Stars and Satellites

  Alex stood Hayley back onto her feet and strode forward to face Jacob. “If you want to hold your fiancé again I suggest you back off.” He warned.

  Jacob’s dark orbits flickered at him. He looked so alien now to what he had been only a short while before. “Always the job first Alexander, how typical.” He spat mockingly.

  Alex’s expression reflected the emotions of someone who had long since run out of patience. “No one said that you had to become a vampire. You knew that you would become the enemy when you did it.”

  Jacob gritted his pointed, ill-fitting, stained teeth. “I was betrayed by my own people.”

  “We are guardians, not killers!”

  “Not anymore, I’m no longer like you Alexander but I still demand the same respect as I give you. But yet I receive none. Instead you try to steal from me.” He mused angrily as he begun to carefully step around the circular room. Alex turned to follow him, watching his movements carefully. Hayley backed further behind the cover of his large wings.

  “You said so yourself earlier, you only invited me to get to Hayley.”

  Jacob let out a low, rumbling laugh, relishing Alex’s emphasis of the typically obvious. “She isn’t anything special Alex. I just needed her to get to you. My fiancé hates you just as much as I do and she thought it would be fitting that you should see her die.”

  Alex’s feathers stood on end, alert. “You know I will not hesitate to kill both of you if I must.” He warned chillingly.

  Jacob’s black, barrelled chest rumbled as he laughed. “I doubt that.” Without warning, he lunged for the angel in one swift move. Alex and Hayley both disappeared, narrowly avoiding being ripped to pieces. Jacob roared with fury at the display of cowardice. He swivelled round heavily on his large, clawed toes as he sensed the angel’s presence some distance behind him.

  Alex stood alone now, his wings folded flat against his back. “If I have no other option but to end your life, then at least fight me with honour and not as the twisted deviation I see standing before me.”

  Jacob straightened himself up, lowering his wings and closing his ghastly mouth. “By the sword?” He asked, surprisingly interested.

  “By the sword.” Alex agreed, drawing his from the sheath on his waist. Jacob stared at him for a long moment. “You still have it don’t you?” Alex asked a moment before he felt something cold pierce through his back and stomach. He peered downward to see the point of Jacob’s sword protruding out from his belly. Juliette laughed triumphantly as she backed away. Jacob laughed with her, lifting his large head and closing his black eyes.

  He did not notice Alex remove the sword from his back, appear before him and lunge it upward under his ribcage – piercing his heart. Jacob gave out a short, piercing whine as his large black eyes glazed and the loss of his life force rendered him motionless. Alex slowly stepped back as the lumbering creature fell forward, bursting into a cloud of blue ashes.

  “Goodbye.” He quietly muttered, as the odd blue flake of ash danced upon a gentle breeze around him. Jacob’s sword had vanished too, along with his body.

  Alex slowly turned round, locking his gaze with Juliette’s, who stood glowering at him in the far corner of the room. For some reason, she did not appear to be outraged or saddened by Jacob’s sudden death. He swiftly and angrily approached her – but she made no attempt to run or attack.

  “You seem a little calm for someone who has just lost the love of her life.” He said, staring at her coldly.

  “You will pay for what you’ve done!” she spat, glaring at him grudgingly.

  Alex’s expression did not change, nor did he falter. “Don’t bother trying to pretend. Your lack of emotion and conscious only prove that you never really cared for him. You were after something else.”

  Juliette hissed, revealing her fangs. But Alex remained steadfast and unafraid. “I’ll only say this once. If you come anywhere near me or Hayley in the future, I will kill you. The journal is lost to you.” He turned away.

  “Don’t you dare turn your back on me!” she spat at him furiously. But her demand was met only by silence; Alex and Hayley were already gone.

  ******

  The kettle released a jet of steam as it clicked off. Lifting it from its stand, Alex poured hot water into two mugs. “Do you need a hug?” he asked, putting the kettle back and stirring the teabags.

  “I’m fine thanks.” Hayley replied from the chair she slouched in at the table.

