Dusk Chronicles: Among the Stars

Intro (2/3)

Her parents had hired me to raise her in secret. They had become powerful influences to the world by the time they had Angela. Their first child was grown and capable of taking care of himself, but Angela would have been a bargaining chip if anyone knew about her existence. They proposed that she be raised almost 6,ooo miles away until she became of age. A place to safely learn the dangers of the world, but also how to skillfully defend herself. Master how to use a bow, sword, knife, gun, and other miscellaneous weapons of opportunity. On her 19th birthday she was set to return to the parents she never knew she had. We had been on our way to meet them, but something had gone wrong.
There was a heavy heat that filled the air. A strong choking smoke filling my lungs. The smell of fire. Screaming. Her pleading for help. Glass crackling, metal bending, a car accident.

We had been struck as we drove the back-roads to her parents estate. Only small fragments of the incident were flashing through my head fading as if they were old and aged.

Just like that, she was gone. Moments passed by as we sat there, tears rolled over my cheeks and falling onto her cold skin.

This isn't real. This can't be real.

I laid her down with the greatest of care, taking notice of the blood that covered her jacket. Her shirt had clean, straight slashes, had she been in a brawl with someone?
My eyes began to scan our surroundings quickly, hoping to spot some sort of trail or tracks while my heart began to fill with a sorrowful hatred. I had only looked away for a moment, nothing more than a few seconds, but when I looked back, she was gone. A small bush was just starting to bloom with little white roses in the exact spot where she had just been. "Angela?"
"She's gone Blake."
I looked up to see a woman kneeling on the other side of the small rosebush. I stared at her, she couldn't be the murderer. The way she looked at me gave off an unwelcome feeling, like I needed to run. The woman barely moved as she eyed over the roses,pulling the petals off until only the thorns remained, checking each little flower buds. Her skin was deathly pale, especially in the black dress and hood that draped over her slender frame, hair as white as the roses, and her eyes were ashen grey. She looked saddened but a shimmer of cheerfulness at the same time. Her expression was soft on her face and just as I was about to ask who she was her eyes snapped to mine. They seemed to become black voids as she stared at me, not grey as before, my skin turned to ice as a small smile spread over her lips.
"I am here to help you, Mr. Blake"
I recognized her voice instantly, she's the one I've been hearing on the wind, her head tilted to one side ever so slightly as I eyed her, "What's going on? What did you do to Angela?!" She shook her head and made a Tsk. Tsk. as she stood and plucked a rose from the bush.
"She's been dead for almost three years now Mr. Page, but I didn't expect you to remember something you never knew"
I shook my head, Impossible, she was just here! A queasy feeling crept over me as the woman walked around the bush and away so casually. Only able to stare and watch for a moment as she started down the road, I had the urge to follow her, to ask what's happening and demand full answers. Without looking over her shoulder she beckoned me to follow, and the second I shook my head no she stopped in her place. "Tell me what's going on!" My voice wavered as I started feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and thoroughly confused. The woman turned slowly, twirling the rose in her hands delicately, her eyes were growing into darker voids, pulling me in as our gaze met once more, and her voice was comfortingly sweet like a mother's but also harsh and demanding. She spoke as if I had never said a thing, a sickening smile spreading over her face.
"Can't you feel it. Really feel it? Life slipping away from you."

That voice calmed my core like a mother simply cooing her child to sleep, so gentle to hear but her words left a sting in my head. I watched her twirling the rose in her hands with ease, one by one the petals drifting from her fingers and to the ground as if the bud was dying in her grasp.

What am I watching? What's happening to me? This has to be a dream.

"Everything knows when it's life is over, but to accept the fact can be a complicated matter entirely."
"What?" the world started fading, darkness crept into my vision.

What is she talking about? Am I dying? Is this my 'Light at the end of the tunnel'?
I fell onto the dirt, unable to sit up any longer. The woman walked back towards me, her smile seemed sinnister, was she happy I was in pain? "No, I'm not dead."
"Oh my dear Blake. Do you feel like Death has come for you?"

She knelt besides me, her hand was ice cold as she brushed hair from my forehead, but her touch made me feel safe and protected almost. The world started spinning again, all I could focus on was her eyes, those dark pools pulling me in. I swore I saw stars faintly sparkling as I stared up at her face while the rest of the world faded away.

"I'm not dead... I'm....not...no. Who do you think you are...." The world faded, I was scared but I wasn't ready to die, this isn't real. I'm not dying. She leaned back, giving me a sympathetic look.

"Right, you aren't dead and my name isn't Grimm."

Her smile was gone and a hunger filled her eyes, they began to turn a deep rouge. The last thing I saw was one of her hands reaching towards me, the other raising a shining scythecovered in thorns and rose petals.