It is not known precisely where angels dwell — whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode. ~Voltaire
He still remembers when they first saw an angel. His mother had been looking out the window, waiting for the meteor shower. He was playing with his toys in the far end of the room under the warm glow of the corner lamp. She'd gasped softly, startling him, and he jumped to his feet, racing to her side. "Did the shower start?"
She didn't reply but instead stared blankly out into the shadowy night, so he followed her gaze. His heart jolted. There in the trees on the edge of their yard was a man watching them… and he had wings.
Loki gasps as he hits the ground and a shooting pain twists its way up through his side and into his limbs. He wants to lie there, to quit, but he forces himself to move, knowing that he can't stay down for long. This match has to go in his favor or he will never be taken seriously.
Groaning, he rolls himself onto his knees and force himself upwards to face his opponent, his older brother Thor, as he spits blood out onto the dirt below. His ears are ringing but he still can hear the onlookers chanting his name, egging him on, and damn, does it feel good. This isn't all just for glory, though; He needs to prove himself tonight and then maybe he'll will finally get to leave these stupid fences.
Thor grins at him but he doesn't look good. He has a gash on his cheek covered in blood and it's starting to form a bruise under his left eye. At least Loki don't have an injury yet, just the stinging in his side from a well-aimed kick. "You just going to stand there, Loki?" Thor taunts him and he gestures for Loki to make the first move.
Loki glances quickly down at the ground, spotting his knife a few feet away from him near the edge of the crowd that encircles them, and he wonders if he'll have enough time to grab it. He'll have no chance against Thor if Thor gets his blade at him. Thor twirls his knife, laughing with the crowd as if they know he'll win. Fuck it.
For a split second, Thor turns his attention onto the crowd and that's when Loki runs for it. He snatches up the knife, breathing hard, and he turns just in time to dodge the stab of Thor's blade. The crowd roars as he spins away and skids to a stop, throwing a shower of fresh dust into the circle. "You aren't quick enough," he snarls at him with a smile of his own. The girls behind him chortle with laughter.
"We'll see about that," Thor snaps back, brushing his sweat-slicked blond hair from his face.
They begin to circle each other. Loki narrows his eyes, trying to figure out the best way to attack. If he chose to attack first, he may be making himself vulnerable but if Thor attacks first, Loki might be overpowered.
"Why don't you give up now? Father's never going to change his mind," Thor says it like a taunt but Loki can see the worry in his eyes. Thor knows how determined he is; he knows how far Loki will go to get a chance to kill one of those monsters.
Loki's lips quirk upwards into a smile as they continue to circle each other. "Yeah, we'll see about that." Loki's sure he could win and maybe then his father will finally allow him to join the Hunter's ranks.
Loki scans his position, still calculating, but he's having a hard time reading him. Thor's too unpredictable. He tense his muscles, preparing to make his move when there's a shift of something behind them, just outside the fence in the woods. They all freeze, going completely silent. "Did you hear that?" Loki hisses to Thor as his stomach drops with instinctive panic. He know what he heard; He heard wings. Loki unconsciously touches the gruesome scar that runs along the corner of his eye to the bridge of his nose.
"Angels," Thor whispers back, eyes wide.
Some of the crowd have already slipped away but there are those like Loki and Thor that are paralyzed with fear. There has only been one time that an angel had shown up at the fences of their small town and the evidence for it was right on Loki's face. He'd almost died.
"Everyone get out of here," Loki urges the crowd, turning to face those that are left. Then he turns to Thor. "We have to warn Father."
Thor nods. "He'll know what to do." He turns and bursts into a run before Loki can say another word, disappearing into the depths of the scrambling crowd. The whispers of wings has already spread like wildfire through the people and they were heading for safety, preparing for the worst. There are only a few ways to protect yourself from the angels, and if you are caught unprepared you're as good as dead.
He takes off after Thor, all exhaustion lost in the heat of the moment, and he surges his energy in an effort to run faster in the direction of the Hunter's Hall. Loki's heart stutters with fear as they sprint across their short village along the dirt roads.
"Father!" Thor yells over the crowd. The boys, some just barely sixteen, are shrugging on guns filled with blessed silver bullets, pocketing vials of holy water, and sheathing blades that were made from the hands of monks. It's funny that things like these were the key to killing an angel. "Father!" he cries again.
Their father, Odin Borson, the leader of their pathetic Hunter army, is standing at the edge of the door of the Hunter's Hall, shoving guns into each man's hands. When he hears Thor's call, he turns sharply and his angry gaze spots Loki immediately. "What is your brother doing here?" he shouts at Thor, his glare an obvious threat.
Thor opens his mouth to speak but Loki cuts him off, walking in front him to his father. "Let me go on the hunt."
"No," he says instantly, his blue eyes flashing dangerously.
"I'm not a kid anymore." And he's actually older than some of the boys going out today. "I'm ready."
He shoves a gun at Thor. "Get in formation." Thor doesn't refuse his order, just casts Loki an apologetic glance before jogging away to the gate. His father turns back to him. "I don't have time for this, Loki. Get back to the house."
"No." Loki says it as evenly as he can. "You know I can do it."
