An Angel's Ascent

by Christina Worrell

“Unfortunately, we think so.” I told him.

  “So what do you guys need from me?” he said getting comfortable. He turned his laptop on and was clicking away. He knew what we planned to ask him.

  “We need your skills to start with. There’s an island that Kali has told us to go to and that we will survive, but only if we are prepared. We want you to run the kitchen and anything else you can help with. You seem to have business sense and run the kitchen here, and you’re a werewolf.” Aries told him. He knew Frank was listening.

  “One of the legends was that my pack would help the goddess Kali, a second set of guards I guess is what it all meant. So if I go my pack goes. I’m the alpha here in these parts and run about sixty or so men and their families. A few are yearlings and need constant supervision, but they’re all good boys. So what will it be?” Frank said, looking up at them both. He was doubly interested in what we had to say now.

  “Do they have skills?” I asked him, trying to judge his body language. Frank was one hard guy to read. He sat back putting his hands behind his head. Even his emotions were guarded. I was betting it was a werewolf thing.

  “Well thirty are in the law enforcement business in some fashion whether it’s a cop or bodyguard or bouncer here. Some are hunters you might say, they bring in rogues of any species. And a few are my personal assistants. They help me keep an eye on things when I’m not around and are useful in various ways, like cooking, fetching, music, and so on. So yeah, I think so. I make sure my pack has useful skills that they can bring to the world.” He brushed his shoulder length hair behind his ears. He sat up and looked them in the eye, trying to read our expressions, worried it seemed.

  “Then by all means bring them. It might be a tight fit. Would they be willing to farm?” I asked him. They had to work if they came with us.

  “They follow orders like any soldier. They have no choice; my word is law.” Having his answer, he sat back and typed something, before turning his attention back to us.

  “Well, we need a list of their capabilities and ages, and whether they have families and stuff.”

  “Most don’t, I don’t allow interspecies breeding except in special cases. I mean I’m not going to stop true love, but I don’t want fifteen hundred mutts running around quite possibly carrying this Lykan gene. The ones with families are small, one or two pups; that’s all I allow. Harsh I know, but we all have animal instincts and one is to hunt and eat raw meat during a full moon. I don’t want my men in prison for their natures.”

  “You’re a smart man, and would be a definite help.” Aries told him. He grabbed my hand and pulled it to him, without thinking about it.

  “When will I need to be ready?” Frank asked, getting down to business the way he knew how.

  “I’d say six months or less, hopefully close to three. We need men to help us get things in order. Also, we may need monetary contributions. We’re putting in solar panels so we still have electricity. We also need other things, like medical supplies and clothes,” I told him.

  “Well, I can help you one step further. I happen to secretly run something. My boys are not exactly human and can’t visit any ER in the country. So I invested some money into a local Lykan doctor who has a clinic nearby. He has many connections. One of which is the Salvation Army. So I have medical and emergency items handled. Let me know when and where to ship everything. Like I said, they have no choice. Whether they believe or not they will work.” He eyed us as he told us this. He’d been a busy man. Reminded me of Mafia, I thought to myself.

  “Alright, you have my cell number if you think of anything else. We have to go north for a while. As you have seen Angel has some things to sort out and the public would be safer if she stayed secluded,” Aries said sitting up.

  “You need anything you let me know. I got bodyguards, food, and ammo if you need it. I’m glad you came to me. In the past, our ancestors refused to work together. That didn’t get them very far. I’m doing this as much for my pack as I’m out of what’s right. I won't have them suffer.”

  I had been trying to sense the Lykan’s true intents, but it was like a wall. All I got was colors, dark and angry colors.

  “Angel, I didn’t know you were an empath? Why are you trying to read... wait. You don’t trust me?” He stood up when he said this, causing Aries to, as well.

  “It doesn’t hurt to check now does it Frank? We’re all friends here, and you can’t blame her for trying, if she let just anyone on the island there could be problems. Everything we work for could be ruined,” Aries said quickly, defending me.

  Frank nodded and then slowly dropped his shields. He would do the same for his pack. They were his family.

  I was overwhelmed at first by the intensity of feelings coming off of him. After a minute, I struggled but managed to make out everything. Anger, pain, and confidence all rolled off. Underneath was more, something like pride and peace. He was one hell of a man, strong and determined.

  “I’m relieved to know the time has finally come, that, in all my years, I’ll get to see everything come to fruition that I’ve worked so hard for, and that my pack will be safe.”

  I nodded and pushed at the colors flowing everywhere. I was done. He put his shield back into place. He had been doing this for some time. Maybe all supernatural creatures could. Aside from vampires, I could read them like a book.

  “You are a strong witch Angel, with a good teacher I think there is a lot you could do. I know someone, very old, lived in New Orleans until the flooding. She’s older than me by twenty something years and is very powerful. I think she could help you learn to control those powers.”

  I nodded; my master would have helped me, but this was not his area of expertise. We sat back down, now that the tension was gone, or at least less.

  “Would I be able to meet her?” I asked getting excited.

