Chapter 20

The girls had a right to be excited. As I stepped into the large room the size of a football field I knew that the idea that people were individual and being unique must have come from the race of people before me. Not one looked the same. Some could have the same hue for skin but there would be a multitude of differences to separate them. By that standard, myself and the guys probably looked rather monotonous and boring to them.

The room itself was beyond anything I could ever have imagined. The same blue crystals lit up the room but the major difference was that each had been carved into the form of some mythical creature and they hung out of the walls like they were just waiting to pounce on the people below. Mouth open in awe I couldn’t help but wonder how they had made it so realistic but that question was answered when the head of a ferocious yet graceful looking griffin snapped its head towards me as if it knew what I was thinking.

As I stumbled back a step, warm strong hands clasped around my shoulders and steadied me in place. Turning my head I smiled up Gabriel who was wearing a green toga that was made from- I squinted to get a closer look before blushing at where my gaze had landed and pulling back whilst shaking my head in embarrassment. A choked laugh escaped Gabriel’s lips, sounding so strange coming from his usually joyless lips that it made me jump again. This time I only proceeded to stumble into him, my face hitting the exposed flesh of his chest that glistened as if it had been oiled up or something. The ethereal glow oozing from every pore made him appear as what he truly was, an angel.

“Wow,” I murmured stupidly as I took in every inch of him. I didn’t know whether or not to chastise myself by ogling at him like this but he was just too incredible to look away from.

He laughed more freely this time, shaking his head back and forth. “You never change Vannah, you were the same the first time you saw me like this.”

I frowned at him and he paused mid-way through his next sentence, realising he had let something slip. Folding my arms across my chest I tried to stare him down but he just stood there and stared, his own arms folding over his chest showing he wouldn’t tell.

“Spill.” My voice was a growl that even startled me, but Gabriel just smiled and shook his head like it was nothing. “Gabriel, please. Just tell me what I’m forgetting. Do you know how many times I’ve dreamt strange impossible things, like a wedding and I was the bride?  I’ve never been married I know I haven’t but in my heart it feels wrong, like I’ve forgotten something important. Like a piece of it is missing. I need to know.”

Gabriel looked really uncomfortable under the weight of my pleading gaze and secretly I was happy about that yet at the same time I was afraid that I would never find out, especially if the return of his stoic expressions were anything to go by.

“I’m sorry Miss Holmes,” he cleared his throat and looked away from me, his eyes refusing to meet mine. “I am bound to oath; I cannot give you the answers you seek.”

The set of his shoulders and the seriousness that choked his voice made me realise just how pointless it was trying to get it out of him. He had been given a gag order and the only one who could do that and prevent him from spilling it all was obviously the big man from upstairs.

 I nodded my head dumbly as the chatter in the hall died down and a particularly orange man stood on top of a table and ushered everyone to stand around the edge of the hall leaving a large open space in the middle. I used the sudden wave of chatter to cover me as I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes.

“I don’t know what you are doing but there has to be a good reason for it so I’m-” I paused as a blush formed on my cheeks feeling quite stupid for even doing this but I continued. “I’m going to trust you. Isn’t that what faith is about?”

I was never a religious person but the fact that I had stood there and just spoke to God in a manner of speaking; I felt a hysterical giggle escape my lips. There was the incredulity but also the guilt whirring around my mind, most people believe without knowing, they have blind faith in Him and yet here I am, a sceptic all my life and now I know he’s real but yet I still have a hard time believing.  If that doesn’t warrant guilt then I don’t know what will. It kind of feels wrong in a way.

Shaking such thoughts from my head, I took my place standing next to Calantha while giving her a smile before turning to watch the events unfolding before us.

The room dimmed as the orange man backed up to the far end of the hall where three other men were waiting and down the end closest end to us there were also four men. Well I was assuming they were men by their build but with this rare and wonderful race of people it was often difficult to discern if they were men or women. I had wrongly assumed that a person with boobs was a woman and the gruff reply I got back was enough to make me keep my mouth closed and wait before I made judgements.

A loud thumping echoed across the room from somewhere in the crowd. The drumbeat and the lowered lights added a strange intensity to the atmosphere that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I could feel my own heart altering its rhythm to match the pounding of the drums. My fingers tapped against my leg in time with the beat  as my eyes tried to pierce the darkness around me. The movement in front of me was more felt than seen. Several figures whipped past me, only a vague outline in the minimal lighting. I turned my attention to Calantha to ask what was going on but a hand was just slapped over my mouth and my attention was brought back to the blackness.

The tempo of the drumming suddenly picked up and then with a sudden clang of a gong 8 flaming figures were illuminated before me.  A lot of people whooped and cheered before settling into appreciative silence. It was as electrifying as the display before us all. The moving men of flame wove around each other in an intricate and deadly dance, the movements so precise and entrancing that I could barely keep up with the story that was being told by them all. My eyes were drawn to one man in particular. He seemed to be the leader of the group, his moves bigger, larger, brasher than the rest but because of that, more beautiful. It was a terrifying display and when I saw all of them branching off and pulling people from the audience I watched in awe as their new partners fell into an easy routine, a give and pull of intricate movements that told a story as old as time, the story of lovers. I felt tears form in my eyes as the sights before whilst Calantha whispered under her breath.

“Please let him choose me,” she repeated over and over like a mantra and I saw why. One of the flaming men was walking along the rows, hands of several people stretching out towards him and all of the power radiating out of his very being like he was his own sun, his energy bathing others in his beauty. This must be the infamous Donalbain.

