The Rift

by Skn Hammerstone

  “You’ve never felt love then?” I asked.

  “Not for a very long time and it was never that kind of love.”

  “Not for a very long time? So you recently did?” I had mixed feelings about asking this.

  “There is a girl that I think I might be developing those feelings for but she doesn’t know. I think she feels the same though,” it wasn’t me. I shouldn’t have felt so disappointed but I did. He wouldn’t have told me if it was me. I barely knew him. Why was I so intent on gaining his love? I was terrified of him. What was wrong with me?

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  “In France,” he answered. The safe house must be in France. She probably lived there and she probably had for a long time.

  “Oh. That’s nice,” I decided that I was done talking about it. It was kind of upsetting me but at least he couldn’t tell that.

  “I guess it is in a way,” he agreed. I turned away from him and leaned my head against the window.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were tired.” I didn’t answer because if I did he would know that I was starting to cry. Why was this so upsetting to me? I had cried entirely too much recently. It was enough. There were more important things in life than love. Besides, if I wanted someone to be with I should be with Jesse.

  He was the perfect guy. He was caring, he was kind, and he would do anything for me. In addition to that he had told me he loved me. I needed to stop thinking Joshua would be interested in me and focus on Jesse instead. But the heart wants what the heart wants and it wasn’t something I could just change. It was something I just didn’t understand.

  56

  I woke up the next morning and the car was stopped at a small bakery, still in France. Jesse was inside the shop and Joshua was leaning against the hood of the car, talking to the baker. He had left his leather jacket in the car and the morning sun reflected off his white, silk dress shirt.

  He still looked like Nicholas. What did he really look like? Was it that face that I had seen twice now or was it something else? This blonde-haired, blue-eyed, tall, attractive, strong man that he had taken the form of wasn’t it. He didn’t have to stay in this form anymore so why did he?

  I got out of the car and Joshua turned towards me.

  “This is Pierre,” he introduced the baker. “He’s an old friend.”

  “I am indebted to you. I am not just an old friend,” Pierre spoke in a thick French accent. “This man saved my little girl’s life.” Joshua smiled. It must be nice to save some of the people he was supposed to kill.

  The girl came out of the shop with Jesse who seemed to have hit it off with her. She looked to be a few years older than me with curly blonde hair and a large smile. Of course he hit it off with her well. She was beautiful.

  “Nicholas!” she ran to him in excitement and he caught her in his arms, his smile growing. So this was her. This was the girl he loved. The pang of jealousy returned and I tried to fight the dislike I now had for her. I didn’t even know her.

  However, she obviously didn’t know who he actually was if she called him Nicholas. I could keep that small amount of satisfaction.

  “Jacqueline, could you show Rachael the restroom in the house? She has been traveling a long time. I think she is the same size as you if you would not mind finding her something to wear,” Pierre instructed her.

  “Of course,” She was disappointed. Yep. Why would she want to take some random chick into her house to find clothes when she could be talking to the love of her life?

  “Right this way,” she took me into the shop and up a set of stairs. She walked into her room but I stood outside the door, feeling like an intruder and knowing she thought of me as one.

  “So are you… close to Nicholas?” here we go. In reality I wasn’t as far as I knew but she didn’t have to know that.

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “Oh,” she sighed. I didn’t care if she was disappointed. It wasn’t my problem.

  “Does he ever talk about me?” In truth he had. Did I want her to know that? No.

  “I don’t think he has ever mentioned you,” I said.

  “I guess he wouldn’t,” she pulled a pair of black jeans and a skin-tight black shirt out of a drawer and tossed them to me. I got the picture. I was the slut trying to take the guy she wanted. I knew how girls’ minds worked.

  ‘Thanks,” I caught them.

  “The bathroom is the second door on the right,” she added.

  “Ok,” I walked over to the bathroom and shut the door. I was greeted by my own less than comforting reflection. No wonder he loved her and not me. I looked horrible. Downright disturbing actually. The black makeup I had been wearing from days ago was smudged all over the place and my hair was a crazy, wavy mess.

  I looked pale, sick, and tired and that was pretty much how I felt at that point. I put on the clothes she had given me and tossed mine in the trash. They were pretty worn out and I had nowhere to go with them anyway. I had officially achieved the gothic slut look. One point for her.

  There was a window behind me and through it I could see the street below where Pierre, Jesse, Joshua, and Jacqueline were. What was with all of the J names? Jacqueline was leaning against Joshua and he had his arm around her shoulders. And there I went again being jealous. Why should I be?

  I should be happy that someone else was there to take his overbearing, intimidating, angry attention away from me. Why wasn’t I? Did I actually care about him? When had this happened? No! I couldn’t think like this. Not now and not ever. I had no idea where this attachment had come from. It was almost as if I knew him before but didn’t remember him just like everyone else.

  I splashed some water on my face and tried to contain the black eye makeup. With that toned down I was half presentable. There was absolutely nothing I could do with my hair. I ran my fingers through it but only succeeded in making it even wilder than it already was.

  I left the bathroom and got about two steps down the hallway, just two, when I was in danger again. This time I knew who it was though.

