Angel

"It all started not long after Veldenbarr took over. He set up his castle away from the rest of the people of Surtomb, only allowing his vampire followers to enter it. Nobody else knew where it was, and no one cared to think about it. He terrified them, being quick to anger and deadly in rage. Deaths weren't rare and he converted a select few to use.

"One night when he was getting fresh blood to refresh him, he happened upon the home of a lady who seemed to radiate with light. It fascinated him, strangely, possibly due to the fact that she was the opposite of him. There was a peaceful look on her face, and he could tell that she was a kind person. Intrigued, he decided to take her back to his castle, disguising himself so she wouldn't be able to recognize him when she awoke.

"When she did that morning, she saw him and started to panic. She feared he was going to hurt her. But Veldenbarr used his magic and persuaded her that he loved her and meant no harm to her, and he found out a way to make her love him, using manipulation." Angel's eyes took on a look of anger. Billie also couldn't help but realize she never said "father", only "Veldenbarr". "Soon they were secretly wed, and he made sure nobody touched her. He didn't want to arouse her suspicions."

"My mother couldn't be fooled for forever, though, and she soon started seeing through his ruse. She hid her disgust and continued to act as though nothing was wrong. At least until she found out that she was pregnant. She hid it from Veldenbarr, hoping that by the time she had me, she would have escaped from his castle by then.

"One night she got her chance. Veldenbarr went away to get some blood and was taking a group with him. She hurriedly packed a few things before sneaking out. She made her way into the forest and found her way to a village. She didn't say anything, and nobody asked. Veldenbarr searched for her, enraged at the fact that she had run away, but he never did find her.

"She had me there and named me Angel, hoping that I wouldn't be anything like Veldenbarr. Well, her wish was true." Here Angel sighed, depressed. "Not long after I turned two, a vampire happened to come to the village we lived at and by chance, he came upon our house.

"My mother had been awake, feeling fearful for unexplained reasons. She heard a quiet rustle outside and feared the worst. She scooped me up and hid me, telling me to be silent. She told me I would never see her again. She ended up committing suicide, and I don't blame her. It was either death or something worse.

"The vampire never found me, seeing as how he didn't even know I existed, and I came out and started to mourn over my mother's death when I realized she wasn't responding to anything. Eventually somebody from the village came and found me, and took care of me for awhile, until I was ten. Then, I ran away. I wanted to know who my father was. I wanted to find out about myself. I wasn't thinking too clearly, but I just wanted to know for some inexplicable reason.

"After two years of not finding out and living by begging and eating things I found in the forest, I heard of three mysterious men that had appeared. No one knew where they came from, but they were dressed strangely and had instruments the likes of which no one had ever seen before. And they played with such energy, it inspired people.

"By the time my thirteenth birthday was approaching, I heard news that Veldenbarr had died, and that his followers had disappeared without a trace. The three men were also never heard of again.

"That's when I started dieing. At first I didn't notice, but then each day I felt weaker and found it harder to wake up and stay alive. As my days grew numbered, I happened upon a certain forest. I was wandering through it when I came across a hut. Outside of that hut were vampires, the ones that had fled a few months earlier. As I was turning to go to the village that was near there, a twig snapped underfoot. The vampires were on me in an instant. I thought I was doomed.

"One of them grabbed me and tried to bite my neck. Somehow they were repelled. Without another thought, I ran away, breaking through the ring of vampires that were taken by the surprise of their comrade not being able to pierce my neck with his fangs. I ran and ran until I reached the village. I felt the exertion taking its toll on me, and knew I wasn't going to last much longer.

"I saw someone and desperately tried to tell them what had happened. All I could get out was 'vampires'. I died in their arms."

Here Angel paused, tears starting to fall down her face. Out of instinct, Billie now hugged her. She seemed so small and delicate, and he was almost afraid that if he hugged her too hard, he would end up breaking her and her wings.

Her bottom lip quivered, but she continued, "I found myself in a dark place, and all I could see was a far away light. I walked towards it, but then the light was blocked by a brilliant figure. They said that I had to undo what my father did in Surtomb before I would be able to pass through. The only thing is, I still didn't know who my father was. The figure said that I would be given special powers, seeing as how I was dead, and that the rest was up to me." She now shook Billie's arms gently off, feeling better.

"At first I didn't do much; I was too confused. But then I started figuring things out, like the fact that nobody here can see me, feel me, or hear me, or anything. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to find out who my father was or what he had done that I was supposed to fix, but I was on my own.

"I started having nightmares, haunted by a vampire. It was Veldenbarr. I saw him looking at a woman: my mother. That's when I saw everything that had happened. Once he had her back in his castle, he had cast a spell on her so that any children they had would be bound to him. If he died, they would die not long after, among other things. That way none of them would be able to betray him. Also, he made sure that only he would be able to turn them into vampires, that way they would be bound even tighter.

"I had no idea how I was to get rid of the remaining vampires, seeing as how I couldn't touch them, until I started hearing the stories about you. You came from far away, but no one knew where. Some said that you were sent here by some great being and weren't actually human. Others said that you were the undead, bringing Veldenbarr back with you to the underworld due to an unsettled agreement with him, allowing him to have immortality, and he was not living up to his end of the bargain. None would've ever have guessed that you came from another world, a world that was so far advanced, yet had none of the magic that people first think of when they hear the word. It had magic, yes, but a different sort.