"I know that you'll get yourself killed!" he snaps.
"Just like you got her killed?"
Odin's slap comes instantly and Loki's shocked into silence from the stinging on the curve of his cheek. But he deserve it, Loki knows he does. "Father…" He says brokenly.
Odin wraps a rough hand around the base of Loki's neck and forces him to move in the direction of the Hunter's Hall, hissing, "You are going to stay inside, you understand me?" The pressure on his neck is too tight for him to even reply but Odin doesn't expect him to. He expects him to stay quiet.
The inside of the one-story Hunter's Hall is almost cleared out, so there is no one to stop Odin from throwing open the nearest closet and shoving Loki inside, finally letting go of his windpipe. Loki wheezes as he hits the wall but turns just in time to watch his father close the door behind him, plunging the tiny space into darkness. "Let me out!" Loki screams in a bout of rising panic, his voice rough with the strain. He throws himself at the door and the whole thing shudders.
The lock clicks. "You'll be safe in there," Odin says and then he's gone. Loki hears the last of the men follow him out.
Loki lets the tears pour from his eyes now, because there's no one here to know. I fucking hate him. The first time in years, there's a possibility that there's an actual angel outside their gates and Loki won't even get to try to kill it. He should be the one who drives the blade into the angel's heart.
An eternity has passed, or so it seems, when Loki finally hears the lock click. His head snaps upward at the sound and he open his eyes in time to be blinded by the light streaming through the newly opened door. "Thor?" he calls, shielding his eyes with his hand.
No reply.
In fact, it's entirely too quiet beyond the door. Too empty.
He scrambles to his feet and rushes from the closet before it can close and lock him in again. "Hello?" he whispers, turning in all directions.
No one.
Loki stills just as a creeping sensation spiders its way up his spine. It's as if there's someone watching him. He turns slowly in the direction of the nearest window only to find no one there, but oddly the sensation is gone.
Grabbing a gun, he makes his way slowly to the door. What if something did happen? What if an angel had somehow gotten its way into our village? Loki feels a hot surge of anger and he knows what he has to do. I have to kill the beast.
Loki edges to the door and slowly turns the handle, inching the door open without a sound. He lets his gun lead him through the opening and into the shadows beneath the setting sun. Pacing on light feet, he makes his way around the brick building, looking for any sign of disturbance.
Something creaks behind him and he gasps, whirling to point his gun in that direction. The clearing behind him is empty but yet that unsettling sensation had returned. He scans all around him and up above. He's never seen angel fly, so he's not really sure what to expect.
Loki stays still for a few minutes, waiting. Then, behind him, a twig snaps. Loki whirls and tightens his fingers, ready to the pull trigger when he comes face-to-face with Thor. "Holy shit, Loki!" Thor cries, throwing his hands up to block his body from his gun.
"Thor, what are you doing here?" Loki rushes to say, quickly tucking the gun down to point at the dirt.
"Everyone's on their way back. It was a false alarm. But seriously, what are you doing with a gun?"
"False alarm," Loki repeats. It doesn't seem right. The wings they heard in the trees earlier… Those weren't just any bird's wings… were they?
The disbelief must've shown in his face because Thor lays a heavy hand on his shoulder, stooping to get a better look at his face. "Yes, it was an eagle or something out the woods… Now tell me where you got the gun."
Loki blinks rapidly, trying to chase away his confusion. "I found it laying out in the Hunter's Hall."
"Those guns are locked away, at least they're supposed to be," Thor says with a frown. But he doesn't dwell on it and instead slides the gun out of Loki's hands and puts the safety back on. "You better get out of here before Father sees."
He didn't have to be told twice. "Thanks," Loki mumbles quickly and then he's walking away. All the way down the narrow alleyway, Loki feels Thor watching me. In this way, he's a lot like Odin: ever watchful and ever worried.
A false alarm, Loki thinks with a scoff. There had been too many false alarms for their sad little colony in the middle of nowhere. He brushes his fingers along his scar again, trying to calm his nerves. He could have sworn that this time was different.
He makes his way up an old, cracked road that leads to his decaying house. It's a weathered Colonial home falling apart from years without upkeep. The grass is growing long and shaggy and it's dry and slightly dead from the sweltering summer heat. Loki walks briskly through a broken down path in the weeds to his front door.
Inside, he lights a candle and takes it with him to the sitting room. His eyes skim over the rug, straining to ignore the blood stain that covers most of the floor, and he instead heads for the window. He sets the candle aside, safely on the end table, and then moves to open the window.
The second Loki pulls back the curtains, the sensation overwhelms him again. Something is watching him. He can't see where, though; the candle is reflecting onto the window, so he quickly blows it out, sinking the room into a fearful darkness, and waits.
At first, Loki doesn't see anything. The woods beyond the high fence looks the same as always. But after a single blink, a figure appears in the trees overlooking his home. The shadowy figure doesn't move but neither does he, because Loki is paralyzed by the silhouette of wings.
So I'm not so sure about this story yet. I'm unsure if there will be a lot of interest in this type of story, so I will see what kinds of reactions I get before I continue! Thank you for reading.