Darque Wants (75 page)

But finally, she stood up, her body feeling at least five pounds lighter and gazed at the sunrise above her. A migraine throbbed in her head, the pressure pushing just behind her eyes, but her fever seemed to have subsided if only a little bit. As Adelaide stood there, spitting out the remnants of her vomit and wondering what her next move would be, a thought lodged itself in the back of her head and refused to leave.

Samson.

“I have to see him.” She muttered to herself as she made her way back into her tent and shut the flap behind her. As she rushed past the vanity, to pull an outfit out of her chest, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. “What the….” She murmured as she peered at herself, taking in her pale white skin, her glossy, glazed eyes, and her limp, wet hair. Her collar bone poked through her chest, along with her shoulders, her hips and her knees. It seems that her healthy muscles had disappeared overnight. If it weren’t for the wings, she would look exactly like a human… and an unhealthy one at that. She scowled at herself. Would this happen every time she was alone with Lorraine? Was this her future? Becoming Constantine’s sex thing and Lorraine’s food thing? If so, she wasn’t sure how long she could actually survive all of this. As dread began to set in, she longed for the days when the only thing she had to worry about was Daman’s temper.

Daman.

She wondered how he was… and if he wondered how she was.

And with that, she left the mirror and got dressed, slipping into jeans, a black tube top, and a cape to hide her emaciated-looking body. She figured, since Samson was one of the first angel prisoners and a former spy to the vampires, he would be in an obvious place. As she wandered down the lanes of tents and across the bare areas where tents used to be, she wondered if he had begun to heal yet, or if they had begun to feed on him like they had so many other angels. In the weeks after the end of the war, the demons had vacated, heading south and the vampires had wasted no time scouring the forests for any angel settlements. Any winged creatures they could find were captured and taken to the camp. She imagined that Constantine was at the South Pole with the king working out arrangements for more permanent farming facilities right then.

After strolling through half the camp, she finally reached the barbed wire fence that marked the separation between vampires and the Farm. Adelaide hurried to the gate, but slowed when she saw the two vampires that stood guard at the gate. Although the fighting had long reached its end, they still stood in full battle dress, draped in their armor while their shoes were clad in those heavy boots Constantine used to wear.

Adelaide’s heart fluttered in her chest as she thought up a good lie.

When she reached them, they looked down on her with identical sneers on their faces. “Well, if it isn’t the Angel.” The one on the right uttered in his dark voice.

Adelaide glowered at him. “It isn’t. It’s Adelaide. I’m not just the angel.” She replied, frustrated that she found herself constantly having to explain this to people.

The guard on the left laughed at this. “Oh no. We know you’re not just an angel, you’re Constantine’s mistress.” He hissed.

Adelaide sucked in a deep breath, counting on the fresh oxygen to stop her from fighting both of them right then and there.

“But you don’t look so good tonight, do you?” he continued, peering down into her eyes.

Adelaide had to fight the urge to look away from his penetrating stare.

“Oy! Vince, look at this one!” he gestured at the guard on the right, who then joined him in an examination of her.

Adelaide took another one of those deep breaths, but willed herself to keep her patience.

“What’s the matter with you? Are you sick or something?” he asked.

“Don’t be daft, John. Angels don’t get sick.”

Adelaide huffed out a deep breath. She had reached her limit of patience with the two of them. “Look, I am not in question here. I have some important business to complete, so if you wouldn’t mind moving out of my way…”

But she trailed off when the two of them erupted into a fit of laughter.

“Business? You?”

“What could the courtesan possibly want with the prisoners?”

“That is not of your concern.” She pressed in an assertive voice. She knew it was going to be difficult, but those vampires were really trying her patience.

“Oh but it is, love.” Vince replied, the smile gone from his face in less than a second.

“You see, because we can’t let you in until we can be sure you won’t start a rebellion.” John joked.

“Okay,” Adelaide had had enough. “You are really gonna have to stop wasting my time, because, here’s the thing: Constantine left me with important business to resolve. It has to do with the angels and since I am the only angel you’ve got, I’m the man, yes I said it, man, for the job. Now I can’t tell you, obviously, because you two are nothing but a couple of lowly guards. Either you can accept that I am telling the truth and let me through, or you can take a chance with me and with Constantine’s wrath.”

Their smiles were fading, so she knew she was on the right track. If only she could think of one more thing to say, something that would be the last nail in the coffin… “Honestly, it’s up to you. If you turn me away, I won’t fight you. But, I know that Constantine has been known to execute those who do not please him. I also know that, beyond you’re understanding, he adores me. So, either you let me through, or you face true death.”

