Rebirth - The Beautiful Fallen Read online

  By then, the waitress was coming back. She looked over at Will in surprise, then asked him if he needed to order as well. “I’ll just take a coffee. Thanks.” He said, giving her that same charming smile. I actually saw the woman blush slightly as she turned her head away from him and took our orders. Once she was done, she quickly walked away. Looking back at the two of them, I had to ask about what they had been referring to. “So, what exactly are these things you were fighting?”

  I really was expecting to hear about something like what Chris had fought, or maybe that woman I’d seen. I had a feeling that our kind probably fought with a lot of things like that. And Chris had said before that they tended to be attracted to our power. That was probably why Chris tended to watch around us like he did. He didn’t want anything like that surprising us.

  “Well my dear, you may not like the answer.” Will admitted.

  “Trust me, I’ve heard enough right now that it would just be another thing to add to the list.” I assured him.

  “Very well.” Will replied. “Angels.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I said in disbelief, although I somehow managed to keep my voice down. “Why in the world would angels be hunting us?”

  “You expected any less? You know where we come from. We’re not exactly considered holy.” Chris said.

  “I know that. But we didn’t exactly ask to be born this way either.” I argued.

  “Try explaining that to them. They don't give you much of a chance to.” Chris replied.

  Will just shook his head, looking like he was in disbelief. “Honestly Chris, you have no way with women at all, do you? I know you were taught more manners then what you’re showing her.” He scolded him.

  “And what do manners have to do with any of this?” Chris asked him. “None of it means anything anyway when you’re being hunted. And especially when the girl sitting by you is the daughter of one of those on the top of one of their most hated lists. You and I both know that all too well. We’ve lived with the same shit for years from them.”

  Will wasn’t put off though. “Well, there’s no reason to act like an ass to me or her right now. And it’s not her fault that it’s all starting again, and there’s nothing more we can do about it. For now, what you should be thinking about is offering at least a little bit of comfort to a world in turmoil. I’ll assume I’m correct in saying such a thing.” He said, looking back over at me.

  “No kidding. I always knew I was different, but I wasn’t exactly expecting all of this.” I admitted.

  “Well, Saffron did go to great lengths to keep you safe and sound all of these years. I was rather surprised myself when none of us could figure out where he had hid you. It’s not something typical for us. But then again, it was also a good thing, because they couldn’t locate you either, or even confirm that you even existed.” Will explained.

  “Well, he apparently did plan me. So maybe he was planning ahead on this stuff too.” I reasoned. I thought about the pictures still in my coat pocket. Honestly, him planning ahead on everything was the only thing that made sense to me with all the things he’d done up until he’d disappeared. Saffron had to have known all along that the ones like us were often hunted. Maybe that was why he’d stirred me towards Chris with that dream. He wanted me here with him, and others like us.

  But as I looked back over at Chris again, I saw that something outside had caught his attention. He glanced back over at us, slowly standing back up. “Hey, stay here with Will for a minute. I need to check something out.” He told me quietly.

  “Hey, are you sure about doing that alone?” Will asked him, although he was keeping his voice low as well.

  “I can handle it. Just stay put and make sure she’s safe. I'll be back.” Chris replied, walking back outside.

  “Is he going to be okay by himself?” I had to ask. I hadn’t forgotten about what I’d seen earlier. Even though they were healing, those had been some pretty nasty wounds on his shoulder and chest.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about him. Chris knows how to handle himself very well. He’s been doing it on his own for quite a while now, and I assure you, he’s very strong when it comes to fighting.” Will said.

  “I guess you’ve known him for a long time now, huh?” I noted.

  Will smiled. “You could say that. We’ve been what I like to call friends for quite a while. Although I’m not too sure it would be something I could say in front of a lot of others. They might think it’s a form of blasphemy or something like that.” He admitted.

  There it was again. It almost sounded like the others bowed to Chris somewhat. “Why would they think that? You said something about Chris being a leader before. What did it mean?” I asked.

  “Just what I said.” Will replied. “I suppose I can say it while he’s not around, considering he apparently doesn’t want it said out loud or around you for whatever reason. Christoff is probably the most powerful of our kind, as well as one of the oldest now. He’s considered to be our prince because of it.”

  Oh my God, you have to be kidding me, I thought. Now I was majorly out of my league if I decided that I might have actually liked him. He was considered royalty in their world. Well, our world when I considered myself. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but think about what had happened to him the night before. “Well, you guys really have some way of protecting what you call your royalty. He’s all bandaged up from fighting some monster last night.” I told him.

  “Again?” Will said, his beautiful face faltering a little now. “How many times to we have to tell him not to go after those things alone? One of these days he’s not going to come back.”

  As I watched, he got himself back up. “Come on. I think it might be better if we stepped out there and checked.” He said, offering a hand to help me up. I nodded and quietly took it, then followed him outside. The parking lot looked the same as we stepped out there though. I looked around, but didn’t see a sign of Chris anywhere. Where in the world could he have gone?

