Angel Evolution (23 page)

“D
ammit, dammit, dammit!” Taylor mumbled to herself. The ill feeling had morphed into anger, then into sadness, and now she was back to anger again. She was seething. How could she have been so stupid? She felt like one of those idiot, big-boobed air-heads from high school—the ones who were so easily sweet-talked by the horny, hormone-driven guys. They believed that the guys loved them, just like Taylor had believed that Gabriel loved her. Now she knew it was all a brilliant act, by a brilliant actor. She had been used. For something she didn’t even know she had until a few months ago: her aura.

But she was tired of feeling sorry for herself. Her mother had taught her to be strong, to be a fighter. She stood up and looked at the back of her shoulder in the mirror. That’s why she had gotten the tattoo. As a sort of
screw you
to those that tried to make her unhappy—like the snake.

She
would
make it through the next twenty-four hours, maybe help the angels defeat the demons, but then she would end things with Gabriel, and go back to being herself, rather than some guy-obsessed, love-craving, needy, uncomfortable-in-her-own-skin twit that jumped from boyfriend to boyfriend because of some insecurity handed down from generation to generation. Her mom had taught her better than that, had shown her a better way to be, had shown her how to love herself, to be herself. She was Taylor again, not Gabriel’s girlfriend, or Taylor-and-Gabriel. Just Taylor. And that was good enough.

T
he next day Gabriel arose from bed early, having slept off and on for six hours. He got ready quickly, clothing himself in a comfortable white shirt and loose-fitting white pants. His outfit looked similar to hospital garbs, but it was what he always wore on the day of a battle. The soft clothing was comfortable underneath the armor he would typically wear out on the battlefield. Some angels chose not to wear armor, but Gabriel was taught from a young age that just because your skin was tougher and healed faster than humans, didn’t mean you shouldn’t protect it from harm. Gabriel always wore armor, but today would be an exception.

Ready in minutes, he left his room and went directly to Taylor’s room, expecting her to still be sleeping off the long day of travel and stress. He knocked and no one answered so he pushed the door open like he had the previous night. He walked in, softly calling her name, but didn’t receive an answer. The bed was made so he peeked into the bathroom. It was empty. Walking through the room once more, he noticed a small note on the pillow that he had missed when he first glanced at the bed. It read:

Hope you don’t mind, got up early and was hungry so I had one of the guards show me the

way to the kitchen. See you there. Taylor

Assuming the note was the truth, Gabriel was relieved she hadn’t tried anything stupid, like attempting to escape, but his fears were not completely allayed until he saw her sitting with Sampson and David at a table in the dining area. Her plate had apparently been full of eggs, bacon, and toast, but was now half empty.

He watched her for a moment before approaching. As strained as she seemed to be when he had left her the previous night, she was the complete opposite this morning. She was laughing at something one of them had said, Sampson most likely. Her face seemed relaxed and free of stress. What a difference a good night sleep had made. Or was it all an act? After her brilliant display of lying the previous night, he just wasn’t sure anymore.

As he approached the table, Taylor saw him. The smile remained on her face as she said, “Some warrior you are. We thought you would never get up.”

Delighted that the “old” Taylor had returned, Gabriel decided to keep things light. “I like to sleep in on fight days. It prevents me from falling asleep when I am supposed to be marching, isn’t that right, Sampson?”

Sampson looked at him sharply and rolled his eyes. “It only happened once, man, it could happen to anyone!”

Taylor looked at Gabriel, clearly confused as to what they were talking about.

Gabriel explained: “One time Sampson was supposed to be marching with the 4th Quadrant of ground soldiers, but he was so tired that he fell asleep just outside the battle doors with his head against a rock. Despite the epic battle that occurred that day, he slept through the entire thing. He almost got kicked out of the army because of it.”

Taylor and David were both laughing hard at Sampson’s expense, neither of them having ever heard the story.

“Ha ha, very funny. Let’s all laugh at the screw up,” Sampson said. He acted like he was annoyed, but they could all tell that he was pleased that the story had been so amusing to everyone.

