Arlima stood in the rain. She liked the feel of it, soft, cool
and soothing. There wasn't rain in Heaven.
"Celsabourne," she called softly.
For a few seconds
there was silence, and then another soft breeze stirred in the alley.
"What took you so long?" Arlima said, turning around.
Celsabourne put his
hands in his trench coat and looked at the ground, "I was in Ireland. I
tried to negotiate a deal with Death to extend the life of a young girl but he
wouldn't have it."
Arlima sighed,
"We can't extend the life of those when their destined time has come; you
know that."
Celsabourne ran his
hand through his tangled mess of black hair, "I understand."
"Then why do you persist in trying?"
"I don't know." Celsabourne looked up at Arlima who
was scrutinizing him.
"You would have made an excellent human, Celsabourne."
She said.
Celsabourne looked
down again, "I take that as a complement."
Arlima smiled,
"It was given as one." She pointed to the girl in the alley, "I
need you to take her home."
Celsabourne walked
over to the girl, "She was supposed to die. That man was going to
accidentally shot … but you saved her."
"Orders from above,” Arlima reached into her pocket and
pulled out a pocket watch, “she is to save many in her later years."
Celsabourne looked
around, "Where is her Guardian? He should have saved her."
Arlima opened the
watch and checked the time, "She doesn't have one. But after this night
she'll believe and be granted one. You'd better go, in ten minutes her father
will find that she is missing."
Celsabourne hoisted
the girl to her feet and put her arm around his shoulder, "Where does she
live?"
"Two counties over, 6519 Lakerwatch Drive."
The wind stirred
and he was gone.
The rain finally stopped as Arlima exited the alley. When the
noise of the bar met her ears she turned the opposite way and walked down dark,
wet street. Arlima had walked past many people. She'd seen people who were
lost, people whose life was just beginning and people whose life was about to
end. Those were the worst. She could look at someone and see that their
destined time was near; she knew how they would die and worse, where they would
go.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced her temple, her ears rang and her
heart sped up five paces. She put her hands to her head and fell to her knees
and made herself invisible to the humans around her. She knew what was going on
and it scared her; if angels slept, this noise would be her worst nightmare. It
was the cry of angels, at least twenty of them. She didn't know where they were
but it didn't matter, she could hear them. Suddenly, Celsabourne was in front
of her, he grabbed her by the arm and the scene in front of them changed.
It was raining again, harsh rain, bright cracks of lightning lit
up the sky and thunder rumbled ominously in the darkness. The ringing was gone
and so was her headache. Celsabourne helped her to her feet; he had blood
running from his ears, which meant he was closer to what ever was making the
angels scream.
"How close were you?" Arlima yelled over the pounding
rain.
Celsabourne turned
to his right, "I got here two minutes before it ended."
Arlima turned to
face the same way as Celsabourne; there was a small two-story house next to a
dense woodland area. The nearest house was two acres away.
There were twenty
angels dead in the front lawn.
Arlima prayed for
it to be a trick of the darkness but she knew the truth. Something worse than
knowing when a human was going to die was seeing an angel dead. But even worse
than that, Arlima knew that angels could only be killed by other angels and
only with a special kind of weapon forged from Celestial gold. Which meant an
angel had turned and they had
uncovered an impossible metal that could only be found somewhere in Heaven.
"Why did this happen?" Arlima managed, "What did you see?"
Celsabourne shook
his head solemnly against the rain, "I only saw the end. Two figures
striking down the last angel and then disappearing . . . I don’t know their
motives."
Arlima walked a few
steps closer to the scene, "Who could have done this? No angel would
dare--"
"Perhaps it wasn't an angel," Celsabourne cut in.
Arlima turned
around, "What are you suggesting?"
Celsabourne walked
up next to Arlima, "We don't have to assume it was angels … there are
other creatures."
There was silence
between them; a lightning bolt lit up the dark sky.
"Demons are trapped in Hell, Celsabourne," Arlima
turned back towards the house, "they can't get out."
Celsabourne
shrugged, "It's better than the alternative. I don't want it to be
angels."
"Neither do I." Arlima walked towards the bodies.
As the lightning lit up the sky she could see that the grass on
the ground was pushed down and around each angel the grass was sticking up in
the shape of his or her wings. It was a beautiful, tragic, sight.
The ringing in her
ears had faded away but she could still remember the feeling. She knew every
angel lying on the ground, they were her brothers and sisters, and they’d lived
together for centuries. Now they were dead.
A thought struck
her. She knew all of these angels, yes, but she'd never fought with them. These
were Guardian Angels.
"Celsabourne, whose house is this?"
"A farmers, I
believe." Celsabourne said, "But there is more than one human in that
house, it's some sort of family reunion."
Arlima turned,
"How do you know that?"
Celsabourne pointed
to a paper sign stapled onto the side of the house, the black ink was smeared
by the rain, but the words: Reigngold
Family Reunion 2012, were vaguely visible.
Arlima walked
towards the house, "These are Guardian Angels, twenty of them and if
they're dead then … "
Arlima's walk
turned into a run, then she concentrated on the other side of the door and
suddenly she was in the house. Celsabourne appeared beside her in an instant,
his usually short bronze dagger had grown into a full sized slick sword.
"Please don't let them be dead, Father." Celsabourne
prayed.
But Arlima knew
better. If a human's Guardian Angel was dead, then they had failed to protect
their human … so the human was dead also.
