Chaos Descending

Forget Everything You Think You Know About Angels

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Heartbeat thundering in my ears, I feared that my throbbing head would explode and spray buckets of blood everywhere. The curse had made me weak. Weak and incredibly angry. My hunger, my sheer thirst was driving me to the breaking point. I couldn't concentrate. I wanted to binge. Binge feed on gallons of the red stuff. Even then I knew it wouldn't be enough. It would never be enough. Nothing would ever satisfy the hunger unless I gave in to Lisette's unwavering demands. For a split second I actually considered it. If only I wasn't so stubborn, this could all go away. But at what cost? Would I have to give up my soul? The thought made me panic and I called fire. I could feel the flames licking over my skin, scorching me alive. They rolled over all of my limbs at once and made my eyes burn, but I wasn't frightened. I welcomed the blazing heat that comes with being completely engulfed by my own fire. I didn't burn because the flames were mine to control.

I heard the shouts of alarm, and for a horrifying second I thought the pumpkins had found their targets. When I glanced up to find them sailing across the sky above, they too became immersed in flames like great balls of fire. Jerry Lee Lewis would definitely not be impressed by me bringing his song to life in more ways than one.

So much for control.

Everyone started to scream. Especially me.

Vycandor took hold of one of my hands and called ice. Sheet after sheet of glistening crystals snuffed out the flames, but the effect only increased their weight. By a lot. So, now, instead of flaming pumpkins they were gigantinormous snowballs. And they were closing in on the massive crowd of stunned onlookers who had forgotten how to run to get out of the way. Like their feet stopped working or something. Humans. Mouths opened wide, heads titled back, they gaped openly at what they saw coming their way. Hell, even the little girl stuck on the top row of the bleachers was no longer crying. She was busy watching the show just like everyone else.

As usual, the only thing missing was the popcorn.

I closed my eyes and tried to wrap my mind around each colossal sized frozen pumpkin with the intention of forcing them to change course. But it was no use. The ever expanding balls of ice were locked on their targets like heat seeking missiles. Or frozen ones in this case.  

Thomas shoved Vycandor and I out of the way. A beam of light—no, scratch that...a hundred tubes of light like great brilliant cylinders—shot up into the sky, turning night into the bright white of day. A massive explosion like an atomic bomb rocked the ground under our feet, all but obliterating the pumpkins. The force of the blow turned them into mush that landed all over the place, blanketing everyone and everything in orange colored slime. Gradually the sky grew dark again, the brightness fading once again to silver by the light of the moon.

"You two are supposed to protect humans. Not smash them with pumpkins," Thomas accused.

I pointed at Vycandor. "It's his fault. He's the one who turned them into frozen squash bombs because he thinks he's the Abominable Snowman."

Vycandor pointed at me in return. "It's her fault. She turned the pumpkins into fire bombs because she thinks she's Bubbles."

I opened my mouth to argue and that's about as far as I got. "Wait. What?"

"Haven't you ever watched the Power Puff Girls?" Vycandor inquired.

"I beg your pardon. I'm not Bubbles. If anything, I'm Liliana of the Veil."

"Your name is going to be mud if you don't stop using your angelic powers in public," Thomas warned.

"What about him?" I shot Vycandor a scalding glance. "He did it too. Don't just yell at me."