I saw her eyes tighten. Her mouth formed a tight, thin line, but her shoulders sagged a bit. I recognized surrender when I saw it, but I knew it was temporary. She’d bring the fight to me when it was time, but for now at least, I had her.
From the corner of my eye, I saw three figures moving toward us down the hall and felt Jade tense beside me. I whipped my head in their direction to see Mr. Tennyn and Ash flanking Drew on either side and my breath caught. Ash’s features looked as hard as stone, but Drew just looked hollow… empty. The two younger men didn't so much as glance in my direction, but his father glared daggers at me as they approached. I felt a chill slither up my spine, but I lifted my chin and refused to break eye contact. I would not be intimidated by any man... or monster.
I turned to follow them into the ballroom, feeling my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. I stopped just inside the door, and Jade stepped up next to me as the men approached the altar. I watched curiously, my head tilted to the side like a dog that’s heard a strange sound, as Drew and Ash took their places to the right and Mr. Tennyn took a seat in the front row. He nodded to the string quartet who immediately began to play. The rest of the groomsmen quickly took their places, looking confused, and seconds later a parade of flowers and bridesmaids waltzed up the aisle.
“What's happening?” I heard myself ask, my head still cocked to the left but powerless to correct it.
Suddenly, there she was. Claire. The bride to be. I was horror-stricken.
“How could he wait so long to say something? Why would he humiliate her like this? Claire is a good person. She doesn't deserve this,” I whispered to my friend, and receiving no response again, I chanced a look sideways at Jade. As I saw the horror, the unchecked pity written on every line of her face, it finally sunk in. It wouldn't be Claire who was humiliated here today. No, that honor would go to me. “He’s still getting married.”
That's when I felt it. My heart burst into flames, burnt to a crisp in an instant, and all that was left, as I had so eloquently predicted, was ash.
I couldn't move my feet, couldn't avert my eyes. Like I had been dosed with a paralytic, I stood stark still and watched as the love of my life, the man who had held me, kissed me, confessed his love to me only minutes ago, married another. I kept feeling Jade squeeze my hand, but it felt distant, liked it was happening to someone else.
I stared like that the entire ceremony, through the Priest's introduction, Claire's vows and, finally, Drew's vows. This was it. He was going to take her as his wife. Then, it would be over. He would be gone from life as if he'd never existed. Except, of course, for the destruction he'd leave in his wake.
Just at that moment, his eyes flicked to me. He was muttering something under his breath when our eyes met, but I could still see everything I'd seen earlier. Love, hope, desire, despair, fear, pain... desperation... but I had no heart left to break for him. He mouthed words to me, “I love you. I'm sorry,” and then everything happened very fast.
He glanced quickly at his father and back to Claire, then he closed his eyes and began murmuring again. I saw Henry’s head cock to one side as he watched his son, and at the same time Ash glanced quickly to me and back to his brother. Recognition bloomed on his face as he whispered, “No!” but no one heard him.
He was drowned out as, at that exact moment, Drew stopped muttering and looked directly at me, his frosted, blue eyes lighting up with an eerie glow. He stared into my eyes one last time, and barely louder than a whisper, a declaration rushed from his lips, “I choose you as my Guardian and my mate!”
He threw one arm out toward me, and my brain registered a bright flash just before I began to scream.
I screamed for a long time after that. For so many reasons. My head suddenly felt like something was trying to crawl inside it, to make space for something there wasn't space for. At the edge of my consciousness, I realized all the noises around me were muted, dull like they were coming to me from underwater. And I was hot. I felt like I was on fire. I must be on fire, but I couldn't speak to tell anyone they needed to extinguish me. Because I couldn’t stop screaming.
I vaguely registered Jade's eyes go wide and saw her gasp, “Shit,” and lunge toward me as I pressed my hands to either side of my head, desperately trying to hold my skull together. Distantly, I registered Jade’s hands on me, pulling at mine, her mouth moving as she tried to speak to me, the blood on her hands as she tried to get me to look at her. Blood? Is that mine?
