all have one common enemy. Only a handful of people know about them.

  “If anyone one objects to this marriage, speak now, or forever hold your peace.” The solemn voice of Mr. Calum brings me back to the present. It is deathly quiet. You could hear a pin drop. After what seemed like 2 seconds, he resumes. “Well then since the odds have it, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

It is silent as the couple kisses passionately, and then the cheers abrupt, girls squeal, young men whoop and holler, the elderly shed a few tears of joy. Idra’s own father pulls out his blue and silver handkerchief.

 “Kiss her again!” someone yells out.

Nolan gets giddy and pulls his bride in and closes his eyes. Her lips touch his and for an instant she kisses him back. It ends. She falls limp. His eyes open in confusion then horror. Some quest are still cheering because they cannot see what has happened. It’s impossible to miss it now. Idra falls into Nolan’s arms and they collapse to the ground. He holds her in shock while her pearl white dress turns blood red.

 Everything from that moment on could only be described with one word. Chaos. Most everyone flees to the nearest building trampling each other as they go. Mr. Calum is trying to pull Nolan from his bride’s arms. Another shot is fired. Mr. Calum drops. I stand there frozen once again. I do not claim for one minute to have an ounce of bravery. I just freeze, become motionless. It’s what I’ve always done.

             

                       10 years ago

“You see baby, we are the good guys. We’ve been around for a long time secretly watching over you.”

My mother smoothed the brown curls around my face as she slides the covers up to my chin.

 “Just me, or were you watching daddy too?”  Even at seven years of age, I didn’t care much about myself. I barely knew my father. He was never in the picture. I met him once when I was four. He was very handsome as I can remember, but mainly just a stranger. He loved my mother though and she loved him, or so she had told me.

“Your daddy is the reason we exist.” Somehow she always knew what to say. I smiled, then yawned and soon was fast asleep. My mother was curled up beside me until I was far off in my dreams. That’s when I heard the screams. The screams that still haunt my dreams. Still cause me to wake in a hot sweat and down glasses of water before returning to sleep. The images of what I saw when I rushed into her bedroom. She had been thrown down face first onto a glass table. The table shattered and she was bleeding profusely.  Her eyes full of fear for me. The officials staring at me unsure what to do about my presences. Her ghostly eyes stare into mine and she half whispers the word run!

  I didn’t of course though. I froze. Unable to think. Unable to cry. I froze and watched the only person I loved and trusted with my whole heart bleed to death.

 

                         Present day

 

Now here I am again, frozen in horror as the person who replaced my mother lies dead, just feet from me.  I might have stayed there all day if not for the arms that pulled me from my trance didn’t save my life just a second before it would have been too late. A bullet blows a hole in my seat. Another sends Nolan to the ground face down. I’m being dragged away from Idra. That’s when my next stage comes in. Absolute despair. I scream clawing whoever has ahold of me trying to run to her, I know she’s already dead but I can’t leave her. I scream and scream but I can’t fight the arms pulling me into the safety of the dining hall. I’m on the hardwood floor; someone has me cradled in their arms. I look up, David. Of course. I let myself sink into him and cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.

 It’s been 10 days since the wedding before I talk to anyone. I’ve been hospitalize because I refused to drink or eat.  My body is starting to ache for a good stretching and the will to go on with life is slowly returning. No one has showed up to see me, besides my doctors and David. Idra, Munaca and their father is all I had. Now Idra is gone and Munaca isn’t doing much better than I am at this point. Caduceus, their father, has just finished planning Idra’s wedding and has decided to go ahead and plan Nolan’s. Although he survived the shot to the head the day it happened, he hasn’t regained conscious since then, and isn’t expected to. This is all the news that David has given during my absence from life. He sat beside my bed holding my hand talking for hours while I listened. Muted by my scars.

 I recall the information he gave the day after the shootings. “It’s the officials Ainslee. We should have known they wouldn’t let this marriage happen. I can stop kicking myself; all along we were watching the wrong way. We had our backs turned to them…” He keeps talking for nine more days. I only listen to bits and pieces.

“Nolan’s still under…not doing well…her funeral was beautiful…still no lead on their where about…we will get them.” He’s soft and reassuring for a few days but then the harshness comes put just as I was expecting.

“Comes on Aines, Do you think Idra or your mother would want this… Stop being so selfish… Munaca needs you, Caduceous needs you. You are just as much his daughter as the other two. He can’t lose all three of you.”  This I hear five days, finally I resurface. As a part of pushing my grief away I feel a new stab of pain, acceptance. Idra is gone, along with her smile, her laugh, her dazzling eyes, and witty charm. The hands that brushed my hair and sang songs to me. Although she was only five years older than me she quickly filled the whole in my heart where my mother had been ripped out. It’s amazing the officials didn’t kill me that day. Even more amazing that they left me on Dr. Caduceus’s doorstep. Perhaps they knew he was the only man in town who would raise me as his own.

