An Angel's Ascent

by Christina Worrell

  “I’m just thinking. How can you stand to see those you care for die and you never grow older?”

  “It’s hard at first, but eventually you learn to let go. Family goes first and friends, so by the time you make new ones your heart has grown hard. You learn to live with the grief, or it will consume you. I think that’s what happened to Harden. He gave up and started breaking rules left and right. It was about a year after his son died. He couldn’t live with it.”

  I nodded and let him hold me. I felt like I was turning into someone else. I’d never felt close to people. I’d kept them all at a distance, knowing someday they would hurt me, but somehow when I wasn’t looking they had crept in stealing pieces of my heart. I guess that’s how true friends are. Raven was a sister to me, as Sen was the father. I’d never had a mother and never would. She’d always and forever be lost to me. Thinking that made my heart hurt, causing sobs to leak out.

  It wasn’t long before Aries gentle consoling had calmed me enough to speak again.

  “Can you ask Switch to bring Chinese? I don’t think I will get much after we move there.”

  “Yep, anything you want.”

  “I'm going to miss so much, like our little social networks and their apps.” Wow I was thinking of such insignificant things right now.

  “Well internet, if you have access that is, will still be out there as long as there are satellites in the sky. Eventually there won't be much information except what’s already out there, so it’ll be obsolete in time, like cars will be next year. With no one running the sites, it will eventually cease to exist. If it’s a program, there will be no maintenance, so with time they will all crash.”

  I decided to take a nap until dusk again. Already my schedule was changing to accommodate them, my vampires. It also felt like I was sleeping a lot, but I was really only getting naps throughout the day, two here and three there. My body was changing, so that in a few months I wouldn’t need sleep. I’d discussed this with Aries and Sen. Both felt my body was changing so that I could carry the goddess, with her birth the final transformation would be complete, and I would be fully immortal. My genes she’d passed down through the years were kick started and would reach full potential very soon.

  I looked up as I heard a door close. Switch came in, and he gave us the updates along with my Chinese.

  “The crew leader has the blue prints done. I gave him our notes and my sketches. I like it all. You’re going to love it Angel; I have them here with me. He faxed them in an hour ago. He said he could have it completed in about two months. He uploaded aerial pictures of our island and has double checked the size and said he can get everything in, and it will be top of the art.

  “He explained to me the functions and the benefits of having his power cell. He said I quote this baby would store three times what it uses on a daily basis so that each day it builds and stores power. It’s all environmentally friendly as well, by the way. The machine used to store the energy combines it into these tiny batteries, and they will last up to ten or twenty years. As long as the panels and batteries survive we will have electricity. He suggests though, that everything be energy saver or natural, like lights, the more windows the better. Cook outside when we can and use as little as possible.”

  “That’s all great Switch.” I replied between bites of my egg roll.

  “There’s more. I talked to a guy in Bangor, and he got me in touch with a specialist on guess what? He majors in bacterial and human waste. There’s a new technology that works for you. You dig this huge hole out where the farmland is.

  “They add these bugs that consume waste and like worms make clean dirt more or less like fertilizer. It becomes fertilizer on our crops and is totally natural, and it runs on very little electricity. If any escapes into the sea, and it will, it is in the form of these bugs, which the sea life eats. It makes them grow two to three times their normal sizes. So all this is a plus on the fishing side. They have been working on this research for almost twenty years in China.”

  “This is sounding better and better.” I commented. Eating and talking about waste consuming bugs… hmm.

  “The crops do the same thing. They get two to four times their normal size, and it’s all completely natural. The only things he’s noticed concerning human side effects was that the babies born in the area are getting smaller. Each are five to six pounds but perfectly formed in every way. Why humans get smaller they haven’t figured out. They think it’s a lack of certain things in the foods that are grown, things we need that the cattle and animals don’t need. Cattle and crops and fish get bigger; we get smaller in five years, which means we eat less. And it’s all natural and safe. The FDA approved it three times over, and they say for some reason the sea water around it acts like a catalyst.”