My hands were sticky with blood as she pulled them away from my own head, and my vision was blurred. Everything was tinged with red, and I realized the blood on my hands had to have come from me. My eyes and ears were bleeding. I just couldn't care. I was burning, and no one was doing anything. Why couldn’t they see it? If someone didn’t put me out soon, it wouldn’t matter anyway.
Then I caught sight of the only thing that could have overshadowed my pain. Andrew. My Drew. He was standing at the altar, staring into my eyes. From the periphery of my vision, I saw Henry come. He was moving in what looked like slow-motion but must have been incredibly fast because Drew didn't even react, and Ash behind him barely had time to flinch. He just stood stark still and kept his eyes on me as his father ripped his head from his shoulders. I stared, uncomprehending, for a long moment while everything around me continued to move in slow motion, but my screaming had finally been silenced.
The world hit me like a freight train when it all came rushing back. Everything sped up abruptly, and all the sounds that had been muted came flooding back into my consciousness, drowning me. My blood felt ice cold in the absence of the fire, and my head swam after the release of all that pain and pressure.
Ash was suddenly there beside me, and I turned toward him in surprise. His face and tux were covered in a spray of crimson. What had happened to him? And how had he gotten there so fast? He'd only just been standing by Drew when...
Drew...
Visions of death and destruction flooded my mind as my eyes found the altar. There it was. The blood bath I was hoping I'd hallucinated. Henry Tennyn holding his son's severed head as he turned his eyes on me. And I began to scream again.
Ash kept yelling at Jade to get me out as wave after wave of scary looking men rushed at us, and Jade screamed something in response that I couldn’t quite make out. Ash continued to hold them off somehow, all of them, tearing through their ranks as Jade grabbed me and tried to drag me from the room with nothing but brute force, but I couldn’t be moved. The only thing I could do was stare at Drew's eyes.
“Get her out of here!” I heard Ash shout.
“I’m trying! She won’t let me!” came Jade’s urgent response.
“Try harder!”
“She’s not that easy to move!”
But I just stood, rooted to the spot, staring. Those beautiful, frosty-blue eyes, once so full of light and joy, laughter, and a sorrow I'd never understood, were now dull and lifeless. Never to wink at me again, never to crinkle as he smiled, or tear up as he laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe… never to look at me with the love and passion he had earlier today. For the first time.
For the last time.
My mind seemed to have detached itself from the events unfolding before me, but through the numbness, through the agony and anguish buried beneath it, I felt a violent rage I hadn't known I'd possessed the potential for well up within me. It clawed its way out from the depths of my soul like a beast from a cage, a frenzy of wrath and savage power with but one focus. Vengeance, it whispered.
Everything in my vision began to bleed red until, finally, the only thing I could see clearly was Henry Tennyn, still holding the head of my beloved. I felt a scream rip itself from my throat, transforming into what I could only describe as a roar. A roar that sounded as though it had escaped the very depths of Hell. Wrath, flawless and untainted. I felt my body... my bones... begin to break, my skin melting and reforming, but my focus remained wholly on the monster I was hunting. And I was hunting.
&nb
sp; Henry, at least, had the good sense to be afraid when he saw me come for him. I flew across the room at my target, and he fell in a frenzy of claws and teeth, of tearing and screaming and the rending of flesh. I felt his neck snap, blood filling my mouth as I shook him like a rag doll and tossed his body across the room as if it weighed as much, my vengeance exacted, my bloodthirst sated.
I became vaguely aware of my surroundings. The room was silent and deadly still. Andrew's mother was still sitting on the front pew, staring at her son's lifeless form. Her face was pale, but otherwise there was no hint of a response to anything that was happening. Her expression was blank, her body relaxed despite the chaos raging around her. She seemed incapable of responding.
My heart broke for the woman I’d grown up knowing, trapped under the thumb of Henry Tennyn, and the pity I felt for Annette in that moment brought me back to reality somewhat. I staggered sideways, my head... fuzzy. I shook it, trying to clear my thoughts as my rage dissipated along with my strength. My body began to break, melt and reform again, and just before I hit the ground, I felt a pair of strong arms envelope me. I saw Jade's worried face hovering above me for barely a moment before a whooshing, pulling sensation took with it my consciousness.
