by L. L Hunter
Chapter Thirteen
Weapon
After tossing and turning all night trying to keep the nightmares at bay, Scarlett had continually been having dreams the past few days, where she was in a pool and a dark figure kept swimming closer. She was now in desperate need of caffeine. She dressed in gym gear for her first class that morning, not bothering to shower because she would just be having one after class. She made her way down to the dining hall, yawning all the way. Angels never slept or felt tired, but being Nephilim; the human blood that still lingered, craved rest. She grabbed a bowl of warm, lumpy porridge, drizzled a decent amount of honey on it, grabbed a mug of good strong coffee and walked to her seat.
“Mm coffee, yes please,” said Kat, after Jacob had handed her a mug. She looked worse for wear; her hair was untamed and she had no make-up on.
“Turbulent night in the bedroom?” asked Thomas clearly amused. Kat just shot him a glare and continued to inhale the coffee her hands were wrapped around. Scarlett then noticed that Jacob was sitting at their table, one arm around Kat, the other holding his own cup of coffee. Scarlett gazed over at his usual spot at the Fourth Year table, hoping to find Dyston, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Dyston?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, “I was hoping you would.”
“I haven’t seen him since last night.”
“He wasn’t in his room this morning. Either that, or he didn’t feel like answering the door.”
That was strange, Scarlett thought, even with his usual reputation for being elusive. She replayed Lakyn’s words over and over in her head; the reason for not getting to sleep last night, and now they were eating her from the inside out. Knowledge was a very powerful weapon, especially if it could put everyone you loved in danger. She could no longer keep it to herself. She had to tell someone.
“I have to tell you guys something,” she finally said. Everyone’s eyes lifted to her.
“I overheard Lakyn talking to someone on the phone last night during the dance.”
“Where?” asked Thomas.
“What was he saying?” wondered Emer, whose hair was pristine this morning.
“I heard him say that he wanted five thousand Tear Tips made, and shipped out by the end of the week.”
“Tear Tips? Are you sure?” Jacob asked, perking up at the mention of it.
“Yes, certain. We have about six days.”
“Now I understand why we had to have classes on a Saturday,” whined Emer.
“Maybe all the professors know and they’re training us for the upcoming war,” said Delilah. She rarely said a word, but when she did, it was pure intellectual genius.
“Its possible.” Said Jacob.
“Can you tell Dyston?” Scarlett asked.
“I think he knows. I saw something about the Michaelites with his books, during Chronicle 101 on Friday,” said Jacob
“The Michaelites? What would he want with the Michaelites?” asked Kat.
“They’re human,” added Thomas, almost saying the word like it was poison in his mouth.
“Yes they are human. In fact, they are the only remaining humans on this earth,” Jacob told them.
“How’d they stay that way? I thought all humans were wiped out after The Fall,” said Scarlett
“They live in a protected sanctuary and have somehow invented a ward to prevent angels from entering.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
“I don’t know, to keep human blood pure I guess.”
“You said they were wiped out, the humans, what do you mean?” asked Emer. Jacob answered for her.
“They weren’t wiped out, as in obliterated as you say. After the fall, angels bred with humans, and over time as the angel bloodlines grew stronger, the human ones grew weaker, until they were almost non-existent. Except for the Michaelites that is.”
The cathedral bells tolled signalling the start of classes for the day.
“If you want to learn more about the Michaelites, do Chronicle 101 next semester,” he told them, standing up. Kat joined him. “See you in combat,” he added with a smile and left. Scarlett wasn’t sure if he meant their first class, or the raging war that she knew was coming.
~
It felt good to let her frustrations out, each hit of the punching bag was knocking away her worries like chisel to stone, but they still chewed at her brain, especially Jacob’s words. What he had said about Dyston wanting to know more about the Michaelites, who kept themselves hidden for a reason, scared of angels or scared of being bred out, she didn’t know. Whatever Dyston wanted probably wasn’t good.
“Pretend that punching bag is your enemy,” yelled Jacob, who had taken over teaching duties since Lakyn was also M.I.A. Both Blackbell brothers missing, was it a coincidence? Scarlett thought not. She didn’t believe in coincidences, only fate. She had to find out what Dyston wanted to know about the Michaelite. But she also had to stop Lakyn from manufacturing thousands of deadly angelic weapons. She wished she could split herself in two and do both, but she couldn’t. She had to choose one. And she knew which one she had to choose.
Scarlett trained until her muscles burned and then she hit the showers, letting the warm water cascade over her body as she contemplated walking into Lakyn’s factory and demanding him to stop. But it would be no easy task, it would be easier said then done. After a few minutes of this she turned off the water and grabbed her towel. As she dried, her vision began to blur. She thought it was water so she wiped her face with the towel but it wouldn’t go away. Then when she received a vision, she leaned against the wall and let it take over.
~
Dyston tagged closely behind a priest as they walked up the isle towards the front of the church.
“Thank you for dropping the ward so that I could talk to you,” he said.
“Its alright, as long as you mean us no harm, you are welcome here,” said the priest, lighting a candle.
“I don’t. I just wanted to ask you something.”
