CUT HERE (The Cut Series Book 1)

by Azzurra Nox

  “You’re fools if you think you can stop me!”

  The fog circled around them like wolves surrounding their prey before an attack. Adriel kept moving faster than they could keep up with.

  “Watch out!” Lena yelled, but Adriel swerved out of sight before Jon could even realize that she had gotten close to him. Jon felt a sudden blow against his cheek, and he fell to his knees. When he brought his hand to his face, blood covered his whole palm. Big drops of ruby fell on the platform.

  Down below Connor was still shouting at them. Jon felt dazed from the hit, Lena knelt down beside him in an attempt to aid him.

  “Oh my god! Jon! Are you okay?!”

  “Don’t worry, I’m alright,” he brushed it off, but the left side of his face felt on fire whilst more drops fell to the ground forming a little puddle right beneath him.

  “You three can’t stop me!” Adriel taunted, zipping in and out from their vision.

  “You’re mistaken!” Hope shouted up to her. “She’s here.”

  “Who’s here?” Lena asked, not understanding who Hope was referring to. Jon had no idea either. He was too busy trying to wipe the blood off using the sleeve of his shirt. Deep nail marks were etched on the side of his face. The wound looked as brutal as it felt.

  The smell of gardenia became more potent and looking downwards he noticed a young woman in what seemed to be dated garments approaching the ladder. Her face was thin, her fingers spider-like, but her eyes were expressive and big. She looked like a fragile porcelain doll.

  “Who is she?”

  “I don’t know. But Hope seems to know her.”

  “You already have me, let them go!”

  “That’s impossible, pretty,” Adriel told the frail blonde.

  Adriel came back down, aimed directly at them. Lena pushed up against Jon, trying to avoid the collision with Adriel. But the blonde girl moved like a spirit. She seemed almost transparent, or maybe it was the mist that was playing games with his vision. He wasn’t sure. Perhaps he was still in shock from the strike to his face.

  A bright light illuminated the night. It was coming from the glass that Hope was holding. A shriek came from Adriel. The young woman’s figure moved swiftly in the wind, before she launched herself from the letter H.

  “Oh god!” Lena screamed.

  Adriel flew downwards, Jon wasn’t sure if she was trying to catch up with the girl that threw herself. But when she returned, the light was still shining brightly.

  “Her strength is in me!” Hope shouted, pushing the white glass in front of her holding it almost like a shield.

  “She’s weak!” Adriel yelled back. “Weak! And mine!” Her voice echoed into the night. Apparitions seemed to move in the mist. Jon wasn’t sure what was happening, till he saw vapors in the shape of fragmented bodies rise from the ground.

  “She stopped being yours! She’s no longer in your army.”

  “That means I’ll just have to get another one,” Adriel’s eyes glowed red, peering down with an evil smirk. “He’s perfect!” and bolted down like a lightening in a storm. Jon’s eyes traced to where Adriel was directed and saw that Connor was still waiting at the base.

  “Connor! Run!” Jon screamed at the top of his lungs, but Ariel was too quick. Before Connor had a chance to react or flee, she had taken hold of him and carried him away with her.

  Connor’s cries filled the stillness of that foggy night. The wraiths were circling around the sky and Jon could tell that Lena seemed terrified by it all because she looked like she wanted to scream or bolt, but remained motionless. He heard the sound of wings approaching and knew that Michael was near, but yet couldn’t see him because the sky was thick with spirits.

  “Leave him alone!” Hope pleaded. “If it’s me you want, take me, but leave him!”

  “Too late,” she flew around Griffith Park, Connor was screaming the whole time, shouting insults at her, probably not understanding who she was or what was happening to him.

  “Dammit, Michael!” Jon shouted, “Stop her!”

  “I can’t get through the barrier!”

  “What barrier?!”

  “Her army!” There was a clanging sound, and Jon watched in horror as a wisp of air in the shape of a girl flew right past him. He was shocked when he recognized the specter to be Blake. She was transparent but her striking features were there and the flowing blonde hair.