  I nodded. This was all such coincidence.

  “Our water is a little more complicated. We can have wells and hot water heaters. Except, these water heaters are different. They heat slower but once heated stay heated. There won't be heat or air conditioning because it’s not ozone friendly, but the guy building the homes has an idea, aside from the windows which can be boarded when necessary with the same material. All the walls will be thicker and better built, all natural insulation more or less.

  “The solar panels soak up all the heat from the sun so in summer it’s quite cool, and in winter, we have walls that produce heat, only on the inside. No heaters, just these sheets that put out about ten degrees of heat from the solar panels. It stays about sixty degrees all year long, no thermostat but sixty is more or less perfect. There are these invisible lasers in the windows that also capture the heat like solar panels that operate these sheets. The cool part is that the solar panel stored energy backs it up; we save energy by using the windows. He can make it look like the huts but futuristic, definitely a money saving idea for a resort, he said, in the long run. The first five years no profit, you’re paying off the expense of the panels and stuff. But everything after that is almost pure profit.”

  “So this all natural idea with the resort isn’t sounding funny?” I asked.

  “Nope, its big they said. When you combine everything, and have the monastery included it’s like perfect. He said the fireplaces in the monastery will have to be closed in, and the sheets added there. The monastery though, will get its energy from the huts solar panels. It’s a little complicated but he said using the churches deep caves, as the place for the energy tanks is perfect. He also said that built this way we could run a huge fridge and freezer and still have plenty of energy left. If it clouded over, or eclipsed six months straight, we should still be fine. The more we cut back in that scenario the better, though.”

  I was happy about all of the news. Hearing about the end of the world tended to make a person feel just a little on the down side.

  “How much?” Aries said. He sounded a bit more cheerful, as well. I was sure that all of this was just as hard on him as it was me.

  “Almost all of it but we have hundreds of millions including Angel’s funds. We also made a website, named it after Kali, and spoke to the tender hearts of environmentalists, and auctioned off a week at a time at the resort when it’s complete. It’s like stealing but in order to save hundreds we have to. The site brings in thousands a day, and it leaks just enough that those who know of this prophesy can contact us. Arch and Frank came up with it and are running it from their base. The funds go directly to our account.”

  “Good, all this in just a few days, imagine what months will show,” Aries said.

  “So, now we’re all on track and moving swiftly and can be sure that things will be ready on time. The sisters of the island are expecting us and said that we are a godsend. They were tired of living in candle light and surviving on eggs.”

  Aries laughed, and I laughed.

  “Arch met a nice Lykan chick, by the way. She is the main assistant to Frank and also his niece. So there may be a couple there. Frank also found us a Lykan pilot. So Cross is happy.
Madness is working with Frank mainly now; he's met the construction crew and has hired everyone.”

  “So when can Angel and I fly out?”

  “I would say in a few weeks. There’re a lot of workers there, and some are unaware of what’s really going on,” Switch replied stretching.

  “I’ll have lightening under control by then for sure, and maybe whatever my next power will be as well.”

  “Yeah I noticed the tree out front. Better the tree than Cross,” Switch said laughing and jumping out of Angels reach.

  Switch and Aries continued their conversation as I went upstairs. I was anxious and needed a few hours’ sleep. I never knew when I’d get some. There was always practicing my powers or making plans.

  I got comfortable and lay there a few minutes worrying about a million things. Anything could go wrong. To start with I was listening to voices in my head. Ha, and to guys who claimed to be immortal, I thought.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  It didn’t take me long to drift off but when I did I felt Kali.

  “Mother?” she called quietly.

  “MMM hmmm...?”

  “You will need to learn three more powers. Elements mainly like fire, lightening, water, wind, and earth. You will be able to control thunderstorms and earthquakes. These last few powers I have to give you simultaneously. Tomorrow you will have to feel them and know them. The witch will train you when you get home.”