With that, they unlocked the gate and scurried aside.

The Farm was like a completely different world. Once she had taken a couple of steps deeper into it, the smell of excrement, crusted blood and the stench of sickness coated the inside of her nose. As she swept her gaze across the rows and rows of hastily erected, and poorly suited tents for anything that looked like it might house Samson. In a leap of faith, she decided to check the very first tent, assuming that they would probably have kept him close to the front and away from the others so that he wouldn’t put any ideas in their heads. She pulled the flap back and poked her head into the tent. A smile played at her lips as she laid eyes on Samson’s bright, golden hair, it practically glistened in the morning sun. She hadn’t expected to feel so happy at the sight of him, since they had had such a bumpy past.

He turned at the sound, his eyes flashing wide at the sight of her.

“Surprise?” Adelaide muttered as she stepped inside and shut the flap behind her.

“Why are you hear?” he demanded.

She shrugged. That question had not even occurred to her. “I have no idea, actually.” She replied as she glanced around her at the scanty tent. The only piece of furniture was an inexpensive-looking hammock they had suspended from two pillars.

“What happened to you?” he asked, taking in her sickly form.

She smirked, “The same thing that happened to you, I guess?”

He shook his head. “No. It looks like that bastard fed on you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. She wondered why he was being so warm towards her. “That bastard?” she asked. “It sounds like you actually care.”

He just shrugged and took a seat on the edge of his hammock.

“Do they not farm you?”

He raised an eyebrow, extending his arms on either side of him. “Does it look like I’ve been farmed?” he asked.

Adelaide gazed at him, taking in everything from his brilliant blue eyes, to his thick hair and healthy-looking muscles. His wings had even nearly grown back. “No.” she replied. “Why is that?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. I think they might be preserving my strength, might want me to oversee the farm or something, because,” he added with a dark chuckle, “Let’s face it, vampires know nothing about angels…. Except for how our blood tastes.”

Adelaide nodded slowly as she sat on the ground with her legs crossed across from him. “Yeah. Funny.” Her voice cracked.

He leaned into her, his eyes earnest and concerned. It wasn’t until then that Adelaide realized it had been ages since anyone had looked at her that way… and that she had missed it.

“So, they fed on you.” Samson declared.

Adelaide nodded, the thought bringing fresh tears to her eyes.

“Tell me about it.”

Chapter Four

After having practically spilled a lifetime’s worth of information, Adelaide’s mouth was starting to go dry. She could see, beyond the vampire shadow that the sun had risen high in the sky, indicating that they were approaching the afternoon. She was running out of time to continue talking to him. The camp did not run at the maximum level during the day, but she doubted that her absence would escape everyone’s notice. She shuddered to think what Lorraine would do if she came looking for her again. Adelaide found herself longing for Constantine’s return. “Do you think this is going to be an ongoing thing?” Samson asked.

Adelaide had joined him on the hammock. She felt drawn to him. It was like he was the warm fire on a cold night in the desert. She shook her head. “Probably not? I don’t know what her plans are, but I know that Constantine would kill her before he’d let her feed on me again.”

Samson raised an eyebrow at her. “And this is a good thing?” he asked.

Adelaide set her jaw. “It’s not like I want this.”

He gazed around him. “Do you think any of us want this?”

Adelaide gulped. He had a good point. Here she was feeling sorry for herself because she was shrouded with guilt at the sight of all the angels around her, suffering at the vampire’s hands, when they had to actually live it. “I’m so ashamed of myself.”

He placed a hand on hers, but she shrugged it off. For once, she didn’t want to be touched. The thought of it made her sick with disgust. He seemed to understand this, for he pretended that the whole thing didn’t even happen. “Don’t be. Any other angel would do anything to be in your place.”

“But it’s wrong.” Adelaide replied with a heavy voice, fresh tears sprouting in her eyes. “Look at me, eating state dinners and sleeping on fur and look at you. Look at this. And apparently, you have it good. I can’t even bring myself to see what the others live like… the ones that are being farmed.”

Samson scoffed. “Trust me, you don’t want to.”

Adelaide doubled over, convulsing with silent sobs. “I can’t believe this is my life.”

This time, Samson didn’t try to touch her. “Look, I think you should stop beating yourself up about this.”