 I let one leg slide out from under the paper thin sheet and smack the floor. I know I have the strength to control my limbs; it just isn’t present at the moment.  The cool concrete of my hospital room is refreshing after my stuffy bed. I lean on to my elbows and put both feet on the ground. Stand up, and finally feel the blood rushing down my spine into my legs and arms. It tingles, and I feel relief. Yes I am still heartbroken with grief but I feel like I can cover it now. Keep it inside, that’s what I’m good at.

 David is the first one I see when I walk into the long hall. By the looks of it he was on his way to have another chat with me, coffee in his hand. He doesn’t look at all surprised to see me up. He knows me like a clock by now. Seeing he’s been by my side since I can remember.  The wedding isn’t the first time he has saved my life either. He smiles and sets his coffee down to take me in his arms. He kisses my forehead, and his whisker stubble grazes my nose. He only looks his age when he hasn’t shaved for a few days, and it looks like he hasn’t. David is six years older than me, but he’s never seemed more than a year or two older in the past. Now I can see in his grey eyes, sleep deprived, and light blonde hair now reaching almost to his neck. He usually keeps it to where he can just tuck it behind his ears, but I’m guessing his appearance isn’t the top of his priorities right now. I feel a quick wave of guilt for adding to his stress. He seems forgiving though as he holds me tight to him, my ear resting on his heart. At least I still have this. I think as I listen to the soft beats of his heart.

 We stand there for about a minute before he takes one arm away and walks beside me back to my room. I don’t object, I need to sit back down, I’m ready to talk.

“How is Nolan?” I’m afraid of the answer

“Nothing’s changed, still unstable. Doc wants to pull the plug.” Tears would have normally popped up when I heard him say this but I was so past that point. I already considered Nolan dead. And He might as well be considering he couldn’t live without Idra, maybe long enough to kill her murder, but surely after that he would die of heartbreak.

“Okay, well any good news?” Not expecting any.

“We are tracking them.” My eyes lighten up.

“Really, how long have you been following them” I ask in disbelief.

“They aren’t as clever as you think. They practically left a trail behind them after the wedding. Phoenix and Bentley have been tracking them since. They have their own team ready to come in at any minute. A surprise attack maybe the only way we take over the officials.”

   My mother was once an official. That is the reason that she’s dead now. The officials are a group that started over twenty years ago. When they first became a group they called themselves the unofficials. The name came from the fact that they were the unofficial guardians of our quarter. What we would have called police-except we didn’t have police.  They chose my mother to be a part of them because of her bravery and dedication to justice. She was also a very talented fighter. I have only heard stories but apparently she saved the lives of her comrades more than once. The men of the group would become too cocky and bite of more than they could handle, almost always resulting in hand to hand combat. This was my mother’s forte.

  In the beginning they vowed to only keep the streets clean and rid of criminals, kind of like super heroes. However over the decades they started taking out anyone who stood in their way or the way of how they thought things should be, killing innocent politicians that voted differently than they did. One man even killed another man because he had slept with his wife, and the captains of the team said it was justified. The rules became less and less apparent and the doers of justice became in need of justice their selves. Appalled by the fall out of the unofficials, my mother began to look for a way out. They would have never let her go without a fight because she was so valuable to their team. Death threats are what kept her in, but being the clever woman that she was she formulated a plan to get out. Joining up with a man named John Dallas. My father. Together they sought to assemble a team and bring down the unofficials. After a few months of recruiting other strong talented fighters, they began to train at a place they called the summit. That’s where the real heroes began their story. They called themselves the Angels. Named after my mother, Angelica. 

   The team continued to grow reaching seventeen members. The unofficials had over thirty. Angels had the advantage because no one knew they existed, they had the element of surprise. The plan was to lure the unofficials into The Summit and hit them from every direction at once. I don’t know what happened that night, all I know is it set the wheels in motion towards my mother’s certain death, and eventually splitting my parents up forever.. After the encounter that night, the unofficials became the officials, and my mother became their main target.

 “Don’t you know how dangerous this is?” A stupid question, we both knew it was immensely dangerous. The newest Angels have never been in combat with the officials before.

 “Yes I know the dangers, but I trust that they are ready. I hand-picked them myself.” He pats my leg reassuringly. I am not reassured. I know what they did to my mother. To my father. To Idra. Idra, the pain wells up at the thought of her. Just another hole in my heart, put there by the officials. Then the idea hits me.

  “I want in.”

 David doesn’t look surprised, he does shake his head and tell me no. He smiles, and says the most important thing anyone has ever said to me.

 “Your mother would be proud.”