  Then there was a dead silence, and the sound of someone being dropped on the ground. Jon tried to look in every direction, the fog was as thick as wool making it impossible to comprehend where exactly Connor had fallen whilst restless souls flew to and fro. But in no time Adriel was back, wings flapping so strongly that Jon’s hair flew across his face, some of it sticking to the blood matted against his cheek from the previous wound.

  Another bright light filled the night, breaking the eerie whiteness of the mist. But this time it didn’t come from the glass that Hope held out, but from what seemed to be a sword. White wings came into view, and Jon knew that Michael had cut through the intricate knit of souls that had tried to stop him.

  “Leave them! If you want a war, have it with me!” Michael bellowed. His emerald eyes pierced through the dead of night, casting a creepy glow on anyone he looked upon.

  “Michael!”

  Much to Jon’s disapproval, Lena’s voice held a tinge of affection and expectation of his presence being there.

  “You’ve come here to save your mortal lover? You can’t save her. She’s broken, just like all of them,” she moved stealthily in the air, and soon Jon noticed that Lena was on the edge, almost on the precipice of falling down. He scurried over to her, standing up, and grabbed hold of her but her hand slipped away from his grip.

  “No! Please no, this can’t be happening! I’m not going to lose you!” he shook his head, desperately trying to snatch any part of her to keep her from falling. Tears burned his eyes, as he reached out, and then felt the metal of her rosary and seized it fast and hard. “I’m not letting go of you!”

  Lena couldn’t speak. She choked on the pull of the necklace as it clasped tightly around her neck. Jon didn’t know what to do. If he let go she’d fall, but if he didn’t, she would soon lose all the oxygen she had left.

  “Take my hand!” he directed her.

  Above him he could hear Adriel and Michael fighting. The sound of Michael’s sword clattering against rocks, debris and dirt flying about settling unto Jon’s hair and slapping across his face.

  “I’m not losing you. If you’re going down, I’m going down with you,” he pulled tighter on the silver rosary, trying to reel her back towards the platform. Her feet scraped along the edges. Jon stepped out, not caring if he was getting dangerously close to the edge himself. He avoided looking down, because he knew that they were rather far up. His arm swung around Lena’s small waist and pulled her in, both of them falling on the ground. Lena gasped for breath, choking and coughing at the same time.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “We need to get down.”

  “But what about Hope?”

  “Michael’s here, he can deal with Adriel. We need to get down and look for Connor.”

  “Where are you two going?” Hope still gripped the glass against her chest.

  “We’re going to see where Connor is. Adriel got him!”

  “I’m staying up here.”

  “You should come down, it’s not safe!” Jon tried to reason with her. But she wouldn’t budge from her spot. Annoyed, Jon took Lena by the hand and coaxed her towards the ladder. The two of them started to climb down. He stopped a few times, looking up at the sky, seeing Michael and Adriel still at it. The third time he stopped mid-ladder, Adriel shrieked like a wounded animal. Then there was a stillness that made him feel uncomfortable.

  “Let’s go,” he moved down faster, urging Lena to do the same.

  “Connor!” Lena started to call out for him once they had both landed at the base of the letter H.<
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  Another shrill cry that broke into the night, and then an oversized black lump fell to the ground.

  “Damn! He got her!” Jon walked towards what had fallen and made out that it was a portion of Adriel’s wing. His hands traced the black feathers, but soon they incinerated and found himself clutching only a pair of ashes. “Wow…”

  “It takes more than that to kill me, Michael!” Adriel’s angry voice bombarded around the hills. Jon couldn’t tell from which direction it was coming from. Then he heard Lena cry out.

  “Lena!”

  “Don’t move or I’ll tear her throat open!” Adriel had taken hold of Lena, and had her sharp nail placed directly at her jugular vein.

  “Let her go!”

  “Does she really mean that much to you, boy?”

  “Don’t hurt her. Kill me. Take my soul. But don’t hurt her.”

