Elementals: Hades' Corruption

Chapter 2: Pieces of The Puzzle

  At first, the air was dead silent. Fortunately, Sachael spoke up, “You guessed it before.”

  Faye’s jaw was practically touching the concrete beneath her. She stared at the four, dumbfounded, while her brain tried to process the statement. As she remembered her earlier conversation with the group, it only made her more confused. Earlier, she had guessed they were cosplayers in jest, but now she questioned her own beliefs.

  With a scoff, Faye pointed out, “I was only kidding about angels.”

  Although, Sachael persisted, “You were right.”

  Faye shook her head as she began to consider all of the logical possibilities before concluding that these four were angels. The thought was absurd. It was a prank before it could be a reality. So she insisted, “That’s impossible.”

  “Then what did you just see?” Sachael challenged. He was determined to make her believe him as if it would keep her safe.

  “Just forget it,” Nathaniel butted in. “It’ll be easier for us if she doesn’t believe us.” 

  Except Sachael refused to let it go, “The hellhound obviously tracked her somehow.”

  “Hellhound?” Faye’s eyes widened in disbelief and fear. She didn’t want to admit it, but the pieces were adding up and had begun to make more sense.

  The angels ignored her questioning as Terra theorized, “Hades is looking for us. The hellhound probably got our scent off of her.” 

  “So he’s trying to kill us?” Adriel speculated, appearing to have recovered since the last time that Faye had seen him. 

  Which got Sachael to rave, “Of course he is! Since he didn’t think about what he was doing before he attacked Hades.” The tone was venomous as he motioned toward Nathaniel.

  This made the red-headed angel’s eyes glow hot red with flames in fury at being blamed. “If I hadn’t have tried to stop him, then the gate might’ve already been opened! I delayed the process so you should be thanking me.” 

  Fortunately, Terra diffused the situation by crooning, “Alright, boys. It doesn’t help to fight.”

  Adriel made the conversation get back on track by recapping, “So Hades is trying to kill us by sending Hellhounds.”

  After a short pause, Nathaniel rolled his eyes - that seemed to have calmed down - and commented, “He’s not trying to kill us with hellhounds. He’s trying to find us so he can send something bigger.” Alas, then his gaze flicked to Faye who was still hopelessly lost on the cold ground, “If it wasn’t for this piece of work getting attacked, the hellhound wouldn’t have found us.” 

  “Back off Nathaniel. She was helping,” Sachael defended the girl.

  “Either way, we need to find a place to lay low. Preferably somewhere with a lot of humans; it might throw the hellhounds off our track,” Nathaniel suggested. 

  Finally, it was Faye’s turn to speak as she offered, “My mom’s apartment has an extra bedroom… but it’ll be a long drive.” 

  Adriel shrugged his broad shoulders, “Well it sounds like it’s decided then.” 

  Instead of agreeing, Sachael spoke up, “Hold on.” Then he glanced down at the new girl, “Are you sure Faye? You just met us.”

  Even if it was true, she stood her ground, “You guys saved my life, I have a feeling you’re not going to hurt me. And if it’s possible that you guys are angels, then what reason would I have to believe that your guys’ intentions are malicious?”

  It pretty much shut the group up but Sachael, “Thank you, Faye.”

  “On one condition,” Faye added. 

  “Of course,” Nathaniel muttered under his breath as if he expected so much from a human. 

  Not surprisingly enough, Sachael ignored the other guy, “What’s the condition?”

  “You explain to me what’s going on. What you are. What that thing was,” Faye insisted, urgency embedded in her voice. 

  As Sachael dipped his head, he agreed, “Okay, I can do that.” 

  Before the explanations began, Nathaniel chimed in, “We should get moving before anything else shows up. You guys can chitchat on the way.”

  With the conversation stalled, everyone prepared to leave the scene. Sachael held his hand down toward Faye so she reached up and finally got to her feet. Honestly, she didn’t mind staying on the ground for a while to catch her bearings but she was the only one who knew where to go. Therefore, after brushing the dirt from her dark jeans and thin sweater, the girl began her stride to find her direction. 

  The college that Faye attended was in Eugene while her mother lived in Portland so she was going to have to navigate through the parking lot to find her silver BMW convertible. Faye was by no means rich but her father was definitely well off by the entrepreneurship of making his own business. Which meant it was easy for him to get her a nice car - especially as a congratulations-on-getting-into-college present.  

  Now the problem of space arose. Theoretically, the four angels could fit while she takes the driver’s seat. However, these guys were six feet and toned so it wasn’t going to be spacious for sure. 

  After unlocking the car, Faye motioned with her hands, “Everyone hop in.” Usually, her tone was more upbeat but she was still shaken from the earlier incident. 

  “How am I supposed to fit in that,” Nathaniel griped while pointing out how small the car was. 

  “I’m sorry, Nathaniel. Why don’t you use your wings and follow behind us?” Faye sassed while showing mock sympathy. She was getting tired of his complaints. 