“Say what you have to say and leave us, we are busy people,” the priest told him.
“My brother is planning a war, he’s fighting against you. I wanted to ask if we could seek sanctuary within your wards if ever we needed it.”
“We don’t owe you anything, Nephilim,” said the elderly priest.
“I know, but I am asking if you could help us, you could stop a war.”
“There is forever a war amongst your kind, we want no part in it.”
“All we ask is for a safe place to hide when the time comes, and in return we will protect you.”
“What makes you different from those before who have tried to destroy us?”
“We are the good guys,” Dyston told him, and the elderly Michaelite priest hesitated, but eventually put his hand out for Dyston to take. The two shook hands, angel and man.
The haze lifted and Scarlett could see again, a smile made its way to her lips. Dyston was trying to save them, and she knew she had to do the same.
~
Scarlett stepped off the tram at the Docklands and ran the rest of the way. She knew exactly where the factory was, but what she didn’t know was a way to stop the production. She was glad she had bought along Dyston’s dagger. She pulled it out now as she ran down the side of the factory to the side door. She knew this place like the back of her hand because her grandfather had worked here when she was an infant, and she had seen it on the news, it was a famous cigarette company after all. She wondered if the news journalists would soon be reporting about something more sinister coming out of this building. She crept through the unlocked door and into the dark.
Once inside, Scarlett kept close to the wall and listened for signs of life. She heard shouts somewhere ahead of her but she couldn’t see a thing. She closed her eyes and called flame to her fingertips, they became an instant flashlight. She saw a metal staircase and decided to climb it so she could get a clearer view of the layout of the fact
ory. She climbed the two flights of stairs to the top floor and looked around. There were offices to her left and a platform that looked over the factory floor to her right. Scarlett crouched down and duck-walked over to the platform railing so she could listen.
“What’s the count?” said one; he sounded familiar.
“Three thousand five hundred,” said another less familiar voice.
“Mr Blackbell wants five thousand by Friday, better getting cracking,” said Voice One. Scarlett remembered where she had heard him before; he was one of the angels who had kidnapped her, Abel. Then she heard more voices, this time, closer.
“How do we immerse the Tear Tips once we get the Archangel tears?” asked a young Nephilim. Scarlett peered through the railing. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen.
“The tips are dipped into the vat containing the tears. Now, we wont have much so try not to waste any okay?” said an angel whose back was facing her. He turned a little and Scarlett recognised him immediately, Lakyn.
“How do you harvest the tears from the Archangel?” asked the boy.
“That information is not for you to know, your job is just to coat the tips okay?” Lakyn told him, patting his shoulder, before heading towards the stairs. He was coming up, she realised. She needed to do something, and fast. So she ran towards the closest office. She pinned herself to the wall and waited. She heard his footsteps against the metal grate and thought he had gone past. She peeled herself off the wall and peered out, and was met with ice blue eyes and a smirk.
“Perfect,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her, she froze and went along with it, hoping to get somewhere but all she felt was a sharp prick in her neck.
“Lakyn, what…” and then the world fell away from her.
~
“Scarlett hold on,” he told her. She sighed
“Dyston, I knew you’d find me,” she muttered groggily. She opened her eyes and put her hand on his face.
“I promise I’ll get you out.”
“Out? What do you mean? I’m here with you, I’m safe.”
“You’re only safe in this dream, out there, you’re not.”
“Dream? This can’t be a dream, you’re real,” she said as she pulled him close. They were on a bed in a blurry room, and they were the only ones whose features were clear.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Its okay, I forgive you.” And then he kissed her deeply. And his kiss sucked away the rest of the world so they were the only ones left in existence. Her hands found his buttons and slowly undid them; he didn’t stop her, so she kept going. She felt his hands on her arms. They slid up and over her shoulders and down her bare back, she realised she was wearing nothing but a backless hospital gown. Next she felt his fingers on the ties and they loosened. She tugged his shirt off and her fingers found his hair, she tangled them in his dark locks, and then slid them down over his lean back. He moaned with pleasure and pulled her closer to him so that they were now in a sitting position. Scarlett wrapped her legs around his waist and the gown fell off her shoulders. He took her in, every glorious inch of her.
“I love you,” he told her.
“I love you too,” she gasped and kissed him again. If this was a dream it was the best one yet and she never wanted to wake up. She reached for his jeans button and unzipped his fly. He grinned and let her fall back on the bed. He kissed her again and allowed her to slip his jeans down with her toes. Scarlett forgot her indiscretion with Lakyn and replaced the memory with this one; this would be her first time. She pulled his hips closer, and just as it was about to happen, he sat up.
“Dys, what’s wrong?”
“He’s coming.” And then the dream cleared like fog and she found herself strapped to a metal table in the centre of a white room.
“Welcome back,” said Lakyn, “you must have been having a good dream,” he smirked.
Scarlett’s cheeks flushed, “None of your business.” She tried to move her hands but they were covered in tubes and cords, and small mechanical beeps were coming from a machine somewhere. She gazed around. They were in a clinical room. She looked at the tubes coming out of her wrists; they were the dark red colour of her blood.
