Forever Trilogy 3: Angel Eyes

by Quinteria Ramey;Brandon Alston

  “Well, you are dating the star quarterback. Everyone knows who you are.”

  “Yeah, and I’m the girl he quit the team to spend time with. Just wait ‘til the next time we get whooped on the football field. That’ll make them remember to not like me.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope,” Taylor said laughing.

  I pretended to be pissed and chased her up the hall.

  Mr. Monroe, my homeroom teacher, only got through half of the roll before he was interrupted by Principal Reardon. She waved him over to the door and the two shared a quick conversation. Judging by Mr. Monroe’s reaction, something awful had happened. Immediately, Leia’s words came to mind. She’d said that I wouldn’t be happy when I got home. I wondered if this had anything to do with it.

  Mr. Monroe looked a bit flustered when he returned from the doorway and stood front and center to address the class. He kept scratching his head. “I suppose there’s no easy way to say this, class. The world’s a lot different from the days when I was a teenager. There’s been a terrorist attack— a bad one. Last night, two cities were attacked leaving more than a thousand people dead. The principal thinks it’s important we take time to acknowledge this tragedy. She wants you guys to know what’s going on in the world.”

  Mr. Monroe walked over to the television perched above his desk and pushed the power button. Immediately, images of buildings on fire and still bodies littered across the streets flashed across the screen.

  I looked around me. Eyes were fixed on the small television. The class was dead silent. Mr. Monroe reached up and tapped on the volume button until the reporter’s voice filled the classroom.

  “For those of you just tuning in, we’ve been reporting since about seven forty five eastern time about what are at this time being called terrorist attacks in both St. Petersburg, Russia and the French port town of Marseilles. It is unclear at this time how these targets are specifically related. What is clear is that the attacks occurred sometime in the night, leaving an estimated fifteen hundred people dead in their homes or in the streets. Adam Shefter, our Russian correspondent is on the ground in St. Petersburg. If we can cut to him, we can find out a little more about what’s happened.”

  “Adam, can you hear me?”

  “Yes, Chris.”

  “Can you tell our viewers what you’ve learned about these devastating attacks.”

  “Chris, I think the best word to describe what’s occurred both here and in Marseilles, after “tragedy” would be “mystery.” In fact, both the national and local authorities here in Russia are baffled by what’s transpired. It’s unclear just how these attacks were carried out, or even why they were carried out. No known terrorist groups have taken responsibility.

  “Adam, we’ve been hearing that the attacks focused on specific neighborhoods. Any truth to those reports?”

  “Those reports are one hundred percent accurate, Chris. The targets, both here and in Marseilles, were very affluent neighborhoods known for their exclusivity. These weren’t the type of places you could simply move into. That fact, however, seems to be the one fact that links to two neighborhoods—”

  “Adam, I hate to cut you off but we’ve just confirmed that Cape Town, South Africa has been added to the list cities affected by this great tragedy. The details appear to be the same as you’ve just described: an exclusive and affluent neighborhood, victims found dead in their homes, no leads as to who might be responsible.”

  “If I could just speak for a moment about the victims, Adam. Whoever was responsible for this had to truly have hated these people. A few of my Russian colleagues have arrangements with the local law enforcement and because of that we were able to visit a few of the homes of these victims. These people lived extravagant lives Adam. If you could see some of these estates you would not believe your eyes. Yet the thing that struck all of us was the fact that nothing appeared to be stolen or rummaged through. The perpetrators had a single purpose, and that was to kill whoever they came across. Men, woman, children all beaten— sometimes beyond recognition…”

  The bell rang and Mr. Monroe reached up and turned off the television. “Keep the victims and their families in your prayers guys. No matter where they are the world, they’re still people like you and I. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. Go ahead and report to your second period classes.”

  I watched the class get up and move for the door. I stood up to follow, but my head felt light, my legs wobbly. I could barely take step without holding onto a desk.

  “Are you alright, Ms. Adams?” Mr. Monroe asked, eyeing me as he approached.

  “I…I’m not feeling so good.” Those neighborhoods had been havens, and those attacks had been carried out by vampires. Everything that had happened… it was my fault.

  Mr. Monroe nodded. “That broadcast was pretty difficult to hear. All those people... Would you like me to walk you to the nurse?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll be okay.”

  I took one more step, and then threw up all over his shoes.

  Chapter Seven

  Aftermath

  *Ana*

  I was in the nurse’s office for all of two minutes before Chris’s father showed up with a couple of older guardians. He was the picture of composure; the only hint of anything having been wrong was the glint of sadness in his eyes. The nurse grilled him upon arrival, wondering why three strange looking men were here to pick up a teenage girl, but Guardian Dent calmly pointed out that his name was listed on my legal guardian sheet, right after my mother and grandmother. He flashed his I.D. and she checked her files. To both our surprise, he was right.

  The nurse asked Guardian Dent to step out into the hall for a moment, leaving me alone with his two very concerned looking escorts. One of them was looking at me like I was one sniffle away from him coming over to give me a hug.

