Fallen Angel, Alexandra Rader [best book clubs txt] 📗

a quiet little town out in the country somewhere. The forever dark tunnels is not my idea of a home. You must understand that, Misty. Oh, Sis. I love you more than anything. You’re all I have left. I don’t even have Mom and Dad anymore. Not since Kasy,” she said with the utmost disgust.

Six months had already passed since I looked into the cold, heartless eyes of Kasy. The thought of those cruel eyes still keeps me up at night. I wake up screaming, my body drenched in a cold sweat. He was a demon. The demon. Anyone who meets him shakes in their boots, and those who don’t, join the world that he lives in. The deepest, darkest, fieriest depth of hell is where he caves and torments innocent souls just for his morbid satisfaction.

If ever I encountered him again, I would plunge the dagger that is hidden in my boots into the very core of his existence. I would kill him, so that people would suffer no longer because of him.

I shuddered the dark thoughts away and came back to Taylor in the present.

“You know you did what was right when you faked your death. If you hadn’t of, Mom and Dad would not be safe. Now they are safe. Because of your thoughtfulness and bravery and courage… Mom and Dad are safe… for now,” I told her.

“I know. But that doesn’t take away my pain. Knowing that they’re out there, probably mourning my ‘death’. They were devastated about you, you know. Now that I’m not there anymore, too… Gosh… that must be too much for them to endure,” she said.

I held her in my arms and rocked her silently back and forth, back and forth. That was when she started to sob uncontrollably. I sang her an old lullaby that Mom used to sing to us when we were little and were fussing about going to bed. It worked, as I knew it would. The racking sobs turned into small hiccups, and then nothing at all as her exhaustion caught up with her and dragged her into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I gently laid her back on the bed and walked out of the room. I backed up into the rock hard stomach of someone else, and had to silence the scream that rose in my throat.

I shut the door so that nothing would wake Taylor, and turned around. Only to look into the cold eyes of Kasy. Another scream built up inside of my throat but I refused to let it out.

Chuckling, Kasy looked me over. Then he paced a slow circle all the way around me, watching as I gasped for air, because my fear had left me breathless. The dagger in my boot was completely forgotten now that I was actually face-to-face with him. His face revealed nothing but amusement. He continued his pacing until he had made it back to face me again.

“Well, well, well,” he sneered. “What do we have here? It’s the almighty, fearless Misty. Just the person I was looking for. I come to offer a deal,” he said briskly, and to the point.

“A deal?” I squeaked.

“Yes. A deal,” he said thoughtfully. “I will agree to leave your family and everyone else you wish alone, on one condition. Do you understand this so far?”

“Yes. Yes I do understand everything, except one small, tiny thing,” I said with a little more bravery in my voice that I didn’t feel at all.

“Oh, yes? And what is this one small, tiny thing, may I ask?” he said, with genuine surprise.

“Why would you offer such a thing? You claim not to have a heart or any sort of emotion, but yet you stand before me like you have a heart and your face just gave away the fact that you were surprised that I would say such a thing. Were you expecting me to bow down to your feet and agree to anything you say because you offer to leave my family and everyone else that I wish alone, on one condition?” I asked.

This angered him and he struck me across the face. I flew down the tunnel and slid to the ground. He walked towards me and knelt down, his face glowing an angry red. I looked up to see his face only inches from mine.

“How dare you speak to me like that?” he whispered in a frightening voice.

“I have an opinion and can say anything I like, to anyone I like, in any tone I like,” I spit at him.

“You have spirit, girl. I like that. You have a wild streak in you. I bet if I told you something you had never expected to hear me say, you would shut that sassy mouth of yours,” he mused.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked. “And what would this unexpected thing you have to say be?”

“Oh, nothing that can’t wait,” he said, smiling wickedly. “Would you like to know my condition, yet? Or would you rather go off on another of your charming rants?”

I stood up indignantly and said, “Fine. Let’s hear what the heartless demon has to offer.”

“My one condition is that you come with me to my place and forget about everything here. To come and be with me forever. You can have anything and everything that your little heart could desire. Jewels, fine clothes, anything you want. And I will leave everyone you wish alone.”

