Angels Fall

My eyes flickered open, I was aware of the pain in my eyes which reverberated through to the back of my skull. Being knocked out had its advantages though, I didn’t feel the rest of the pain they inflicted on me. I was safe now though, in the safe house as I’d called it. The fight last night brought back memories, memories of nineteen ninety eight, the last time I came in contact with Kingston and his crew, the memories which also revealed Peter being changed and a small group of rogue vamps helping us out, the same rogue group that stood by the agencies’ side today. A shudder went through my body with the realisation that the vampires were on the move.
A familiar face appeared above me and for a moment a flicker of anger pulsed through me, then I relaxed knowing that she was a friend and not a foe.
“Leah?” she whispered as I tried to keep my eyes open, “Your okay now.” Coral whispered again. She ran a cold hand over my forehead and I had to admit it was nice.
“I can’t believe I got knocked out, again,” I said slowly sitting up.
She shrugged. I looked at her seriously now, “How’s Pete?”
“He’s...better...his training is definitely at its peak.” Coral informed me. For the past ten years Pete has been undergoing intense training first to be able to handle being a freshly turned vamp and then to hone his skills. He’d gotten to a point where he outdid all his human trainers, magical trainers and even me, and then our vampire friends stepped in. Garret and Harriet taught him the most as they were the eldest vampire in body and in experience. As far as I knew Harriet and Garret were married, in their mid twenties living in Scotland highlands when they were turned during the eighteenth century. But so far they have been extremely secretive about their past life.
“Well good, I’ll go see him,” I said sliding off the table; I noticed I was still wearing my True religion jeans and purple silk camisole. The rips and tears in them were depressing. I seriously had to stop wearing my own wardrobe to fight in.
“You can’t!” she said and clasped her hands together nervously.
“Why not?” I asked.
“He’s you know doing the thing....”
Hunting. I hated to know that my boyfriend now fiancée was hunting. For a vampire he was just as unenthusiastic about it. “Oh, okay, well I guess I’ll shower first.”
“You can’t do that either,” Coral told me. Her brown red flecked eyes darted to the door and back again. Coral sighed, her cute button nose wiggled. I often imagined Coral to look like Kirsten Dunst from interview with the vampire but older in human years. Coral was eighteen when she was turned, she had beautiful tight curls that reached all over her head at unnatural volume and cascaded down to her shoulders.
“Your hair grew some more?” I said studying it closely, to my utter surprise I realised that her hair was actually growing. Right there in front of me, her button nose wiggled again as a soft giggle escaped her lips.
“Cool huh?” she said enthusiastically. I blinked wondering how I hadn’t noticed this before but then again it’s not like we saw the friendly vampires all the time they were nomads mainly and only really dropped by for the sake of taking Peter under their wing. They collected him trained him and took him on hunts before dropping him back at the agency again. The agency was remarkably welcoming of the friendly vampires, probably because they knew that they needed the fight power if it ever came down to a war. They were incredibly supportive of Peter too organising the correct facilities within the building for him, such as a fridge full of animal blood, an underground apartment, which I found rather cosy despite the entire lack of walls around us. They still hadn’t gotten around to plastering up the muck walls yet but they were dry, hard and durable.
I shook my thoughts away as I noticed Coral staring at me, “Erm Coral, why can’t I use the shower again?”
She smiled, “Well apart from the drains backing up today, there’s a meeting in which you are required to attend.”
“A meeting with who?” I asked in alarm.
“Head of Ellipsis,” she said, “Since our lot moved into the agency your director has been called onto a panel, they reckon he’s losing his touch and becoming a vampire lover.”
I furrowed my brow, I noticed that my scythe still sat on the edge of the bedside table, I lifted it.
“Let’s go!” I said and she followed me down the hall to the stairs. It didn’t take long for me to reach the top and Coral was there waiting for me, “I will never get used to that,” I said smiling lightly and she chuckled. Much to my annoyance vampires and time jump, but only a short way into quantum space enough so that it appears they can run with extra speed and appear in strange places ahead of everyone else. In battle it’s a particularly useful skill.
The conference room was full of people I recognised and full of people I didn’t. There was arguing, yelling, shoving, name calling.
“Erm, guys,” I said and naturally my voice was lost on them. I saw my boss Operations Director, Arnold Finn, who had an aura of authority around him all the time, he stepped into a room and people are instantly captivated by him, focused on what he has to say. Next to him was Jake Hansom a teacher at Sherwood’s Private school, the school that would now become the next magic school when he was made headmaster. There was no sabotage involved it was simply prophesised by a bunch of seers in the agencies coven.