 Chapter 2

Nothing could have prepared me for the world the Angels live in. I was hospitalized for two more weeks to fully recover and then I was sent straight to camp, which is the home of the Angels; The Summit. The dingy room I am assigned reeks of mildew, everything is damp. Price of living inside a mountain hidden by a waterfall, I suppose.  There’s a single cot in the corner, not touching the wall, if it were then it would stay soaked as the walls do. Beside the door protruding from the wall is a small pipe with a constant flow of water that puddles onto a slab of stone and runs into the floor and down some type of natural drain. They call this a sink. The darkness of the room is starting to get to me, and I feel that coming here was a mistake. That’s when I see my favorite flower sitting daintily in its vase, a grin crosses my face. David. He would have known that this room would make me feel this way. So he lightened it up, with my favorite flower. A blue tulip, they are rare and only grow in the 4^th quarter. I sling my duffle bag that carries all I own, and may I mention is half empty, on to the cot. I splash some water from the stone slab excuse of a sink onto my face. It’s ice cold. Well I am inside a mountain after all. My ice cold cheeks throw out the idea of a splash bath. So instead I slip into my training uniform, it’s blue, just like the tulip.

  Getting down to the training room and finding David is all I’m interested in right now. Instead I run into Maci, she is the newest Angel recruit-beside myself. She squeals as the elevator door opens and she sees me. I’ve never met her before, but David has told me everything about her, and he’s right she does resemble a shrimp. I half heartily smile at her as she bounces out of the elevator and grabs me. Her short orange curls flop around her lightly freckled face. She’s so much shorter than I am, I almost feel like she’s a midget. She’s wear a peach colored uniform just like mine, this makes her look like a shrimp head to toe.  Why on earth is she on this team? I find myself asking.

 “Oh Ainslee! I’ve been simply on edge waiting for you to get here! David said you were pretty but he didn’t do you justice! And my, you’re so tall! You know my mother use to tell the funniest story about a tall man that was actually just….Oh I’m rambling! Just listen to me!” Despite her apology she keeps rambling. I stand there smiling trying to hide how annoyed I am. “Isn’t it fabulous here? Well maybe not fabulous, but safe!” She giggles.

“Yeah it’s great if you enjoy hypothermia.” I say impatiently. She must not have noted my hostel tone, because she throws her head back and laughs.

“I have a feeling we are going to get along! You’re mother and my mother were….” The high pitch drops, and he eyes fall for a second than look earnestly into mine, she puts her hand on my wrist and in s sad solemn voice says “I’m sorry Ainslee, I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

“It’s okay, I promise. It was a really long time ago.” And it was a long time ago, but it wasn’t okay. Idra’s recent murder right in front of my eyes had refreshed my pain.

 “Well our mothers were very close friends!” she resumes her animated character.

“Oh yeah?” I ask. I don’t remember my mother having any friends, there was always just me.

“Yes!” She smiles brightly, then she takes my hand in hers and holds it closer to her heart, and her eyes get sad again. It’s amazing how just the slightest change of her eyes put years of maturity and grief on her face. “My mother is gone too, another victim of the evil we fight.”

I feel a world of sympathy for this little shrimp. Why am I so selfish? This little girl, surely she can’t be over fourteen, is in just as much pain as I am and yet she hides it so well. I so easily forget that I am not the only one who lost a loved one to those b******s.  Then I understand why she is a part of this team, and I respect her. 

“I am sure we will be great friends.” I give her hand a gentle squeeze and the silent conversation in my head is transferred through our eyes.

 “You think so?” she giggles, and the shrimp is back.

 “ I really do.” And I mean it.

 My encounter at the elevator has set me back at least ten minutes so I basically sprint to the training square. It is evident that no one had planned on waiting for me. I just stand there watching the soldiers lost in their own little intense training sessions. For a minute I feel like I don’t belong here, and then I see David. A huge bar loaded down with weights is hovering above his head; well it might as well be hovering since he has it lifted high as if it were cotton balls.  I’ve never noticed how big his arms were before. They’ve been wrapped around me multiple times. Pulling me from danger, holding me while sobs shook my body, hugging me tightly when I was happy-which was a rare thing. He was always protecting me. I’d always pictured him as the big brother I always wanted. I never had the luxury of siblings, no family actually. I was alone.

 David sees me; he doesn’t smile as I expect him to, but just sets down the weights, which must be over 300 pounds, like it’s a paper weight. Something is different about him out here. He isn’t the humorous, always smiling guy. Instead he looks very serious, and reserved. He doesn’t smile at me, but he still looks pleased that I’m here. In fact now that they actually notice me, everyone looks pleased to see me. As if they’ve been waiting for me. How did Shrimp know all about me anyway? Who else here knows my life story?

 “You ready?” He skips the friendly hello part.

