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"I'd catch a grenade for ya!!"
I slammed my book shut and looked up at Tristan.
"Throw my hand on a blade for ya!!" He sung.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"I'd jump in front of a train for ya!!"
"Unless you stop singing that damn song, I'll push you in front of the train." I shouted so he could hear me.
He took one of his earphones out and smiled at me. I knew what he was about to do. I could hear him scheming. I opened my mouth to stop him but he did it:
"Oh, oh! I would go through all this pain! Take a bullet straight through my brain!! Yes I would die for you baby!" He clenched his hand in front of him for emphasis. "But you won't do the same!"
I stood up from the couch across from him in a flash. I pushed him on the couch so his face was in the pillows and I was sitting on his back. "What did I just say?" I smacked his head.
"Ouch! Come on that's unfair! You always hit my head!" He shouted into the pillows.
I smacked again. "I don't care! I hate that song and you've been singing it all damn morning!"
"Alexis, get off Tristan." Liz said from the kitchen. "You've abused him enough the last couple of days." I heard her laugh a little.
I moved in on Thursday. Two days after the attack. Elizabeth worked her persuasive magic on my parents on Wednesday night. I was there, and found that she made a very good argument. My parents were staring at her with stars in their eyes while I just rolled mine and sat there.
She said I'd be moving into their house because there are things that are threatening "Their Daughter" that could have an effect on them. In other words, "Give your troublesome daughter to us so you have less of a handful."
At first my mother disagreed with the idea of me moving out for a while, but with a little more of Elizabeth's charming demeanour and they both basically packed my bags for me.
Five to be exact. Three filled with half my wardrobe and the other two were filled with make-up, toiletries and electronics.
I'm going back home next week to see my brother off which is okay. He'd be back for Christmas anyway.
Next was school.
After the attack, the school was on the news regarding the smashed up gym and destroyed hallways. I didn't realize how much damage we'd done until I saw it on TV. The gym wooden glazed floors were dented and pulled up in one spot from where the demon slammed me into the ground, the lockers were dented from where Cam smashed him into them, the hallways were filled with broken glass from when the lights burst, and last, but not least, when I threw a ball of fire at the wall it burnt a hole right through it.
Singed black and everything.
After watching that, Elizabeth and I went up to the school with my mother to get me out for a while. I'd agreed to come back up for my early entry exam but that's it. I could study in my own time.
And then there were room arrangements.
I'm in the opposite hall to Gabriel.
Tristan, the asshole, told Liz it'd be better to keep us separate so we don't get up to any, and I quote, "Naughty business".
So now I have a very large nice room with a king sized double bed, cream walls, a desk, a walk in wardrobe and an en-suite bathroom. Except my room is opposite Tristan's! And Thursday night when Gabe tried to sneak into my room I could hear Tristan football tackling him and telling him to go back to his room.
I tried last night and unluckily got caught because he was coming out of the bathroom. I could hear his thoughts but they were only incoherent mumbles.
I really needed to work on hearing thoughts.
Tonight, I was going to try a different way... I hope it's not raining. I almost caught a cold on Wednesday. Thank my Nephilim genes though. I do heal quickly.
"He's been singing it all day." I said to Liz. I knew she could hear me. That's one of the things I loved about Angels: enhanced hearing!
"Turn the TV on. That should shut him up." She mumbled in her head. Sometimes hearing peoples thoughts came in handy.
I slid off Tristan's back and stood up to grab the remote from the table. Tristan sat up and stared at me evilly.
I smirked at him and jumped on the seat next to him. "What sports you into?" I asked as I turned the TV on.
"NHL all the way baby!" He snatched the remote out of my hand and turned it to ESPN America. "NY Rangers vs. Flyers."
"What about the Hurricanes?" I asked. I hardly knew anything about hockey but I knew the Hurricanes were Carolina's team.
"Screw the Hurricanes." Tristan waved it away. "I'm actually a LA Kings man."
I perked up a little. "I remember something about the LA Kings."
His eyebrow rose. "What?"
I smirked. "Davis Drewiske is hot."
"Damn straight!"
I turned toward Mary.
"One of the hottest on the team." She grinned. "Now come on Princess get changed so we can get started."
I sighed and stood up. As soon as I got here on Thursday morning, Mary's been pushing me to train. I'd been manipulating fire and working on my strength and speed for the past two days.
I didn't know what I was expecting today.
I ran upstairs and to my room in a second. I loved speed. I changed from my pyjamas to a pair of dark red track pants, my sneakers and a White tank.
