The Demon's Angel

Chapter 4

    Elizabeth
'No!' I thought frantically. Kurt had been caught. I couldn't leave him when he could have done so several times during our escape. I couldn't do to him something so similar to what Peter had done to me. Kurt was my only friend.

     I landed in the woods beside the road and watched with horror as some of the men stuffed Kurt into a small coffin and chained it closed. They tossed it back into the trailer. One man climbed in after it, and they began to drive away. Making a split second decision and gritting my teeth, I took off and followed them from above.

      The night hid any shadows that would have given me away. I felt a certain joy at this freedom, but at the same time, it was overshadowed with fear as I pursued the truck. At daybreak, it arrived in Berlin, and I was forced to land. It was getting too bright for it to be safe. Slipping into an alley, I grabbed some new clothes off of a random clothesline. Folding my wings away as tightly as physically possible, I discarded my torn clothes for the  jeans and baggy turtleneck (to cover the collar), covering the lump from my uncomfortably scrunched wings with a loose sweater. Then, I continued to causally follow the truck until it pulled up to a small hotel. The men unloaded the trailer, taking Kurt's coffin with them on a cart. I slipped into an alley beside the building, sat down, and waited for night to fall.

    When darkness came, the men walked out once again with the coffin.  After throwing it roughly into the back of a  small pickup truck, they climbed in. I winced, knowing that would've hurt badly from the inside of it. Right before they drove away, I ran up and jumped in. "Kurt?" I whispered. A weak voice replied, saying, "Elizabeth? I thought zat ju had left." I gave a small laugh. "I couldn't just leave you, especially after you saved me." I began to fumble with the chains, but I ripped my hands away when I felt an electric shock rip through them. The whole thing was covered in jumper cables and locked tight. Despair took over only for a second. I had come up with an idea. "Kurt, do you trust me?" I asked urgently. "Vhat? Vhat are ju going to do!?" he asked in a panicked tone. "Do you trust me?" I repeated. He sighed. "Ja." I stood. "I'll need you to fight then." "VHAT!?" he shouted. "Shh!" I said. "Don't worry! I'll get you out. I just need you to fight until I can." "I don't want to fight!" he said urgently. "I'm not a killer! I'm an acrobat!" "You won't have to kill," I said reassuringly. "You just have to survive until I can come up with a way to get you out." He took a deep breath. "Ok," he said finally. "But please hurry!"

      When the truck passed the front of the building, I quickly jumped out and followed the steady stream of people inside. I pushed through the crowd of drinking and smoking people. A fight was just ending. A mutant that the announcer called Angel was holding his arms in the air in a victorious stance. He had wings like mine, but I don't think he could hide them as easily. They were larger by a few feet and filthy. Another challenger came out and was defeated. This Angel was merciless. In all the matches I watched, all the while searching for a way to get Kurt out of the cage where the mutants fought once he was in, Angel always won very quickly. Any blood was cleaned up in between rounds. I began to feel sick. Maybe this was a bad idea.

    Eventually, I noticed that there was an electric field around the cage, which was probably why none of the mutants had escaped. I looked around, eventually finding the control panel. It was being guarded by a large man with a gun. I slipped to the edge of the crowd, standing as close as possible to it without looking suspicious. I winced as Angel defeated another mutant. The announcer shouted, "Ja! Zehn Kämpfe, zehn Siege. Der Geflügelte Krieger. Der Raubvogel. Der Todesengel. ANGEL!" The applause was thunderous. I felt as if I was going to be sick. "Eine Runde Applaus für fat boy!" The crowd continued to chant, "Angel! Angel!" as the large mutant was rolled on a gigantic cart out of the room. Angel threw his arms in the air and let out a victorious bellow.

     I saw Kurt's coffin being rolled forward as the announcer said, "Unser nächster Gegner kommt direkt aus dem Circus Munich. Damen und Herren. Der einzige, der einen Engel besiegen könnte, ist der Teufel selbst! Präsentieren. Der erstaunliche, der fantastische, Nightcrawler!"

