An Angel's Ascent (22 page)

Sometime around one in the morning, Raven and Michael decided to leave. Michael took her home. The event that was to take place in the not so distant future was bringing them together. I watched them leave then sat back on the couch. I definitely wanted Michael to learn some self-defense.

Switch had made some rough sketches of things, buildings resembling huts but modern that would take up about an acre. Trade would be our way, along with gift giving. Anyone lazy or too problematic would be thrown off the island, literally. There would be plenty of jobs, enough so that you could choose.

Switch showed me some ideas, and I went with most, or we found ways to improve them. I kept asking silly and random questions such as... how do we dispose of waste, and where will we find things like extra pillows?

In the end, we decided any extra room underneath the castle would be used to store dishes, pillows and blankets, clothes, cleaning supplies, personal grooming supplies, cans of dry goods, furniture, teaching equipment, and as much history as we could afford to keep. Of course, someday we’d run out, but hopefully by then we will have figured out how to make our own or will have wandered onto the mainland to re-supply.

Many things would be lost. We’d have to revert to pre-electric and machine days, without endangering the world again. Eventually we’d need to branch out in the years to come and see what survived the apocalypse.

“
Boats!” Switch cried.

“
We need tons of row boats and sail boats, nothing requiring gas or batteries. When we decide to go back to the rest of the world we’ll need boats, and what trees are on the island should stay there, untouched. So if we buy large sailboats and anchor them, or find a way to keep them from being torn apart, then not only will we have transportation but extra homes and storage. We should try to find the biggest ones and people who can sail them. I think Arch can; he used to be a pirate. Laugh but it’s true.

“
Madness has experience so maybe Arch can help him. Thorn take these lists of people we have written and try to find those best-suited. Relatives or friends of people we know. You should go and talk to Frank tomorrow and see who all he knows. Werewolves tend to hang in packs. If he knows useful people, then we could add them to the list.”

Switch was a smart man. If I wasn’t attracted to Aries, then I could see myself liking him. He wasn’t my type, but very close. Thoughts ran through my head that described him, Goth, smart, strong, thoughtful, immortal. I laughed to myself and then felt guilty. I wasn’t fantasizing really. Just thinking if I had a good friend I’d introduce them. Then I thought of Bella. A little ditzy, but one of the guys might like her. She was cool, and her sister was a dentist, or going to college anyways. Still a doctor, though. I’d have to send them invitations. I made a list of my own and included a few witches. I’d have invited them all, but if my utopia failed then the ones I tried to save would be lost. I chose the two I knew had kids, and three with men who had useful trades. One had worked on a boat and came home once a month.

Then my thoughts trailed to my store. I wanted lots of books, millions. All of the dictionaries, encyclopedias, my personal collection and historic, memorable ones like Edgar Allen Poe, for example. Well I have favorites too of course. I made a list of particular books I wanted, especially medical books for humans and animals.

“
Oh! We need some kind of huge freezer, something that doesn’t require electricity. How do we do that?” I asked.

“
Well, we’d have to probably do something underground. Luckily we are close enough to the north to benefit from cooler temperatures. I’m sure I can find out the best way to make something.” Thorn said.

It was near three and I was tired. I had made lists, and lists of lists. The guys each had a job tomorrow and would be busy. I’d be packing soon and heading north to the cabin. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was. I planned to let Aries drive if he wanted.

“
We’ll have to have a place for the kids to play, but we’ll need a nursery definitely. Most mothers would work, but some would have to stay with the babies. Kali will stay with me mostly. She may not play well with others.”

Switch said he’d make a school with rooms. It’d be tiny, but it would more or less be the orphanage and could hold a nursery. He had ideas for a natural man-made playground, as well. He’d make a stone enclosure high enough the wild ones couldn’t escape.

“
Some of the older girls could help with the babies.”

We finished up with the ideas and called it a night. Thorn and Switch left before the sun peeked out. Aries and I found the bed.

“
Do you think this is a good idea Angel?”

He was holding me again, and I knew what he meant. As attracted to him as I was, I was dog-tired for some strange reason.

“
We need more time of course, I know, but I don’t think I can sleep in here alone. Can we just try really hard not to let it go that far?” I asked yawning.

“
I think so. Goodnight love,” Aries whispered to me.

Several hours later I woke to knocking on my door.

I found my pants and noticed Aries was awake.

“
Do you ever sleep?” I asked.

“
Not really. I don’t need to, so I watch you sleep.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By the time I got to the door, I realized whoever stood on the other side was extremely upset, and it was either Raven or Michael, the only ones with keys and passwords to the alarm.

Raven stood in the doorway, tears on her face.

“
I need to talk to you.”

I opened the door, and followed her to the kitchen where Aries had a drink for me and was asking Raven if she needed anything.

I wasn’t very touchy feely but she was in definite need of a hug, and I didn’t want Aries doing it. I held her while she cried the worst of it out.

“
I had a biblical proportion sized nightmare. It really hit me about all of this. I almost told my sister and at the last second told them you were getting married. She seems to think I was upset because you might be moving away.”

“
The idea is planted then of course, so it should be believable when we ask her.”

“
She's pregnant. I think we should tell her very soon.” Raven replied quietly.

“
If we have to kidnap her I’ll get her there Raven,” I told her.

Huge tears rolled down her face. Aries found a washcloth and wet it with warm water.

When Raven was a little more, herself, I felt I needed to share.

“
I’m scared too. If Kali wasn't inside me telling me this was the only way, and this hunk here physically supporting me then I’d break down screaming and crying, completely insane.”