 “Yeah, where do we start?” I’m ready to kick a few butts. Hopefully he’ll start off with some hand to hand combat against Phoenix. I’d like to knock that soul less blonde in the head a few times. I follow him to an empty square shaped hole in the ground, all four sides covered in a thin layer of padding. We go over the basics for a good hour until I beg him to let me do some actually fighting.  He motions to Paul; a tall boy with his head shaved who seems to follow David around like a puppy, to send in my first opponent.

 “Her?” I smirk. “Serious David I don’t want to hurt her, I kind of like her.” I whisper to him as she hops in the square.

“Ainslee!” she squeals “I get to train you!” she’s bubbling and bouncing.

Train me? I’ll kill you shrimp.

“Ainslee this is Maci.” David says dryly.

“Oh Dave, we’ve met! We are good friends!” Despite the sympathy I feel for her, the squealing just might send me over the edge. Still her eagerness to train me is cute, I’ll just have to beat her quickly and move on to Phoenix.

 After ten attempts to pin, forget pin just do anything to this shrimp, I realized that I had under estimated her. She was one step ahead of me every time I moved. I went to the left, and my face met her foot shortly before it met the ground. I dove for her feet, her feet met my back, my chest met the ground-knocking the breath out of me. I rolled onto my back gasping for breath, and begging for a truce.

 “Now that we can both clearly see that she has none, why don’t you teach her some of your moves?” I’ve been so busy being beat up by a midget that I had forgotten David had been watching the whole time. His remark to Maci had been cold, and for an instant embarrassed me, then turned to anger. When did he become such a jerk? I was fuming.  He announced that he had other priorities to attend to and left me alone with Maci. The shrimp that was now my teacher, I could just see Phoenix laughing at me. I’m not sure if she actually laughs though, or even smiles.

 We started training the next morning and to my dismay Maci was just as up and at it as the previous day.  She decided we would start off with getting out of a head lock. First she demonstrated several different head locks, and she was very good at demonstrations. Somewhere between ten to fifteen examples I was sure my neck would break. She then teaches me to control my breathing. How to stick your tongue to the roof of your mouth and it will keep a small airway open. We spent the next two weeks training together, and building a strong friendship. Though she was four years younger than me, it was like she was much older than I. One day we decided to skip training for the day, which I was all in favor of, and she told me her story. How she had learned to fight by learning to survive. Maci escaped the officials after they killed her mother, and hid out in an abandoned cabin in the woods surrounding the edges of the quarter. She waited weeks before she even ventured out of the cabin. Living off of the canned goods left in the cabin and what fish she could catch, Maci survived two years in the forest. From time to time she would attack and rob anyone passing by. The passer byers would sometimes have a newspaper or something else to tip Maci off to the date, and what was going on in the world. She was very lucky to have some many weaklings pass by, hardly any of them even put up a fight, until David found her. He had received word that she survived, and hearing the stories of the villain in the forest who attacked people and stole their belongings, he put the pieces together. He set up a trap to catch her using himself for bait, not expecting her to be quite so vicious. In fact he was so taken back by her attack that she almost overtook him, but his brute strength proved to beat her wit. However their encounter earned her a place one the team. When first introduced to the Angels they laughed, calling the 4’8” girl shrimp. Although she quickly proved that size didn’t matter, the name stuck and she became shrimp to everyone.

 Even though I received the short version of her story, I still caught a glimpse off everything she went through, and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone in my loss.

  After that day Paul became my new trainer.  Under his supervision I learned to shoot, I was not good at that. I learned to spear targets at a close range, I was good at that. I learned to throw knives at a close range, I was great at that! I tried throwing to a long distance, I was excellent! We worked on this skill, being it was my best one, for several days. Paul was quiet at first kind of stand offish. He would begin to loosen up, and then David would come around and he’d be all kinds of uptight. Finally I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

 “Why do you act like you can’t speak or think for yourself when David is around? It’s degrading how you act like his little slave!” I spat the words out at him. He looked a little shocked, and then after recovering his voice he asked me the dumbest question I’d ever been asked.

“How well do you know David?”

“Better than you do I’m sure!” I feel the defense in my voice. Who did he think he was questioning the only thing I was 100% sure of, David’s friendship.

 “Not to step on your toes, but I bet there are something’s that you don’t know about David.” He replied in a very matter of fact tone. I was offended by that point and wanted to know just what it was that my best friend had hidden from me.

 “Like what?” I scowled.

