by K. D. Peters
I quickly got up with him though. “You mean like whatever that was outside? I guess you did tell me not to come out, huh?” I said as I looked down. Okay, so I’ll admit that it had been kind of stupid for me to sneak out in the middle of the night like I did with knowing that there could be something out there like that woman earlier. But I honestly hadn’t thought that I’d get away from Mama so easily if I’d done it any other way.
Chris let out a deep breath. It actually sounded a little bit painful. “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just get some rest. We’ll figure out where to go from here in the morning.” he replied, walking back over to the folded out futon.
I just stood there for a moment. He had to be kidding right? “Um, where am I supposed to sleep in here?” I asked him. I didn’t see anything else aside from the floor to sleep on.
“What do you mean? There’s room on here.” Chris said, lying back down and covering himself up.
“Do I really have to say all the things wrong with that statement?” I said, feeling exhausted now. And it wasn’t just from being up in the middle of the night.
Chris looked over at me. “There’s nothing wrong with it when all you’re doing is sleeping. Besides, I think you'd want to be close to me if that thing decides to come back and look inside.” he reasoned without missing a beat.
Okay, so he had a point there. I really didn’t want to be lying on the floor and look up to see a monster looking in at me. Then I probably would die of a heart attack. So I quietly walked over and laid down under the blanket beside him. “No funny stuff.” I told him.
Chris just shook his head. “Whatever.” he replied.
I closed my eyes as he turned out the small light over the bed. I’ll admit that I wasn’t at all comfortable about this, but I’d survive. Holding my pendant, I managed to make myself relax. And eventually, I was able to drift off to sleep. Amazingly though, I didn’t end up dreaming. I actually had a decent night’s sleep, for the first time in a very long time. It was only as the sun began peeking through the windows that I found myself waking again.
When I first opened my eyes, I felt a little more than confused. I wasn’t in my room, or my bed. But lifting my head and looking around, it slowly dawned on me that I’d left my house in the middle of the night before. Of course, I thought. I remember now. I’d had that dream about Saffron and Jade when I was born, and I’d decided to go looking for Chris to get more answers. I had made it to his house, and something had been following me. Then I ended up staying there for the rest of the night.
Turning myself a little, I found that Chris was still sleeping beside me. He’d turned onto his back now, and I could clearly see the bandages under his tank top. They definitely wrapped around his shoulder and chest. I couldn’t help but wonder just what had happened to him. Obviously, something had hurt him pretty badly. Had he maybe gone back to that house and fought with that woman some more? It was possible, right?
In spite of myself, I leaned over a little to take a better look at him. He really was a handsome guy, although I was now certain that he probably had a very stubborn personality. But looking at him, I couldn't help but suddenly think that his features looked a little bit familiar. And it wasn't just from my dreams. There was something familiar in his face....
After a few more minutes of me staring at him, I saw him begin waking up again. I quickly backed myself up again so that he wouldn't catch me. “Is it morning already?’ he muttered as he put an arm over his eyes.
I had to laugh a little. “You’re not a morning person, are you?” I said.
“No. I hate mornings. I prefer sleep.” Chris replied.
“By the way, are you ready to tell me what happened to you now?” I asked him.
“What do you mean?” Chris asked, looking back over at me.
I pointed at the bandages. “You look like you’ve been through something with those.” I said.
“Oh yeah. That.” Chris said, sitting himself up a little now. He cringed slightly as he did. “Just a run in with that thing last night. That’s why I preferred not having to do it again.”
So that must have been why he was so intent on us not being spotted the night before. He’d already fought with whatever that was. And apparently, he’d lost. “Are you going to be okay?” I asked him.
“I’m fine. But I probably should get up and change these now.” Chris admitted, glancing down at the bandages.
Well, it wasn’t in me to just leave him like that. I knew I could never do it. “All right. But let me do it. I can probably fix those a lot tighter then you can.” I said.
Chris shrugged, getting himself up with me. Going back to the bathroom, I looked under the sink and through what medical supplies he had in there. Apparently, he had thought ahead about keeping a lot of stuff on hand. It looked like there was enough for at least one more dressing. “We might have to find some more of this stuff for you soon. You’re running low you know.” I commented as I came back out and sat down on the side of the bed with him.
“You’re probably right. We can pick some more up later. But it shouldn’t be that bad this morning. It’s had time to start healing now.” Chris said.
I nodded as I sat down with him on the bed and he took off the tank top. Then I quietly began working on undoing the previous bandages. I was trying very hard to not blush as I did this. No guy should have been this built. He may not have had huge muscles on him, but he was definitely well defined. Not to mention that nice six pack he was sporting. “Seriously, do you have any fat on you at all?” I heard myself ask. But just as quick I found myself thinking, "Okay, did I really just say that?"
“Maybe, but I'm not sure where. I don’t really get the chance to be lazy anymore.” Chris replied without missing a beat. My comment seemed like it didn't bother him at all. That, or he just didn't catch onto what I was saying.
