Forbidden Angel

Chapter Seven

POV Ariel:

Rafael and I walked back to the sell. He was a big guy, tough, built, honestly, I wouldn’t think to cross him, this guy is huge. I wondered for a moment if Rafael was a guard or a warrior. I think someone this size would be useful in a fight.

“Rafael?” I softly asked.

“Yes?” he answered without turning.

“Are you the guard for all the prisoners in the sell, or are you just guarding me?” I walked closer to him.

“You are the only prisoner in the sell therefore, I only guard you.”

Well, that didn’t really answer my question.

We kept walking in silence the rest of the way. When we reached the door, I could hear a commotion coming from the inside. Rafael pushed me behind him and opened the door. Inside were two warriors putting a screaming angry demon in the sell where I was kept and strapping him to a chair. We walked in and both the warriors moved away from the glass door. Rafael punched in the code and led me inside. He turned to me and unwrapped my hands. For the first time Rafael touched my skin and my eyes lit up, he looked at me and for a second in that steel frame of a face I could see shock. I leaned a little closer to him and whispered.

“Don’t tell anyone.” and rubbed both my wrists.

He frowned a little and broke eye contact and spoke.

“Someone will be here soon to take care of the demon, so you won’t have to share for long. If something happens, I’ll be right outside.” He said, re-assuring me and closing the door behind me.

I haven’t had encounters with demons before, but Rebecca told me all about them, and my father told me they would be able to really see and smell me if I ever got close to one, but that was never supposed to happen. I stood about seven feet behind the demon and inspected every part of it. He looked like a man but the growling sounds coming from him sounded creepy. I walked around him to sit on the chair across from him. He started making louder sounds like he was panicking. I sat down and saw his face.

It didn’t look normal, his eyes were black, and his face looked all contorted, saliva was flying out of his mouth as he growled and screeched to get out of the chair. Not at all concerned about all of what was happening, I just stared at the beast. Why am I not scared? I’m sure if anyone would stare into this face, they would be terrified, but for some odd reason I had the feeling this one was more scared of me.

It was at this moment I heard someone enter the room. They were talking outside of the glass box, and I broke eye contact to see who it was. Suddenly, the demon escaped his bondage and launched himself at me. He tackled me off my chair to the ground, he was clawing his way to my face, scratching deeply into my arms and my chest. I tried pushing him off with my arms but that didn’t seem to work, so I pushed one of my legs between us and kicked as hard as I could. He hit the stone wall hard and fell to the floor, rendering him unconscious. When I got to my feet, Caius and Ajax were inside the glass sell and both looked shocked.

“We must get her out of here, Rafael! Take her to the hospital wing.” Rafael rushed over to me and took me by my arm. I then realised the blood dripping from my arm.

We started to walk when I heard the growling noise of the demon again. I turned around and in a split second the demon got up and with blazing speed came running towards me. It happened so fast no one had a chance to grab him. Before I knew it, he was right in front of me. At this moment, he could clearly see who I was because Rafael was still holding my arm and my eyes as bright as ever. I was exposed to the demon and, by instinct, I grabbed his head between my hands, and he screamed with pain. I could see in his eyes that he was burning on the inside. When the screaming stopped, I no longer stared into the burning black eyes of the demon but into the light grey eyes of the man who was once possessed. His eyes closed and I let go of his head and he dropped to the floor.

With complete shock to my face, I stood stunned at what I had just done. What just happened? What did I do? Did I kill him? My heart started racing and a flood of heat came over my body. My breathing was uncontrollable, but before I fell, my arms caught me and I felt exhausted. This was the first time I'd used my powers to this extent. Not that I’m even sure of everything I can do, but now I wonder if I might have killed someone.

I could feel I was being carried, but I was too exhausted to open my eyes and drifted off. When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital wing and there was someone sitting next to me. I blinked twice to see it was Rafael. I looked down at my arms to see how bad the scarring was, only to see my arms unharmed. I frowned and looked up at Rafael with a question in my eyes.

“You’ve completely healed. Caius brought you in and went to get the nurse, by the time they both returned you were already healed.”

Look, I knew I could heal fast, with all the training I had with Rebecca, I broke my nose a few times, my arms, ribs and once my leg, but this was the first time I'd been attacked by a demon. I thought the scars might linger for a while.

“Where is Caius now?” I asked.

“He’s with the man that attacked you earlier this morning.” How long did I sleep? It felt like minutes.

“Rafael…... did I kill him?” He sat forward with his elbows on his knees with a serious expression on his face.

“No, you did not kill the man. You burned the demon inside him, but the man is alive. He has no recollection of what happened but he’s going to be just fine thanks to you.”

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about this, but I was truly happy the man was alive.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before.” He said, talking to himself now. Caius went into the room and dismissed Rafael. He gave me a nod and walked out.

Caius sat on the side of the bed.

“Are you alright?” I looked down at my arms and the rest of my body, which showed no indication of an attack.

“I feel fine thank you.” I gave him a small smile.

“Could you tell me how on earth did you burn that demon?”

How am I supposed to explain something I wasn’t even sure of? I’m sure I had just as many questions as he had, but now, he’s asking for answers, and I don’t know what to tell him. I won’t be able to keep avoiding his questions for much longer. I’m an angel. I can’t lie, but I can avoid questions. I was playing with my fingers, avoiding his eye contact.

“I’m not entirely sure, it all happened really fast.” He moved closer and my eyes shot up to his.

Oh, my heavens, I wish he’d stopped doing that. I don’t know him and he’s making me feel all kinds of things. Like I want to tell him everything I am, I want to abandon my moral compass and just take in all that he is.

