Fallen Angels (13 page)

“May I?” Peter asked, holding out his hand.

“Why?”

“To see what you work so hard to hide from me, child. You have no reason to fear me.” He smiled innocently.

Taking a deep breath, I held out my hand, exhaling when he grabbed it. I could feel him prying into even the darkest secrets that I had locked tightly away. He wandered into my torture, my rape, my pregnancy, my heartache, and was currently weaving his way through Chloe’s childhood. I could feel him searching for something; I just couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. Then he found it, and revealed his search to me, showing me how my baby had a thirst for blood. Yanking my hand away, I glared at him. “Why are you here Peter?” I asked, quickly backing away from the table.

“You have turned out to be a wonderful mother. I am sorry to say your trials are far from over. Ravyn has cursed you again, making a deal that you never understood. It is time for the Vatican to intervene so we may further understand the child. To protect the future of all races.” Peter’s words were lost somewhere between my disbelief and anger. 

“No! The Vatican has interfered enough in my life. You have no right! You are no longer welcome, now please leave!” I shouted. I watched Lokie stand, resting his hands on his swords. “Lokie, she is like you! Tell your father blood is normal. Please Lokie! Don’t let him do this!” My powers raged and quickly tapped into the elements. Wind swirled around me and Chloe, moving chairs and knocking over glasses. 

“The child will be held in the custody of the church until she is deemed safe to the public.  If she is not, she will remain there for eternity. She will undergo some testing, but I assure you she will not be harmed,” Peter said as he pushed through the swirling winds surrounding us.

As he reached his hand toward Chloe, I screamed, “Don’t you dare touch her!” The wrath of my warning shattered the windows in the house. The winds quickly picked up the glass shards and they collided against Peter’s hands and face, but he endured it all, unflinching.

Peter motioned to Lokie, who drew his swords and shoved them into Nebiros’s shoulders. He didn’t fight back; he just smiled at Chloe and me. When Lokie moved his swords to my friend’s neck, I couldn’t keep my eyes open to watch.

Chloe’s little hands suddenly cupped my face, forcing my eyes to look into hers. A vision assaulted my mind, a vision of Chloe in a glass room, with crayons and a television. A room where doctors studied her every moved. She was still young, the age she was now, but she was no longer with me. Then the vision darkened, and I saw a large black bird with pure black eyes, pecking constantly on the glass. It pecked so long and so hard that its beak cracked and bled, but it continued, creating a hole large enough for my baby to get out.

I stared at my wonderful Chloe after she passed me her vision, smiling at her. Somehow she knew the answer. She knew of the dark bird that I loved more than anything; she knew Ravyn was our only hope. A tear slid down my cheek at the realization of what my daughter was doing.

“I’ll go.” Her tiny voice spoke up, and my powers died immediately.

I wanted to refuse her offer. To shout and scream, to bring down this house to keep them from taking her. But all I could do was shake my head at her and silently tell her how much I loved her.

Chloe remained calm even when Peter pried her from my arms. I couldn’t believe I was letting this happen. I wanted to fight but I was frozen to the floor. Lokie remained behind for a moment after Peter had left with the last thing that mattered in my life.

“My sweet, the child sees what you do not. Do not overlook this gift she has given you. I assure you, no harm shall come to her. My apologies.” He bowed then backed out of the house. 

My little Chloe was brilliant. She knew Ravyn would come for me like she always had. How she knew about the black bird, I had no idea. I just knew I had to go; I couldn’t let Chloe go alone. I rushed out the door and down the stairs. “Lokie!” I called before they got into the limo.

He turned, looking at me with a strange curiosity. “Do not try anything, young Kara,” he warned, resting his hands on his swords.

I stopped, holding my hands in the air as a sign of surrender. “Please, take me with you. Peter, she needs her mom, please let me be with her,” I begged while my tears began to fall.

Peter stepped toward me, studying my emotion. “Your magic will not work. You won’t escape.”

“I don’t give a shit! I just need to be with my daughter. You have to understand this, you’re a father for god’s sake!” I yelled.

Peter looked back at Lokie, who shrugged, then turned back to me. “Very well.”

“Thank you,” I breathed in relief.

