“That’s okay, Hon. I just wanted to let you know that someone stopped by earlier looking for you.”
I’m not surprised. I thought to myself. “Was it a guy?” I asked.
“It was a man. He came by twice. He was knocking on your door very loudly and calling your name. I came out to see what all the fuss was about. He was very polite when I told him that you hadn’t been home yet, and that I would let you know he had stopped by. He left, and then about an hour later he came back, knocking on your door again. I stepped out and told him you still hadn’t been home, and that I had every intention of giving you his message…, but it was like he didn’t know what I was talking about… like he had forgotten we had spoken. It was very strange.”
It was really odd. I didn’t see Kale as a stalker…, but then again, I didn’t see him as a cheater either. I didn’t want to think about it right now. I just couldn’t deal with it. I wanted to crawl into my bed and hide from the world.
“Okay, thanks Mr. Parker.” I started to walk through the door when he stopped me again.
“Azaleigh, are you in trouble?”
“No, Sir. Not that I’m aware of.” I said it to lighten the mood, but I don’t think it worked. I didn’t want to burden him with how my world was dissolving around me… or the fact that I no longer had a friend… or that the one person I thought I could share my life with was a lying scumbag. No, I couldn’t do that. My pain would be my own. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, giving him a fake smile before I went in.
***
Surprisingly, sleep came all too easy that night. Before I knew it, my alarm was ringing in my ear. To say I was sluggish was putting it lightly. I barely made it to work on time.
Tannah had assessed my mood and stayed clear. I shuddered at the fact that Jen and I would have to cross paths today. Her shift started two hours before mine would end.
Just as I thought, Jen showed up early. I could feel her watching my every move, waiting for the opportunity to talk to me.
“Az?”
I ignored her, hoping she would give up easily and leave me alone. That’s what I get for hoping.
“Az, please listen. It was not at all what it looked like,” she said weakly.
That single sentence made me realize that she knew a lot more about Kale’s relationship and mine then I had thought. I assumed he had told her about me, which would explain why she looked at me the way she did at the bar. I had worked so hard to keep our relationship private, and this was just another way Kale had betrayed me.
I still thought denial would be my safest bet. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” This really didn’t make much sense, since I took off running from her less than fourteen hours earlier.
“Az, you know what I’m talking about.” She had the nerve to sound annoyed, which only enraged me more.
“Jen…, it was exactly what it looked like.” It came out as a hiss.
“I wouldn’t lie to you. I wasn’t there to see Kale.”
“Really? So it was a coincidence that you two were groping each other? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Well, it’s hard to explain, but I promise you, Az. It's not what you think.” Apparently, repeating herself was the best defense she had.
“I have nothing more to say to you. You know…. I had this illusion that we were friends. That was my mistake.”
“I am sorry,” she whispered. I couldn’t look at her any longer. I turned my back and continued cleaning the table.
For the next hour, I waited tables and hauled dishes. All the while, I pretended like Jen wasn’t there. I wished I could have believed her, but all the facts proved otherwise.
I stood behind the counter, tallying tickets when I heard the front door open. Someone stood in front of me and cleared their throat. I refused to look up, mostly because I wasn’t in the mood for human interaction.
“Can I help you?” I asked finally, while punching numbers into the calculator.
When I heard his voice, everything inside me stood still. “Azaleigh.” It was Kale. Instinctively, I made eye contact. When I did, I felt the bottom of my stomach drop.
His eyes were filled with pain and despair.
Anger consumed me. How dare him for showing up here. How dare him for making me trust him.
I looked across the diner to find Jen, who in return had looked up from the customers she was waiting on to watch the drama unfold.
“Jen!” I shouted in my most cynical voice. “Your boyfriend’s here.”
“Oh, that’s real mature Az.” She rolled her eyes and went back to taking orders.
I refused to look back at Kale and stared off into space, hoping he would catch a hint.
“Azaleigh, we need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Yes! There is,” he said firmly, but without raising his voice.
“Well, this is how it is, Kale.” I spit his name out like it left a bad taste in my mouth. “I hope you and Jen have a happy life together. You two deserve each other.”
All he did was watch me. Looking at him only made the pain rise to the surface, and for once the true me came out. “I always knew I liked you more than you liked me. You never proved me wrong. I wanted you in every way a person could want someone. All I wanted was you. So I guess I’m the one to blame, for believing that you could feel the same in return.”
I couldn’t look at him another minute. I was crushed and didn’t want to show him how badly, even though I am sure it was a little late for that. I pushed past him and ran out the back door where our cook, Jackson, would normally sneak off to take his smoke breaks. I could feel the tears welling up, weighing heavy on my eyelids and ready to break free at any second. I had to clear my head and didn’t want an audience during my nervous breakdown.
The back door spilled out into an alleyway that ran beside the diner. I stood outside pacing back and forth, trying to calm myself. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream and cry or find a baseball bat and start swinging.
I turned when I heard the back door open again. Kale stood a few feet away, trying to keep a safe distance. “Azaleigh, if you would let me explain.”
“Go to hell!” I shouted as I began walking hard steps down the alley that would lead to the city sidewalk.
