Hello again & welcome to my new one!
This, as most of what I write is AU and follows a completely different route than what the characters in the show do for a living.
This prologue is just to see what kind of response it will have so hope you'll let me know if it is grabbed your attention. It will contain no Sam & Andy, but the rest of the chapters will!
Summery; Sam Swarek, Charming, Charismatic, a Selfish and Wealthy playboy tangles with death one night and nearly claims the life of an innocent bystander. They are unknowingly entwined in more than just the new job that Sam offers Andy to make amends for his actions without her knowing the truth behind his motives. And then there is the Darkness, the one that has promised Sam his life in return for an innocent soul.
Chapter 1- Prologue
Set somewhere far away in a time unknown.
The heavy footfalls neared, their echo through the emptiness driving sadness through her, but never fear.
The scrape of metal across the spanish style stone wall made her shiver, a sound so eerie that it caused a rash of shivers to tear down her spine as she inhaled a slow breath that quivered.
"I can smell your fear" Eli said when his sword reached the end of the wall and he ran out of stones to scrape it against. He spoke in the old language, his pronunciation of the words exact.
"I have no fear" Akira said as she stepped out from behind the wall that had provided momentary shelter from his dark, piercing orbs.
Eli's face twisted into a look of sheer delight when he set eyes on her, moonlight seeping through what was left of the outer walls of the cobblestone chapel as flames of devastation flickered in the distance and a billow of black smoke clouded across the night sky and secluded the stars.
With a chilling swoosh, Eli's wings spread out and he glided forward until he had the tip of his sword under her chin, its jagged edge pricking at her skin as the cold metal burned her.
"Where is the child?" His cold voice bellowed through the air, a haggard edge to it as his eyes flashed with more emptiness than what any soul should have to bare.
"She is safe" her voice was steady as she spoke, the tone strong and solid.
"I doubt that" his tone leaked sarcasm as he retorted his answer, a sneer on his lips as they curved upwards in the corners.
Eli tilted his head to the side and watched Akira for signs of fear or anticipation but all he found in her eyes was hope, and love shining brightly.
"You would hide her and sacrifice your entire life here? For her? While your world burns and the embers shed ash into the wind you would rather protect her than your own kind?" He almost laughed the words out, the irony not passed over.
The child was as Akira was, yet she was always considered different.
"As you would expect of me Eli, yes I would. I would sacrifice it all a hundred times over- for her" Akira said as a soft breeze blew through the collapsed roof and her long red hair fluttered in it lightly.
Eli let out a booming laugh, its cold tone matched by his chiseled jaw; both were equally hard.
"Why? Why allow this if you can stop it? All you have to do is tell me where she is?". Eli's eyebrows knitted together as he handed her the option of salvation.
"Never" she sang out sweetly. She just couldn't bring herself to tell him where the child was. If she did then life as they knew it would be over.
There would be no reclaming the good as evil took over and doomed them all to a fate worse than death itself.
Eli let out a growl and dropped his blade from her face, his face much closer to hers as he spoke this time "Two hundred years of this insolent game and you have not learned one single thing. Lifetime after lifetime that you give her she turns, and shuns you, she crosses over to the dark side and you demand a rematch or another chance and yet she fails you and your kind over and over again". Eli spoke with a sneer, sick pleasure twisted around each syllable as he whispered them baring the truth into her ear.
"I will not give up Eli, I will not believe that she is doomed to betray us this time"
Her words seemed to cut through Eli, or hit a nerve because he winced and drew in a ragged breath.
"What have you done?" He suddenly shouted into her ear making her jump as his temper rose and he became infuriated.
"You have been amongst the humans" Eli continued, his voice reaching a darker tone after he inhaled the air close to her hair.
"Tell me you did not" his voice became nothing more than a whisper a few seconds later as he spoke again.
"Deny me the agony of ceasing your existence here and now" his breath was flush against her skin as he moved to the side and stood behind her, his fingers entwining slowly through her loose strands of hair.
"You know the rules Akira, and yet you would break them to save the child" she could tell that he was searching for understanding in her actions, that he was failing to see why she had gone against the biggest rule that her kind had.
"Why?" His voice was pleading, searching for resolution.