  “I can call her now. She is the great grandma of a Lykan of mine. Most of my clan is Indian and Cajun like me, but there are some others, French and Irish. We go way back.”

  Frank lifted the phone and dialed.

  “Oz yeah, I uh need to talk to your Nanna. Is she occupied?” he asked into the phone.

  There was a brief pause, then a few yeah’s and no’s.

  After ten minutes of chit chat the woman must’ve come on the line because Frank changed. He was no longer dominate; he crawled was the best I could describe.

  Seconds later he handed me the phone.

  “Let me speak to HER,” she demanded in a scratchy voice that old people have.

  I knew what she meant, but in that moment, I didn’t have a choice, Kali awoke. She thrust me aside in less than the time it took for me to complete the thought.

  “I am here sorceress.” The s's were long, like I had forgotten how to speak. Like how to pronounce simple words. Frank and Aries only stared. My voice was not my own. Something as old as time and powerful filled me. You could hear eons of life in her tone. When I felt her speak I was awed at her presence. This was not some idle girl chat. We had our big girl panties on now.

  “I have one request before I join your work goddess,” the old lady said, her voice deep and hard. Her Cajun accent blew my mind. It was stilted but lovely if you didn’t mind the age.

  “What would that be?” Kali replied her words long and forced.

  “One dat I help bring ye into this world, two dat when I die dat it is by natural means only. I won't have no demon eat'in on me.” Oh man, I had not thought too deeply about that and now I pictures this old woman fighting off a horned beast. I mentally shivered.

  “I think I can arrange that witch.”

  “I want ye promise, ye know what I’ve seen, wrought by yur return, and I want none of dat. I want to die in peace after all dese long years.”

  Kali hesitated; I felt her consider what she had been asked. This promise wouldn’t be taken lightly.

  “I swear by my name.” With that Kali disappeared. What did that mean I thought?

  “Chile, ye
have one strong destiny, not many can do what ye have to do. I just hope ye don’t break on me; ye hear. If ye die, den I die, and neither of dose deaths will be pretty. I am tired of dis world yes, but I won't go at de hands of no demon. Think ye can obey me? Think ye can trust me with all of dis? To get ye ready?” I could barely understand her.

  “I have no choice, I can’t let my friends and innocents die.”

  “Dat’s what I wanted to hear. I want a ticket to dat island of yours immediately. My home’s falling down around me ears, and I’ll not fall with it.” Her stilted talk was hard on the ears. I had to really pay attention.

  “Yes mam.”

  “Don’t mam me, I am called Nanna by all, might as well call me dat too.”

  “Nanna,” I said, pronouncing it the same way she did.

  “Don’t forget dose tickets, I need three for me and my boys.”

  “Within a week,” I promised.

  “Good.” And with that she hung up.

  “Well?” the guys both asked when I put the phone back down.

  “She and her two sons will be joining us. We need to go ahead and send her tickets. She can stay in the monastery.”

  We told Frank thanks and to keep in touch with us.

  A lot of business handled in one visit to one of my best customers.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I called a moving company and told them I needed lots of boxes and my things taken to the airport in a week. I finished handling the payment and gave them directions. I then decided that buying a small plane might be cheaper than leasing one for all these people. Aries agreed.

  I called around and managed to find a big enough one for a few thousand dollars. It would hold maybe fifty people, but it had a huge storage area and could use private landing spots. One of which was only twenty miles from the cabin.

  I then called my lawyer and updated him on my decision to make Raven a partner.

  After that, I napped until dusk, and then I called the guys. I wanted them to know about the small plane, so that they could make all the arrangements for Aries and me while we worked on my apartment and shop.

  That night I started the process of deciding what would go and what would stay. I also asked Aries if he’d catch Eclipse and her kittens for me, the cat I fed out back. He said sure, looking at me a bit weirdly at first. I found a crate and watched him leave.

  After three hours I had most of it done. The guys had showed up, and we discussed a few more details. They made arrangements for two of them to fly to the island and start there. I made a list of who would go and when. I called Michael and asked him if he’d like to go with Raven when she went, and he said sure.

  The rest of the night was mainly about what jobs each of the guys had for the next week.

  We decided Thorn would fly to the island and Cross would stay with the plane. He would be in charge of who went where and when, and all the cargo.

  Arch was to stay with Frank and be the middleman on when things would start being shipped to the island from the doctor. Madness was in charge of hiring people here and getting them to the island as well as whatever else needed done.

  The guys that stayed crashed in my spare rooms and I stayed up to meet with Raven. It took two hours to finalize things so she had permission while I was out of the area and country.

  When I returned home, Raven opened the shop and called Michael to get his help. I went upstairs to nap while Aries handled the movers. While I snoozed he packed everything in about an hour into the car. I had already separated what was going to be my personal bag I carried to the cabin, and what went to the island. I kept only useful, warm clothing for the island. There was no point in wearing leather miniskirts as much as I hated losing them. True I’d be very hot kicking ass in them, but it would be way too cold.

