Seraphina: Initiation (18 page)

He’s silent for a few seconds staring back
at me with his soulful blue eyes. Even though he never says a word
I can feel his emotions rising up inside him. He reaches out to
wipe the tear from my cheek and I feel his love for me, smell it,
taste it, his love is intoxicating. Before I can blurt out anything
else, he slides his hand out to my cheek, grabs my face, and kisses
me passionately. My heart begins to beat so loud I can feel it in
my ears. I reach my hand out to his chest and his heart seems to
match the speed of mine. I can feel the heat and passion emanating
from under where my hand touches his skin. His fingers find there
way into my hair as our tongues intermingle. It takes all the
strength I possess to finally pull away from his lips. I can’t even
look at him or I won’t be able to stop myself. I put my head back
on his chest and try to catch my breath again as I listen to the
beat of his heart slow as well. His hand reflexively lands on my
head before he starts running his fingers through my hair. Closing
my eyes I try and ignore what my senses are telling me. I try to
get my mind off his touch by thinking about something else.

“Nate…” I murmur against his chest.

“Yes Babe,”
Babe! He just called me
Babe!

“Do you ever think about what would happen
if I died? Would I go to Heaven?” I pause before another thought
comes to me, “… if I went to Heaven, where would
you
go if
you died?” I blurt out losing some inhibitions because my mind has
gone a little fuzzy from the wine.

“To be honest, I worry about that every
single day,” he whispers into my hair before kissing it softly.

The incessant ticking of the clock on my
mantle is what eventually wakes me out of my slumber. I blink a few
times silently taking in the linens draped around the posts of my
bed as well as the empty green chair next to the bed. It’s the
quietness that drives my mind insane. I didn’t realize the shield
would block
all
my dreams. I never knew what they meant to
me until I didn’t have them anymore. To be perfectly frank, I kind
of miss them. It’s boring and mundane without them, even for an
Angel. Hmm, maybe that’s my Angel superpower? My visions and I just
took them away. Ugh, I roll out of bed smacking my head and traipse
my way into the closet. This is why I need my dreams, otherwise the
quiet drives my mind insane. I wiggle out of my pajamas and kick
them into the corner before washing my face in the sink. I pause as
my reflection stares back at me. Now that I think about it, I
haven’t looked in a mirror since Lucifer sent me that not-so-subtle
message. Curiously, I watch the reflection staring back at me,
she’s so different. My hair is so red it can be confused with a
dark fuscia, my eyes are translucent like Nate’s only the lightest
hue of Amber glistens back at me. It’s my naked body that my eyes
gravitate to next. I stand straight up inspecting myself like I had
done only a few short weeks ago, only this time my body has
definition—muscles even. My curves are defined and lean, my skin is
pale and porcelain, flawless like Nate’s. Whoa, when did that
happen? Which makes me wonder… I’m walking towards the bureau in my
closet. Since I look pretty Angelic now, what would I look like in
this thing? I ponder pulling the black suit off the hanger and
holding it up to my body. I zip into it and it fits perfectly. Like
a glove it hugs all my curves in all the right places. I turn in
front of the full length mirror by my shoe wall. The material is
perfect, it’s durable, but I can move effortlessly in it. To test
it I spin into a high kick, throw a few air punches before I’m
satisfied. Checking myself out, the suit suits me, I chuckle at my
internal cleverness. Something seems out of place though, maybe
it’s my hair down my back. It looks ridiculous. So I decide to
twirl it up into a bun, but as I look around I have nothing to hold
it with, I reach over and grab two thin knives and stick them
through my hair like chopsticks. Something’s still not right, I
feel kind of naked, my straps are all empty of weapons. Purely for
my own amusement, I start strapping in knives, daggers and I strap
a large sword to my back and I even conjure two pistols and slide
them under my belt. Twirling around at the finished product, I
wonder what Amanda would think of me now. I epitomize Combat
Barbie. I look pretty badass. I have to show Nate! I think
excitedly as I’m already on my way downstairs.

