Chapter 1: A new encounter
"S... S... STOP!" Pleaded the young maiden as the beautiful shadow of a boy stepped closer, and closer, until their breaths mingled. He pulled her head gently to the side, whispering soft, while the young maiden whimpered, shivering in the cold night air, as the boy whispered,
"you're mine now. Give me your all" and lowered his lips to the nape of her neck. The young girl's body arched, and then was still, as the boy relished in the energy of her soul…
Seraphina Gabriel Gomory Angelica closed the book with a snap. It was too scary for her to read, especially at night. Sigh, another Friday in Nashville. I wish something exciting would happen soon... She thought as she drifted off into sleep.
That night, she had a dream. It was the scene from the book, when the boy was drinking the energy of a young girl, and enjoying it. But for some reason, the girl in her dream looked like… her!
She woke up the next morning clammy and sweaty, the dream still vivid in her head. Oh well, time to get ready for school.
A few hours later, in the Nashville National High School.
"Hey hey, did you hear?"
"What Anne? What?"
"I heard there's going to be a new boy in our class from now on, and I also heard he's extremely handsome!"
"OMG! I can't wait to meet him!"
The usual Friday chatter filled the room as Seraphina gracefully floated into the room. Looking around, she spotted Uriel, her best friend, sitting all by himself and danced towards him. Weaving in-between hoards of her classmates.
"Hey Uriel. How are you today?"
Uriel glanced up from the book he was reading, and grinned. He had the loveliest aquamarine eyes, and really fine cornsilk hair, cropped short.
"Hear the news? A new kid is coming to our class today," He sighed, and snapped his book close, "Seems to be a looker"
"Why would I care. he won't notice me anyways." Seraphina shrugged. Her silvery hair spilling like a waterfall around her. Her violet eyes wide and innocent. "Besides, I'm so boring that he would probably have a migraine of boredom after a minute of me." She laughed.
Uriel stared at her curiously. She was a completely different person when she laughed. Her violet eyes lit up, and her whole face seemed to shine. It was no wonder Lord Gabriel had chosen to bless her. Like the Lord, she was a sight to behold.
A cheerful shout came form the front of the classroom, and Seraphina hastily returned to her seat, lest Mrs. Micah, who was one of the nicest, yet also one of the strictest teachers in Nashville High, found her out of her assigned seat.
"hey guys, how are you all?" Mrs. Micah sang, while a low chorus of mumbles were uttered out by us, her students. "Well. Ok than." She sounded disappointed. "You have probably all heard of the new boy coming to our class. Appolyon Lucifer D'Angelo. Please come and say hi to your new class, Appolyon."
A boy stepped out of the shadows.
"Hi. My name is Appolyon Lucifer D'Angelo, as Mrs. Micah just said. I just moved here from San Francisco, and I hope I can adjust to this new environment quickly." He looked around the room as he said that, and, if Seraphina wasn't mistaken, his eyes seemed to linger on her as he quickly went back to scanning the room and its inhabitants.
"All right. Let's all welcome Appolyon to his new family! Now… Would you like to sit beside… "
"Her." Appolyon said, pointing at the seat next to Seraphina, "can I sit next to the girl with silver hair?"
"Erm… Sure, if Seraphina has no objections. Is it okay if Appolyon sits next to you?"
Seraphina looked up in surprise, not knowing what was going on. "Um… I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention Ma'am. Can you please repeat your question?"
Mrs. Micah sighed, "Will you let Mr. D'Angelo sit next to you?"
"Um…" Seraphina glanced at Appolyon our of the corner of her eye. Tall, tousled brown hair, pale white skin, full red mouth, and eyes the colour of glaciers, a cold green colour. She turned to look away, but she couldn't take her eyes off him for some reason. She heard herself say, "yes ma'am"… Wait, that wasn't what she wanted to say! She wanted to sit next to Uriel, instead of some stranger with weird eyes.
"Thank you, Seraphina. Mr. D'Angelo, please assume your seat. we will begin with reading from Great Expectations, chapter 16, Paragraph 1."
As Appolyon walked up the aisle, he heard the whispering that always came from girls around him. The usual "He's so handsome!"'s and "will he go out with me"'s and " he's so cool"s. he shook his head to hide the small smile on his lips. Lord Zepar had pulled through again. His blessing had caused all these flies to be caught up in the web of my influence… But that girl… Seraphina, was it? Doesn't seem to be affected by the charm of Zepar. Oh well, I will be able to get to know her from now on.
5 hours later… The only period of excitement at Nashville High… LUNCHTIME!