  Will looked around, his gaze finally stopping as he looked towards the woods near us. Suddenly, I heard a strange sound, almost like a screeching bird. It was very brief though. After another moment, Chris came walking back out from that spot. He didn’t look too happy to see us out there though. “Didn’t I tell you to wait in there?” he said, glaring slightly at Will.

  “I would, but considering I’ve heard that you're apparently still hurt, I thought that this was a little bit reckless.” Will replied. He definitely wasn’t backing down. In fact, he looked pretty mad at him.

  Chris just shrugged it off though. “It was nothing that bad out here. Only a spy. And that was easily taken care of. Besides, they came here following your trail. But I took care of it.” He said.

  “Guess I can’t say that much to that one. But you’re still recovering.” Will said as we walked back in and back to our booth once again. He gave him a more stern look as we sat down though. “So, tell me, how bad were the injuries this time?”

  Chris let out a long breath. “I didn’t think you’d give this one up. But you know it takes a lot more than some simple cuts to slow me down. It was only some scratches from a Shade. Besides, I’m healing fine. They’ll probably be gone completely by tonight.” He answered.

  “Honestly Chris, why do you insist on doing these things? One of these days you’re going to end up losing for good.” Will told him.

  “Well, we’ll just have to see about that then won't we?” Chris said.

  By then, our food was coming. I’ll be the first to say that I’d never been more grateful to have something to eat by then. I hadn’t gotten any breakfast, and I was starving. I really didn’t feel that odd either that I was sitting there with two guys I barely knew, eating and talking like old friends. Somehow, the whole thing almost felt… natural. I couldn’t explain why that was. Maybe I was just getting used to being around Chris now. And maybe Will just felt like someone who was nice to be around. It was all I would be abl
e to reason at that time.

  But walking back out of the diner, Will brought the attention back to the matter at hand that we were currently facing. “You know Chris, it might be better if you kept a lower profile now when getting out of here. That’s the third spy I’ve seen in the last two hours. No doubt they’re keeping tabs on us now.” He said quietly.

  “You don’t think they know that I have her yet, do you?” Chris asked him.

  “I can’t imagine how they’d get that information so quickly. It’s not like they’ve been monitoring things with Saffron recently. They know he’s trapped again, so he’s been the least of their concerns.” Will said.

  “I guess you have a point there.” Chris agreed.

  “Either way, I think that your best bet now would be to go the roundabout way to Baton Rouge. Stay on the back roads whenever you can. They’ll be watching the major highways, and no doubt it would give them easy access to make something look like a tragic accident.” Will said.

  “Yeah, I got it. You know I hate a lot of traffic anyways. But I’ve got to make sure to get some stuff for her too. I’ve already taken her away from that town as fast as I could, and she doesn’t really have anything else with her besides the clothes on her back.” Chris told him.

  Will gave him a very sour look then. “Honestly now, how do you expect our young lady here to be any kind of comfortable like that?” he asked him.

  “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it. And that’s where I can use your help. You can pick up the things she needs and bring them to us.” Chris said.

  “You can't be serious…” Will started.

  “Of course I am.” Chris interrupted. “You can get past them a lot easier than I can. They know me too well now, and I don’t need to put her in anymore danger then what she already is. So you’ll go out and buy the things she should need until we get to Baton Rouge. Then I can take care of the rest there. But for now, I’ll send you the information on where we’re staying and we'll meet there.”

  Will crossed his arms at that one. “And what makes you think that I’m willing to go out and buy women’s personal things?” he challenged.

  “Don't you remember? You’ve always claimed to be better with them then me. And it would go against everything that you claim you are to leave a girl stranded.” Chris countered, looking equally as stubborn.

  I couldn’t help but wonder now just what in the world I was getting myself into as I watched those two staring each other down. But I knew I’d better say something too. This seemed to be turning into a real standoff. “Will, I’m sorry. But can you please do this for me? It would really help.” I said, putting on the most pleading look I had. May as well play my looks to my advantage for once in my life.

  “I don’t think I need to order you after that.” Chris told him, actually looking a bit triumphant now.

  Will frowned in defeat. “All right then. I’ll do it. How can I say no to a face like that?” He conceded.

  At that, Chris pulled the bike up again and got on. “Thanks Wilhelm." he smirked. "I know we can trust you to get the right things. I’ll send you a message in a few hours.”

  “Cut that out. You know I hate when you do that.” Will snapped back. He looked away from him swiftly and helped me to get on the back of the bike. “But fine. I’ll make sure to get everything she’ll need for the rest of the trip. Just keep her safe.”

  “What about my size?” I asked him. It had suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t told him any of that. I hadn’t even told him what kind of clothes I liked.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure I get the right things for you. Just leave it all to me.” Will assured me.

  But I didn’t feel that confident as we said our goodbyes and rode off. I made sure to tell Chris so. “Are you sure he'll get it right? Will didn’t even get my sizes or anything.” I said.

