Midnight Fire - Rise of the Dark Angel - Book One (2 page)

             
When
Josiah’s
eyes opened
,
Vyco
once again took a step back from the power and beauty shining through
him
. Josiah knew
Vyco
was rethinking his plan in
the
face of Josiah’s power
.
H
e also knew the d
emon w
ould never back down
,
for fear of seeming
cowardly in his own eyes.

             
Josiah
extended
his arm and waited. The decision was now up to
Vyco
. He
could back down and crawl away
,
or step up
and bind their agreement
. Josiah pulled his own binding rope out,
shining
brighter than
the earth’s sun
.

             
Vyco
finally stepped forward and grasped Josiah’s hand. He withered a bit from the pure light and
power shining
from Josiah
.
He couldn’t pull free,
though,
as the binding had begun
. They both wrapped the cords around their
joined hands
.

             
“
I
t is bound,” Josiah stated with all the power of the heavens.
Vyco
nodded his acknowledgement. The ropes
tightened
,
shooting
off a ray of light before they loosened
, once more
.
Vyco
gave one more
vicious
snarl before he disappeared in a ring of fire
and smoke
.

             
Josiah called
in his
most trusted Angel,
explaining
what was done
.
She immediately asked him how he could possibly make an agreement like that.

             
“This planet has always been a test for me, Chastity. I needed to see if people from many worlds could live together as one. I wanted to see if they’d be able to get along. It seems as if the test has failed because there are brothers against brothers. Family means nothing to them. They watch as a stranger dies on the street from cold or hunger, or a child starves. I’ve tested them in many ways and yet they reject me so I’ll let them fight this out. I’ll see what becomes of this planet. I won’t step in and stop it,” Josiah told her in his awe inspiring voice.

             
She
knelt before him
,
tears fa
ll
ing
from
her
eyes.
She
knew it was going to be a long and hard road
but
she
also
believed
it had to be done.
She
honored him by
weeping
at his feet.
Josiah
honored his children when he
wept with
her
.

             
“If you’re going to do this, I must stay on the planet and help them,” she pleaded with Josiah.

             
“If you make the choice to help them, you will be on your own. I vowed not to step in and I can’t send other Angels with you,” he told her.

             
“I understand what you’re saying, and I know the choice
I’m
making,” she said. She in no way wanted to leave her home, but she couldn’t stand by and watch people be slaughtered. She knew if Josiah wasn’t stepping in
,
Vyco would cause
a variety of
chaos. “I will leave right
away,” she finished speaking. The decision to leave was even harder since she could see the pain in Josiah’s eyes. She knew how much he loved her and the people of Earth, even when they disappointed him.

             
“Go safely then, my child. Please don’t lose sight of what you’re doing. Please, return home to me,” he pled. She nodded at him and turned to look back at her home.
She fell to her knees as her body fought her mind in the decision to leave home. She stumbled to her feet, then looked behind her one last time, threw out her hands and fell. It would be a long while before she woke again.

             
Josiah watched his bravest and most loyal Angel
f
all
to earth. He’d known Chastity wouldn’t observe people getting tortured and killed. He’d known he could count on her to stand up for mankind. He trusted her beyond any other angel.

             
He bowed his head and whispered the words Chastity would need. She would keep her powers and he’d make sure she didn’t forget home. She just may be the savior of the world.

             
“Please don’t lose your way, my
daughter
. Please
,
return to me,” Josiah prayed and then sunk to his knees and wept
more
.

             
There was a very real chance
Chastity
would get lost once
s
he lived in the human world.
Chastity
didn’t realize the power Vyco held within the fragile planet. His whisper could quickly become a scream in your ear, urging you to adapt to the ways of the darkness
. If there was any A
ngel up for the task of defeating Vyco, it was
Chastity
.

             
While
Josiah knelt, watching the
f
all, he
felt a hand on his shoulder. No words were spoken but he heard his angels weeping. As much as he controlled, even he didn’t know what would happen next.

One year later

             
I was
eleven
years old when it all started. I remember thinking the world would end in a huge explosion from a meteor, or
possibly
the
sun shooting
its beams in a super nova. I’
d been told in church the M
essiah was going to come and strike all
the sinners down
and
only those who were good wouldn’
t die.

             
When I was younger,
I stole
a
piece of bubblegum from the store
and was terrified
I’
d be struck by
lightning
or a ray from the sun? I must not have been
too
scared
, though,
because I
stole it
anyway
and then
enjoyed the burst of flavor as I bit down on the soft
piece of what I considered heaven
.

             
My parents didn’
t let us have candy, gum, or soda, as they said it would rot our teeth
. Little did they know
,
John
and I snuck into it every
chance we
got.
Our father i
s a doctor and our mom
i
s a vet and they’
re all about
the
health
y
crap.

             
I guess I’
m getting off track a bit. L
ike I was saying
,
I always thought the
world would end with a big bang
and it would come from the heavens. I was wrong, so very wrong, as were m
any other people. The world didn’
t end
that way at all
, it ended with a lot of small
explosions
.
T
hey were fa
r deadlier than any meteor could’ve ever been
.

             
There was all this hype about the end of the world happeni
ng in the year twenty-twelve, which my parents said was a joke, even though they
are
pretty religious. Many people said
it
was a joke
but
what those people didn’
t realize
was where there’
s a prophecy
there are many fanatics determined to make that
prophecy
come true.