“Azaleigh!” he shouted, grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face him.
My only reaction was to slap him hard across his face. The loud sound of my hand making contact with his cheek shocked me, but I was too angry to care. “No! You don’t understand! You don’t ever get to touch me again!”
I shrugged harshly out of his grip. Just then, a heavy gust blew, ruffling my hair and blinding me as I turned to walk away, followed by a loud thud. Taking a step forward, I brushed my hair from my face, but then stopped suddenly. A man wearing a white hooded cloak stood in front of me. At first I stopped because I was astonished by what he was wearing, but as I studied him, I noticed the slender sword-like object that he gradually pulled from his side. My body began to tremble with fear.
“Azaleigh, get behind me!” Kale demanded, in a firm voice.
Before I had a chance to respond, the man started running towards us. I felt Kale’s arm wrap around my waist. He held me tight to his body, and I could feel something begin to rumble inside him. I saw what appeared to be huge wings spread out behind us. What I thought was confirmed as he turned to shield me. One of the wings came down with such a force that it embedded into the street, sending chunks of asphalt and dust flying in all directions. I let out a scream as I felt the impact that Kale had intercepted. I was so scared and didn’t understand what was going on. Crouched under the huge wing, I saw blood trickling down underneath of it, and I could feel it soaking into the back of my shirt. I felt another hard blow that shook our bodies, and I heard Kale exhale in pain. Holding onto his arms as they were wrapped around me, Kale shifted our bodies using his wing to knock the man against the brick wall. With a heave, Kale lifted us of
f the ground but only to be pulled back down. Kale lost his grip on me, and I fell hard, hitting my head.
Automatically, I placed my hand on my head. Looking at my hand, it was covered in blood, and the coppery smell made me sick. I tried to look up and see where Kale was, but everything was too muddled. I could barely make out the two figures fighting a short distance from me. There was no definition to their bodies, making them one big hazy mass. Two more figures came into view, and I heard Tannah shout to Jen. “Go help, Az!”
Jen leaned over me, and I could see the concern in her face. “Az, stay with me.” My head felt heavy, and it throbbed with pain. Jen tried to get me to focus on her. I couldn’t help but try and look over her shoulder for any sign of Kale.
“Azaleigh! Look at me!” Jen shouted one last time. I brought my eyes back to hers. I felt a sense that calmed me as I stared at her. Then wings unrealistically bloomed from her back. They were breathtaking. I tried maneuvering my mouth into a smile. “You’re an Angel,” I said, not really sure if I was asking her or telling her. Jen smiled back, and then closed in on me, wrapping herself around me. Everything went dark, but before I surrendered to the darkness, my body felt weightless, and I could hear the faint sound of wings beating against the air.
***
I could hear someone talking, causing me to stir. I breathed in and noticed the room smelled like soap and cleansing solution. My eyes were still closed. I was having this great dream, but it was starting to fade away. I searched my mind trying to get it back, but the more I did the further out of reach it became.
I heard more talking. This time I recognized the voices. My eyes felt heavy as I tried to pry them open. It took a moment to focus, but when I did, I saw Tannah and Jen hovering over me. My vision was still fuzzy, and I couldn’t see much detail in their faces.
“Az,” Jen said my name, and I could hear the hint of a smile in it.
At first when I tried speaking, nothing came out. It took a couple of attempts to find my voice. “Where am I?”
Tannah took over from there–like the mother she should have been. “You’re in the hospital. Everything is going to be fine.” I could hear her, but she was starting to grow faint.
I closed my eyes–they were too heavy to keep them open any longer. “I hate hospitals,” was all I could get out before I felt the shadows pulling me back in.
Then I saw my dream I had lost; it was coming back. I let it lead me, pulling me away from Tannah and Jen.
The next time I woke, I was in my room. I couldn’t remember how I got there. A thousand strange imagines paraded through my mind. I remembered walking home from work and seeing a pink and blue neon sign. I remembered being intrigued by it and wanting to go in, then the blaring of a car horn, and then… silence.
When I tried to move, a sharp pain shot through my head. I felt around, finding a small knot on my forehead and one in the back of my head that must have been worse, because it had been stitched up. My body was covered in scrapes and cuts that were well on their way to disappearing.
A sound coming from the kitchen took my attention off of my ailing body. As I listened, I heard bacon sizzling in a frying pan. I put on my bathrobe and went to investigate. The sweet smell of pancakes and smoked sausage filled the hallway. It was just like the diner, only better.
“Good morning Az. How are you feeling?” Tannah was standing over the stove.
“I’m not sure.” I was still unclear of what was going on. “Tannah… what happened?”
Tannah put on her serious face, which was even more serious than normal. “Well, apparently you decided to walk out in front of a moving vehicle. It was like you never saw the cab at all.”
“A cab?” But even as I asked, it started coming back to me. I remembered stepping out in the street.
Tannah went on to answer the question. “Yes. But I’m not sure where you were going.” Then, she went on to fuss at herself. “I should have offered to take you home.”
“It’s fine, Tannah. Besides, I’m alright.”
