Dark Angel (Anak Trilogy) (9 page)

“I can’t sit with you in every class,” I protested.

“Why not?” Zell asked perplexed.

“Because I have a jealous boyfriend,” I replied through clenched teeth.

“I’m not jealous at all,” Zell laughed.

“You are not my boyfriend,” I stated flatly.

“Yes, I am. It’s just a matter of time before you admit it.”

“You are psychotic,” I said as loud as I dared. “I have a boyfriend, and you’re not him.”

Zell reached over and ran the tips of his fingers
around my hand tracing my fingers with his.

“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.
             

His eyes met mine an
d locked there. I saw a small smile tug at the corner of those beautiful lips. I felt that warm knot return to my stomach. I was doing my best to shake it off when the bell rang. I thought art would never end. Ms. Picknell must be home recovering from the field trip because she was out again today. A sub gave the class worksheets to complete. Thank goodness there was not another video!  I turned my back to Zell and refused to look at him the rest of class.

“Thank God,” I breathed in a loud sigh of relief when the dismissal bell rang.

Zell was standing before me holding my books before I could reach for them.

“What did God do?” he asked innocently.

“Just give me my books and leave me alone,” I said hatefully.

Zell didn’t seem hurt at all. He laid our books down on the closest desk and pulled me in his arms.

“Why are you so catty with me?”

“Catty?” I laughed.

“Yes, catty.”

“Because.”

“Why?” Zell asked moving only inches from my lips.

“It’s easier that way.”

“What is easier?”

“It’s easier to be mean to you than to fall for you.”

“Annie,” he whispered pulling me close and kissing my cheek. Everyone in class froze in place staring at us.

“You’ll be dead when Johnny hears about this,” I stood on my tip-toes and got as close as I could to his eyes and threatened him.

Zell sighed, “Really, Annie. You think Jon is capable of terminating my life?”

“Why do you talk that way? ‘Terminating my life
, catty?’ I gasped. I was beginning to feel weak and shaky.

“
You are being dramatic, Annie.”

“
I don’t even
know
you, and if you don’t want drama, then just leave me alone,”

“But you will,” Zell said exasperated, “remember me if you’ll let yourself.
I’m only trying to help you remember.”

“Humph.” I snorted and wrenched myself out of his arms, but my legs started to wobble. “What have you done to me?” My hands were shaking
, and I could not think straight.

Zell caught me before I hit the floor.

“Please Annie, behave before I have to kiss you again,” Zell threatened in a low voice.

I gasped, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me,” Zell answered grimly hovering over me.

My lips went into a grimace hiding my lips from Zell.

“Do you really think that will work if I want to kiss you?” Zell whispered in my ear.

Keeping my lips pressed together, I glared at him. No one in class moved. Everyone was watching and listening to us.

“I think you are still ill Annie and need to go home. I’m going to take you to the office.”

“I’ll scream if you come near me,” I ground out between clenched teeth and lips, my body
beginning to shake uncontrollably.

“I don’t think you will,” Zell threatened.

“How do you figure that?”

“Because here comes your future ex-boyfriend,” Zell said s
miling.

“Good grief,” my heart sank to my stomach. Zell still had his arm around my waist supporting me.

“Are you going to be a good girl, or are we going to make out in front of your ex?” Zell laughed apparently enjoying himself. The bell had rung, but still no one moved watching the exchange between Zell and me.

Jon burst through the door pausing to search the room. He found me looking into Zell’s face while Zell held me up with one arm. Panic-stricken, my head snapped around to meet Jon’s glare. The rage on his face suddenly made me frightened. His normally tanned complexion was white with anger. He crossed the room in large strides stopping at my side with his eyes fixed on Zell’s arm that circled my waist holding me close to him. Everyone turned
to watch the fight that they were sure was about to happen.

“Annie, what is going on? People
have been telling me that you and this guy have been together all morning,” Jon yelled glaring at Zell.

“I don’t think we have been formally introduced,” Zell said and stuck out his hand attempting to shake Jon’s hand.
“Annie and I just have the same classes, and she has been kind enough to show me around.”

Jon ignored the outstretched hand and waited for me to answer.

Zell and Jon were nose to nose staring in each other’s eyes. Neither one was willing to back down.  I didn’t understand what happened next.  One second they were nose to nose. The next Johnny was looking up into Zell’s eyes. One second, they were the same height. The next, Zell is three or four inches taller.  That fact seemed to take Jon by surprise too. He took a step back blinking.

“I, um, I um, don’t know . . . ,” I tried to answer but the swimming in my head returned with a vengeance making my legs about as sturdy as cooked
pasta. Swaying again, my knees crumpled beneath me.

Zell scooped me up in his massive arms
before I hit the floor.

“Excuse us,” Zell told Jon gracefully sidestepping around him. “Annie doesn’t seem to be well.” He strode purposefully from the classroom with me cradled in his arms before Jon could respond. The door slammed behind us as we left. Never, if I live to be one hundred will I forget the look of shock and rage on Jon’s face as Zell carried me from the classroom. Jon tried to follow, but the door was stuck.  The substitute teacher picked up the phone to the office and asked for someone to send the custodian to the room to fix the faulty door.

