The Destiny of Angels

Chapter 29

Izzy was asleep, curled up on Cleo's legs. Her long pink braids lay spread out across the bed, and Cleo's legs. Cleo softly twists a braid around her finger absent-mindedly, looking as if she is lost in thought.

"You okay?" I ask quietly, not wanting to wake Izzy up. She looks far too peaceful and comfortable to wake up.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm good," Cleo answers. It was apparent in her voice that she was somewhere far away in her mind. This was probably one of the only times I had ever seen Clementine zoned out.

We sit quietly for a moment. She continues to play with Izzy's hair, and I fidget with my hands. The only sound filling the room was Izzy's soft steady breathing.

Jealously welled up inside of me. Izzy and Cleo had it easy. They only had to worry about right here and now. It would be great to get to live in the moment. Meanwhile, I was preparing to hunt down a murderer, and mentally wrapping my head around the isolation I was going to be going through.

Chewing on the opposite end of the inside of my cheek from the sore I had self-implicated, I let my mind wander. I could do that too. Forget the murderer, forget training, forget the evil nesting inside of me, and be normal. Lyland was a call away. With one call he could be back here, and I could curl up in his arms like Izzy was in Cleo's.

That would fix everything in a way, but it would let a murderer run free. Was my happiness worth letting the murderer potentially kill again? No. I couldn't be selfish, but man do I want to be.

I let out a heavy sigh without realizing it. "Are you okay Aura?" Clementine asks. Her emerald green eyes lock on mine. They almost seem animalistic, with her pupils slightly slit.

"Yeah, just wishing I could ditch my responsibilities," I mumble back.

"We all have responsibilities we want to run from," she whispers. I barely heard her, as her voice was so soft. It was so light, with no cheer to it at all. I had already been being selfish, I realize. How could I think I was the only one facing the unbearable weight of life? I mean Izzy had just terribly lost her father, and I was sitting here being jealous of her. That was selfish.

Not knowing what to say, I don't answer. Just sit quietly, digging my nails into my hands. These new self-destructive habits needed to go.

"Cleo?" I finally ask after a long time.

She had laid down careful not to disturb Izzy, and looked quite uncomfortable in the position she was in. Her legs were still crossed under Izzy's head, as she was probably too scared to move them. "Yes, A?"

"What is the shifter tale Little Red?"

"Have you heard the story Little Red Riding Hood? Little Red is the story it originated from. It's about one of the first dark shifters," she answers. A soft yawn escapes her lips.

Her yawn makes me have to fight yawning myself. "So how does it go?"

"This little girl's family fell sick, so it was up to her to hunt for food. She broke into a goddess's home and killed her beloved pet, a giant majestic animal said to have the power to heal. She dragged it home.

Once she got home she went to wipe the blood off her hands, but it wouldn't come off. Her hands were permanently stained.

One day she wakes up in an old woman's house to see her torn to shreds. Little Red asks what did this to her, and with the woman's last breaths she says, "You did."

The girl goes off on a journey and discovers that she had been cursed by the goddess to turn into a horrible creature. She eventually learns to control her monster half and becomes the first dark shifter to exist.