"I happened to find out about it one day as I sat around, bored. I was puzzling over where you could've come from when I started getting frustrated. I angrily thought to myself, 'Why can't someone just show or tell me where they came from?' and, as though someone had hear me, I suddenly found myself somewhere entirely different. I was in your world, in your house, and I saw you." She looked at Billie.

"Hey, why him?" Tré cut in, pouting.

"I'm not the one who picked," Angel replied, "so don't get mad at me. Besides, I didn't stay there that long. Only a few seconds after I found myself there, I came back to my world."

"Ha!" Tré said, happy with himself. "You scared her away, Billie. I always did think that you were a scary person to look at, what with your hideous face and misshapen body."

Billie didn't know what to say, so he just decided to go along with it. "Yeah, well you should try looking in the mirror more often. But I know why you can't; it always breaks whenever you even get near it!"

"Mike's nose looks funny!" Tré suddenly exclaimed.

"Tré, are you like suffering from traveling-between-worlds-lag?" Mike asked. "Or did you maybe leave your brain back in our world or something?"

Angel started giggling as the three talked. That reminded them that she was still there.

"Sorry about that, you can continue telling your story," Billie apologized.

"It's okay," she said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, I came back to my world. I eventually got used to making visits to your world, and I learned a lot about you and your world-"

"Hey, now that sounds creepy!" Tré interrupted again, "It sounds like you're a crazy stalker!"

"It's not like I watched you all of the time, sometimes I watched other things," Angel said defensively.

"A likely story," Tré retorted.

"Fine, I'll give you an example," Angel replied coolly. "Once, when I was bored, I decided to go watch some school girls at recess. I saw them doing a hand-clap and I memorized it. I went back a few more times, 'cause they were fun and gave me something to do with all my free time seeing, as how I don't need to eat or sleep or anything really. Now if you'll be willing, I'll do one with you."

Tré raised his eyebrows. "I guess for the sake of proving your innocence or guiltiness," he said slowly.

"Okay!" Angel then faced Tré and showed him how to do the hand-clap. "No, clap your hands together before you do that...no, the other way...yeah! Like that! Okay, let's start." She cleared her throat before singing, "Miss Lucy had a steamboat; the steamboat had a bell. Ding! Ding! The steamboat went to heaven, Miss Lucy went to, Hello operator, please give me number nine! And if you disconnect me, I'll kick you from behind the refrigerator, there was a piece of glass. Miss Lucy sat upon it, and broke her little, Ask me no more questions, please tell me no more lies." She then whispered the next line, "Miss Lucy's in the bathtub with forty naked guys!" After that she sang normally, "She dyed her hair in purple, she died her hair in pink. She died her hair in underwear and flushed it down the sink, I think!"

"Wow," Tré breathed.

"Oh my gosh," Billie said. "We've actually found someone who knows weird songs that make no sense like Tré's."

Mike added, "Hopefully she isn't half as crazy!"

"Hey!" Angel and Tré both said at the same time.

"Well, anyways," Angel said, "after a few months I figured out how to get you to this world, and here you are now!" Angel grinned.

"Well, that explained a lot..." Mike said.

"Oh, and I'm gonna help teach you how to use your powers better. You must've not really known what you were doing last time, but now you've got me!" She pointed to herself.

Billie smiled a hesitant smile. He still wasn't sure about Angel, but he thought he could trust her. 'But that's just it,' he thought. 'Last time I trusted someone I didn't know much about, and it ended up with us playing right into a trap and almost getting killed.'

"There's one problem though," Mike said quietly. "I'm not going to use my powers; in fact I don't think I even have them anymore. But if I still do, or if there's a way to get them back, I'm not using them, ever again."

Angel was quiet for a moment. "I think..." She paused, as if uncertain before she finished saying, "I think I might be able to give you powers like mine, only not exactly the same, otherwise you would have to die." She cracked another grin at the last part, as though it were a joke.

Mike sighed. She was like Tré. Just what they needed, two Trés when one was already hard enough to handle. "Okay..." he replied.

Angel grabbed his hand and closed her eyes in concentration. Mike felt something warm and something...light flow into him and it filled him up. He closed his eyes, trying to place how he felt about this. Then he felt Angel's hand slip out of his.

"Mikey's got wings!" Tré shouted.

Mike opened his eyes and tried to turn around to see. He did have wings, two white wings that shone with a rosy light in the sunset. He realized how late it was now and felt tired. Maybe he was having travel-between-worlds-lag. He felt his wings retract.

"Well, I bet you guys want some sleep now," Angel said. "Unfortunately you'll have to sleep out here, for fear of your being recognized since somehow word's leaked out that you guys killed Veldenbarr. It would cause too much of a commotion for now. It's best if you just remained low-key for as long as you can."

"It's okay," Tré piped up, "I can just transform some stuff into sleeping bags for us. We won't need a tent since it's so nice out."

Then he proceeded to do just as he said. When he was done, Angel announced that they could go home tomorrow after a bit of training. Soon after the announcement, the members of Green Day were all nice and snug in their sleeping bags, sleeping a few yards away from the tree.

After they had fallen asleep, Angel climbed up the willow tree and sat on a low branch. She stared at the three of them and smiled to herself. 'I picked the right people,' she thought as the moon came out and shone down upon her face. 'I just hope they won't get hurt...or worse. But I'll do my best to ensure that won't be happening. Hopefully it'll be enough.'