  Alex’s face lit up with a smile. “Yes you do.” He said knowingly.

  Hayley gazed at the ceiling revealing no hint of such wanting. “Maybe you’re the one who needs a hug.” She observed, her gaze falling back to Alex. “You did just kill one of your friends.”

  Alex stared out of the window for a long moment. Drawing a long breath he turned away, taking the cups of tea with him to the table. “We fell out centuries ago. That’s the real reason why I haven’t seen him in so long.” He finally said, taking a seat at the far end of the table.

  “What did you two fall about?” Hayley asked.

  Alex gazed at her for a long minute, but instead of speaking he merely took a long sip of his tea before delving into his pocket and dropping the leather-bound journal onto the table.

  Without pressing the matter further, Hayley diverted her attention to something she knew he would be more comfortable to discuss. “So what’s so special about this journal?” she asked, glancing at it.

  Alex sighed. “It’s difficult to explain. It would actually be better if you just read it.” He replied rather cryptically.

  Hayley was surprised. “You really wouldn’t mind me having a read?” she asked, amazed that he was so open about a book that would very likely contain knowledge far beyond that of the human race. Although in reality she had no idea what it contained, but she assumed that if Alex was willing to kill a former angel to get it, it must contain important.

  Alex slid it across the table to her and smiled. “Of course you can.”

  Hayley curiously opened it, having a quick flick through – it wasn’t enough to deduce any secrets concealed within its pages, but all the faded writing and diagrams were legible. “There’s something I still don’t understand...” began Hayley, continuing to flick through the pages. “How did Jacob know that you were back? And how did he know about me?” she asked, looking up at him.

  Alex took a leisurely sip of his tea before he answered. “Someone told him.” He said flatly.

  Hayley gazed at him expectantly to continue, but he seemed reluctant to be forthcoming with any more information. She wrestled over whether she should press the question further. She had overheard some of what Jacob and Alex had said in the hall – but not all of the exchange.

  “Was it Gabriel?” she finally dared to ask. She dropped her gaze and fiddled with her cup uneasily. “I just heard Jacob say his name when you two were fighting...I never knew he actually existed.”

  “It could have been.” Alex replied, much to her surprise. “He arrived back in this world not long before I did.”

  “So...” she began again. “Is he a bad guy or a good guy?” She had her inclinations but desperately wanted them to be proved wrong.

  “Bad guy. He used to work with me and Jacob as well, many years ago.”

  “And he has what to do with this journal?”

  This time, Hayley’s question was only met with a wall of silence. Alex looked away.

  But the awkward silence was cut short by the door bell buzzing.

  They both exchanged puzzled looks. “Who could that be at this time?” Hayley asked, getting up.

  Alex was the first to the door. His expression soured when he saw who it was.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “This is all your fault! Where’s Hayley?” said an angry familiar voice.

  Hayley peered over Alex’s shoulder. “Who’s this?” she asked, looking at Alex for an explanation.

  Alex bit his lip grudgingly. “The shopkee
per’s son, John.”

  Chapter 6

  John lay on the couch, idly flicking through the endless number of music channels on the television. Alex sat on the chair opposite, reading his newspaper. Neither of them has spoken a word to each other all morning; but that was all about to change.

  Alex lowered his newspaper and stared across the room at John. “Can you please just pick a channel and stick to it?” he asked. The teenager’s repetitive channel hopping was beginning to wear his patience thin.

  John gave Alex an indifferent look. Looking back at the telly, he carried on. “It’s not your flat so you can’t tell me what to do.”

  “Do not worry you’ll be home soon enough.”

  John sneered at he continued to flick. “Whatever...”

  Glancing back at his paper, Alex raised his right hand. The remote pulled itself free from John’s grasp and flew across the room, landing in the angel’s palm.

  John flinched back. He stared at Alex in wide-eyed terror.

  The angel casually peered over the edge his paper as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. “Let us get a couple of things clear. If I had my way you would be back home quicker than you can flick this remote and as Hayley and I are round there just now struggling to convince your Mum to take you back, it looks like you will be staying here for a while and as long as you are you will do as you are told.”