  “Trust me, he’ll know what to get just by being around you for the short time he was. Will has a keen sixth sense for that kind of stuff. He’s worked in the fashion business for years now and been pretty successful because of it.” Chris replied.

  Well, that was interesting. Apparently Will had a kind of career. I wondered how he did it without anyone noticing that he didn’t age. But I found the thoughts being pushed aside to the back of my mind too as we rode out to another highway. There was no choice but to do it for now. I just hoped that we’d get to Baton Rouge soon. I wasn’t that comfortable about this now that I knew that something could come after us and cause a massive accident just to get rid of us.

  Thankfully, our ride remained quiet for the most part. As the sun began setting, Chris finally decided that it was time to stop for the night. He’d admitted to me that morning before we left that he wasn’t too keen on driving at night. On a motorcycle, that could get dangerous if something decided to come after us. But there was also another pressing reason that he’d added in as well. He didn’t like it when he got too tired. One would assume that Chris just didn’t like letting his guard down, but I didn’t think that was the real reason. Not after listening to Will while we were at the diner earlier. He’d claimed that Chris just liked to sleep whenever he felt like it. For someone as built and as strong as him, he could still fall asleep in the blink of an eye according to Will. He swore that Chris could fall asleep just about anywhere at any time. It was kind of funny when I really thought about it. Chris himself didn’t say much to it either. Apparently, he was willing to admit that it was all true.

  But as I thought about that, something else came back to me from my speaking with Will. The knowledge that to them, Chris was their prince. The prince of the mixed damned I guess you could say. He was one of the oldest and the strongest of them. It made me consider that perhaps his father had been a pretty strong Fallen. In fact, I really wanted to ask him about it. But somehow, I was finding it a bit difficult to even broach the subject yet. Chris obviously had something against the creature from somewhere down the line in his life. And with all of our current worries, I certainly didn’t think that I should be involved with that yet.

  We ended up pulling into a motel on the outskirts of a small city. I’ll be the first to admit that it felt good to get off of that bike again. I wasn’t too sure of how I was going to survive this ride down to Baton Rouge now. I was already feeling really drained. This whole journey was already starting to take its toll on me. It probably was going to be another six hours or so at this rate…

  Near me, Chris looked around the parking lot. It was mostly empty though. “Good. It doesn’t look like they’ve been following at all today.” He said quietly as he glanced around one more time.

  “You really think they’re going to be following us now?” I had to ask.

  “It’s just their spies, and yes, I don’t doubt it. But it’s easier for the spies to blend in too. The last one I saw though was back at the diner, so they must not have realized that I offed him yet.” Chris said, getting himself off of the bike.

  I looked back towards the road, once again thinking of my mother. Was she looking for me as well now? I would’ve imagined that she was. But also, I knew that she must have come across the box and the pictures by now. They were sitting right out on my bed. Was she angry when she discovered them? Or was she afraid? A part of me wished I could just call her and tell her that I was okay. But at the same time, I was afraid of what might happen. I didn’t want to put her in anymore danger because of what I was. I’d already caused her enough problems growing up with this heritage. At least, that’s what I was sure of by then. All of the moving and hiding had a purpose after all. It was all because of them gearing up to kill the ones like me.

  Looking back at the motel, I had to wonder about it though. It looked to be an older one with maybe four or five floors. The outside was painted in an off white, gray sort of color. Hopefully, it would be nice enough to stay in. With places like this, you just never quite knew what you might be getting. But Chris didn’t seem too worried about it. Instead, he had me walk ins
ide with him without any hesitation.

  The lobby of the motel was very quiet and actually pretty nicely decorated in blues and whites. I felt a little bit surprised by that one. Okay, so maybe outside appearances aren’t always everything. Looking straight ahead of us I could see the solid oak reception desk. Behind it, an older man looked up. He had round glasses and receding white hair. “Well, hello there. How can I help you?” he asked us.

  “We just need a room for the night. Have anything open?” Chris replied, leaning slightly on the counter.

  “Yes, a have a few.” The man answered. “It's seventy five for a single and ninety five for a double.

  Which would you like?”

  “Doesn’t matter. A single's fine." Chris told him.

  “Double.” I told him. No, he was not putting me in that position again tonight. No matter how cute he was or how comfortable I’d felt when I slept beside him the night before, sleeping in the same bed again was where I was drawing the line.

  “I guess it’s a double then.” Chris said, sounding a little put out now.

  The man laughed slightly to himself, taking out one of the keys. “Double it is then. That will be ninety five for the night.” He told us.

  “This should cover it.” Chris said, pulling out a hundred from his wallet.

  “Good enough. Have a good night. Check out’s at noon.” The man said as he gave him his change.

  “Were you really serious back there?” I asked as we walked down the long back hall and got into the elevator. The door closed and Chris punched in the number for the third floor. “A single?”

  “I didn’t see where it would matter that much. A bed’s a bed you know. And besides, you did sleep in the same bed with me last night.” Chris replied, not seeming the least bit concerned over any kind of implications. Either he was the Joe Cool type, or Will was right, he really wasn’t good with women at all.