Rebirth - The Beautiful Fallen (9 page)

             
“So you knew your dad?” I said.

             
“I know him, although I haven’t seen him in a long time.  Actually, I’m not too sure how he’d take this if he knew I was protecting you right now.  But I’m not too worried about it either.  He’s never really made me listen to him anyways.” Chris said.

             
That was interesting to hear.  Apparently, unlike myself, not all of those like me didn’t know where they had come from.  But I decided to leave that one alone for the time being.  I had a lot of other things on my mind, and a lot more questions to ask him.  “So how old are you anyways?  Will you tell me now?” I asked him.

             
Chris thought about it for a moment.  “Don’t really know.  It’s been long enough for me to lose track of it.”

             
“I guess.” I lamented.  Seriously, he couldn’t have been that old.  Could he?

             
“Although, considering you know this much, I may as well tell you what my real name is.  If you're going to stay around me, you'll probably hear it anyway.  There’s a reason I prefer to just go by Chris you know.  It’s because I've never really liked my given name.  It just doesn't fit to me.  It’s Christoff.” Chris explained.

             
Okay, so that one surprised me a little.  I’d never heard a name like that before.  And I think it was then that I realized that perhaps Chris was probably a lot older then I'd taken him for.  It was kind of a sad thought for me.  For as cute as he was, this guy was more than likely out of my league.  And once again, I found myself wondering just why in the world I would have ever thought such a thing…

             
At that, Chris stood himself back up.  “By the way, I have been thinking about all of this too since last night.  And I think I know just the person who can help us out with all of this.  Hopefully he’ll actually decide to answer a phone and get off the damn violin long enough to listen to me.” he said, picking up a cell phone from the nearby table.

             
“Is he someone who knows about the people like us?” I had to ask.  I couldn't help but wonder what someone like that would be like.  After all, how many people in the world could have the privilege of knowing that things like angels and demons and all really existed?

             
“No.  Actually, he’s one of us.  But he tends to know a lot more about how things like this tend to play out.” Chris replied.  He hit the speaker button on the phone and quickly dialed in a number.  I listened as it rang three times.  Then, there was an answer.

             
“Hello?” a soft male voice said.  They sounded half asleep.

             
“So you actually decided to answer my phone call this time.  Are you finally over it?” Chris asked without any hesitation.

             
The guy on the other end made a small, disgruntled sound.  “Seriously Christoff, you could just say hello.  And yes, I was getting over the last time we talked until now.  What do you want?  You do know it’s five in the morning here, right?” he said.  His voice was light, and I detected a southern accent in it.

             
“Hmm, yeah.  I guess you are an hour behind there, aren’t you?” Chris noted.  He sounded like he’d genuinely forgotten about that.

             
“You’re too forgetful sometimes.” the guy replied, still sounding pretty disgruntled.  It was obvious that he didn't appreciate the wakeup call at all.

             
“Whatever.  I’m calling you for something important anyways, so I’m expecting that you’d at least take the time listen to me.” Chris told him.

             
“Really?  I’d imagine it must be if you’re up this early.” the guy said.  Now it seemed that Chris had gotten his attention.

             
But Chris seemed to ignore his comment.  “You remember hearing a while back about that whole mess with that Fallen named Saffron, right?  Have you heard anything else about it since then?” he asked him.

             
For a moment, the other end of the line was quiet.  Apparently, the guy was thinking over his answer.  “Well, I did hear about two years ago that he had gotten himself into a lot of trouble with the big one ruling the Abyss.  The seal of the contract was destroyed completely, and he took him back for some kind of punishment.  I’d imagine that he might be getting back out soon though, considering the time that's passed.  I’m sure Jade’s counting down the days for another round with him.” the guy finally answered.

             
“I see.  So that’s why.” Chris said quietly.  It sounded like he'd had a revelation now.
              “So why ask?  You haven’t been interested in either of them for a long time now.” the guy noted.

             
Chris glanced over at me for a moment before speaking again.  “The game’s changed.  I found her.” he told him.

             
I heard the guy on the other end of the line make a sound like he was surprised.  “Found her?  You mean as in  Saffron's her ?” he asked, almost sounding excited.

             
"Yes.  She’s here with me now, and she’s figured out some of who she really is.  But it looks like he's sealed at least some of her memories now.  So I need to figure out where to go from here.” Chris explained.

             
“Oh.” the guy’s excitement seemed to die down a little.  “Well, like I said, Saffron himself is still sealed up for the time being.  But you could bring her here.  We could always keep an eye on her and help her out until he decides to reappear.  I’d imagine he’ll want to see her again, and when he does, he may unseal her memories himself.”

