by Diana Steele
Lorraine shook her head. “You are not being honest with me.”
“I swear I am.”
“How did he meet you?” She demanded. “Where did you come from?”
Adelaide cocked her head to the side, confused at the fact that Lorraine had not already been informed of this. “I was a prisoner.”
Lorraine laughed humorlessly. “My husband thinks so little of me that he lets a prisoner into our bed.” She sneered as she approached her. “I don’t understand it.” She clutched Adelaide’s face, her fingers digging into her skin.
Adelaide tried not to look as afraid as she felt.
“What is it about you angels?”
Lorraine stood so close to her that Adelaide could smell her sweat breath. She could not deny that she found it seductive. Everything about Lorraine was seductive.
“What is it about your golden skin? You amazing eyes. Your long, luscious hair….” She pressed her nose against her neck, taking a long, deep whiff of her. “It’s that beating heart, isn’t it?” she hissed. “I can feel your blood coursing through your veins even as we speak now.” She sucked in a deep breath, then traced her trachea with her tongue.
Adelaide’s eyes went wide as she clutched Lorraine’s arms for lack of anything else to hold on to.
Lorraine scoffed. “Please.” She muttered. “I never had chance. I can’t compete with you. I’m dead.” With that, her fangs surged through her gums, pressing into Adelaide’s skin. She cried out in a surprise that quickly morphed into immense pain as Lorraine began to suck her blood out of her. Adelaide’s eyes watered as she felt all of her Energy rush to that one area of her body to try to replenish what she had lost, but she was losing far too quickly. Lorraine held onto her, like a snake to its prey, making it impossible to escape, and with every passing second, she grew weaker and weaker, until escape was no longer feasible.
Chapter Three
Adelaide tossed and turned in the fur of Constantine’s bed. In the minutes, or hours or days or years since Lorraine had left her, she had slowly deteriorated into a deeper and deeper sickness. Her venom had spilled into her blood and now Adelaide’s body fought it with everything it had. She writhed it pain, the force of it curdling her blood and freezing her muscles, as whatever was left of her energy worked to combat venom and the death it would surely bring. Sweat sprouted from every pore in her body, then streamed down her skin in multitudes of buckets, drenching the sheets. Whenever she chanced to open her eyes, the salty liquid would spill into them, it’s burning adding to the ocean of pain she was already feeling. She struggled to think of a solution; a poultice, or pill, or drink, or herb that she could eat to alleviate this pain. She tried with every ounce of her strength to sift through her memory for any of the healing strategies her grandmother had taught her. But her fever had turned her brain to mush. Words bounced around her head, banging themselves against her skull into nonsense before they could form any thoughts. And the few thoughts that managed to come into being, against all odds, withered away before she could grasp them.
Adelaide turned over. She found that if she removed the covers and lay on her back, she caught the small draft of air coming in through the top, opened portion of the front flap. It made her shiver, but it was also extremely soothing. She figured if she could just lay there and focus on her breathing and on not moving, she might just survive the pain until her body had worked all of the toxins out of her system.
Yet, as she was laying there, her stomach began to violently lurch. She swallowed the lump in her through, heaving in deep breaths in the hopes that it would calm her, but there was no luck. By the time saliva flooded her mouth, there was absolutely no question what would be coming next. She summoned what little strength she had to leap out of bed and tear her way through the flap. She scurried outside and around the tent so that no one would see her and bent over into the grass. Her body only hesitated for a short moment, before every muscle inside of her seemed to team up in the task of dispelling wastes from her body. Her mouth filled with desiccated foods and half chewed meats. Bile and wine tore at her throat on the way out, the burn making her eyes water. She pressed her legs together to keep herself from peeing out of reflex as she clutched her knees with her hands, seriously questioning if she was ever actually going to stop vomiting.
But finally, she stood up, her body feeling at least five pounds lighter and gazed at the sunrise above her. A migraine throbbed in her head, the pressure pushing just behind her eyes, but her fever seemed to have subsided if only a little bit. As Adelaide stood there, spitting out the remnants of her vomit and wondering what her next move would be, a thought lodged itself in the back of her head and refused to leave.
Samson.
“I have to see him.” She muttered to herself as she made her way back into her tent and shut the flap behind her. As she rushed past the vanity, to pull an outfit out of her chest, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. “What the….” She murmured as she peered at herself, taking in her pale white skin, her glossy, glazed eyes, and her limp, wet hair. Her collar bone poked through her chest, along with her shoulders, her hips and her knees. It seems that her healthy muscles had disappeared overnight. If it weren’t for the wings, she would look exactly like a human… and an unhealthy one at that. She scowled at herself. Would this happen every time she was alone with Lorraine? Was this her future? Becoming Constantine’s sex thing and Lorraine’s food thing? If so, she wasn’t sure how long she could actually survive all of this. As dread began to set in, she longed for the days when the only thing she had to worry about was Daman’s temper.
Daman.
She wondered how he was… and if he wondered how she was.