She looked at me in a way that made me uneasy. However, she wouldn’t say anything.
“I am alright, right?”
Her tone was extremely soft and didn’t fit the woman whom I knew so well. “You are now. Az, you lost a lot of blood. And you were banged up pretty bad.” She paused and took a deep breath, as if she needed to choose her words carefully. “You’ve been out for six weeks.”
“What do you mean, out? You make it sound like I went to the store. Are you telling me that I’ve been unconscious for six weeks?”
I sat down at the kitchen table trying to comb through my memory. She couldn’t be serious. I pushed my mind back as far as it would go, but I came up empty. Tannah sat down next to me and put her hand on mine. I closed my eyes not wanting her to see how upset I was.
“Az, it’s going to be okay. It’s just time, and you have plenty of it left.” Somehow her words didn’t comfort me. I felt something missing… something taken from me, but I didn’t know what.
Chapter 6
Replacement
Kano walked through the doors of the cathedral, swinging them open with such a force that they rattled on their hinges. He moved down the aisle in a swift gait that would lead him to where Tobias sat. The sound of the metal sword shifting at his side echoed through the room as he walked. His white cloak had been torn across the front, exposing a wound that was quickly mending.
Tobias sat in a large lustrous chair on a platform at the end of the pathway, his appearance equaling arrogance. He modeled this by wearing pants that hung loosely around his waist and a golden amulet that lay against his bare chest. A sizable scar ran the length of his torso and curved with the build of his abdomen. The hair on his head was replaced by intricate drawings that were tattooed on his skin, and his deep red beard was unevenly braided.
Scarlet stood by his side. The sound of the swinging doors made her turn and face Kano. “Back so soon?” Scarlet asked in a malice voice.
Kano had little tolerance for her. He looked straight past her to Tobias, who had sat up in his chair. “If I could have a word with you?”
Tobias held up his hand, motioning for Scarlet to leave the room. She was clearly frustrated by Tobias’ lack of respect. She had spent many years serving him and felt that it was her right to be involved in every aspect of this task. Besides, it was she who had located the Arch.
Scarlet had procrastinated, waiting for Tobias to realize his mistake by asking her to leave, but in the end, she had only vexed him more by not obeying. “Scarlet. Leave us.” This time his voice rumbled through the room, and birds that had perched themselves in the eaves of the cathedral scattered wildly and then quickly exited through one of the broken windows.
Scarlet vigorously pulled her hood up as she turned away from Kano and Tobias, motioning at the servants to open the doors as she sauntered out.
Once they were alone, Kano spoke. “You did not tell me that there was more than one watching over the girl.”
This amused Tobias. “I am not here to make your job easier.”
Kano spoke calmly. “Regardless of what you think, I don’t work like this. You will either give me all the details or I can return from where I came.”
“Fair enough. There are three that watch her; the leader, the healer, and the protector. The protector was our main concern. However, he is now gone and has been substituted with someone less adequate.”
“And that’s everything?” Kano asked.
Tobias paused and looked at him coldly. “Now you know what we know. No more questions.”
***
Tobias walked down the elongated corridor of the monastery that led to the east wing. He was a private person and this end of the building was vacant. It was only occupied by him, mostly because this is where he liked to engage in his personal endeavors.
However, when he opened the large wooden doors to his main chamber, he didn’t find the bedmates that would have normally been awaiting him.
Instead, Scarlet lay stretched out across his bed. She was lying on her stomach using her elbows to prop herself up. Her long slender leg was bent, showing through the split in her gown. “I thought I would accompany you tonight,” she said.
“Where are the other girls?” Tobias asked as he removed his necklace, laying it on a nearby table. Tobias was aware of how envious Scarlet could be. He had never given her a second look, and this was something she could not understand. Anyone but Tobias would have fallen at her feet because of her beauty.
“I sent them away,” she said smiling. “They are disposable.”
Tobias stood there with his arms comfortably crossed. “That was bold of you.”
Scarlet slid off his bed and walked over to where he stood. She lifted his hand carefully guiding it inside the narrow part of her gown and placed it on her breast. Her eyes followed his, assessing his reaction. Tobias removed his hand from her bare skin and retrieved a small blade from his side.
Tobias placed his hand at the back of Scarlet’s neck, grasping the strap of her garment. He slowly ran the blade down the side of Scarlet’s cheek and stopped near his hand, before slicing the strap in two. The gown fell to the floor, and Scarlet stood there uncovered except for two small braided chains that wrapped around each thigh. To any normal man, she would have looked like a Goddess, but not to Tobias.
“What makes you think I want you?” Tobias asked mockingly.
“You are still a man with needs.”
He smiled at her. “I am no man.”
“You are still a creature with needs,” she said, returning his smile.
Tobias simply reacted. He placed the small blade on the table where his amulet lay and grabbed the back of Scarlet’s hair, tilting her head back. Placing his lips to her breast, he traced circles with his tongue, cupping it in his mouth.
Scarlet carved her nails down Tobias’ back, causing small beads of blood to appear. He moved her over to his bed, sitting her down. “What makes you think I won’t dispose of you when I’m done?” Tobias asked.
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