When I walked outside into the garden I located Mary with her arms crossed over her chest and a mysterious grin on her face.
"What am I doing today?"
"Combat training."
My eyes widened. "What? I can't fight."
She shrugged and started circling me. I stood in the same spot and waited for her to stand in front of me. "Sorry Almighty Mischievous Princess, but no demon or angel is going to stop and ask whether you fight or not."
She stopped a few feet in front of me with a smirk.
"Yeah I know but..."
"If you remember anything from the past then it won't take long."
I could practically see the things she was going to do to me. She might as well of said them out loud instead of thinking them. "You're actually going to hurt me aren't you?"
"Immortality isn't easy, babe. Think about it. Unless you train up and fight your own battles, it'll practically be hell on earth. Demons running everywhere around, people sinning, it's no walk in the park my friend."
I tilted my head. "Were you alive during my first decision?"
She laughed quite evilly. "Hell no. I was hung in the 1600's. Capital punishment in those days was brutal. Stole a loaf of bread at the age of 23. I was a good girl. Never sinned, believed in God but praying wasn't enough to get money. Your decision was before Christ. I died with a shit load of unfinished business so, it was either walk the earth, stay in the unnamed realm... Remember? The realm Gabriel stayed in for two hundred years?" She shrugged. "Anyway, or become a protector of a particular section of earth. But it's a long story I'd rather not get into."
Before I could speak or even figure out what happened, Maryanne advanced on me at full speed. It was inhuman, but my eyes still focused on her as she rushed me. The smile on her face was definitely prominent.
I landed on my back with a "Oof!" I groaned and opened my eyes. From this spot Mary looked sinister. Her black hair twisted and weaver as the wind blew.
She smiled down at me. "You should have been paying attention. Now, get up."
I stood up slowly and rubbed my back. Mary stood with a slight defensive stance and grinned. "I'm going to try and hit you."
My eyes widened. "Wait- What?"
Then she swung her left fist.
I managed to dodge just before because she thought of it before she tried it. I held my hands up but she swung her right hand. I smacked it away but it stung like hell. "Whoa! Maryan--!
Before I could react to the pain, she jumped to fly kick me but I ducked. Unfortunately, she did a quick half turn and used her other foot to kick.
Totally unexpected...
This sucked because she kicked my jaw.
I shut my eyes and let my head whip to the side. My body fell like a brick to the ground and for a moment, I thought I saw stars. I held back the sob but let the tears roll down my cheek.
I sat up and touched my jaw and immediately regretted it. It was numb and throbbing so badly.
I was officially pissed.
I stood up slowly and started stretching my jaw. It clicked pretty loudly and made me squeal and groan. My hands cupped my jaw. "Dam you Mary!" I yelled as best as I could. It came out quite muffled because my mouth was slightly cramped. "What was that? You'd said you'd hurt me not dislocate my frikkin' jaw!"
She smiled which pissed me off even more. She obviously had no feelings what so ever. "Sorry, sweetie."
I've never noticed it until now, but I don't think she's actually said my name since I'd changed. It's always Princess, or other various forms of the name princess. She called me Lonny when we were arguing...
I moved my jaw again and felt it click again. I groaned out shook my head. I could move my jaw but it still hurt.
I narrowed my eyes at her and closed my hands into shaking fists. "My turn."
**
I lay there on the grass watching the clouds go by when I felt an ice pack land on my stomach. Several in fact. I put one on my back, on my face and on my leg.
I'd managed to get three hits on her. I flipped her once which was kind of cool. But I'd had more damage than her. The whole right side of my face was swollen and painful. My knuckles were bruised from when I got the first two hits on her cheek and hard stomach. She kicked me on a particular part of my leg and told me that was a weak spot in everyone. It gave me a dead leg.
She taught me to always concentrate on speed and agility. She said I had the advantage of being able to hear thoughts because I could hear what my opponent was planning next.
In the end it had been an hour and a half worth of training.
Maryanne sighed next to me and I felt the ground vibrate as she dropped onto the floor. Neither of us spoke which was a change. She was either laughing evilly or making a snide comment.
But for once, she was silent.
I slowly turned my head and glanced at her from the corner of my eye. She was staring up at the sky but the expression she had on her face was surprising. She didn't have her usual mask she displayed, but an unguarded soft, dazed look.
She turned to me and caught me staring. The mask immediately came back and her eyes turned hard. "What?"
