To The End

Chapter Two (Part Two)

Pictured is how I imagine Lady. I do not own this picture.

Chapter Two (Part Two)**

       "Miss me, M-kay?" My brother, Abel, asked using my nickname he had given me when we were just kids.  He slid from Ladies bare back and stepped toward me. I jumped from my own horses back and charged toward him. He caught me in a hug and tears threatened to fall. It had been months sense I had interacted with another human. Abel always had a way of making me feel safe, even if demons and monsters were lurking in the shadows.

      He was part of a special branch of the military that had been formed before everyone was taken in the rapture. It was formed specifically for the attack of the Dark Ones. People knew the time was coming for the Darkness. We had been warned in so many ways. While everyone continued to ignore the warnings my brother had went straight to making his own Army. Other men and women had agreed with his ways and followed him. The goverment eventually caught on to his development and almost shut the entire operation down. After riots and millions of protests he was finally gave permission to continue to "calm the population" as they polatitions put it.

      Abel became a leader of a group of men molded into the worlds finest warriors. They were smart, fierce, and knew exactly what to do fighting against a Demon. They were called The Graceful.

       I couldn't fully understand why he had been left behind during the rapture. Did God understand that we would need the protection, or was Abel's soul tainted along the way? I never could wrap my head around God or his reasoning though I suppose I wasn't entitled to. I shook it off and focused on him being safe.

"They are gone, Abe! Mom and Dad just disappeared with the others!" I sobbed aloud taking comfort in his presents.

"Shhh. I'm here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm sorry you were alone but I'm here now." He cooed rocking me from side to side in his arms like he did so many nights that I had a bad dream as a child. Only this was real and I wasn't going to wake up no matter how bad I wanted to.

"I thought you were dead, Abe. There was talk going around after the rapture. Everyone said your entire unit had been wiped out!" I rushed pulling back from the hug.

"It was." He whispered. Sorrow laced his voice, but he continued after sitting against a tree the dangers of the world surrounding us momentarily washed away in one another presence. I sunk down beside him. "When we landed in Britian the Dark Ones were everywhere. We tried saving who we could, but they were out numbering us by thousands. So many people died, M-kay. We couldn't keep them at bay. It was a pointless trip. We were going in to rescue people in a compound, Marked women and men being held in slavery. When we made it inside Dark Ones were on us from every direction. My unit was wiped clean." He paused with his head hidden in his hands. He looked up at me with a tortured look and wrinkled eyes.

"I thought I had made my men perfect. Untouchable. I was wrong. You can't save the Damned. God will not allow it. The Dark Ones are of many numbers and I was stupid to think I could help. I see that now."

I frowned grasping his arm.

"Thats not true! You tried. It's more than anyone else can say. Everyone laid down in the face of the Dark. They're cowards. No wonder they were forgotten by God."

He smiled gently, "Maybe so, but we," He motioned between us, "were left behind also."

"I know that. Im not trying to say you and I are better than anyone else here; I'm trying to say that atleast when it's time for us to face God we can look at him and say we tried."

"Your right," he said. He looked proud, and that made me relax.

I stood and brushed myself off.

"Lets make camp. I'll cook some snake," I offered with a laugh.

He nodded his head and we made our way through the thick trees on a search for a place safe enough to start a small fire. The remainder of the sun was disappearing. I had become distracted with Abels arrival.

**

     We sat inside a hollowed out cliff side. The cave was large enough for the horses and us. The fire wouldn't be as noticeable with the over hanging rocks above our heads. There was also only one entrance, which meant only one place a threat could enter. My eyes rarely left the mouth of the cave. I was afraid as soon as I looked away I would be pounced upon.

       We sat in silence eating the snake Bernie had hunted. I inhaled my portion quickly. Abel was still chewing when something crossed my mind. Something I had forgotten to ask.

    "How did you make it out alive when no one else did?"

He looked up and didn't answer for a moment.

Finally, he said, "I was fighting with a large male and got stabbed in the side. I blacked out from loss of blood and awoke in the chambers of a very persistent female. A Dark One. She wanted me as her personal slave. She took intrest in me during the battle and would not allow anyone to kill me. She was evil even though she saved my life. When I refused her demands to be Marked she tortured me for weeks. She wanted my consent to be claimed by her, wanting the power of breaking me yet somehow wanting a willing candidate. She was a strange woman always requesting my touch. When I finally couldn't take anymore of the torture she ordered I agreed to be her Personal. The conditions I was left in were unimaginable, something I would never want to see again."

I gasped, "You didn't?!" I searched every visible part of skin showing for the mark or any indication my brother belonged to this female, but I didn't find one.

"No, I did not. The day of the ceremony I stabbed the female in the heart before she could succeed. I later found out that she was a direct daughter of Lucifer."

"As in the Devil?" Horror struck my heart.

"Yes. I killed Lucifers only blood daughter. To say he isn't very happy with me is a great understatement."

I sighed. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

He shook his head and changed the subject, "Why are you tracking through the woods like a mad woman?"

"I'm going to find Kristen."

Shock showed clear on his face. "Do you have a death wish?! Kristen wouldn't risk her neck for any of us, not even Mom or Dad! Why in the hell would you risk your life to go to her?"

       Abel and Kristen never got along. She hated that he had the power to boss her around so she resented him for it. Abe and I were always inseparable, while Kristen could barely stand either one of us.

       Before Abe left for the training of The Graceful, Kristen bad mouthed and brought him down for thinking the Darkness would actually happen. Last I had heard they hadn't talked since then.

"Abe she's our sister. No matter how big of a pain in the ass she is. We have to find her. She needs us. No matter how much she thinks she can take care of herself she can't, not in the Dark," I reasoned.

"I'll help you find her. But I'm not doing it for her. I'm doing it to help you. I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt trying to find that idiot."

"So you'll help me?" I pleaded with me eyes.

"Of course. Your family."

*****