Rumors of War

by Cynus 

War of Hell

Chapter 1

        The lights were brighter than I expected. Eyes that had not seen the light in four months blinked shut almost as soon as they had opened, but the sudden movement had caught the eye of at least one person in the room. Marc was at my side almost immediately, and he was gripping my hand to let me know he was there. I smiled, though I kept my eyes closed and murmured, “Hey there beautiful.”

        He laughed weakly, and the relief was palpable in his voice. “Hey beautiful to you as well. Glad to see that Keith finally found you. I knew you were in there.” He reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding mine and caressed the side of my face. I let my eyes open just a sliver to start adjusting to the light, and took in the sight of his face. His eyes still held worry, but I knew that he was simply excited I was awake.

        “Man, am I tired!” Keith said from the other side of the room. I heard him get up from his chair and move to my other side; slowly. I saw his face appear across from Marc’s and he rested a hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad I found you too. Welcome back to the land of the living, Damien.”

        “Hey, I was never dead,” I replied as I opened my eyes a little wider. Keith’s tired smile widened as I added, “You prick.”

        “I suppose I should probably call your dad now,” Marc said reluctantly. I knew his reluctance was from not wanting to let me go. I held on to him tighter. I wasn’t ready to let him go again any more than he was. Even though my perception of time passing was different than his, I could feel his need for it, and that increased my own need.

        “I’ll do it. You guys just sit and enjoy the moment,” another voice piped up from across the room. I tried to incline my head to look for the source, but found it incredibly difficult. It turned out that I didn’t need to, because soon a third head popped up over me, next to Marc’s. I vaguely recognized him as the other kid who had been in the restroom when I had been knocked out. Keith had also mentioned that there had been a new kid hanging around us named Alan, and I figured it was likely that the name matched the face.

        Marc smiled and fished his phone out of his pocket, handing it to the other boy. A few buttons later and Alan was speaking half of an incredibly excited conversation.  As the call was being made, Marc leaned down to me and kissed me gently. It was the perfect kiss. It spoke of the longing and the heartache he had endured for his time spent over the last four months. I was captivated by the kiss more than I had ever been by him, and I tried to respond by bringing my arm up to pull him into me, but my arm was still too weak.

        He pushed my arm back down gently and whispered to me, “No, let me do this. Let me help you. I have been helpless to do anything for you for the last four months, and it was my failure as a guardian that got you into this mess.”

        Though my voice was weak, I spoke slowly and deliberately to make sure he heard what I said. “You have never failed me, Marc. It was I who sent you away. I made the decision that put me into this mess. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I am just glad that you showed up when you did, or who knows how badly they would have beaten me.”

        “But I should have been there! It is my duty to protect you from harm. I can’t begin to ask, or hope for your forgiveness,” he replied bitterly and hung his head in shame.

        I shushed him, and despite my weakness I managed to finally get one of my hands up to his face to lightly caress his cheek. “Your duty is to protect me from angels trying to harm me; I don’t remember anything about what humans would do to me being in that contract. Remember that this was done by my own kind, and not by theirs. We had no way of knowing that this was going to happen. Besides, it was my choice to kiss you in the lunchroom that got them on my case in the first place. There’s nothing to forgive my love. Nothing at all. Let it go, and simply be glad that we are together now, and can be until the end of our days.”

        “I love you so much, there’s no way I could live without you. So stop your crying and give me another kiss,” I finished with a smile. He looked down at me with tear-stained cheeks and stared into my eyes. I did everything I could to put my sincerity into my expression. It took him a moment, but I could tell that he finally believed me. He leaned in and kissed me again, and if I thought that the kiss before had been profound, this one was full of renewed passion and hunger that would have surpassed the levels of any romance hero.

        “I love you too,” he said as he finally pulled away. “I love you more than I could have thought possible. I never expected it to end up like this, but I am so glad that it has. I expected to be your silent guardian, not to fall in love, but you have made this entire journey worth every step. Screw my father; I’m mating with a human.”

        Keith was smiling through the whole exchange, and was about to comment in a manner that his expression said would be sarcastic, when we heard someone clearing their throat. Alan stood with the closed phone in his hand and looking at us like we were a bunch of nut jobs. The thought seemed to cross all of our minds at once. We had been talking about angels and demons with another person there.

        It was Keith who managed to respond first. “Hey Alan, what’s up? You got a hold of Damien’s dad then?” He said smoothly, ignoring the questioning look on Alan’s face.  Alan shook himself and then replied with a quirky grin and a nod. “Good. So I assume he’s on his way?” Alan nodded again, and apparently let the issue drop.

        I felt the presence of another person in my mind, and since Keith was the only telepath I knew in the room, I figured it was him and let him in. Once inside Keith said, “It’s the best way to keep him away from any subject. The kid has ADHD or something, so it’s real easy to distract him.”

        I responded in kind, “Got it. So you say that he’s attached to me huh? That’s a little weird isn’t it? I mean, I’ve only seen the kid once while I was blacking out. I don’t think that is much of grounds for a lasting friendship.”