 “Does the name Eva ring a bell?” He says quietly while looking around to make sure no one was listening.  I shook my head. This must be a top secret, I was so angry that this bald freak show new something that I didn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

“Well then I guess I had better start from the beginning. Eva showed up at David’s doorstep about three years ago. She had been shot in her rib cage and was in bad shape. The moment he opened the door she collapsed into his arms. He nursed her back to health and tried to find out who she was. He found nothing. No record of her ever existing. Her story was that she escaped from Daber, the 2^nd quarter, and that it wasn’t safe for her to go home.  He didn’t mean for her to, but she crept up on him. He did everything for her, helped her eat, walk, and bathe. She told him stories of where she was from, how it was nothing but a wilderness. She told stories of the beautiful waterfalls that reached into the heavens. Somewhere in all those stories, David fell in love. What wasn’t there to love? After regaining full health she was alluring in soul, her beauty was mesmerizing, and her whole being was enchanting. David was dangerously captivated by her enticing character. At first he tried to fight it, but gave in one night to the flames inside him that he could not control. Eva was already heading to bed, and she walked past him in his t-shirt that she slept in every night-since she had brought no personal belongings from home. David reached out and grab her wrist as she brushed by him. She turned around startled by his direct contact; he had never touched her unless it was to assist her, now her starburst blue eyes locked with his gray. He drank in her beauty, the soft features that gave her a heavenly look, as if she was an Angel fallen from heaven. Her bronzed cheekbones fade in to firm cheeks, and her chin fit proportionately to her almost invisibly soft jaw lines. Her blue eyes so pale and vivid that it appears as if electricity or a laser beam has shot through them with a dark-blue rim around the iris and then an even mix of pale blue and white rays in the iris, over all a very pure and bright and sharp color of blue those light-colored eyes might have been seen more as light-filled, and therefore sparkling, and her long dark eye lashes framed the magnificent work of art. But the feature David couldn’t take his eyes off were her alluring lips. She felt him examining her and she took a step closer, he brushed a hair, that had freed itself from the braid, behind her ear, and she put her hand on his pulling it softly to her cheek. He put his other arm around her hourglass waist and pulled her in. She looked nervously at his chest. He lifted her chin till her eyes met his with a look of innocent love and with that she drew the last bit of self-control from him like a vampire drawing blood from its helpless victim. He kissed her, and he was gone. There was no coming back from the feeling in that kiss.

 She never left his side after that. The Angels all welcomed her with open arms, and she eventually became an angel. Working her way into all of our hearts. We adored her almost as much as David did. He was always smiling, always laughing, on cloud nine. They knew all of each other’s secrets, and trusted each other. Until one day, The Summit was attacked in the middle of the night by the officials. Turns out that Eva was a spy trained to get on the inside of the Angels secrets and techniques, she lead the attack that night. David was too distraught to think logically, and when give the opportunity to kill Eva, he let her go. Her eyes pierced his for one last time, and she disappeared into the dark. He never saw her again. It’s not that he didn’t try. In fact he spent months tracking her, and seeking out revenge for his broken heart. But after he found put that she had drowned in a boating accident he finally let it go and said goodbye to his past lover. Now he keeps his personal life locked away. He never brings anything or anyone he cares about here out of fear that he may lose them too. That’s why we were all so shocked that he brought you here. Everyone here knows how much you mean to him, I mean you’re like his own flesh and blood.” Even after Paul finished his story I sat there spell bound. How did I not know about Eva? The question resounded over and over in my head. I felt stupid for thinking there was something between David and I. He’s already been in love, real love. He would never feel the passion for me that he felt for Eva. No I was just like family to him. You’re like his flesh and blood. His flesh and blood, his little sister. I suddenly feel very lonely and I wish Paul had never told me the one secret David didn’t trust me with.

 “Do you think he’ll ever love someone like that again?”

“I don’t know to be honest; after a deep cut like that people tend to avoid knives.”

Perfect. I think sarcastically as I finger the knife that I’m still holding in my hand.  Feeling as if I had no one I could really trust, I started questioning why I was even here. It didn’t seem like I was going to make much of a difference. I was no wonder woman. Shrimp had more Talent than me, and let’s not get started on Phoenix.

 “If he had the opportunity now, do you think he would kill her?”

“No. Because she’s like medicine to his wounds. She’ll always be the morphine he is forbidden from having.”

“How can you be that in love with someone?”

Instead if answering me Paul just stands straight up and gets tense. I turned around to see David standing behind me.

 “If you’re done with your training, then you need to go be briefed. Bentley and Phoenix are coming back tonight; the five of us and Maci are leaving tomorrow.” David’s commands were short and he left just as fast as he’d come. I felt myself start breathing again and realized I had been just as tense as Paul had been.

“Do you think he heard us?” Paul asked nervously.

“No, I don’t think so.”  I actually did think that he had heard us, I just couldn’t think about anything but what he said.

Bentley is coming back. We’re leaving tomorrow.

Chapter 4

 Bentley Yates. Butterflies erupted through my insides when I heard his name out loud. Not the graceful beautiful little fairy butterflies you might see in a meadow covered in buttercups, but the dark ugly ones with daggers in their claws.