I skip down the stairs two at a time and
into the dining room. Slowing only when I see him standing in the
middle with his back to me staring strangely out the window before
him. He turns feeling me approach and his already grave face turns
white yet again, I’m starting to hate that look.

“Sera, what made you put that on?” he asks
me anxiously.

“Uh, I don’t know, I couldn’t find anything
to wear so I decided to try this ol’ thing on.” I admit, “Don’t you
like it?” I flirt, spinning around for him, not grasping the
seriousness in his tone.

“Sera, something is wrong, tell me what you
sense,” he instructs and I close my eyes. Opening my senses out
past the shield. My mind slowly begins to make them out, hundreds
of red eyes staring back at me from the shadows of the forest. My
senses pick them up all around me like an alarm blaring in my head.
How could I have missed that? How could I have been so distracted I
didn’t stop to process anything outside of my little bubble?
Because now, he’s brought them here, to our house—his army of
possessions.

“Nate…” I whisper not having the words.

“How bad?” he asks me as if he doesn’t trust
his own senses.

“Bad, they have us surrounded.” I raspily
choke out.

“We don’t have to fight, they can’t get to
us in the house it’s protected, but once we go outside…”

“Nate! They are never going to stop. I’m not
going to be a prisoner in my own house for the rest of my life. I’m
not going to cower in a corner while they build up an army to
destroy me. Let’s put an end to this now!” I swipe my hand as I
finish indicating their eradication.

Admiring my spirit he hides a smile as he
nods to me. I let him run down to the basement to change and stock
up his arsenal. When he comes back up, tosses me a few more guns
before I really take in his black suit and I find myself blushing
slightly. These suits leave very little to the imagination. The way
the fabric clings to his abs make me turn to face the front door.
Before I can take a step he links his hand in mine and leans over
to place a soft kiss on my lips.

“What ever happens, I want you to know
that—”

“No, don’t tell me now,” I interrupt placing
a finger to his lips, “I will not jinx anything, Give me something
to look forward to,” I state as I open the door and step out onto
the porch with Nate right at my side.

Standing hand in hand on the porch, I can’t
see anything beyond the trees, but I can sense that it’s there. My
senses are on high alert. Once I walk through the protection of the
shield I’m immediately hit with it. I can sense the evil, that vile
smell overwhelms me, and leaves me with a disgusting taste in my
mouth. Shaking it off, I confidently climb down the porch steps and
wait for them to make the first move. I turn my head as I extend my
senses, there’s so many of them and I can feel each and everyone. I
also feel nature repulse around them, they are inhuman, unnatural
and Mother Nature doesn’t want them here either. As soon as I have
both feet on the grass, I can hear what sounds like a million
footsteps of people charging at us. This is it, all my training and
preparing has come to this. It’s my graduation, my initiation into
being and Angel.

They finally come into view as they charge
out of the tree line. Dumbfounded when I see, they are all people,
the missing people, with zombie-like faces and red eyes. All are in
various stages of dress, like they had been stolen from their
homes, beds, and even offices. Some move like robots, while others
progress on all fours like animals. It finally hits me: I have to
kill regular people, my people. These are humans, husbands,
mothers, and even children. That’s how Lucifer plans on hitting me
in my heart. Before I can think any further the possessed are
running across our vast front yard now. I see what looks like an
explosion burst out from the ground as their feet touch it, almost
as if they had stepped on a mine, only it’s not fire power. It’s
white and appears to be pure power. I glance over at Nate and he’s
staring too until another explosion bursts my eardrums to the left
and the possessions scream and writhe in pain until they collapse
dissolving into the ground. My ears are still ringing when I hear
another explosion come from behind the house. We stand our ground
until they are infiltrating their way through more blasts of power.
I stare still partially in shock as dirt is falling all around us
before they begin to filter in from behind us as if they came from
the cliff itself. I give Nate one last look as I squeeze his hand
in a wordless expression of love before letting his fingers slip
through mine and grab a gun at my waist.

