Chapter 21

Sue found Bella at dawn, and was shocked at what she saw.

Bella's left leg had been clung to be the frost in the night, and had turned a solid icy blue. However, the rest of Bella remained entirely as it had been when she left. What shocked her most, was that there was no snow or frost around them. No signs of anything that could cause the damage to her leg.

"Bella, what happened to you?" Sue said, one hand held near her face in an attempt to hide her shock.

"I..." And Bella told her everything.

After her decision to curse her mate, Bella began to feel a heat growing within her, and felt a presence near her.

"Lucifer?" Bella whispered, stunned. Her eyes widened and she dropped to the ground on one knee.

After this she wasn't entirely sure what happened, but she felt herself 'awaken' into a place similar to how a human would picture Heaven - she was completely engulfed in fluffy white clouds.

"Isabella Marie," A deep voice filled the air around her, the Lucifer appeared very close in front of her and grabbed her chin. Harshly, he tilted her head left and right before releasing her, stepping back with a smirk. "My, you are a fun puzzle." Slowly, he began to circle her. "Hair of the ravens," he mused quietly, while playing with a long strand of her hair, twisting it around his fingers slowly. "Body of a shieldmaiden." Bella's brows scrunched in confusion. "Wings of the Great dove, you are a lucky one." His words continued to confuse her. "Face of a cherub, and curse of the dead." He finished where he began: standing before her again.

"I don't understand." Bella said bluntly, avoiding eye contact.

Lucifer grabbed her chin again, and she raised her eyes in shock. "Eyes of the doe -no, fawn and curse of the black tears. Though, that curse isn't as impressive. More like curse of the blue tears, right?" He scoffed and released her. "I have been following you for a while - well, keeping an eye on you. You've chosen to reject your mate?" A seat, which looked a lot like a very comfortable black throne appeared behind Lucifer, and he lounged in it while suddenly holding a chalice of wine.

Bella nodded instead of voicing a response.

"Speak, child!" Lucifer shouted, and his voice seemed to echo loudly in Bella's head and around her, making her want to cover her ears.

She must've moved to do so, as Lucifer was suddenly right in front of her again, grasping her wrists tightly.

"Yes, I reject him." Bella spoke quietly.

Lucifer gave a swift reply, "Why?"

Bella wasn't sure whether he was an idiot for asking such a thing, and felt anger beginning to brew in the pit of her stomach. "No one can love a monster."

Lucifer smirked, "Do elaborate, my dear."

Bella huffed, but tried to remember to be respectful. "I'm an Angel, he is a descendent of a Fallen - he's a vampire. Vampires are monsters."

Lucifer threw his head back and laughed, falling back into his throne. "I have heard many excuses in my time, but..." His own laughter cut off the remainder of his sentence. After a moment, he regain his composure. "We both know there's more to it than that."

Bella chewed her lip, starting to dislike the rule of 'always answer when asked a question'. She much preferred faerie truths. "As you said, I'm cursed. I'm a monster too."

Lucifer chuckled for a moment. "And yet, you're still an Angel."

"So's the Elder of Calm, and everyone knows what he's been up to now." Bella answered back, then regretted speaking so rashly.

Seemingly, Lucifer completely ignored the fact she'd broken a rule of etiquette. "True, I doubt he'll remain one much longer. I think it may be his Phoenix ceremony soon." He grinned, twirling something in his hand which was too small for Bella to see.

Bella frowned, but decided not to ask what her suspicions were telling her to.

"Now, the reason you're here isn't just for some chit chat, I want something from you." Bella swallowed the saliva that suddenly gathered in her mouth, even though her throat felt increasingly dry. "If you revoke your rejection of your mate, I'll give you a new wing to replace that mouldy one."

Bella's face was the personification of confusion. He was... helping her? For such a little request?

Her eyes slowly moved down to his hands. In his right hand was a pen for her to take, while there was a table to his left showing, what she presumed, was the contract. She rolled her lips in thought for a moment.

"Ah," Lucifer suddenly exclaimed. "I nearly forgot the catch." Bella nearly cursed below her breath. "In addition to this deal, I'll save you from the cold this time, but in return I want a promise that you'll work as hard as you can to expel all your legitimate weaknesses, another promise allowing me to be a... shall we say, friendly acquaintance?"

"I can agree to that..." Bella got a bad feeling this all felt too much in her favour.

"Oh, and of course there is the cost of the curse of ice." Lucifer grinned darkly. Lucifer then went on to explain that the curse would turn one of her limbs a complete icy blue in appearance and texture, and would be as ice to all except her and her mate. She would be as mobile as before, just look a little different.

And that's how she ended up in a meadow being kept warm and separated from the winter outside the meadow thanks to the Devil.

