[BOOK TWO]
"Anniversaries to some are like counting the years spent doing something great, years spent together, or years spent alive." I started slowly, voice dropping to a drawl as I peeked cautiously out of my bedroom blinds, scanning the road to...
ANXIETY SOON FOUND its way buried along the rims of my heart when the sun had finally set. As Lucius had explained, the days lasted much longer than the nights here in Paradise, with the star hanging in the sky for three Earth days and the moon up there for one Earth night. It was different from what we knew, what I knew, and it seemed as though the laws of physics failed to apply in this realm.
Lucius had started a simple fire with dried twigs, allowing the small ember flame to dance along with the wind as crickets chirped nearby. He stood watch, body poised in a stoic manner and facing away from me into the dark woods. Silence was nothing but a blanket covered over us as my eyes trailed after each flick of the flame, entranced by its beauty and simplicity.
The night will be as short as it was back on Earth, but where darkness falls, evil lurks even in the purest of places. With the every silence practically echoing in the background, I have never felt so in danger before. Not even back in the boathouse. Here, even with Lucius by my side, I'm truly alone. There was no way for me to completely trust the blond man, and to put faith into certain things would be to seal my death.
For the past hour or so, my watch had gone completely haywire. Every few minutes, its hands would circle the numbers a few rounds thoroughly before going back to the rightful timing. I guess it must be because of the weird time structure here, or to be more accurate, the lack thereof.
He stood there, feet glued to the ground and hand placed over his belt where his knife was. Lucius' posture screamed of tension and wary. His eyes never left the woods, forever scanning into the dark even with the seductive lure of the beautiful flame behind his back. I have never seen the man so serious, so purposeful before in my entire life. It was as if he was waiting for someone's definite arrival.
"Lucius," I said, testing his name against the tip of my tongue, careful not to raise my voice too loud in fear of alerting the other angels and making them think we were in trouble. There was no need for them to come barging in, after all. "Why don't you come sit?"
He did not reply, body barely even flinching as he continued staring on. After what seemed like moments later, he sighed once, shoulders finally relaxing for the first time in the night before turning over to face me. In an instant, his on guard features softened into the handsome structure I've familiarized myself with over the course of the past few years. His lips curved up into a soft barely-there smile before he slumped down to the ground.
"I guess I could use some rest," he sighed.
"You were waiting for something," I stated, not even asking as my curios eyes glanced his way, never letting him out of my questioning sight.
"What makes you think that?" He took no hesitance in replying, not even a tad bit shocked to hear my words. It was as if he was already anticipating it, ready with answers to reply any of my oncoming questions.
"You're on guard, too cautious. Your eyes barely even left the darkness of the woods. Come on, Lucius. I've known you for years. Did you really think that I wouldn't pick up on your habits?"
"Well.." he trailed off with a small chuckle tracing his words, and with the light-hearted tone to his voice, I could feel a stone being lifted off of my chest. "You can never be too sure of what dwells in these woods. We might be in the domain of allies, but darkness is nothing but a veil hiding the truth from the light."
As he spoke, there was no playful glint in his eyes. Somehow, something had changed within him and he wasn't the boy, the man, that I've known from before.
A chill ran down my spine as a sudden burst of cold air flooded the trees, a strong wind blew against the leaves as they rustled loudly, twirling violently away from the branches and into the air. My hair bellowed behind me as I stood to my feet, heart thundering against my chest as a sense of dread filled every inch of my nerves. Yells were beginning to echo from a distance away as the far away tents of angels begin to light up, warriors clambering out of their beds with weapons in their hands.
He's here.
"Stay here," Lucius said, his voice no longer the relaxed happy-go-lucky tone it was once before. "Don't move out of this campsite. If he comes here, fight him with this." He withdrew a silver gun from his pocket, tossing it towards me as I caught it with both hands. "Don't let him kiss you no matter what, Addison. Once he does, it's game over."
And with that, Lucius turned into the woods, and he was gone.
The very second his shadow disappeared behind those trees, the flame of the fire was extinguished, reduced to nothing but a trail of smoke as a reminder of what it once was. Every hair on my body stood to attention as my ears pricked for a shift in sound, eyes scanning over the area as I twirled around our makeshift campsite. The stars were no longer glowing in the night sky. All of a sudden, there was an ebony black coverage over the top of the skies, leaving everything into a pitch black void.
"Andy.." a voice trailed off in the distance, luring me with the familiar velvet rich tone I've grown to fear.
My chest heaved wildly up and down, eyes opening even wider in an attempt to see through the darkness, but all I could take note of was more endless black. There was nothing in sight, for no light came in.
"Addison," Death's voice rang through the air, making me stop in my spot as my finger moved to be placed over the trigger, ready to shoot. "Why do you hide from me? Do I scare you?"
"Show yourself!" In an instant I was screaming like a mad woman into the dark, hands poised and ready to pull the trigger at any target.
"I get the feeling that you don't really want to see me." There was clear laughter in Death's voice, a mocking tone used to rile me up as blood boiled in my veins. "Oh well, I'm quite hurt, doll."
Since there was nothing for me to see, I began to blindly step back, only ever watching my front as I moved further and further away from the campsite unknowingly. I was only stopped in my tracks when my back collided with something hard, a hint of cologne and pine invading my senses as my blood curdled at the mere thought of who it could be behind me.
With no moment's worth of hesitation, I turned back, pulling the trigger as the gunshot echoed into the night. Only, the bullet never found it's target as I was greeted by beautiful star-like silver eyes. Death clicked his tongue, his face slightly appearing along with the rest of his body through this darkness. His hand was placed over the gun, moving it away so that it barely singed the rim of his ear, and his grin only grew once he noticed the look of shock on my features.
"Oh Addison," he said, dimples appearing by his cheeks. Some crazed up part of me somehow registered that he looked truly happy to see me, much more delighted than Lucius in comparison. "How I've missed you."
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