Chapter 13

I couldn’t believe it. My own mother whom I lost when I was ten, was standing right in front of me. She looked the same as she did back then - save for a bit older. My mother had always been beautiful. I showed my friends pictures, and they always commented on how I got my great looks from her. What I couldn’t seem to understand was how her eyes were still blue. She was supposed to be the Queen, which means she had to be a matron. So then how come she didn’t have scary, dark purple eyes? I looked at her eyes more closely, and almost gasped at what I saw. They were contacts. This wasn’t good. If the Queen herself could wear contacts without the human eye catching it, then other matrons and patrons could walk around anytime of the day. She must have realized that I noticed the contacts, because she immediately took them out. This time I really did gasp. I had always imagined looking into a pair of dark purple eyes would be scary, but seeing it in person was even scarier. They were almost a dark amethyst looking color. You could hardly see her pupils. She brought her hands up and rested them on my cheeks. It sent shivers down my spine. My mother smiled.

“You grew up so beautifully. I can hardly believe you’re my little girl.” She said. I was silent. I had no idea what to say. She took my silence as a cue to move onto something else. She looked around the room. “Ethan, get out here!”

I looked at the door of the room Ethan went into. It opened and he walked out holding Dawn’s hand. She didn’t seem harmed or influenced. She looked like her normal self, but I still couldn’t be sure that nothing happened.

“So is she influenced?” asked Aeryn. I really wanted to hit her.

“She better not be. I never gave you permission to do such a thing. In fact, who is that girl?” Evelynn asked.

“Sorry my Queen, she used to be an old friend. We were just... Catching up is all.” Ethan said as he smiled.

“You brought her in there to “catch up”? You’re so boring, Ethan.” said Aeryn.

“Shut up, Aeryn. He’s following the Queen’s orders.” said Ben. All of this back and forth between these guys was infuriating me.

“Why am I here!” I blurted out. They all looked at me. Roland chuckled.

“Someone’s getting angry. Why don’t you take a chill pill and relax?” He said.

“Roland, be nice to your sister.” said Evelynn. Roland sighed.

“Yes mother.” I’m sorry, his what? Yes who?

“I’m sorry, am I missing something?” I asked.

“Roland is your step-brother, sweetie.” She said.

“My what? No! You’re still with dad!” I shouted. She took my hands gently. Shivers went down my spine again.

“Sweetheart, your father and I split up once I was dead. We’ve both gone our separate ways. I’ve remarried since then, to a wonderful demon.” said Evelynn. I froze at the word “demon”. So Roland is a demon, which means Ben must be one too. I glanced over at Roland. He took off his sunglasses, revealing piercing red eyes. I’m not sure whose were scarier. Roland’s or my mother’s. I tried to pull away from my mother’s grip, but it got tighter on my hands. She smiled at me. “Roland, bring Skylar and her friend back to their room. I don’t want to influence her yet. I’ll give her some time to think.”

Without hesitation, Roland bowed and grabbed my arm and Dawn’s arm. He led us out of the suite. I couldn’t believe my step-brother was a demon, and my mother was a Dark Angel. I think I would have preferred it if she really were dead. Now she wants me to join the Dark Angels. That was a fate I wouldn’t wish even on my worst enemy. Roland got to our suite and opened the door. He pushed us in and then walked in himself. We stared at each other for a good three minutes. I couldn’t handle looking into his red eyes any longer. I was thankful when he put his sunglasses back on. Demons really were among the Dark Angels, and my mother was married to one. Worse, she was married to a possible Angel of Death. What have I gotten myself into?

“I’ll never think of you as my family.” I said. Roland didn’t smirk or chuckle. His face stayed neutral. Instead, he turned around and walked towards the door.

“Good. Because we’re not family, nor will we ever be. I don’t like it just as much as you do.” He said. I almost thought that for a moment we understood each other, but then I realized who he was, what he was and how much I hated him. He turned the door handle and opened the door. Before he walked out, I stopped him.

“Hey, wait.” I said. He turned his head to look at me. “How come you guys can open the door from the inside, but we can’t?”

“Because I haven’t locked it yet, silly.” He said as he walked out. Once the door closed, I could hear Roland lock it from the outside.

