Requiem: Book One in The Apocalypse Trilogy

Chapter Two

Smoke and embers billowed into the sky, creating a mask of poison in the air. Lorelei Grace pulled the scarf around her neck up to her nose, blocking out the putrid smell. It wasn’t just the smoke she was trying to block out, it was also the smell of rotting flesh; human, Angel, Demon, and Fallen Angel. Lorelei walked through the once bustling streets of Chicago, which was now deserted. Dust and soiled papers danced on the ground as a chilling wind picked up.

“Do you see anything yet?” Lorelei asked into the Bluetooth in her ear.

“Not yet,” Kent’s voice came over the earpiece. “Just continue doing what you’re doing.”

“You mean being used as bait?” Lorelei said as she stepped over a dead body in the street, not daring to look back to see what race it was. “That’s a grand idea. Remind me again why I was nominated?”

“Because you’re the good looking one,” Kent replied with a laugh.

Lorelei rolled her emerald green eyes dramatically as she continued on down the street. Her leather boots pounded against the cracked asphalt, the sound vibrating off of the walls of the near by buildings. Lorelei’s eyes shifted in a continuous circle; looking from her right, to her left, ahead of her, then back to her right once more. She wasn’t too concerned about looking behind her, because she knew Kent was watching her; hidden in one of the crumbling buildings, his sniper ready--

Something black darted in front of her.

Lorelei gave a yelp of surprise, pulling her pistol from the hilt at her side, and she aimed. Her fingers hesitated against the trigger as she realized it was only a feral cat. Lorelei breathed a sigh of relief, lowering her pistol at her side.

“Jesus,” Lorelei said beneath her breath as she continued on.

Kent’s chuckle filled her Bluetooth. “Scared of cats now, are we?”

“Says the one who can’t sleep in the dark,” Lorelei retorted.

“That’s different,” Kent mumbled, quickly sobering up from his laugh.

“If you say so--” Lorelei began when she heard the crackle of thunder overhead.

The sky opened up nearly two hundred feet away from her. Lorelei watched in awe as something shrouded in white fell from the sky. Flames burst around it as it fell faster, breaking through the sound barrier. She watched as it slammed into an old building, causing it to crumble to the ground. The ground vibrated on its impact, knocking Lorelei onto her back.

“Lorel?” Kent’s voice came over her Bluetooth. “Lorel, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Lorelei said as she rose to her feet. “but I’m about to find out.”

“Lorel, don’t,” Kent said as Lorelei broke out into a sprint. “Lorel! Come back! You’re out  of my line of vision! Lorelei!” He shouted frantically into her ear.

Ignoring Kent’s shouts, Lorelei’s boots stomped against the asphalt as she ran toward the fallen building. She came to a screeching stop in front of it before she started to climb the debris, clutching onto the concrete pull herself up higher through the pile. Lorelei froze at the top, her eyes widening in shock at what she saw.

Laying in the pile of concrete and rubble, was an Angel.

Lorelei had seen many Angels in her life, but this one was far different than any Angel she had come across. Stretched out behind the Angel, were four wings; the sunlight glimmering off of them was almost enough to blind Lorelei. Lorelei began to climb farther into the rubble toward the Angel, when a hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her back. She spun around to face a rather pissed off Kent.

“What in the hell were you thinking?” Kent snapped, his brown eyes ablaze with anger. “Do you understand that if something was to attack you, I couldn’t save you?”

“Kent,” Lorelei said, ripping her arm from his grasp and pointed down where the Angel laid. “Look.”

Kent’s brown gaze slowly followed the direction in which she pointed. His eyebrows raised slightly, surprised. Lorelei turned around just in time to watch the Angel’s wings fold back into place, but the Angel did not move.

“What kind of Angel is that supposed to be?” Kent asked and he followed behind Lorelei as she climbed farther toward the Angel.

“If we bring him to my father, he could probably tell us,” Lorelei said.

She finally reached the Angel. The Angel wore a tattered shirt and ripped up jeans. His sandy blonde hair fell across his forehead. The Angel’s face was battered and bruised. Around his wrists, were crusted with blood. She squinted her eyes to look at his wrists, noticing that there was something inscribed into the skin. Lorelei lowered herself into a crouch beside him, carefully lifting one of his hands into hers to inspect the symbols.

“He was a prisoner,” Lorelei whispered, looking up at Kent, who frowned down at her. “Look. The Angel has Enochian symbols burned into his skin.”

“I thought Enochian was the language of the Angels,”

“It is, but it can also be used to imprison them,” Lorelei replied as she gently laid the Angel’s arm onto his stomach.

“Is he alive?” Kent asked, coming to crouch on the other side.

Lorelei reached a hand out, lightly pressing her fingers against the nape of the Angel’s neck. His heart beat pulsed faintly beneath her fingertips. The Angel suddenly gasped, his back arching up off of the debris and his eyes flew open. Kent jumped to his feet, pointing his pistol at the Angel. Lorelei quickly tried to remove her hand, but the Angel’s fingers closed tightly around her wrist.

She stared wide eyed at the Angel and he stared back with glowing blue orbs. He searched her face for a couple of seconds, the grip on her wrist loosening. The Angel opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words falling from his mouth, he coughed; blood spilling down the side of his mouth. His blue eyes rolled into the back of his head and the Angel fell still again.

“Go get the truck,” Lorelei instructed, turning her gaze up at Kent, but he was frozen. “Now!

Kent snapped out of it and took off in a full sprint, crawling back down the debris. Lorelei stayed with the Angel, waiting for Kent to return. She lightly brushed the hair back from his forehead and placed her hand there. Lorelei quickly yanked her hand back, her skin seared. The Angel had a fever, a deadly one at that. Lorelei needed to get the Angel back to the camp as soon as possible.

When Kent arrived with the truck, Lorelei helped him load the Angel into the backseat. Kent burned rubber as he sped out of the city, dodging and weaving between the large holes in the asphalt. Kent did not speak until they were on the highway.

“What do you think happened to him?”

“I don’t know,” Lorelei said, her hand wrapped out his limp one. “but he’s incredibly sick.”

“Great,” Kent said, unenthusiastically. “Just what we need. A sick and dying Angel.”

Lorelei shot Kent a heated glare and she punched him in the shoulder, causing Kent to jerk the steering wheel to the side. He quickly readjusted the steering wheel and rubbed his arm with his free hand.

“Ouch. That hurt more than I thought it was going to,” Kent admitted. “I was just saying--”

“Well keep your thoughts to yourself,” Lorelei growled. “Remember what my father always told us? If we see an Angel in need, we have to help.”

“That’s all fine and well, but how do we even know if the Angel is even on our side? Angels have been turning against us more and more nowadays,”

“We don’t,” Lorelei said, her emerald gaze falling onto the Angel. “but if he really wanted to harm us, he would have.”

Kent left the conversation at that as he accelerated, bringing the truck to an incredibly high speed as they shot down the highway. Lorelei felt the Angel’s fingers switch, lightly gripping onto hers for a split second. She could see his eyes beneath his eyelids move every few seconds and his chest barely rose and fell with every breath.

Just hang on, Lorelei thought as they traveled down the highway, heading toward camp.