Zell walked down the hall still holding me like a child in his arms. He stopped by the office on his way out of the school to tell Mrs. Woods that I was unwell, and he was taking me home. Mrs. Woods opened her mouth to argue, but took one look at me cradled in Zell’s arms and shook her head. I wanted to argue, but the sleepless nights were beginning to take their toll. I felt exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open.

Zell put me in the passenger side of my Tahoe and buckled the seat belt. Sliding into the driver’s side, he put the car into reverse. Smoothly
, the vehicle backed from the parking space.  Even more smoothly, he navigated through the crowded parking lot and on to the highway. That is the last thing I remembered as a dark cloud overtook me.

   4.    THE ISLAND

WHEN I REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS, I
WAS

lying in an overstuffed lounge chair overlooking a calm, sparkling lake with a sheer bluff of rock behind me.

“Where am I?” I squeaked.

“You’re with me at my home,” Zell answered quietly.

“Are your parents at home?” I asked.

“
My mother has long been dead,” Zell replied quietly with a sad faraway look in his eyes. “My father, well . . . who knows, chained in a pit somewhere maybe.”

“You’re kidding, right?”
I
questioned.

“No, not really,” Zell replied not looking at me.

“How does a high-school student afford a place like this?” I asked sweeping my hands toward the mansion perched at the base of the bluff. “How does DFACS allow a minor to live alone?”

“Annie, I think we both know
that I am not a minor.”

“Then let’s back up to question number one. How does a
high-school student afford a place like this?”

“I think we both know I’m not really a normal
high-school student either.”

“What are
you
exactly, then?”

“I don’t think you’re ready for the truth yet, Annie.”

“What is the big mystery with you? Who are you really?“  I pushed him for an answer.

“Can’t it be enough for now for us to be together?” he sighed turning to look at me.

“Not for me. I never said I wanted to be here with you. I think the authorities would call this kidnapping,” I said snidely. “I need to go back to school. I have basketball practice. “

“It’s after five o’clock
. I think you slept through most of it.”

“Just exactly how did you drug me? I’ve heard of guys slipping drugs in a girl’s drink, but I wasn’t drinking anything.”

“I’ve never even taken an aspirin Annie. I would never do anything to harm you. I don’t think you could handle it if I told you.”

“Try me,” I ordered.

“If I tell you, will you try to be nice to me?” Zell looked sadly into my eyes.  “I’ve come on a long, hard journey just to be near you.”

“You could have saved yourself the trip.” I spat back, but I was immediately sorry when I saw the pain and sadness my words caused in his eyes.

“All right. All right. I’ll be nice if you answer three questions for me.”

“Will you stop dating Jon
if I answer all three?” Zell bargained cracking a half smile.

I took out my cell phone and pretended to dial 911.

“Yes, officer, this is Annie Hayes. Could you send a car to the mansion of Zell Starr out on Lake Lanier? He has drugged me, kidnapped me, and no one seems to know who he is or where he came from.”

“OK, Annie, but you may not like what I have to tell you.
I didn’t drug you. I just kissed your cheek. I had no idea it would affect you in the manner that it did. I think you may be exhausted, and your exhaustion caused my kiss to be more potent.”

“I don’t sleep very well,” I agreed.

“I know,” Zell replied quietly.

“What do you mean you know?”
I lay my phone beside me ending my pretentious call. When he didn’t answer, I decided just to ask him a few questions and go home.

“Question number one: Who are
you
exactly? Don’t tell me Zell Starr, transfer student, from some mysterious country in Europe either.”

“I am
Zazel, The Last of the Anak,” Zell replied not looking at me. He sat with his hands intertwined as he gazed over the lake seemingly deep in thought.

“A What?”
I asked incredulously wrinkling my brow.

Zell turned
looking at me and smiled. “Not a What, an Anak, Annie.”

“What then is an Anak exactly?” I asked not relenting. However, the sad look that crossed Zell’s face earlier when he mentioned his mother did not leave his eyes.

“Have you ever heard of Fallen Angels?” Zell asked turning back to the lake not meeting my gaze.  He sat with a faraway look in his eyes as if remembering some ancient memory.

“Humph,” I huffed, “I’m a preacher’s daughter. I know those are the angels who rebelled against God and were thrown out of heaven.”

“Yes, something like that,” Zell murmured. “The Archangels cast them from heaven, and they fell to earth. The Fallen Angels or Watchers, of which my father, Azâzêl, was one, looked at the women of earth and desired them. The children born to the Fallen Angels and the human women, of which my mother was one, became a race of bloodthirsty giants.”

Almost mechanically Zell began to speak as if he was reading some ancient text. ‘And they became with child,’ Zell said, ‘and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells.  And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them an
d devoured mankind, and drank their blood. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven. And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel, the Archangels, looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth.  And they said to the Lord of the ages, Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee. Thou seest what Azâzêl hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, and made known to men the metals of the earth and the art of working them. . .’