Because she's been my best fan and actually read all of my stories. (Or she's at least liked at least one chapter of all of them and commented on some.) So thanks, you're awesome!
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The news flashed the story for the second time this morning. A mass poisoning in Chicago. Normally, murder in a big city wouldn’t be unusual enough to count as a sign but this was extreme. Thirty people dead, all women of the ages 20 to 30.
We were all squished into the small couch in front of the television, watching intently. Even Roma, who had no idea what was going on.
The reporters were discussing the issue now. The bodies had all been found in their homes, all within a 30 yard radius. The victim’s blood had contained high amounts of Carbon Monoxide, leading the reporters to believe that the victims had been gassed. They suspected that it had been the middle of the night and that there was gang involvement.
One news reported started to voice her opinion. “The evidence showed that the Carbon Monoxide was leaked into the houses through the ventilation systems. However, it’s still being looked into and it is inconclusive why only the women were affected.”
“If it was all through the houses, why’d only the women die?” Roma asked, looking back from David to Xavier.
Roma and Xavier had gotten here early this morning, as soon as Xavier had seen the news. Roma was wearing jeans and the ADTR shirt I’d bought for her and Xavier looked like he’d just thrown on his ripped jeans and black sweatshirt. His hair was still ruffled from sleep.
“It wasn’t.” I answered. “She didn’t have to filter it through the house to expose it to them. All she had to do was touch them. Carbon Monoxide, as well as Cyanide, is a favorite way of killing for her.”
“Who?” Roma asked.
I smiled at her sheepishly. I’d forgotten we hadn’t told her yet. “My mother, Fate. She–“
“Your mother’s name is Fate? That’s awesome!” She exclaimed, cutting me off.
I nodded, smiling. “Yeah, it is pretty cool. She named herself that because that’s what she brings on others, supposedly. She’d kind of like vigilante justice embodied. She kills whomever she deems bad enough to need to receive proper punishment. She says she’s just sealing their fate.”
“So why is it such a big deal that she did this? I mean, it’s horrible, but it must not be unusual for her.” Roma mused.
“It’s kind of a long story and I’ll have to start at the beginning.” I warned. She nodded, settling onto Xavier’s lap more comfortably.
“Fate met a guy, years ago, who was dying of cancer. Because he didn’t have more than a year left, he was doing all the things he’d wanted to when he was young. One of them was to steal and graffiti a train car. He stole it and she caught up to him as he was drawing on it. He was quite the artist.” I smiled at that. I’d gotten his skills. “She was a fallen angel who kept her powers. It was rare so she considered herself to be a God, worthy to dish out punishment to those who didn’t get proper justice.”
“However, she didn’t kill him. Whether she was intrigued by him or she pitied him, I don’t know. She let him live but stayed near him, watching him. Eventually, she fell in love with him. She got pregnant and stopped using her powers. She didn’t want to tell him and she wanted to protect the baby.”
“You?” Roma guessed. I nodded.
“She had me and then she and my father moved in together. Instead of dying that year, my father beat the cancer. He was completely cured. Being a free, healthy man didn’t do him good. He turned into a monster, one of the people she would have killed long ago. First, he started to come home late. He’d go out drinking and partying. Then she found out that he was having an affair with many whores and one girl from the office. When she confronted him, he hit her. After that, it was like her own personal hell. It could have been karma, coming back for all those times she put others through hell.”
I paused, thinking. “When I was five, I threw a tantrum over some toy and broke a vase. My father got angry and yelled something about a family of freaks and disappointments. He left and went out and picked up a whore. The police said she was performing oral while he ran a red light. The cars crashed head-on. He and the hooker both died, as well as the mother and her two daughters that were in the other car.”
Roma gasped and covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
I smiled and shook my head to show her that it wasn’t upsetting to me anymore. I hadn’t known him, I didn’t really miss him. I only missed the idea of having a father, not my actual one.
“Anyway, Fate blamed me. She tried to take care of me, to love me. When I was seven, she snapped. I’m not sure what did it. She hadn’t used her powers in years, not since she got pregnant, so it could have been that. When she left, she knew I couldn’t just be placed with another family so she tied me up and threw me into a dumpster.”
“Why couldn’t you stay with another family?” Roma asked, her eyebrows crinkling in confusion.
“I’m getting to that.” I grinned. I glanced at Xavier. I wasn’t really sure whether or not he knew anymore of this. “Fate kept her powers when she fell, therefore, when she gave birth, she passed the trait on. She didn’t have her grace but her children were still angels, even though she wasn’t.”
David cut in. “Normally, when an angel loses their grace, they become fully human. Since Fate did not, she was still able to pass the grace on to Alba. It’s rare but not impossible.”
Roma nodded, looking less confused but still slightly befuddled. “Before Fate left me, she made sure that I couldn’t survive. She took my grace. It’s not possible for someone to use another’s grace so she must just be keeping it with her. “
Roma nodded, staring at the TV, which was broadcasting a new story now. “So you’re trying to find her and get your grace back?” She asked.
I shook my head. “Yes, I want my grace back. But we already know where she is.” I gestured to the TV. “She’s in Chicago. She won’t be there long but we aren’t tracking her down yet, anyway. Fate’s killings are getting worse. A lot of people will die soon if we don’t stop her. She’s not just killing those who commit crimes. She’s just killing for the simple pleasure of being able to. She has to be stopped.”
“So why aren’t you there, stopping her now?” She asked.
“There was this woman, an angel who was gifted with visions. We talked to her and she told us more about Fate. Because Fate didn’t use her power at all for so long, it became bottled up inside her and then exploded into her once she started to use it again.She’s gotten even more powerful since then. There’s only one day a year that she’ll be truly vulnerable. The day that she lost her grace, it’s called her fallen anniversary, she became weaker. Every year, on that day, she becomes weak for 24 hours. It’s the perfect time to stop her. The problem is, we have no idea when that day is. The woman told us to watch for signs, like this.”
