Forever Trilogy 3: Angel Eyes

by Quinteria Ramey;Brandon Alston

  “What now?” I asked.

  “Now you get a flying lesson,” she replied. She walked over to edge of the building and extended her wings, letting them ignite into two raging infernos that reached out of her back. “Your turn.”

  I tried to do the same, but came up empty.

  Leia looked annoyed. “What did I tell you? Get angry! Think about how I’m forcing you into this, how you’re too stupid to fulfill a purpose that you’ve had seven lifetimes to accomplish. Or if that doesn’t work, get scared. That works just as well. If you fail in this, I will rip Darren’s heart out his chest and present it to you. How is that for motivation?”

  It did frighten me. And it also made me furious to feel this helpless. But what could do? Who could I turn to for help? “God… please help me.”

  Leia laughed again. “Oh it’s far too late for that.”

  I waited for some kind of miracle to happen but none came.

  Leia turned and slapped me so hard that I saw stars and fell down onto my back. Leia kicked me in the side and then leaned over me, enraged. “GET UP AND LET’S GO!”

  It wasn’t difficult to be angry now. With my face and ribs throbbing in pain, I crawled up onto my feet and summoned my wings on the very next attempt. They filled the night with twice as much fire, and one after the other we took to the sky.

  It took me a few minutes to get the hang of flying again. It had been lifetimes since I had last tried, and my wings weren’t nearly this large when I was an angel of heaven. I wondered what people below would think if they saw two females soaring above them with wings of fire. But then I figured that we had gotten so high up, so quickly, that we would only be specks to people on the ground. They probably wouldn’t even notice, and if by some chance they did, they would just convince themselves that we were something that made sense to them.

  Almost fifteen minutes passed before we descended into a tightly packed forest. As soon as our feet touched the ground, we were surrounded. Leia waved her hand and put out the fire our wings had started when passing through the trees above.

  No one bothered with introductions. Instead we just turned our heads to the sky and waited. In silence.

  An hour went by before the hulking figure next to me reached up and pointed. I recognized him as the angel who was flying away when Darren woke up in the field.

  I could see that my earlier assessment had been correct. From here the angels that flew overhead looked as ordinary as a shooting star, leaving a trail of shimmering white light in their wake.

  “Pull them down,” Leia ordered.

  It wasn’t until the others all turned in my direction that I realized that she was talking to me. “I haven’t been able to do magic very well since becoming one of the fallen. One of you should give it a try.”

  Groans sounded from the others and Leia grabbed a hold of my gown and pulled me close. “You’re an archangel, Ana. You’re the only one of us who’s strong enough to do it, so get to it. You know what happens if you don’t.”

  I hated her so much. I reached my hands into the air and then slammed them down hard into the dirt. The shooting star vanished and we could see specks of light disperse in every direction. The forest lit up as the fallen angels ignited their wings all at once and shot up into the sky.

  I stayed on the ground, content to just huddle here under a tree. The heavenly angels had regrouped and the sky came alive with specks of orange and white streaking after one another. Fiery explosions boomed in the night and where I stood, it looked like some kind of elaborate fireworks display.

  In my head, I was urging the angels of heaven on, hoping that they might prevail and release me from Leia’s threats. The only problem with that was the fact that there were twice as many orange specks as there were white ones. Soon the white ones began to flee, speeding off in opposite directions. All save for one that is. One was headed straight for me.

  I tried to run but it was no use. I felt the angel slam into me, sending me tumbling through the grass until a tree stopped my momentum. I tried to pick myself up but my left arm wouldn’t respond. It was broken. I was helpless, stretched out at the foot of an angel that I had pulled out of the sky to be attacked. I was his enemy. I could fight, but I didn’t.

  I was about to die and part of me, well, it was ready to.

  The angel leaned over me and I closed my eyes, the inside of my eyelids bright against the shimmering white light of the angel’s wings. In my head, I was sending every person I could think of a mental “I love you.”

  “I haven’t forsaken you, Ana,” came a whisper. “You’re going to get the chance you’ve been looking for. Daemon is coming to Brighton. Be ready, Ana. Please, be ready.”

  Another explosion sounded and I covered my ears. When I opened my eyes, London lay next to me, the glow in her eyes fading until it was gone. Shouts went up around me, and the others paraded around us, dumping the bodies of the heavenly angels into a pile beside me.

  Leia leaned over me now, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. If she knew about me, then she would also know that London and I had been partners since the beginning of time. I shivered, forcing myself to think about anything but what London had just told me. Not that it would matter much if Leia decided to be persistent. If it was in my head, there was nothing to prevent her from discovering it.

  “Nasty,” said the huge angel pointing down at my arm. It was bent backwards, the opposite how it was supposed to be.

  Leia’s eyes flicked over to my injury and the suspicion faded from her eyes. “Looks like she didn’t care much for you guys’ friendship in the end, did she? I just saved your life.”

  She and the others went back to their victory shouts and I managed to crawl up onto my knees. I took one last look at London and then took to the sky, bawling my eyes out.

  Chapter Twelve

  Elizabeth

  *Tristan*

  “I love you, Tristan.”

