So guys, it's Halloween and although this chapter isn't a spooky one, it's long and good. From now on, my chapters are going to be longer and longer so there's more for you all to read. This is option A. The next chapter is going to be B and the other one C so thank you for your suggestions. Please don't forget to review and Happy Halloween...
I stared down at the table. Nothing that I'd been through could prepare me for this. I thought it would be easy - seeing everyone again. But although we were all glad to be each other's company, there was a tension between us. Actually, 17 years between us. 17 years of being apart. I guess they were used to not knowing me personally every 17 years that I'd come and go, being stuck in our previous cycle. But Daniel? I don't know. The 4 people sat in front of us were our closest friends - family even. Once I remembered everything when I was Lucinda Price, I'd been horrified that I barely knew the people in front of me. That because I'd grown up all over the world, in every continent, different cultures, different friends, different families, and despite the fact that the tiniest touch could set me off into a human firecracker, we didn't have time to 'socialise'.
Arriane, Annabelle, Roland and Cam. They'd changed too. Who knew that 17 years could change someone that much?
"I'm still confused." Began Annabelle. "I thought that you two," she pointed to me and Daniel, "were supposed to be human and doing human things in your human families, with your human friends and your human memories."
"Someone must have found a loophole." Roland suggested. "It's the only way."
Everyone seemed to consider this for a moment.
"That can't be it." I said, thinking really hard about the situation.
"Ohhhhhhh." Arriane said excitedly, rubbing her hands together. "I sense a Lucinda Theory." I smiled and shook my head slightly. Arriane's typical enthusiasm reminded me of Sword and Cross. "Well!" She said loudly, causing me to jump. "Let's hear it!"
"Right. Saying," I looked at Roland, "hypothetically, if someone did find a loophole, who would be dumb enough to risk trying to break it when if they failed, the Throne would turn them human and they wouldn't be allowed back? It doesn't make sense. The Throne said that we were to be human because we broke the cycle and Lucifer wanted to punish us. So...how could we be restored in the first place if we were turned fully human?" I looked around at everyone's puzzled faces.
"We couldn't." Daniel added, finally seeing my point. "All of the angels were made from the pure plasma energy that came directly from Heaven and the Throne. Once the Throne confronted Lucifer, she destroyed all of the plasma energy in Heaven so she couldn't make anymore angels - she didn't want them deceiving her."
"So...?" Annabelle questioned.
"So!" Arriane loudly said, again causing me to jump. "If our love birds were truly made human, 100% human! like the Throne insisted they were, they couldn't be angels again, or possess any of their memories because in order to do so..." She trailed off, willing anyone to finish so we were all on the same page.
"The Throne would have had to turned them back into the Heaven plasma energy but it was all destroyed, meaning that Luce and Daniel were never human in the first place." Roland snapped his fingers.
"Meaning the Throne lied to us." Cam said quietly, staring at the fire in the cabin.
"Enough on this topic." Arriane said. "Let's talk about how you and D-"
The door burst open and, wait, was that Miles, came through the door. It had to be Miles because he was wearing the same cap as he used to wear at Shoreline, but it was faded. His hair had begun to grey but I must say, for a 34 year old he sure had aged well. Actually, I'd say we all aged well. Considering the fact that I was over 8,000 years old and didn't look a day over 17, I'd say I took the whole ageing thing and threw it out the window.
"Miles?" I whispered. His eyes slightly widened.
"When you said you had something big to tell us, I wasn't expecting this." He said to the rest of the group.
"What is it?" An all too familiar voice said as a girl with blonde hair walked through the door. I couldn't believe I was seeing Shelby. She took the ageing thing better than Miles but she still looked so different. She linked hands with Miles and that's when I saw matching wedding bands. So I wasn't imagining them holding hands after my trip through the announcers. "Luce?" Shelby whispered in the same awed voice as Miles.
"Shelby." I said and stood up to hug my long lost friend. She hugged back firmly.
"We have a lot to catch up on!" She exclaimed.
I looked down at her very pregnant belly. "You don't say."
She slightly blushed and looked at Miles. "We have you to thank for that."
I was taken aback. "Me?"
"Yeah. If it wasn't for you jumping back through all the-" Miles cut himself off and turned to the group, "- is it safe?"
"Yes." They all simultaneously said.
"After your trip through the announcers, and spending time together, especially on valentines day in the announcers, we saw how much we loved each other."
"You mean after you tried to kiss me and I was like, what do you think you're doing?" Shelby said, turning to him.