  I could have used one. I had been fighting tears since I got here, their source a crushing despair that squeezed my heart on all sides, threatening to obliterate it completely. I turned my attention to the mirror above the small sink and saw that the color had drained from my face completely. The grey in my eyes only looked colorless and dead.

  Taylor burst into the room, throwing her arms around me. I couldn’t fight it anymore. I cried, loud and deeply, shaking in her arms. She didn’t bother with words of consolation, and I was thankful. The deaths of all those people, it was my fault. No amount of words would ever change that.

  I didn’t realize that Guardian Dent had reentered the room until I felt his hand rubbing my back. “We’re taking you home, Ana.”

  Taylor let her arms fall back to her sides, and I gave a nod.

  I couldn’t shake the haze that encircled me while walking toward the large black SUV in the visitor’s section of the school parking lot. My legs felt weird too, like I had none. It felt like I was floating away from the school.

  Taylor left her Jeep at school, choosing instead to ride in the back of the truck with her best friend who really was about one sniffle away from a complete meltdown. She put her head on my shoulder, and we rode like that all the way home.

  Guardian Dent went about briefing me on the situation, what preparations had been made to secure our borders, Geneive’s SOS and subsequent extraction, the panicked witchfolk gathered at Wintre. I tried to focus on what he was telling me but it was hard, I could barely think straight.

  The parking lot was full of both cars and people. Guardian Dent maneuvered the truck into the grass, and the people surrounded us. A few pressed their faces into the glass in an effort to penetrate the truck’s tinted windows. These people had been waiting for me.

  Guardian Dent turned around in his seat so that he was facing me. “It might be a lot to ask, princess, but it would make all the difference if you could try to look confident when you step outside. Our world has been rocked, and the people are even more frightened than they had been before. They’re going to look to you for some sign that things are going to be alright. Do you think you’r
e up to it?”

  Everyone in the car turned to face me.

  I swallowed before answering. “I can do that.” I had to. It was the least I could do. Taylor gave my hand a squeeze for support.

  Guardian Dent stepped out of the truck first. I could hear the verbal assault the crowd leveled at him—a thousand questions all at once. He spoke with them for a few minutes, which I was certain was to give me some time to compose myself.

  “How are you feeling?” Taylor asked.

  “Taylor, all of this is because of me.” Those words kept repeating in my head, I had to say them aloud.

  “What could you have done?”

  “I could have not created vampires in the first place.”

  Her eyes dropped and we sat in silence for a moment.

  The door slid open behind me and Taylor’s eyes looked past me to the people surrounding the SUV. When they returned to meet my own a few seconds later, she gave me a reassuring smile. “You can do this, Ana.”

  I nodded. “Be strong, Ana.”

  I filled my face with all of the confidence I could muster, and then turned around to face the crowd.

  Quiet fell over the parking lot as my head emerged from the interior of the truck. The people gathered here wore their fears openly; it was evident on the faces of everyone I could see.

  Guardian Dent was waving me over to where he stood. I paused before going, thinking that maybe I should offer a few words of encouragement, but thought better of it. No need to press my luck.

  With Guardian Dent as my escort, I walked briskly down the thin walkway that connected the parking lot with the main house. The crowd followed closely behind, the murmur of hushed conversations serenading my approach.

  The field behind the house was filled with even more people. Upon sight, a mass of them rushed toward me, but were thwarted by a wall of guardians. A second wave of guardians moved to separate the crowd that trailed us, leaving only Guardian Dent and I free to enter the house.

  I stopped in my tracks. “I need for you to let Taylor through.”

  “Your grandmother ordered that only the haven’s leadership be allowed inside the house right now. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

  “I’m the one who’s the heir, and my orders are to let her through.”

  He nodded, and then retreated into the crowd to get her. Standing alone, my progress in reaching the house halted, I truly noticed the crowd for the first time. Many here were scared too, and many more were furious.

  “Why?” someone called. “How could you let this happen?” asked another. “You were supposed to protect us!”

  Taylor couldn’t have arrived soon enough. She took my hand and we walked the remaining distance to the house. I tried to look confident, to keep my composure, but each shout from the crowd tore gaping holes in my armor. By the time I reached the house, I felt naked to their attacks, the shout of an old woman finally hitting the soft flesh my show of confidence had been protecting. “This is all your fault!”

  The truth of her words had shaken me, and again I stopped. With tears in my eyes I turned to her and mouthed, “I know.”

  **********

  It was noon before the meetings were done. For all the power I attained after my coronation, my only job during the proceedings had been to nod my approval. Guardian Dent, who had been replaced by Duncan a few weeks ago due to his lack of experience, proved more than capable of stepping into the Chief Guardian role. Sure we’d had our differences in the past, but I was thankful to have him here now.

  In essence, we weren’t changing a whole lot. The haven had already been under a state of alert since the last attack, although we’d admittedly become a bit complacent as the weeks went by. Needless to say, there wouldn’t be any more festivals planned in the foreseeable future.

  My mother held my hand as we walked the staircase up to my room. We were headed to my balcony so that we could address the haven. There hadn’t been time for us to have words before or after the meeting, but this gesture had done what words couldn’t. The grief and guilt that screamed inside me was quiet for the moment, and I never wanted her to release me.