I sat on my bed and put my head into my hands. I had no idea where we were, or how to get out of this situation. If I managed to regain my energy, they would just drain it again. I highly doubted that our friends could find us, but I had a little bit of hope. Eric was the smartest out of all of us. If anyone had a chance of finding us, it was him. I had no idea how he did it, but knowing that he could gave me hope. For all I know, I could have been somewhere on the east coast, but the possibilities of that didn’t seem likely. I had a feeling I was still somewhere in Los Angeles, or California at best. I looked over at Dawn who was looking out the window. It was still daylight out, but the sun was starting to set. I got up slowly and walked over to her. Something was bothering her. Before I decided to ask what was wrong, I looked out the window with her. We were definitely in a city. I looked farther ahead and noticed a white sign in the distance. It was the Hollywood sign. We were trapped in a hotel somewhere in Hollywood. It must have been a hotel specifically built to house Dark Angels and their prisoners, because there was definitely no way this window could be broken. The fact that we were in Hollywood, and still in Los Angeles, gave me a bit more hope. I looked at Dawn. Now it was time to find out what was wrong.

“What did he do to you?” I asked. Dawn looked at me.

“Huh? Oh, Ethan... He didn’t do anything to me.” She said. “All we did was catch up.” I found this hard to believe. It was too odd.

“He didn’t hurt you or try to influence you?” She shook her head. She lowered the collar of her blouse, revealing a gold cross necklace. “How did you get it back?”

“Ethan. I know it’s odd, but...” She stopped there.

“But what?” I asked. “Dawnie?” She looked back out the window, holding onto the cross.

“He said he couldn’t do it, and that his orders weren’t to do it. Next thing I know, he took out my necklace. I know it’s odd for a Dark Angel to be so nice, but Ethan’s always been a nice guy...” She said. I sighed.

“Dawnie, he only did it because he wasn’t given orders to do it. I bet as soon as he gets orders, he’ll influence you without hesitation.” I said. She didn’t want to believe that I could be right. As much as I wanted to be here for Dawn, we had to find a way out of here. Since I had nothing else to say, I pulled her into a hug. I looked down at the area of sunlight on the floor. Something was happening to it. I tapped Dawn’s shoulder and pointed to the area of light.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

The light was disappearing, as if disappearing from the floor. I had this odd feeling that I needed to close the curtains, so I did. I also turned off the rest of the lights until it was dark inside the room. All of a sudden, this little orb of light appeared in front of us. I was sure if I should be scared or if I should be admiring it. It was kind of cute (you know, for an orb of light). I reached out my hand to touch it, but it moved aside. I knew this was some form of light magic, but only powerful light angels could create and orb of light. Especially one from a distance. Some could make it talk, some could make it guide them and some could even transform it into anything they wanted. This one managed to explode and turn into a piece of paper. It floated gently to the ground. I picked it up and read the paper said aloud.

“Skylar and Dawn, if you get this message, that means my orb managed to find out. If that’s the case, then please write where you are on the back of this piece of paper, and send the orb back. Don’t worry, it won’t require any of your own magic. I’ll send the orb back to try and help you once I get the message. We all hope you’re safe.” I said. Dawn looked at me.

“Who’s it from?” I shook my head and looked all over the paper.

“It doesn’t say, but it must be one of our friends.” I said. I ran over to the dresser and grabbed a pen. I turned the paper over and wrote down our location, and any other information that might be useful. When I was done, the paper crumbled itself up and turned back into a light orb. Did I ever mention how amazing I thought light magic was? No? Well, I am now. The orb shrunk until it disappeared, and I turned all of the lights back on.

“So, all we have to do now is wait for it to come back, right?” asked Dawn. I nodded.

“Yes. Let’s hope it comes back soon.” I said.

A whole day had passed since we sent the message back. We waited anxiously. Every second I thought Roland was going to come in and bring me to my mother. I didn’t want to be influenced into the Dark Angels, and I certainly didn’t want that to happen to Dawn. My job was to protect humans, not put their lives in danger. We sat on Dawn’s bed, flipping through tv channels. It was Monday night, and we were technically supposed to be in school. The door suddenly opened. Aeryn walked in carrying some clothes, and two pairs of heels. She set them down on my bed.

“The Queen wants you to join us for dinner.” She said. Before I could ask questions or protest, she walked out closing the door behind her, remembering to lock it. I got up from Dawn’s bed and walked over to mine. I unfolded a short, black turtleneck dress with short sleeves. I set it aside with the pair of silver heels.