After listening intently, Sue felt worry gather within her, but trusted Bella's judgement and understood some of her decisions. "I think it's time we chip off the ice from your wings. The mouldy should slide right off now." Bella grinned and allowed the Elder to touch her wings.

Sue brushed off the little amount of snow and dew from her right wing, then produced a small hammer to help break off the frozen mouldy of her left wing. She gently tapped away at the mould, but was horrified at what she found beneath.

Black feathers.

Sue swallowed nervously. There was an old legend of an Angel that had black feathers on his wings. He was the best Angel of his age as a youngling, and by the time he could fly he was greater than most of the Elders. However, his power grew too great. Some believe he died from various causes, while others believed he was still alive. Either way, his powers overcame him and he became one of the Fallen, disappearing forever into legend.

"Marie, your feathers are black." Sue produced a small, rounded box. It was just big enough to clutch tightly in a hand. . "It's nothing to worry yourself about, but if you ever feel you need to hid your wing use a pinch of this powder on your wings. It should disguise the feathers for a day."

Hesitantly, Bella raised her hand and stroked her black feathers. They were surprisingly soft and smooth, and looked a lot different to her fluffy white feathers. Her wing looked sleek and neat; she couldn't help adoring the texture and colour. The black had a slight dark blue hue under the sunlight. "They're so smooth." Bella mumbled. "I didn't expect such a nice new wing."

Sue's brows scrunched in confusion, and she placed the powder in Bella's hand. "Come along, Marcus is waiting."

Bella found her wings were just as strong as each other, but while her white wing was designed for gentle gliding, her black wing was designed for speed. It took a lot of effort to get accustomed to at first.

Together they flew across the sea until the reached an island. Clearly, it was made from the volcano which was at the centre of the island, though it was unclear whether the volcano was still active. The cone volcano took up the majority of the island, and it was higher than it was wide (at least, above sea level).

Sue led the way down towards the island, aiming for the side of the volcano. It took a while before Bella spotted the hidden wooden building covered in rocks (except for some large patches that showed it was actually made of wood) on the side of the volcano.

Sue landed smoothly on the large deck at the front and side of the building. Below them was a very long drop. Bella struggled to land, wobbling around with her arms out wide to try to regain her balance. Eventually, she landed in a thud on the deck.

"Marcus."

A man came out of the building. Dark brown hair reached past his shoulders, and that was the only sign of life from the man. His skin was pale, and in some areas was cracking while there were some dark holes showing through to yellow, brittle bone. Up to his elbows and knees had blackened or rotten skin, and there was a similar patch above his eyes. Both his eyes were completely black, but unlike Bella's eye, they had no life to them. No light shone through them, as if there was no soul inside at all. Bella only just caught herself before she gasped when her eyes moved to a lump above his shoulder. The remains of wings, which looked as though they had been harshly ripped off, were near small stubs on the man's back. There weren't even little holes in the stumps where feathers may have been - it had all been cut off.

Bella knew her eyes held fear, and she couldn't find the energy to hide it. She feared this man, and could easily admit so. Only an Angel who had done something seriously bad could've had such a punishment done.

"Sue, my old friend, that was very swift indeed." Marcus grinned, and some of his skin cracked to make room. It was clearly a gesture he didn't do often.

"The wind was on our side, and Marie didn't take too long to adapt her flying." Sue smiled proudly, like a grandmother. "But first, we must tell you-"

"About her leg?" Marcus interrupted. He suddenly seemed to appear right before Bella, and kneeled before her. "May I?" Hovering, his hands waited for permission to check over her icy leg. Bella nodded, not trusting her voice.

When he hands touched her leg, Bella had to fight back a cringe. She felt like she was being touched by the dead, and struggled to keep from envisioning dead creatures swarming her.

Marcus' hands remained on her leg for only a moment, then moved towards her black wing (after getting permission for that too). He too seemed fascinated by the black feathers, and asked for one when she began to shed them.

"I know Lucifer's work when I see it. He's a good craftsman." Marcus commented.

"You dare speak his name?" Bella asked after Sue gasped.

"Oh yes, we have no qualms with each other. He pitied me for many reason, and I pity him for several different and similar reasons. Mutual friendship, I believe we last agreed to be. Perhaps this one will become more than 'friendly acquaintance' if she keeps up her readiness for making deals." Marcus laughed, his cheek ripping open on one side at the action, while the skin on his neck became white and strained. "Oh dear." Marcus mumbled while chuckling, and quickly fixed his face using his saliva. "Do come inside, a storm is on its way and it can get rather cold outside."

Bella wondered how the wooden building could even surprise a simple breeze as she walked towards the threshold. "Sue, aren't you coming too?"

"No, Marie. I have things to get on with, and it's a long way out of the barrier." Sue said while checking all the belongs she brought were secured to her.