  “Tomorrow... k...” I mumbled dreamily.

  Kali left, and several hours later I awoke to Aries staring again. I yawned, stretched, and smiled.

  “Good morning love,” Aries whispered. He smelled manly, yet spicy, like some of the current men’s hygiene products. Like the kind of cologne that had those commercials, where women were crazy and attacked the man wearing it. Aries was yummy... all that golden, ripe, muscle.

  “Angel,” Aries said breathing in sharply.

  “I'm sorry I got carried away. Won’t happen again, promise,” I purred.

  “Sen is already awake. He hasn’t quite accepted our schedule yet. I thought today I’d work on some stuff with you guys. I might be immortal, but it doesn’t hurt to train more.”

  Aries kissed the tip of my nose and jumped up. Popped upright was a better way to describe what he did. He was so fast that he was in one spot one moment and in another a half a second later. It was like I was missing frames.

  I jumped and almost fell off the bed as I had been in the process of sitting up.

  “I'm sorry, I forget myself when I’m around you. I’ll be glad when you catch up.” Aries said laughing.

  We walked downstairs, and I found breakfast on the table, egg and cheese croissants. I looked at Aries with a weird expression.

  “I can tell when you are about to wake up. You stop mewling and thrashing. You settle down and sleep peacefully for thirty or so minutes and then just twitch. I drove into town before Switch headed to his room and got breakfast. There’s fresh fruit in the fridge that Switch brought last night.”

  I stared at him wide eyed.

  “I can sleep but usually don’t need too. To be honest, it scares me. I remember everything, and it’s just blank. Empty and hollow. No dreams. I’m dead so I guess that’s why I don’t dream.”

  I was just helping myself to a sandwich and nodding. I hadn’t had one of these in months and was kind of hungry. My appetite was changing too I noticed. I would be starving one moment, then eating out of habit the next. I could go ten hours without thinking of food. I also noticed that I was faster. I was doing things at a different pace, and it was throwing me off. I would reach for something and overshoot. Kind of like seeing Aries is in one spot and not the next. I’d be able to see him move before too long.

  Sen and I decided to work with the sword and dagger today, so when I was done being human I found them and searched for Sen outside. It didn’t take long; he was just warming up outside. I put tunes on and jumped in. Sen rolled his eyes but kept going.

  After warm up we sped it up to get my adrenalin flowing. I moved faster and faster keeping in time with some rhythm in my mind.

  “Angel?” Sen said. I just realized he had stopped about ten minutes ago.

  “Yeah?” I asked stopping.

  “You’re beginning to blur. You’re not like Aries here yet, but you’re getting close. I think it’s time for weapons.”

  Aries had the sword and dagger held up for Sen to choose.

  “Sword,” he told him.

  Sen picked up his own sword and told me to mimic as best as I could. We would do ten steps until I could do them blindly.

  It took thirty minutes for me to do the first set, and after two hours, I’d learned everything. Sen showed me the dagger, and we worked for another hour before Sen called a break and headed inside. I danced around with both the sword and dagger. I was playing with them when I realized that the handles when brought together locked. The dagger slid into the sword handle and made the sword a little more deadly.

  By this point, Aries had wandered inside as well, and I was alone.

  Something came over me, and I began to dance to some kind of silent music. I could feel it but not hear it. I twisted, turned, flipped, balanced on one arm, and moved my body in directions I’d never even considered before. Nothing was impossible. My eyes closed, and I adapted my master’s moves to the ones that flowed from me still and was twirling and bouncing effortlessly in a small circle. I ended on bent knee with the combined weapons in front of me with the sword blade horizontal.

  Something inside me felt like these moves were very old. I had done this before. At the edges of my vision, I could see people. They weren’t really there, this I knew. It was some kind of crowd. I had to be experiencing a past life, one where I had these weapons.