  “What a noble knight,” her sharp teeth gleamed when she smiled, looking like a diabolical Cheshire cat.

  “Adriel, give it up. Let her go! Now!” Michael landed on the ground. His sword emanated a bright radiance so strong that Jon had to close his eyes. Peering through his lashes, he turned his sight back to Adriel. Her left wing was completely severed, but she still stood up straight as though she were intact.

  “What’s so special about this mortal that both of you wish to protect so much?” Her nail dragged along Lena’s neck, outlining her pulsating vein. “She’s so disgustingly banal and weak.”

  “LET HER GO!”

  “I’m not afraid of you, Michael.”

  “You don’t have to be. I’m still going to kill you.”

  Adriel was about to grip Lena’s throat when a blinding luminance took over the park, making it difficult for Jon to see. It resembled a huge shield like out of a Greek Mythology adventure. Similar to the one Perseus used to kill Medusa because of its reflective properties.

  “You’re not taking her,” Hope walked towards Adriel holding the glassy mirror in front of her. “You’ve taken enough already.”

  Adriel shied away from the light, letting go of Lena. A large misty cloud surrounded them. It was so thick that it was impossible to distinguish any colors or shapes. Jon walked over to where Lena had been, his arms outstretched trying to reach out for her, but felt nothing. The sound of flapping wings grew louder, like there were a thousand birds nearby. He heard the cries of the tortured souls, Adriel’s Army getting weakened by the shield.

  “Michael? Jon?” Lena’s voice sounded farther away than she should’ve been. Jon couldn’t understand what was happening. It seemed as though the fog had become like an entity that could expand and shrink at will.

  “Don’t move! I’m coming for you!” Jon shouted.

  “Lena, stay where you are!” Michael cautioned, his voice close by.

  Jon looked around but could only see white. Nothing came into view. No outlines of a silhouette, nor of trees or something that could direct him in the right path. He walked aimlessly, lost like a sailor without a compass.

  “Michael? Jon? I can’t see anything!”

  “I’m coming for you, Lena!”

  “I won’t let anything harm you! Trust me,” Michael comforted her. It angered Jon that Michael sounded so self-assured in his statements. But maybe if he were holding a hefty golden sword, he too, would be feeling confident. Instead, his jaw was killing him with pain, even if it had dulled a little by now.

  “He killed your mother and you think he’ll be able to save you?” Adriel laughed hysterically across the night. “You’re a fool to believe that!”

  There was a sound of collision, and then a blood curling scream came from the opposite direction of where Jon was standing. The voice sounded like it had come from Lena, and he was worried that maybe Adriel had done her harm.

  “Lena!” Jon ran. He might as well have been stuck in a vault of chalky dry ice fumes, because his vision would’ve been the same. “Dammit, Lena! Say something! I’m coming to you!”

  He ran blindly across the hill, unsure if he was heading in the right direction or approaching a precipice. Something caught on his foot and he tripped. The ground was hard, gravel sticking to the underside of his chin. Spitting out dirt, he tried to free his foot from what was holding him back. But something tugged him.

  “Don’t leave me here…help…please..” a cracked voice begged him.

  Jon recognized the voice, and a sense of relief overcame him. “Connor? Are you hurt?”

  “I can’t move my right leg.”

  “Can you drag it?”

  “I can try.”

  “Good, cause we have to find Lena and Hope.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “It’s too long to explain, but let’s just say that the girl that did this to you, has been responsible for all those deaths at St. Lucy’s Academy.”

  “What is she anyway?”

  “Some kind of death angel.”

  “No, really. Be serious, dude.”

  “I’m being serious! But right now let’s just focus on finding the others and bailing.”

