Blue wings beat all on their own. Once again, Alan
found himself in shock. Not about the continuing evolution of his powers, but
about the second friend he had lost that day. As the ship continued to groan
and creek under the statue’s pressure Alan could hear Ardat tsk, “My, my, a
Nephilim with wings. How strange. Too bad you will not live to use them.”
Ardat motioned with a hand and
brought Alan off the ground and level with her own hovering stance.
“Interesting indeed.”
“Ardat, we—we should be going.”
Alan couldn’t move his head but his
eyes shifted down to see Kyle dragging a limp Dominic Drencher behind him.
“I agree,” she said.
“What about Infinity?”
“What about him?”
“Well, the Telepath threw all of
his copies off the boat.”
Ardat shrugged, “Oh well. I had though about using
the ship to make our escape but now that the local authorities are involved
that is no longer an option. I’ll lift us from this place.” Ardat’s dark eyes
turned back to Alan, “First, I need to take care of this one.”
Alan struggled against his
oppressor’s invisible hold. It was useless; the demonic woman holding him at
arm's length was too powerful. Alan watched helplessly as she brought her left
hand up palm open, raising Kyle, Dominic and the statue. With her right hand
clenched into a fist, she slammed Alan into the deck of the cargo boat.
All Alan remembered was metal floor after metal
floor slamming against his body as Ardat drove his body through the ship’s
steel floors and into the cold sea waiting below. Alan’s last thought wasn’t
about dying or how he planned to survive, it was on retribution for his friends
who lay dead and beaten.
One more chance. I just need one more chance. I can
be the person I am meant to be. I know that now. I just need one more chance.
Then everything went black.
Alan blinked as he struggled to
open his eyes. He was lying on his back staring into the ceiling of his own
bedroom, in the warehouse. His first thought was of astonishment at the lack of
pain he found himself experiencing after the harsh treatment from Ardat. The
second thing he remembered was the loss of Jacob and Arther as well as
Angelica’s perilous state.
Alan sat up bracing himself for the inevitable
pain from the battle to wash over him. Nothing happened. He reached a hand over
his shoulder to touch his back where the wings had sprouted… nothing.
Did
you imagine it? Did you really have wings?
Alan didn’t have time to think on the
matter further, he had to find out whether Danielle and Angelica were all
right.
Standing to his feet, he added a dark green shirt
with his jeans and walked to the door barefoot. He paused as his hand touched
the cold metal of his room’s doorknob. Voices could be heard on the opposite
side of the steel door. Alan paused for the briefest moment trying to discern
who the voices belonged to and what they were saying. With no answers after a
few seconds of waiting, Alan gripped the handle and turned the knob.
There were many more than two
voices. The sight of an army of men and women met his eyes as he stood gawking
in his doorway. People he didn’t know walked up and down the warehouse halls.
They talked excitedly as they entered and exited the kitchen, ran towards the
training room and carried equipment in from the front entrance.
Alan walked down the hall in a daze. People rushed
around him all eager to be at a certain location at a certain time. Some made
eye contact, a few even nodded in his direction; still no one stopped and
offered an explanation.
Alan searched the multitude of
faces for someone familiar. His eyes scanned all around him yet there was no
sign of Danielle, Angelica or Michael. Just when Alan was planning to stop the
next stranger and ask them what was going on, he heard a familiar voice. It was
coming from the open training room door. It was Michael.
“No, it’s too dangerous,” Michael
said shaking his head. “I can’t spare anyone else, not now. Nephilim and Angels
from across the globe are scouring the world for Ardat and the location where she
is forging her weapons. Everyone who is not involved in that search is meeting
here. We need a plan and we need to prepare.”
“I totally agree, sir,” a strong male voice said
from the front of the assembled group, “but when we do find them we will be at
a great disadvantage. Not only will their Nephilim outnumber us nearly two to
one, but the weapons they will possess are something not even Angels can be
wounded with and survive.”
Michael rubbed the back of his neck
with his right hand as more voices added to the first. What bothered Michael
was that he knew they were right. What bothered him the most was the knowledge
that these men and women would follow him into battle regardless of the odds.
They were only sharing their opinion now. No matter what, they would follow
him. The burden of the lives of so many weighed heavy on his shoulders. The reminder
of the lives he had already lost felt heavier. “The knowledge of celestial
weaponry is lost to us. Those who do guard the remaining weapons will not
waiver in their allegiance. Even if we tried to take them by force, the ancient
ones would destroy us. They serve only the Creator now and have for centuries
since the war. Besides, who would go? You?” Michael pointed to one of the
speakers, “You?” he pointed to another.
The room quieted. Despite the subject being discussed,
Michael’s mind turned to those he lost, Jacob and Arther. Good men, great
Nephilim, he had known for years. As if he were witnessing someone else’s
thoughts, without any control over his own ideas, Michael pictured Ardat. The Angel
he once loved, the woman who had been corrupted by the Usurper himself. Now she
had done this twice. First siding with the rebellion in Heaven and now mounting
a plan that could possibly be the end of the world as they knew it. She was so
far from the woman he once knew and loved. The thought of someone changing so
drastically sent a shiver down his spine.
“I’ll go.”
The voice was firm and steady. Surprised,
Michael turned his attention to Alan Price who stood in the doorway. Michael’s
eyes took in the young man with one glance. He smiled as he saw the newest
Nephilim’s determined face, along with his shoeless feet.
Alan must have seen the look in regards to his
lack of footwear because he added to his previous statement. “I’ll probably
need some shoes first and someone to explain to me how I got here, but I’ll go.
I’m not going to be quiet or helpless anymore. I’m ready now.”
Alan’s hands were sweating, as dozens of eyes were
all directed his way. Volunteering to go and do something that he didn’t even
understand terrified him. Still, what terrified him even more was the thought
of not doing anything. He had done nothing long enough. If there was a chance
to atone for his past life, to bring retribution to those who had murdered his
friends and mentors he was going to take it.
“Alan, do you know what you are
saying?” Michael asked.
Alan padded into the room. He could feel the blood
rush to his face as his nervousness at being in front of so many people
heightened. “I know that there is a chance to even the scales somehow in the
war that is about to happen. I know that I owe it to myself and to those who
died to try. I know that I am done being safe and unsure. I’m done doing nothing
and reacting to situations. I know that I’m here for a reason.”
Alan’s mouth was dry. He licked his
lips as his heart beat out of his chest. He really had no idea what he was
getting himself into.
“I can show him the way,” Danielle said as she
pushed her way to the front of the Nephilim crowed. “I can go with him. If it’s
only the two of us and we fail then you won’t be sacrificing much manpower.”
Alan looked over to Danielle who
stood with arms crossed and a set jaw.
“I will not order you to go to them,” Michael said
looking at Alan and Danielle in turn. “However, if you volunteer for this
journey then I can point you in the right direction.”
“I volunteer,” Alan heard himself
say more than he consciously chose to speak the words.
“Me too,” Danielle said, “for Jacob and Arther.”
“For Jacob and Arther,” Alan
repeated in a whisper.
The room grew silent once more. Alan looked to
Michael as the Archangel weighed the proposal. Michael walked to Alan and
placed a hand on his shoulder. “You are everything I knew you would be, Alan
Price. You’re everything I knew you could be.” Michael looked over at Danielle,
“You too, Danielle. If both of you are volunteering to go, I won’t stop you.
This is your path. I’ll give you everything you need for your trip and all the
information we have on the Death Angels. God be with you.”
Alan shook his head not sure he had
heard correctly. “I’m sorry; did you say ‘Death Angels’?”
Michael nodded with a very serious unlike-Michael
expression, “That’s right. You’ll need to find them first and then see if you
can convince them to hand over the weapons they have been instructed to guard
for the remainder of eternity.”
Alan sat in the co-pilot seat next to Danielle.
The small airship was a piece of modern technology even the government would be
jealous to get their hands on. More buttons and gadgets lined the dashboard
than Alan had guesses to what tasks they performed. The rest of the place was
empty now except for the two of them. Alan looked out into the dark clouded sky
and wondered not for the first time if his fate was to die that night. Danielle
hit another pocket of wind as the small Organization aircraft shuddered against
the cold air.
“Thanks for volunteering to come
with me,” he said.
Danielle took her eyes off the control panel and
pushed her glasses further up her nose. “Of course, I couldn’t let you stand
there barefoot in front of everyone without saying something.”
Alan chuckled. “I should probably
thank you for saving me after Ardat used my body as a human missile, too.”
Danielle shrugged. “I didn’t do much. Your…wings
acted like floatation devices. You were easy to find the way their bright blue
color contrasted against the dark water. After that, all I had to do was hoist
you in and heal you. Your body was immune to the harm. My guess is you just
lost consciousness when the cold water hit you.”
Alan thought back to the wings that
he wondered if he had imagined. Before he allowed himself to ask about them, he
wanted to know more about Angelica’s health and where they were going. Alan
knew it was time to ask the question to which he so desperately wanted a
positive answer. “Is Angelica going to make it?”
Danielle sighed with a heavy breath that raised
and lowered her shoulders as she exhaled, “Yeah, she’s going to make a full
recovery. There is only so much I can do. When the damage is that bad the body
still needs time to heal itself. She should be up and around in a few days.”
Alan felt only slightly relieved as
he prepared to ask his next question, “And my wings. I mean you pretty much
confirmed it. I do have wings—don’t I?”
Danielle raised here eyebrows, “Yeah, you do. I’ve
never seen anything like it. I guess if Infinity could copy his entire body and
consciousness, we shouldn’t be too surprised that you can grow wings. I’ve just
never seen a Nephilim with that ability and, trust me, I’ve seen some pretty
crazy stuff.”
Alan’s interest piqued despite their current
situation. “Really? Crazy abilities like what?”
Danielle’s eyes remained fixed on the turbulent
weather outside of the jet but she cocked her head to the side with eyebrows
raised. “Like people turning into animals, shooting energy out of their hands and
feet, even growing in size to giants. There are some people capable of some
pretty crazy actions out there.”
Alan let a low whistle escape his
lips. A short paused ensued as Alan imagined what a war would look like when
the two warring sides could do the things Danielle had described.
“Did it hurt when they came out?”
Alan took a moment to realize what
Danielle was asking before he shook his head, “No, I just felt radiating heat.
Then they were there. I wonder if I could do it on command. You know, like
anything else I’m sure that with practice I could get good at it. Hey—do
you think I can fly?”
“Not even ‘feet first’. Bare feet first. That’s
definitely worse.”
Alan had to agree with Danielle’s
solid argument. “So, how bad is it?”
“Really bad. Like, think about the worst possible
scenario then deep fry that.”
Alan shook his head and pursed his
lips.
“Yeah, so ready for the history lesson or do you
want to take a few deep breaths first?”
Alan sat quiet in his seat next to
Danielle as the plane hummed through the darkness. He reminded himself to keep
his mouth closed and not gawk as she told him the history behind the Death
Angels.