And with that, she left the mirror and got dressed, slipping into jeans, a black tube top, and a cape to hide her emaciated-looking body. She figured, since Samson was one of the first angel prisoners and a former spy to the vampires, he would be in an obvious place. As she wandered down the lanes of tents and across the bare areas where tents used to be, she wondered if he had begun to heal yet, or if they had begun to feed on him like they had so many other angels. In the weeks after the end of the war, the demons had vacated, heading south and the vampires had wasted no time scouring the forests for any angel settlements. Any winged creatures they could find were captured and taken to the camp. She imagined that Constantine was at the South Pole with the king working out arrangements for more permanent farming facilities right then.
After strolling through half the camp, she finally reached the barbed wire fence that marked the separation between vampires and the Farm. Adelaide hurried to the gate, but slowed when she saw the two vampires that stood guard at the gate. Although the fighting had long reached its end, they still stood in full battle dress, draped in their armor while their shoes were clad in those heavy boots Constantine used to wear.
Adelaide’s heart fluttered in her chest as she thought up a good lie.
When she reached them, they looked down on her with identical sneers on their faces. “Well, if it isn’t the Angel.” The one on the right uttered in his dark voice.
Adelaide glowered at him. “It isn’t. It’s Adelaide. I’m not just the angel.” She replied, frustrated that she found herself constantly having to explain this to people.
The guard on the left laughed at this. “Oh no. We know you’re not just an angel, you’re Constantine’s mistress.” He hissed.
Adelaide sucked in a deep breath, counting on the fresh oxygen to stop her from fighting both of them right then and there.
“But you don’t look so good tonight, do you?” he continued, peering down into her eyes.
Adelaide had to fight the urge to look away from his penetrating stare.
“Oy! Vince, look at this one!” he gestured at the guard on the right, who then joined him in an examination of her.
Adelaide took another one of those deep breaths, but willed herself to keep her patience.
“What’s the matter with you
? Are you sick or something?” he asked.
“Don’t be daft, John. Angels don’t get sick.”
Adelaide huffed out a deep breath. She had reached her limit of patience with the two of them. “Look, I am not in question here. I have some important business to complete, so if you wouldn’t mind moving out of my way…”
But she trailed off when the two of them erupted into a fit of laughter.
“Business? You?”
“What could the courtesan possibly want with the prisoners?”
“That is not of your concern.” She pressed in an assertive voice. She knew it was going to be difficult, but those vampires were really trying her patience.
“Oh but it is, love.” Vince replied, the smile gone from his face in less than a second.
“You see, because we can’t let you in until we can be sure you won’t start a rebellion.” John joked.
“Okay,” Adelaide had had enough. “You are really gonna have to stop wasting my time, because, here’s the thing: Constantine left me with important business to resolve. It has to do with the angels and since I am the only angel you’ve got, I’m the man, yes I said it, man, for the job. Now I can’t tell you, obviously, because you two are nothing but a couple of lowly guards. Either you can accept that I am telling the truth and let me through, or you can take a chance with me and with Constantine’s wrath.”
Their smiles were fading, so she knew she was on the right track. If only she could think of one more thing to say, something that would be the last nail in the coffin… “Honestly, it’s up to you. If you turn me away, I won’t fight you. But, I know that Constantine has been known to execute those who do not please him. I also know that, beyond you’re understanding, he adores me. So, either you let me through, or you face true death.”
With that, they unlocked the gate and scurried aside.
The Farm was like a completely different world. Once she had taken a couple of steps deeper into it, the smell of excrement, crusted blood and the stench of sickness coated the inside of her nose. As she swept her gaze across the rows and rows of hastily erected, and poorly suited tents for anything that looked like it might house Samson. In a leap of faith, she decided to check the very first tent, assuming that they would probably have kept him close to the front and away from the others so that he wouldn’t put any ideas in their heads. She pulled the flap back and poked her head into the tent. A smile played at her lips as she laid eyes on Samson’s bright, golden hair, it practically glistened in the morning sun. She hadn’t expected to feel so happy at the sight of him, since they had had such a bumpy past.
He turned at the sound, his eyes flashing wide at the sight of her.
“Surprise?” Adelaide muttered as she stepped inside and shut the flap behind her.
“Why are you hear?” he demanded.
She shrugged. That question had not even occurred to her. “I have no idea, actually.” She replied as she glanced around her at the scanty tent. The only piece of furniture was an inexpensive-looking hammock they had suspended from two pillars.
“What happened to you?” he asked, taking in her sickly form.
She smirked, “The same thing that happened to you, I guess?”
He shook his head. “No. It looks like that bastard fed on you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. She wondered why he was being so warm towards her. “That bastard?” she asked. “It sounds like you actually care.”
He just shrugged and took a seat on the edge of his hammock.
“Do they not farm you?”
He raised an eyebrow, extending his arms on either side of him. “Does it look like I’ve been farmed?” he asked.
Adelaide gazed at him, taking in everything from his brilliant blue eyes, to his thick hair and healthy-looking muscles. His wings had even nearly grown back. “No.” she replied. “Why is that?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. I think they might be preserving my strength, might want me to oversee the farm or something, because,” he added with a dark chuckle, “Let’s face it, vampires know nothing about angels…. Except for how our blood tastes.”