Lokie let Chloe crawl into my arms when we piled into the limo. Then I saw the syringes on the bar. Memories of Remy assaulted my mind, and I began to hyperventilate.

“Relax, I assure you no harm will come to you,” Lokie said. He grabbed the syringe, and I felt the pinch in my neck.

I woke to bright fluorescent white lights blinding my vision. It was cold, and I quickly started to panic. Slowly lifting my wrist, my panic subsided when I realized I wasn’t strapped to a metal table. In fact, I was laying on something quite soft. I let my hands explore what felt like a twin mattress, while my eyes tried to adjust to the light.

“Mommy?” Chloe’s soft, tired voice called softly to me.

I quickly sat up; my head spun and my vision blurred. I saw Chloe and rushed to her, running smack into a glass wall.

“Kara?” a smooth voice called, sounding distant. “Wake up, young Kara.” The voice was getting closer.

My eyes fluttered open. Feeling something damp over my nose and mouth, my hand flew up, but was quickly stopped. Lokie was sitting beside me, on the soft mattress.

“Please don’t,” I muttered.

“You knocked yourself out. Your nose was bleeding,” he said, chuckling. “Can you sit up?”

I nodded and he slowly helped me. My eyes scanned the glass in search of Chloe. She was standing in the same spot, waving at me and smiling. “Oh, thank god.”

“My sweet, God had nothing to do with her safety,” Lokie replied. “This is where you will be staying. I made it as comfortable as I could for the both of you. If there is anything else you would like just let me know and I will try to get it for you.”

I looked around, noticing that Chloe’s vision was nearly spot-on. We had separate glass cages, both with a semi-private bathroom with a shower. There was a television, a bed, a small white dresser, and a bookshelf filled with books and games.

“You will be fed when you are hungry. Just push the red button if you need anything. I will need you and Chloe to change out of these clothes and put on the scrubs provided in the dressers.”

The sadness in his eyes while he spoke was unexpected, but I could tell he was trying to make us comfortable. “Thank you, Lokie,” I said softly.

He stood, moving to the glass door where one guard waited outside my room and another outside Chloe’s. The guard unlocked the door for Lokie. He stepped out and looked back at me. “I shall return shortly,” he said, and disappeared through the steel doors.

“Chloe, did they hurt you?” I asked, rushing to the glass.

“No. The man is nice, he won’t hurt us,” she said with a smile.

“How do you know that Chloe? Did he tell you?”

“He told me he is friends with the black bird. How can you be friends with a bird, Mommy?” she asked.

I wished that I could hug her. I also wished I could tell her the truth about the bird, but if her vision was right, Chloe would meet Ravyn soon enough. I did have a nagging doubt that she would come after my last conversation with her. I really didn’t know how long I had been out so maybe she had calmed down. Who knew with Ravyn, she was the most stubborn person I’d ever met. Remembering Chloe had asked me a question I finally replied, “You can be friends with many creatures, sweetie.”

A sharp knock on the glass quickly pulled my eyes from Chloe to the door. A tall man in his mid-forties wearing a lab coat stood with a clipboard in hand, staring intently at me. “Ma’am, I’m Professor Abrams. I need you and the child to change and leave your street clothes by the door please. After that I have a questionnaire you have to fill out with complete honesty,” he said.

I just stood there staring at him. The way he said “the child” made Chloe sound like a horrible disease. “Her name is Chloe, and I suggest you use it,” I said before turning my attention back to Chloe. “Baby, get some clothes out of the dresser and go in the bathroom and get changed.” Watching her carefully, I then did the same.

“Back away from the door,” the professor ordered.

I moved to sit on the bed. Watching Chloe mimic my actions, I smiled brightly at her.
We
’
re going to be okay, baby, you’re doing good.

The door opened and the guard grabbed my clothes, set the clipboard and pen on the floor, and locked the door. “You have fifteen minutes to fill this out,” Professor Abrams said.

The questions were all about Chloe; looking through it I knew they were trying to determine her abilities and how dangerous she was. They didn’t understand she wasn’t at all dangerous, but judging by the questions they wanted her to be as dangerous as my Ravyn. I answered a handful of questions that were valid like her name, date of birth, height, weight, and what food she could eat, which made me laugh hysterically.