    Kurt was tossed out of the coffin into a heap on the floor. He leapt up, he his eyes darting around in a panicked fashion. "Uhh...." he stuttered as faces jeered and screamed for his death all around. Angel took a swipe at him, but he teleported away. A zapping noise filled the arena, and Kurt reappeared towards the top of the cage. Screaming, he fell to the ground with a thud. The announcer laughed. "Vorsicht! Hochspannung. Leider Mutanten!"  The crowd joined in the laughter.  Kurt quickly leapt back up.

       I felt my anger grow. Although I couldn't understand German, I could understand enough of their body language and laughter to know that they were making fun of Kurt's pain. I turned on my heel and started to march up to the control panel, when another woman with a slightly revealing purple dress and wavy blond hair ambled up. The guard smiled and began to talk to her. I turned back around, waiting for her to leave. Meanwhile, Kurt was attempting to stay away from Angel. He flipped away from his wings once more. Mid-flip, he teleported to a beam above the floor. When Angel flew up and tried to punch him, he slid around the beam using his tail and limbs. Angel punched at where he landed behind him, but all he hit was smoke. Kurt had teleported to a different beam. I heard Angel growl with my heightened hearing, "Fight! Or they'll kill us both!" I noticed at least ten men with guns surrounding the cage. My heart leapt. Kurt seemed to notice too. He stood on the beam above Angel, and seeming to brace himself, bore his fangs and growled. He teleported to Angel, grabbing him with his tail and threw him. He teleported closer to the walls of the cage during the process, causing Angel to be thrown into the electric field. His eyes widened when one of Angel's wings seemed to get fried. Angel let out a yell of pain. Kurt jumped back in horror.

     The crowd went into shocked silence, before bursting into cheers, chanting, "Nightcrawler! Nightcrawler!" I turned around. The guard had been knocked out, and the circuit board was at a dangerously high level. The woman was nowhere to be seen. I pushed forward to the cage. Angel was advancing on Kurt with a murderous look on his face, his charred wing swinging at an awkward angle. "I'm sorry!" cried Kurt, scrambling backwards. "I'm sorry!"

     Suddenly, I heard the control panel blow up behind me. The whole room went dark. People began to scream and run in a panic. "Kurt!" I shouted. Angel had already ripped a hole out of the cage and began to fight his way out. Kurt teleported to me. I grabbed his arm and began dragging him towards the exit. One of the guards grabbed Kurt's shoulder, shouting in angry German. Kurt wrapped his arms around my waist, and with a "bamf" noise, we were outside in an alley, with the man staring at us with a horrified expression. I quickly knocked the man out with a punch to the nose. A group of men ran out of the door and began looking furiously for the escapees. Before any of them spotted me, I pushed Kurt behind a garbage can and hissed, "How do you say 'demon', 'help me', and 'please' in German?" Kurt looked confused but said, "'Dämon' means demon, 'hilf mir' means help me, und 'bitte' means please. Vhy?" I grinned. "Just trust me." He sighed, but shrank deeper into the shadows so that even I couldn't see him.

At that moment, several men spotted me. Hoping that they saw my obvious terror as fear of the 'demon' and not them, I screamed, "Dämon! Dämon! Hilf mir! Bitte!" They yelled, "Wo ist et?" Hoping that they were asking what I thought they were, I pointed fearfully down the street. They yelled their thanks, waving, and sprinted down the street. Kurt stood and looked at me, the fear in his eyes slowly being replaced by relief. I stared. "Are you ok?" I asked worriedly. He smiled shakily. "Ja. Let's get out of here."

TRANSLATIONS:
Zehn Kämpfe, zehn Siege = ten fights, ten victories
• Der geflügelte Krieger = the winged warrior
• Der Raubvogel = the bird of prey
• Der Todesengel. = the angel of death
• Unser nächster Gegner kommt direkt aus dem Circus Munich = our next opponent comes directly from the Circus Munich
• Damen und Herren = ladies and gentlemen
• Der einzige, einen Angel stehen könnte, ist der Teufel selbst! = the only one who could face an Angel is the devil himself!
• Präsentieren = presenting
• Die erstaunliche = the amazing
• Die fantastische = the fantastic
• Eine Runde Applaus für fat boy! = a round of applause for fat boy!
• Vorsicht = caution
• Hochspannung = high voltage
• Leider Mutanten = sorry mutants