Christine woke up in a cold sweat; she sat up. "What was that?" Her back was aching as of something was missing from it. She looked at her alarm, which was blinking, on her nightstand. "3:00 am" She let out a groan.
"Why can't I get a good night's sleep these past few weeks?" She asked herself angrily. Her throat was dry, and she was not superstitious; have to wake up at three am. Her grandmother always said that if you wake up from horrible dreams at three in the morning, that was when demons were haunting you.
She got out of bed and walked to the kitchen to pour herself some water. Why was she thinking of her grandmother all of a sudden? It was not as if the woman loved her very much. Every time she saw Christine, she would say things like 'you are not from this world' or 'it is your fault for the wars in heaven'. She never understood the woman anyway.
She was also the main reason why Christine had no faith. . .well, not entirely true. One day when she was a teenager about to be baptised, the cross the priest was wearing burst into flames, and she was so scared that she never returned to the church.
She drank her water, contemplating the dream she had. "Why were there angels in it?" The more she thought about it, the more confused she got. She closed her eyes; there was one angel that stood out from the rest. He had long black hair, eyes as red as rubies, skin as pale as the moonlight and his wings were black as ink with a red glistening. He had a handsome face; she smiled to herself.
She did not know how long she stood in the kitchen, but her alarm went off. A groan escaped her lips. "Another day, another meaningless day to try and please the boss." She went back to her room to get dressed.
She did not really like her job very much; her boss was always watching her with a hungry expression. She knew how to handle him. What she couldn't comprehend. . .was all the little accidents happening around her.
One day she was getting coffee with her best friend Neo. . .the next thing was a statue that had fallen from the roof a few seconds later where they stood. Neo always teased her that she was a curse walking on two legs; maybe she was. Whom did she piss off to get this kind of curse?
She locked her apartment, going down the steps two at a time. She walked into Uriel, her neighbour from across the hall; she always thought he had a funny name.
"Good Morning."
He let out a grunted mumble of 'Go Morn', her face twisted in confusion. "Sorry, I didn't catch that?"
"Good Morning, off to work?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I am just a bit tired. I didn't sleep well."
Uriel fiddled with his fingers nervously. Christine smiled at him, she placed a hand on his shoulder, and he flinched to get away from her grip.
Christine's hand hung in the air for a few seconds before it fell next to her again. She never thought she made Uriel nervous.
"Well, I should go. Enjoy your day, Uriel."
"Oh, u. . .uh yeah, you too."
She kept walking. Uriel sure was strange - maybe he didn't know how to talk to women? She was out of the apartment building door when she saw a slight shadow across the street; she found it. . .a bit strange as this was a quiet neighbourhood in general. Was he stalking someone?
She continued walking - out of the corner of her eye - she saw a shadow moving the same way as her, so she picked up the pace. It did not look like he was talking to someone, and she was getting creeped out by the minute.
She spotted a taxi and waved it down; she opened the door quickly and slammed the door shut. . . "What was that?"
When the taxi stopped at her work building, she climbed out. "Well, Christine, it is just another day of playing secretary to your boss." She found this job to support herself until she could do what she dreamt of doing; being a mythologist.
She opened the office door. "Good Morning, everyone!"
She got a few replies; no one looked up from their desks. She went to the staff room to put on the kettle so that when her boss Dave entered, his coffee would be ready for him. This was how the day always started; she greeted, got a few replies and then she would make coffee. Nothing exciting ever happened at her workplace.
She opened his office door, placing the cup on his desk when he entered.
"Christine! Good Morning."
"Good Morning, sir."
"You know you don't have to be this formal when we are alone." He moved past her, sitting down at his desk.
"Well, I prefer to be formal, sir."
"Oh, come on. I know how you have been looking at me."
Christine's eyebrow raised at his words. "Excuse me!"
"You've heard me; I know you want to get into my pants."
"You seem to have this the wrong way around; I wouldn't touch you with a garden fork."
He stood up from his desk and grabbed her wrist. "You will make sure you'd be nice to me now, Christine. I can easily make you lose this job."
"I don't have to be nice to you. You are a jerk! You treat women like objects you can use and abuse!"
She broke her wrist free, and she took a step back and slapped him across the face. "I quit!" With that said. She stormed out of his office; the others stared at her in disbelief and others in; awe.
She walked straight out of the building, her anger was fuelling her blood, and she did not notice the car when she walked into the street.
The car's brakes were screeching, as it tried to stop but it was too late the car was over her, she laid on her back, looking up at the sky. She did not hear the voices around her; they had muffled out completely. She could not feel her legs. She saw a face covered with a hoodie, he was bending down over her, and she lost consciousness.
He picked her up bridal style. There were murmurs around her, he spread his wings, and time stopped.
He looked down at her unconscious face. "You cannot die now, Gadrial. Not after I've found you again."
He took off into the sky with her in his arms.
Leviathan and Bezel were watching him. "He only uses us to clean up after him when he pulls these stunts, doesn't he?" Bezel muttered.
Leviathan nodded. "You've got that right; he always loses himself when he finds her reincarnation. Just to be broken again."
"Yeah, even the great fallen angel has his weakness, Levi."
"Ugh, don't call me that, Bezel."
"Yeah, yeah, let us get this over with."
They walked towards the crowd, lifting their fingers, wiping their memories of the girl who disappeared. They planted false memories of the driver who hit the dog, but he was uninjured and living.
"Let us get out of here."
Lucian was still in the skies holding on to Christine. He listened to her breathing, it was getting inaudible, and he stopped in an alley not far from a hospital. He hid his wings and ran.
He pushed open the doors. "I need some help! My friend got hit by a car, please!" A doctor came running. Lucian hissed when he saw who it was. "Gabriel?" The doctor smirked at him.
The nurses pushed a bed towards them. "Put her on the bed. We will take good care of her."
Lucian did not want to let her go.
"Sir, if you don't let your friend go - we won't be able to help her."
Lucian put her on the bed reluctantly. The nurses rushed her to the exam room.
"Please, don't let her die."
"We promise we will do everything we can for your friend, sir."
Lucian watched the nurses running with her to an empty emergency room; he turned his attention to the doctor.
"So it really is you, Gabriel?"
"In the flesh, or should I say. . .in disguise, Lucian."
"I am warning you, Gabriel."
"Or what? If you don't mind, I need to take the care of Gadrial."
Lucian's eyes widened, his hands forming fists.
"What, you didn't think I would recognise my sister's soul, Lucian?"
"You lost the right to call her that, Gabriel."
"Have I? She doesn't remember who I am anyway, Lucian."
"You are ruthless, just like your buddy Michael."
Gabriel turned his back on Lucian. "You don't know what you are talking about, Lucian."
Before Lucian could answer him, Gabriel left and entered the room they took Christine to.