“
I'm sorry about that. I mean the end of the world is coming, and I get a free ride while all these innocent people die. I have very vivid dreams, almost like visions. People were burning, drowning, and being attacked by these monsters, demons.”

“
I’m afraid all that may be true.” Aries said slowly, receiving shocked looks from both of us.

“
When the apocalypse hits and alternate realms open the world will flood with supernatural beings from different dimensions, all hell is actually going to break loose. We may be surviving, but without us, hundreds would die. We’re saving the human population from extinction. For the next hundred years, the earth will be healing,” Aries told us.

I’d already heard this, but it made me shiver with fear still. Apocalypses were never good.

Raven asked what would happen to the store now.

“
I'm going to have a going out of business sale. I’m making you my partner and while I’m seeing to all of this I need you to close this store. All my books and witches supplies are going with us. I want all the medieval stuff sold and this building. My home...” it was my turn to cry. Aries held me while Raven patted my arm and nodded.

After I took my turn crying, I hugged Raven one more time.

“
Be here tomorrow morning by seven. We’re going to the bank and my lawyer. I have to get you legally able to handle things here. I’m calling him today so he can have all the paperwork ready for us to sign. Story will be the same as we are telling everyone else. I'm getting married and moving to Aries’ home island near Greece, where we’re building a resort. Let your sister know that when this store is finished you’re moving with us. Run the idea by her then about her moving, as well. That I need them, and the move is worth it. I’ll take her with what schooling she has, or will wait for a few months.”

Raven said okay and left.

I was glad she was coming. I’d need her when all hell officially broke loose. One more fighter would always help. I was coming to think of her as more than just a sister witch and fellow fighter. It would hurt if she didn’t survive the upcoming apocalypse. Hell, to be honest it just might kill me.

I walked around my home, thinking of how I obtained these things and how much I’d have to let go.

“
I need to start packing,” I told him, clearly not wanting to.

“
Let’s go talk to Frank first. The sooner he hears this, the better, we need all the help we can get right now.”

“
You’re probably right. He should still be there.”

I got dressed and followed him out the door, setting the alarm once more.

It was chilly outside. It would be chillier the further north we went. I thought about all the world would lose. Ancient artifacts, symbolic items around the world, and all the technology we’d obtained so far. There would be no futuristic technology like the movies portrayed. It reminded me of a certain movie, one where intelligent robots took over and annihilated humans. That would not happen; it was evil still, just another form.

Ten minutes later we were at the club.

“
We need to see Frank.”

“
Go sit in his office, I’ll let him know you’re here. He’ll be with you shortly. He’s a little busy, but it shouldn’t take long at all,” Casey informed us both.

Aries and I got comfortable. There was a black leather couch that we occupied. I looked around his office noting the different items he had bought from me, pointing them out to Aries.

Frank walked in five minutes later. He didn’t look happy or surprised, which confused me.

“
I know why you’re both here. Why do you think I wanted you two to have some privacy?” he put some paperwork on his desk and sat behind it. He waited for our answer.

Was I the only one who didn’t know about this?

“
Okay...” Aries said knowing Frank the werewolf had more to say.

What’s up with everyone being one step ahead of me, especially the ones I knew! Every time I turned around I was the last to know. I fidgeted nervously in my seat.

“
So I know that you also know I’m a werewolf, and I'm guessing you need my help. Is that close?” he asked us peering over a book he held in his hands.

“
Close enough. What is it that you know about Angel here?” Aries asked.

“
Well, my pack and I are only aware that the descendant of one of the goddesses will be born in our time. I met Angel not solely for business purposes, but because I had an idea she might have been the one. I’d heard of the messengers when I was a pup and knew that going into this business would bring me closer to it all. Anyway, when I saw the way you two stared at one another I realized all those stories that got me where I am today were, in fact, true. And when Angel here blew her top back in my VIP room I realized the time was close. The world will end in what a year? Less?” he asked looking us each in the eye.

Ah, I thought that’s why he wasn’t as pissed as I thought he should have been. He was well informed. I wanted a refund on this life if it got any worse.

“
Unfortunately, we think so.” I told him.

“
So what do you guys need from me?” he said getting comfortable. He turned his laptop on and was clicking away. He knew what we planned to ask him.

“
We need your skills to start with. There’s an island that Kali has told us to go to and that we will survive, but only if we are prepared. We want you to run the kitchen and anything else you can help with. You seem to have business sense and run the kitchen here, and you’re a werewolf.” Aries told him. He knew Frank was listening.

“
One of the legends was that my pack would help the goddess Kali, a second set of guards I guess is what it all meant. So if I go my pack goes. I’m the alpha here in these parts and run about sixty or so men and their families. A few are yearlings and need constant supervision, but they’re all good boys. So what will it be?” Frank said, looking up at them both. He was doubly interested in what we had to say now.

“
Do they have skills?” I asked him, trying to judge his body language. Frank was one hard guy to read. He sat back putting his hands behind his head. Even his emotions were guarded. I was betting it was a werewolf thing.

“
Well thirty are in the law enforcement business in some fashion whether it’s a cop or bodyguard or bouncer here. Some are hunters you might say, they bring in rogues of any species. And a few are my personal assistants. They help me keep an eye on things when I’m not around and are useful in various ways, like cooking, fetching, music, and so on. So yeah, I think so. I make sure my pack has useful skills that they can bring to the world.” He brushed his shoulder length hair behind his ears. He sat up and looked them in the eye, trying to read our expressions, worried it seemed.