        The amusement was plain in Keith’s mind as he replied, “Well, you’re kind of a hero to him. Apparently kissing your boyfriend in the middle of a crowded lunchroom gets you two kinds of reactions. People trying to kill you, and closeted gay teens to worship you. The fact that your boyfriend kind of kicks ass just increases his hero worship. It’s kinda funny that he’s latched on to you though and not Marc, I mean, Marc is the manlier one.”

         “Once a prick, always a prick,” I replied, and then ended our link. Keith laughed at my rebuttal and patted me lightly on the shoulder. Marc rolled his eyes at us and then kissed me again. We didn’t stop kissing until we heard the door open a minute later. Alan and Keith said they were going to leave and get a doctor since it would probably be best if the hospital knew I was awake. That left Marc and I alone, which gave me a moment to ask him a question that I was dying to know the answer to.

        “What happened to the kids in the restroom, Marc? Did you kill them?” The thought of Marc killing anyone still didn’t sit well for me, unless it was absolutely necessary. I knew that he had been emotionally compromised at the time though, so I understood that he might not have had my feelings in mind. I should have given him more credit.

        His eyes seemed to be making a decision about how much to tell me, but with a sigh he gave me an expression that told me he had decided on full disclosure. “No, though I admit that I wanted to. If you hadn’t been knocked out on the floor, with blood coming out of your head, I would have probably killed Karl at least. That being said, it was actually probably Alan that stopped me from doing so. He’s the one that pulled me off of Karl and pointed out the severity of your condition to me. Considering what I did to the bullies, I’m kind of surprised that he had the guts to interfere with me. It did earn him a black eye before I realized it was him. All of them are pretty much recovered now, though I’m sure they won’t forget their lesson anytime soon.”

        “Did you have any problems with the legal side of things?” I asked hesitantly. I hoped that there wasn’t some residual problem that would still haunt us. More than anything I just wanted to look forward, and not dwell on the incident.

        “For a little while. Alan was able to corroborate my side of the story, and so were a number of kids that said that Karl and his cronies followed you into the restroom. Apparently the kid had a reputation, so it wasn’t that hard to find people against him once someone had kicked his ass. Plus two of the bullies backed up my story as well. Getting a taste of their own medicine helped out a lot.”

        “Good, glad that’s out of the way. Now come back here,” I said and puckered my lips in invitation. He was about to dive back in when a doctor rushed in and ruined the moment. My puckered lips became a pout as the barrage of tests and questions started.

About twenty minutes in my dad arrived, interrupting the doctors and giving me my second grand reunion for the day. With him it was a little bit different though. I distinctly remembered eating breakfast with a younger version of him only a half hour before, while for him it had been four months. It was slightly awkward, to have him crying as he embraced me and told me how glad I was back, but I did the best I could to play into the situation, and told him how happy I was to see him too.

        Then the tests resumed, and suddenly I was being fed a new IV and a dish of hospital food. From the way it tasted I wished it was being fed to me through an IV as well, and I was surprised when I managed to finish the entire tray. I was incredibly hungry, and I realized that the excitement of waking up had tired me back out again. With chagrin I told my father and friends that I needed some rest. After another thirty minutes of clinging on to my conversation they acquiesced and left me.

        I didn’t wake up again until the next day, but since it was a Sunday, the entire crew was available again. Marc was the first one to notice again, and greeted me with a kiss before texting everyone else that I was awake and ready. Soon they were gathered in my room again, and I was being fed with all sorts of information that I had missed out on. Alan told me about school, Keith and Marc spoke on current events, and my Dad spoke about his business and what his side of the extended family was up to. All in all it was a great day, and I was already beginning to feel a lot better. Being surrounded by my friends was quickly giving me my strength back.

        We were in the midst of great conversation when there was a knock on the door. Everyone turned to see a young woman open the door and walk through. Her punk style gave her away almost immediately, even though she had a hood pulled up to hide her face. Verina.  I didn’t know how she had found out that I had woken up, but I figured she had her sources, so I wasn’t too surprised that she had decided to show up. In fact, I was kind of pleased.

        “Hello handsome,” she said in a playful tone which received a frown from both Marc and my dad. Keith was scowling at her before she had even opened her mouth. He had no love of angels at all, and was more than happy to show his displeasure.

I looked at all of them and shrugged before I turned back to her and replied, “Hello Verina, thanks for coming. I had a feeling that you might show up eventually. Please, come in.”

“Thanks, Damien. I must confess though, I didn’t come alone,” she replied with a nod toward the door. I followed her nod with my gaze and had my sight greeted by a beautiful middle-aged woman. She was dressed all in white, except for a red sash that tied her simple dress together. Her hair was the exact same shade of red as her sash, and was pinned back slightly to hang over her shoulders but out of her face. Her mouth quirked up slightly as she noticed I was regarding her and her eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief. For a woman who appeared to be in her early fifties, she was quite attractive.

“And who might your lovely friend be?” I asked politely, bowing my head slightly in greeting to the newcomer.

Verina didn’t answer, and instead the woman fixed me with her eyes and said, “You are Damien? Excellent. I am Lucifel, and I have come to take you with me. I need to take you to Hell.”