“What is this? Why are you taking my blood?”
“Ssh. Relax, Scarlett, this is for a good cause,” said a woman in scrubs. Scarlett could only see her eyes, they were pale yellow.
“Unless you are taking it to help save someone, you have no permission to take my blood!”
“We need your blood to help all the other angels,” Lakyn told her. Scarlett could tell he was trying to be serious, but she could see straight through his facade.
“Liar. Dyston knows, so you better let me go,” Scarlett stated.
Lakyn laughed. “My brother cannot enter the Realm anymore.”
Scarlett froze. Realm. They were in the angel equivalent to Purgatory. There was no escaping this time. And she didn’t have the strength to make another Angel protection ward. And Dyston couldn’t save her. She was stuck here. She was certain that this room and these faces would be the last thing she would ever see.
“Alright Scarlett, now I need you to cry.”
Cry? They were taking her tears as well? She wasn’t going to let them. She squeezed her eyelids shut.
“She’s going to resist,” said the woman with the yellow eyes.
“Here I’ll try,” said Lakyn. He leaned close, Scarlett could tell because she felt his breath on her face and smelt the pungent odour of cigarettes that always accompanied him.
“Scarlett, is there anything you want me to tell Dyston for you? Because you won’t be going back to him.” Scarlett opened her eyes and stared at him.
“Come on, you must have something you want to say to him. Don’t you love him?”
Her eyes began to sting. No! She had to hold them back she just had to. She wouldn’t be the one to ruin the world. Just one drop of her salty tears could kill many souls, so she had to hold them back.
“This is going to kill him. Oh, how I’m going to enjoy seeing him suffer. He’s so weak, my brother,” chuckled Lakyn.
“You evil son of a bitch!” Screamed Scarlett. She wasn’t strong enough. She couldn’t do it he was too strong. She gave up and he put her under again, and stole from her the most powerful weapon in the universe.
Chapter Fourteen
Fight
Scarlett moved in and out of unconsciousness, her vision wavered and her hearing lulled like she was floating on the ocean. Up and down, in and out. In between waves she picked out a few words from the conversation being had around her.
“I have the tears.” There was a pause and then the same voice spoke again, it was female.
“I have some blood.”
Scarlett blinked and saw a blurred image, a white figure moving about the room. Was she still in the lab?
“There’s a problem,” said the woman, a little clearer this time, “she keeps replenishing it.”
The next thing Scarlett heard was a muffled male voice, it sounded like he was shouting.
“Drain her!” he said, he sounded really angry. The male voice seemed familiar but Scarlett was too weak and too drugged up to recognize him. No! She cried, but the word didn’t escape her mind. She was stuck inside her own body and she felt the desperate need to fight, to be free. She couldn’t die here, not here, not alone, not without Dyston. She had to see him one more time, even if it was in a dream.
She felt heat. It engulfed her body. She wanted to scream but she realised she wasn’t in pain. It was her body that was causing the heat. It was her trait. She clenched her fists and concentrated on the warmth, the energy it seemed to give her. Her wrists felt freer; there was less tension there. Then she looked down and saw that no binds held her, so she lifted her arms, but was met with resistance. She felt hands wrap around her wrists. They tugged her arms back down. Then she felt another prick, sudden sharp pain that drifted into nothingness, and then sleep came.
&n
bsp; ~
“Scarlett?” a voice echoed in the dark corners of her mind. It was coming closer. “Scarlett.” She recognized it immediately. She smiled and opened her eyes. Her vision was no longer blurred, and she could see his face as clear as day.
“Dys, you came back.”
“I never left.”
“He’s gone, you can stay now.” She snuggled into his chest. His body was warm and as familiar as her own. The scent of vanilla and rain flooded her nose. She inhaled and sighed.
“I wish I could get you out of there,” he told her.
“I wish you could too. I’m trying, I’m holding on like you told me to.”
“Good. You’re stronger than you know, there’s no one else in the universe who is as strong as you.”
“Sometimes I hate being a burden,” she sighed. Dyston cupped her chin in his hand and turned her eyes towards his.
“Don’t ever say that. You are not a burden. Not to me and not to anyone.”
“But sometimes I feel like killing myself just to end this. I’m the reason there is even a third war.” Scarlett said. His eyes turned stormy, which made Scarlett shudder, it scared her.
“Do not talk like that, you hear? Promise me you wont ever think like that again.” He hugged her close, his embrace desperate.
“I promise,” she whispered. And then he kissed her. First feather-light, and then it grew hungry and needing. She was the first to break it.
“How’s everyone? Emer, Kat, Josh, Jacob?”
“They’re good. They miss you, especially Emer,” he chuckled
“I’m sorry for just leaving like that.”
“No you’re not.”
“Okay I’m not.”
“If Lakyn brings the world down, you and I still have each other at the end of the day,” he told her, stroking her hair.
“Hey, the world is so much bigger than just you and I, I love you, but we have to help.”
“Okay we’ll help, without you running off again.”
“Promise,” she told him. Dyston traced kisses along her jaw line.