Still chuckling to himself and glad that things appeared to be better with Taylor, Gabriel grabbed a plate of food from the kitchen and rejoined his friends. Taylor had finished eating.

“Hurry up, Gabriel, Sampson is going to show me around the joint,” she said.

Ignoring her taunt, Gabriel woofed down his food in less than two minutes and said, “Alright, let’s go!”

Sampson led Taylor along a path through the complex, pointing out various items of interest along the way.

“Here you have the armory,” “on your left is the central power plant,” and “just beyond that door are the training grounds you saw yesterday,” were some of the tour guide-like things that he told her.

Being himself, Sampson told a lot of jokes, too, so his three followers were constantly cracking up. He was telling one when they passed by a massive door with a “Strictly Authorized Personnel Only” sign on it.

Sampson was saying, “Did I ever tell you about the time when Gabriel got his wings stuck in between the fence posts at the angel elementary school?”

Taylor was about to respond that she would love to hear the story, when she saw the large metal doors. “What’s in there?” she asked.

Sampson said, “Ah, one of my favorite places. These are the gargoyle paddocks. Typically I couldn’t get in, but since we are fortunate enough to have such an
important
angel with us, we can get in anywhere we want, right, Gabriel?”

Taylor looked at Gabriel. “What does he mean ‘gargoyle paddocks’? I thought only the demons used gargoyles, like the one I saw.”

Before Gabriel could answer, David’s eyes had widened and he exclaimed, “You’ve seen a demon gargoyle, Taylor?”

“Yep, damn near killed me until my hero swooped in and rescued me from its evil clutches.”

Gabriel jumped in quickly, trying to set the record straight. “She was never in any real danger, the demons were just trying to play a trick on her. You know, give her a bit of a scare.”

“Tell that to its claws and razor sharp fangs,” she retorted.

“Wow, Taylor,” David said, looking at her in awe. “Even I’ve only seen pictures of them.”

Sampson answered her original question: “The gargoyle you saw was bred from two demons whereas, the gargoyles we have are bred from two angels. They are fairly similar in basic appearance except that ours are light and theirs are dark, kind of like the difference between angels and demons.”

“I want to see them,” Taylor demanded.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Gabriel replied.

“C’mon,” Sampson urged, “she’s going to see them during the battle anyway, so you might as well give her a taste of what to expect so she’s not surprised.”

“Fine, but just a quick peek.”

“Awesome!” David exclaimed.

Gabriel touched his finger to the door and there was a loud creak, as intersecting panels of metal moved either up or down to reveal a wide passage beyond them. The passage was unusually dark for the angel complex, giving it the appearance of a dungeon.

Gabriel led the way with David right on his heels. Sampson and Taylor followed closely behind. They passed two, then four alcoves on each side. Each space was closed off by thick, heavy iron bars. The spaces were empty. As they approached the next two sets of bars, Gabriel slowed his stride.

The heavy sound of breathing broke the silence.

“Hey, little buddy, just coming to say hello,” Gabriel said when he reached the cell.

David gasped. “Wow, it’s incredible! I’ve never seen one in person!”

As the interior of the cell came into Taylor’s view, she saw a massive white animal with a body very similar to the one that had attacked her. Sitting on its hind legs, it resembled a dinosaur except for its head, which looked human, in a strange, mutated way.

The main differences between the angel and demon gargoyles were cosmetic in nature: the angel version was a pure white color, with blue eyes and spots of white-blond hair, versus the black eyes and dark hair of the demonesque monster she had encountered in the forest.

She stared at the creature, unblinking. Interestingly, the gargoyle ignored its other three viewers and stared right back at Taylor. To get a closer look, the beast sauntered up to the bars, its giant legs crashing with each step.

“I wonder why it’s so interested in you, Taylor,” Gabriel said. His face looked puzzled, confused. Suddenly his eyebrows arched, as he came to some kind of realization. “Oh freakin’ hell, it can see your aura, Tay!” Things suddenly seemed to move in slow motion as Gabriel yelled, “Ruuuunnn…..Taaaylllorrrr!” As he screamed he dashed towards her, his arms outstretched. He was too late.