  My grandmother walked just in front of us, the meeting was the longest we had spent in each other’s company in weeks.

  I stood with Guardian Dent on the balcony as he delivered his speech. Though he lacked Duncan’s ability to rile up a crowd, he spoke with enough confidence and belief that people seemed reassured in their safety. He had assured them that we had something the other havens did not, a guardian angel. That was the reason that we hadn’t been attacked again, he insisted. In that fact, it appeared, the people below seemed to take solace. I watched their shock and outrage at my being the angel who allowed the other havens to be attacked morph into gratitude for at least protecting Brighton.

  I felt like a liar standing before all these people as Guardian Dent hailed me as their protector. Didn’t they know that I had created the enemy they feared?

  An enemy that was responsible for Brighton being the last haven on earth.

  Chapter Eight

  Truth

  *Ana*

  It was night now, and the playful November winds danced across my face and played in my hair. The wind was in a much better mood than I was. It was night, and almost everyone had gone home. Darren and I sat alone beside the small pond where a lone mangled duck shaped hedge stood watch. It seemed to represent the mistake I could never escape from.

  “I’m sorry again for what happened last night. With Tristan, I mean.”

  “I honestly don’t remember any of it. Besides, you healed me didn’t you? No harm, no foul.”

  I debated whether or not I should tell him about Leia. But then I thought that maybe she’d taken his memories away for a reason. “Well, it’s late, Darren. You should probably get home.”

  “I can stay a little longer if you need me to,” he replied. Darren had come by this afternoon, as the crowds were leaving and spent the evening with me. I spent most of the time listening to his assurances that there was nothing that I could have done to prevent what happened. It was sweet, really, but he was wrong. Just like I told Taylor, I could have not created vampires in the first place.

  That train of thought led me to a subject that I had been afraid to bring up until now.

  “Darren, I need you to be honest about something. Promise to tell me the truth.”

  He nodded. “I promise. What’s on your mind?”

  I took in a deep breath and placed my hands in his. He took them both, using his thumbs to warm them up, and looked into my eyes. “Darren, you believe that I’m an angel right?”

  “Of course I do. I’ve seen your wings remember? Kinda hot if you ask me.” He flashed a smile. He was trying to lighten the mood and I was appreciative, but right now I really needed a serious answer.

  “Then you know that I’ve been other people, before Ana, I mean.”

  “Yeah, I know that.”

  “What do you think about me being Merline? About me being the one who created vampires?”

  “Ana, I don’t care about that.”

  “Don’t care?” I said, standing up. “How can you say that? Darren the vampires killed your uncle and raped your aunt. Those other havens, they’re gone because of vampires. Darren they’ve killed you! How can you say that you don’t care? How can you stand to look at me?”

  Darren shook his head at me. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s something I’ve thought about. And sometimes, it really does get to me. But then I just think like, that’s the person you used to be. I’m in love with the girl in front of me.”

  “But we are the same person. As much as I want to pretend that that’s not true, it is. I can’t just sit around anymore and pretend that I don’t need to do anything. I have to do something. I’m going to end this, Darren. Whatever it takes.”

  “Then I believe that you can do it. And I’m going to help.”

  **********

  As the clock struck midnight, I would ha
ve given anything to escape up to my room so that I could disappear into the blankets and pillows. Emotionally, I had reached the end of my rope. I was desperate for a long night’s rest. I needed to recharge my mind so that I could seriously go about deciding what it was I was going to do next. Unfortunately, sleep wasn’t an option right now. The heir, and last surviving members of the French haven had just arrived at our back door.

  My mother said that the members of Genevieve’s household had gone to extraordinary lengths to allow for her escape—they had sacrificed their lives to smuggle her safely out of the haven. I was already aware that Guardian Dent had dispatched a couple of guardians to Paris to escort her back here. I had gotten the news that her plane had landed at the airport the moment Darren and I arrived in the ballroom after having our talk.

  Only my mother, my grandmother, and I stood in ballroom’s doorway, awaiting their emergence from the vehicle. As per usual, whenever my grandmother and I shared the same room, we stood there in silence. My mother offered me her hand again, and I took it.

  As the door opened, I found myself feeling extremely anxious. Surely I couldn’t pretend to be some great “protector” with her. She was aware of who I used to be, that I was the girl who’d the created the monsters that had destroyed her entire haven. What would she say to me? What could I possibly say to her?

  Genevieve was not the first person to step out of the truck. It was, however, someone I knew. That person was Amelie, my former bodyguard. But she hardly looked like herself. The girl I remembered had an air of confidence about her, not as rigid or intimidating as Corinne’s, her partner’, but just as reassuring. The girl that faced me now appeared timid, shell-shocked. She just stared at me with squinted eyes. It was like we were strangers or something. After last night, maybe we were.

  Genevieve appeared next. She too, showed the pains of the last night’s attack. Her make-up was ruined by tears and she had to lean against the truck to keep herself standing. It was heartbreaking to look at.