             
I remember back to those days and how my parents started leaving the house
,
often
. At first t
hey’
d be gone for a weekend
and then a week.
They
hired a nanny for the first time in our lives,
which was absurd
,
considering I was
eleven
and my brother was
sixteen
.
John
had a real fit about it
but
my parents said there were bad people in the world and they didn’t want us home alone.

             
The nanny
pretty much just cooked for us
and cleaned the house. She didn’t really tell us what to do. We were good kids, well
,
as good as could be expected whe
n
we
had the lay of
the
house
.
W
e went to school
,
did our homework
and always ca
me straight home. We really didn’t even notice the nanny much.

             
John
got in a huge fight with our dad one night. I was paralyzed, listening to them scream at ea
ch other in dad’s office. I’
d never heard my father raise his voice before
but
th
ey were really going at it. John
told dad he was a terrible parent, always leaving u
s behind. I know I missed them,
but
would’
ve never confronted them about it.

             
Dad
yelled
back at John
that
he was doing important work
and all
would be revealed in time. John
ended up stomping out of the office, not noticing me as he slammed out of the house. My dad found me crying in the hallway and scooped me into his arms.

             
He
told me he was doing what had to be done to make sure
we’
d be safe. I trusted him
,
of course. H
e was my dad and
he’
d never lied to me before
so why should he start?
I’
d fallen asleep that night with tears still wet on my cheeks.

             
Something I found odd
in those years
was
my parents
always
being
glued to the television when they were home.
It had
rarely
even been turned on when I was little.
I hated wha
t they’d watch. I
t was always so depressing. There were buildings being destroyed and people lying dead on the streets.
Dad said it was the news, which I decided to never watch when I grew up.
I thought there was no way
any of it
could happen
in real life
.

             
My
parents
were always
whispering
together
as men in suits would stand at podiums and talk about fixing
problems
and for the people not to panic. It all seemed so far away and my parents
never said anything to John
or
I
, s
o we just went on with our days
and never worried much about it.

             
I wish I could go back to those times of innocence, those times wh
en the world revolved around me
.
That was
when the big
gest thing I had to worry about
was if I would get a new dress for church, or the pretty backpack I wanted for school. I wish I could go back to being that spoiled little girl.
It would make
the endless days and nights
of my life now, much
easier to bear
. Dreams seem the only escape for me
anymore
.

             
I’m sure you’
re
a bit
confused
right now but I’m not a writer or anything
so I apologize.
My name’
s Phoenix
Light
and
I’
m
writing all
this
down so if I
die
,
maybe someday I’
ll be remem
bered. I have an amazing family
and I’
ve known so many people
who
should never be forgotten
. T
hings have gotten really bad here lat
ely and I feel it’
s all coming to an end.

             
The thought of simply disappearing is unacceptable, so whoever finds this
,
please know there was an
extraordinary
group of people who survived for years
,
against all the odds.

**********

             
“Phoenix
,
snap out of your daydreaming. W
e have to get this stuff done and get back inside,” John said.

             
“I wasn’
t daydreaming.
I was
writing
.
A
nd I know,” Phoenix snapped back at her brother.

             
T
hey’
d been living in
a
cave in the forest
for three years and sometimes the only thing
s
that gave Phoenix any sanity
were
her
books
and writing
her own story.
R
emembering the times when she was carefree and had nothing more to worry about than getting her homework done
was another escape
.

             
She reluctantly put her
notebook
away and followed her brother along the trail. They were going to the spring to check the water lines
.
They also had to
do some
harvesting
of
fruit from the forest
while they were out
. There was another group doin
g some hunting, which she couldn’
t stomach
,
at all.

             
The forest provided a lot of fruit, herbs and other valuable items they needed. Phoenix had a strange ability to find just about anything so she lucked out on getting to pick more often than others.

             
She looked around, her eyes
searching for Brian. She
had
a huge crush on him
but
he didn’
t
even
seem to realize she was
a girl
. She guessed he’
d always think of her as
the
awkward
eleven
year old
who’
d followed him
everywhere
. He was only
a year
older than her
but
now that she was
seventeen
she had feelings
which
ran far beyond adolescent fascination.

             
All the girls
were
in love with Brian
and he seemed to eat up the attention.
Brian was eighteen, a few inches above six feet tall, with a body that most guys hi
s age couldn’t possibly achieve
. His dark brown hair
had a natural wave to it
,
and his smoky blue eyes finished off his look, making him devastatingly handsome.

             
She absolutely hated Jessica Smith, who was always so perfect and delicate. She literally hung
on Brian
like he
held
the moon
in his hands. From his reaction
, he seemed to like
her doting
on him
.

             
“I found the problem. I need you to stand over there and place your hands on
that
hose. Try not to let the water escape while I patch this spot,” John instructed. She did as he
said
, her arms starting to ache from the amount of strength it was taking.

             
“Are you almost finished
,
John. I don’t think I can hang on much longer,” she warned him.

             
“One more minute,” he replied. She
waited,
sweat breaking out on her brow. “Okay, I’ve got it,” he told her, quickly coming over and working his magic. He finished the job,
then
stood up to his full six foot height.

             
“We don’t have much time for picking. It looks like
you’re
stuck with me
,
now,” she teased him. She knew he’d much rather be hunting
,
but John was a
whiz
at fixing
things
so he’d been put on water line duty and then
stuck
picking with her for the rest of his
allotted
time
outdoors
.

             
“I can think of worse things than relaxing with my favorite sister,” he said as he ruffled her hair. She hated when he did that. She wasn’t five years old. She sighed to herself because she didn’t think anyone would realize she was
no longer a child
.