He reached us and paused before Calantha. He looked between the two of us and cocked his head to the side before outstretching his hands to us. “Would you ladies care to dance?” His voice was unreal, there was something to it that you could just imagine him as a deity of love or sex, he just seemed to ooze that kind of aura.

Calantha immediately reached out and grasped his hand but I kept mine to myself and shook my head frantically.

“No, I don’t know how to dance,” I paused and stared over his shoulder at the others. “Definitely not like that anyway.”

Donalbain and his flaming head of hair didn’t take no for an answer, he wrapped an arm around my waist and hefted me off of my feet and carried me into the centre of the room whilst hanging over his shoulder.

“You should have known milady that I do not take no for an answer.” I could hear the smile in his voice and wanted nothing more than to bite him or hit him really hard but I refrained…barely.

Before I could even understand what was happening I was on the floor but the other flaming dancers had converged on me like a pack of ravenous wolves. Well, not really ravenous wolves but it may as well have been because of how terrified I was. It seemed I had become the centrepiece of their dance, being twirled from person to person and much to my horror, tossed into the air. I was grateful for my lessons in gymnastics as I child or I might have looked rather ridiculous and flailed through the air. As it was I managed to pull off a small amount of grace, tucking my body in the right position so that I wouldn’t die on my return to earth.

I didn’t have to worry about that though as I was caught before that could happen however the hands on my arm and leg that stopped my decent made me stop barely an inch from the ground. I stared wide eyes at the grass in from on my eyes feeling a little nauseous. It really wasn’t the best of times for the drumbeat to pick up speed to an endless hum and I was suddenly spun round and round at such speed that the audience became nothing more than a blur.

Then suddenly it all stopped. My own breath still in my throat but as soon as the roar of the spectators filled the air I allowed myself to take in deep greedy gulps of air. My feet were lowered to the ground but I was forced to grab onto the person to keep my balance feeling really dizzy, either that or the room was still spinning. I heard a chuckle before I was swept of my feet.

“No,” I protested drunkenly. “No more spinning.”

 Another chuckle reached my ears before I was plonked down on a seat that was placed in front of a long table that had grown in the middle of the room. I still couldn’t get used to their little tricks but I smiled gratefully up at Donalbain before looking around to see where the others were only to gasp when my head turned to the left and Ezekiel was sat right next to me, his own gaze fixed upon me. A hundred different emotions were playing through his eyes but they went to fast for me to decipher them.

These angels were going to kill me. They knew so much about my life that even I didn’t know and I was getting closer and closer to snapping at them. They altered me and now have the audacity to lie to me, but there must be a good reason behind it all. That’s what I kept telling myself anyway as I looked up at him and gave him a warm and friendly smile.

“How do you like this place so far?” He questioned while nodding his head towards the other and rather strange looking people around us.

I smiled genuinely now. “It’s great, though I insulted a man earlier because he had bigger boobs than I did and hair down to his waist so I assumed it was a woman.” I blushed at the memory.

“Ah, so you met Rico then.” It was more of a statement but I nodded anyway. “Don’t worry, Lucius was drunk one time and tried to shove his tongue down Rico’s throat. It was an interesting party to say the least.”

As I pictured that in my head, Lucius turned his head our way and smiled while giving a wink. I bit my lip to stifle my amusement but I couldn’t hold it in and I ended up snorting and then choking on the water that I had been drinking. Lucius frowned at me for a moment before his attention was pulled away by someone else.

I noticed someone taking the seat opposite me and when I looked up I saw Calantha sat there with a big smile on her face which only got bigger as she looked at the person sat on my other side. Donalbain seemed completely oblivious to Calantha’s attention, well almost, the quirk at the corner of his lips gave him away.

“So are you ready for tomorrow?” the question startled me and I looked up at Donalbain.

“I suppose,” I murmured while wondering how anyone can be ready for what lay ahead.

Donalbain’s whole face hardened and there was seriousness in every pore of his being. “Don’t suppose, know it. We are all counting on you. I will be there to assist of course but you must believe that you can do it or any attempt will be futile. Belief and faith are half the battle.” The sound of his harsh but strong dulcet tones were enough to make me shrink back in my seat yet at the same time I nodded dumbly at him.

“Okay, I will try. Today though, let me be scared and tomorrow I will be brave, does that sound fair?” the tone I used implied there was no way I was budging from my stance. I was sacrificing myself to do this when I could happily hide away and refuse to believe in my so called destiny but there were people depending on me and I have never been one to shirk responsibility.

Donalbain nodded and I allowed myself to survey him, not realising until now that his skin was different and was that gills on his neck? He caught me looking at him and smiled.

“I am a man of the sea and a man of the volcano. Hence the flaming hair and the gills.” I nodded like I knew this but in reality I just wondered how the hell he was going to blend in when we went topside. Again he answered before my question before I could voice it as his flames lessened and fell around his shoulders and within a moment the fire was gone but his head was covered in a thick head of hair that flickered through colours like real fire. “Enough questions, eat, sleep and tomorrow we go to war.”

Gulping I looked down at the plate before me, no longer feeling hungry but, with reluctance,  I picked up the utensils and began spooning the delicious smelling food into my mouth yet not tasting anything. After all, I would need all my strength to endure what was to come.  

Okay as per usual this is unedited but I would love your comments. I also would love to hear what you guys think should happen next. I will try and post as soon as I can, my exam in on friday 20th and then I'm free to write.