She was standing in the middle of the clearing like she’d said she’d be. Her throat was arched back and she was gazing at the stars, basking in the icy rain as it washed across her thin frame. Her clothes hung lank from her slight arms, her slim waist and her slender legs. Her black air fell in raven tangles over her bony back.
If it wasn’t for the pure white wings that curled from her shoulder blades he would never have thought she was an angel.
She hadn’t heard him arrive and so he called out to her.
‘Annabelle.’
She turned to face him.
She wasn’t beautiful, not in the normal sense. Her face was long and narrow and her rosy lips were too thin. Her nose was slightly crooked at the bridge, and one of her dark eyebrows was marred by a pale scar. Nevertheless, he couldn’t take his eyes from her. The moonlight fell so softly against the smooth skin of that face. Her pale skin glowed with an almost ethereal light and her fluorescent blue eyes were bold and endless. He wanted to cup her face in his hands. To gaze into those eyes forever.
‘You came.’ She said.
‘Of course I did.’ He answered, frowning. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t?’
She seemed to almost glide as moved toward him. She pressed her cold palms against his chest and pushed him, lightly.
‘Go!’ She said. ‘Leave, and don’t come back!’
He kept his feet rooted to the ground. ‘You gave me a choice. You said that I could find you if I wanted to.’
‘I didn’t mean it!’ Her voice trembled with anger and worry. ‘They’ll be arriving soon, you know that! They’re going to take my life and there’s no need for you to die too!’
‘I won’t let them!’ He snarled. He dug into his pocket and drew out a long knife, holding the pointed tip out in the air. ‘I’ll help you fight! I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you!’
She laughed then, a soft lilting laugh full of bitterness and disbelief.
‘And what can you do? You’re only human, Seth! You can’t kill them with ordinary weapons!’
‘I can try.’
The smile faded from her lips and she tilted her head up to look into his eyes. He knew then that she finally understood. Whatever happened they were together. He loved her, with all of his heart, and he would never let her go alone.
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. She gently moved her body into his and drew her slender finger up along his back. She used them to pull him closer, crushing him in an even fiercer kiss. He felt a sudden craving for her that he had never known was there. A deep longing, and urge to wrap himself around her and to shield her from everything that threatened to take her life away.
Then their kiss ended. He could barely feel the cold rain on his back, the frosty water tricking down his neck and the collar of his open coat. There was only her.
‘We’re going to die.’ She laughed. ‘You know what I’ve done and they’re coming to punish me for it.’
‘Don’t talk like that.’ He scolded. ‘We’ll live.’
He stared past her, up at the night above them. There were more glowing points there than he had ever seen in his life. They filled up the darkness, shining like fireflies, a show just for them.
‘Look at the stars.’ He said. ‘The sky is beautiful. I understand why you were gazing at it.’
She smiled bitterly as she took his hand.
‘There aren’t any stars in the sky tonight.’ She said, her fingers tightening around his. ‘Those are our enemies. I told you, didn’t I? Every angel in heaven is coming for me.’