Deadly Beauty

Chapter 6

Imani

The flood of voices, sounds, and smells assaults my senses. My eyes are heavy like weights.

How long will she be out

Hard to say, we put her in a medically induced coma so that she had time to heal

I'm going to go get coffee

I'll stay here

Mom, Dad, Hudson, a Dr. I need to get up, they're worried about me. Panic rises in me, I can't open my eyes, I can't open my eyes! Wind picks up around the room, and water drips from the ceiling. My eyes finally open up and with a start I sit up. Looking around the room everyone looks terrified, I look down and see my burnt skin flaking away to reveal glowing tattoos. "Oh shit" is all I get out before my world goes black once again and I lose my hard fought consciousness. Falling back into the dark cloud of dreamless darkness.

Hudson

Little droplets of water still stir in the room and wind blows a gentle breeze that ruffles Imi's hair gently. The runes of the angel are written in scrolling script and glow brightly all the way down her arms. She looks like an angel when she's asleep, her form dainty and haunted eyes closed. Her breaths are steady and pulse normal, but something's off, I can feel it in the air and my very being is begging me to go into that room and stand by her but the doctors would have me out in a second and I wouldn't be allowed to see her so I sit on the other side of a 1 way window and pray to God things will be okay. As if it's an answer to my prayers her pulse starts to skyrocket and she sits up with a loud gasp only this time the glass frosts over almost instantly and I feel my mate slip from my fingers once again.

IMANI

It is like I'm resurrected. I'm me but i'm not, there's a new thing inside of me but I haven't been able to figure out what it is yet. Definitely not an animal or anything that I can shift into, it feels more like a new power. But it's not an element. I push the scratchy sheets off of me and rip out the IVs. Planting my feet on the cold, hard tiles I walk over to the closet to grab my clothes but find it frozen shut. Scanning the room I see the walls are all frozen. Huh... that's not something you see every day. I circle the room and see a warm glow in the mirror, looking down I see glowing tattoos covering me from my shoulders down. The angel runes can only be read by angels and a gasp escapes my lips when the delicate runes turn into English. The tattoos contain two words repeated continually: chosen one.

"You've gotta be fricking kidding me" I mutter

"Do you not like the tattoos? I could change them..."

I spin around and see a beautiful lady behind me, her skin is fair and free of blemishes and her hair is a rich chestnut coloring. Her eyes are constantly changing colors and she seems to glow from within. I look at my runes and then at her and it all clicks into to place, she's an angel.

I duck into a deep bow that is customary for knights to give to kings but really stemmed off of protectors ways of greeting angels. "I did not mean any offense my lady, it's just that I find it ironic considering the people who told me that the first time beat me into submission to make me the perfect soldier."

The angel frowned "Best not to have that inscribed on your body than"

She looked at me and waved her hand over my whole body. I felt the glowing tattoos liquify and start to glide over my body. Now see, glide sounds like a beautiful word that made this process sound painless but it hurts like hell! The liquid tattoos burn my skin but leave trails of icy cold that make me miss the searing heat from before. My knees hit the ground and I didn't even recognize falling down. I let out an agonized scream borderline wail as my very being seems to be destroyed and rebuilt in seconds. It was like the goddamn change all over again. The searing burn started to fade but I still laid on the floor shaking like a child. Trying desperately to pull myself together I push myself up on weak arms but remained sitting on the ground.

"Why would you do that?" I tried to shout but my voice was barely above a whisper.

"I was only trying to help" The beautiful angel frowned again

"I'm sorry my lady I did not mean to lose control, I beg for forgiveness." I bowed once again and waited.

She only smiled and said, "all is forgiven dear child, what do you think of your tattoos?"

I stood up and paused, the glowing tattoos had turned into warrior paint on my arms and legs. Every once in a while there was a cuff that had chosen one written in elegant scroll. On my shoulders and across my chest were tribal prints. I could feel angel wings still warm on my back, the heat made them feel almost alive.

I looked at her and smiled "They're beautiful, thank you"

She smiled, her whole face lighting up "Your welcome dear, I'm afraid this wasn't the main reason I've come" she pulled out a satchel and scroll, handing me both objects "The scroll is all the information we have on your assignment and open the satchel once I leave. I hate to be the one to tell you of this burden, but we do need your help and I believe you are the only w=one who can do it. I wish you the best of luck young one"

In a flash of light she's gone as quickly as she came and I stand there for a couple of seconds before a laugh escapes, then another, and another. It's not long before I'm rolling on the floor with tears trailing down my face. My laughs stop suddenly and I lay there with my arms and legs spread out. Thoughts bounce around my head. Hudson. Chosen one. Angel. Mission. Save the world. Scroll and satchel. I sit up abruptly, the satchel, my curiosity is too much to handle as I untie the knot and look into the leather bag. Nothing is in there, un-freaking-believable. I'm closing the stupid satchel back up when a burst of tornado worthy wind slips from the satchel and circles around me. 

Yay! Another magic tornado! This tornado doesn't waste any time. Within seconds I see shirts, pants, boots, and weapons flying around me. My hospital gown is quickly stripped away and clothes are put on even faster. The tornado seemingly appeased, retreats back into the bag. I look down and nearly faint from shock. On my feet are the softest and lightest black boots, dark leather pants are tucked into the boots, a flowy white tunic is cinched in with a thick belt at my hips and goes to mid-thigh, a black jerkin rests on top of the tunic. I feel a shirt that is like my body armor under the tunic and when I shift I feel it covering my whole body. 

The tornado didn't just stop there though, my hair is intricately braided and the weapons, oh the weapons are a thing of beauty. A dagger is tucked into each boot. There are thigh holsters with two handguns with ammo that never runs out. The leather belt has two swords, one on each hip. Throwing knives line the rest of the belt. A quiver full of replenishing arrows is strapped to my back and the most beautiful bow is in my hands. Every single weapon was covered with angel runes and was the finest craftsmanship I have ever seen

I strap the bow to my back and walk over to the full-length mirror. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw when I looked into the mirror. Apparently, my tattoos didn't end at my shoulders. In the center of my forehead was a crescent moon with a sun between its tips. The tattoo is beautiful but the most eye-catching part of my newly acquired attributes is my eyes, my normally hazel ones are flashing a new color every second. Blue, violet, silver, black, red. The colors are making me dizzy. It was too much, focusing on my eyes in the mirror I willed them to slow down. The colors slowly started to slow down until they were only changing every minute. Looking into the mirror I saw the old me and a new me coming together to form the me who I was now. My past, present, and future coming together in a perfect symphony. I look beautiful and elegant. I look cunning and deadly. At that moment, I was a deadly beauty, unstoppable and invincible.