             
I listened to this with more than a little bit of interest.  Saffron would want to see me again, and had apparently sealed my memories at some point.  And on top of that, he’d been trapped for the last two years.  As I thought over all of this, I realized that in the back of my mind, a fragment of my memory was beginning to surface.  Me as a young child, lying in my bed and snuggled beside a man with dark hair and beautiful blue eyes.  He was the same as when I'd been born in that dream...

             
“By the way, you know who's looking to see you again as well.  Why do you keep refusing?” the guy suddenly asked.  His voice actually pulled me out of my trance.

             
I saw Chris tense up for a moment.  “We’re not talking about that right now.  Besides, if he really wants to see me again, then he’d come find me.  I know he’s more than capable of that one.  I’ll see you soon.” He said, hanging up.

             
“So who was that?” I had to ask as he slipped the phone into his pocket.

             
“His name’s Zane Hedel.  Like I said, he’s one of us, and he tends to know how to handle things like this.  So we’ll get some things together and head to Baton Rouge to stay with him.” Chris replied.

             
“Wait a minute.  Baton Rouge?” I said, standing back up.  "What do you mean we're going to Baton Rouge?"

             
“It’s the only way we’re going to get to Zane.  It's not like he can come up here.  It's not going to be safe anyways.” Chris replied.  He looked a bit surprised that I was actually protesting it.

             
“But I can’t go to Baton Rouge.” I told him.

             
“Why not?” Chris asked.

             
Of course he wouldn’t get it.  I was beginning to wonder if he didn’t consider anything else but the basics of all this.  “Think about it Chris.  I don’t have anything at all to take with me.  All I have are the clothes on my back.  And also, my mother is going to freak out when she realizes that I’m gone and probably report me missing or something.” I told him.

             
Chris shook his head.  “Trust me, if you left that box anywhere where she can find it, she’s not going to report you missing.  She’ll come looking for you herself if she needs to.  And besides, why are you so worried about not having anything packed right now?  It’s easy enough to just buy whatever you need as you go.  All I’ve got right now is a motorcycle, so whatever you use will have to fit into a backpack.  So stop worrying so much about all those little things.  If you don‘t leave with me now, then you‘re going to end up dying here.  They will find you, and they will kill you.” he said.

             
Well, I really couldn’t argue with that too much, especially when I considered everything that had happened in the past day or so.  More than likely, I really needed to get to this Zane guy before I got those wings like Chris did.  And something deep inside of me told me that I was running on borrowed time.  “Okay then.” I relented.  “When are we going?”

             
Chris glanced at his watch.  “Let’s get out of here within the next hour.  I want to get a lot of distance between us and this town by nightfall.”

Four

             
For never having rode on a motorcycle before, I had to admit that it really was a lot of fun.

             
Sitting on the back of that bike, I felt the wind blow through my hair that was sticking out from under my helmet and tried to make myself relax.  We’d been on the road for a good five hours by then, and in all honesty, I didn’t have the first clue as to where we were.  I was guessing that we were probably somewhere close to the Virginia state line now, considering the change in the scenery and temperature.  I could feel the warmth even through the blowing wind.  As I watched, all of the colors of the beautiful spring were flying past us.  It almost felt fitting for me to see those changes in the world now.  Especially when I considered how much my life was already beginning to change.

             
Our morning had been pretty busy when it came down to it.  Within an hour of us getting up and me changing his bandages, we’d been ready to go.  Chris had made sure to pack up everything we’d need for the time being in a backpack, then locked up the house and walked out with me to his motorcycle.  I’d asked him what he was going to do about his home there, but he didn’t really say much to it aside from the fact that it was the least of his worries.  Fallsburg wasn’t a safe place for us anymore, and there wasn’t a whole lot of time to think about all the little things.  I just went with it, considering that I’d already seen how he wasn’t that concerned over money when we’d first met.  I didn’t think I’d ever quite get over seeing him throw that book in the trash like he did. 

But my mind was immediately pulled away from any of those thoughts when I took a good look at what we’d be riding on down to Baton Rouge.  I’d never ridden on a motorcycle in my life, and I was actually a little bit nervous at first.  While it was true that this one seemed pretty nice, and was a Harley to boot, I couldn’t help but wonder just how I’d do on it.  But once we did that U turn and got going out onto the highway, that nervousness faded pretty quickly, and I found that I was really having a lot of fun sitting behind him and holding on as I watched the world fly by.  This was an amazing new life experience, and probably was going to end up being the first of many for me now.

