Fallen Identity

"What? Where?" I exclaimed and looked all over the place but couldn't see even a hint of a tree anywhere.

"Come on I'll show you," Raz said and headed toward an alleyway. He walked up to a brick and pointed to itand sure enough, a small picture of a cherry tree was on it and next to it, in beautiful calligraphy, said 'Cherry Tree'.

"Wow, you have a good eye," I scoffed. How was he able to see that from across the street and with people walking by?

"It's another Fallen Angel ability. While you humans have 20/20 vision, we have something like 70/20 vision. It helps since we have to look down on the Earth all the way from another realm," Elijah explained. Elijah is such a brainiac.

"Oh, I guess that would make sense," I muttered. Why can't I have 70/20 vision? So unfair. "So what do we do now? Just wait or push the cherry tree brick in and some magical door will open?"

"Were just going to use the back door over here," Gabriel said and opened a normal looking door that was at the back of the brick building.

We all hustled in through the door and down a set of stairs. Were going underground again? Ugh.

We arrived to a big metal door that you might find on a bank vault, and a small keypad was next to it. I saw Raz type in a bunch of random numbers and then press enter. There was a large click! sound and then the vault unlocked and slid open. Inside was a large room that reminded me of the safezone back in Chicago but in this room there were stacks and stacks of weapons hanging on the wall, on tables, and even on the floor. There were swords, daggers, guns, whips, and even a couple grenades.

"Lalala," came the voice of a girl from down one of the hallways. There were about 5 different hallways all leading in different directions. Great. A maze.

The singing started to get louder and then a girl appeared from the hallway next to us. My eyes widened as I saw that this girl was flying. She had a pair of delicate wings on her back that resembled white butterfly wings. Do fairys exist too?

The girl looked like she was dancing on air and only stopped to look at us when Cameal coughed.
"Ohmygosh! Youguysarehere. Ican'tbelieveit!" She talked so quickly that it seemed her sentences were one word. She did a backflip in the air and landed on her feet gracefully. Her wings then seemed to become transluscent and invisible.

"Hey Israfel. Long time, no see eh?" Raz greeted the fairy-angel. She gave him a big grin and turned to the rest of the group.

"I'm so glad you all are here." Her voice was like a constant melody. She seemed to finally notice me and got up in my face and demanded, "Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm Carter," I responded, almost afraid.
"Why did you bring a human with you?" She asked as she looked back at the rest of the guys.

"Carter was attacked by some demons so he kinda found out about us by default. Plus, he's kinda become one of the gang now," Cameal explained cheerfully. Does he ever stop smiling? The answer would be no. He'd probably be smiling if a bee stung him. Okay, maybe not, bee stings hurt.

Israfel looked like she was contemplating something but then went back to smiling after a second.

"Well Carter, welcome to our humble abode. You can call me Izzy." There was only genuine kindness shown on her face and I couldn't help but like her even though I hardly knew her. Maybe it's one of the perks to being an Angel. People just automatically like you.

"Why does Carter get to call you Izzy and we can't?" Cameal pouted. Aww, Cameal's so adorable. Maybe it's because he's so short.

"Because look at how completely cute Carter is!" Izzy exclaimed and then tried to make a point by pinching my cheeks. I thought only cliche grandma's did that in movies.

"Ow," I said, rubbing my now red cheek.

"Aww sorry Carterkins," Izzy baby-talked me. Ugh, what does she think I am? 5?

"Carterkins? Really? Camealkins sounds so much better," Cameal sneered. Cameal and Izzy then started bantering about who's nickname sounded better but were immediately cut off by the voice of another girl, or more like woman, who had just entered the room.

"Israfel! Did I not tell you to come get me the exact moment they arrived?" This woman looked wise and in her late 30s but that could very well mean her late 3000s. Izzy sort of resembled the woman in a way. They both had a deep shade of red hair color and the same violet-gold eyes that the guys had. Perhaps Izzy was this prestigious woman's daughter.

"Sorry mother," Izzy looked down, ashamed of her thoughtlessness. So I was right.

"Lailah. Didn't expect you here," Raz said in a very businesslike tone.

"Raziel," she began, using his full name, "What a pleasant surprise. How are things over in America?"

"Good," he responded. I'm guessing this Lailah lady wasn't someone you wanted to piss off and I could tell none of the guys liked her. Heck, I could tell that Izzy didn't like her and she's her mother.

Lailah turned to the rest of us and she looked at us as if we were malfunctioned experiments. I looked back at the rest of the group and noticed Micah and Nathanial just standing there, emotionless as usual. I tended to forget about them since they were always so quiet and distant from everyone else. Zach was the same way but he seemed to talk more now.

Just as Izzy had, Lailah noticed that I stuck out and immediately interrogated me. "Who are you?"

"Carter," I responded honestly.

"It's okay, he knows about us. Demons attacked him," Gabriel spoke up. Lailah looked over to him and gave him a thin smile.

"Ah Gabriel. The Angelic Messenger. Not much of a messenger now are you?" she replied somewhat coldly. Okay, this lady had to be a Fallen Angel. There is no possible way that she hadn't committed one of the sins. Gabriel looked hurt by her icy words and I didn't blame him for it. Lailah looked so wise and above everyone else, and that made you want her approval.

"Well, I bet everyone's hungry so let's go eat some dinner shall we?" It was like a switch had gone off. In a matter of seconds, she went from cold to kind. Bipolar much? No offense intended to those who are bipolar.

We all followed her down one of the hallways which I didn't even try to memorize the route because I knew I would never be able to figure it out. She took a couple turns into different rooms and hallways into we reached a huge dining hall. There was a long table set in the center with a bunch of chairs. The furniture looked like it came from the Medieval Age and for all I know, it probably did.

"Please seat yourselves. Dinner shall be ready in a couple minutes," Lailah said and then left the room. I thought she'd never leave.

I sat in between Cameal and Izzy since they both insisted on sitting next to me. Zach sat across from me in between Micah and his brother, Nathaniel.

I caught sight of a small boy crouching in the corner of the room, looking scared. I tapped Izzy on the shoulder and asked her who he was.

"That's Michael. He's an orphan and he had no where else to go," she responded and looked at him with sympathy and affection. The small boy, Michael, had dirty blonde hair, like how mine was before I dyed it. I couldn't tell what eye color he had since he was so far away.

I stood up and went over to him and crouched down to his level. I gasped. Michael had the violet-gold eyes of an Angel.