The Angel Track

Chapter Ten - Inglorious Fighters (Part One-ish)

So hey anybody who still reads this greetings from my absence, this is the first part of chapter 10 it'll probably undergo some changes but I thought I'd add it to the collection. Enjoy, please :) Also the chapter name will make more sense when I finish the chapter. I'm really nervous about my writing now, so sorry if it disturbs you, I'm working at witing less disturbingly but I wrote this part a few months ago. Anyway, thanks again and apologies. Also Shirls if you're reading this, I love you.

Chapter Ten - Inglorious Fighters

  It's strange how people think that 'It'll be better in the morning', and somehow you think it is. It feels different, although nothing's really changed. The sun can be seen at a different position in the sky but that's really the only difference. You're not going to wake up a new person in a different life with different problems and different people.

Although, many of us may wish to be somewhere else, someone else, it could never be any truer than the way Cale felt one morning where he awoke to find a sleeping cobra in his bed. One that would spit venom into your eyes and then laugh maliciously as its prey would weave blindly in agony. A cobra that went by the name Bella.

It took Cale a total of three excruciating minutes to realise what had happened before his mind was consumed with regret. It was the sort of regret where he would have happily have sold his soul to a demon high on meth. If only it meant that he could go back and undo just one thing. The dreaded moment where he must have thought, 'Gee, hooking up with Bella doesn't seem like a half bad idea.’

"You fucking idiot." he cursed at himself, why did he do things like this to himself. It was at times like those where he really wished that his past self was more concerned about his future self. The cobra turned her red head around stretching eerily upwards before facing Cale. Her eyes widened.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Cale asked, suddenly worried.

"Your hair, it's black!" she exclaimed, as if remembering who she was, she attempted to run her hands through it.

Cale grabbed her hand and flung it away from him, there was a momentary flash of hurt in her eyes but it quickly turned venomous. "My hair is not black, don't be ridiculous." he waved her off, ignoring the awkward moment that had just passed.

"I'm not lying, it’s black, like charcoal." she said, a surprising note of sincerity ringing in her whining voice.

Cale got up, noting that he was still wearing bottoms, he made his way over to the bathroom mirror. A sound of disbelief choked in his throat as he realised Bella was right. His silvery blond hair was now an inky black sweep, even his eyebrows had changed but what startled him most was how much me he looked like his father.

It disgusted him, he hated his father with an unrivalled passion. Just thinking about the man who had abandoned him and beat his mother made his blood boil. The anger was so consuming he didn't even stop to wonder how his hair had turned that way. "Did anything happen between us last night?" he asked, in a low but angry tone as he studied Bella's face with scrutiny.

Bella hesitated, a small hesitation where her eyes darted around the room, before saying, "How can you not remember?"

Cale didn't answer, instead he pointedly stared at the sleeping pills by his bed, those little capsules that made him drowsy and forgetful. Bella read his expression, an almost gleeful one lighting up her own face momentarily. Raising her head, she looked up as if to check whether Cale had noticed, but Cale saw it all and he knew. They hadn't hooked up, he just knew they hadn't and he silently sent a prayer to whoever was up there.

"Get out." he commanded quietly, hoping she would leave without making a fuss.

"Why are you being such an idiot? Is it because of that half rodent out there?" she practically hissed. Cale almost flinched, he really was not in the mood for this. It took almost every ounce of his self control not to burst out in anger.

"I've told you Bella, I don't love you, half-human or not." he explained exasperated, trying his best to make it as clear as possible.

Bella's trademark insanity took a forefront in the conversation with an angry twitch possessing her lips. Violently, she got up and threw the blanket aside, making her way very close to him. There was never a time where Cale had thought that Bella would dive off the edge more than that moment. It was like she wasn't even seeing him, her eyes were so convoluted and clouded with an irrational hate it was unfathomable. 

Instead of yelling in his face like he thought she might, she pushed him backwards until they reached the door. He could feel her harsh breath hotly sweep over his chest and in an odd way it calmed him. It showed him exactly what he didn't want to be. Someone so consumed with their emotions and their own world they had no control over what they did. As a show of his learning, he didn't yell or push her off, instead he waited for her next move.

Bella smiled eerily at him, her brown eyes narrowed before fully closing as she leaned in for a kiss. This girl clearly had no idea about boundaries, how much clearer did he have to make it? Her lips were still trying to weld themselves to his own, his base male instinct was to carry on but his higher thinking was yelling a stream of obscenities.

He tried to peel her off of him without hurting her but Bella wrapped her sinewy arms around his neck and held tighter. So tight she was almost asphyxiating him, he had to get her off  before she strangled him to death. Managing to manoeuvre his head, he choked out, "Let go, Bella." but it was to no avail.

Bella's grip was getting tighter, sliding higher up his head. Cale gasped in pain as he felt her claw like talons dig in as though she was trying to gouge his flesh out. Everything was escalating so quickly and the only thought pulsing through his mind was that he was not his father. It was inconceivable that someone so small could be so strong. 

She raked her hand up and at that point Cale decided enough was enough. They weren't  meant to use them inside the compound but he saw no other option. His arms were currently pressing against Bella's shoulders, a vain attempt at prying her off. Instead, he changed his tactic and lightly pressed his palm to her head. Unleashing his power.

The feeling was intoxicating, it flowed through his fingertips like soft, warm waves. Waves that had the effect of a tsunami on Bella. It was rather ironic, the fact that just two days ago he was healing Bella of her head pain and now he was giving her the worst migraine of her life. It was weird, he could see the pain in her eyes but the intoxicating feeling just grew. 

Clutching her hands to her head Bella let go of Cale, trying to free herself from his power trip. Her eyes rounded like a doe's and Cale's quiet calm suddenly grew panicked. He pulled his hand away like he'd been burnt and just stared at it. Horrified, he sank to the floor.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, but Bella had already transported. What was wrong with him? An image of his father flashed in his mind, superimposed was the image of himself that he'd seen in the mirror a few moments ago. 

And then he did something he hadn't done since he left The Facility. He cried. A few tears slipping down his face and a sound of anguish escaped his throat. They were all so broken. A few droplets of blood seeped from the gashes Bella had made. Finally, something he could fix. 

Stretching his hand back to his neck, he rested his fingertips lightly there for a moment. Pushing out with his mind, he felt the healing powers course through his veins like a cold vapour. Cooling, calming, but not that intoxicating feeling he had felt before. Feeling his flesh mend itself, he shut his eyes for a few moments before getting ready for the day ahead.