+ Razi’s POV +
“Razi,” my cousin says for the fifth time. I look up from fiddling with the new iPhone4 that the humans were raving for. Even I had to admit I was getting hooked onto that thing.
“What?” I snap. The angels all glance at me and I glare at them in turn.
He narrows his eyes at me. At 29,000 years older than me, it made him the eldest out of our family. Actually, he was my only family I had left. Being my cousin, I thought he enjoyed being a pain in my ass; that was why I have my usual attitude. He actually looks like any blonde-haired, gray-eyed hottie you see on a magazine cover. I personally don’t see it. “What do you think?”
“You know Cuz, I wasn’t really paying attention. I don’t know why you make me attend these boring meetings.” I fiddle with the phone, and then I get frustrated and slap it onto the table. My cousin didn’t look surprised that I had it; he was expecting me to be occupied by something else while they went over seemingly important news and laws.
“Then let me repeat myself. Again.” My cousin brushes his hair back with one hand. “In favor of both myself and the angels of the council, Razi, you will have to marry in the next month. What-“
“WHAT??” I stand up. My chair scrapes against the tile floor. “Why?”
“Because it will teach you responsibility. Something you have been lacking since you took your father’s throne.” My cousin responds. “What species you choose is up to you.” he continues as if I wasn’t gearing up electric fireballs in my hand.
One of the angels, Gabby I think her name was, places a hand on my shoulder. Her hand was warm, like almost everything was to me. “It is not so bad.”
“So bad?!” I snap with so much venom that she shrinks back from me. “What the hell is wrong with you guys? Do you honestly think that any guy would want me?”
Another angel spoke up. “You are a very attractive young lady. You have that innocent look for a woman who looks all of twenty.”
“That’s practically bull,” I yelled in her direction. “No guy has ever come that close to me except for Markus and assholes that I don’t care about!”
“That is enough!” my cousin stands up. I cower slightly from his Power with my canines bared at him, a natural reflex. “They can love you. And someone will.”
“Yeah, right,” I exclaim bitterly as I stretch out my blood-red wings. “If I’ve practically been here since the dawn of time I would’ve thought by now that I would know ‘that special someone’. You can’t tell me what to do,” I flap my wings. Turning around, I dive into the crater that led to my domain.
“One month,” my cousin shouts down the hole. I snarl in response and fold my wings together to gain more speed so I could get away from his kingdom faster. Not five minutes into flight I hear another set of flapping wings.
“How was the meeting?” Markus swoops down from his perch on the metamorphic rock and glides next to me.
“Were you waiting for me?” I ask.
“Yeah. It’s boring without you to get us in some sort of trouble every now and then,” Markus jokes, but I sense a small hint of truth. “So, again, how was the meeting?”
My smile vanishes as I think again of my deadline. “Horrible.”
Markus circles around me once, “Very descriptive.” he says dryly. Oh, Markus, I shake my head. He really knew how to want to make me laugh and throttle him at the same time.
“Silence. I know that’s not good.” he flies in front of me cutting me off. His jet-black bangs covered his left blue eye. His other one was staring at me. “What happened?”
I look up at his eyes. I saw kindness, curiosity, concern, and a little sparkle of his teasing personality.
“It’s nothing Markus. Really; I’m fine.”
He gives me a knowing look; “I know you better than that, Razi.” he said but didn’t push me. This was good because I didn’t feel like bringing it up again.
“I’m tired,” I mumble as we both hear yelling. Someone barges out of my apartment with something in his hand. I see sandy-brown hair. Mark. That’s it; I’m going to kill him. Plain and simple. Along with Idiot #1 was the rest of his crackhead gang. They held bats and bags of my stuff. They were trashing my place!
“HEY!” my voice echoed off the rocks, causing them to shake a bit. I dive toward my place. Markus followed closely behind, although he was not as fast as me. Mark looks up and locks eyes with me. He saw the fire in them from over a mile away. “OH SH*T!!” he yells. His groupies hear him and fly off in all directions, leaving the ass by himself. Obviously he recognizes me because after his shout he didn’t hesitate to take off. Markus shoots past me after him. I however barge into my apartment to see the damage. My door, for one, had been ripped off its hinges. The sheets of my bed were shredded. The lamp had been broken against the floor. Someone had punched the wall. Glass was littered everywhere. Quickly I checked the cabinet under the sink in my bathroom. I pulled out an empty plastic bag from the scattered and turned over shampoo and conditioner bottles. “God dammit!” I throw the bag on the ground. The thieves got what they came for, and now I was broke. I let out a strangled sob. Where was the picture? I had to at least have the picture. If they stole that too they would be dead the next time I saw them. I spot the edge of the frame under my bed. I carefully pulled it out and saw my parents smiling up at me. The picture was bent and ripped on the top right corner, but other than that the picture was intact.
I ran outside with that picture in my hand. I sat on the step and without my consent; a tear sprung up and slid down my cheek. I had nowhere else to go now. My apartment was trashed, and who knows what chemicals those idiots dumped everywhere. I couldn’t live in it now. I cover my head with my arms. By now I let those tears fall even though I had sworn that I would never cry again. I had been six at the time and I had been able to keep that promise. That is, until now.
I hear wind coming closer to me but I don’t mind it. That is, until I heard, “Razi?”
I look up toward the voice. Markus’s face became concerned. He took one look at the apartment and then said to me in a low voice, “Come with me. You’re staying at my place tonight, okay?”
I could only nod and stand up. He takes off and I follow quietly. His apartment wasn’t far; we only had to fly a couple of stories. He unlocked the door and coaxed me inside.
“Here,” he hands me his phone. “I’ll go get us a drink, yeah? You call whoever you want. I’ll be right back.” he walks into the kitchen. Two minutes later, he comes back out with two glasses half full of wine. I was still staring at the phone, tears again threatening to spring up.
“Why aren’t you calling?” he asks softly.
“I don’t have anyone,” I whisper.
“No one? Aunts, Uncles, Nephews?”
There was no way in hell that my only cousin was going to help me; he had problems of his own. “No one,” my voice sounded close to breaking.
“Oh. I guess you’re not calling, are you?” he said quietly. I let out another sob and he immediately tries to hush me, “Please, Razi, it’ll be alright. I promise. Just please, please, stop crying,” he says. I don’t think he’s ever seen me cry before. Or any girl, for that matter.
I nod and will myself to stop. “Just one night. I’ll leave tomorrow, I promise.”
“No, it’s okay.” Markus takes the phone and puts it back. “Stay as long as you want. Here,” he spreads out a blanket and hands me a pillow. “How about you get some sleep, okay?”
I nod again and climb onto the couch. He walks into what I assumed was the bedroom and shuts the door, “Goodnight.”
I close my eyes tightly, as if I could make the problem vanish as if it’s never happened.
They can love you. And someone will. My cousin’s voice rings through my ears.
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