by Taylor, Reba
My first instinct was to run away as fast as I could, but as soon as I turned my back, Lumar was standing right in front of me.
“I think it’s time we had a little chat, maybe refresh your memory.” He suggested, holding out his bloodied hand. I wanted to attack him, but I knew there was no use.
“You killed my parents.”
“I wish I could say that I’m sorry about that.”
“Why did you agree to have my memory blocked?”
Lumar shrugged. “You were a child at the time, there was nothing I could do to help you understand my reasoning. Now, let me take you some place warm.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I wish you were dead.” I threatened. Lumar smiled and moved closer to me.
“You are coming with me Hanah. There are things we need to discuss, things you need to understand.” I lifted my hand to strike him, but he caught my arm, squeezing tightly, forcing the knife out of my hand.
Catching my neck with his free hand, he tilted my head to the side and bit roughly into my neck. The pain was unbearable, but I couldn’t scream. My body fell limp, and I could no longer hold my eyes open beyond this point. Darkness fell over me, and I was sure that I had died.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a dark room, cleaned and fully dressed in a black gown. Slowly climbing off the bed, I began to explore the dark room, first—by trying the door. I groaned once I realized it was locked, and I was trapped inside.
“Don’t fret my love, you’ll learn to grow accustomed to your new room.” Lumar spoke, walking out of the shadows.
END OF PART 2
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After the Moon Sets Series Release Dates:
After the Moon Sets (Part 1): January
After the Moon Sets (Part 2): Early February
After the Moon Sets (Part 3): Late February
After the Moon Sets (Part 4): March
Angels Excerpt By Reba Taylor
"I thought we had more time."
Nobody heard Milo say it. His words were drowned out by the bellow of the horns above. It was a deep sound, the sort you feel in your bones, vibrating throughout. A mix between a fog horn and church bells.
Necks were craned and hands shielded squinting eyes from the midday sun. Everyone's eyes gazed up towards the sky. Everyone's except Milo.
His eyes were forced down upon the ground and every muscle in his body tensed as if expecting an attack from any direction.
"Wow. That's so cool!" Came a voice from above Milo's head.
For a second Milo had forgotten about the toddler straddled on his shoulders. In fact he'd forgotten everything about his current life. His pretend life.
"Milo, what are the those clouds doing?"
Milo joined everyone else on the street in gazing up at the sky. From down here he thought they did sort of look like clouds, gliding gradually across the sky. If only they were something as innocent as clouds.
"I don't know, kiddo." As Milo said this he reached up and hooked his hands under the toddlers armpits and gently lowered him to the ground with ease.
Suddenly he felt Kat beside him, she gave him a little nudge with her shoulder. He glanced down and saw she too was staring into the sky.
"Hunny, looks like a storm is brewing - lets head back, yeah?"
Milo knew this was going to be hard for her. After all she'd been through, now she was about to lose him as well. But there wasn't enough time to think or put into words how he felt. He had to go.
He slipped the backpack off and let it drop to the ground. Then he gripped the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it off. The sun's rays warmed his bare torso and he closed his eyes for a second. He took a deep inhale. In all the centuries he'd been alive, this was going to be the hardest thing he'd done.
Kat squeezed his bicep. "Okay Mr. Muscles, which way to the beach?"
Milo took one last glance at the sky and then turned towards them.
"Listen. This is going to be hard to understand and there isn't enough time to explain. I need you to run to the nearest church. Run as fast as you can. When you get there, bolt the doors shut and don't open them - no matter what."
Kat gave Milo a weird look. "Er, what? Church? We haven't been to church in years? Whats going on babe?"
Another blast of horns echoed throughout the sky.
Milo looked into her eyes. He guessed none of it would matter soon anyway. No point hiding anymore.
Please. Just go.
The words echoed in her head. It was Milo's voice. But how could it be in her head? She shook her head violently and shouted: "What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of prank?"
He couldn't wait any longer.