Shaking my head at it, I finished pulling off the rest of the bandages. I was a little shocked at what I saw though. Even though the wounds were scabbed over now and looked like they were healing some, they were nasty. One was a long deep cut extending from his shoulder down to the bottom of his ribs, and the other one was a slice across his chest. “What did this to you?” I had to ask.
“It’s called a Shade. They’re creatures that occasionally slip over to this side of reality late at night, and most humans refer to them as shadow people. There’s always trouble when they show up though. They’re killing machines that love to tear just about anything apart with their claws. And they're tough to fight against, because they basically live in the shadows themselves.” Chris explained.
I took a deep breath and tried to steady myself, carefully unrolling the new dressings. “Sounds to me like you got lucky last night.” I said. Again, I thought to myself did I really just say that?
“It wouldn’t be wrong.” Chris agreed, still not catching onto my embarrassment that I was bringing onto myself. “But I've got bigger things to think about now. I’ve got to figure out what my next move is. Now that you know what you are and you’ve decided to come back to me, the change is probably going to come sooner. Staying in this town would probably be the worst thing for you too when that happens. More than likely, they’d find you pretty quickly.”
“You said something about that before. What exactly do you mean by change?” I asked as I began rewrapping wounds again.
“Sorry. I keep forgetting that he hasn’t told you anything about this. Actually, you’ll end up like the rest of us when it happens. You’re not going to age anymore from now on. And you’ll get these.” Chris said.
To my shock, large wings suddenly came out of his back. I felt myself jerk back in my seat as I saw them emerge, actually falling off of the futon and onto the floor. Chris just looked at me in surprise. "Well, that was graceful." he commented.
I felt myself make a face at him then. "Not funny." I said, pulling myself back up and moving behind him to take a better look at those wings. They were incredibly beautiful, wit
h feathers that were as black as the darkest night. Even though I was in awe of them, I couldn’t help but wonder how in the world this was possible. Was this supposed to be some kind of magic trick or something? Still, looking back there, I saw that they came right out of his shoulder blades as an actual extension of his body. Definitely no tricks there…
“Okay, seriously, where were you hiding these? I slept beside you all night and I never felt anything different.” I said. I wasn’t about to really say out loud that I’d made sure to stay pressed close against him. The thought of something looking in at me had me a bit more than paranoid. That and, as dumb as it sounds, it actually felt nice to sleep beside him. Like I said before, there was just something about Chris that was way too inviting to me.
“In my back. It’s something that comes natural for us.” Chris said, quickly pulling them back into his shoulder blades. They went in flawlessly, and you couldn’t even tell that they were ever there. Even the entrance of where they emerged covered back with flesh as quickly as the blink of an eye.
“You got to be kidding me.” I moaned, forcing myself to sit back down and finish his bandaging.
“I'd imagine that this is a lot to take, isn't it?” Chris admitted.
“I’m going to guess that you’ve known about this your whole life.” I said, sitting back a little to recompose myself once again. This was all becoming a lot to take in, especially in such a short amount of time.
“I didn’t have much of a choice. I was born like this, although I didn’t get the wings until I was eighteen. I almost didn’t make it to that though. I just got lucky enough to have my father decide to save me when I was a little kid and those others came after me.” Chris explained.
“So you knew your dad?” I said.
“I know him, although I haven’t seen him in a long time. Actually, I’m not too sure how he’d take this if he knew I was protecting you right now. But I’m not too worried about it either. He’s never really made me listen to him anyways.” Chris said.
That was interesting to hear. Apparently, unlike myself, not all of those like me didn’t know where they had come from. But I decided to leave that one alone for the time being. I had a lot of other things on my mind, and a lot more questions to ask him. “So how old are you anyways? Will you tell me now?” I asked him.
Chris thought about it for a moment. “Don’t really know. It’s been long enough for me to lose track of it.”
“I guess.” I lamented. Seriously, he couldn’t have been that old. Could he?
“Although, considering you know this much, I may as well tell you what my real name is. If you're going to stay around me, you'll probably hear it anyway. There’s a reason I prefer to just go by Chris you know. It’s because I've never really liked my given name. It just doesn't fit to me. It’s Christoff.” Chris explained.
Okay, so that one surprised me a little. I’d never heard a name like that before. And I think it was then that I realized that perhaps Chris was probably a lot older then I'd taken him for. It was kind of a sad thought for me. For as cute as he was, this guy was more than likely out of my league. And once again, I found myself wondering just why in the world I would have ever thought such a thing…
At that, Chris stood himself back up. “By the way, I have been thinking about all of this too since last night. And I think I know just the person who can help us out with all of this. Hopefully he’ll actually decide to answer a phone and get off the damn violin long enough to listen to me.” he said, picking up a cell phone from the nearby table.
“Is he someone who knows about the people like us?” I had to ask. I couldn't help but wonder what someone like that would be like. After all, how many people in the world could have the privilege of knowing that things like angels and demons and all really existed?
