Blue Diamond 2
Raoul liked Raf's personality, appearance and style very much. He considered her to be a good friend as well as the beautiful girl he was lucky to look twice at him. The crazy look in her eyes after giving her spirited declaration scared him.
"You're going to be… an Angel?" Raoul asked slowly, "Like for Halloween?"
"No, honey, I am going to transform from human into a winged immortal force of pure good and holy light." Raf said with one thousand percent confidence.
"O-kay. Like in a movie or streaming series?" Raoul asked, trying to find the joke.
"You think I sound crazy. I can imagine, if anyone else had told me that yesterday I'd run from them." Raf said, holding his hand.
"Yeah, Yeah." Raoul said nodding and darting his eyes.
"But Raoul, I am serious." Raf said with wide peepers.
Above the humans hovered Urie the Angel and Sulfus the Devil.
"Oh Heavens, she's broken." Urie stated, hoping the family had medical coverage for a therapist.
Sulfus laughed until he teared up, "No, no, accept your new recruit! Oh, better get a big butterfly net before she flies away, (snickers) with her Angel wings!"
Raoul put his hand over Raf's, "Sweetheart, I know regionals have been tough-"
"Raoul, this isn't a mental breakdown. This is the defining moment of my life. I've been chosen for something incredible. Something divine. Can you share with me the absolute majesty of this?" Raf asked, holding his hand as if it were a baby bird.
"Okay, we're down the rabbit hole, how may I ask are you going to turn into an Angel?" Raoul asked, wondering if there was a nearby hospital they could visit.
"According to the voice in my dream I have to first read from the Book of the Bloods. There will be instructions in that writing and the rest of the vision was me soaring in the air and looking at myself as this gorgeous creature with big feathery wings like an eagle. Raoul, I can't tell you how right it felt. Like I was living my true self." Raf said, she could tell he didn't really believe her but she wanted to say the words out loud.
"Uh-huh, gorgeous, yeah I can see that. So you'll live in clouds after this?" Raoul asked, getting annoyed with the realness in her voice.
"Alright, I can see we'll have to skip to the end. Raoul, I love you very much because you are a great guy-"
"Wait, you're breaking up with me?" Raoul asked, jumping from the park bench.
"No!" Urie yelled.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho thank you, Darkness! Sulfus said, taking a fist and slamming his elbow behind his stomach.
"I mean, if I thought it could work out between us I would say let's try but you weren't in my vision. I'm sorry. I do love you, a lot, and I love Alessia-"
"Do not bring my sister into this!"
"Listen to me! Even if I'm not around you guys matter to me. I said good bye to my parents but they did love you as well so you're welcomed there." Raf said with a hand over her chest.
Raoul wanted to kick something, yell at her or rip out his own hair. Instead he took a deep breath and told Raf, "I loved you too, but it'll never work out with us if this is your new life plan."
"I know you're factious but I also know your kind heart so I am going to take this. Good bye, Raoul." Raf said holding her hand for a gentlemanly shake.
"You're crazy and probably the best person I've ever met. Or will ever met."
"You're wrong." Raf said as she hugged him. Raoul hugged her back. Raoul kissed her cheek and stopped over her lips.
Raf chewed on her lower lip and he left. He watched him walk away. She would miss him but her quest started when she released all Earthly possessions.
"This is getting serious." Urie said, wondering if she should take human form and find a doctor to push her Terrestrial towards.
"Didn't even kiss her goodbye. I hope I never see Mr. Basic ever again." Sulfus grumbled.
In the same moment a lightning bug flew to Urie's ear and a coral snake crawled around Sulfus' arm. The familiars alerted the Immortals to immediately return to their respective realms.
"We are accepting your Terrestrial into the High Spheres." Professor Arkhan told Urie.
Professor Arkhan was the headmaster of the Angel's academy. His office had glass murals and curving architecture. Urie was his star pupil and he needed her help in a very important mission.
"Wait, we can turn Terrestrials into one of us?" Urie asked, she wondered if the moon was really made of cheese.
"We can't transform any human into an Eternal Being but this one is special. Tell me, what do you think of her?" The round-eye-lensed professor asked.