Seraphina walked down the long corridor that led to the garden where all students— except for those that ate school lunch— traditionally ate their packed lunch. She settled in the shadow of an oak tree, slightly apart from the rest of the students.
"Why are you sitting here? " Appolyon asked as he suddenly appeared beside her with his lunch in hand. "Don't you have friends that you can eat with?"
Seraphina looked up in surprise, "well… Not really. There is Uriel, but he seems to be avoiding me today, for some strange reason." She turned to look towards the central flower patch, where Uriel and his friends Tariel, Anpiel and Dalquiel were eating, discussing something in great urgency. Uriel noticed Seraphina looking at her, and smiled at her, and then he saw Appolyon looking at his, and his expression turned ugly. he turned away, but not before Tariel, Anpiel and Dalquiel saw Appolyon and scowled at him before returning to their lunching.
Seraphina looked at them curiously. "What is it with those four… And moreover" as she watched Appolyon sit down next to her and open his lunch, "what are you doing? Can't you eat somewhere else?"
Appolyon laughed. "Why? Don't want me here?" as he settled comfortably down next to her, his back leaning slightly against hers.
Seraphina blushed slightly, than buried herself in her PBJ sandwich.
Appolyon looked at her in puzzlement. She was… different, from all the other girls he had ever encountered before. For one thing, she was just plain beautiful in an angelic sort of way. Even if she wore plain clothing, she was still more marvellous than all the other girls, whom were all really silly, dressing up and putting on makeup that made them look bout 20 years older than they actually were. Her colouring was also unusual. Pale skin as white as the buds of dewy camellias, eyes the colour of violets, with flecks of gold. The sound of footsteps drew near them, and he looked up just as Uriel walked over.
"Hey, Sera. How are you?"
He must have been surprised when Seraphina ignored him, and went on eating her lunch.
"Um… Sera? Hello? Earth to Seraphina!?"
"Go away, Uriel." She mumbled, "it was you who started it, so don't blame me for ignoring you now."
Uriel opened his mouth to retort, then turned around and saw Appolyon sitting back- to- back with Seraphina. He became really angry.
"Why are you sitting with him? You know you could come and sit with us, you're always welcome."
Seraphina looked up, her eyes blazing with hurt and anger."What did Appolyon do to you? He's only been here a few hours and already you are persecuting him. I can't believe you. That is not at all like the Uriel I have know since I was young." She turned to Appolyon and tugged at his sleeve. "Let's go somewhere else to eat our lunch." Appolyon, slightly bewildered, nodded awkwardly and stood up, giving Uriel a look that could kill pigeons before he left with Seraphina.
"hey, slow down" Appolyon hurried to catch up to Seraphina, who was walking briskly along the paved tarmac of the school courtyard. "He's not following you anymore. You can slow down!"
Seraphina slowed her pace slightly, breathing hard. It was only then that Appolyon noticed that her eyes were wet. Had she been crying?
"Um… Are you Okay? Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?" Appolyon asked in a hurry. He was afraid that he would be blamed for making the class president cry. He walked towards her timidly, and awkwardly patted her on her back. "Hey, its okay. Friends fight all the time, you'll get it together soon."
Seraphina looked at him with tear stained eyes, and shook her hair, making it shiver. "I know that. Only god knows how many times we've fought over stuff over the past 10 years. But no, its not because of him ignoring me that I'm sad, its because of you."
"Me?" Appolyon went and took her hand. Leading her to a stone bench, he made her sit down and look at him. "Why are you sad for me?"
"Well…" Seraphina sniffed, wiping her tears on her white handkerchief, "you're new, and you don't deserve to be treated that way." She put her head on his shoulders, and continued to sob.
Appolyon smiled gently, and shifted slightly, so that instead of crying on his shoulder, she was lying sideways on his lap., tears drenching his new pair of jeans. It was the first time this had ever happened to him, and to tell the truth, he was actually feeling happy. This girl had already began to trust him, even if she had only just met him today…
"Hey, wake up. It's time for class to start now… Um… Seraphina?" He reached out to touch her hair, when a slim, white hand caught his in a bone crunching grip.
"Keep your hands off her, you filthy demon" snarled the soft voice of Uriel, his aquamarine eyes a shade colder than they were before.
Moving faster than light, he tore his wrist from out of Uriel's grip, and shoved him. Carefully, gently, he laid Seraphina on the stone bench and stood up. Her hand shot out feebly, clinging to his hand. She was murmuring something. He bent closer to her in order to hear better.
"No, don't leave me alone. Please…"
He gently detached his hand, "It's okay. I'll be back, really soon. One minute." And turned towards Uriel.
"When did you start to notice?" He asked, with a smile on is face, though the look in his eyes were anything but friendly.