Hansom wasn’t exactly normal either; he was a Werewolf and the current Alpha in the Sherwood pack. For now while he worked hard within Agency Ellipses his son had taken the job as deputy. It was strange to think that the agency board of overseers declined friendly vampires when they were so welcoming to Werewolves. But the fact of the matter was that Werewolves were very well respected creatures. They were godlike in the supernatural world, agents of all that is good.
I noticed that across the room, Tiffany Greywacke the courts high Witch was silently mediating trying to get them under control. I shook my head in despair, raised my right arm that held my scythe and threw it with all my might across the room. With perfect precision it cut the air just above everyone’s heads and with a loud crash landed embedded in the wall and the Ellipses crest flag hanging on the wall.
Silence filled the room.
“Well,” I said my voice echoing throughout the room as I walked forward. The group separated to let me through. Tiffany smiled and her eyes flew open, she was our oracle she knew I would arrive.
“Look at us, we don’t have to worry about the vampires killing us because we can do that for them, hey why don’t I break open the weapons chest and you can all have a real go at ripping each other’s throats out.” They didn’t find my sarcasm funny, they weren’t meant to, and they knew there was truth in my words.
“The enemy, if they saw us, would be laughing.”
Simon Mather the third, the Agency director sniggered, “The enemy is in this room,” he spat eyeing up Coral sullenly. Anger shot through me.
“Look at her that way again and I will personally make sure that there won’t me a Mather the Fourth. The only people in this room are the ones willing to die for me.” I spat and took a place on the empty podium.
“And anyone willing to die for me is a friend of this Agency. We’re supposed to build relationships with the supernatural world not kill it off for good, if that were the case you wouldn’t have me on your side. My power is supernatural, ancient yes, but still supernatural.”
“Take the wool from over your eyes; they are pulling a Trojan horse on you Finn!” Mather screamed.
“No! They aren’t, and as for this trial Finn knows what he is doing, more than you even do. You see the difference between you and him Mr Mather is that he actually participating in the thick of battle. You, sit behind a desk all day and tally up the numbers. Your job is to get out in the supernatural community and build allies but your motto is every human for himself. And that, I’m afraid, is something I cannot live with, since I am not entirely human.”
“Don’t you tell me how I should do my job...”
“If I thought a pen and pencil would win this war then I’d have you down at the frontline! Sadly, it doesn’t so you’re of no use to me.”
“I, I will not tolerate...”
“Mr Mather, you will leave Director Finn to run his operations how I see fit, because quite frankly unless you’re the one getting a blow to the head in every fight I refuse to take you seriously.”
Mathers blew out a lungful of air in frustration, “This is not over O’Brian.”
“Didn’t think it would be,” I muttered as he fled from the room with his entourage behind him.
Soon there was only a small handful of us left, Finn, Tiffany, Coral, Jake Hansom. Garret and Harriet appeared too with Pete much to my gladness.
“Nice show...” Finn said smirking.
“Well, it was falling apart in here,” I said, Pete came to my side and put a protective arm around my waist.
“I don’t think he’s going to take that too lightly though, we should be prepared for the big guns.” Finn said and frowned, “I could lose my job over this.”
“No you won’t, now, news of last night, I wasn’t able to find out much about our missing soldier, the demons aren’t talking, it’s like the vampires have already started recruiting.”
“Which we knew would happen,” Finn said folding his arms.
“What more can you tell me about our escapee?”
Finn sighed, “Nothing much really, just that she escaped from the Iris facility in London, we don’t know what they were doing, or if Ellipses knew.”
I turned to Jake Hansom, “Can your family handle this? I don’t want a massacre on the school’s doorstep.” He nodded. Finn looked at me worriedly.
“Do you think it could be another slayer?”
“No...I don’t know, if she is then we’d understand why the government wanted her. But she can be lightning fast, just as fast as the werewolves and she fought off ten vampires alone which means that Quantum leap doesn’t affect her. That doesn’t speak Van Helsing to me.”
“I think we need to seriously reconsider the security in that school,” Finn declared and Tiffany nodded.
“I can put up some spells that might help us detect an attack before it happens.”
I nodded, “Good idea, meanwhile I’ll infiltrate the school. Keep an eye out.”
Pete looked me in the eye, “You sure, you want me to go instead?”
“During the day?” I raised my eyebrows and he sighed.
“Touché.” He replied looking away and I sighed.
One thing was for sure, if I didn’t tighten our forces we were bound to fall apart.