  I was damn near devastated by everything I was losing. My precious car and life were being left behind. We took care of last minute things and finally drove to the cabin. I cried again of course and wondered why I had ever thought I was strong. Everything I had ever worked for was being left behind and in one year would be worthless. So many things that I’d collected over the years that defined who I’d become.

  I slept most of the way. I would not be able to sit there the whole time moping over what I had lost. I knew that by comparison, though, Aries was worth all of this.

  Switch would meet us later tonight after checking in to see where everything stood.

  My Sensei was waiting for us in town and followed us up to where we met the caretaker, and then to the place we’d spend the rest of the week, if not a few months, depending on how things turned out.

  When Switch showed up he had more food for me and Sen, and of course updates. So far things were going quickly and smoothly. Switch had no problem staying on top of what was going on everywhere.

  “As the Undead Ones, we should have enough to cover all the costs of the solar paneling, rebuilding, and then some. Frank said he’d take care of any costs on his end. He can have twenty men ready and out there by the end of the week to begin working, and fifteen more three days after that to start on farming.”

  “Good work, I think things are coming along great. How long do you think until all the construction starts?” Aries asked.

  “End of this week, maybe sooner. The owner said it would take at least two days to ship it all and to get things situated. He also said that, with the new technology, we could run the whole island and that his equipment was top of the art; it could survive a class four hurricane.”

  “That’s good. I hope we don’t get storms anywhere near that bad.”

  “Mother.”

  I jumped at Kalis voice, nearly falling off the couch.

  “Um, yeah?” I croaked to the voice in my head.

  “There won't be anything close enough to you on the island that would damage the things that these men speak of.”

  “Great.” I replied.

  “You will all have to go underground to be safe. There will only be rain and heavy winds but nothing major.”

  “That’s good.” I felt my daughter slip away. She was more mother to me, so it was hard for me to think of her that way. Her coming and going as she pleased was disturbing. Then I wondered if she could read my thoughts. I shut up right there.

  “Kali says that there won’t be anything close enough to the island to damage our work.”

  “It’s a little weird when you answer for her out of nowhere Angel,” Switch said laughing. He looked around the room. He didn’t know how weird it was for me having her er never mind…

  “Still it’s good that she told us.” Aries always supporting me, I smiled adoringly.

  “Angel can you come with me for a moment,” Sen called.

  I followed him to a corner.

  “I wanted to show you some things that may be helpful to you now that all of this is happening,” he told me quietly.

  I paid close attention as he instructed me on deep meditation. I had learned the minor steps in his class, but I never continued with it.

  We worked on several more things over the next three hours, and then decided that a break was necessary. Switch went back to town for a few things and said he would be back before dawn.

  I showed my master the workout I had constructed, and he pointed out ways that would draw more benefits. Four a.m. came and I decided to shower while Aries talked to Sen.

  I think he wanted to learn too, which was good I thought.

  I climbed straight in bed when I came from the shower and pulled an extra quilt over me. It was twenty-six degrees outside, clear but windy. I had to upgrade from tank top to long sleeve shirt. Aries stayed down stairs until Switch got back, by that time I was asleep.

  Over the next few days, I practiced my fire powers and by accident tapped into another.

  Lightening split a poor tree right down the middle. Flames tried to finish what I started, but I called to the fire, calming it. Within three days, I could completely control fire, manage to cal
l lightening on demand, and had dropped my master once. He taught me special moves meant only for high masters such as him.

  “At this rate Angel, you’ll be too far advanced for me to train you within a few more days.”

  “You are coming to the island?” I asked.

  “Yes, but I will not stay.”

  “Why?!” I asked.

  “My time is close. I came. I taught. I perfected. And now very soon I’ll be able to find peace. There will be many people on your island, and I don’t wish to take up someone else’s spot.”

  “How long?” I asked, tears in my eyes.

  “When Kali comes.”

  “She won’t be born for another year, I’m waiting.”

  “No, as soon as you get to the island you’ll couple with your man. I see how he is with you. You mean more to him than anything he could ever dream of. He has waited a long time for you and it would be inhumane to make him suffer. Your island will be ready way before Kali comes. The waiting will be the hardest. I’ll train as many as I can so that when the evil ones come they can protect themselves. They won't be ready, but they’ll be able to defend themselves well.”

  I cried at this and felt Sen put an arm loosely around my shoulders.

  “You’ll be ready to save them all. You will protect your flock but as a precaution and a gift I will train as many as I can. You must continue my work so that the next generation will be strong.”

  I would miss this old man. If I could claim anyone as a father it would be him, he had given me so much. Training to care for myself and never show signs of weakness. Like how to cope with the changes going on and still strive forward each day with purpose, so that I could fulfill my goals. Things would not be the same without him. He may’ve been on this earth for a long time, but not nearly long enough in my life. I wanted twenty or forty more years with him. He was immortal for crying out loud. I’d make him her godfather I decided.

  I nodded and headed back inside to shower and think. I realized a lot of people would leave me if I became immortal. Something I was not ready to deal with just yet.

  “What’s wrong?” Aries asked coming in the room when I didn’t come out.