Urie resisted squealing infront of her superior. "I know she would shine bright with a halo over her head."
"She is the last advantage the Angels need." Professor Temptel Headmistress of the Devil academy said. Her office was centered over a pit of lava. Sulfus sat on the corner of her coal-black desk.
"I don't see how. One more airhead is a balloon to pop." Sulfus said, he didn't get why his diabolical teacher would ever look concerned.
"This Terrestrial we're speaking of is a descendant of a Saint. Saint Angelie to be precise." Professor Temptel said, adjusting her triangular glasses.
Sulfus knew Saints were humans that did extraordinarily goody-goody task to land stamps in history books. They were famous but not magical.
"So it's a coincidence." Sulfus said in a bored tone.
"No, it's a sign of good to come," Professor Tempteal said in distaste, "Angelie was a Saint that almost accessed divinity. She was gifted; telepathy, levitation, insufferable cheery advice that made all humans allies and friends. We were lucky she died before the Angels gave her a halo and wings."
Sulfus slammed his palms on her desk, "They can really do that?"
"We Devils can tarnish and detriment everything in beautiful devastation. Angels have as much power to create anything out of nothing. This human girl with saintly blood in her veins cannot become an Angel. "
"Okay, the worst of the worse, that's me, can take out this little problem. Tell me how Angelie died, I'll have them match." Sulfus said, playing with the human was fun but he'd have a blast pushing her face into a frothy cake of cocaine.
"Sad to tell the truth, we don't know. Angelie disappeared from the records after she started a family. This child doesn't necessarily need to be killed, crippling is a far greater struggle." Professor Temptel said with a crooked smile.
"You can count on me to do my worst, Prof." Sulfus said with fires blazing from his finger tips.
"I will complete my mission with utmost haste, Professor. Thank you for you belief in me." Urie said with a bow.
Professor Arkhan bowed as well, "Thank you, Urie, I have faith you shall do splendidly. I look forward to meeting Raf."
Following the path of her dream, and the map on her smartphone, Raf rode her bicycle through the rough part of Los Vaticlese. Four bail bonds, food trucks with cement blocks instead of wheels, and the overwhelming smell of urine did not fluster Raf. She had a holy mission from Heaven and the world to save!
The tiny library she found was connected to a drive-thru takeout window. The glorious first step in Raf becoming an true-blue Angel. Raf stepped over the garbage on the steps and dodged the broken glass in the doorway. No one behind the desk and the card catalogues housed rats of all sizes. The shelves of books were soaked and growing mold. Raf covered her mouth with her hoodie and walked over the broken computers and chairs.
In the far back of the crumbling library there was one single, dry book with its cover intact. Thick as a dictionary this book was bronze. On the cover was a rainbow and a snake in a loop. No title but a song in Raf's mind said this was the Book of the Bloods.
Raf sat down and rested the open book on her crossed knees. The cursive writing swirled as vines and flowers bloomed. The words were written in her language but spaced differently so when Raf sounded the words she had to guess when they ended and began. The patterns reminded Raf of lullabies and melodies. She sang out a paragraph and her eyes began to burn.
The sting reminded Raf of soap in her eyes; unpleasant but not horrible. The discomfort seeped into her skin and through her jaw to her ears. Raf's head felt sore but she'd slammed her head harder before in competitions and games. She felt fine after a minute. Raf turned a few pages but decided reading in that exact location wasn't necessary. She put the book in her backpack and walked out the hole in the library's wall. The backyard of the library could've been a parking lot at one time. Raf assumed this from the dirt-covered car in the yard. The grass was long and the broken bottles were treacherous. The shrimpy forest
Turn around the walk through the library would be the best idea.
A scream for help had Raf run over the grass and over the bushes.
In a tangle of a thorn bush a young man's arm and leg bled in the vines.
"Oh, goody, a rescuer. Please save me." The boy said with a hand to his head.
"Are your legs broken? Just walk out the bush." Raf said with a shrug. Apparently you couldn't have a cute face and brains in the same package.
The boy dropped his arm and looked disappointed, "Duh, I could do that. I meant save me from that."