“What’s the joke?” I asked incredulously.

“Joke?” he asked in surprise. “There is no joke. This is my offer and my one condition. There is no little joke. This is real. I mean everything I have just proposed to you. So, will you accept or not?”

“I must have time to think this over,” I replied in a state of shock.

“As you wish,” he replied with a bow. “You need only think my name as loudly as you can in your mind, and I will be there shortly. But you must make sure you are alone, do you understand?”

“Yes I understand. But, I want you to make me a promise.” I said to his surprise. “I want you to promise me that as I consider your offer, that you will terrorize not a single soul. Are you willing to agree with this?”

“Yes, Misty. You have my word that I will terrorize not a single soul while I await your answer,” he said, bemused by my request. “I will leave you now, my lady.”

With that he bent and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, and was gone.

I sank to the ground and passed out. An Answer

“Wake up. Please Misty, wake up. Come back to me,” a pleading voice cut through my dark blanket of a dreamless sleep. “Please wake up!!! MISTY!!” The anguished scream made my eyes flutter a little.

My eyes felt as if ten ton weights sat on them. My tongue felt thick and had an acrid taste lingering on it. My limbs felt even heavier than my eyes. I tried to move but it was useless, I was paralyzed. A strange scream reached my ears and I realized it was mine. Pain like I had never felt before shot through my body. I screamed again, louder this time. My mind raced. I had never felt this before. Another bout of pain was met with another scream that tore from my throat. I was dying. This was it. What was happening? Another scream flew from my mouth. The pain was dying down now. My breath came in shallow pants and gasps. My eyes finally opened and I moaned loudly as David’s face floated into view above mine.

“Misty!” he breathed in relief. “What happened? We found you screaming like crazy in the tunnel. You were hot to touch and spasms rocked your body. I was scared. I thought I was going to lose you. Please… please… tell me what happened.”

My stomach cramped and my vision blurred. What’s happening to me?

I wondered. Am I dying or something?

Shock paralyzed me for the second time that day, as a silky voice answered me. “You are not dying, my dear one. You are just not a normal vampire or anything else seen in a thousand years. Though there were once many of your kind that were worshipped and looked up to. That is why so many beings are out to get or protect you. You must listen to your heart if you are to survive the challenges ahead. Come tomorrow morning to the entrance to the main tunnel and wait. You will see nothing but will feel a sensation that will take you to where you will find answers to all your questions if you will simply follow it. Remember: follow your heart and you will never go wrong. Do not trust anyone but your sister. Remember.”

 

 

With that the voice faded, leaving only silence behind.

I came back to the matter at hand and refocused everything in me. Everyone was looking at me with fear and disbelief. Some were looking at me hungrily or greedily.

I looked to David for an explanation, but was met with a disbelieving stare.

“What?” I asked him.

“H-h-how d-did you d-do t-t-that?” he stammered.

“Do what?” I asked, losing my patience.

“You disappeared off the table. There was a shimmering in the air around you, and you went invisible. And then you were back,” Taylor said, answering my questions. She didn’t look disbelieving or fearful or anything else. She looked laid back and calm in her billowing red satin gown, which flowed around her thin figure like water.

My mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ as the meaning of her words sank in. This couldn’t be,

my mind thought stubbornly. Granted, the voice said I wasn’t normal and that there hadn’t been one of my kind in a thousand years. Well,

warred my logical side, you shouldn’t even be hearing voices. But it seemed so real. It said there was a place that I can find with answers to all my questions. To follow my heart and I can’t go wrong. And to trust only Taylor. What about David? Should I not trust him? And Kasy? What about him?

“Follow your heart and trust only your sister. If you follow this, you will finally understand all that has been confusing and frightening you, my dear one,”

the voice said before fading off again.

“Umm… Misty?” Taylor said hesitantly. “I think we should be going… NOW!!!!” she shrieked as the guards changed into goblins, ghouls, and gargoyles.

Taylor grabbed my hand, spun on her heel and we dissolved into nothing but mist.