  Jon stood up, and the two of them began walking. Not a single sound was heard, apart from their breathing and Connor dragging his leg across the gravel whenever he took a step. The soil beneath Jon’s feet was beginning to get moist in some areas, while in others, rocks were coming loose. Maybe they were nearing the edge, and below they’d fall twenty feet or more. He stopped walking, and Connor crashed into him from the abrupt halt mid-track. There was an uneasy calm in the air, making Jon nervous. Slowly, the fog was dissipating, but not entirely. A blood curdling scream echoed throughout the park . Jon wasn’t sure who it was. Whether it came from Lena or Hope. He rubbed the persistent tears out of his eyes. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose someone else he loved. Yet he felt so helpless. Despite this feeling, he changed direction and started to run in what he hoped was towards the scream. Casting aside his uneasiness, he was determined to stop this. Someone may have snatched Robert from his life, and Adriel had killed Amelia, but he’d be damned if he’d allow her to do the same with Lena. There was no life without her. He didn’t even think twice about putting his own at risk to save hers.

  Chapter Five

  There were so many things people didn’t know about her. Everyone coveted a secret at St. Lucy’s Academy, just hers was deadlier than others. It wasn’t her fault that she was inquisitive by nature. How could she have known that her experiment would’ve worked? She hadn’t realized that there was an element of truth in the folktales that she loved to read. So when she had come upon the spell of how to summon a death angel, she decided to give it a try.

  Thirteen drops of blood and graveyard soil mixed together with water was all it took. She carefully had kneaded the combination till it had become a thick paste, and once it was malleable, she had molded it into a vessel that outlined a human shape and then added wings.

  I’m the dagger that pierces your heart.

  I’m the dagger that reveals new life.

  I’m the dagger that marks your footsteps in blood.

  I’m the dagger that cuts your tender flesh.

  I’m the dagger that slices your sleep.

  I’m the dagger that delivers untimely death.

  I’m the dagger that pierces your heart.

  It was a simple incantation. She simply hadn’t been ready for it to truly unfold. She had come to her. Adriel. Her name sounded both menacing and seductive. She knew she was close to death. There was no way she was going to return from Italy alive. The doctors knew it. She knew it. It’s probably why she had toyed with disaster.

  Now, she could feel the power run through her veins. No more pain. Absolute bliss. The price to pay for this had been intolerably high. She never imagined the complete annihilation that would’ve occurred.

  Adriel came to her because she invoked her. She had put everyone in danger by giving her power. It was true, Adriel came to those who were broken, but by aiding her with a vessel, she had given her a
puppet to execute her murders. No one had suspected a thing because she and her were one. Adriel’s power was her own power. To eliminate one would mean to kill the other. She had interwoven her blood with her existence. It couldn’t be undone.

  I’m the dagger that pierces your heart.

  Chapter Six

  Lena couldn’t see where she was. All she knew was that the soil was wet where she had fallen, and in some parts dry with brittle leaves. Her throat felt coarse like sandpaper from screaming. An ache ran up and down her left arm. Something had pierced her. Walking towards the moonlight she tried to see what it was and noticed a tiny branch stuck on the side. She winced as she pulled the stick out, seeing trickles of blood dribble down her arm.

  “Michael! Jon!” she called out, but it was useless, she couldn’t hear or see any of them. Adriel had been fast in attacking her. Even with a wounded wing, she was still strong. The fog had begun to slowly recede and she noticed she was farther down the hill. The HOLLYWOOD sign was a few feet above her. Shrubs clung to her black tulle skirt. It was torn on the left side, and her legs were covered in scratches.

  A loud crashing sound came from the left and she quickly turned her head towards it. Before she had time to react, something knocked her off of her feet and pushed her hard against a rock. She was pressed so close that Lena was having trouble breathing. Certain that she’d asphyxiate under Adriel’s iron grip. Her lungs felt compressed like a flame being lit from within and burning strong between her ribcage.

  “You were always the one I was after, Lena.”

  “Please, let me go…” she said in a whisper of breath.

  “Not a chance, little girl. I knew that the moment you’d see Madoka’s book you’d want to go back. That’s the place in time in which you walked into my plan.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “I’ll spell it out for you, Lena. If you hadn’t gone back your mother would still be alive. That second you were ripe to join my army, because I knew that you’d break without her.”