Angels Born of Hell and Fire

[Chapter Seventeen]

I fell on all fours, panting heavily. A fire was scorching across my back, so hot it blurred my vision. Hot sticky blood flowed down my sides, soaking into the fabric of Gabriel’s jacket.
I looked up to see Jasper trying to free herself from Gabriel’s grasp, fighting to try to get to me. I was glad he was smart enough to hold her in place. I would have to remember to thank him for that some time. If I survived this that is.

There was a wrench from my back and I screamed as Adam roughly tore the blade from my flesh.

“Good good! Your reflexes have gotten much better,” Adam cheered from above me.

I heard Jasper yelling all sorts of horrible things at him, using the extent of her vast vocabulary and I think two other languages.

“Gabriel get her out of here,” I snapped, managing to climb to my feet. As long as she was still in here Adam would keep trying to prove the power of the spell he had cast over me. I knew it was testimony to that same spell that I wanted her out of the room. It was dangerous here right now, so that means she couldn’t be here.

I almost laughed at myself.

I watched in satisfaction as Gabriel dragged a flailing Jasper through the large wooden doors of the library. She was screaming at me now, calling me all sorts of stupid. I smiled at her just as the door swung shut.

Good.

“Aw, now where’s the fun in that?” Adam frowned at my staggered form.

I was amazed I was able to stand. The wound in my back was bleeding profusely, my head felt light and dizzy. The pain alone was enough to cripple me, and yet here I stood, ready to jump if he made to go after Jasper.

Those amethyst orbs danced in delight.

“Shut up,”

“Now, don’t go getting those bad habits from your sister,” Adam frowned.

“It’s your fault, all of this fucked up shit, it’s because you had to go and mess it up.” I didn’t know why I was saying this. Maybe it was because my head was so fuzzy and my thoughts so jumbled. All my squandered hatred for this man was coming to the surface.

It was because of him that I had been sent to that awful place. It was because of him that I now had such a terrible sin weighing down on my soul. It was Adam’s fault for everything. If it wasn’t for him I would still be normal, and everything would still be okay.
To my surprise Adam laughed, reading my dark thoughts.

“Ah my dear, if only things were so simple. Could you really ever have been thought as normal? People like you and your sister, could never be accepted into normal society.”

I frowned, trying to figure out what he was trying to say.

“I mean, that no matter how hard you fight it, no matter how hard you try, you would have always ended up this way, eventually. I just helped things along. I, am not the one who created you, Chaos.”

I shook my head, my hands coming to cover my ears, trying to block his voice from entering my head. It was impossible of course, as then he could just sneak right inside, that silky tone breaking apart everything I thought was real.

“I’m not the one who made all this happen. Both of us are merely pawns, doing as we’re told,” that horrible voice crooned.

“Shut up!”

I felt a strange sensation taking over me. Something building beneath my skin like a disease. I had only felt it one other time, that time so clouded with shadow and fear. At the time, I had felt my body change, become something much less fragile than before. That night, when I had torn a man apart and become a monster, I had really changed. No human nails would have been able to slice apart skin, no human teeth able to tear like my own had.

I looked down at my hands, watching with sick fascination as my teeth bitten nails lengthened, becoming long and sharp. I ran my tongue over the pointed teeth that had replaced my normal blunted ones.

I looked up at Adam’s face in outrage.

“What have you done to me?” I cried for the second time.

He laughed and I launched myself at him, rage boiling my veins. I struck out with my claws and felt them tear against flesh. Adam hissed and brought his hand hard across my cheek. I was sent spiraling away, my feet skidding across the carpet. We faced each other, my cheek throbbing. I noted the blood stain on his shirt sleeve. Point for me.

"Don’t grab victory so easily," Adam warned.

We both flew at each other at the same time, becoming a snarling mass of claws and fangs. I dived into my instincts and all that Savannah had taught me, trying to remember the proper way I was supposed to dodge. I had to think fast. Adam’s teeth scraped against the hollow of my neck. I snarled and ranked my nails across his cheek. Claws nicked my arms and legs but I ignored them. It took every ounce of my concentration to keep them at nicks and not lose a limb. I was so completely engrossed in my anger I didn’t even realize that this fight was pointless. There was no real reason to fight Adam. No I didn’t think of this, all I thought of was how I wanted to make him regret. I wanted to make him regret ever giving me this power.

I dodged the fist that had flown to my face, flipping backwards to land feet away. My left knee gave way, forcing me down. I quickly pulled myself back up, not allowing the show of weakness. We faced each other once more, my breath coming heavy and labored. The pain in my back had all but been forgotten, fury blocking out everything else. I noted that he didn’t even seem out of breath. My eyes narrowed.

Adam stood calmly, as if it didn’t matter that we were fighting. As if I wasn’t really a threat.

"Your anger only makes you foolish." Adam said.

"Stay out of my head damnit!" I yelled, my legs were beginning to tremble, fighting to hold me upright.

He only smirked at me.

My fingers twitched. I really wanted to punch him. To wipe that smirk right off his pretty little
face. The thought was surprisingly pleasant.

Adam chuckled darkly, "Then try it Chaos, and see if you can."

I growled.

"I said to get OUT OF MY HEAD!" I screamed and flew at him like a wild thing.

This stupid person had bought me, had made me a General, made me a monster, and here he was, claiming to be my father. He claimed innocence in all these horrible things, passing the blame onto a supreme being. Even if it was fate, even if there was no way out of my destiny, I would still hate Adam. I would always hate him because I knew deep down inside me, where there was nothing that could resemble a human; I knew I was just like him. This wasn’t necessarily his fault, he did not make me like him, it was just the way things were. But I would hate him, because he was the reflection I never wanted to see.

Adam easily dodged my attack, spinning around to drive his heel into my jaw. I went down hard, my muscles refusing the commands I gave them to get back up. The blood loss from the hole in my back finally took its toll, no amount of anger able to hide it any longer. My head was spinning, my body heavy. I had to concentrate on every breath, forcing my lungs to continue to pass air through them. I became aware of a tingling sensation throughout my limbs.

A shadow moved above me, and I looked up into the silhouette of my tormentor. Through the darkness clinging to his features those violet eyes still burned, tearing away anything that tried to hide from them.

“Am… I dying?” I asked him, aware that my words slurred.

“Yes,” he answered.

I coughed out a laugh, feeling blood on the rims of my lips.

“Then, I guess I get to run away after all.”

Adam kneeled down, and I was shocked to see him smiling broadly.

“No, I don’t think so little one. I wouldn’t let you get away from me so easily. After all, what good is a shield that can be shattered?”

My vision was blurring and I blinked, trying to clear it. Yet darkness was still creeping up along the edges, coming quickly to swallow me up.

“What?” I whispered, the sound barely above a breath.

“You can die, but I will always go and bring you back to where you belong. You’re mine, and only mine.”

I wanted to protest, to say something against these horrible words, but I couldn’t. My mouth refused to form words any longer, my body refused to function; no longer could I force lungs to do their job. In the ever approaching black I could only stare up at Adam in horror, held captive in those luminous eyes that would follow me, even in death.

One last weak exhale and I fell into the void.

[End: Part One - Angels Born of Hell and Fire]