Adelaide nodded slowly as she sat on the ground with her legs crossed across from him. “Yeah. Funny.” Her voice cracked.
He leaned into her, his eyes earnest and concerned. It wasn’t until then that Adelaide realized it had been ages since anyone had looked at her that way… and that she had missed it.
“So, they fed on you.” Samson declared.
Adelaide nodded, the thought bringing fresh tears to her eyes.
“Tell me about it.”
Chapter Four
After having practically spilled a lifetime’s worth of information, Adelaide’s mouth was starting to go dry. She could see, beyond the vampire shadow that the sun had risen high in the sky, indicating that they were approaching the afternoon. She was running out of time to continue talking to him. The camp did not run at the maximum level during the day, but she doubted that her absence would escape everyone’s notice. She shuddered to think what Lorraine would do if she came looking for her again. Adelaide found herself longing for Constantine’s return. “Do you think this is going to be an ongoing thing?” Samson asked.
Adelaide had joined him on the hammock. She felt drawn to him. It was like he was the warm fire on a cold night in the desert. She shook her head. “Probably not? I don’t know what her plans are, but I know that Constantine would kill her before he’d let her feed on me again.”
Samson raised an eyebrow at her. “And this is a good thing?” he asked.
Adelaide set her jaw. “It’s not like I want this.”
He gazed around him. “Do you think any of us want this?”
Adelaide gulped. He had a good point. Here she was feeling sorry for herself because she was shrouded with guilt at the sight of all the angels around her, suffering at the vampire’s hands, when they had to actually live it. “I’m so ashamed of myself.”
He placed a hand on hers, but she shrugged it off. For once, she didn’t want to be touched. The thought of it made her sick with disgust. He seemed to understand this, for he pretended that the whole thing didn’t even happen. “Don’t be. Any other angel would do anything to be in your place.”
“But it’s wrong.” Adelaide replied with a heavy voice, fresh tears sprouting in her eyes. “Look at me, eating state dinners and sleeping on fur and look at you. Look at this. And apparently, you have it good. I can’t even bring myself to see what the others live like… the ones that are being farmed.”
Samson scoffed. “Trust me, you don’t want to.”
Adelaide doubled over, convulsing with silent sobs. “I can’t believe this is my life.”
This time, Samson didn’t try to touch her. “Look, I think you should stop beating yourself up about this.”
Adelaide shot up, glancing at him with a questioning look. “That makes no sense. Why would you say that to me? Weren’t you questioning my methods just under a month ago? Telling me that I should be ashamed of myself? Ashamed of the fact that I used my body to stay out of the line of fire?”
“Well, I was angry with you because you fought for our enemies.”
“The demons were against the vampires. They had no plans to feed on us.”
“But the demons were not our friends.” Samson countered. You figured that out all on your own in good time.”
Adelaide pursed her lips. She could not deny the fact that he was right.
“And, of course, the undeniable fact is that if you had never betrayed your kind, you would have never met Daman, which means you would have never met the general, which then means that you wouldn’t have become a bargaining chip. Face it, you are the reason Constantine conceded the planet. You are the reason he would even consider sharing the planet.”
She shook her head. None of it made any sense to her. “You make it sound like he’s love with me or something.” She joked.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Samson retorted. “He�
��s obsessed with you, like a racer and a new car, or a human and her new house.”
Adelaide nodded. That same knot started to form in her throat once again. She had never felt this low in her life and it was all because of the choices she had made. “There’s no one to blame.” She murmured to herself.
“There’s no point in assigning blame.”
“Then what am I supposed to do? Fuck Constantine until I grow old and die?” she demanded in a heavy voice.
Samson let out a dark chuckle. “You would be doing that for centuries.”
Adelaide gazed up at him with desperate eyes. For the first time in a long time, she really didn’t know what to do with herself. The only thing she knew was that this absolutely could not be her future. She’s rather Lorraine drain her to death right that moment, than continue on living this way. “So what do I do?” she pleaded. It was the first time she had genuinely asked someone for advice in years.
Samson opened his mouth to say something, but then, seemingly thinking better of it, he stopped and shut his mouth.
“What?”
He shook his head. “It would be a useless thing to mention.” He muttered.
“But you obviously want to tell me.” Adelaide argued.
“Look, there have been legends. The king-…”
Adelaide released the breath that she had been holding. “You’re right.” She could almost see her grandmother sitting across from her on her bed, telling her tales of a fabled king with enough power to control every life force in the world.
“He could be risen…”
“Where is he?”
“Far away… south.” Samson replied, looking away from her. “Look, it do not like to discuss these things. Nothing will come of it.”
“Who told you that?”
“The only way we could get raise him from the dead is if we somehow managed to break free of this camp and make it all the way to his tomb… and raise him from the dead before Constantine and his men could catch up to us.”
“But he could end the war.” Adelaide pressed.