 David had brought Bentley and Phoenix to my sixteenth birthday party, to help with security. He was afraid that an official might sneak in to assassinate me now that I was getting old enough to become and Angel, and since almost all children who had Angel parents grew up to be Angels it wasn’t a far stretch. My enchanted party was set up in the gardens behind Dr. Caduceus mansion. The gardens were transformed into a mesmerizing fairytale. Thousands of twinkle lights illuminated the dark. Muñeca had spent weeks on my dress, and it was breath taking. The strapless top wrapped across my chest from both sides then wrapped around my lower back, leaving my back bare and covered in shimmer. A gold band position just below my breast gave me more cleavage than I’d ever had, which wasn’t saying much since cleavage rarely showed on me. The dress dropped elegantly in different shades of blue flowing to my ankles. I looked like the ocean. My dark brown hair had been straightened. Muñeca teased it up into a poof, and then braided a fish tail to the side. Even braided, my hair hangs past my chest, the ends of it meeting the gold band. I had another gold band around my bicep, and a small pure gold A, hung around my neck from a golden chain. I felt all the gold was a little much, but Idra demanded I look as rich as a queen.

 “A girl only turns sixteen once.” She smiled and said in her perfect English accent.

  I felt a lot older than sixteen as I stepped out into the cool September air, and looked down from the balcony to the crowd of people standing below, the ladies in white, pearl, and ivory colored gowns, the men in black tuxedos. The beautiful blue dress held my rib cage tight, making it hard for me to breathe, and I felt a moment of panic as I looked at the stairs I was supposed to descend to the gardens. I was already so tall that Muñeca thought it best for me to wear flat golden sandals, but even in flats stairs were not easy for me.

 “You are breath-taking.” I heard David’s voice and looked up to see him standing beside me, with two strangers at his side, a tall boy with shaggy blonde hair, and a tall slender blonde with a beautiful but fierce face.

“Is that why I can’t breathe?” I laughed as I threw my arms around David, forgetting I’m supposed to be acting like a lady. I notice the two strangers seem surprised that I am this close to David. He picks me up and chuckles.

 “No that is because you have a crowd of anxious men just dying to dance with you, and if I know you as well as I think I do, I bet you don’t think you’re going to make it down the stairs in one piece.” He winked.

“That’s not true!” I slapped his arm and tried to keep my eyes from giving me away to how he was dead on. “If you’re that worried about me, why don’t you just escort me down?” I laughed, but sincerely praying that he would.

 “I would be honored, but I have something’s to attend to with the good Dr. Caduceus; However I’ve some friends I’d like you to meet, colleges actually.” He turns to the strangers beside him, and I notice that they are dressed up. Were they invited? I wonder looking at the boy’s fine tuxedo, and the girl’s short white dress showing her long bronzed legs. She was wearing heels, and still wasn’t taller than the boy. “Ainslee these are two of my top Angels, Bentley Yates and Phoenix Vaughn, think of them as your body guards for the night. Germs won’t even dare to touch you with them around.” I kind of laughed to myself because Blondie, or Phoenix I suppose, looks like she might just kill me for fun. I tried to hide my disappointment that David wouldn’t be escorting me, but he caught my bluff.

 “You really are beautiful Ains, save me a dance for later.” He kisses my cheek and leaves me alone with Bentley and Blondie.

 “If you’re ready Ms. Brae,” Bentley holds out his arm. “Shall we?” I took his arm reluctantly and took the walked to the stairs which were bathed in elegant white ribbons, and blue balloons that match my dress, the attention of all the guest were called and my name was said out loud and cheers went up as a smiled and waved at the crowd. Bentley’s arm was strong and I was glad he was there; I practically floated down the stairs. I noticed all the girls staring, their mouths looked like they might just flop open, and the men stared as well. Not at me though. They were looking at the blonde with legs, and the hunk standing beside me, whose arm mine was firmly grasping. I felt as if I was the envy of every girl watching, and I didn’t like it. We reached the last stair and just as soon as my sandal landed on the ground, ten girls had surrounded me all smiling and wishing me a happy birthday, gushing about my dress and hair. Suggesting that next year I do something more fancy than a braid. I just smiled at all of them and felt it getting hard to breathe again. Damn David for not being here for me.

 “Alright, now that the birthday girl is here, why don’t we start dancing?” Idra’s cheerful voice came from the microphone on the stage where the band was ready to play all night long. I felt a rush of relief, and grabbed my friend Rebecca’s hand.