  “If you scream or try to contact Joshua, I will kill you, your little guardian, and the people who own this place.” I turned around. It was Daniel.

  “How did you find me?” I asked.

  “Quite easily. I don’t have much patience so listen very closely. You will follow my instructions exactly.” I nodded. I couldn’t let him hurt Jesse. I didn’t care about myself and I couldn’t care less about Jacqueline, although I didn’t want Pierre to suffer. I wouldn’t let someone else die for me though, even if I didn’t like them.

  “You will take your cell phone and call Jesse. Tell him to give the phone to Joshua. You will then repeat, word for word, exactly what I tell you to say. No panicking or adding extra words. If you do; those people are dead. Do you understand?” He couldn’t actually kill them but he could hurt them and I didn’t want that either.

  “I understand,” I told him.

  “Then call.” I took out my phone and dialed Jesse’s number. I told myself to stay calm and do exactly as he said. Jesse’s well-being depended on it. I knew he was an angel, but that didn’t mean he was invincible.

  “Hello?” Jesse picked up on the third ring.

  “Give the phone to Joshua,” I told him.

  “Ok,” he sounded confused. Daniel watched me smugly.

  “Rachael?” Joshua sounded concerned.

  “Hello Joshua,” Daniel stated.

  “Hello Joshua,” I repeated.

  “I thought you might like to know that Daniel is standing right in front of me.”

  “I thought you might like to know that Daniel is standing right in front of me.”

  “If you want me to live.”

  “If you want me to live.”

  “You will turn yourself in to Job by returning with Daniel.”

  “You will turn yourself in to Job by returning with Daniel.”

  “If you don’t.”

  “If you don’t.�
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  Daniel leaned by the phone so I wouldn’t have to repeat him.

  “I will make her suffer miserably until her soul is screaming for your help and you won’t be able to come.” A feeling of fear came across me as Daniel moved behind me and wrapped a single hand around my throat, the phone silent. I silently begged Joshua to do something even if it meant saving Jesse and not me.

  “I will do it Joshua,” Daniel said.

  “What makes you think that means anything to me?” Joshua asked, sounding completely calm.

  “We all know what this soul means to you.”

  “What exactly do you think she means to me? Maybe I just took her to make Michael and Raphael angry.” What was he saying? I didn’t know if I should be confused or relieved that everyone else might be safe.

  “You wouldn’t,” Daniel was beginning to doubt his decision.

  “I would. Besides; I don’t actually believe that you have her. You are a liar Daniel,” Joshua stated.

  “I do have her,” he was getting angrier every second.

  “Prove it,” Joshua answered.

  “I don’t have to prove anything to you,” Daniel snapped.

  “Then I don’t have to believe you,” Joshua told him.

  “Don’t even try to come to her,” Daniel guessed his intentions. “I know where you are.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Joshua answered. “But you don’t know everything.” Daniel’s grip on my throat suddenly tightened as a scream of agony came from him. He threw the phone in one direction and slammed me against the wall. I looked up from the floor to see Jesse, a bloody knife in his hand.

  “You!” he hissed. Apparently it didn’t affect him that much as he grabbed Jesse by the collar and threw him against the window at the end of the hallway. The window broke and Jesse went with it. I could hear his scream as he fell from the slanted roof, two stories above the ground.

  I started to get up, but Daniel was too fast. He grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet and pushing me ahead of himself out the shattered window and onto the slanted roof. Pierre and Jacqueline were huddled together off to one side and Jesse was lying motionless on the ground. He had opened his wings but not in time and now one of them lay at an awkward angle at his side. Joshua stood, the phone in his hand and at his side, in front of the roof.

  “Do you believe me now angel of death?” he shouted. Claws grew from his fingers and he embedded them into the skin right above my collar bone. I gave a cry of pain as he began to drag them down towards my heart.

  “I told you I would hurt her!” Daniel screamed in my ear. “Do you want her to suffer?” Dark, red blood streamed from the growing gashes below my throat. Joshua didn’t answer. His eyes were on me. He was trying to hint at something but I was in too much pain to figure it out. I tried to concentrate.

  Once he was sure he had my eyes he let his gaze drift to a large bird flying away from the building and back to me. I hoped I was right about what he wanted me to do. The roof was nearly impossible to balance on and it wouldn’t take much.

  Ignoring the pain from Daniel’s claws, I threw myself forward with all of my weight. He lost his grip in order to prevent his own fall and I began to fall down the roof. The sharp shingles scraped my skin, several of them getting knocked loose, before the roof was no longer there. Nothing was there and I fell straight down towards the ground.

  For a split second I was sure I had been wrong about what Joshua’s intentions were. Then I stopped falling. He landed lightly on the ground and I caught a glimpse of his black wings before they disappeared. I had never seen them fully extended but what I had seen of them was huge.

  Joshua put me gently on my feet on the road. Now that I was safe, he showed his true emotions. He ignited a stream of fire from thin air and hurled it at Daniel. Daniel put his arms in front of his face and the fire dissolved.

  Liquid fire filled Joshua’s hand and pooled out onto the ground.

  “I warned you not to cross me Daniel,” he snapped.