I bring the pistol up and fire off a few
rounds towards the oncoming attackers. Direct hits all of them
slump to the ground as more red-eyed people hop over them to get to
us. I continue to shoot until the gun clicks that it’s empty and I
let it fall to the ground. The front line of attackers are upon me
now, only about five feet away. I blink a few times, but my mind is
blank. I don’t seem to remember my training. I watch as the faces
of people I saw flash across Nate’s television screen are staring
back at me like monsters. One of them is my old Kindergarten
teacher, another runs the bakery in town, my fellow Anglicans are
being put to use against me. My very own fears staring straight
back at me with crimson eyes and hungry disfigured faces.

“Sera!” I vaguely hear my name called, but I
don’t acknowledge it. I jump only when a shot is fired. It finally
wakes me out of my trance as I turn to see a teenager slump to his
knees on my side as the bullet wound leaks blood down his nose. I
turn to see Nate lowering is gun, “Sera?! Are you okay?!” he tries
again. I glance down as the kid disappears into the ground before
my mind finally returns. These are no longer my people—they are not
of this world now. I raise my head as I see a man in a suit
approaching me first. My hand automatically reaches down, grabs a
knife from my thigh before throwing it smack into the middle of his
forehead. Like I’m on autopilot a dagger appears in my hand just as
I throw it at a woman lunging for me. Her body disappears and my
eyes are met with the red ones of a child. I almost don’t want to
believe it. A child?! It’s the little girl that acts first wielding
numb chucks like she is a ninja. I can’t seem to look at her as I
reach for the gun on the backside of my belt and fire. I sense her
fall, but thankfully I don’t have to think long because I’m faced
with another set of scarlet eyes. I twist under the arms pointing
knives at me and grab them, spinning him around to stab him in the
back with a dagger I pulled from my sleeve. Like one of my dreams,
I’m gliding and ducking with such grace and poise it’s like a
dance. As I move from one advance I spin into a stab or a kick
toward another. There are so many, I stop trying to make out faces,
age, or gender—they are all enemies to me now. I surprise even
myself at how well I actually fight. I find myself anticipating
every movement, every attack. I’m able to deflect and I’m actually
kicking ass. I glance back to see Nate making progress too, that’s
when I spot a person trying to come up behind him.

Nate!
My mind screams in terror as
one of my hands has a woman in a chokehold and I have no time to be
verbal. He looks up at me as if he heard me and is trying to figure
out what the hell I just did. Without thinking, I reach for one of
the knives in my hair with my free hand, pull it out, and throw it.
It hits the oncoming attacker between the eyes. Only then does Nate
turn around to see my handiwork as the possession falls to the
ground with my chopstick sticking out of both sides of his head.
Turning back to flash me a proud smile when he see’s what his
training has done. I send him a wink and look down to crack the
woman’s neck in my hands.

Behind you!
I hear Nate in the back
of my mind. I spin into a kick and throw the attacker clean over a
few others and into the vast crowd.

Are we doing what I think we are
doing?
I mentally ask into the universe, but he respond with a
slight nod.
I’m going to regret doing this, aren’t I? Blonde—Ten
O’clock!
I quickly whisper back to his mind before he twirls
into a roundhouse kick that sends the possessed head rolling into
the dirt.

Are you going to talk all day or do you
plan on killing some attackers? OR do I have to handle them all
myself?
He asks my mind pulling a knife from someone’s back
before bringing it into someone else’s jaw and through the top of
their skull.

Oh really?!
I smirk before grabbing
five throwing stars from my secret zipper in my arm, I bend
slightly before swinging my arm letting each star lodge itself into
the faces of a line of attackers in front of me before turning back
to wink again. Without a word he turns to the crowd forming in
front of him and extends his hands like I would, only what shoots
out of his hands isn’t pure white power, it’s flaming fire. Like a
blowtorch, fire extends from his hands lighting the possessed on
fire. They scream in pain before sizzling to ash and floating away
with the wind.