  John continued to stare at him in terrified awe. “How...how did you do that?” he asked, seemingly missing what he had just been told.

  Sitting the remote on the arm of the chair, Alex went back to reading his paper, offering the adolescent no explanation for the mysterious spectacle that he had just witnessed.

  ******

  The clock on the mantelpiece had just struck noon and with the arrival of the hour came the arrival of Hayley and Alex back to the flat. Hayley went directly into the living room where she was met with a quizzical glance from John. He was still lying on the couch watching the telly.

  The former Alex looked up from his paper with an expectant look on his face.

  “Well, what did she say?” John asked.

  Hayley pulled the gloves from her hands. “Your mum for some reason seems to think that by making you live with strangers that you will suddenly become as loopy as she is.” she replied sharply, clearly unhappy with the result of the visit.

  “Thanks.”

  Rolling up her gloves, Hayley threw them onto the coffee table. “She said something about you not going home until you acknowledge your psychic abilities. She seems to think that by living with us you’ll be able to do that.” Hayley sighed sceptically as she folded her arms.

  John rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry; she really is a stupid bitch.”

  Both Alex’s gave him a disapproving look. “Mind your language.” The one reading the paper warned him.

  John’s gaze jumped between the two of them. He found them a little spooky.

  “Of all the times to send you round to our flat, why did she send you in the middle of the night?” Hayley asked. She found the notion of any mother sending her fifteen-year-old son to a new lodging in the dead night as bizarre as it was dangerous.

  John looked at her blankly and shrugged. “I don’t know, she said that she would have sent me earlier on in the evening but you weren’t in. She said she had phoned several times before she finally got you to ask if I could stay, which is weird since you two seemed to not have a clue what I was talking about when I turned up.”

  “We definitely didn’t get a phone call and we certainly weren’t asked.” Hayley replied, as she took a seat on the edge of the coffee table.

  The second Alex who stood with his arms folded and back pressed against the wall said, “She had been pestering us though, first in the shop...”

  “And then with that apparition.” finished the other Alex without lifting his eyes from what he was reading.

  John’s gaze moved between the two of them again. “That’s really creepy, how do you two do that?” He asked, finally addressing his curiosity.

  Both Alex’s frowned at him. “What do you mean?” asked the one standing by the door.

  “You two, I know that you hear those stupid stories that twins are physic, but really? How do you two do that? Finish each other’s sentences off like that?”

  The Alex’s looked at one another but neither appeared to be forthcoming with an answer.

  “They’re not twins...” said Hayley.

  John blinked at her. “What?”

  “They’re the same person.”

  John stared at her as if she was making a ridiculous attempt to wind him up. “What?” he asked, beginning to laugh.

  Hayley looked at the Alex by the door. “You haven’t told him have you?”

  “I thought he would have figured it out for himself what with the flying remote, the splitting into two and the things we’ve been talking about.”

  John’s focus shifted to him. “Figured out what?”

  Hayley sighed as she stood up. “I’m going to put the kettle on, Alex I’ll leave this up too you...” she said, leaving the room.

  Alex shrugged. “If you insist.” The one with the newspaper said. Folding it, he stood up. The other Alex followed her out of the room.

  Entering the kitchen, Hayley flicked on the kettle and said, “Please don’t scare him to death when you get your wings out.”

  Before Alex could reply there was a heavy thud from the living room.

  Hayley slowly shook her head at him. Alex shrugged. “Well I’m not picking him up...”

  ******

  John sat wrapped up in his duvets, clutching his knees against his chest. He rocked backwards and forwards, shivering. The revelation that Alex really was an angel and that they truly did exist had awoken a fear within him that he had never experienced before. Now he was suspicious that even the inanimate objects around his room would leap out at him, taking on a life of their own. After passing out from the sight of Alex’s wings, he had awoken on the couch to find Hayley offering him a cup of tea and a vague explanation. Every time after that when Alex entered the room he leapt back in fear, too scared to approach him after what he had witnessed. He had been sitting in his bed for nearly two hours now and the edge of terror he perched on had still not yet surrendered him to the peace of sleep.

