Angel Chronicles Ch. 01

Wings spread, air flowing through my feathers, I lifted my head and peered around at the clouds I was soaring through, awestruck by their beauty. Hearing harmonic singing to my right, I ---

BZZZT!
BZZZT!
BZZZT!

Not again, April thought, These dreams always mess up the rest of my day. With a frustrated sigh, she slammed her hand down on the dismiss button on her clock, and stretched. Her chest strained against the form-fitting blouse she fell asleep in, and upon stretching her legs, she discovered a rip in the expensive skirt she wore last night. Darn skirts never last, she thought with disdain. Thinking back to her dreams, she suddenly grew confused, because this time the details of her dream were crystal clear, which was rather unusual for April. She decided to see what her dreams were about.

She remembered flying through the sky, a red sky--- A red sky?--- and two sinfully gorgeous men flying to her right—Were those the men who were singing? Makes sense, because they looked like they would have the velvety rich voice that belonged to whoever was singing. Then as she concentrated on the song, the words came back to her as well.

The words belonged to a rather inappropriate sea song, a song often sung by sailors in her hometown near a port in Maine. April wondered why the men would waste such beautiful voices on crude songs, but then sighed. Men are immature, even dream men.

One thing still was on her mind. She had heard the song before. Because she lived in Maine, by a port where sailors often frequented, drunken sailors would often march by, singing sailor songs crude enough to make even the most experienced hooker blush. However, in her dream, the men had said "demon town" instead of "sailor town", which was odd. She then remembered the sky was red in her dream, with dark burgundy clouds. And based on her previous paranormal romance novel experience, she drew to one conclusion: She must have dreamed she was in hell. Whatever, she thought. It's not real, so why should I spend so much time thinking on it? She glanced at her clock again, and freaked out. "Ack! I'm late!"

April wasn't late often, but when she was, there was always a good reason for it. And April always had proof of that reason, so she didn't have trouble with her superiors.

Her superiors and co workers... were an interesting lot, to say the least. April worked for a tech design company, so it was a mainly male dominated field of work. Her coworkers, her boss... were all men. April was fine with that. She was used to working with men, so she knew how to act around them. She wore appropriate clothes, so they didn't think of her as an object rather than a person. She kept romance out of the office, and she didn't bring her personal life to work. Her coworkers and her boss respected her for being the sole female in an almost entirely male workforce, and she was fine with it.

April rushed through the doors to her office, set her bags down on her desk, and turned to go clock in when she heard a voice. The voice was rich, deep, and vaguely familiar... "April, why are you late?" She turned around and gasped at what she saw. It was the man from her dreams! She backed up, "This can't be happening. No. Just...no. Who are you anyways? Are you taking me to hell?" With wings and everything, he strode into her office, and with a dark chuckle, he vanished, only to reappear directly behind her, with a restraining hand around her arm. He edged closer, and whispered into her ear, "Who said anything about dying, or Hell? You're already dead. And you're going to heaven to be punished by His Lordship like the abomination you are. Don't make a sound, because no one but you can see me. They don't have the power that you do, Narii. They can't see my kind. Now, be a good little maroa, and come quietly. It will be so much easier if you just obey."

"No. Now go away!" Weak response, but what else is there to say?

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Narii."

April threw a lamp at him. It hit the wall behind him with a crash, going straight through his body. April's eyes widened, and she screamed. Her boss, who was next door, seemed to appear out of nowhere and landed between her and her would- be abductor. "April, what are you do----Azariel, what is wrong with you? I told you she is not a threat!" Her boss, Brody, all but snarled. His eyes were darkened with rage, and his hands clenched into fists.

April blanched. The abductor, or Azariel, or whoever he was, had said other people wouldn't be able to see him. Unless her boss had the same kind of "power" that she had? April was saved from further thoughts on this subject by Brody's commanding voice, a voice that hinted at barely restrained violence, saying, "Azariel, you will either go peacefully back to heaven, or die. Which do you choose?" Azariel looked bored as he glanced at his cuticles and replied, "I can't go back until I have her. Just give her to me now, and save us both centuries worth of drama. Besides, you and I both know you won't kill me. We've been playing this game for years, so just drop the pretense." And with that, he grabbed April, and her world faded to black.

