Chapter 5 - Names Beginning With ‘S’
“You are the last good soul among us.” Andy offered me his hand.
“After what she’s done…” an eerie voice trailed off and everyone froze. “You must be joking…”
“Solomon…” Andy said gravely as he pulled me to my feet. “I wasn’t expecting you here…”
“Many seldom do.” I shivered at the eerie voice as I turned and beheld the devil man I only partially remembered. He nodded towards me, smirking. “Gabriella… long time, no see… much to your benefit I think…don’t you think, boys?” he smiled cruelly at the angels behind me. “Still cowering behind your fallen warrior I see, but no matter, no matter, things will change shortly.
“Over my dead body.” Andy snarled as he stepped up beside me.
“Careful Biersack,” Solomon said with a dark, sinister chuckle. “Someone might get ideas. And this time…she might not be so lucky…”
“You won’t touch her.” Andy sneered, twirling the sword in his hand cruelly.
“Careful, Fallen!” Solomon hissed. “My patience wears thin…” his wicked smile returned as he turned his gaze on me again. “And you wouldn’t want to lose her again, would you?” he cackled as I frowned, addressing me as one would a small child. “Oh, did the nasty old Elders steal memories from you? Give you a different life only to have it crumble around you?” he straightened, his voice turning hard and cold. “You’re not the one pulling the strings anymore, Gabriella…” he trailed off as his image began to fade away before me. “And you won’t have the strength to do what you did before… not again…” and then, he was gone.
“We need to get out of here.” Ashley stated blankly as Andy pulled me close to him.
I scoffed. “And go where?! The city is rubble!”
“We know a place.” Jinxx replied calmly.
Andy took my hand, leading me, “Come…” he smiled, though his eyes were sad. “They’re waiting for us…”
I frowned slightly. “Who?”
Andy’s smiled turned maliciously happy, and his voice made my stomach churn as he replied, “The Worthy…”
***
I looked up at the collapsed building turned semi-manmade cave, frowning as I saw a mark etched into part of the concrete. I ran my fingers lightly over the mark, my voice barely audible. “I did this…”
“How do you know that?” Ashley asked animatedly beside me.
I cocked my head to one side as I narrowed my eyes at the mark. “I just do…it’s…it’s a feeling I can’t shake.
“No, I mean, you’re right. You did make that mark…but I didn’t think that part of your memory had returned yet…” Ashley trailed off. “Why would that be coming back…now…oh!” I looked at him as he smacked himself in the head in realisation.
“What?” I raised an eyebrow at him as the others stepped past us into the darkness.
“This is where you fell…well…more like landed…” Ashley explained. “Meaning…the crater that makes up the caves under here…” he trailed off.
“I did that…” I made a face at the ground briefly before looking back to the mark, frowning. “Doesn’t finding the symbol of an angel’s landing restore…well…everything…supposedly…”
“If we knew where that mark was burnt into the ground…then…yeah, maybe.” Ashley shrugged.
“More like definitely.” I heard Andy butt in as I felt his hand wrap around mine.
“If we knew where it was.” Ashley raised an eyebrow at Andy as I looked up at him.
“He does.” Jinxx continued somewhere in the darkness.
“Well…why not go there first?!” I gaped. “I could’ve done this but you turned me into a half drowned rat instead? What’s the deal?”
“This…will hurt…” Andy grimaced. “The thought of you in more pain…” he shuddered.
“Don’t care.” I made a face as I shook my head. I cupped Andy’s cheek gently and made him meet my eyes. “I accept what happened. I know what I’m missing. I want my life back…” I smirked wickedly. “And a chance to kick Solomon’s butt back into the fiery pits of Hell!
Andy grinned and grabbed me, pressing his lips against mine briefly and leaving me slightly dazed; winking as he took both my hands in his and led me gently into the dark of the cave. “That’s my girl…”
***
“I made…that…big hole in the ground?” I stared, wide-eyed, at the large crater in the ground that took up the majority of the underground cavern.
“Yup.” Jake replied, making a ‘pop’ sound as he said the ‘p’.
“There’s no way I did that!” I squeaked. “If I did that then I should be dead right now.” I deadpanned, looking back at Jake and Jinxx briefly before looking over the edge, sighing as I looked out into the middle of the crater at the burned symbol that marked my landing on Earth.
“And yet,” CC sighed with a smile. “Here you are.”
“And now you need to go down into the huge crater…” Jake continued sarcastically. “And step into the circular symbol burned into the rock so the Angel within you will remember and return.”
“Um…how?” I asked just as sarcastically. “It’s a big hole…in the ground…with a sheer drop…”
“Jump? Slide down on your ass?” Ashley pursed his lips. “Frankly, don’t mind how, as long as you do it… and soon.”