Adelaide shot up, glancing at him with a questioning look. “That makes no sense. Why would you say that to me? Weren’t you questioning my methods just under a month ago? Telling me that I should be ashamed of myself? Ashamed of the fact that I used my body to stay out of the line of fire?”

“Well, I was angry with you because you fought for our enemies.”

“The demons were against the vampires. They had no plans to feed on us.”

“But the demons were not our friends.” Samson countered. You figured that out all on your own in good time.”

Adelaide pursed her lips. She could not deny the fact that he was right.

“And, of course, the undeniable fact is that if you had never betrayed your kind, you would have never met Daman, which means you would have never met the general, which then means that you wouldn’t have become a bargaining chip. Face it, you are the reason Constantine conceded the planet. You are the reason he would even consider sharing the planet.”

She shook her head. None of it made any sense to her. “You make it sound like he’s love with me or something.” She joked.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Samson retorted. “He’s obsessed with you, like a racer and a new car, or a human and her new house.”

Adelaide nodded. That same knot started to form in her throat once again. She had never felt this low in her life and it was all because of the choices she had made. “There’s no one to blame.” She murmured to herself.

“There’s no point in assigning blame.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Fuck Constantine until I grow old and die?” she demanded in a heavy voice.

Samson let out a dark chuckle. “You would be doing that for centuries.”

Adelaide gazed up at him with desperate eyes. For the first time in a long time, she really didn’t know what to do with herself. The only thing she knew was that this absolutely could not be her future. She’s rather Lorraine drain her to death right that moment, than continue on living this way. “So what do I do?” she pleaded. It was the first time she had genuinely asked someone for advice in years.

Samson opened his mouth to say something, but then, seemingly thinking better of it, he stopped and shut his mouth.

“What?”

He shook his head. “It would be a useless thing to mention.” He muttered.

“But you obviously want to tell me.” Adelaide argued.

“Look, there have been legends. The king-…”

Adelaide released the breath that she had been holding. “You’re right.” She could almost see her grandmother sitting across from her on her bed, telling her tales of a fabled king with enough power to control every life force in the world.

“He could be risen…”

“Where is he?”

“Far away… south.” Samson replied, looking away from her. “Look, it do not like to discuss these things. Nothing will come of it.”

“Who told you that?”

“The only way we could get raise him from the dead is if we somehow managed to break free of this camp and make it all the way to his tomb… and raise him from the dead before Constantine and his men could catch up to us.”

“But he could end the war.” Adelaide pressed.

Samson glowered at her. “Are you dense? The war has ended.”

Adelaide stood up, her heart fluttering with a new kind of excitement. “Look around you!” she demanded. “Are you really ready to accept that this is the end?”

Samson gazed up at her, a smile playing on his lips. “And I suppose you know what to do to get us out of here?”

Adelaide huffed out a breath, sitting back down next to him. “We have to leave soon. If we go before Constantine gets back, the whole camp will be paralyzed, waiting for his orders, so we’ll actually have a chance, a head start. And if we leave during the day, they’ll be sluggish and reluctant to venture outside of the camp and the general’s shadow.”

Samson nodded, an intense scowl darkening his face. “We won’t have to plan an elaborate escape. It’s only the two of us. We could bust through those guards in about five minutes.” At that, he leaned into her.

She flinched when he grabbed her chin and lifted her face to meet his.

“You’re regaining you color.” He commented. He then stood up, glancing around the room as if he feared that he was forgetting something.

She looked up at him, watching him move and wondering what he would do next.

Finally he turned to look back at her. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Adelaide stood up her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn’t believe that he was actually saying this, that she was on the cusp of yet another massive fight. “What? Now?” she demanded.

Samson nodded, his eyes wide and questioning. “If you don’t do it now, you never will.” He replied. “You have been in my tent for over three hours now. They’ll never let you back in here again. Constantine will be back in twenty four hours and Lorraine… well she’s got to be looking for you by now.”

Adelaide nodded. He was right. With a deep breath, she followed him out of his tent. Once outside, she was hit with the stench of the farm once again. In the warmth of the afternoon, it seemed to have intensified. However, she found herself surprised to see that the activity was so low. Somehow, in the broad daylight, it felt even odder to be surrounded by a dome. The contraption made the space feel much smaller than it must have been. Straight ahead were the two guards she had lied to, to get past in the first place. She felt awkward approaching them now that she was intending to fight the both of them.

Samson, who seemed to have been storing anger didn’t have any trouble storming up to Vince. “Hey.” Vince turned and barely had enough to time to be confused before Samson grabbed a handful of his head, twisting his face around and punched him.