Milo closed his eyes and concentrated on his back, the space just between his shoulder blades. It was a wonderful sensation, one he'd missed so much. It was a feeling of utter freedom. Like a tiger being freed from captivity after years of being kept in a cage.
His wings rapidly grew out from his back, unfolding and unfurling gradually. He could hear Sam screaming just feet away from him, but he couldn't open his eyes - he had to concentrate.
There was no pain, just an odd tingling sensation in his back. Just a few more seconds and it would be finished.
He opened his eyes. Around him people were no longer gazing at the sky, there was something else more amazing.
Kat's mouth was agape. Her boyfriend. Or who she thought was her boyfriend stood in front of her. "Wha.. What are you?"
In one fluid motion Milo leaped into the air and flapped his wings, pushing himself upwards. A gush of wind blew Kat's hair around and Sam desperately grabbed onto her leg. Another flap on his powerful wings and he rose higher into the sky.
"Your angel."
**
Kat stood with her mouth wide open. Not in shock, but in awe. Milo had always been exceptionally handsome. His bright blue eyes, high cheekbones and boyish blonde hair earned him admiring glances wherever they went.
But now his handsomeness took on a whole new angle. He was beautiful. The purest sense of beauty she had ever seen. It radiated off him.
"Mommy, where is Milo going?" Sam's small hands tugged on the lapels of her denim shorts.
It hadn't been the first time Sam had asked Kat a question she had no idea how to answer. He was a curious kid and fiercely smart, he wanted to know the answer to everything, but sometimes she just didn't have an answer for him.
Milo always did.
Oh, god. I miss him already. She bent down and cupped his cheek. "I don't know, Sammy. He'll be back soon, okay?"
Another horn blast rippled through the sky, Kat looked up but Milo was gone. Above them she could now see it wasn't clouds but hundreds and hundreds of wings circling.
Angel wings.
* * *
The ground shook violently and was shortly followed by a loud crack. There was a second of silence and then screams rung out from a few blocks away. Kat stood up and, eyes still on the sky, reached for Sam's hand.
"Come on Sam. Milo said to get to a church. There is bound to be one around here somewhere."
Kat jogged slowly down the street, past various shops and businesses. Shopkeepers were popping their heads out of their doors, shouting to each other from across the street.
“Why are we running, mom?”
“It’s, er.. good exercise hunny.”
Another tremor shook the ground. Kat had been through earthquakes before. Milo had always wrapped her up in his strong arms. She’d joked that she felt safer in his arms than any underground bunker. But this earthquake was different. It felt like the tremors were coming from far deeper within the earth. Not just below the crust, but from its core.
&nb
sp; Car alarms started to go off all around them.
As they rounded a corner, a fire hydrant exploded behind them.
“What the fuck!” Kat screamed. She’d been trying to cut down on curse words around Sam, but this was too much.
BLAH
They practically fell through the heavy oak doors of the church and landed in a heap inside. Kat and Sam both breathed deeply as they recovered from their run. Running from what? They still didn’t know. But now they were in the church they somehow felt safer and protected. It was a weird feeling, sort of like how when you know someone is watching you.
Yet the church was deserted, and the only person watching them was the virgin Mary in a huge stain glass window.
“Ouch.” Sam was grasping his knee.
“Oh, Sammy!” In the fall Sam had grazed his knee slightly. 12 months ago this would have resulted in a teary eyed tantrum, but that was before Milo. He’d helped Sam as much as he’d helped Kat. He always knew the right thing to say and how to soothe.
“Up and at ‘em!” Kat mimicked Milo’s deep voice.
Sam smiled. “Haha, good one.”
Kat broke out in a cheesy smile too, she couldn’t help it, Sam’s smile was so contagious. “Right, you. Let’s find somewhere to wait.”
She couldn’t show how scared she was to Sam. She had so many questions running through her head. Everything seemed so clouded and upside down. Why were there angels here? What is the strange earthquake? But, most importantly, where was her Milo?
**
Her shoes pressed softly into the red velvet along the aisle of the church. Her footsteps were as light as a feather as she made her way down to the front of the altar. Too quiet for the priest as the front to hear her approaching.