I turned back to the sky. I listened in on her thoughts for a moment and concentrated on the images she was going through in her mind:
Various images of when she was blonde and with her partner, Jasper, made me lose concentration and block out her thoughts entirely. It felt like I was invading her private space.
"You know I'll always be sorry," I mumbled.
I knew she heard me.
"Yes, I know," She said back surprisingly calm.
I cleared my throat and said, "Have you been with anyone else? You know, since..."
She chuckled but it was strangled and humourless. "Yes. A fair few."
I turned my head slowly toward her and raised an eyebrow.
She laughed genuinely for the first time and rocked backwards. "Okay fine, a bit more than a few." Her face turned serious. "But no one has ever compared to Jasper."
We both remained silent as I watched her stare up into the sky. This had to be the first conversation we'd had without being snide or... Well, a bitch.
It was around three now and the clouds above were white and slowly moving across the sun. It was a weirdly nice day for November but it was still a little bit chilly.
Gabriel had left this morning around seven to meet up with this angel he regretted to tell me the name of which had me thinking. Did he have something to hide? Was it something to do with me that he didn't want to tell me about?
"Hmm..." I mumbled. "Mary, is fire the only thing that can kill us?"
"No. Fire is like being killed slowly." I heard the quiver in her voice but then she returned to normal. "Ever read fairy tales about vampires and werewolves? How vampires have wooden stakes and werewolves have silver bullets?"
"Yeah,"
"Well, we have platinum. Platinum arrow heads, platinum swords, platinum spears. Anything with platinum on it. Hard to get hold of but once you get it no one ever lets it go."
I remembered back to the memory of Cameron's large wound on his side. "When Cam was... Injured, and I saved him, was it platinum that did it?"
She nodded. "Yeah that battle was a brutal one. Everyone was packing. And Cam, as stupid as he was, accidentally got caught."
I sighed and shut my eyes. I don't think there has been anything without a weakness or something that could kill them. I didn't think angels had one... Well except Demons. That's, in a way, a weakness.
I brought my hand to my jaw at the sudden outburst of pain.
"Call on Tristan." Mary said.
Oh yeah. Why didn't I think of him? "Tris--"
He ran out and stood above me in seconds. "You rang!"
"Help," I said dramatically.
He laughed and kneeled beside me. One of his hands landed on my arm and cheek. I felt the overwhelming feeling of peace and serenity as his hands gave off that feeling of energy.
After a moment his hands moved away and the pain in my jaw, leg and back had disappeared. I sat up and smiled at Tristan.
I opened my mouth to speak but another overwhelming feeling of energy passed over me. Mary and Tristan must of felt it too because their faces clouded over. I felt two familiar charges but the other was slightly unfamiliar. I hadn't encountered this energy in this life yet. Gabriel was back with Leo and someone else.
I stood up along with Mary and Tristan. They both looked at each other and then at me.
"What?" I asked.
Tristan smiled. "I can't wait for you to remember her. Plus if you think I'm charming, I wonder what you're gonna think of her."
"One! I don't think you're charming. And two who are you talking about?"
They both started for the door with a smirk on their lips. I followed after them and kept asking them what they were talking about. They only giggled and said, "you'll see."
As we walked in the kitchen two things caught my attention.
One: Leo and Gabriel were totally staring each other down.
And two: there was an absolutely stunning red head rolling her eyes at them.
Energy was rolling off of her like a wave but it didn't make sense. Was she an angel? Her eyes were the usual bright blue that angels had with just a hint of gold maybe? Her hair was a naturally flawless red with a slight twinge of brown that some girls would die for. Her skin was slightly pale and yet there was something about it that made it perfect.
Her face was heart shaped, her lips were full and pink and her smile was... Charming. Maybe she was in her early thirties? Maybe even late twenties.
Her quick eyes darted to me and they lit up. She grinned showing perfect white teeth and said, "Well look who crawled out from under a rock."
Even her voice was perfect for God's sake! She had a southern drawl that sounded not strong but enough to make it sweet and... Well freaking charming.
"How's it going darling? Seems like it's been years since I last saw you! All I've been hearing for the last month is, 'Lonny's back for her final change!' and 'Lonny's alive!' Gabriel's been comin' up north bragging about how different you are." She looked me up and down appreciatively. "He was right. You are different."
Something inside of me simmered. Not in a bad way but in a recognition way. So I asked, "What's your name?"
She smiled and walked around the island. "Excuse my bad manners. My names Brooke. And if you shake my hand, you'll find out exactly how you knew me."
