City of Dark Angels

“That stone is ours.” I say, in a gruff tone meaning that I am serious.

Raviera growls, a deep throaty growl of rage; shaking the ground in a roaring thunder of fear. I want to scream at this, but I stand my ground not wanting to give up on all this progress that has been made for the task at hand. We can’t lose that stone, I’ve been through too much already to just let him have it.

“I’ve already been through hell and back, and I’m not afraid to go further.” I scream out, and in a quick motion that only takes a moment in my eyes; Raviera steps forward and grasps the stone out of Travis’s hand.

And he destroys it.

“Now what are you going to do?” He asks remarkably sarcastic and disappearing into thin air.

We all look at each other in a disappointing silence, Travis still has in hand out; the shock of the quick steal of the stone still hasn’t gotten to him yet.

“So basically, I went into a muddy gross ravine for nothing.” He says, finally lowering his hand to his side.

“It wasn’t for nothing at all.” The AI says, holding out a second stone. “That one was a fake. We still have the real thing.”

She breaks down the barrier and I run to Travis and he grabs me in a quick but warm embrace. “I thought I lost you for good.”

“I’m still here.” I say breaking from the hug and looking around noticing something is missing. “Where are Riley and Erika?”

“They left a note saying they went to the City of Angels, I fucked up Delilah.” Travis tells me, raising his hand and showing me the cut on his hand. He doesn’t have to tell me a thing because I already know, and I understand.

“It’s okay Travis, you didn’t fuck up at all.” I assure him, grabbing his hand in a comforting grasp. He looks down and kicks a stone, we both turn to the AI who is watching the entire exchange with a look of amusement.

“Just friends my ass...” I hear her mutter under her breath. I roll my eyes at her and she smiles. “We must go to the City of Angels.”

She snaps her fingers and in an instant we are inside the forsaken city of endless torture and despair. As soon as we are inside the city I can hear screams that are just a little far off in the distance, but I recognize them quickly as Riley and Erika’s screams.

“Where are they?!” Travis yells, squinting into the distance of the city, but the fog and wind make it hard to see.

“They are in the tower!” The AI says, and we begin running as fast as the wind will let us towards the tower. It slows us down and makes us feel like our legs are dragging against the current of the winds. After many moments of struggling we finally are outside the tower doors, but they are boarded up shut with no way to enter.

Travis backs up, and gets ready to run and break them down. He runs full speed, and busts the door open. He winces harshly at the pain the door made in his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” I ask him, and he rubs his shoulder gently but nods. We enter the tower and are greeted by heavy smoke like the place had previously been up in flames.

“RILEY!” I shout, hoping for him to call out to me so I can find him. “RILEY, where are you?!”

I hear a faint call of his voice in a room closest to my left, “DELILAH?! Is that you?”

“Yes Riley, it’s me; your big sister. I’m going to get you and Erika out of here okay.”

“Erika...Erika is gone.” He says, his voice shaking and full of fear.

“What do you mean shes gone?” Travis calls out, racing towards where his voice can be heard.

“They...took her.” His voice meekly says, and Travis busts down the door he hides behind. I run up to his prison and glance down at him, his face is black from the smoke and his eyes are tired.

“Who took her?” I ask him calmly, bending down to his level.

“The dark angels, and the man in the lab coat...” He tells me, the memory of the event causing him great pain just at the thought of it. “They said that, she’s next.”

“They are going to turn her...” I say to Travis, “Just like they turned me.”

“No, I won’t let that happen!” He screams, racing towards the stairs; willing to run up as many flights of stairs he can just to make it to his baby sister. The sister he never got the chance to know. I sit next to Riley on the floor and let him recover for a moment.

“What happened in here?” I ask him, knowing he might not want to talk about it but also knowing that answers are very much needed.

“We...we were told to come to the tower, so we did. And when we arrived, the Dark Angels where at the door waiting for us, we tried to run but they were too fast for us. I got away, I tried to grab Erika’s hand to take her with me, but they grabbed her... they said she was next, I ran and hid in the room and the entire building went in flames. It happened so fast, I didn’t know what to do, I just wanted to save her.” He tells me the whole story, tears starting to fall out of his soft brown eyes.

“Oh Riley...you did all that you could, but you can’t save everyone. Erika is going to be okay, Travis is going to get her out of here. We will reverse this curse.”

A sudden crash can be heard from one of the upper levels of the tower, followed by a scream and multiple feet running. Erika and Travis are back with us at that moment.

“I got to her just in time, we made it out.” He says, his arm around Erika’s shoulder and she runs to Riley in a swift motion holding her tightly.

“We have to get them out of here...” Riley says, turning to Travis and I.

“Who is them Riley?” I ask worriedly.

“The kids from my High School he recruited! He has them in prison cells, we have to get them out of here, he’s saving them for the sacrifice during the full moon.”

“Sacrifice?!” Travis and I ask at the same time.

“Yes, sacrifice. At midnight, when we plan to break the curse with the stone; he plans to do the same type of ritual, only to use the kids as sacrifice to keep the curse forever. He’s draining their blood as we speak!” I feel faint at the knowledge of this, and have to grab the wall to keep myself from falling down.

“Do you know where they are?” I ask.

“Just beneath us, I saw a trapped door when we first got here but I can’t remember where it is.” Riley says, glancing at the floor.

“I know where it is!” Erika says, making her way to the next room and we all follow her, wondering what this all has in store for us.