  It was a completely different story on the opposite side of the wall in Hayley’s room. She had been asleep for nearly an hour. However despite her serene and peaceful appearance, her mind was not at rest.

  The sound of angry voices filled her ears for almost half a minute before she regained her sight. She could hear the pitch of rage in each shout but not the words attached to them. They remained as distant muffles, obscured by the distance between her and them. It was if the argument was taking place on the other side of a wall...

  As her vision gradually returned, Hayley found herself confronting a different kind of darkness than the one she had been accustomed to whilst she was asleep. This one felt more real, the mask of inky shadows the result of a large artificial enclosure. After a few moments her eyes readjusted to the darkness and she could begin to make out the rows of identically spaced shelves, one after another until they vanished altogether into the darkness above. She turned round. Several feet away across the floor stood an identical set of metal shelves, positioned perfectly adjacent to the previous. It quickly became apparent to her that she was in some kind of warehouse. The shelves around her were stuffed with all sorts of building materials – most of which she found unrecognisable in the dim light.

  But the walkways between the shelves remained clear of any kind obstruction and were easy to pick out with the shelves marking their edges. Gripped by apprehension but compelled by curiosity, Hayley headed in direction of the voices – carefully picking her way between the shelves. As she drew closer to the shouting she found the familiarity of one voice catch her off guard. She paused for a moment to listen...it couldn’t be...but it was. Why was Ale
x here? And who was he arguing with? She wondered. She crept along her side of the shelves as quietly as she could in search of a place where she could see what was going on.

  “I’m not interested Alexander!” shouted another, the voice of a stranger.

  “Which part of this are you finding so hard to understand?” asked Alex, sounding unusually tense.

  “I never had any intention of killing him! Is it not obvious that I would have said such a thing to get to you?”

  Hayley found a narrow gap between two packs of bricks to peer through.

  “I don’t care about what happened before, where is she?”

  There was a long pause as Hayley watched the fat man shuffle about uneasily. She didn’t recognise him and she couldn’t see Alex...

  The man’s eyes suddenly widened with terror as he saw something which was out of her view. “You wouldn’t dare!” Before the man could finish he vanished from sight as he was struck by a flash of blue light. Hayley recoiled, blinded momentarily from the flash of light. Blinking a few times, she gazed back through the narrow slit to see what had happened.

  For several seconds there was only darkness. Then Alex walked into view, his back facing her. He stopped, knelt down and returned into eyeshot a second later dragging the injured man back to his feet with the length of his right arm locked across his neck. With one sleek movement, he tightened his grip around the man’s throat - causing the fat man to choke. He attempted to thrash and struggle, clawing futilely at Alex’s arm. But the angel remained stern where he stood, like a stone pillar against the weak and pointless scratching of a mouse.

  Placing his lips close to the man’s ear, Hayley heard him whisper coldly, “Where is she?”

  The man continued to choke desperately for breath. “Fuck you!” he spluttered defiantly. Crunch. Hayley flinched and the man fell limp. Alex dropped him to the floor and turned away.

  Hayley woke with a jolt of terror. Her eyes darted about the as they failed to recognise the familiar safety of her own room. Suddenly realising that it had all been a dream she drew a deep breath. Flicking on the lamp by her bedside, she lay back down, allowing her gaze to drift to the white ceiling above. Wiping her dreary eyes with the back of her hands she heaved a heavy sigh of relief. It had just been a dream, she told herself. She was shocked by how vivid and real it had all seemed though. Most dreams past by without so much as a second thought after waking. But this one...this one seemed different. Although this had not been the first time that a dream had frightened her on such an emotional level before, she could not help the feeling that there was something more too it... Her mind swirled with similar thoughts for another half hour before she concluded that she was not getting anywhere. It had only been a dream after all, and resigning herself to that fact, she flicked off the light and feel back to sleep.