Chapter Nine

Their cold eyes bore into her. The hard as ice stare cut the scars that decorated her legs so affectionately, making her body tremble as she thought of the day she spent with them. Her thoughts wound around the two faces that could make her feel in such a way, and she resented the way that her breathing became erratic with fear as they approached, although she hated to admit it, they made her feel helpless and weak.

Luce’s arms tightened around Rebecca. His whole body became tense as he listened for the two intruders to enter the cave. Fear slid into his system, he was a pacifist and was not looking forward to the possibility of fighting two men whilst holding Rebecca. It was silent and he was starting to lose feeling in his fingers. Rebecca’s arms curled loosely around his neck and her head rested against his chest, her breath tickled his skin. He gazed down at her, but wished he didn’t. Her eyes were locked open in fear. Luce carefully raised his head and tried to remove the image from his brain.

Iofiel’s head was held away from the cave wall so she could see if the intruders had entered the cave. Her hands rested gently on the wall behind her. Shaking, she saw Luce and Rebecca in her peripheral vision. Hands held Luce’s neck, hands which she longed to be her own. A painful sensation gripped her, she bit her lip and tilted her head so she could no longer see them. Tears blurred her perfect vision and she dared herself a second look. Breath caught in the back of her throat. She shut her mouth to stop any sounds from alerting them. Rebecca was frozen in terror, and Luce appeared to be just as fearful. Luce’s muscular arms were clutching Rebecca so tightly that it was almost as if he was worried that she would disappear any minute. Her tears dripped off her chin, begging herself to stop, her vision slipped away. She blinked repeatedly to clear her eyes, but still her sight remained blurred.

Then it all became shockingly clear.

She had been denying it all. A fresh wave of hurt washed over her, leaving nothing but pain in its wake. Each beat of her heart tore into her like she was being ripped by an unknown force. Luce loved Rebecca. How he fell in love so quickly she did not know, but his love could not be hidden. Everything slowly fell apart. In only a minute all she once held dear, and thought true were laid in scatter shreds across her mind; and yet nothing had changed.

She bit her lip to stop herself from screaming, she needed to get out of here, preferably with Rebecca intact. She may have ruined her love, but she was still her friend. Footsteps clunked up the hill. Rebecca’s heart sped and she felt as though she might faint from the lack of oxygen. Gasping for air, her head span.

Two beams of light scanned the floor directly in front of them. They held their breath. One of the men walked into the cave, Iofiel’s hand curled around the steel pan she has grabbed before retreating into the cave. The man’s torch began coming closer to Iofiel and she prepared for the worst. If he saw her, or Luce and Rebecca for that matter, she would have no choice but to knock him out. The beam of light suddenly flashed to her face.

The man was quite large and short, he had a shaved head and two piercing blue eyes. He gasped and turned as if he was about to call out to his friend. Iofiel took the chance and slammed the cold metal against his head. The crack was loud to her ears. The pan fell to the floor as Iofiel stood in shock of what she had just done. Rebecca and Luce stared at her, disbelief stark in their features. The man was slumped on the floor, the blood trickled out of his scalp and onto the dusty cave floor. Iofiel picked up the pan and flashlight before stepping out toward the mouth of the cave.

Luce caught her wrist. Turning she saw the worry in his face. His brows were creased in a disapproving manner and his eyes caught her breath. Rebecca had been placed protectively behind his body, she was still blind in the dark and gripped his arm severely.

“What do you think you are doing?” Luce breathed, his words barely audible.

“I am going to knock out any other men who think they are going to take Rebecca away,” Iofiel stated calmly. Then she turned and tried to continue walking.

“Oh no you are not,” Luce said pulling Iofiel back the few steps she had moved.

“Yes I am,” she whispered.

“No you’re not,” Luce responded.

“Luce if I don’t they are just going to come up here, and do you really want them near to Rebecca?” Iofiel said, her eyes moved from his face to the floor.

Luce bit his lip, he glanced back to Rebecca, she was so small and fragile. He looked back at Iofiel, her eyes were cast down. Slowly, he released her wrist. Iofiel felt a pang of longing in her chest, she wanted to be the one Luce wouldn’t let go. A tear threatened to roll over her eyelid. She turned and walked out of the cave.

Luckily there was only one more man. One swift hit, and he would be out for the count. Iofiel tiptoed out of the mouth of the cave, the moonlight lit up the area below the hill. The other man was tall and skinny, his head had been completely shaved and he was resting against the car, staring at the foot of the hill. As she watched him, Iofiel saw that he glanced up to the mouth of the cave every few minutes, waiting for some form of signal that his friend had succeeded.

