A Cloak Of Feathers

Chapter 11 -Inbetween

~Authors note: Hey everyone! If you read chapter 10 before January the 30th (2018) please skim over it again to avoid confusion as I have made some big changes to it. Thank you!

My heart drums in my throat and ears as I stare down at the two angelic bodies side by side on the leaf-littered earth. Their wings outstretched beneath them, so painfully still. My body goes into automatic, I leap off the window sill and slide down the drain pipe. My feet land smoothly on the ground.

"Azrael no, no no!" A lump forms in my throat. I lean down hovering my cheek above his mouth, he's barely breathing. The qeres angel poison will start coursing through his veins soon. There isn't long before it reaches his heart and soul, time is of the essence.

The small angel beside him may have already passed. Sophie's normally peachy skin now ashen and pale. Her eyes have become dull and clouded, something I see often in a slayen ghallow. I check her vitals in vain, she feels so cold. Stifling the bile that's rising in my throat, I turn to face their attacker, my Ma.

"Silly girl, have you fallen for the enemy?" Ma steps closer to to me, dangling a dagger between her fingers. "Do you know how dangerous these vile creatures are? You are naive." Ma coldly spits, the snake like voice I heard in my dream occupying her body.

I wince at her words, Ma has never talked to me this way before. As if I am nothing more than gum on the sole of her shoe.

"You have no idea. They aren't the monsters you think they are. They are trying to save us, this whole city." I stand up from the ground, holding my head higher. "They are my friends." I finish quietly, holding back my tears. I try to sound cold and guarded in an attempt to be strong.

"I don't expect you to understand, you only saw the evil in them Ma, they aren't what you think they are." I debate, trying to get through to her. 

Ma scoffs, twirling a dagger in her palm. "Keira don't you know what they are capable of? Don't you know the pain those foul creatures inflicted on the world? I ought to call the city guardians. They will sort you out, and hunt down the rest of them. I'm not having you associate with savages." She dismisses, marching over to grip my arm. "Get inside now!" Ma screams wildly, tugging me violently towards the house.

"No." I stubbornly refuse, my voice like ice. I shrug her off, she reels back in shock. "How dare you defy me! What happened to you, what happened my little girl Keira? Look what they did to you!" She gestures in disgust to Azrael and Sophie. I stare at the fallen angels feeling numb all over. Sophie's blonde hair flutters lightly in the breeze as does the pearly feathers on Azrael's wings. They look so peaceful.

"I raised you! Are you about to choose them over me, your family?" Ma darkly challenges, pulling me back to reality.

Shocked, I gape at Ma with confusion, is there so much hate, so much disgust for the fallen that she is giving me an impossible ultimatum?
I force myself to look Ma in the eye, standing up a little straighter. "I don't want to choose Ma, but you are giving me no choice." I finally answer. Ma sets her mouth in a hard line, brows drawing together. I almost give in to her, torn between falling at her feet, begging for forgiveness or standing true to what I believe in.

"This isn't about me and them, it's bigger than that. There's more at stake. I.... I'm sorry Ma." I choke on my words, my heart pangs as I see an expression on Ma's face I had never seen before. Rejection.

She quickly composes herself, wiping away a wayward tear. "Don't come back Keira." Ma calmly speaks. she suddenly looks so frail, standing there on the porch, she looks tired. Not the strong woman I grew up with, just a shell of a person.

"I love you, so much, my darling Keira. But I cannot live with a traitor." Ma crocks out with hurt. She lifts her chin and spins on her heel, slamming the door inside the old house.