  Ana’s words had come to me out of the blue. There was an urgency to them that worried me. The fact that she could say that to me after our last encounter pushed me toward panic. People tended to let go of grudges when close to death and there were a great many things that wanted her dead.

  I sighed. Hundreds of miles from Brighton, in a darkened hotel room, I had no way of knowing what was happening with her. I spoke London’s name a couple of times but she didn’t answer. To tell the truth, she usually didn’t. The late night talk show host chatted with some actress whose dark hair and silver eyes favored Ana’s. I had been watching for that reason alone. Once he called on the next guest, the television went off.

  I missed her terribly. So much I could shout. I’d have given anything to be holding her right now. I imagined how she would feel in my arms. It was a place that would always be hers, where she would always be safe…

  I closed my eyes and took a breath. A memory seized control of my mind.

  The year was 1941 and I was drifting through the South. I had spent the previous year traveling the northern states. During the times when we weren’t together, I was always searching for her.

  By dumb luck I ended up in Pottsbridge, Alabama. I had made arrangements to stay in Birmingham, but the old truck I’d borrowed died on the journey there. You would think that after having lived for more than nine hundred years already, that I would be an expert on a great many things. And it was true, I was. Unfortunately, that list didn’t include vehicle repair.

  I decided to abandon it on the side of the dirt road. It was really more for appearances anyway. I could travel much faster by foot, so long as I kept to the trees.

  That decision would lead me to her. Something, call it fate, always brought the two of us together. Had I not broken down, I’d have passed the meadow and not given it a second thought. I would have driven right by the only person that made this cursed life worth living.

  The sound of laughter was what stopped me. It was a hideous laugh, like the high pitched squeal of a drowning cat. Curiosity more than anyt
hing else was what made me abandon the road and venture deeper into the woods.

  The trees got thicker before they thinned out. The branches ripped at my clothes, but I kept going, spurred on by question, “What if?” Eventually, I came upon a dress, neatly folded beside a pair of ragged old slippers. The god awful laugh sounded again, and I followed a dirt path down to a small lake.

  Two legs, from the knee down, stuck straight up out of the water.

  I can remember thinking to myself that this was perhaps the strangest day in my life. All things considered, that was saying something. The sun burned brightly overhead so I plopped on my cowboy hat and then sat down on the edge of the bank. I watched those two legs twirl around in a circle for about a minute before they disappeared into the water. A head came up, followed by two shoulders and then two breasts. The poor girl’s face drained of all its color and she let out a scream that was surprisingly less piercing to the ears than was her laugh.

  With her arms, she quickly covered herself up, shaking the gold-colored hair out of her eyes. “Are you really going to sit there and stare at me? Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

  I laughed. “You’re not from around here are you?”

  She feigned shock. “Would ya like it mo’ if I’s went abouts talkin’ like ‘dis here?

  I had to laugh at that. She definitely spoke like the girl I hoped she was.

  She watched at me for few moments and I could see her playfulness begin to wane. No doubt she had begun to realize that being alone (and stark naked) in the company of a stranger might be a dangerous circumstance for her to be in. Worry was starting to creep into her face. “No one else comes back here but me. Did you follow me?”

  I shook my head. “I was just passing through and I came upon your clothes at the top of the hill. Figured I come and have a look.”

  She dropped her arms. “There, happy? Can you go now? Please?”

  I was having a difficult time keeping a straight face. I was thinking that if this was her, then I would never let her live this moment down. In the lifetimes that followed, I would keep my word.

  “I was more interested in having a look at your eyes,” I replied.

  A curious look filled up her face. “What kind of a weirdo sneaks up on a naked girl just to have a look at her eyes? You realize that you’ve been staring at them for as long as we’ve been speaking, don’t you?”

  I had realized that—they were as clear and blue as the spotless sky above. I removed my hat and focused on those eyes, letting her see me for the first time. It was her reaction that I was after.

  Her eyes got big and I could hear her breath catch in her throat. Her heartbeat had sped up so that it was now pounding in her chest. Her cheeks went pink and she dropped her eyes away from me. “You’re very handsome,” she said, without meeting my eyes.

  My heart sank.

  She turned to look at me again. “Have you and I… ever met before?”

  I could have jumped into the water and kissed her right there (which would have probably scared her to death), but I settled for a smile. “You have met me before,” I said, standing up. “I’ll see ya ‘round.”

  Her name was Elizabeth Walden, and her family was originally from Virginia. It was said that her mother had died giving birth to her younger sister, so they traveled with their father whenever his company sent him away on business. He was currently overseeing the shutdown of a local mill, which didn’t make him very popular with the locals. He was also a terrible gambler and an even worse drunk, and it was rumored that he hit the girls on occasion. Minnie, the grandmother of three and town gossip who had so willingly disclosed all of this to me over a friendly game of bid wiz, said that she had it on good authority that Elizabeth’s younger sister had gained her limp from being hit with a wooden chair.

