I frowned as I stood in my dark kitchen, wondering what the hell could have caused the power outage. The silence in the house was deafening as I walked over to the window in my living room and peered outside. I was expecting the street to be completely engulfed in blackness, but from what I could see, I was the only darkened house on the street.
My frown deepened as I unlocked the side door in my kitchen that led out to the garage. Luckily, I knew the layout of my garage like the back of my hand, so I didn’t need to worry about looking around for a flashlight to get to the fuse box. The instant I walked past the threshold, I turned immediately to my right to where the box was located. I’d just hooked my finger through the pull-tab on the door to the box when everything turned on at once, and my entire garage was bathed in light.
“So weird,” I muttered to myself over the strange power surge.
I scrunched my face up in confusion before shaking my head. I shuffled back into the kitchen to resume cooking my dinner, but as soon as I pressed the “start” button on the microwave, I lost power again.
“What the hell?” I asked myself, groaning in frustration.
Surely something wasn’t wrong with the electrical wiring of my house? I’d had it inspected before buying my home five years ago, and the electrician assured me that nothing was wrong with it. With a sigh of annoyance, I made my way back to the garage. I’d just put my hand on the doorknob when the lights flashed on again.
I stood in my kitchen, unsure of what to do. Did I call the electric company? Wait and see if it went off again? Go out in the garage and fiddle with the fuse box in case there was a short? Aside from flipping a switch in a fuse box, electric wiring was out of my field of expertise, even if I did sell real estate.
During my internal debate my lights stayed on, so I decided to wait and see what happened. Walking back to the microwave, with a tentative finger, I reached over and pressed the “start” button again, and exhaled loudly when the lights didn’t go out again. My body was tense the entire three minutes and thirty seconds it took my meal to warm up, and after transferring everything to a plate, I carried my food and a bottle of water to the living room. Luckily, the power stayed on, and I sat down in my favorite recliner and flipped on the television.
While my food cooled I channel surfed and stopped on a rerun of a game show. I shoved the bland-tasting food into my mouth while watching the show. I finished eating and once the show was over, went back to my kitchen to clean up the little mess I made. It was almost time for bed, so I grabbed my phone off the couch and frowned when I saw there were no responses to the message I’d sent Kimmie and Courtney. Maybe my disbelief did turn them away.
That thought upset me more than it should have considering I barely knew them, but feeling defeated, I walked to my bedroom. I’d just plugged my phone into the charger and set it on my bedside table when the lights started to flicker again. I glanced up and watched the overhead light surge from dark to bright, and then looked out the window. Sure enough, all the houses and streetlamps were having no issues with their power.
I sighed and decided to call the electric company in the morning to come get my wiring checked. I reached into my dresser drawer and was just about to grab my sleep pants when the light in my room grew brighter. I dropped the pants, turning around slowly, my eyes fixated on the light on my bedroom ceiling. I had to squint since the intensity of the light was growing bright and brighter until my eyes were beginning to hurt.
All of a sudden, the light bulb exploded with a loud pop, sending tiny shards of glass all over my bedroom, bathing the room in darkness. I heard a similar noise coming from the front of the house and had a gut-feeling all the bulbs in my house had done the same thing.
“Yup, time to call an electrician.”
I unplugged my phone from the charger and turned on its flashlight so I could check my bed and the floor for shards of glass. Most of the glass was on the carpet surrounding my bed, and there were a few shards on my comforter. I knew the rest of the house would be the same way, with glass imbedded in the carpet and covering various surfaces, but with no power, it would be way too hard to clean up.
I propped my phone up so that the light was shining on the bedspread, and I pulled up the edges together to keep as much of the glass contained as I could, and rolled it up into a ball. After discarding it into a corner, I grabbed my phone and carefully made my way down the hallway to the linen closet. I had some extra blankets stored in there, so I grabbed one and went back to my room. I propped the phone back up, then spread the bedspread over the mattress, and then went back to the dresser to grab my pants.
I’d just unsnapped my jeans when a loud banging sounded on the door. I was instantly on alert since I never had anyone over, unless it was Stephanie, so I was a bit apprehensive over someone knocking on my door. But then, I wondered if maybe the neighbors had a similar experience with their lights blowing, so I quickly—yet carefully—walked to the front door, using my flashlight from my phone to help guide the way.
The light caught the reflection of several shards of glass from various blown bulbs, and I sighed when I took in the damage. I knew it was going to be a mess to clean up tomorrow, and had a feeling my counters and dining room table were covered in the shards. Maybe I should call in sick and spend the day dealing with the electrical issues and mess?
The pounding sounded again on the door, this time more insistent than before, if that were possible with someone pounding. I braced myself as I walked toward the door, but stopped in my tracks. Because suddenly, the door burst open with a force I could only describe as…unhuman. I saw pieces of wood reflected in the light as it nearly flew off the hinges and bounced off the wall. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when a man, covered from head to toe in black clothes, stepped inside my house. And I just knew, at that very moment, that I was going to die.
