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I could no longer sense Vivian. I was certain that Haymen had taken her to the Underworld. Tahmeed and Destiny stared at me, shifting into their preferred demons and ready to attack. I jumped out over the lake and propelled to the sky before any fight could break out. They deemed me as their enemy and I was by default. But this had nothing to do with them. This only involved Haymen, Vivian, and me.
The wind was a reassuring cold slap to my face as I raced between the clouds trying to strip away the heat and hard on that had come over me. I wanted Vivian. Every inch of me screamed to claim her as my lover and I knew the logic in that was ridiculous. I complicated this mission by using the Angel Kiss ritual but even now I still had no coherent reason as to why I did it other than a life for a life as she had protected me. Trying to find Vivian and aid her in escaping would be a direct challenge to Haymen and that was something I had to do strategically and leave for another day. I was certain that he wouldn’t kill her.
I snapped my wings shut and dropped through the air towards the city. The lights glistened in rapid speed as I dove closer enjoying the inevitable rush that swept over me in the cool air. My heart pounded as I dropped between the tops of skyscrapers looking down at the traffic below on the main street. I snapped my wings open and glided over them zipping between the bright lights enjoying the distraction. I let my light spread out and push against the darkness that constantly encased the city. I etched through the hub of the city searching for the old ancient darkness of the Volv. I made sure that I was too quick for anyone to take credible photos or close ups of my current state. I could imagine the phone calls I would receive if anyone noticed that I looked like I had been in a fight in a fellow treaty city. But I needed to exhaust some of this pent up sexual energy.
One of the big screens caught my attention and I swooped up to the highest building. I rested on the tip and wrapped my wings around me concealing half my face. I looked down on the screen in the city center in the early hours of the night. Photos of Vivian and I tangled within one another’s embrace has been captioned and gone viral. I could feel the rollover of storm, wind and clouds follow my mood. This was in Vivian’s bed. Only Haymen could have authorized photos to be taken so closely and leak them. What was worse was I didn’t even sense someone spying on us because I was so focused on Vivian.
The image of her arching into me as I took her lips flashed onto the screen. My body thrummed with that same intense desire. Another image flickered over. People pointed and spoke amongst themselves. This was bad.
A call began to ring through. I touched my wrist watch and answered my audio piece. “Torrin.”
“I don’t know if you’ve seen it-”
“I’ve seen it,” I said. I wondered how much he would seethe my involvement with one of Haymen’s Guardians.
“Graphically manipulated?” He asked with a stern voice that noted he would kill the person who would try to defile my name.
“No.” I would never lie to my people. Especially the man who I would trust my life with. Our conversations never went further. There was utter loyalty. “I performed the Angel Kiss ritual on Haymen’s guardian. I’m trying to refrain from the aftermath with evidently lack of control.”
There was a pause on the other side. “You what? Why? With her? Why?”
“A debt. She saved my life but traded it with her own.”
“Yea but she’s one of Haymen’s Guardians. Who cares? The one who killed Luke at that!”
“She didn’t kill Luke,” I said adamant as I watched the images continue to flicker with crazed reports and wording. It was the first time that I had admitted it. And I hope I was right. I hadn’t found any proof that she had. When did my opinion of her change so much? “I don’t know. She has something to do with the Volv. They’re following her. I couldn’t let my main lead die.”
“Her? It. She is an ‘it’. A creature filled with demons. A creature of darkness. I understand some of our younger ones might have been tempted but you of all people, Gabe?”
“You’ve followed me for over five hundred years. Don’t tell me you’re doubting my instincts and agenda now,” I said harshly. Haymen would have released these to create doubt and friction amongst those who followed me. What Haymen forgot was that loyalty was not built on media, images or words. It was gathered through blood, personal sacrifices and the loyalty that led me here to find Luke’s killer. He doubted my city and army of angels far too much.
“You know I would never doubt you. I am just worried. You’ve never involved yourself in such an affair. When your father sees this it will be bad,” he said as much as he did as a soldier as well as one of my closest friends.
“It’s not an affair. It’s just an aftereffect of the ritual that no one is to know of. If you could I would appreciate if you could realign everyone and dispel such rumors within my city. I’ll deal with my father when the information crosses his desk.”
“With your reputation it won’t take long to dispel the rumors. But Gabe, you need to come home soon. Your time is almost up.” He couldn’t see me but I nodded my head in agreement. I hung up. I had to end this quickly. I came here to find Luke’s killer and couldn’t even find any trace of his killer that had dumped his already dead body in the middle of the sea. His death wasn’t in vein, it has led me to the resurfacing of the Volv. And that meant war was certain to be on the horizon. Drops of rain began to sprinkle as the dark clouds rolled over and lightning spread in the distance. I dove towards the ground once again, powering through the city to pick up on the slightest scent of mishap and where the Volv I had fought previously might’ve vanished too. We still had unsettled business. I might have injured her greatly but it was still able to escape.