"It is what we were born to do Eli. To love and cherish, to protect and save. You of all people should know that, and why she is so important".
Eli pulled her head back a fraction, his hand using her hair to secure her in place once he had her angled in the right position to stare into her eyes.
He must have sensed the others just as she had because in the amount of time it took her to take one final sweeping gaze of his empty soul, he let her go and shoved her forwards into the sheltered arms of his enemies.
"I will find her, and when I do you will reap despair and abandon this foolish idea that you can save the universe by showering it with white lights and love; something that doesn't exist and will never save anyone".
With a powerful flap of his wings Eli ascended the air above them, the dark feathers reflecting shades of grey. Akira wasn't sure if it was age or the moonlight that shimmered streaks of grey against the dark feathers, but somehow she knew that Eli was different, that he had changed.
Sebastian's embrace did nothing to still the tremble that her body became riddled with, even the strong embrace of her sibling failing to sooth her emotions as they tread into heartbreak.
"It is done?" He whispered into her ear.
"It is done" she confirmed.
"It is best" he tried to pacify her as others joined them in the ruins of a once beautiful city.
The war had been raging since long before any of them had existed, the oldest amongst them thriving for only 350 years. And yet as the way things were those who possessed eyes were left to the tortuous view of a city once filled with love and clean air as it burnt down after a onslaught of evil savagely raided it seeking the child.
Why the demons had come wasn't the question, they knew why, the question was how to keep the child safe, how to shy her away from the demons.
Hiding her among the humans was their last option even though any kind of contact with the humans was forbidden unless it was deemed appropriate and sanctioned by the Ministry. That happened few and far between, only the young and old or those that had a truly good soul were privileged to that kind of honor.
The humans often called them their Guardian Angels in an instance when they had been seen, but truthfully; they were more. They were the ones that protected them, sheltered them from the other side- the evil that threatened to take them into its grasp and squeeze their existence out of them.
"It should not be this way Sebastian" Akira said as her brother led her out of the chapel and towards a small group that had gathered on the burnt grass. The grounds had once been fields of plush green grass, now it was dark and lifeless just as Eli's eyes had become.
"It is the prophecy Akira" Sebastian squeezed her hand lightly in a show of affection.
"But it does not make it any less painful" she said as she let her lips brush against his cheek in a fond farewell.
She was to be taken away and hidden in a place of safety until the war was over because she knew where the child had been given shelter amongst the humans. She was the one that had blessed the humans with her soul, she was the one who decided that this was to be the child's new home.
"I will miss seeing your smile and hearing your laughter" Sabastian whispered into her ear as he embraced her farewell.
Katya, Sebastian's betrothed was to escort Akira to the earthly boundary and then she too would bid farewell.
Akira would then venture off alone and leave her aura at the boundary along with her wings whereby she would trade her gifts for a human life.
It was a heavy price to pay but in the end it would be worth it.
She had already chosen the form that she was to take, that of one who was good and honest save for a few occasions where where they had drifted off the path to salvation.
Taking a last teary look at the faces of her loved ones, Akira bowed in gratitude for their love and faith in her to do this.
It had been bestowed on her as it was truly her penance for a mistake that she made. She was the cause of this war, the factor that had caused them to become what they were today.
Her and Eli.
Polar opposites, black and white, good and evil.
But he hadn't always been evil, he had been pure and it was her doing that he was drawn to the other side where his wings colored black and his eyes emptied out to reflect nothing but what they saw.
If she had not told him that it had been prophesied that an Angel of their caliber and one from the dark side would create life, then perhaps he would never have gone to seek out the evil that now possessed him. He would never have traded his soul to remain a part of her existence when her father denied his request to wed her.
If she had merely left when the dreams had started then perhaps things would be different now.
But Eli was persistent, he would have followed her no matter where she went.
But her father would still be alive and her city would look far different from the tarnished remains that it was now constructed of.
So many lives had been lost, and yet it was only the beginning.
"Fare thee well Sebastian" Akira said and stepped out of his embrace.
"Fare thee well dear sister" he returned her sentiment and then she was gone- into the unknown.
*** Thanks for reading, hope you're curious!
Have an awesome day!
Jelly Bean Jenna©