Chapter 4
This was it. This was how I was going to meet my end of this…sad excuse for a life. I was going to be murdered in my own home, by a crazy lunatic, while my neighbors sat peacefully in their homes watching reality TV and stuffing their faces with junk. And even though I held my phone in my hand, it was trembling too badly, and I was too terrified to use the damn thing to call the police.
The man stepped further into my house, and I could feel the tension and power radiating from his body. He was tall, extremely tall, standing well over six and a half feet, with raven black hair, and eyes that seemed to almost glow. I wanted to take a step back as he drew nearer to me, but my body remained frozen to the spot.
“Where are they?” he asked, his voice coming out a deep rumble.
“W-who?” I stammered.
“The girls,” he hissed. “Where. Are. They?”
“W-what girls? I-I d-don’t know what you mean?”
My teeth started to chatter, and my hands shook so violently that I dropped my phone on the floor. Luckily, it landed face down so the light was able to shine a little bit around the room. My knees knocked together, and my breath came in short gasps as he stepped even closer. Why wasn’t I running? Why wasn’t I calling the police?
“You know what I mean. I can smell them in here.”
“E-excuse me? M-my h-house is c-clean.” Was he implying my house stunk?
The giant of a man slowly sniffed the air, almost menacingly if that were possible. “They were here.”
“Who?” I asked, anger creeping into my voice, and I silently cursed myself.
This strange man was in my home and could easily kill me with his bare hands. Getting angry at him wasn’t going to do anything but expedite my death. But for him to break into my house and accuse me of having smelly people in there was really starting to tick me off.
“The healer and the seer. Where are they?”
It dawned on me who he was referring to. “You mean Kimmie and Courtney?”
The stranger’s eyes seemed to grow brighter, and he reached over and grabbed me by the shirt collar. “Where are the
y?”
More panic surged through my body as I was lifted off the ground, but oddly enough, he wasn’t choking me. It felt like I was…floating, if that made any sense. But that wasn’t possible…was it?
“H-how should I know? I haven’t seen or heard from them in a few days.”
The man dropped me, gently, back to the ground and released my shirt. “He’s got them,” he said more to himself than to me.
“Who’s got them? What do you mean?”
Why was I even trying to talk to the guy? He was an intruder that I should be running away from while screaming at the top of my lungs. Not standing there trying to make sense of his ramblings.
“We need to go,” he said, grabbing my elbow to yank me toward the door.
I dug my feet into the carpet, trying to stay where I was, but he was too strong.
“Wait!” I yelled, catching his attention. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You can’t just break into my home and demand I go with you somewhere. I don’t know you! You could,” I stopped to think of how to word what I wanted to say. “You could kill me and dump my body somewhere!” That was eloquent.
“Your friends are in extreme danger. If you want to save them, you have to come with me.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to make a joke about The Terminator, but I knew now wasn’t the time. Even in the dark I could see the severity of his expression and the firm set of his strong jaw. He wasn’t playing around, and my fear transformed. I was no longer in fear of my life, but in fear for my friends.
His words resonated with me since he referred to them as the “healer” and “seer”. Did that mean they were speaking the truth about their abilities? And how the hell did he know they were in my house? I was so confused. I had so many questions and he wasn’t answering any of them. But something told me I needed to go with this man to save them.
“Let me go put on some shoes,” I muttered, resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to leave until I agreed to go with him.
“You have two seconds,” he replied gruffly.
I bit my tongue to keep from saying a snarky remark, and bent down to grab my phone. After walking carefully through the shards of glass, I walked into my room to put on some socks and shoes. Only then did I belated remember that my pants were unsnapped. A blush tinged my cheeks as I quickly rebuttoned them, and then made my way back to the stranger standing in my living room.
“Where are you parked?”
“I did not drive here,” he replied stiffly.
“Fine, my car’s in the garage.”
I turned and walked to the garage, grabbing my keys off the hook that hung by the door. It was only that the reality of what was happening finally hit me. My friends were apparently missing, and I was about to go off with some strange man I didn’t even know to find them, without any of my questions being answered.
“Wait a second; I need some answers before we go anywhere.”
“Start driving and I will explain everything.”
I stared at him for a second wondering if I could believe him. Finally, something weird settled over me and I had a gut-feeling that he was trustworthy.
“Fine,” I said, unlocking the car door. “But can I at least have your name?”
We both got in the car, and I pushed the button to open my garage door. After starting the car, the man in the seat beside me finally answered me.
“I’m Alistair.”
“Alistair, that’s an unusual name,” I quipped, but the man beside me remained quiet. “So where are we going?”
“To save the healer and seer.”
I sighed. This was starting to be a long trip, and we hadn’t even left my garage, yet. “I can’t drive us to save them if I don’t know which direction to go.”