______________

April was in a blissful state of semi consciousness, when a gruff voice commanded her, "Wake up, if you want to live. I don't want to see another so called abomination die for the sins of their parents. Get up! Please!" The voice was rough with emotion, but she could still tell it was a voice she had heard before... Azariel. Her head snapped up, and she scuttled backwards into the opposite end of her cage. Wait, I'm in a cage? She looked around in bewilderment, and saw everything was stark, clean, and white. She was sitting on a soft, fluffy, white substance, and her eyes hurt from seeing so much white and brightness. "What did you do to me, you---?" Azariel pressed a finger to her lips, replying calmly, "You are in a lot of trouble, my friend. You were an orphan, correct?" When April hesitantly nodded, Azariel continued. "That's because your parents were an angel and a demon, which makes you an abomination, according to His Lordship, and a nephilim, according to everybody else." April was about to say that she was no more an abomination than Azariel was, when a deep Scottish burr reverberated throughout the prison halls. "Ye ken that His Lordship wants her awake for the punishment, but right now he's tired o' waitin' on her wakeful state to return." Azariel's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he whispered, "You need to trust me in order to get out of this alive. And that means following these orders implicitly." He paused and continued, "I'm going to blast the wall behind you down, and when I do, you'll have to make a run for it. I'll most likely have to hurt myself in order to make it look like you fought your way to freedom, but don't worry about me. Run towards the east, and when you come to the nearest edge, jump." April started to protest, but Azariel added cryptically, "I'll send someone down there to catch you. It'll be someone you know." He opened the cage door, grabbed her hand, looked her in the eyes, and whispered, "You can do this, Kindeela. Do it for me." Somehow, the angel posted outside must have heard the door opening, and called through the wall, "Aye, so the lassie is awake. I'll just come in there and take---"Azariel's head whipped around and he snapped, "No, you won't come in here and take it. Remember, it's an it, not a she. You can't humanize these abominations, Angus. Besides, His Lordship will just have to wait. I want to rough it up a bit, first."

April about cried at those cruel words, but Azariel reassured her saying, "Relax. You know I don't think of you like that, otherwise I wouldn't be trying to save you."

He sighed, and said, "I'll blow the wall down now. But don't leave right away, I have something for you." He extended a hand and a bright golden beam shot out of it, and the wall fell away with a boom. The screams outside could be heard quite clearly and Azariel said softly, "You might want to turn away for a moment." April did as she was told, and when she turned back, she gasped at what she saw. Golden angel's blood gushed from self-inflicted stab wounds, and his eye was swollen. He handed his dagger to her, and spoke softly in a language April could not understand. He grimaced, opened his eyes, and murmured, "Use this dagger wisely. It will kill anyone it meets besides you. Now, run!"

And run she did.

Meanwhile, Azariel lay bleeding on the cold prison floor. He didn't want to know why his stomach clenched and his throat got a lump in it as he watched April go, but on a base level, he knew. After thousands of years of waiting, he had finally found his life mate, his Kindeela. Now he was going to lose her. Unless... maybe he could save her.

He summoned up enough of his strength to see if a telepathic link between him and his former partner still existed. His former partner was the one April knew as "Brody". He must have been spying on her for Lucifer, Azariel surmised. The man was actually a fallen angel known by the name of Rockelle by the rest of the supernatural. Rockelle was a legend before he fell, and he still was. Now it was time to see if Azariel could depend on the old legend.

Rockelle, can you hear me? Azariel thought telepathically. A few minutes later, Azariel was about to lose hope, when a snarled reply came.

I can tell you're in pain. I hope you're enjoying it all, after stealing another innocent person's life away.

Azariel cringed at the stinging remark, but calmly replied, She's not dead, yet. If you want it to remain that way, I suggest you go and catch her. East side, near the trashcans, is where she's most likely to be.

And with that, the mental link was severed.