by K. D. Peters
It was three days later, and things were quiet once again. I had not seen another sign of Astaroth or Jade being around, but I counted that as a good thing. Hopefully, they’d both just decided to leave us alone. But the last three days themselves had been interesting for me in other ways as well. I did end up spending the rest of that evening Zane and Will, but I didn’t really see much of Chris. He wasn’t around when I'd gotten up the next morning either. In fact, I hadn’t seen him anywhere. And when I'd noticed that the motorcycle was gone later that afternoon, I began to suspect that he’d actually just left the house altogether. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that he probably wasn’t still mad at me. Maybe he was even having second thoughts on what he had been doing before. I was actually kind of hoping that he’d come back when I thought about that. I was starting to feel the heaviness in my heart over all of it. And although Saffron didn’t seem too concerned about what he'd called “letting the boy blow off some steam”, I was really starting to have my doubts.
“You know, it’s not that I’m complaining about your company or anything, but it does surprise me that Chris just decided to take off like he did. It seemed like the two of you were getting close before. One little argument isn’t that much for him to sulk about.” Will continued.
“I thought we were getting close too, but he just left without saying anything. It kind of hurts, but I think I’ll be okay until he decides to come back again. Besides, you and Zane have been really good friends to me too. And Zane’s actually been teaching me how to play the flute now.” I said.
“I see. I thought that maybe I'd heard a Loon or something last night." Will joked.
I made a face at him. "Very funny." I said.
"Sorry." Will apologized, although he was laughing slightly to himself. "Of course, Zane’s probably the best teacher for that kind of stuff too. But it seems like lately you’ve been much closer to him then you were with Chris. Did something else happen with him that we didn’t hear about?”
I shook my head. “No. I was closer to Chris, but he’s just not here now, so I’ve been spending more time with Zane.” I replied.
Will didn’t seem too concerned though. “You know, it’s funny, but this is something that Chris would do. He’s always been good at sulking when it suits him. And with not being there to protect you when Zane was, he’s probably feeling a little bit useless. He always has put too much on himself, especially now that they’ve got a one up on us.” He said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, not quite following him.
“Well, I guess Zane hasn’t mentioned it to you yet. And Chris isn’t exactly around to tell you. Anyways, apparently Judiel’s learned that you do exist and is aware that you've changed as well. He’s also learned that you’ve met up with us and that you’ve been staying with Chris. The only thing none of them seem to know yet however is exactly where you’re staying. It’s strange though. I haven’t seen any spies around this area at all, and I only saw five on my way down from New York a few weeks ago before they suddenly let up. I don’t get it myself.” Will explained.
I could get the gist of what he was implying now. “You don’t think someone’s working for them here, do you?” I asked him. The thought itself was rather frightening. One of us may have been handing us to the wolves soon, and we were still blindly trusting them.
Will shook his head, still looking puzzled. “I don’t know. I can’t find any evidence of that. I’ve told Chris about it too, but he keeps insisting that there’s got to be something to point to it if that’s the case. No one could get past us that easily. Not with how me and him work. We know everything, whether we want to or not.” He replied.
I wasn’t stupid about any of these implications when it came down to it. If there was someone who was spying on us and knew this much, they had to be someone very close to us. They had to be someone we trusted. But without any kind of proof against them, we couldn’t catch them. “So what does Chris want to do about it?” I finally asked him. Obviously, he must have still been talking to Will if he’d mentioned it to him. I wished he’d just talk to me too. Even if he just called me. This wasn’t fair. He’d said that he loved me. Why abandon me if he loved me?
“I don’t know. He’s been far too busy sulking lately to talk to me about any of it. I’m telling you, I hate when he does this to me. Although I will admit that I’ve never seen him be this bad before. You must have really gotten to him.” Will admitted.
“Really?” I said absently.
“Honestly now, do you really think that Chris meant any of that? You know he worries a lot about you. And for him to have just taken off like this, he must be upset.” Will said.
I shrugged a little. “How should I know? I don’t think I’ve been able to understand Chris from the day we met. I thought I was starting to, but then he just took off on me. So I don’t know anymore.” I told him.
Will smiled slightly at my words. He actually looked amused now. “I suppose he is rather hard to understand at times. I don’t think Christoff has even been that good with expressing himself. You could call it a not so good upbringing, if you know what I mean. But he’s also pretty direct too with whatever he thinks. Although, it does seem like lately he’s been losing that, especially around you.” He said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, stopping for a moment to look back over at him.
“Just what I said.” Will replied, stopping as well to face me completely. “Whether you believe such or not, Chris is a lot more taken with you then he cares to let on. He has terrible pride though, and he doesn’t quite understand just how to express himself at times. I can say that he’s become a lot more gentle though since you’ve come along. And it seems very possible that he may have even been jealous over Zane saving you from Astaroth. At least, it’s what I've been able to read from what I know of him.”