The gargoyle lifted a single clawed finger towards her and instantly she felt a tingling sensation like she had felt when Gabriel had first accessed her aura. She began to shine brightly and then, just as Gabriel’s streaking form collided with her, there was an explosion of light and the cell’s metal bars were vaporized.
The gargoyle was free.

Taylor had had the wind knocked out of her and was wheezing, trying to catch her breath, while lying face down on the ground with Gabriel partially on top of her. She pushed with her arms to try to free herself, and heard Gabriel roar in pain as he rolled off of her. Evidently, he had not been as lucky as the others, and while he had been able to knock Taylor out of the way of the blast, his foot had caught the edge of it. Taylor looked down at the mangled stump at the end of his leg and could see a stream of bright white blood flowing freely from his extremity.

Luckily, the gargoyle seemed a bit confused by what had happened and was standing still clawing at the empty air where the bars used to be; it seemed to be trying to work things out in its brain.

Despite his injuries, Gabriel yelled, “Sampson, David—can you handle it?”

Sampson and David had managed to avoid the explosion, rolling to the opposite side of the gargoyle’s cell. Sampson replied by lifting his fist with his thumb up. He barked orders to David, who looked ready for action. “You distract it from the front and I’ll go for the wings, got it?”

David nodded in understanding.

Taylor clambered to her feet and helped pull Gabriel up after her; he was hobbling on one leg. Taylor headed for the door with Gabriel hopping along beside her. “We’ve got to get out of here quick,” Gabriel instructed.

Taylor was unable to reply as she was still having trouble breathing, but she picked up her pace upon hearing his command. Just as they exited the door and turned the corner, a powerful spout of white flame shot through the doorway, licking the rocky walls. The gargoyle had finally moved from its cell.

They continued to move down the hall, as behind them they heard sounds from the fight they were missing. Agitated, the gargoyle was groaning in protest, and the roar of fire escaping its lips echoed through the passageways. They heard someone, presumably Sampson, shout, “Now!” and then a ripping sound, followed by a loud
thud!
The beast had fallen.

They stopped and turned around. Gabriel shouted, “Everything alright, guys?”

“No problem,” Sampson announced, exiting the dungeon with David close behind him. David was wearing a wide smile, the adrenaline from his first close gargoyle encounter still pumping through his veins.

Taylor touched Gabriel’s arm and said, “Thank you for saving my life again.”

“It’s my fault, we should never have gone in there,” Gabriel replied.

“No it’s not, I wanted to go in. No one could have seen that coming. It doesn’t matter now, we need to get you to a doctor.” Taylor was concerned, as his tattered leg hung in the air.

Gabriel laughed. “It’s a mere flesh wound. You forget that angels have incredible healing powers. It’s rare to have an injury that requires our healers to get involved. Let’s go back to your room to rest and you can see it in action. Sampson, David—not a word to anyone about what happened. Can you take care of the mess?”

“Sure, buddy,” Sampson said. David looked frustrated that he wouldn’t be able to tell his friends the amazing story.

Taylor and Gabriel made their way back to her room via rarely used paths to avoid being seen. As a temporary fix, Gabriel had taken off his shirt and wrapped the bottom of his leg in it, so he wouldn’t leave a bloody trail behind him.

Taylor couldn’t help but to admire his toned body and had a sudden longing to be back at college with him, young and in love. She wondered if she could ever forgive him for all of this. He
had
saved her life twice now, which seemed to warrant a second chance.
No!
she thought. Not again, no more being stupid.
Dammit!
She wished she could turn off her brain.

Back at the room, Gabriel slowly unpacked the wound, which was already looking better than it had down in the dungeon. What was previously just a stump was now a fully formed ankle. Taylor watched in amazement as within minutes, his heel reformed in front of her eyes. The hole was still bleeding and she put a finger into the liquid, gathering a drop onto the tip. She put it up to her eye, inspecting it closely. The liquid was as white a substance as she had ever seen. Whiter than milk, it shimmered and glowed as if it were radioactive.