Xavier cut in this time. “This is the second sign, there will be three. The third is going to be the one we willgo on. It’ll be seven days before her fallen anniversary. It’ll be something big and dramatic, something that will be typical for Fate.” He explained.
“Like a mass killing?” Roma asked.
I shook my head. “You have to understand Fate. She gets pleasure out of tragedy, destruction. It’s not the killing, it’s the chaos.”
“Do we know when this sign is going to appear?” She asked.
David answered for me. “The last sign was a year and three months ago. The next one could be tomorrow or three years from now.”
She looked almost impassive. “Okay…do we at least know how to stop her and get your grace one we see the sign?”
No one answered.“Oh come on! You’re just going to rush in their completely blind?”
Xavier smirked, clearly not bothered by the idea. “We aren’t going to be completely blind. You forget that Alba’s her daughter. She’ll have a special connection with her or something. The vision angel said that Fate’s daughter will figure out how to kill her on the day that Fate dies. She won’t know until we actually get there.” He explained.
Roma didn’t look comforted. If anything, she looked paler. “You’re right, you’re not going blind. You’re going with your eyes closed.”
“We knew it would be dangerous from the start.” David said.
There was a pregnant silence for a minute before it clicked into Roma’s head. “You’re angels. You’re practically invincible. You shouldn’t be worried about some rogue fallen angel who thinks she’s God, you’ve dealt with that before! There’s something else.” She looked at Xavier as she said it, her eyes begging him to tell her.
He caved almost immediately. “The vision angel said that one of us is going to lose his grace. We don’t know who or how.”
I cut in, I couldn’t help it. “His? It could be me, too!”
David was shaking his head before I’d finished. “You don’t have your grace. You may get it back but it’ll take a bit before you can actually absorb it. You wouldn’t have it to lose in the first place.”
Roma looked shocked, to say the least. “And you’re still going to try and do it?” She demanded, looking mainly at Xavier.
Xavier shrugged, smirking. “I live for the thrills, baby.”
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Roma had been quiet all day. We’d all hung out until about two in the afternoon, when David and Xavier got called out on a mission.
Roma hadn’t said a word since then and I knew something was up.
“Why are you letting them go?” She demanded, as I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong.
“On the mission? I know they don’t usually go together, but they seemed pretty excited…”
She rolled her eyes. “No. Why are you letting David and Xavier help you with Fate when they could be risking everything?” She was nearly yelling.
I sighed. “I don’t want them to. I don’t even like the idea of David knowing about it at all, let alone risking his grace for this. And I never even told Xavier.”
She bit her lip. “He’s not going to listen to me but he might listen to you. I can’t lose him. If he loses his grace, he’ll go insane. There’s no way I can stand by and watch him be hurt like that.”
I nodded, understanding completely. “I get it, I do. I’d have already told David he couldn’t go with me if I could but…I need him. I hate that I’m risking him but I can’t do it without him.” I tried to explain it so she would understand. We’d just barely become friends, I didn’t want to ruin it so soon.
She smiled sadly. “I get it. But I can’t risk Xavier like that.”
I nodded. “I’ll talk to him.”
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Roma had, very unsubtly, suggested that she and David go get ice cream for all of us and then practically dragged him out of the house. He looked confused but Xavier seemed to know what was going on.
“Get me something chocolate.” He called to them as they left.
Once they were gone, he came into the living room and sat beside me on the couch, too close. “Hey, good lookin’.” He wiggled his eyebrows and used a fake Southern accent.
I just gave him a blank stare until he sighed and scooted away some, raising his hands defensively.
“Roma and I talked today.” I started. Another question popped into my head, distraction me from the original topic. “How is that going, by the way?”
He grinned broadly. “It’s good. She seems happier.” He paused and I was about to congratulate him. “And the sex is awesome.”
I pursed my lips and wrinkled my nose, not sure if I should still congratulate him or not.
“She gave me a lap dance to ADTR yesterday. Talk about epic.” He did the eyebrow thing again.
“As much as I love to hear about your fantastic sex life, I’ve got other things to discuss with you.” My voice came out somewhat disgruntled.
“Like your lack of physical relationship with David?” He asked, smirking. “Or lack of relationship at all, I should say.”
“What?” I stammered, completely off track now. “I don’t…I mean, why would we? We don’t even like each other. Just because we’re living together doesn’t mean we’re having sex.” I rambled, feeling like I was having ‘the talk’ with my dad. I think that would have been less embarrassing.
“You’re both completely, blindly in love and you know it. Just have sex and get over it.” He laughed.
I ignored him. “Roma talked to me today about you helping me.”
His face became a blank mask. “She doesn’t want me to help you.” It wasn’t a question.
“No, she doesn’t. She’s worried about you. You could lose your grace and she doesn’t want you to be hurt.”
He almost smiled. “I don’t want to lose my grace but that doesn’t mean that I won’t help you. I help my friends when they need it and I won’t let you two go alone. That would be suicide.”
I wanted to argue but I knew it was a lost cause. And a small part of me was kind of happy that he was going to stand by me.
He opened his mouth, smirking like usual, to say something but the door opened before he could. Roma came stumbling in, her nose bleeding.
“David’s in trouble."
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This one's kind of boring but a lot of people were wondering what was going on and I had to make an explanation chapter soon.
The next one will be more action and less description, I promise.
Comments and votes make me happy!
Also, I made a writer's guide for you guys, because you asked. I put the link in the external link. It's on my tumblr so you guys can go check that out. (: