Angels Born of Hell and Fire

[Chapter Fifteen]

Peter grinned in a way that could only be described as impishly.

“Alright,” he said and jumping to his feet removed his uniform jacket. “I’ll go first then?”

“Should we dim the lights?” Savannah asked in an almost sarcastic way.

“Don’t bother, I can move in full light,” Peter waved her away and his eyes twinkled as he took in Jasper and my expressions.

“What can you do?” Jasper frowned as Peter moved into the middle of the space.
“Peter has a similar ability to ShadowWalker,” Gabriel filled in, happy to brag about his favorite person, “but he’s even more powerful as he can do it in broad day light, which is something not many people can do.”

“Make sure to keep your eyes on me,” Peter smirked over at Jasper.

“Just show us already,” she replied dryly.

He chuckled, “Yes Ma’am.”

He disappeared.

I blinked, sure that my eyes had deceived me, but yes, one moment he was there, and the next the space where he had stood was empty.

“Ah, you have gotten better, I couldn’t even track you that time,” Savannah was talking to the far corner of the room. I followed the direction of her words to find Peter, casually siting in a chair, a broad smile stretching his features.

“What…” I murmured, my brows drawing together tightly.

“He bends light to trick your eyes into not seeing him,” Gabriel explained, “he’s not invisible, its just that your eyes wont realize that he’s there.”

Peter chose that moment to pop up next to my chair, where I swore he was not just a millisecond before. I jumped, causing him to laugh.

“So, he’s kinda like some weird ninja,” Jasper said suddenly, “Okay, that is pretty impressive.”
Peter looked triumphant.

Savannah snorted. “Don’t give him a big head, but yes it is something no one else can do. Most people use shadows, not light, to disguise themselves into not being noticed, while Peter can make it seem like he simply disappears.”

Though she still used her usual harsh manner of speaking I knew Savannah was proud of her friend. It was a surprise, always, to see the kinder side of my own personal drill sergeant.

“So what can you do?” I asked her.

Returned to his seat beside Jasper, Peter snorted.

“She smashes things,”

I was suddenly reminded of large green mutated body from a movie.

“I’d happily smash your face,” Savannah said darkly causing Peter to laugh. I assumed this was a usual thing between the two.

“Savannah has a fighting type ability,” Gabriel broke in, ever the medium between his older siblings, “I guess you could say she’s super strong? And she can master any fighting style after only seeing it once.”

“So the all-around perfect fighting machine,” Jasper said scanning over the tall girl.

I could believe this. During my training with Savannah she was never tired, even after I felt like I was going to collapse, she hauled around weights easily double of her own body weight without problem. She had told me she was in charge of “breaking in” new people, and teaching the foundation.

“Never let her get a knife in her hand either,” Peter said propping his chin in his hand, “She nearly killed me with one once.”

Savannah smiled broadly, the effect being more creepy than flattering.

“That’s because when we were 12 Peter thought it was amusing to sneak into my room and set traps for when I woke up.”

Jasper laughed aloud, and I knew her mind was painted with all sorts of amusing images.

“So you threatened him with a knife?” she asked, blue eyes dancing.

“Mmhmm, it made him stop.”

“She nearly cut my ear off,” Peter grumbled, rubbing the appendage.

“I was aiming for the wall behind him actually, but he kept phasing in and out so I couldn’t see him,” Savannah shrugged, “Not my fault.”

“I want to see how strong you are,” Jasper announced.

Savannah stood, deftly reached one hand down and easily lifted me, and the entire chair, up above her head. She looked over at Peter,

“Hey, get up here too, the General weighs about as much as a loaf of bread.”

Peters form blinked away and seconds later reappeared sitting on the arm of my chair. I looked up at him in astonishment. Now, I will admit that I did probably weigh next to nothing, but Peter, who was at least 6 feet tall, and solid muscle could not be light. Not to mention the chair we were sitting on itself probably weighed almost as much as I did. Yet Savannah held us up easily, one handed, straight above her head.

I was amazed, staring down at the dark haired head below me. Savannah was tall, and lacked anything similar to ‘feminine curves’ but it wasn’t like she was beefy. Her shoulders were wide but boney, her arms long but thin. By looking at her she shouldn’t be able to pull off such a feat.
“I could go with more, but I think you get the point,” Savannah lightly placed us back down, the wooden feet of the recliner thudding against carpet.

“So, its your turn now,” Jasper turned to Gabriel, “What can you do?”

Gabriel flushed, looking down.

“Ah, its nothing too great…”

“Don’t be so bashful!” Peter grabbed Gabriel in a headlock, leaning his tall frame on the smaller boy, “This kid has the most amazing ability out of us. Its why he’s a Guard member despite how crappy he is at fighting.”

“Get off Peter,” Gabriel bristled, his face a bright shade of red, and pushed the laughing Peter away.

“What can he do?” I asked Savannah, who was watching the boys’ rowdy actions with a disapproving stare.

In answer she plucked a small dagger out of its hidden place in her boot and flicked it at Gabriel’s head. I made a sound of alarm, fully expecting the sharp point to bury itself into flesh. Three things happened: Peter vanished from his place at Gabriel’s side. Gabriel swung around, his hands lifting in front of his face. The dagger stopped, bouncing off apparently nothing, and clattered to the floor.

“That’s what he does,” Savannah said nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal that she had just thrown a dangerous weapon at someone.

“Damn Savage, couldn’t you have thought of a better example?” Peter sighed, running a hand through his blonde locks, “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Savannah scowled at him, “I told you not to call me that, and I clearly wasn’t aiming for you.”
The two fell into bickering, something I was beginning to think they did quite often. I wondered how Jasper got any studying done while around the two.

Gabriel chose to ignore his squabbling siblings, bending to retrieve the projectile that had been launched at him.

“How did you stop it?” Jasper asked curiously.

“Mmm, I bend the electricity in the air to make a shield,” Gabriel mumbled, clearly uncomfortable to be talking about himself.

“So you make shields?”

“He can do more than just that,” Peter shoved himself back into the conversation, “It can be used as an offense attack as well.”

“Really,” Jasper’s eyes widened in awe as she realized the magnitude of Gabriel’s ability. “That is pretty amazing.”

Under her praise Gabriel looked both pleased and about ready to die from embarrassment. I smiled at him, finding his reactions to Jasper cute. I was surprised that such a shy boy could have such an awesome talent, but maybe that was for the best.

I curled back up in my chair, my arms winding around my knees. I knew it would be a long time before I could break myself of this habit.

“What other sort of talents are there?” I asked to know one in particular, confident that someone would answer. I was enjoying this conversation; the light playfulness of it was keeping my mind out of dark places I didn’t want to revisit. It was almost… normal? Or at least as normal as the world seemed to get these days.

“There’s as many as you could probably imagine, though few of them are as dramatic as our own,” Savannah answered me.

“Why is that?”

“It all has to do with bloodlines, how mixed with normal humans you are. Basically, if you’re even a little mixed you will be different than normal people, but it does show more prominently in those who have stronger ties,” Savannah explained.

“So does that mean you guys have like…. noble bloodlines?” Jasper frowned.

“I don’t know about ‘noble’,” Peter chuckled, “but it is something like that I guess. Stronger the blood, the greater your power.”

“Stronger the blood…” I scowled down at my wrist, at the veins that stood out clearly under my pale skin. I was thinking about the night Adam had come into my room, and the strange ritual he had forced us to complete. Peter was saying that the more direct angel blood you had then the more power you would receive. That night both Jasper and I had drank Adams blood directly
.
“So that’s how he did it,” Jasper whispered and I looked up at her in surprise. I was aware she had been listening to my thoughts, following along with my memories.

“How who did what?” Peter asked her.

“If you guys were to say, drink Adam’s blood, what would happen?”

Peter blinked down at her, obviously surprised by her morbid words.

“I don’t know, why would you ask that?”

Jasper explained about what had happened to us, depicting the event right from my recollections. I didn’t mind, but I hid my face behind my hand to hind my embarrassment, not wanting anyone to notice. After Jasper finished her tale Pater and Savannah shared a glance.

“That shouldn’t have been possible,” Peter said, his brow knit together.

“I don’t know how else to explain the changes to us though. M- Chaos and I have biological human fathers.” Jasper tripped over my new name. Least I wasn’t the only one.

“Its probably because of Them,” Savannah volunteered.

“Them?” Jasper and I asked at the same time. It was a habit we had developed. It wasn’t surprising as we were in and out of each other’s heads so often.

Savannah was thinking intently, letting the silence draw out.

“Something Marie told me once… you guys should probably ask her actually, I don’t necessarily remember. It was something about her name.”

“Her name?” I asked, bewildered at what her name could have to do with this conversation.

“Oh you mean the maid thing,” Peter scratched the back of his head, “You really think it’s true?”

“I don’t know, I guess it’s possible. I never thought about it before.”

“What maid thing?” I questioned, feeling like I was being talked over.

“Ah well, you probably wouldn’t have noticed but, there are two names’ that are always repeated in the maid household. Every generation the future head housekeeper is either named ‘Marie’ or ‘Jezebel’. It’s been like that for generations, it’s some sort of honor,” Savannah told me.

“What does that have to do with us?”

“Because those are supposed to have been the original names of Adam’s daughters,” Savannah paused, as if not sure she should continue, “before they died.”

[End: Chapter Fifteen]