 “Bentley! This is my dear friend Rebecca; would you have the honor of dancing with her?” They both look confused, Rebecca more than him because I’ve never said more than five words to her before. She must not have cared though because she quickly takes his hand and pulls him to the center of dancing couples. As soon as he leaves the other girls follow and shortly after some brave boy asked Phoenix to dance, she shrugs and follows him to the rest of the happy dancing a couples. I sighed, relieved to be alone. I slipped back to one of the paths that went to the pond section of the gardens. I could still hear the orchestra playing when I reached the little Japanese inspired gazebo that sat in the middle of the pond. The twinkle lights didn’t stretch all the way out here, but the moon was bright and there were the ever-lit torches surrounding the pond. I settled down on a soft cushioned bench and let my head rest on the wall behind me. I sat there with my eyes closed thinking about my last nine years living here. How this family had become my family, this town my town, these gardens, my gardens. I heard song after song played and was pleased that no one came looking for me.

 “What’s a gentleman to do to get a dance with you Ms. Brae?” Bentley’s voice startled me and I must have looked like a fool jumping like that. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He hid a smug little smile.

 “You didn’t! I just. I just thought I was alone.” I stood up and smoothed the blue fabrics; I started to walk the opposite way out of the gazebo when he pulled me back around.

 “Dance with me.” It was a question, but it felt more like a command. There was twinkle in his eyes and he was smiling now. I realize for the first time tonight how attractive he is and I suddenly feel flattered that he wants me to dance with him. I felt my face blushing, and eager to hide my face I put my arms around his neck and looked down until I felt I could look at him without blushing. The song was almost over when we started dancing and it ended almost as soon as we’d begun. I looked at his eyes. Now it seemed silly to hear David’s voice refer to me as breathe taking, when his eyes were the definition of breathe taking. When I had met him just an hour ago the still fading sunlight had made them appear green. Now up close in the glow of the moonlight they were a bluish gray, I never stared people in the eye, but I found it hard not to look into his. It was almost like he felt the same way, because for the next few songs we would find ourselves starring into each other’s eyes, as if lost in this world where everything was beautiful, and there were no officials, and no need for Angels. We seemed to get inches closer as the minutes went by, and I wound up with my head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around my bare back. I didn’t want to think about anything but dancing with him, right there. I could have cared less if that night never ended and we danced for the rest of our lives. The song ended and we pulled me off his chest to look in my eyes, he touched my lip with his thumb and thousands of the beautiful butterflies fluttered around in my stomach. I knew by the look in his eyes that he was going to kiss me. He was going to kiss me! I panicked. I’d never been kissed before. Our lips got closer and just when I thought I was going to be sensible and let this unearthly handsome boy kiss me, I did what I do best when I’m confused. I stalled. The music started back and I did a quick twirl out and back into his arms and we started dancing again. I felt bad about avoiding his kiss, but I just tried to ignore it as he twirled and dipped me. I almost got lost in the fairytale of the night, until I heard Idra’s voice coming from the microphone.

“Will the birthday girl please grace use with her presence on stage so we can sing Happy Birthday?”

“I guess that’s my cue.” I said stepping back from Bentley and smoothing my hands over my dress. He didn’t say anything. He just put his arms around me and looked very solemnly into my eyes. I knew there was no getting out of it this time, and I didn’t want to. I put my hands on his chest and let him pull me in. I closed my eyes and waited. When I didn’t feel anything, I opened my eyes, only to see he isn’t looking at me. He’s looking over my head at something behind him. He looks very serious. He pushes me behind him, and takes one step forward. He must have seen something that I didn’t because in the next instant he pushes me to the ground and covers me with his own body, just a second before a gun fires. Before I can even put together that we are being shot at, Bentley grabs me, dragging me by my wrist as we sprint towards the mansion. I saw glimpses of my mother bleeding to death in my mind, as we ran away from the people who killed her. I wish Bentley had gone into the bushes and ripped their heads off. It was hard to logically think about turning around with bullets flying all around me.

 “Get everybody inside!” Bentley was yelling before we were even in sight. By the time we came around the corner Phoenix was leading the crowd up the stairs, and David was standing at the bottom reminding them not to panic. Idra ran to me and tried to pull me from Bentley’s protective hold. He didn’t let go of my waist.

 “I’ve got her!” Idra shouts and Bentley lets go. He pulls a gun from his tuxedo pants, and turns to go back.

“Are you crazy?” I screamed. “Don’t go back there you’ll be killed!” Idra tries pulling me up the stairs but since I’ve got a foot and probably thirty pounds on her I push her away like an ant. I’m still watching Bentley run back into the gunfire, when Phoenix leaps down the stairs and sprints towards him. At first I thought she was going to stop him, but then I see the bow in her hand, and the shaft full of arrows hanging on her back. I noticed that she’s torn a slit in her tight dress all the way to her upper thigh.

“They’re both crazy!” I’m still screaming, and looking frantically for David. Then I saw him running down the stairs towards Phoenix. Good, he’ll stop them!  I thought to myself.