“Ease up.” Andy chided him as he stepped down a little into the crater, finding his footing before looking back at me and holding out his hand. “We can’t fly in here… so… this is the only way down.”
“You holding my hand the whole way is the only way down?” I smirked as I let him help me down, shaking my head and chuckling softly every time he grabbed onto me if I unbalanced slightly.
“I’ll take any form of close contact to be honest.” Andy replied, flashing me a cheeky smile that made butterflies form in my stomach… and then do summersaults as well!
“After how that kiss felt, I’m not surprised.” I muttered, blushing when I realised he’d heard me.
“That good, huh?” he chuckled, his voice a low, sexy growl. I bit my lip and looked away as we continued down. “Tell me later… we’re here…” he trailed off and I stopped, the burned symbol barely three feet down from us. “This is as far as I dare go… until you’ve regained yourself, I dare not step there.”
“Right then…” I swallowed as I stepped down, my breathing quickening as Andy’s hand slipped from mine and I stopped by the circular symbol burned into the bedrock. “Here goes…” I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the place I’d once landed. I turned back, looking back at them all. “Well? Nothing’s-” the cavern shook, cutting off my sentence…and then it stopped. “Okay… that was-” I cried out in shock as shadowy figures with wings appeared and flew around me, the circular symbol glowing as a dark mist closed around me. I fell to my knees, covering my ears against their keening cries; drowning out the others shouts. Suddenly, everything inside the circle went quiet and something in my mind shifted, my eyes flying open as the mist and the shadow figures began to dissipate. I remembered.
‘Gabriella,’ a voice echoed inside my head, ethereal and commanding. ‘Look up…’
As the mist cleared more I stood, my eyes closed, and reached up; the handle of my old sword falling into my waiting hand. I felt my eyes flash dangerously as I looked up at the others from under my lashes.
“Ella…” Andy asked, taking a tentative step towards me. “Ella baby…is that you?”
“Oh, yeah baby,” I let a soft, familiar chuckle pass through my lips as I twirled my sword in my hand dangerously. “I’m back in the game.”
***
I looked out over the sea of survivors in the safe haven my fellow angels had created for them, my eyes curious. “These are your Worthy?”
“They’re our followers…our army if you will.” Ashley smirked.
“What do you call yourselves?” I asked the group closest to us as we ushered them into the hiding place.
“We are your army.” A young woman smiled at me and I smiled back. “We are the Black Veil Brides…”
“I like it…” I stood on an old crate.
“Members of the BVB Army!” I smiled triumphantly as they all turned to look back at us. “Too long have you walked in the shadows unable to be unafraid of the darkness… Too long have you feared for your lives and been told there was nothing to be done about it!”
“We will always be there!” Ashley joined in.
“Like we are here now!” Jake smiled through narrowed eyes as a cheer rose up into the cavern.
“Fighting for you!” Andy took my hand and squeezed it.
“Rise up! For a Saviour will always be there for you!” I smiled as they raised our fists into the air in sync and the cheer from the group got louder. “And we will fight for you…” I raised my sword into the air, the blading glinting cruelly in the light. “So we can free you from this waking nightmare!”
“But we cannot do it alone!” Jinxx called out as well. “Believe is us! Believe… in your Saviour!”
***
It was the night before the final battle for humanity, and uncertainty ran, rank, through everyone around me. I sat beside a young mother and her son, making sure they were okay and comfortable enough to sleep; just as I had done for so many others I’d lost count.
“Hey…” I jumped as I heard Ashley speak softly behind me. “Sorry… Andy was looking for you… he thinks you should rest.”
“Oh, okay, thanks Ash.” I whispered back, a smile gracing my features as I stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You should get some rest too.” He scoffed. “Angels may not need to sleep… but they need rest to be at their best fighting potential.” He nodded and I hugged him briefly before I left.
Chances were… I may not be able to do that again.
***
I paused in the doorway to the small, secluded room I’d found Andy in. I saw the small bed in the corner and smiled, without my wings… I still needed sleep… and even that bed looked good right now.
I walked up behind Andy and wrapped my arms about his waist, pressing a tender kiss against his shoulder. “Are the stars talking to you?”
“Our fallen comrades.” Andy sighed as he turned in my arms and pressed a loving kiss to my forehead. “This could be our last night together…” Andy said sadly as he ran his hands down my arms. “I just wish our last reunion wasn’t so… wretched…”
“But whoever said tonight had to be wretched?” I smiled sweetly and leant up on tip-toe, my lips a hairs-breadth away from his as I whispered, “When it could be divine…” I pressed my lips firmly to his and, with a strangled moan, let the world fall away as he lifted me into his arms… and carried me to the bed...
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PS: can you tel me every reference I made in this chapter? ;D
Bet you can't! ;)