  “I have protection from you,” Daniel answered.

  “Job isn’t protection. Find a more powerful angel and one who cares about more than just himself,” Joshua tossed another line of fire at the fallen angel above him. Daniel hissed and batted it away.

  “You won’t win Joshua!”

  “I already have,” he let another fiery column fly at Daniel but he dodged it before jumping off of the edge of the roof. He spread a pair of ragged black wings before he dissolved into thin air. It must have been the same entrance to the City of Chaos that Elijah had talked about.

  The fire in Joshua’s hand ran out, leaving a burned scar on the road. Pierre and Jacqueline looked like they were about to pass out in fear. I wasn’t sure what to do either. The whole fire thing was completely new to me. He was even more powerful than I had previously thought. He wasn’t done though.

  He grabbed a handful of my hair, forcing my head back, and gripped one of his shoulders in his other hand. Then he leaned forward and blew an icy stream onto the gashes on my skin. I began to fight against him as a searing, burning pain rippled across the slashed skin but he refused to let go.

  It hurt worse than the claws had. What was he doing? The cold feeling stopped and the pain died down as he let go of my hair. My hand went to my collar bone, expecting to feel the blood and torn open flesh but there was nothing there.

  “What are you?” Pierre asked. It was then that I remembered the other angel in the picture.

  “Jesse!” I ran over to where he still laid on the ground and lifted his head onto my lap.

  “I think it’s broken,” he was referring to one of his wings.

  “It doesn’t look that bad,” I told him. Well that was a lie. It was twisted in a strange, awkward direction and I had no idea how to help his broken, seven foot wing.

  “It hurts really bad,” he said. He was breathing hard, struggling against the pain. Joshua knelt next to me.

  “Hold his hand. This isn’t going to be pretty,” Jesse took my hand, closing his eyes. Joshua swiftly twisted Jesse’s wing back into its original shape with a loud snap similar to setting a broken bone. Jesse screamed in pain, squeezing my hand.

  “You aren’t going to be flying for a few days,” Joshua told him. Jesse lifted his head to look at his wing and then dropped it back onto my lap. I brushed his hair back from his face with my free hand as his breathing slowly went back to normal.

  “Your name isn’t Nicholas is it?” Nice observation smart one.

  “No it isn’t Jacqueline,” he answered.

  “Who are you?” Pierre repeated.

  “I am an angel,” He was playing it safe. It was best not to include the “of death” part.

  “I have served God all of my life and I begged him to save my daughter when she was dying. I never realized he had sent one of his angels to me to save her,” Pierre was in awe. If they knew what was going on, they wouldn’t be so happy. The cloud hadn’t reached France yet. Joshua smiled and I think I knew what he had meant now when he said he only served one master.

  “If there is anything I can do to serve you, I will do it gladly,” Pierre told him.

  “I’m afraid that we have to leave now,” Joshua said. Good, I didn’t want to spend more time around Jacqueline than I had to. The wound here was too fresh.

  “Of course,” Pierre looked disappointed.

  “You are a good man Pierre,” he added. A compliment from an angel. I doubted that was something he heard every day.

  “Thank you my lord,” Pierre stated. I got up, helping Jesse to his feet.

  “Thank you,” Jacqueline wrapped her arms around Joshua’s neck and moved to kiss him. I knew I should look away but I couldn’t. It didn’t play out like I thought it would. He turned his head to one side to avoid her and she backed up slightly.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you like me?” she was hurt.

  “You are a very nice person Jacqueline but I can’t feel that way about you,” he told her.r />
  “If you’re afraid I’ll get hurt because you’re an angel, you’re wrong.”

  “That isn’t why,” he reached up and moved her arms away from his neck.

  “Why then?”

  “Because I love someone else,” he told her. She let go of him.

  “I’m sorry. I should have known that,” she looked down to avoid crying. Join the club sweetheart. He had a way of breaking a lot of people’s hearts.

  “I should leave now,” he walked away from her and opened the passenger side door for me. I guided Jesse to the back seat before I sat down. Joshua shut the door and moved to his side of the car. Jesse had managed to fold his wings back but he still looked to be in a lot of pain. Joshua got into the car and started it.

  “Are you going to be alright back there?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” Jesse answered.

  “Good,” Joshua pulled away from the bakery and began to drive. Jacqueline’s heartbreak had opened up mine again and I found myself wishing I had never ended up here. Why couldn’t everything just go back to the way it was where I was happy with my older brother and Josh and where I had my best friend by my side and I didn’t have to worry about people torturing him to hurt me?

  57

  “The United States is in Chaos as the strange, supernatural situation spreads across the globe. It all began at a little high school in New York and now the entire country along with Mexico and the border of Great Britain are covered in the black cloud that travels over an army of terrifying creatures. The armies of all of the countries being consumed are nothing compared to this evil.”

  “It will be an estimated five days before the entire Earth is consumed.” That was a broadcast on the news from a station in Switzerland. I stared at the TV from the Swiss hotel room as images of the demons and the smoking remains of my high school flashed across the screen.

  “Why aren’t the angels stopping Job?” I questioned.