He spoke in a low voice,

“Listen, it’s obvious you have a lot of power we don’t know about, and I can understand your silence on the matter, but I don’t want to put you back into the glass sell. I don’t think you are a threat to us, but you are not making it easy on me. I think you can help us. You are strong and you can clearly take care of yourself. I think we can help each other, and you can stay here until we find Rebecca, but for this to happen I need to know a few things about you. I’ll give you the rest of the day to think about it. Rafael will stay with you until I return after dinner.” He stood up and left.

I laid back on the bed and let out a heavy sigh. So, I have a choice now. I keep my secret and stay in the glass box until Rebecca is found, because I know she will not allow this, and that is if they find her, or I don’t break out of here first. Or if I do decide to share what I am and they don’t decide to dissect me, I can stay here and find out more about Rebecca’s mission and they could help me find her. I lay in silence for a moment, hoping wisdom would hit.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the room and my eyes shot open. Oh no…. I heard his deep voice and my heart dropped to my stomach.

“Ariel, what did you do? The heavens are roaring with the discovery of a powerful source of angelic power on earth.”

He looked mad. Maybe it was a disappointment? How long did he think he would be able to hide me from the heavens and I was kind of getting irritated with my father for leaving me to discover all of this on my own? It would have been nice to at least know everything I’m capable of and not freak myself out in the process. A little guidance would have been nice.

“Hi to you too, dad” I whispered.

“Ariel, what happened?”

“I was attached by a demon, but I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

For a second, he looked at me with shock and disbelief.

“This is why I told you to stay at home. There is a reason The Halo exists, to handle these situations and to keep the demons in their place.” Did he not hear me just now? I was attacked.

“Maybe this would not have happened if I knew what I was doing. If you and mom could have talked to me about what I would be capable of and not finding out on my own.” He came closer and there was seriousness in his face.

“We can’t show you what you are capable of without exposing yourself. You must be careful, every time you use your powers you show up on heaven's radar.”

“How am I supposed to not use my powers when I don’t completely know what they are and when they show up unannounced?” I was filled with frustration. If only Uriel could stop appearing every now and then and we could have a normal conversation, we would get along better. I love my father and my mother, but we didn’t have the relationship I wanted.

“You are an angel inside a human body, your powers are the same as mine, but yours are amplified by human emotions. If you experience an emotion in the extreme, your power will show up unannounced, but if you learn to control your emotions, you will have a better hand on them when they come. You can use your powers when you choose to, but they will be amplified by emotions. One day the three of us will be united again and maybe it will be the day we will stand trial for what we did by hiding you, but I’d like to stall that day for a little longer.”

The three of us, that sounded nice. I didn’t know my mother; I’ve heard that she is one of the most beautiful angels in heaven and that she was also the kindest of them. I wish to always be as kind as she is. The thing is, unlike my father, she can’t travel to earth and back. That’s why I didn’t know her personally. My father, on the other hand, is called the flame of God. He’s what’s known as an arch angel or a war angel. The oldest of them all, he could travel wherever he pleased.

I sighed and put both hands over my face. What was I supposed to do? Crawl into a hole and stay there?

“I can’t keep living like this, I want a life, I want friends and people around me.”

I felt like a child, but it was true. I wanted human interaction, I wanted to feel accepted, and I wanted to feel love. I’ve only heard of the love my parents had and I wanted that for myself.

“I know this is not ideal, and I know I should let go of reign a little bit. I just don’t want to see you getting hurt. I don’t care what happens to me. I just want you to be safe.”

Before I could ask my father what to do, he disappeared as Rafael walked into the room.

“Who were you talking to?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.” He smiled at me and sat down on the chair. Thank goodness he took that as a joke because I had no idea what I would have said if he kept pushing.

I closed my eyes again and laid back again. What am I supposed to do now? My whole life, everyone else made decisions for me and now I’m completely on my own. I opened my eyes again and looked at Rafael, who was staring at the floor.

“So how come you are always here with me?”

He frowned, “What do you mean?”

“You’re a really buff guy, you look like you could stop a train, shouldn’t you be out there on a mission to stop the uprising or something?” His frown turned into a small smile at my compliment.

“I’m not a warrior, I’m the head guard. I guard whatever and whoever Caius asks me to guard. Warriors fight the battle outside these walls. I prevent them from inside these walls.”

Okay, so that answered one of my questions.

“And why is it you are guarding me?” I asked curiously.

“Caius believes you could be useful here, but he doesn’t trust you just yet. I’m here to make sure you don’t escape or harm anyone.”

Oh great, here I thought I wasn’t a threat.

“Does Caius think one of you is enough to keep me down?” I asked with a tiny hint of humour in my voice. His smile widened a bit.

“You’re welcome to try.” He laughed and sat back. I had a feeling we could be good friends. There was silence for a long moment before I talked again.

“Rafael?”

He looked at me again. “Yes?”

I hesitated for a moment. “What would you do if you were in my position?”

He let out a big sigh.

“Look, I get that you are sceptical of us as we are of you. I would probably have felt the same way. You have a reason for not sharing with us what you are and, to be honest, I probably would have felt the same. On the other hand, Caius is a great leader and he’s been with The Halo since birth. The well being of this organization and its people rests on him and he will do anything in his power to make sure it stays that way. He has never allowed just anyone to just stay here.” He sounds like a good leader.

“Why would he ask me to stay?”

“I think he has a gut feeling about you, but you need to prove it to him now. It’s your choice, Ariel, he won’t keep you here forever, but I think we could both be assets to each other.”

I took a deep breath in and out. I felt overwhelmed by my choice, and I know to some people this would be an easy choice, but to me it was a scary one to make. If I choose, there will have to be some boundaries. I closed my eyes in the hope I could rest a bit before dinner time came.