4
Alex
The girl walked in and hung her tiny pink backpack on the hook in her cubby, then sat down at her desk. She looked about five or six with long, dark blonde hair pulled into twin ponytails. She opened her desk and pulled out crayons and a piece of paper and began drawing. She sat and worked so peacefully for a child of her age that I couldn’t help but peek over her shoulder to see what she was drawing.
There were several pictures on the page. A boy with brown hair was wearing a white long sleeve button down and blue pants. He was standing next to a grey dog or... maybe a wolf? There was a girl with twin ponytails in a pink T-shirt that had to be a self-portrait, but what truly fascinated me was the drawing of an angel in the corner. The angel was drawn alone at the edge of the page, separated from the others. Alone. The closer I looked, the stranger the drawing became.
The angel itself was in an awkward position, inhuman. Its body was gold, which wasn’t surprising for an angel, but then there were the claws. Both hands and both feet were adorned with finger length black claws. What I had originally assumed was a nose turned out to be a beak surrounded by a thick mane of hair or... maybe feathers on its head. It was disturbing, yet eerily familiar.
My attention was diverted to the doorway as a man entered the room. His entrance seemed to command the attention of everyone in the room. He was massive and menacing, the lines of his face seemingly etched into a permanent scowl. He was dressed in a navy suit that hugged the planes of his muscular body. It was obviously designer and expensive, as was his watch. Even his haircut. Everything about him screamed he was not a man to be trifled with. He valued power above all else and it flowed off him as he swept into the room. So captivating was his facade that I almost missed the small boy cowering behind him.
The boy was the complete antithesis of the man. He was timid, with oddly neat dark brown hair for a six-year-old boy, wearing a white button down and jeans with a pair of black and white sneakers. He was carrying a black backpack and his arctic ocean blue eyes were guarded but warm. He looked hopeful but seemed to mask that hope whenever his father glanced his direction. It broke my heart to see a child in such a state. Children shouldn’t have to hide their joy, especially not from their parents.
The girl, whom I’d almost forgotten about, slammed her desk loudly, making me jump. I turned my head to see she had put her drawings and crayons away and was now staring vehemently at the boy’s father. Apparently, she agreed. She stood and approached the teacher’s desk, clearing her throat. When the teacher looked at her, her eyes lit up. “Oh, Alexis! Would you mind helping me a moment?”
The girl smiled graciously, like that’s exactly what she had planned. “Of course, Mrs. Simon. How can I help?”
“Well, this is Mr. Tennyn. His son Andrew, here, is going to be joining our class. Would you mind showing Andrew where the cubbies are? He’s going to be in #23, right next to yours. Then show him to the desk behind yours, please.”
“Okay, Mrs. Simon.”
“Thank you, Alexis,” she finished, then turned back to Mr. Tennyn.
Alexis walked to the boy, smiled and said, “Hi, my name’s Alexis, but you can call me Alex. Only Mrs. Simon calls me Alexis.”
The boy looked hesitant for a moment before he responded. “I’m Andrew.”
“Who’s that?” Alex asked, pointing towards the door. I hadn’t seen the boy before because I’d been too focused on the two children in front of me, but now that I looked, he was difficult to miss. I don’t think I’d ever seen a more beautiful child. He had messy, curly, golden hair and bright, golden eyes and golden tanned skin, and he was looking right at me.
“Who?” I heard young Andrew ask young Alexis. He was staring at the doorway, his little brows knitted together in confusion. Mr. Tennyn must’ve heard as well because he glanced at the children then at the doorway, then back to the children. He looked confused, as well, but his scowl deepened if that was possible. The little golden spy stood dejectedly, unseen in the doorway by everyone but me... and little Alexis. Utterly alone.
He disappeared from the doorway as Mr. Tennyn finished speaking to the teacher and turned to go without so much as a glance at the boy he’d left behind. I wondered about the strange child. The encounter with the boy had left me feeling odd... out of place, somehow. Like something I should know was tickling the periphery of my mind.