I just stood there, taking in his words. Jealousy. Being unable to really express himself from a bad upbringing. Well, that did fit Chris pretty good when I put it all together, although he hadn’t been hesitant in kissing me before our fight. After all, I would’ve imagined that although Jade brought him up to be strong and smart, he probably didn’t teach him a lot in the way of being social. Well, truly social. And if he was that stubborn and had that much pride, maybe that would explain why he’d just walk away from our fight and not talk to me instead of just apologizing.
My thoughts were interrupted though by a deathly silence suddenly falling over the area around us. Will and I stood very still, looking around us for a moment. Then, a strange sound suddenly began rising up from the trees. It was a whistling sound, like a huge gust of wind coming at us. Will and I looked up at the same time, seeing flashing lights coming through the trees in the distance. “What the... It can’t be.” Will said in disbelief. He grabbed my hand quickly and began making us run back toward the house.
“What’s going on? What is that?” I managed to ask as we ran.
“It’s a band of Judiel’s forces! They’ve come here looking to kill us!” Will replied.
We made it back to the house as fast as we could. But by then, the lights had gotten a lot closer. We both ducked quickly as a flash of bright white lights whizzed past our heads. Will quickly got himself back up, standing in front of me and sweeping his hand across him, bringing a large wall of dirt up like a tidal wave to block the incoming flashes. As the lights hit the wall, the dirt exploded and rained down onto us. We watched as three bright spheres of light with what looked like wings flapping on their sides floated down from the trees a few feet from us. To my shock, they transformed into three beautiful luminous beings that were dressed in white robes, with glowing white wings coming from their backs. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what they were.
Angels.
Will stood very still as we watched them, keeping his hand held up for another defensive move. “So you found us after all. Who snitched?” he demanded.
They refused to answer him. Instead, they raised thei
r golden bows in their hands, the flaming white arrows pointed directly at us. But before they could even pull back their bow strings, a blast of black light suddenly came flying up from behind us. It came very quickly, tearing the grass up from under it and growing larger as it flew towards the attacking angels. They scattered, and the blast hit a nearby tree, splitting it in right down the middle. As I stared in disbelief, Chris landed beside Will. He had his sword raised, and his beautiful black wings shined slightly in the dim light of the evening. “I thought I sensed angels coming.” He said.
“Took you long enough to get back here.” Will complained.
“Sorry. I got held up.” Chris said. He looked back at me as I stood myself up completely. “Stay back and keep your guard up. We’ll handle this. You’re not ready yet.” He ordered.
By then, the angels were regrouping. They split up, two on either side of us, and one facing us. The one raised his arm, and the ground under us trembled like a minor earthquake. The three of us quickly brought our wings out, jumping back. I considered seeing if I could get into the house, but at the same time, I couldn’t imagine that it would do me any good. They would've simply followed and hunted me down. And what about Will and Chris? I couldn’t just leave them….
The angels seemed a lot more focused on them than me. As I watched, they aimed their arrows back at them. But Chris and Will were fast, and had good defenses with both black flames and using the ground itself as a shield. However, these angels were smart too. One of them managed to distract Will, while another quickly flew up behind him and shot another arrow at him. Will moved quickly, but it still grazed his left arm. He held it tightly as Chris moved in front of him, blasting the angels back again with the black flames he’d created from his sword.
“This isn’t good. We’re three to two on this one, and we can’t exactly fight them when we’re this worried about her.” Will told him.
“I know that. But they’re not going to let us get away either. Not now that they’ve found us.” Chris said.
Will glanced back over at me, then at him again. “Get her out of here. I’ll hold them off myself. At least get her away until they have no choice but to retreat.” He ordered.
“You know you can’t do that. You can’t even move that arm now!” Chris protested.
“Well, it’s a lot better than just letting all of us be killed here!” Will argued.
“I said I’m not—“ Chris started to respond back to him, but suddenly stopped. Looking up, I saw that the angels had too. The air had suddenly changed, and all of us sensed it. A cold filled it, along with an incredible heaviness. And all at once, a massive darkness suddenly split the ground in front of us wide open, flying up and spreading quickly all around us. The angels all screamed as they were swiftly disintegrated within it. And as this darkness cleared, a figure emerged from the center of it. I could barely believe my eyes as I heard myself speak.
“Saffron.”
Chris and Will were looking in shock too. “I don’t believe it.” Chris managed.
I couldn’t help but stare for a long moment myself. Saffron had finally returned to our world. He’d finally been set free. For as terrifying as this should have been, I felt an instant sense of happiness begin rising in me. My father had returned to me. I finally had him back.
“Well, it seems that I timed that one just right. I doubt that either of you were that up to taking on three angels at once this evening, especially with them catching you by surprise like that. And considering that Jade himself is a little tied up at the moment, I thought I’d step in this time around.” Saffron told them.
“Tied up huh? You mean you made sure that you’d get here first.” Chris said, making his sword disappear again. He didn’t look happy at all to see him. I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief though. Now that it was all over, I finally had time to let everything sink in. And I realized that Chris had indeed come back. He’d still protected me. There was still hope.