Vince took a couple of steps back, but seemed largely unphased by Samson’s punch. John acted fast, slipping a knife off of his holster and swinging it at Samson. Adelaide was quick to intercept this. She grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm around until she heard a definitive crack cut through the air. His subdued grunt echoed in the small dome.

Samson used this diversion to mount Vince and drive him into the barbed wire, it left deep defined, dents in his face, but otherwise, he was unaffected, but Samson did not hesitate in grabbing the keys off of his holster. Just as he was about to reach for the lock, John came back with his knife in his other hand, but Adelaide kicked him in the chest as hard as she could. He flew backwards, hitting the ground with a subdued, thump, and dragging the dirt with him. With her heart fluttering in her chest and goosebumps of fear covering her whole body, she snatched the key from Samson, just as Vince threw another punch, and shoved it into a lock. She heard the unmistakable sound of vampire hands hitting angel flesh as Vince slammed his fist into Samson’s gut, but ignored it, releasing the gate in a fraction of a second. “Come on, Samson!” she screeched as she reached for him, pulling him past the gate with her.

As soon as they had passed the barrier and were running to the edge of the camp, mayhem ensued behind them. The Vampires screeched, yelling at the others to, “Catch them!”

“Stop them!”

“Get help!”

“We need to get in the air and fast!” Adelaide yelled at Samson. Angels were fast but they could hardly outrun vampires. If they wanted to get away, they needed to start flying as soon as possible.

“I’m ready!” Samson yelled. “Are you?”

As they both ran farther and father to the outskirts of the camp, as the vampire shadow began to lift and as the vampires themselves started to close in, Adelaide shed her cape, sucking in a deep breath as her wings flapped up and down, freely behind her. Her energy coursed through her veins, making her muscles tingle and her skin glowed golden. As her feet slammed the ground even harder with her increasing speed, as the wind whipped against her skin and her calves screamed in protest,  her hair flew behind her, the wind ruffling her knotted waves.

Then finally, after weeks and weeks of being trapped on the earth, her wings lifted her up. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Samson flying right next to her, his neck tensed and his arms pasted to his sides in an attempt to make him more aerodynamic. Below her, the vampires were getting smaller and smaller with every passing second. Some had brought arrows and spears with them out into the field, but others stopped them from firing anything. They were afraid of being that one vampire that killed Constantine’s mistress. Now that Adelaide and Samson were in the air, they were completely untouchable. There flew like this, until the Shadow that lifted and the afternoon sun kissed their skin with its warmth. Adelaide could not believe that she had finally escaped all of that, and she wondered how she could have possibly missed the sun as much as she did.

Now that they were free, she felt that a weight she hadn’t even realized she was carrying had been lifted, and she was finally able to do what was right…. For everyone.

Chapter Five.

Adelaide and Samson flew south until they couldn’t physically continue. She could tell by the way the sun hung in the sky that they were getting close. Even as they flew, she could feel a change in the temperature. The air grew humid and the sun’s rays beat against her skin with an intensity she had not felt for a long time. But, by the time that it was setting, the two of them had grown far too tired to continue. They settled on a beach, in what the humans would have called Texas. Adelaide caught a rabbit in the forest just beyond the sand, while Samson worked up a fire.

“I still can’t believe we did this.” Adelaide muttered as she slipped the small knife she had always carried with her from around her ankle and began to skin the rabbit she had killed.

Samson shrugged, sitting down next to her and appraising the fire he had labored to build. “What? Left?”

Adelaide nodded. “You might find this hard to believe, but my whole life has been in those camps for almost five years now. I have never set foot outside of either one of them. And now, I’m sitting here listening to the waves on a beach. The whole thing is impossibly bazaar.”

Samson shrugged. “I don’t know about the rest of it, but I don’t find it hard to believe. That was my life too.”

Adelaide furrowed her brow, “How did you end up with the vampires.”

Samson frowned. “It was not by choice. I can tell you that much.” He started. “They farmed my family, but Constantine took a liking to me, so he wouldn’t let any of his men feed off of my. I guess you could say he was obsessed for some reason. Then, when the war broke out, he turned me into a spy.”

Adelaide was surprised to find that she and Samson nearly had the exact same relationship with the vampires. She realized that no one could understand her the way that Samson did and that thought was comforting, because for once, she really felt that she had chosen the right person. She finished cutting up the rabbit and set it over the fire.

“Where did you learn to do this?” Samson asked as she placed the finished animal down in front of the both of them.