Angel's Ascendance

Chapter 2: Damnation Rising (Collin Strauss)

Collin threw a knife; it stabbed the picture on the wall.

A profile picture of Aiden was at the mercy of Collin's frustration. But before long, his temper had reached its peak and with a snap of his fingers, the picture burst into flames. He took a deep breath and went to his computer. Blueprints of the school downloaded, movement patterns of students outlined, schedules memorized, and yet, with a solid plan, no results. A shattering sound came from the mirror on the dresser behind him, Collin sighed and turned around to face a faceless shadow in the mirror. "I'm not in the mood father. Not now." He said calmly.

"Just wanted to check in seeing as though the powerful magic you sent forth has rippled its way down here, I was hoping the deed was done.

It would go smoother if I had more predictable beings and not humans affecting this.

You've never had a problem before, anyways you know all you need to do is just grab a gun and shoot the bastard in the heart.

You know that's not my style and besides it's too late.

Don't tell me.....

His powers have been awakened."

The room went quiet, "Azzareth, why is it that every time you fail, it's with the high profile targets?" The father said annoyed. Collin's face twitched, "Some vessels are annoying to begin with......"

No excuses, and now you're out of time. Move on to the next phase of the plan, open the seals."

The shadow fades from the mirror and left Collin there in silence. Casually Collin grabbed another picture of Aiden from the drawer of his desk, stuck it where the last one was, then walked back to his seat. While sitting, he repeatedly conjured and threw knives at the picture over and over again. "Mark my words Mills, I will end you." He finally said at the door after another ten minutes of venting. He left with a thud.

Collin always enjoyed the action, but the setup for it always seemed to bore him greatly. He made his way into a back alley in the Commercial district of the city, taking some stairs downward and he found himself in front of a large black iron door. He released a sigh, then knocked on the door. After a few seconds, a security camera in the top right corner turned on and looked at him, then the door opened.

The room was lit with candles, the walls were stone and cold, leather couches were placed in the center with a small coffee table in front of them, a hooded figure greeted Collin with a bow and a low voice, "Welcome back Collin." Collin gave another sigh, "Enough with the theatrics Jarrod, it's time to move onto the next phase of the plans."

"Shall I assemble the rest of the acolytes.

Oh for the love of.......... Jarrod I told you, you're not a damn cult."

Jarrod traded the monotonic voice for a whiny one, "But it's so much more fun. I even got the robes tailored for everybody." Collin face-palmed, then began pinching the top of his nose, and gave out one more sigh, "I don't have time for this, where's Vallory? I need her for the next part of the plan." Jarrod slumped defeated then went behind Collin and hit a hidden switch, the lights turned on. With the entire room now visible, Collin could easily spot the other 'acolytes' in robes. One of them removed her hood showing a face with dichromatic eyes, one a normal brown, but the other an unusual shade of crimson, hair golden blond and skin perfectly soft. "Vallory, I need your magic for the first seal." She remained silent, only nodded and headed towards him then stopped in front of the door and turned back to look to Collin. Before leaving Collin gave one more remark through a smile, "Get rid of the glorified bathrobes while I'm gone or I'll burn them while they're on your body." He left out the door and escorted Vallory with him.