"What barrier?" Bella questioned, she hadn't felt anything on the way in.

"That would be my doing," A soft voice from behind her said. Bella turned to see a woman with very pale skin and almost grey hair standing beside Marcus. "Angels and Ghosts aren't really friends, especially not vampiric Ghosts. There are only about three of us in the world, but we are able to completely block out Angels and humans from the area we are in. Life is quite sad that way, so we live in secluded areas with a few select beings who keep us company." Bella stood baffled until the woman put out her hand. "I'm Didyme, Marcus' mate." Bella's eyes stayed on her hand, and hesitantly raised her own withered one towards Didyme's pasty hand.

Surprisingly, to Bella, their hands touched. They gently shook hands, but Didyme didn't let go. "Ghosts can be touched by Angels and their mates only. Forgive me." Her hand slowly and gently moved to examine Bella's arm, shoulder and neck. "Some of your flesh below the skin has survived, but your hand is hollow to the bone." Didyme shook her head, then smiled warmly at Bella. "But your hand can still channel magic, the bone is still strong and will be able to withstand as much as before after some training. It shouldn't take too long, maybe a year."

Bella didn't feel as positive about this as Didyme seemed, now she felt the fire of vengeance in her chest she wasn't sure she could wait as long as a year.

Lucifer lounged in his dark abode, sipping from his chalice while his body was draped like a heavy curtain across his well cushioned throne. The room was built like an old castle, but the stones were black and had a clean cut. However, it was clearly as old as time, as some upper rocks had begun to show signs of weathering (from when Lucifer's temper caused storms around him.)

Smirking, he watched as his new favourite Angel's vengeance grew stronger as she regained the strength in her dominant hand. With a wave of his hand, the image before him changed to one of despair as he looked upon the Angel's mate.

"Such weaknesses in the modern world. A broken heart used to mean so little when broken bones and lost limbs were a very common thing. These children have no idea what true pain is..." Lucifer continued his thoughts in his head, while watching his Bella.

3 weeks~

Bella had been training hard under the guidance of Didyme and Marcus, yet she felt as though she'd made no progress.

Chewing on the special food Marcus had made for her, which was meant to help with her magic circulation, Bella began to wonder why Marcus had become a Fallen. He was kind, loyal to his mate and had never shown any signs of villainy. Yet, some form of evil he must have been in order to have had such a horrible removal of his wings.

In addition, she began to wonder about Didyme. As far as she knew from her history lessons, Didyme had been killed millennia before Bella's creation by her own brother, Aro. Her history lessons had also never told her anything about Marcus, one of the leaders of the Volturi, leaving his coven or being a Fallen.

"You wish to know about us, don't you?" The soft voice of Didyme startled Bella.

Bella nodded, "Yes, but how could you have know that?"

"That information is for later, follow me now." Bella followed the Ghost obediently towards a door she had never been the other side of before. "Inside holds a book with all the answers you want and need. It's a journal written by Marcus on behalf of himself, myself and several others too."

Bella opened the door and walked in. "You're not coming too?" She asked, after noticing Didyme wasn't following.

"No, this is something you should do alone."

3 months~

Bella carefully flapped her wings as she had too in order to fly. Both wings had suffered after she overexerted them two months previously, and now was the first time she'd been set free from the ground with the permission of the resident mother hen.

Bella knew she could easily enjoy and be annoyed by Didyme's attitude, if she were human. However, Bella was and intended to stay an Angel, and Bella was slightly saddened by it all. The realisation of every other species having some form of a parent which cared for them (at least before birth) hit her hard. She wished she'd truly had someone she alone could turn to as a confidant who loved her unconditionally. She knew she'd found that in Didyme, but that still left centuries of pain.

Bella landed gently before her negative feelings brought her damage. "I'll fly again tomorrow, but for now I'd like to rest."

Marcus shook his head. "You've barely gone off the ground. At least circulate your magic again before going to wash."

Bella sighed, but folded down on the ground and concentrated on the magic that always flowed through her strongly. She visualised it flowing from her centre out to the rest of her body, as she'd been taught.

"The only blockage is in your mind, not in your arm. The magic can flow, you just have to trick yourself." Marcus instructed.

Bella tried just that, like every other time, but still she felt a strong blockage, like a thick lead wall against alpha particles. There was no way through, and any attempt she made was futile.

When she felt actual sweat on her forehead, she knew she'd been trying far too hard, for far too long. When she opened her eyes, it was dark, yet when she closed them it's been high noon. She sighed, and set to work cleaning her body before she rested. She was still angry at her emotional weaknesses, and wished she could just throw them aside like she used to.

Was going to add more, but thought you'd waited long enough. :) Please forgive mistakes, wrote most of this very early in the morning.