“You can wear that one Dawn. I hate turtlenecks.” I said. I then unfolded a short white dress with a lace turtleneck. It was white lace from above the chest area and up, as well as along the long sleeves. I groaned. “I guess lace won’t be too bad.” It was still a turtleneck regardless.

I put the dress on along with the matching white heels. It fit nicely, and the lace turtleneck didn’t bother me as much as I thought it might. Dawn loved her dress, and hoped she could keep it. I kind of wanted to keep mine too, but I had to keep remembering where all these clothes were coming from. After we did each other’s hair and makeup, I knocked on the door. It unlocked and Ben opened it up. Ethan was standing there with him. Both were dressed in a nice pair of black pants, and black dress shirts. Ethan held out his arm for Dawn to take it. She hesitated for a moment before locking her arm with his. Ben held his out, and wasn’t too disappointed when I turned it down. No way was I locking arms with a demon. They led us down to where the restaurants were. Roland and Aeryn were sitting at a round table with my mother. My mother was wearing her contacts again, and Ben and Roland had on their sunglasses (as usual). We sat down. I noticed Dawn was still wearing her golden cross necklace. That’s when I realized that all my mother really wanted was me.

“I’m glad you decided to join us.” said Evelynn. “There’s someone I want you to meet.” I remained silent. I looked down at my menu. The food looked yummy. They had spaghetti, homemade pizza and even cheesy garlic bread.

“Sorry I’m late.” I heard a voice say. It was a male’s voice. Dawn sat next to me, and she nudged me gently. I looked up from my menu.

A guy stood there with short black hair, and green eyes which I could only assume were also contacts. Why couldn’t Roland and Ben just wear contacts like this guy and my mother? The man was dressed in a nice black suit, and had on a silver ring with an onyx gem on his right middle finger. A chain was hanging from his belt and his pants pocket. What was the other end connected to? He couldn’t have been any older than fifty, but he looked like he was in his thirties. He kissed my mother’s cheek and took his seat next to her. She smiled.

“It’s not a problem dear. I’d like you to meet someone.” She gestured her hand towards me and Dawn. “This is my lovely daughter Skylar, and her friend.”

“Dawn.” I added. The man smiled at us.

“Sweetheart, this is Zeke Pierce. He’s Roland’s father.” Evelynn said. He held out his hand. Dawn shook it because she didn’t want to be rude, but I on the other hand didn’t care if I was rude or not. I just looked back down at my menu. “Skylar, don’t be so rude.” Zeke chuckled.

“It’s quite alright, Eve. I understand that she doesn’t like me.” He said. At least someone understood. The waitress brought over glasses of water for us all before we ordered our actual drinks.

“I’m hoping to make Skylar a one of us, what do you think?” asked Evelynn.

“I think that’s a marvelous idea. She’d be a good addition to the Dark Angels.” He said. Ben took a sip of his water. He dropped his glass. It fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. He started screaming and having a coughing fit. Roland shot up from his seat and ran around the table over to Ben.

“What’s going on?” asked Aeryn. Ben managed to let out the words “holy water” through his coughing fit. Dawn and I shared glances. My Aeryn stood up quickly, slammed her hands on the table and pointed towards us. “They did it!” I sat back in my chair with my arms crossed.

“That’s impossible. You losers took all of our holy water, remember? Otherwise we would have been able to escape two days ago.” I said. She glared at me. Dawn tapped me on my shoulder, and pointed and I followed her finger. My father burst in with a bunch of other Guardian Angels. Most of the customers got up from their seats. All got into fighting positions. Most were Dark Angels, but others were Guardian Angels incognito. Dawn and I got up from our seats. We turned around and Roland was already in front of us.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked.

I still didn’t have enough energy to get in a good punch. Just enough to make a run for it. I was amazed by what came next. Dawn threw a punch at Roland’s face, and to my surprise she managed to make contact with it. It sounded like a pretty good punch, but she still needed some work. Dawn grabbed a glass of water quickly and threw it in his face. Roland grabbed his face and screamed. I grabbed another glass, and so did Dawn. We started running. We ran over to my father and he stopped us quickly.

“Go out to the lobby quickly. There will be a familiar sight waiting for you. Follow it to safety.” He said. We nodded and ran out to the lobby.