              But as I thought about that time, I found that my mind was going back as well to that phone call that Chris had made.  He’d been speaking to a guy he called Zane Hedel, who was apparently supposed to be someone just like us.  I’ll admit that I felt like it was good for me to hear that conversation then, because now I was beginning to understand just what may have happened with Saffron years ago.  I really had no doubt by now that he’d been in my life before, especially once Chris confirmed to me that he believed that somehow, Saffron had sealed up my memories of him.  But I’ll admit that it actually bothered me a little bit too when I realized that.  As silly as it was, I actually wanted to see Saffron again.  In fact, I was finding myself even now clinging to that small memory that had managed to surface during that phone call.  Thinking about it, I had to admit that I felt like Saffron may have loved me dearly in that time that we were together. 

Well, that is, if the ones like him were even capable of love. 

              Still I knew that I had felt so safe with him at that moment.  And, even though it was extremely hard for me to admit it, I really wanted to see him again.  It didn’t matter anymore to me about what he was or the things he’d done.  In remembering that one moment in time, I felt like I missed him so much.  I needed him back in my life.  I needed his answers, and most importantly, I needed his strange comfort.

             
But there was another thing that also nagged at my mind from that morning, and even continued to do so as I sat there holding onto Chris. It was something that actually even overrode all of the mixed feelings I had about Saffron.

It was the knowledge of what I was about to become.

I’ll be the first to admit that the whole thing with the wings in Chris’s back had both frightened and fascinated me.  Even leaned against him at that moment, I couldn’t feel them at all.  They were hidden flawlessly within his back.  My mind drifted back to the night before as I thought about that.  I had leaned against his almost bare back all night long, and still hadn’t felt them.  A part of me couldn’t help but wonder just how that was even possible.  Just how could we be so human, yet not be human?  While I understood the fact that we were mixed with creatures that had definitely never been human in their entire existence, the whole thing still intrigued me on a very deep, personal level.  A part of me wanted to understand just how all of this could be.  After all, everything that’s taught to us in the modern age disputed everything that we apparently were. 

             
Turning off of the highway to another two lane road, I found myself trying to push all of those thoughts aside though and relax.  Now that we’d been able to get off that highway again, I felt like I could do so. Chris had mentioned to me before that he liked to avoid busy highways when at all possible, and I was just fine with that.  Apparently, he wasn’t too fond of a lot of traffic, and figured ways around it.  I couldn’t complain too much about that one though.  I didn’t like the idea of being around so many cars either on just this bike with no protection other than a helmet.  And besides, the scenery was beautiful on these country roads. 

But riding along, I also found that I could reflect better in my mind about what I was doing now too while I looked at the passing trees and listened to the steady, loud roar of the motorcycle I was on.

              I couldn’t really say in the end that I’d wanted to just up and leave like I did.  After all, doing this was essentially leaving behind everything that I had ever known of my life to go with a guy that I really didn't know that much about.  My instincts trusted Chris, but my head still felt a little apprehensive about him.  I’d always been raised to think that no one does anything without hidden motives.  But I couldn’t quite figure his out.  He didn’t seem that concerned about my father.  And although he’d said that he was doing this because he wanted to, he’d also said something before about doing this to keep a promise he’d made a long time ago.  But he’d never really clarified just what that promise was.  Just what did Chris really want to do with coming to find me like he had?  And more importantly, who was this person that he'd made this promise with?

             
I was brought back to reality by Chris hollering out to me over the noisy motorcycle.  “Hey, I think we should stop and get some lunch.  It looks like there’s a restaurant a few miles up the road according to those signs we just passed.” He told me.

             
“Okay.  Sounds good to me.” I hollered back.

             
We ended up pulling into a small diner several miles up the road.  It looked like one of those little Mom and Pop places, and seemed very quiet and out of the way.  Parking the bike near the building, Chris turned it off and pulled off his helmet.  “May as well get something to eat now.  We've got a long ways to go.” He admitted.

             
“You know, you still owe me some clothes and all too.” I reminded him as I slid myself off of the bike.

             
“I know, I know.  We’ll take care of it before we stop somewhere for the night.” Chris promised.  He got off of the bike and slipped the key into his pocket, taking a quick look around us.  It wouldn’t have surprised me if he was making sure that nothing was following us.  By then, I was getting that he was always on guard for stuff like that.  But he seemed to relax after the quick look.  “Come on, let’s get inside.” He said, lightly patting my back. 

             
I felt myself smile as I nodded in agreement.  This was slowly starting to become Chris’s habit now.  I’d noticed it even before we left Fallsburg.  If he wanted me to come with him, or even if he just wanted my attention, he’d pat my back or shoulder.  It was funny, but I actually thought it was kind of sweet in a way.  Like we were slowly trying to get used to one another.

