❝ You wouldn't believe me if I told you. ❞
❝ Try me, sugar. ❞
Gabriel is an archangel looking for a way to escape his broken family.
Julia is a hunter running from her legacy.
They both want to begin again, but the past isn't done with them y...
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❝ there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you ❞
[BEFORE: PART TWO]
~~~
IT WAS A while before the reporter finally cleared off, leaving the police station with a flourish. Julia heaved a sigh of relief, as did many of her colleagues. Dealing with the press was always a drawback of the job.
James, her partner in the force, took the opportunity to drag her aside. "Hey Jules, wanna grab that drink you owe me when we've cleared this up?"
The dark-haired woman groaned with mock horror as she remembered the bet the pair of them made — unfortunately it didn't pay off for her. "If I have to," she grinned at him.
He winked and excused himself before running off down the corridor after remembering were he had left the reports of the previous case. Julia rolled her eyes after him and entered her own office, which was small but served its purpose.
Yanking open the top drawer of the filing cabinet, she pushed aside the bottle of holy water and a half empty bottle of vodka, finally pulling out her own report that she had yet to complete. After securely locking the drawer in place, she took a seat at her desk, grabbing a pen as she did so.
The report was a fairly simple procedure, one that Julia was used to, so it wasn't long before she was scribbling down her false signature that she had been using for five years.
Absentmindedly, she touched the three scars that lined her neck, caught up with memories of her past. The ex-hunter gave a small smile as she always did when she noted the new signature, reminding her of her new life. The little office with its desk at the back wall, papers scattered randomly across it, and even the dominating potted plant which Julia always forgot to water, were part of her now.
If she happened to glance out of the window off to the left, her coworkers would smile and nod at her, unaware that she was anything more than a simple cop in a small town.
Julia Ryder was now just a distant memory and each day that passed secured the belief that this could be forever. Five years was a long time, but, unbeknownst to her, the past wasn't done with her yet.
~~~
The evening came quicker than expected, which found Julia sat beside her partner, sipping on some beer and watching as James roared with laughter at the story she had told. "That's classic," he chuckled, swigging his own drink and wiping his eyes.
"So," the man before her began, "I've known you four years and I've never asked." Julia glanced up, pushing her hair aside as James fiddled with his fingers around the glass. "How did you get those?" He pointed at the scars which she had temporarily forgotten about.
"Oh, these," she replied distractedly, hurriedly deciding on what to say. "It was a wild animal; my family are hunters." Straying from the truth too far could cause slip-ups, so this was the most reasonable explanation.
His eyes widened. "Sounds dangerous," he concluded with a final sip to finish his drink and gesturing to the waitress for a refill.
Julia nodded, "If it wasn't for my brother..." she trailed off.
"You never talk about them — your family, I mean," he hurried on.
"We had... a falling out. I haven't seen them in five years." Again, she thought, not too far from the truth.
James nodded and ran his hand through his hair, honey-gold eyes shone with understanding and sympathy. "Me too. I have three brothers, all older, but we just sort of... fell apart. That was after my dad left."
The ex-hunter was surprised to hear that he understood, to a degree, what she had gone through. Of course, there were no monsters involved, but maybe the two had more in common than she knew.
"But I still love them, you know, despite everything," he stared wistfully into the distance, letting his hair fall over his eyes.
Julia understood and continued for him. "Sometimes I think that maybe I could go back home, fix everything. But I just don't think I can face them. I can't go back to my old life."
Her partner nodded in agreement and held up his freshly refilled drink that the waitress had brought over. "To our families, shitty or otherwise."
"I can drink to that," Julia grinned, holding her glass up to his and clinking them together before taking a swig.
~~~
That night she dreamed. For the first time in five years, she dreamt of him. The man with the whiskey-coloured eyes. Julia tossed and turned underneath her covers, body slick with sweat. She mumbled something under her breath. "I can't," she moaned, "I can't go back."
A flash of lightning interrupted the unmoving, pressing darkness outside and thunder rumbled menacingly in the distance, taking away the stillness that resided in the air as a figure appeared by her bedside. Outside the window, Julia's neighbour muttered a curse under his breath as rain began to splash down with torrential force.
The man took a step closer to the bed. He watched over the sleeping form of the ex-hunter, eyebrows narrowed in concern as he saw her dream-like state. Laying his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her, he spoke into the night. "I'm sorry it has to be this way."
~~~
Julia jerked awake. She was disorientated for a few moments before she realised what woke her. Her phone was buzzing loudly, blasting out the familiar ringtone.
The brunette rolled over with a groan and fumbled for the device. Without glancing at the screen, she pressed what she hoped was the accept button and held it to her ear.
"Jules?" came the voice on the other end.
"Yep, I'm here," she confirmed as she recognised her awakener to be James. With a glance at her bedside table, she saw that it was just past five in the morning. The early rays of sunlight were dappling the room through her window, with no trace of the lightning that had pierced it just hours before.