She took my hand in hers and a snap of recognition coursed through me. Images of me on earth studying, training and working on my powers came to mind. She was my tutor.
"You tutored me?" I said aloud.
She smiled a dazzling smile. "That's right! They probably didn't mention me. Did y'all?"
Everyone coughed or mumbled their apology.
"That's what I thought." She drawled out. She let go of my hand. "I'm sure you have questions."
"Yeah!" I scoffed. "What are you?"
She smiled. "Now that is a frequently asked question. What made you ask? Was it my hair or eyes?"
"Both," I shrugged.
"I'm an angel sweetheart. And don't get me wrong I am a Pure. I'm a scholar. I haven't always been a red-head. I was a brunette in my previous life though."
I turned to Gabriel who was watching me curiously. "Then why are you a red-head."
"I can answer that," Leo spoke. "Brooke is a very rare soul. And one of the Oldest. She's unique in her own way. Within time, her hair seemed to have aged along with her. Age does that. You however, have been reborn more than six times. Even though your soul is old, your body isn't. Brooke has been in this world since the beginning of time. She's one of the First Ones. Along with you. Out of all of us, including Cameron, you have known her longer. Since the beginning."
I stared at her for a moment. I realized now that her hair was sort of like a light bronze. Like it was rust. It's like old age. Older people's hair went grey, but angels oddly went bronze. I was thinking maybe they would turn grey or silver.
As my eyes continued to touch the details on her face the recognition grew stronger. Hmm... She taught me everything I knew in my past lives. Her energy was strong, unbelievably strong in fact. I don't think anything could compare to it.
But she wasn't built to fight, if I remember correctly. She has the perfect figure, a height of 5"11 it looked like but she wasn't a fighter.
She was a teacher. That was her forté.
"How weird." I said aloud.
"That's what I said when my hair started changing colour," She winked and giggled. It was like music to my ears.
Gabriel walked around the island and twined our hands together. He paused a moment and stared down at me. His eyes narrowed and his head suddenly whipped around to Maryanne who was now eating a pack of potato chips. "What did you do? When I said train her I didn't mean beat the crap out of her until she's unable to walk."
My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to ask how he knew when Mary said, "She needs to learn. How else am I going to teach her without hurting her?"
"Pretty easily," Brooke noted with a laugh. She turned to Leo and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Leo lets roll. I'm in the mood for some jam filled doughnuts."
Leo was trying his best to hide his amused look. He nodded toward Gabriel, smiled at me, nodded at Tristan and sent Maryanne a shake of the head. Before Brooke left she engulfed me in a tight hug and gave me a peck on the cheek.
Tristan followed them out but Maryanne stayed in the kitchen.
As they both left, Gabriel wrapped his arms around my waist protectively. "You didn't need to be so harsh, Mary." He snapped. His body was hard and tensed as he stared at Mary from across the kitchen.
I rested against him willingly and wrapped my arms around his broad waist. "I'm fine. Tristan healed me. And I've learnt so much. Plus, when we have our little competition I might win." I said in a matter of fact voice.
His body relaxed and he leaned back to give me a smirk. "It's been a week you know. We should be having this match tonight."
I blinked and cleared my throat. "I don't think... I'm ready??"
He beamed down at me and kissed my lips. "I'll give you a little while longer then."
I nodded. "That's fine with me."
I heard Mary scoff and her retreating footsteps into the living room.
As soon as she left, Gabriel's lips softly landed on mine more passionately. If he wasn't careful, I would end up melting into a puddle on his kitchen floor.
He pulled away and rubbed his nose against mine. I giggled and returned the Eskimo kiss. "You're so corny,"
"You love it." He chuckled.
I smiled. "I love you."
His bright blue eyes turned into liquid. "I love you too. But your love will never compare to mine."
I tightened my arms around him. "Yeah, right. I'd do anything for you... I'd kill for you. I'd die for you. I'd---"
Tristan jumped into the kitchen and sung, "I'D CATCH A GRENADE FOR YA!! YEAAH YEAAH!! THROW MY HAND ON A BLADE FOR YA!!"
I took a deep breath and smiled at Gabriel briefly. "Permission to kill Tristan?"
"Permission granted."
And then I chased Tristan around the house until I finally pinned him down, after about an hour, on his front and buried his face in the carpet. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THAT SONG?!" I slapped him on the head.
"OUCH! Damn it!"
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(partially edited:2023)