“Indeed. It seems you’ve figured me out, as usual.” Saffron said, smiling at him. I didn’t really think it was that friendly though. More mocking then anything. He then looked back over at me, the smile actually turning slightly to the friendly side. “And there you are my darling. Come along now. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you in this world.”
In spite of myself, I smiled back and made my way over to hug him. “It’s about time you came back.” I whispered. The embrace felt so familiar now, and despite it all, I felt comforted. That was right. He was the one true thing in my life before. He protected me no matter what. I was the most important thing in his world, even if he only viewed me as his possession.
“Trust me darling, I would have been much sooner about this if I had been able. But it seems that you’ve had plenty of help in the recent months. My plans worked out perfectly.” he said. I saw him look back over at Chris. “Well, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it Christoff?”
Chris himself was quietly watching us, and still looked pretty unhappy over all of this. A part of me felt a little bit worried for that. After all, I hadn’t really shown any real interest in his coming back yet. However, I also couldn’t quite get myself to move away from Saffron either. At Saffron’s words though, he glared slightly. “Not long enough. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the last time we met face to face.” he growled.
“Well, that was rather unpleasant, now wasn’t it? But things have changed in the last hundred years as well. And it seems you’ve taken quite a liking to my own, just as I predicted you would.” Saffron replied.
“You planned that one out. You were hoping for that connection when Ariana was born, weren’t you? That’s why you made sure that she was a girl.” Will noted, still holding his arm tightly. I could see blood seeping through his fingers now, and he looked like he was in a lot of pain, although he was definitely trying hard to hide it. Instead, he was glaring slightly at Saffron too. I didn’t miss that little bit of viciousness in his words either. And again, I considered that maybe there was something more to Will with me then he wanted to say out loud.
“I was, although having you around now doesn’t hurt either. But enough of that for now. It seems we need to have you patched up. Even as a Fallen Child like you are, you could very well bleed to death. And I don’t think we need you winding up dead right now. You’ve always proven very useful.” Saffron told him.
“Useful huh?” Will muttered. I saw the red specks flash slightly in his eyes again.
“Come on. Let’s get inside then.” Chris said, helping him to walk now. It was obvious by then that Will was starting to get weaker. He needed to stop that bleeding.
I quietly followed them in with Saffron, remaining close to him and hoping that Will was going to be okay. That must have been a pretty bad wound, considering how badly he’d been bleeding. But at the same time, I remembered seeing something similar with Chris too. With some help, he more than likely would have been able to heal. Still, looking back up at my father, I found myself a bit nervous as well. Saffron and Jade were known for not getting along, and apparently, Chris had some memories of him as well in that respect. I just hoped that they’d tried to set all of that aside for now. We had much bigger problems to deal with.
Thankfully, things actually did remain quiet for the next two hours. Sitting down in the large den room, I watched as Saffron glanced out of the nearby window. I couldn’t help but stare at him as I sat there. Once again, he looked completely human. Just like all of the other times I’d seen him before that I could remember. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t think that he ever really looked inhuman around me, say for that one time where I saw that black tattoo on the side of his face and neck, and his black, claw like hands. I halfway wondered if perhaps he kept himself looking like a normal person for my benefit. Maybe he didn’t want to scare me away. At least, not yet.
“Looks as though they’ve retreated for now. It’s just like Judiel to test the waters first before really forming an attack p
lan. No doubt he‘ll reevaluate things now that he knows I‘m free.” he commented quietly as he stepped back and fixed the curtain into its rightful place.
“So how did you form all of that darkness and kill them anyways? Was that just dark power or something?” I asked him. While I imagined that Fallen Angels were much more powerful than Shadow Wings, I was still curious.
“Well, you could call it that. I like to call it bringing out my shadows. It’s an ability that I am a master of. I can make shadows, or manipulate any around me. They make for decisive weapons, and their power is obviously the opposite of those Pure Wings. However, they were weaklings too. They never would’ve stood a chance against a high level Fallen like myself or Jade. That’s why I say that this was only testing the waters and seeing what’s been going on with the Fallen Children at this moment.” Saffron explained. He sounded quite proud as he did.
“No kidding. I’ve heard a lot about how powerful you and Jade are supposed to be now.” I said quietly.
“Trust me, reputations are well earned with our kind. I have to say, I am impressed though.” Saffron continued, walking over to stand himself in front me again. I stared up at him as he smiled. “You’ve done very well on your own. And here I thought that I may have a harder time than I did making that woman let you go.”
“Did something happen to Mama?” I had to ask. His words kind of scared me, beings I’d had no contact with my mother since I’d left with Chris. And I really wouldn’t have put it past Saffron to harm her just because he felt he no longer needed her.
Saffron just smiled at me though. “No. Nothing’s happened to her, aside from me telling her to let all of this be. And I also let her know that her debt to me was up now, considering you have become a complete Shadow Wing. It’s enough for her anyways. I’m sure she’s quite content to not to have to be dealing with me anymore.” he said.