It was becoming so normal to watch my daughter drink blood, to see her tiny fangs when she smiled. I didn’t think it would have ever felt this normal if not for Ravyn being so honest with me and our blood sharing. I suddenly wondered if the blood desire worked on Chloe when she fed. Oh my god, the thought made me sick to my stomach. Maybe Lokie would know? Or maybe I should wait for Chloe’s imaginary black bird to supposedly save us, and then ask her. How had this never occurred to me before?

“Ma’am, are you finished?” Abrams asked anxiously.

“What is this for? What are you going to do to her?”

“We will test her abilities and assess her danger level.”

“Abilities don’t make you dangerous, you idiot! It’s caging her like this and treating her like an animal that will make her dangerous.” Hopping off the bed I strode to the door in anger. “Do you hear me? She is harmless! Don’t you dare touch her!” I gripped the pen tightly, ready to use it as a weapon.

Abrams grinned at me before nodding to the guard by Chloe’s door. I watched in horror when the guard entered her glass cage and grabbed her by the arm.
Stay calm baby, don’t fight!

Turning back to the Professor, I begged, “Let me go with. Please let me stay with her!” I was on the verge of tears when he nodded to the guard. I stepped back, waiting for the door to open. When it did I stepped past the guard, striking out at Abrams with the pen and puncturing his neck. I ran after Chloe. The guard with her was waiting for me when I rounded the corner. I saw something coming at my head, then felt the crack along with a sharp pain and crumpled to the ground. I could see Chloe screaming for me but couldn’t hear her. My eyes closed, welcoming me back into the darkness.

The darkness was different this time. It wasn’t comforting; it was menacing, and I knew I didn’t belong here. I tried desperately to wake up, but the harder I tried the thicker the darkness became.

Chapter Eleven

Ravyn

Redemption

A loud banging woke me from my slumber, and the blinding sun damn near melted my retinas, forcing my eyes closed again. The knocking suddenly stopped, and the sunlight from outside vanished. Opening my eyes, I saw boots walking towards me. My eyes slowly moved up over the ripped fishnet stockings to the tiny jean shorts over them, then the half tank top, and finally to Abby’s angry face.

“So, this is what you do on your business trips? You’re such a disappointment, Ravyn.” Her soft voice was laden with anger.

I smiled at Abigail’s scowling face. “Abby, I wasn’t expecting you.” I laughed while nudging the naked body off of mine. When the body tumbled to the floor beside me, my night quickly came back, reminding me of my fuck-ups.

I found the other woman dead on the couch, and I quickly recalled Jeanie’s dismay. “Why are you here?” I growled while I stumbled out of the living room into the kitchen in search of my cigarettes. 

“You should be dead, but again you defy the rules of life.” Abby’s tone was eerily calm, much like mine, and again I found myself laughing at the irony.

“I am dead. Is that not good enough for you? Maybe you should try killing me this time, or would that conflict with your work on the fucking street corner?” I could see her lust for vengeance, that deliciously evil sparkle in her grey eyes when I spoke. “It is comforting to see you follow in my footsteps of disappointment, my child.”  

“I am not your child, Ravyn! You almost killed Devlin last night!” she shouted.

“I wanted to kill him as much as he wanted to kill me. He deserves death, but you saved him. Even after he lied to you, he uses your mother for his own comfort. What kind of bullshit did he feed you to get you to side with him this time?” I asked before lighting a cigarette and offering her one. She took it, but refused to let me light it for her.

“Don’t pin this on him. He didn’t do anything, but he told me what you did. All you do is hurt Mom!”

“Why don’t you humor me by filling me in on what I supposedly did this time?” I replied, letting the eerie calm settle over me.

“You fucking cheated on her,” Abby said with a calm that matched my own.

Smoking my cigarette I circled her like a shark in bloody water, grinning wickedly when I came to a stop in front of her. Her eyes moved over the dead women, and that’s when I saw what I had been missing all along. Her lust was not only vengeance but for death. “Or was it the other way around?”

“Have you lost your mind? She would never cheat on you, she’s never even looked at anyone else.”

“Why are you here Abby?”

“Nebiros called this morning. Peter and Lokie came to the house. They took Mom and Chloe,” she whispered.