“No. Actually, he’s one of us. But he tends to know a lot more about how things like this tend to play out.” Chris replied. He hit the speaker button on the phone and quickly dialed in a number. I listened as it rang three times. Then, there was an answer.
“Hello?” a soft male voice said. They sounded half asleep.
“So you actually decided to answer my phone call this time. Are you finally over it?” Chris asked without any hesitation.
The guy on the other end made a small, disgruntled sound. “Seriously Christoff, you could just say hello. And yes, I was getting over the last time we talked until now. What do you want? You do know it’s five in the morning here, right?” he said. His voice was light, and I detected a southern accent in it.
“Hmm, yeah. I guess you are an hour behind there, aren’t you?” Chris noted. He sounded like he’d genuinely forgotten about that.
“You’re too forgetful sometimes.” the guy replied, still sounding pretty disgruntled. It was obvious that he didn't appreciate the wakeup call at all.
“Whatever. I’m calling you for something important anyways, so I’m expecting that you’d at least take the time listen to me.” Chris told him.
“Really? I’d imagine it must be if you’re up this early.” the guy said. Now it seemed that Chris had gotten his attention.
But Chris seemed to ignore his comment. “You remember hearing a while back about that whole mess with that Fallen named Saffron, right? Have you heard anything else about it since then?” he asked him.
For a moment, the other end of the line was quiet. Apparently, the guy was thinking over his answer. “Well, I did hear about two years ago that he had gotten himself into a lot of trouble with the big one ruling the Abyss. The seal of the contract was destroyed completely, and he took him back for some kind of punishment. I’d imagine that he might be getting back out soon though, considering the time that's passed. I’m sure Jade’s counting down the days for another round with him.” the guy finally answered.
“I see. So that’s why.” Chris said quietly. It sounded like he'd had a revelation now.
“So why ask? You haven’t been interested in either of them for a long time now.” the guy noted.
Chris glanced over at me for a moment before speaking again. “The game’s changed. I found her.” he told him.
I heard the guy on the other end of the line make a sound like he was surprised. “Found her? You mean as in Saffron's her ?” he asked, almost sounding excited.
"Yes. She’s here with me now, and she’s figured out some of who she really is. But it looks like he's sealed at least some of her memories now. So I need to figure out where to go from here.” Chris explained.
“Oh.” the guy’s excitement seemed to die down a little. “Well, like I said, Saffron himself is still sealed up for the time being. But you could bring her here. We could always keep an eye on her and help her out until he decides to reappear. I’d imagine he’ll want to see her again, and when he does, he may unseal her memories himself.”
I listened to this with more than a little bit of interest. Saffron would want to see me again, and had apparently sealed my memories at some point. And on top of that, he’d been trapped for the last two years. As I thought over all of this, I realized that in the back of my mind, a fragment of my memory was beginning to surface. Me as a young child, lying in my bed and snuggled beside a man with dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. He was the same as when I'd been born in that dream...
“By the way, you know who's looking to see you again as well. Why do you keep refusing?” the guy suddenly asked. His voice actually pulled me out of my trance.
I saw Chris tense up for a moment. “We’re not talking about that right now. Besides, if he really wants to see me again, then he’d come find me. I know he’s more than capable of that one. I’ll see you soon.” He said, hanging up.
“So who was that?” I had to ask as he slipped the phone into his pocket.
“His name’s Zane Hedel. Like I said, he’s one of us, and he tends to know how to handle things like this. So we’ll get some things together and head to Baton Rouge to stay with him.” Chris replied.
�
��Wait a minute. Baton Rouge?” I said, standing back up. "What do you mean we're going to Baton Rouge?"
“It’s the only way we’re going to get to Zane. It's not like he can come up here. It's not going to be safe anyways.” Chris replied. He looked a bit surprised that I was actually protesting it.
“But I can’t go to Baton Rouge.” I told him.
“Why not?” Chris asked.
Of course he wouldn’t get it. I was beginning to wonder if he didn’t consider anything else but the basics of all this. “Think about it Chris. I don’t have anything at all to take with me. All I have are the clothes on my back. And also, my mother is going to freak out when she realizes that I’m gone and probably report me missing or something.” I told him.
Chris shook his head. “Trust me, if you left that box anywhere where she can find it, she’s not going to report you missing. She’ll come looking for you herself if she needs to. And besides, why are you so worried about not having anything packed right now? It’s easy enough to just buy whatever you need as you go. All I’ve got right now is a motorcycle, so whatever you use will have to fit into a backpack. So stop worrying so much about all those little things. If you don‘t leave with me now, then you‘re going to end up dying here. They will find you, and they will kill you.” he said.
Well, I really couldn’t argue with that too much, especially when I considered everything that had happened in the past day or so. More than likely, I really needed to get to this Zane guy before I got those wings like Chris did. And something deep inside of me told me that I was running on borrowed time. “Okay then.” I relented. “When are we going?”
Chris glanced at his watch. “Let’s get out of here within the next hour. I want to get a lot of distance between us and this town by nightfall.”
Four