Fallen Stars

Chapter Five

A/N: Starting something a little different! From now on, the regular print will be Cassandra's POV, the italicized print will be flashbacks, and the BOLD print will be Blake's POV or an Authors Note (but only at the beginning or end of the chapter). The POV will normally be Cassandra's, but some aspects of the story will be necessary to see through Blake's eyes. :)

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Central Park is amazingly beautiful. The trees sway in the wind, people lounge on park benches, vendors service those hot dog lovers, and the sun shines brightly on the entire scene. Blake asks if I'd like something from one of the vendors, to which I nod because I am very hungry. Rykan and Blake walk to the hot dog vendor while I sit on a bench fifteen yards away.

A fairly familiar man walks past, not showing his face. He has the same silhouette as the man who stomped out my front door oh so many times... Black hair, a leather coat with the collar pulled up, dark blue jeans, and some of the ugliest boots that I can still remember from when I was four years old.

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One morning, before he left for work, I put them on by the front door so that he couldn't leave. I tried my hardest to wear them and go up the stairs to my room, but I fell. My father came running from the kitchen, having heard my fall.

"What's happen, my love? Why do you have my boots on?" He asks laughing.

"I didn't want you to leave today. I had a dream that you wouldn't come back." I said looking at the floor, thinking he might be upset with me.

He looks at me and holds my chin in one hand, "I will never leave you, Cassie. I love you with my entire heart and soul. Now let's go wrap up that boo-boo."

I hadn't even noticed that I'd scraped my knee on my fall. He leans down and kisses it, even though it's bleeding a little. My father carries me up the stairs and bandages up my knee in the bathroom. He did leave for work that day, but he came back. For a few weeks anyway.

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The man keeps moving at a quick pace, but I know it's him. It has to be. I get up from the bench quietly and proceed to follow him, pulling my hood over my head and putting my hands in my pockets. He makes a right once we're out of the park, and walks several blocks in the same direction. After several more turns, we reach a warehouse.

He goes through a side door, and surprisingly he leaves it open. Maybe he's realized I've been following him. The inside of the warehouse is filled with crates floor to ceiling, the whole place maze-like. I've already lost him, but I'm not giving up just yet.

Not being entirely sure this will work, I close my eyes and imagine him. After a moment I see where he is, and with my eyes still closed, I begin to walk through the maze towards him. I make sharp turns without running into anything, and as I begin to get closer I walk faster. Once I feel that I've come to my destination, I walk straight for several feet until I bump into something.

When I open my eyes, my father is looking at me up and down, tears in his eyes.

"It is you. It's you, Cassie." He hugs me tighter that I've been hugged in years.

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"How the hell could you have lost her, Blake?!" Rykan asks me with anger in his voice.

"You were there too, you know." I say as we continue to walk down the crowded streets of New York City.

Rykan sighs, "At least tell me you've put a tracker in her phone."

Suddenly, I remember, "Actually, I did."

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Once the hugging has stopped, I decide to ask him what I've always wanted to.

"Why did you leave me? You promised me you never would, but you did. Do you have any idea how hurt I was? How hurt I still am?" I ask with tears streaming down my face. I want to punch him in the face for making me feel this way for all of these years, but I love him so much.

My father grabs both of my hands. "I never wanted to leave you. I never knew exactly who your father was, but I had to find out so that I could protect you. I was going to come back, but the Caden's found out that that I was your guardian. It would have been too dangerous. My name is Drake, by the way. I don't know if your mother ever told you." He gives me a sincere look.

"So, are you still an angel?" I ask because he hasn't aged since I last saw him twelve years ago.

"I haven't been an angel in a long time," he says looking down at our hands,"not since I left you. It was my duty to guard you, so when I disobeyed the archangel's wishes they tore my wings out . The society thinks I left because I had fulfilled my duty, but that's untrue. I only left to find a way to protect you."

A loud bang startles us, coming from the other end of the warehouse. Crates hit the ground and large room goes dark. Drake grabs my arm and begins to lead me away through the maze.

"They've found us, the Cadentibusque. If I don't get you out of here, they'll surely take you." Drake whispers to me as we walk through rows of crates.

A stack of crates five yards in front of us topples over, and Drake pushes me behind him.

"You've got to go! Find Blake!" He yells at me as a very large man dressed in a white suit comes from behind the fallen crates.

The man targets Drake first, taking him by the collar and holding both of his hands tightly on his throat. I begin to run towards the exit, but as I turn the man in the white suit slams Drake onto the ground. A loud cracking sound echoes throughout my mind; the sound of Drake's neck breaking.

The exit seems unimportant now, as I feel my anger overcome me. Something I've never felt before fills my entire body within a second. My hands are rising before it even registers in my mind that I want this man dead. My fingers begin to clench as the anger reaches its peak. The man hovers above the ground, but it seems his friends have now joined us. They rush towards me, but I use my unoccupied hand to knock them off of their feet.

The man who strangled Drake would have met the same fate thanks to my new found ability, but seconds before I break his neck, Blake tackles me onto the ground. I try my hardest to get out from underneath him, but his weight swallows me whole. At this point I've calmed down and my anger has turned to sadness, tears threatening to stream down my face. I don't want Blake to see me cry.

"They're all unconscious, we need to leave while we still can." Rykan says after he's checked out the scene.

Blake gets off of me and helps me to my feet. I look at the pile of ten Caden's laying to my right and my father and his murderer in front of me. Blake squeezes my hand and begins to walk to the door, I pull back.

"Are you just going to leave him here?!" I yell at no one in particular, pointing at Drake's body.

I fall onto my knees and lay my head in my hands. The tears finally break through, I block the rest of the world out. I don't care who sees me cry, I just care that the only father I've ever known is dead. Blake sits behind me on the ground and puts one arm around me, and after a few minutes of crying he finally convinces me to leave and go with them to the hotel.