  This information prompted me to stay close to the house that first night. I would only act if it was necessary, and it almost was. Mr. Walden had come home drunk, and had stormed into the room that the two girls shared. The youngest stepped behind Elizabeth and Mr. Walden started toward them. In an instant I had slipped through the front door of the country home and moved into the hall. He had only to lift his hand at them for me to intervene. Luckily, he tripped over a shoe in the floor and passed out in one of the beds. Elizabeth and her sister slept in the living room that night.

  The situation was a volatile one. Elizabeth and her sister would be in constant danger for as long as they stayed with that lousy excuse for a father. I needed to do something to trigger Elizabeth’s memories. Once that happened, I could be assured that she would trust me and I could take them both far enough away that he would never find them.

  I followed her to the local store and pretended to bump into her inside. Her eyes grew as big as watermelons when turned to find that it was me again.

  “Hello, again.” I said.

  Her face flushed. “Hello to you too. I don’t suppose you’re ready to tell me who you are?”

  I shook my head. “I’m hoping that you’ll remember on your own, it makes all the difference, I find.”

  She fought off a grin. “Well then I suppose you had better go find another girl to harass, because while you look incredibly familiar, I have absolutely no idea who you might be.” She grabbed a can of whatever it was she came for and started toward the counter.

  “I know what you are,” I said quietly.

  Her head whipped around.

  “I know that you’re a conjurer, Elizabeth.” I had hoped that reminding her of the common thread between all of her reincarnations would jog her memory.

  She gasped. “Please… don’t tell anyone. There are a few vampire hunters in this area and if they were to find out… If something were happen to me, my sister would be in terrible danger. You have to believe me.”

  “Your secret is safe with me,” I replied. I stared intently into her eyes, willing her to remember.

  “I have to go, if my father hears it that I’ve been speaking to a boy he won’t be happy.”

  My plan had failed miserably. Feeling defeated, I nodded.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I don’t remember you. You do look so familiar to me…”

  When I got to the Walden house that evening, no one was home. I tried to think of where the girls might be, and had decided to check the lake, when headlights flooded the yard. I disappeared behind the shed.

  The driver side door opened first, and Mr. Walden drug Elizabeth’s sister out of the truck by her arm. The passenger door flew open next, and Elizabeth came running around the side of the truck pleading with her father to take her instead. She had grabbed a hold of his shirt, slowing his progress toward the house and he pushed her to the ground.

  While her sister begged to be let go, Elizabeth crawled over and wrapped her arms around his leg. Mr. Walden attempted to shake off his daughter, and Elizabeth’s sister managed to get herself free and ran into the house. She was out of her mind with fear, and had done so without realizing that she would be trapped in there. Mr. Walden finally shook herself free. “I’ve had you plenty of times already, girl. It’s your sister’s turn to do what your mother can’t. She’s reason that she’s gone, have you forgotten that?”

  Now was the time to act. I stepped out from behind the shed and started toward them. But Mr. Walden had seen me coming, sending a string of fire in my direction that exploded when it contacted the ground. It sent my flying back into the trees. Somehow, I’d allowed myself to forget that this was a family of witchfolk.

  I got back just in time to see him strike her, and something inside me snapped. He hadn’t seen me coming this time, and the blow I delivered sent him tumbling through the grass.

  If I was to intervene, then it had always been my intention to merely incapacitate him. Then I would escape with the girls to safety— assuming they’d trust me enough to do so. But none of that was on my mind at the moment, the anger that burned my chest had awoken the monster inside me. I felt my canines ex
tending, I wanted him dead. I wanted his blood.

  Thankfully, I heard her voice then, as faint as a whisper. “Tristan.”

  I felt the darkness fade, my grip on my humanity renewed. I ran to her, dropping to my knees in the grass. The side of her face was badly bruised and I took her into my arms and held her close.

  “I can remember you now,” she spoke softly.

  “You are safe now, my love. No one’s going to hurt you anymore.”

  “Promise me that you’ll always be there for me whenever I get into trouble.”

  “I would die to keep you safe. Never question that. You are the only good in me— the only part of me worth saving.”

  A knock sounded on the door my hotel room, dragging me back into the present.

  I stood up and moved to the door. Opening it revealed what was obviously a vampire. She kneeled at my feet. “Udric is here to see you. He’s here take to take you home.”

  As a chill slipped down my spine, I thought of the promise I made to her that night. If everything went according to London’s plan, then my death would save her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Reunion

  *Tristan*

  After getting properly dressed, we took the elevator downstairs. I followed her through the lobby to the pick-up area out front, where a black Mercedes with tinted windows sat running. The female vampire opened the rear passenger door and waved me inside.

  The interior of the vehicle smelled of fresh blood. Udric sat in the midst of it all, covered in furs. I hadn’t seen his face in almost three hundred years and yet he appeared to me the same as he always had. Ostentatious.

  He was also sitting as far away from me as was possible. “Do I make you nervous, Udric?”

  He cocked his bald head to one side. “It has been a long time, Tristan. And it is a very well known fact that you have come to enjoy the company of witches. Naturally, you are then, not to be trusted. When you say that you wish to see the Source, who can be sure of what your true intentions might be?”