"I thought I felt the presence of an extremely powerful demon in our school today. And since you were new, I suspected that you were it. I knew for certain after lunch, when I saw the shadow that you cast in the shadows of the Oak during afternoon break. A shadow darker than that of the tree. You must be a demon."
Appolyon scoffed. "How slow of you to realise. Descendants of Stronger angels could recognise me in a matter of seconds. I certainly recognised what you were. Uriel, descendent of Uriel, the Angel of Creativity. Your friends as well, Tariel, descendant of Tariel the Angel of Summer, Anpiel the descendant of Anpiel the bird loving Angel and Dalquiel, descendant of Dalquiel, the Angelic Prince of the Third Heaven. All Lesser Angels." he emphasised, smirking gleefully at Uriel's discomfort at the word lesser.
"Leave Seraphina alone. We are her seraphic guardians until she can realise her true self. You must not interfere with her soul's awakening."
"Or what? You'll blast me with a feeble attempt at the heavily fire? Ha, if only you were a descend of an Archangel, then perhaps. But you? No way."
Uriel stepped forward, looking both serene and steely. "You have no right to touch an… angel with those filthy claws of yours. Leave her alone!"
"You have no right to tell me what to and what no to do, you filthy angel. What I do with Seraphina is none of your business." Appolyon shouted furiously.
"Oh? Oh, oh, oh. Don't tell me you haven't sensed it yet? Oh my, you were so obsessed with her that you couldn't sense the overwhelming seraphic power in her soul?"
He was shocked into silence, and when he could finally speak again, he stammered out "S… Seraphina? She's also an descend?"
Uriel smirked, but looked slightly worried at the same time, "why of course she is. Seraphina Gabriel G… Angelica. She's a descend of the Heavenly Angel Lord Gabriel, the archangel that can thwart the likes of You in a blink of an eye…"
Appolyon was shocked. Even now he could only just sense the strength of her angel soul, but there was something weird about her… Something that was not quite angelic…
Appolyon began to laugh. Peals of genuine laughter that glanced off the area around them.
"What are you laughing at? It's not funny." Uriel demanded, stomping his foot in annoyance.
"Hahaha, no wonder you wanted me to keep away from her. She may have Angelic descent in her, but what about the other half of her? You really think I didn't notice the presence of Lady Gomory in her?" Uriel was stunned. Oh shoot. "Sure seems like she's a Angel- Demon hybrid. She could become either one. That's quite unusual."
Uriel looked confident despite the news. "It doesn't matter. Seraphina will definitely choose the angelic side. She will never give in to the likes of you. Now, why don't you tell me your descent? It might affect how much pain I, leader of the guardian angels, afflict on you before death for daring to touch our future leader…"
"Pathetic. You are all so absolutely pathetic." remarked Appolyon, waving his hand in dismissal, "you have no right to even dare to think that you could defeat me. You want to know my lineage? Fine, I'll show you."
He took a slight step away from Uriel, and kept moving until he got to the centre of the path. He closed his eyes, and suddenly, an unbelievably powerful aura surrounded him. His eyes flickered red, and his fingernails became eloquent claws. Dark wings sprouted from his back and stood proudly extended. "I am Appolyon Zepar D'Angelo. Descendant of Appolyon, the demon of death." He swiped his hand in a casual sweep, and flames washed over Uriel, causing him to fall backwards, coughing violently.
"Wha… What's going on?" a frail voice sounded from behind them. They turned around and saw Seraphina gazing around with bewildered eyes. "Appolyon? What is that? Behind you? And Uriel? Why do you have wings?"
Uriel, in a burst of panic, had unfolded the wings that he kept hidden to protect himself.
"No, I must be dreaming. Angels and Demon… Don't exist…" Seraphina fainted again. Appolyon, whose appearance had faded back into his handsome features, rushed forward and caught her before she could fall to the stone path.
"It's okay, Seraphina. You're okay. You were just dreaming".He whispered in her ear, caressing her close to his chest. "I won't let you be hurt, ever. You're safe with me." He turned to look at Uriel, who's face was tight red with anger. "She can be with who she wants. It's not up to you to decide." And with that he carried her to the school nurse, where she spent the rest of the afternoon with a cool cloth on her head.
School ended, and Appolyon hurried towards the infirmary. He was worried for Seraphina's wellbeing. When he slid the door open, he found her sitting on the edge of the bed, lacing up her boots and putting her coat on.
"Hey, where are you going? You hurt your head today, you should be resting!"
"I have to go home. My parents are going to be worried about me." She looked downcast.
"Then… hen at least let me take you home! It's not safe for you in this state…"
And even as he said it, Seraphina fainted once again.