Raf followed his pointing finger to a giant fox in a tree. The fox's smile revealed rows of sharp teeth under narrow amber eyes. She watched it prepare to pounce with a wiggle of its fluffy tail.
Raf grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him as she ran. He fell to the ground and clutched his torn leg.
"Ouch, never mind me, go on!" The boy said. Raf grumbled at his helplessness, took off her backpack and threw it at the fox. In its distraction Raf pulled the boy over her shoulder and ran with him leaning on her.
"Why the hell can you run so fast?!" He demanded.
"Track team since I was two." Raf said as they ran to the library.
Raf placed him against the wall. "Stay here."
The boy watched her walk into the library's hole. He heard something snap, watched Raf walk into the yard and grab the broken bottles loose from the earth. Around the edges of the bushes and car Raf saw a red figure rush and circle her in the long grass. Raf tossed a glass bottle in the air and swung a chair leg in the direction of the fox. She kept swinging until they heard a squeal. Raf guessed she had finally gotten the fox in the face.
"Forgive me, innocent animal." Raf said gripping the chair and waiting for assurance the animal ran away.
"Well done, my angel." The boy said.
"I'm not your angel." Raf said, turning to see the boy. His face was very angular, very cute, and his eyes were oddly almond shaped. And the irises were yellow.
"Are those contacts?" Raf asked, though with the creepy smile she felt they weren't.
"Nope. These are real too." The boy said as red bat rings flapped from his back and horns sprouted from his head.
"You're a Devil." Raf stated, remembering the fairy tales of ugly devils trying to eat nuns and burn down cities. Raf stood straight and held up the chair leg in her defense.
"Correct, and I'm your Devil for hire." The Devil boy said with a bow.
Raf said nothing and tried to think of how the heroines in her stories defeated such monsters.
"Put the wood down, girlie, I owe you my life. That fox was uniquely diabolical and I lost my powers to it during a challenge. It put me in the bush to slowly torture me. You've saved my life."
"Yeah, something tells me you could've saved your own bottom. You're up to something else, Devil, you're trying to trick me into giving you something you want."
"There's nothing you could have that I want. And that fox was dangerous for me like a shark out of water. However you came to my rescue so now I owe you the favor." The Devil boy told Raf.
Raf raised her eyebrow, "So you have no interest in devouring my soul?"
"Again, power lost to fox-monster. These are decoration now." He said, pointing to his wings.
Raf lowered the wooden weapon, "Okay, go get the backpack I threw at the fox."
"As you wish." The Devil said, he stepped around Raf who kept her eyes on him, and walked behind the bush. Funny how he could walk so easily as if the scratches didn't really hurt him. Raf hoped he'd disappear forever but he came back with her backpack in hand. He tossed her bag and looked inside to see the book was intact. As was her phone, candy bar, pencil case and bottle of water.
"I swear to do whatever you ask me, human." The Devil said with a toothy smile.
Raf imagined he'd make a great porn star but she pushed away such thoughts. Twas unbecoming of a future Angel.
"You know I can't trust you, Devil, return your favor by leaving me alone forever." Raf stated as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and fluttered her hand to tell him to leave.
"You'll want me around, girl. My kind has heard you're interested in Eternal life and they don't all like it."
"Do you like it?" Raf wondered why she asked since Devils were professional liars.
"I really doubt it's possible and don't care if there is one more Angel in the universe. But I'm in your debt so I'm going to help you on your quest."
"Prove your intentions aren't malicious. Give me your true name." Raf demanded. She remembered a story where Devils only gave their real names if their lives depended on it.
The Devil gritted his teeth and sucked the air. He stuck his chest out and said with a smile, "Sulfus."
"Fantastic." Raf said drily, instead she was cheering that she had defeated evil forces already on her first day. "My name is Raf."
Sulfus didn't say he knew that already. "Okay, Raf, we should run now."
Rustling in the trees and the shaking in the bushes told Raf the fox had called for friends. She ran in the library and didn't care if Sulfus followed. Sulfus winked at the fox, who winked back along with her many clones, and followed behind Raf.
"Raf, wait up!" Sulfus said as he ran after the human.