She slid into the shadows, there was a tree which was gripping the side of the valley, she curled around the bark of the tree the frying pan gripped tightly in her hand. Edging down the steep slope she approached the man silently. Her feet barely made a noise as she came closer.

Then her foot crunched on something harsh on the ground. The man whipped his head round. Eyes wide with fear. He lifted his hand in preparation to react, a blade glinted in the moonlight, but Iofiel was quicker than him. The frying pan came down with a loud thwack onto his head. He fell into her arms.

She stepped back into the cave, dragging the body with her. She placed the two men beside each other.

“What are you doing?” Luce asked, his hand still twined with Rebecca’s.

“Healing them,” Iofiel answered.

Luce’s mouth fell open, he remained speechless until he asked, “Why?”

“I don’t kill Luce.”

“Oh,” Luce nodded, he knew that. Iofiel wasn’t a killer.

“I am still an angel.”

“So am I,” Luce said. Iofiel looked at him, her eyes narrowed.

“Then why don’t you behave like one once in a while?” She said placing her blood covered hands on her hips. Luce had no response and allowed Iofiel to walk past him and get the remaining water from the cave.

“We have to leave as soon as you’re done,” Luce whispered.

“I know,” Iofiel replied, “Why don’t you do something useful and get the car ready?”

Luce scowled as Iofiel walked back toward the two men. He turned to Rebecca who was shaking, her eyes fixed on the lifeless bodies in front of her.

“Come on Rebecca,” he said dragging her forward by the wrist. They walked out of the mouth of the cave. The moonlight was bright on their faces. Rebecca’s short steps made it difficult to get down the hill quickly and Luce was frustrated. He stepped backwards and scooped up Rebecca. His wide steps meant they reached the bottom of the hill quickly, he unlocked the old car and placed Rebecca in the back. He turned back, a hand gripped his wrist. Rebecca’s large innocent eyes gazed up at him, her legs were tucked under her chin.

“Where are you going?” she whispered hesitantly.

“Back to the cave,” his voice was sharper than he had intended, Rebecca’s blank expression flickered as she felt the harshness of his tone. She swallowed.

Turning to gaze at the back of the car seat in front of her, she asked, “Why?”

“I need to gather some of our belongings,“ he replied, his voice softer than before. Rebecca nodded before slowly releasing Luce’s wrist. He turned and continued back to the cave.

“Come back as quickly as you can,” Rebecca called after him, “please.”

Luce gazed down and stopped for a moment as he replied, “I will, I promise.”

His hands grabbed the belongings they had collected whilst living in the cave. He grabbed the clothes, bowls, cutlery and anything else he assumed they would need. This included food, a lot of food. His brisk steps began leading him back to the open car, arms busting with items, he only paused momentarily when passing his fellow angel, who responded to his presence with her own cold stare. The boot to the car was already open, Rebecca had opened it, he assumed. In a futile attempt to place all the items in the boot Luce began sitting on the belongings, in an effort to squash them. He was stubborn in his approach, refusing to admit that they would not fit. It was not until Iofiel was stood beside him her hand resting delicately on his arm that he finally admitted defeat, and turned to climb into the driver’s seat. Iofiel then continued to push the excess items from the boot of the car into the back seat, next to a still frightened Rebecca. The car’s ignition fired up and Iofiel leapt into the car before it shot off into the valley, heading in an unknown direction.

“Are they going to be ok?” Luce asked after a icy few minutes of silence.

Iofiel looked at him, her lips pursed, “Yes.”

The next few minutes were just as awkward as the ones before and Rebecca leaned against the pile of wooden bowls and clothing beside her. She shook. Breathing, slow and ragged drew in past her lips. They were still alive. They could still come to kill her.

A road appeared in front of them, forcing Luce to pull the car sharply to the left as to not drive into the hard cliff face. It wound its way round the valley like a snake. The stars shone bright from the clear sky and they beckoned for attention. Beautiful as they were the focus was never upon them. All three people in the car were far too entrapped in their own thoughts to notice how stunningly they shone out tonight.

Iofiel had never wondered about death. She always assumed that it was a painless, peaceful journey, but after seeing the agonised face of the two men she was unsure. After her hands had healed their head they began breathing heavily, small whimpers occasionally whispering through. She had often dealt with new angels who had died in such a way that their faces or bodies had been mangled beyond recognition, this led to her spending hours repairing their disfigured limbs, the end result was beautiful. She never gave a passing thought to the pain each person must have suffered for them to reach that state, and the pain they concealed to get them out of it.

It had only been since her time on Earth that Iofiel discovered what pain was; and how much it hurt.