I looked around for the familiar sight my father was talking about. There was nothing there until an orb of light appeared in front of me. It went through the door. I opened the door quickly. Dawn and I ran out, and we followed the orb to wherever it led us. I didn’t enjoy running in heels or a dress, and it didn’t make it any easier that I still didn’t have all of my energy. Ethan suddenly ran out of the doors.

“Dawn, wait!” He called out. Dawn suddenly stopped and looked at him. I stopped and grabbed her arm gently.

“Dawnie, no. Don’t stop. We have to keep going!” I told her. She was able to break out of my grip easily. She walked over to Ethan. I did what any other best friend and guardian would do, and walked over with her. The light orb followed us.

“What do you want? Keep in mind I still have a glass of holy water in my hand.” She said. Her voice sounded fierce for once in her life. It astonished me. Ethan looked back at the doors, and then at Dawn and he took her other hand gently.

“There has to be a way to free me from this curse.” He said. I would have used the word “curse” very loosely. “I want you to find it, and when you do, I want you to come and find me. Please, Dawnie.”

“That’s impossible. There’s no way to free a Dark Angel. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to go.” I said. I grabbed Dawn arm again and began to follow the light orb.

Ethan called out to us, “There is a way! You just have to know where to look!” I rolled my eyes and continued running.

I had no idea how long we had been running for, but we ran through some woods and ended up in the parking lot of a department store. The orb led us to a sight I couldn’t have been happier to see. Devitri was leaning against the black SUV, with Eric and Austin standing around with him. I ran over to Austin and almost tackled him to the ground. Dawn stopped to catch her breath. I looked at Eric and he held out his hand. The light orb rested on top of his palm, and he whispered something into it. It flew up into a nearby street light that I thought had been broken. I looked at the light and then back at Eric.

“Eric, that was you who sent the orb?” I asked. He nodded. “I thought only high level angels could do that. Like the Lord.” Eric shrugged.

“It pays off to pay attention in class.” He said. I hugged him and then Devitri.

“I’m glad that you’re okay, little sora. I was so worried about you.” said Devitri. I looked up at him.

“You were?” He nodded. Austin opened the backseat door.

“I had to ruin this lovely moment, but we might want to get a move on.” He said. “Before a bunch of Dark Angels come along.”

“You’re right. Let’s go.” said Devitri. He opened up the driver’s side door, and was about to get in when he turned around and looked behind him. I turned around and saw my father running out of the woods.

“Dad?” I asked. All of a sudden, my mother and Zeke ran out of the woods with Roland. Zeke appeared in front of my father.

“Hey Sky, isn’t that... Your mother?” asked Eric. I was silent. I wanted to run over and help my father, but I wouldn’t be helping. I didn’t stand a chance. None of us did. Eric and Austin helped Dawn into the car, and got in themselves. My father did all that he could to fight them off. I tried to run over, but Devitri grabbed my hand quickly.

“Skylar, no. Don’t get into that. We have to get going, before we all end up getting ourselves into a position that we can’t get ourselves out of.” He said. I looked at him.

“No! I have to help him! I can’t let them hurt him!” I shouted.

“Believe me, I want to help him to, but there’s nothing we can do! Let’s go!”

I looked back over at my father, and then down at my glass of holy water, which was mostly gone since I had been running with it. It wasn’t enough to stop all three of them. Even Dawn’s glass wasn’t enough. My father seemed to have been out of his own holy water at this point. Zeke and my mother managed to get a hold on him. Zeke reached into his pocket and took out a pocket watch that was attached to the chain. He opened it and looked down at it. I almost got ready to run over, but Roland appeared in front of us. All I heard was a crack, and that was enough to set me off. Devitri kept his grip on my hand so that I couldn’t go anywhere.

“I’m calling it at 8:15.” said Zeke. I could hear him closing the watch, and putting it back into his pocket. Devitri looked at Roland and grabbed the glass from my hand.

“You have about five seconds before I throw what’s left of this holy water in your face.” He said. Roland wasn’t phased by Devitri’s threat. He simply stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“You should bring her home.” That was all he said before he walked away. The three of them disappeared into the woods. All I could see was my father’s dead body on the concrete. I could feel tears streaming down my face. The car door closed.

“Austin, drive everyone back to the school.” said Devitri. He handed me over to Austin and walked over to my dad’s body. Austin kissed the top of my head, and opened up the passenger’s side door. I get in and Austin got into the driver’s side. He started the car and drove out of the parking lot. No one spoke for the rest of the night.