"No, as I remember it you tried to kiss me and I tried to..." Miles argued back and I tuned them out as I sat back down next to Daniel.
"Well I'm definitely changing my last name back to Grigori." Daniel said out of the blue.
"I don't know. I kinda like Lucinda Mendez." I said with a shrug.
"No way." He said.
"Na - ah." Roland added.
"Definitely no." Annabelle agreed.
"Nopety nope no." Arriane sang.
"Never." Cam said with wide eyes.
"What?" I asked.
"1382." Daniel simply replied, blushing.
My mind instantly gave me a thousand images of a Lucinda Mendez wearing clothes from the 14th century. She was one of those poor girls who's father would sell out her body because he couldn't work. Some of the things she did was unbelievable in the bad way.
But one memory flashed through clearly. One where Daniel would always step up and say that he had hired her for the night so she wouldn't have to do 'things' with other men. Lucinda Mendez would obviously have to give the men lap dances and strip teases but whenever it came down to them wanting more - a lot more - Daniel would always pay for her and they would find somewhere secluded and chat. Tell stories. Fall asleep under the stars. Lucinda Mendez would happily give Daniel a lap dance and strip tease for free and she did. Almost every time they went out into the field together, she would do the same routine - strip tease, lap dance, make out session, fall asleep in each others arms.
Despite this though, Lucinda Mendez was what I would call nowadays a prostitute, whether it was her choice or not. No wonder they didn't want me to keep my last name as Mendez. But the memory of Lucinda Mendez brought colour to my cheeks - a lot of colour - and I knew that in that lifetime, that was the furthest me and Daniel had ever gone.
I looked over the rest of the group. "Yeeeaaaahhhhh...Maybe not." I said, shaking my head.
When it stopped, I was facing Cam. His face seemed so familiar. Well, of course it seemed familiar - I'd known him all my life. But this was different. I'd seen him in one of the images then - one of the guys who I gave a lap dance to. I quickly scanned through them again and there it was - me giving Cam a lap dance. I continued to watch this play out. And then I leaned down and kissed him. What? I actually kissed Cam - full on - whilst giving him a lap dance?
When I looked at the present day Cam, my eyes shifted to Daniel for a split second before returning to him. I gave him a look that said, does-he-know? And he closed his eyes and shook his head, giving me a pleading look. I nodded, understanding that I'd have to tell Daniel but now wasn't the right time.
"But I don't want to change it back to Price." I said, continuing our previous conversation.
"Then keep your original name." Daniel said, coming up from behind me, hugging my waist and resting his head on my shoulder.
"And what would that be?" I asked.
"Lucinda Light."
"Why was I called Lucinda Light?" I was already in love with it but a bit confused.
"Because you were the only angel who could create pure light."
"But I thought that was Lucifer - he is the morning star. In fact, the Latin for Lucifer is the Light Bringer." Now I was totally confused.
"No. What welcomes the morning?" Daniel asked. "The sun. The sun is a star. Lucifer represented the sun. True, the sun does give off light, but not pure light. The suns light is given off from the gasses and fire. Fire is a form of destruction. Fire destroys things. That's why we sometimes call Lucifer the Destroyer."
"But that still doesn't explain why Lucifer translates to Light Bringer."
"It doesn't." Roland said, twisting his fingers. "The Light Bringer was originally translated into Lucinda. They didn't know who Lucinda was but your name is so close to Lucifers that they thought that was what it was supposed to mean, given the fact that he is, like you said, The Morning Star. They just didn't know."
We were all quiet for a while before Shelby and Miles decided to join us.
"Speaking of Lucifer, where is he? We haven't heard about him for ages." Shelby asked, sounding more like her younger self.
"Oh, you know? Brooding. Tormenting the weak. Doing evil." Cam said.
"I mean it." Shelby continued. "He's been quiet - too quiet - lately and that's never a good sign."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say he was on a vacation. You know, taking a break from world destruction. But I do. So I'd say, if he's not coming up with an evil scheme to ruin someone's life, then he's ill. Now, whether that's physically or mentally, we will never know." Mile added and we laughed.
It was so good to laugh with the group again. All - I counted our heads - 8 of us. Wait, that couldn't be right. Last time there were 10 of us. A flash flickered through my head of 2 angels jumping in front of me and Daniel before turning into dust. I knew who they were before I even got a chance to look at their faces.
Molly and Gabbe.
And in that instant, I knew that I was going to do whatever it takes to get them back...