  My body knew these steps all on its own; I just had to follow through. I looked badass I knew, and I felt it. Some part of me realized now that if I ever faced a demon, I could hold my own. A weight was lifted from my shoulders. I could do this; I really could.

  Whistling made me open my eyes and look up. Aries was smiling like he sold a multi-million dollar record. Sen was gaping open mouthed and wide eyed. Aries, using his hand, gently closed his mouth.

  “She is... her...” Sen stuttered going down on one knee.

  I blushed and realized I had done something that mortals could never do even on drugs.

  “Even if I am I won’t have you bowing to me, it should be the other way around.”

  I took the bottle of water Aries handed me, sipped half the bottle, and then accepted the little towel. I was sweating but wasn’t drenched. If anyone even attempted what I had just done, they'd have sweated out all the fluids in their body. It felt as if I had been dancing for twenty minutes when only seconds had gone by. My body was sore in the strangest areas.

  At that moment, the earth moved. We all staggered trying to regain our balance. We looked at each other wondering what it could have been. I felt fire tingling along with my magic. Kali had said... it had been a dream then.

  “Back up!” I called. I walked back away from the cabins so that if I messed up they might not get hurt. I closed my eyes and lifted my hands. I was now trembling with the effort to contain this new power, to use it slowly and precisely. My lip felt wet; that’s when I noticed my nose was bleeding. I wasn’t meant for these powers; I was just human, and my brain was trying to keep up. Suddenly I knew where the powers I had come from.

  The part of the brain we weren’t supposed to be able to use. That explained the migraine I had after I had wrecked the room at Deaths Door. Oh shit. She said I would get them all at the same time!

  I turned and ran as far as I could as fast as I could. The lake wasn’t all that far and if I made an oopsie that would probably be the best place, right?

  I staggered as the pain hit me from trying to tame the raging storm inside me. I knew that if I survived this I’d hurt beyond anything else I’d ever experienced. I felt wind trying to burst forth along with the powe
r of earth. Was there more, what all had she said?

  I threw my hands out in front of me as I slid to a landing on my knees unable to hold it in a moment more. One hand released wind, while the other moved the earth around me. It felt like I was in Los Angeles during a major earthquake. The wind was chaotic around me, clouds moving at an amazing speed. A tornado couldn’t have been windier. My hair whipped madly around my face obscuring my vision from time to time.

  I sensed the other two not so far behind, as well as Kali awakening. The power surge inside me had called to her. She was taking over my body. I didn’t mind, at least she knew what she was doing.

  “Yes!!!!” she called out, her strange voice echoing. My eyes glowed white from the power within me. Kali stood there now, fully in control. She could handle the pain. She must have been blocking it from me because I didn’t feel anything. Another blessing, it had been getting to the point that I thought it would rent me to pieces.

  Blood now drenched the upper part of my shirt. It was pouring from my nose. The smell would have gagged me if I had any senses other than sight and sound. How long my body could withstand this assault I didn’t know. Changeling or not I was still mostly human.

  “Mother, I must return. I wished to feel this one last time, the freedom, the pleasure it gives me... is like no other... but you must learn to control it or there is no hope. The evil beings coming will rip you apart and eat everything in their path. You have to be strong enough! I can’t stop the pain any more than you can. Your body will have to endure. To save the human race... it is worth this isn’t it? If not, then this is what will happen...”

  Images flashed through my mind. My friends were dying. Raven was being tortured. Michael was fighting for his life, a losing battle with so many monstrous beings. They gorged on the humans in this realm. Bones were scattered haphazardly among them. Aries and the others were each trying to slow the onslaught, but it was obvious they were fighting a losing battle. As each beautiful vampire fell I felt something inside me snap. I was the reason for this. I had allowed it by failing. Aries looked into my eyes before he fell, surrounded by three demons. I screamed his name! He didn’t blame me. He had tried to tell me. He had seen this before he had chosen. He had known this was a possibility. Sen laid to his left torn in half. Children were screaming for their parents, the ones not already being consumed. I could not allow this to happen.