I heard Alexis whisper, “Are you okay?” and it pulled me from my strange thoughts. The children had made their way to their desks where Andrew was sitting with his head on his arms. Andrew simply sniffled and nodded. He chanced a peak over his arms at Alex, and that’s when I saw the tears.
“We just moved here,” he confided in her. “My half-brother just came to live with us. I hate him. He’s horrible. And I don't have any friends here.”
Alex whispered, “You can be my friend,” and my heart broke.
The boy, Andrew, finally smiled, then. “You can be my friend, too.”
I could feel tears welling up as the sweet scene played out in front of me. It all seemed so familiar, and somehow, I knew that simple, whispered promise would never be broken.
I wiped my eyes and looked up with a start. The girl, Alex, was looking directly at me and that same eerie feeling I’d experienced with the boy in the doorway crept back up my spine. I looked around, but no one else was looking our way.
“Help him.”
“Help who,” I asked.
“Andrew. You have to save him, Alex…”
I only faintly registered her words as I caught sight of the boy, his warm smile fading, replaced by a grimace of pain. His eyes wide, he clutched at his throat. Wet, tearing sounds escaped with each gasp as blood began flowing from his mouth, nose and eyes. He was dying.
I screamed for help, but nobody came. Then my blood froze as I heard him whisper through the blood he was choking on.
“Your fault.” I closed my eyes for what seemed like hours but must've been only seconds. “It's your fault, Alex. You did this to me.” My eyes opened to find lifeless gray ones staring back at me. “Why? Why did you kill me, Alex?” the dead boy croaked, and a wordless wail tore itself from my throat. Tremors wracked my body as I clutched the lifeless body of my childhood friend and wept.
“Alex?” My head whipped up, meeting a set of beautiful oceanic blue eyes. Eyes that were alive and warm and attached to a suddenly much older Andrew across the room. I didn’t know how I knew it was him, but it was. I looked down to compare, but my arms were empty. Where was the little boy? Had I been crying over no one?
I began to look around, finally noticing my lack of surroundings. There was nothing. Just... emptiness. The room we'd been standing in was gone. The desks, the walls, even the floor. I was sitting in a pool of nothi
ngness. I could see, but there was no light. I could feel my own body, but there was no cold nor heat. I could breathe, but there was no air. Just a void.
“Alex?”
...and Andrew.
“Alex, I...”
“Where are we?”
“Alex, I know you're confused, but we don’t have a lot of time. I wish I could explain everything, but that'll have to fall to Ash.” His eyes darkened, but then he smirked. “And Jade. She won’t let you fall.”
I just tilted my head slightly... “Ash?” What was he going on about? My head...
“You'll remember when you wake. And they'll be there for you. I'm sorry I won't be. I just needed to tell you—”
He was interrupted by a menacing screech in the distance. It sounded far away, but not far enough. I shuddered.
“Shit. Okay. I have less time than I thought.” In 3 long strides he was in front of me. Enveloping me in the warmth of his embrace. “If they catch me in the open like this... I have to go.” I hugged him tighter, not understanding why that simple statement seemed to have so much significance. Or why it tied my stomach in such painful knots.
“Andrew, I—” He shushed me, gently brushing his thumb across my lips, sending shivers of pleasure down my spine. Andrew never touched me this way.
“I love you, Alex. I need you to know that. Okay? You have to remember that when you wake up. Know it in your bones. In your soul. I love you, Alexis. This was not your fault. Do you understand me?” His eyes were pleading, begging me to understand what he was saying.
“I understand,” I whispered. “I love you too, Andrew.” Then he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me so gently I almost wept, again.
He leaned his forehead against mine and whispered, “I love you, Alex. I'm so sorry for what’s coming. I was only trying to protect you. I have to go now.”
He kissed me then. Not like before. Not gently or tenderly, but fiercely and passionately. He devoured my lips and my heart soared. He kissed me like this was his last chance, his dying breath.
Veiled Guardian: A Borne of Angels Novel (The Awakening Book 1) Page 5