Alistair rolled down the window of the car and sniffed the air, like a dog. It was really a bizarre thing, but I couldn’t help but watch him in fascination.
“Leave this area and turn left at the light.”
“Okay, then,” I replied, while many more questions formed in my head.
It was only when I was headed down the street with Alistair beside me that I started to mentally kick my own ass. Hadn’t I wished for something exciting to happen in my life? What was that old adage about being careful for what you wish for? Because I was certainly getting it.
Chapter 5
“Who are you?” I asked after we’d been driving for some time.
Alistair was in the passenger seat, his back ramrod straight, and his face stoic. It was unnerving how he barely moved a muscle. Did he even blink?
“I am Alistair.”
I rolled my eyes at his stiff, and formal, tone. “I already know that. I mean, who are you? What do you want with Kimmie and Courtney?”
“I do not want anything with them, except to save them.”
“You told me you’d tell me everything once we were on the road,” I reminded him.
Alistair didn’t even look in my direction. “Turn left.”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, but turned like he instructed. He closed his eyes, the only movement I’d noticed he’d made in the time we’d been driving, and inhaled deeply.
“Yes, this is the right direction.”
“Okay, the sniffing thing is really weird. Can you please start talking before I kick you out of my car and go to the closest police station?”
Alistair finally turned to glare at me, and even in the darkened space of the car, I could see his eyes narrow at me in rage. And oddly enough, they still looked like they were glowing.
“As you wish, but then we will not save the healer and the seer.”
“Why do you keep calling them that?”
“Because that is what they are.”
I snorted. “So that stuff they told me about battling paranormal beings is all true,” I joked. “Yeah, sure.”
“Why would it not be true?”
I shook my head. “What’s with all the formal speaking? Did you go to boarding school or something?”
“I did not go to school.”
“Oh, you were home schooled?”
“No.”
Weird, but okay. “Contractions are okay to use,” I felt the need to tell him, which was completely out of character for me.
Typically I was more subdued, and tried not to make waves by speaking whatever was on my mind. I didn’t like confrontations, and the possibility of making anyone upset with me gave me hives. But something about this man brought out the snark that was buried inside me.
“I believe that Gabriel has them.”
“Who is Gabriel?” Great, now I was starting to speak like him.
“He is the person we are looking for. I believe he has taken your friends.”
I rolled my eyes again, because we’d already established he thought that this Gabriel person had Kimmie and Courtney. “I mean, who is he to you?”
“He is nobody of importance to me. He is just a bad person. An evil person who needs to be stopped.”
Well that sounded pretty ominous. “And how are we supposed to stop him? You really need to start talking and giving me some answers. I feel like I’m driving to my death sentence or something.”
“If it is fated, so let it happen.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Are you suggesting I might die during this shit?”
Alistair turned his head to stare out the windshield. “I am not suggesting anything.”
My headlights flashed on a sign indicating a turn-off to a road. After a quick glance in my rearview mirror, I switched lanes and turned into the road. Once I drove down it a little, to make room for any cars trying to turn in, I slammed on my brakes and put the car in park.
“You turned the wrong way,” Alistair told me, his voice filled with anger.
“I know I did, and we aren’t going to go anywhere until you start talking. I need answers, and I need them now. Especially if my life is on the line.”
Alistair sighed. “Your friend,
Kimmie, is part fae, a descendent of my kind. Her magic is very powerful, and in the wrong hands can cause destruction to this planet.”
“What the hell is a fae?”
“A type of fairy. She can project light from her hands, and her magic can heal people.”
“Ooookay. Clearly you drank the same Kool-aid they did.”
“What is Kool-aid?”
“God, what planet are you from?” I muttered under my breath, and then decided to try a new tactic. “So say this stuff about Kimmie is true, why would he want Courtney?”
“Courtney is a seer. She has visions.”
“Visions?”
“Yes. She can see certain things in the future.”
“So what do they need her for? Are they looking for someone or something in particular?”
“Yes.”
“Which is it?”
“A someone.”
I couldn’t believe that I was sitting in the car with this weirdo and entertaining the possibility that what he was saying held some tiny bit of truth to it. But there I was, starting to question if what he told me held any merit.
“What are you?” I asked, instead of questioning who that someone was that this Gabriel person was looking for.
“I am an angel.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing at his words. “Don’t angels wear white and have halos? And where are your wings?”
“You cannot believe everything you read or see on the television. I am an angel, though a fallen one.”
“You were kicked out of heaven?”
“Something like that.”
“Where are your wings?” I asked again.
“I can assure you that I do have wings. But I am not someone who does party tricks. Instead, I am someone who was sent to save your friends and stop Gabriel.”
“So, who is it Gabriel wants?”
“You.”
My mouth fell open at those words. “Me?” I croaked out. “Why me?”
“We really need to start driving.”
I couldn’t focus on driving at the moment, “Why does he want me?”
Dark Saviors: The Consequence of Destiny Novella Page 2