 “Ainslee, don’t panic.” Idra’s sweet motherly voice reminded me that she was still pulling me up the stairs. Panic? Why would I panic? And then it hit me. David wasn’t going to stop them either. He was going with them! I would have screamed for him but it was too late. Tears rolled down my face, Idra didn’t have to force me up the steps, I ran. Ran past all my guest who reached for me, who said things I didn’t even hear. I ran straight to my bedroom, closed the huge door, and locked it. I sank down to the floor, and leaned back against the wall and cried. I cried for a good hour before I tore off the stupid blue dress, and crawled into bed in just my under clothes, and cried for countless hours. I was beyond tears as the sun rose the next morning. I wasn’t about to get out of bed, but I finally did to let Idra in who was pounding on the door, begging to see me.

 She didn’t look shocked at all to see my wild hair, or make-up streaked face, or even the fact that I was half naked. She just pulled me to the bathroom, and started running bath water into the huge tub that sat in front on the bay window looking out over the gardens. Everything was already cleaned up, no trace of the party just last night. I wanted to start crying again, but I didn’t have any tears left. Idra removed my clothes for me, and gently pushed me into the tub. She started washing my tangled hair, before she attempted to clean my face. It was a while before she said anything, and then she spoke.

 “They’re all alive Ainslee. Its okay and they caught six of them. You’re lucky that David and his friends were here, or we could have all been killed, and if not all of us, surely you.”

 I should have felt relieved that they were alive, and I did, but it didn’t take away everything else that happened. The officials tried to kill me. Why had they kept me alive only to try and kill me now? My party had been beyond ruined. Any part that had been magical had been shattered by bullets. I never wanted to face anyone again. Not even David. Why didn’t he stay with me? Bentley and wonder blonde would have been fine on their own. Bentley, he went from almost kissing me, to risking his life to shield my body, to almost being killed. How do you go through so much in one night? How can you develop feelings for someone you just met? Bentley had stolen my heart in one night, and then almost got himself killed in that same night.

 “I guess I am pretty lucky,” I finally replied. Idra finished washing my hair in silence, and then gently scrubbed the make-up off my cheeks.

 “Finishing bathing, and hurry down for breakfast.” She said as she dried her hands on a towel. “Please try to be happy, everyone feels awful about what happened last night. They’ve worried themselves sick and just want to see that you’re okay.” She said seriously. I felt it was selfish that they all wanted me to be okay so that they could feel better, but then maybe it was selfish of me to let them be worried sick. So I gave her a halfhearted smile and she was gone. I just sat there for a while before I actually finished bathing, and got out to towel off. I walked back into my bedroom to find that Idra had already picked out a dress for me to wear. It must have been new because I’d never seen it before. Instantly I knew she picked it out to make me look cheerful and bright, it was pink. I hated pink. Instead I pulled my favorite gray dress out of my huge closet that was filled with gray and blue. My favorite colors. I pulled on the dress, and dried my curly hair. I didn’t bother with make up before running down to breakfast. As soon as I walked in to the breakfast dining room, I wished I had put more into my appearance. There sat Dr. Caduceous, Idra, Nolan, Muñeca, David, Phoenix, and Bentley.  I made eye contact with Bentley and instantly regretted it. The soft beautiful eyes that had me in a trance just last night now had a dark sharpness to them. I sat down and everyone started eating again. After a painfully long breakfast, where no one said a word to me, I slipped off to one of the balconies overlooking the pool. I could smell the salt rising from the salt water pool, and feel the cool breeze against me. It was like what I had always imagined the ocean to be like. I was expecting someone to follow me, but not the person who ended up beside me. However there he stood, taking in the breeze just as I had been.

 “What do you want?” I said coldly, as I wrapped my arms around me. As if I was shielding myself-must be a reflex. I didn’t want to say what I had said I really wanted to throw my arms around this boy who had just yesterday been a stranger, and now he was a part of me. How did he slip in so fast?  I wondered as I look at his hands clenched to the balcony rail. He didn’t say anything he just looked at me. I felt uneasy under his scrutinizing eyes.  Then I interpreted what his eyes said. He answered my question without even speaking. Nothing. That’s what he wanted from me-nothing.

 “There’s no future for us, I probably won’t see you again after you leave. Am I correct?” I wanted to be the one to state the obvious. I was used to losing people, and it had always hurt. I didn’t want to be left again so I pretended I didn’t care, as if to trick myself.  He nodded but he didn’t say anything.

 “When are you leaving?”

 “Right now.”

 “So that’s it?”

 “Thanks for a great night.”

 “I’ll see you sometime.”

 “It would be a pleasure.”

 “Goodbye Bentley.”

He walked away and I was left alone, bewildered by my emotions. I hadn’t believed in falling for a stranger. I remembered calling Idra crazy for claiming to be in love with Nolan after one day, but there is no one how would deny their love now over a year later. Still it didn’t seem possible to have so many emotions for the boy that was walking away from me.

 I’ll see you again. I said, and I never did.

Author's Note

Please leave me encouragement!!