             
Walking into the diner, I couldn’t help but think that it was pretty nice.  It was small and cozy, with a few tables and booths that reminded me of what they had in the 1950s.  Everything was very clean and well kept.  I noted that it definitely wasn’t busy either.  There were three other people in there, and they were spread out in the room.  They didn’t even bother looking up at us as we walked in.  Taking a seat at one of the booths, we waited for the waitress to walk over, and then glanced at the menu.  It had a lot on it, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit surprised about that.  “They’ve got a lot of choices for such a little place.” I told Chris.

             
“A lot of places like this seem to.  Go ahead and order whatever you want though.  It doesn’t matter to me.” he replied.

             
“Now is that any way to speak to a young lady, Christoff?”

             
The two of us quickly looked up at the sudden voice, following it to the side of the booth.  To my surprise, there was a young man walking over to us.  He didn’t look like he was much older than us, and had black hair and vivid eyes that almost looked like they could’ve been a dark shade of violet.  Dressed in black jeans and a black leather jacket, I couldn’t help but think that he was a bit stunning.  In fact, he was almost as good looking as Chris, although I felt like he was pretty hard to top.  As we watched, the man stood by the table and smiled at us. 

Chris just looked back at him, no real expression playing on his face.  “You know I hate it when you guys call me that.  What are you doing here?” he asked him.  I noted that he didn’t sound too happy to see him.  But at the same time, I felt curious as to who this was.  Obviously, he and Chris knew each other fairly well.  Looking back at him, I found myself studying his eyes.  Could those have been human eyes?  I wasn’t too sure…

              The guy wasn’t put off by Chris’s attitude.  And he didn’t seem to notice how hard I was looking at him either.  “You know that I go wherever the wind takes me now.  But I’m surprised too.  I’ve never seen you traveling with anyone before, let alone such a pretty girl.  And just who might you be?” He said, looking back over at me with a friendly smile.  He certainly acted friendly enough, although now I noticed that he did talk a bit strangely.  But as I continued looking at him, I suddenly got a strange feeling.  Almost as though I should’ve known him.

             
“It’s a long story that you should be able to figure out if you just take a good look at her.” Chris told him.

             
The man placed his hands on the table, leaning down to look me in the eyes.  As strange as it sounds, for just a moment, I could’ve swore I saw tiny flecks of red flash in his irises.  But just as quickly, they seemed to be gone.  “Ah, yes.  I think I see.  You’re Saffron’s daughter, aren’t you?” he finally said as he backed away again.

             
“Apparently I am.  So I’m guessing you know all about us too.” I noted.  I heard the hesitation in my voice, but hoped he didn’t notice.

             
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to.  “I should.  After all, I am just like you.” The man said.  He turned his head and gave his shoulder a quick pat as he took a seat in the booth beside me.

             
Now I got it.  That was why he felt so familiar, even if I didn’t know him personally.  It even explained those beautiful looks of his, and those powerful eyes.  He was the same as me and Chris.  I took an even bet that there were wings hidden in his back as well from that gesture, although I knew that there was no way I could tell unless he actually brought them out.  Though he did gesture that they were there....  

             
Chris glared slightly across the table at him.  “So I guess you're going to invite yourself to sit here with us now?” he said.

             
“Don't worry.  I won't bother her.  Besides, you’ve never protested my presence before.  I was beginning to think we may have even been friends.” The man replied.

             
“Stop that.  You’re being annoying again.” Chris told him.

             
The man didn’t seem too worried about his apparent attitude though.  Instead, he looked back at me.  It was odd, but he actually did seem very friendly.  A little bit more friendly then Chris had initially been.  “Actually, I do feel as though I’ve been a bit rude.  My name is Wilhelm Marcos.  But everyone just calls me Will.” he said, finally introducing himself and offering a hand.

             
I couldn’t help smiling back as I shook his hand.  “Ariana Benson.  Nice to meet you Will.” I said.  I had to admit that did seem pretty nice, and it was kind of funny to watch him slightly ruffle Chris’s feathers.  I was getting the distinct feeling that he probably did it a lot.  At least, if the way Chris was acting towards him was any implication.

             
“Well, I have to say that you certainly do favor your father Ariana.  I was pretty surprised when I looked into those eyes of yours.  I didn’t think anyone else could have such powerful eyes like that.” Will admitted.  He’s one to talk, I thought as I looked back at him.  He has much more powerful eyes then I do.

             
But I didn’t voice that.  Instead, I just smiled back at him.  “Trust me, I’ve gotten that a lot lately.” I replied.