Outside terrible unhuman noises ripped through the air. They sounded so distant, but at the same time so close. Whispering into her ear. She picked up her pace slightly, wanting to put as much space between her and the door as possible.
Kat hadn’t even noticed the man kneeling before the altar. His head was leant against the great marble block, hands clasped together around a red ribbon. As she got closer she pushed Sam behind her. The man was muttering something inaudible.
“Sir..”
Even from 5 feet away she could see him shaking uncontrollably.
“Excuse me..”
Now she could see it wasn’t a red ribbon his hands were clasped around. It was blood. His hands were clasped so tightly together the nails were digging into the skin. Drawing blood.
“Oh!” Kat gasped and retreated a step. She had always hated the sight of blood. She would get over that phobia by the end of this day.
Kat’s gasp drew the priest out of his meditated state. He spun round swiftly. But he didn’t even seem to see Kat and Sam standing right in front of him. His bloodshot eyes stared straight through them.
“Sir, are you okay?”
“Can’t you see, my child? The day of reckoning is here.” The priest’s voice echoed throughout the ancient walls of the church. He started the chanting again, but this time louder. It sounded to Kat like Latin, but she hadn’t really paid attention in Mr. Michael’s class so it might as well have been Russian for all she knew.
But his voice was soon drowned out by a great roar from outside the church. The ground literally trembled and she was sure the stain glass windows would shatter if it would get a decibel louder.
“Mommy, I’m scared!” Sammy cried as he tugged on her shorts.
“JUDGE ME!” The priest was shouting now.
Through the stain glass window of the western wall burst a ball of black. It was a blur of blackness that tumbled and bowled through church pews before resting in the centre of the aisle.
Out of this ball rose something horrific. It wasn’t any kind of creature that existed on Earth. All its limbs seemed to blend into each other. It was pitch black apart from its red eyes and thick yellow horns.
It’s hunched over posture reminded Kat of taking Sam to see the gorilla enclosure at the zoo and how the big silverback had stood hunched. It’s fascination with Milo had been a running joke for many months since. Just another one of his admirers. The day after our visit it’d been shot for attacking other gorillas.
“STAY BACK DEMON! THIS IS A PLACE OF GOD.” The priest shouted.
Even from the 20 feet away Kat could still see the creature’s reaction. A smile. A flash of white teeth. It took a few confident steps forward, locking its red eyes onto its targets.
As it approached Kat noticed its skin was simmering. Whisps of smoke were rising off it, but this did not deter the creature.
Then a blast of pure white light filled the church. Not a corner or crevice of darkness was left untouched. The light was too bright for Kat and she shielded her eyes while pulling Sam’s head into her hips.
She heard a shatter of glass and a deep roar resounding through the church. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. The first thing she saw was the side of the creature with its heckles raised and teeth bared. He was no longer focused on Kat, Sam and the priest. His attention was towards the stain glass window now.
Kat followed his gaze and found the source of her temporary blindness. Standing in the frame where the stain glass used to be was an even more beautiful and impressive piece of art.
His torso was bare and covered in muscles. Bare description. The most breath taking part was his wings, although only partially extended they were bare fit.
The creature crouched down close to the ground for split second and then threw itself through the air towards the angel.
Effortlessly the angel pulled out a long sword and thrust it through the heart of the mid-air creature. It struggled for a second upon the blade, grasping out for the angel with long claws, before becoming still. Almost instantly the creature began to shrink and shed its jet black coat. Soon all that remained pierced on the end of the sword was a young male. Barely a teenager. The angel let him slide off the sword and fall into a heap on the floor.
The angel glanced across to Kat. “You. Hide in the back. And take the priest quiet, they’re attracted to him.”
The angel turned as if to leave, but his eyes were still fixed on Kat. She felt the scar on her back tingle. His mouth broke into a smirk and then he left with a great thrust of his wings. The only confirmation that he had even been here was the body now lying on the floor.