  Except, this caused the short-tempered angel to shoot a scowl her way. His eyes lit up with literal fire and heat radiated from his body so much that if Faye got any closer to him then she might even get burned from being too close. It was when Nathaniel took an angry step toward her that her eyes widened in shock and alarm. 

  “Calm down, Nathaniel. No need to explode over it,” Terra was the one to chime in, in the effort to subdue him. Although, the angel didn’t look at all worried as Faye did. Apparently, no one thought that Nathaniel would actually try to hurt her so Faye managed to relax as well.

  With a grumble of disapproval, the fire left his eyes as Nathaniel slipped into the vehicle. This got the other angels to follow suit. The others allowed Adriel to sit in the passenger’s seat - which Faye didn’t complain about - since he had the larger physique out of them all. Now the remaining three angels sat in the back but Terra found it best to sit in between Nathaniel and Sachael in case the two began bickering yet again. 

  Once everyone was settled, Faye slipped her keyfob from her purse and slid it into the ignition before turning it to start the car. The BMW rumbled to life which was the indication for her to begin driving. After putting the car into drive, their journey began.  

  Faye had so many questions bouncing around in her head but none slipped from her lips. The vehicle was silent and no one broke that. She could feel the tension and even see it in their shoulders. But the pounding of curiosity was too loud in her ears that she couldn’t ignore it for much longer. 

  “So what does-,” Faye broke with a disbelieving scoff before finishing, “angels, mean?” There was a large part of her that still didn’t believe what the four were telling her - even if her eyes were telling her the truth. When it was silent for too long, Faye continued, “Is it like the stories? You guys fly around smiting people?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Sachael began. 

  “I mean, she’s actually not that far off,” Adriel chimed in with a perky tone. With the angel being in the front, it was a lot easier to hold the conversation with him. In realization of this, Adriel resumed his explanation, “We’re called ‘elementals’. Meaning, our powers come from the elements of the earth.”

  Yet again, Faye was subdued with silence as she went back to the thoughts in her head until she remarked, “Nathaniel’s powers are fire?”

  Which got a proud smile from Adriel because she was beginning to understand. The angel divulged more, “My powers are metal. Sachael’s is water. And Terra’s powers come from nature.” 

  As the information seeped into Faye’s brain, the noise in the car went hush. How could it be that something made so much sense but none at all? Even though she had many questions she could ask, Faye wanted to skip over the whole angel talk so she wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

  “The hellhound,” the inquisitive girl continued, “you guys said Hades sent it after you. But what does that even mean? I thought angels were from Judaism and Christianity, but Hades is from Greek mythology.”

  “And that’s the problem with humans, that they like to pick and choose what they believe in,” Nathaniel muttered from the backseat. 

  Adriel’s eyes had a gleam of annoyance towards Nathaniel’s attitude, but he clarified, “What he means is that people only have pieces of what’s real. When you put all of those pieces together then you have the full picture.”

  All of this new information only confused her more. It was easier for Faye if she just believed that the whole thing was still just a prank. So she went with it, “Okay then. So what did Hades do for Nathaniel to ‘attack’ him?”

  Now this question required more thought into the explanation. After a few moments, Adriel found the right words, “He was trying to open the gate.”

  “What gate?” Faye was still hopelessly perplexed. 

  “Lucifer’s gate,” Nathaniel answered. Fortunately without a snippy tone, but that only made the reply seem more serious. 

  As Faye recapped the conversation in her head, she began to murmur aloud, “So angels are real, hellhounds, Hades, and now Satan?” 

  “It’s a lot to process, Faye,” Sachael realized. “But I promise we’ll keep you out of danger.”

  Faye disregarded the promise so she didn’t have to think of what it meant and continued to interrogate, “Isn’t Gabriel an angel? Why would he take your guys’ wings if you were only trying to stop something - what I assume is bad - from happening?” 

  The interior of the vehicle immediately became hotter and she guessed that it was from Nathaniel in the back, considering it was his voice that hissed, “Because. He told us to wait but if we would’ve waited then Hades would’ve already had the gate open.” 

  “So then what are you going to do?” Faye wondered in curiosity. 

  For the angels, it was a question they were all wondering. With all that has happened, they hadn’t had time to consider their next move. There was so much that they needed to do that it was hard for them to figure out where to even start. It was especially difficult for them because they didn’t have their wings. This created many problems for the angels; like not being able to travel as fast, it would be near to impossible to reach heaven, and it meant that they weren’t at full power.

  Eventually, Sachael spoke up to answer Faye by noting, “We need to talk to Gabriel.”

  “The best thing for us to do right now is to catch our bearings,” Terra stated.

  With that, the group settled in the car and was left alone with their each individual thoughts. Even though the ride to Portland was supposed to be extensive, the journey gave the illusion of being short since everyone was in their own head. The moment the angels would be able to relax and settle would be the best time for planning. For now, the only thing they had to worry about was where their heads were going to rest.