Lopsided Halos

Chapter 3

I was reading my book, waiting for the time to pass by, when I saw him creeping in the corner. I sighed, knowing exactly why he was here.

I rolled my eyes." I see you, you know, you don't need to try and scare me. Nice try though." He came out of the corner, walking towards me slowly.

"Well at least I tried, Leila. Nice house by the way. Although, it's a real inconvenience how you keep moving around. " He was wearing his signature cloak, his face not showing, almost like a shadow.

"Yeah well." I sighed. "I almost thought you were done with me, you haven't been needing me for a few days now. So, who is it this time?" He sat on the bed next to me.

"No one you know, just some man in his twenties. Heart attack. He lives a few states over. You know the drill." Indeed I did. I took a deep breath, before transforming into my angel form.

I could almost feel my eyes darken their purple color, my clothing turning black. I looked in the mirror, not surprised at all. My skin was as pale as a ghost, my lips redder than ever. I was now wearing my dark cloak that ended at my knees, my black wings coming out of my back.

I sighed, averting my gaze from the mirror and looking back at death.

"Are you ready, angel?" Death asked, his gaze never leaving my face. Looking at death was never an easy task, I'll tell you that. And being watched by death, even harder. I squirmed under his gaze and nodded, before being transported to my destination.

I looked around, realizing that he took me to a small apartment building. I was currently in the lobby, and I could sense where the death was calling me, and guided me to one of the doors on the bottom floor. I used my teleportation power to appear in his room. I immediately saw him collapsed on the floor. He was young, probably 27, very over weight, and was struggling for breath on the floor.

Putting on an emotionless mask, I walked towards his dying body, and put my hand over his barely beating heart. I looked away, not wanting to see the life leave his green eyes. I clenched my hand, stopping his heart completely. That part always hurt the most. I knew how death can break apart a family, and I couldn't help but feel like every time I took someone's life, I was also tearing apart a family as well.

I guess that's just the price to pay when your deaths angel.

I suppose you want an explanation. So here it goes.

I, Leila Emily Mathews, am Death's angel. Death is kind of like the Grim Reaper. Whenever someone's time on earth is up, he takes out their soul, leaving it up to god to decipher whether he goes to heaven or not. When I died, at the age of 12, he showed up. But apparently, it wasn't my "time." So we made a deal. Although it wasn't really us making a deal as much as it was him telling me what to do. Basically, at night, while everyone else is sleeping, I end the lives of people whose time on Earth is up. Technically, no one is truly dead until I, or during the day, death, takes their life. 

There are obviously others like me, considering I and Death cannot cover all of the deaths that go on, but those people are full-time angels and have died completely.

Death is not a bad guy. He isn't the one that kills the people, he just brings there life force up to God. Every human has a certain time to leave Earth, and we are just the ones that pass them over. To do so, Death takes their souls, but I was given the ability to stop their hearts.

There is me, Fate, Death, the Devil, and God. There are various other helpers like me, but I haven't met them yet. Nor do I plan on meeting them.

Fate chooses when I have to end the person's life, Death takes the life force up to the Devil and God, and then they decide whether they go to heaven or hell.

I have only really spoken to death, but I have met Fate before. 

Other than the ability to stop people's hearts, I have other abilities too. I can read minds when I want too, I have superhuman strength, I can teleport from place to place, I can turn invisible, I can fly, I can heal all living and fix all non-living things, I have the power to sedate people by just touching two fingers to there head, I can see things most humans can't (like ghosts, demons, and god), I have telepathy, I can enter peoples dreams, I can mimic any voice I want, and I mostly don't need sleep. It sounds pretty cool, and believe me I was ecstatic when I was 12, but all of that for taking lives? Not worth it. I would give back all of my powers just to take back one of the deaths I caused.

I'm pretty much immortal. But like every Superman, we all have our kryptonite. Mine just happens to be Qeres. Qeres is an extremely rare substance because its recipe has been lost, but small amounts still exist. This perfume is a lethal poison to an angel (fallen or otherwise), and if poured over, say, the blade of a knife, could, in fact, terminate an angel. Thankfully I am stronger than most angels, so the liquid would affect me in a different way. I don't know much about it, but I hear it can be very dangerous.

Angels are people who have passed on to heaven, and demons are people who have passed on to hell. Thankfully, the Devil does a pretty good job at keeping demons in hell.

After looking at his lifeless body one last time, I teleported myself to my next destination.

I found myself in a dark ally, the smell of blood almost bringing back up the Chinese food I had for dinner.

My purple eyes found the body through the darkness, multiple stab wounds being evident, blood soaking the concrete ground. I didn't know where I am but judging by the tall buildings around me, I figured I was in some type of city, god knows where exactly.

I slowly walked closer to it, trying to avoid looking at the gruesomeness of the body before me. I bent down, my eyes betraying me and looking at the gore.

His intestines were spilled on the floor around him, his chest ripped open. It's like he was gutted...

Not being able to take much more, I quickly stopped his heart, taking notice of the terror, panic, and desperation in his eyes. He wanted me to end his suffering just as much as I wanted to get out of there.

The rest of my night consisted of a lot less gruesome deaths, to my relief.

I got back home around sunrise, turning back into my human form.

I had to leave my house at seven since school started at seven thirty and I wanted to get there a little early. It was five, so I took an hour-long shower, scrubbing the blood off my hands and body until my skin was rubbed raw.

What a great way to start my first day of school.