Jane
I ran for as long as I can. The air pierced my lungs, and my heart feels like it would explode in its cage. It makes me want to throw up. My stomach churns. I feel the bile rise in my throat.
My body doesn't get the memo. This was supposed to be a fight or flight response. But it wasn't working. I was too sick. Of course. It was the sight of blood that did it for me.
But soon I could hear footsteps over the ruffling leaves. The crack and crunch of it chased me across the woods. I didn't have much of a choice, except trying to find another end to this.
"Jane!"
Someone had found me. It's only when the silhouette slipped into the light, that I realised it wasn't Theodore. Or Rafael. It was an illusion of sorts. It looked like I could pass my hand through it. It would probably not be able to touch me.
It had an opalescent glow to it. This creature had golden eyes. Where his hands were, two ruffly wings protruded from behind. They looked so beautiful. Like a dove's. Except now was not time for admiration.
He barely wore any clothes. His body transcended down in chiseled pacs. His hair was cropped short, but they looked slick.
"What are you?" I asked.
"I wish we had the time for answers," his throaty voice came.
Before I could gawk at him more, he whisked me up in his arms and my eyes grew wide in horror. It was Rafael. My eyes met his as the realisation struck me.
"You are not going to fly?" I asked. "Are you?"
The complete bafflement of the moment had done me misservice. I had forgotten that his body was seeing through, but underneath all that exterior he still seemed hard enough. How else was he holding me then, if not?
"God. Jane," he said, shaking his head.
"Whoa-" I could barely contain myself when his wings spread fully. They formed an arc on his back. Just about the most graceful kind, as they separated. I was curious to touch and see if they were real.
Before long, my fingers grazed them and Rafael groaned.
"Don't do that, unless you have a death wish," he forbodes.
"Fair warning," I nodded.
"I don't care if you throw up all over me or not. But we are flying through," he tells me.
For a few minutes I don't see any difference. Then, his body propelled forward. I felt the tug of gravity catching onto me. He pressed me to himself, as his wings spread in their whole expanse.
The winds were catching up, as he picked up speed. Flying, and cutting through air as if he had no other purpose. I took a moment to look at him.
We weren't flying too high. Only a few metres away from the ground.
"Why are you so close to the ground when you are flying?" I asked, and he pursued his lips.
"If they see us flying out, the drones will follow through. I would be shot, mid air," he explains.
"And now?" I ask him, as I ducked for a tree's branch.
"It certainly is hard with all these trees. If I had a spell for making them go away," he gritted.
Just then, his wing hit something hard. The most painful groan rolled out from him. His grip around me loosened and I tried hard to hold him, but he clenched his wing.
I didn't notice then, but something golden dropped down, flowing through his wing. It's drops marked my face as I tumbled on the ground, from two metres high.
"Rafael-" He crashed a few inches away from me, and groaned in pain. It was then that I noticed the arrow that pierced though his wing. Good Lord.
"Nobody escapes fate. Not even measly Incubus who fall for dirty little humans," Theodore's laughter echoes in the forest. I curl up on the ground.
The impact had me reeling, and I knew that Theodore was around. If he finds me, I will be dead. Scratch that. If he finds us, we are both dead.
I find Rafael wincing with pain. He plunged out the arrow, and I heard a snap. I worried if he had break a few bones of his.
"Find you, baby girl," Theodore jumpscares me. In my ignorance, I collide with a hurt Rafael who has no idea what the fuck was happening.
"How did you-"
Before I could talk more, Theodore grabbed me by my hair. He held my chin up and looked me in the eye.
"You have caused me a lot of trouble. So I have decided, I will make your death a national television news," he grins.
He drags me by my hair with the sheer force. I watch as a helpless Rafael grovels. More golden liquid pools out from his wing. Our eyes meet for one last time.
The next thing I know, Theodore has me bundled inside a police car, with the cops from earlier.
"You-" There was nothing more I could say, as I watched the female officer.
"I thought, I could trust you," I tried not to think about the bad things. But all I could think of was Rafael and his bleeding wing. What if he dies? The thought holds me captive.
The car takes off, and drives for a few miles till we are outside of what looks like a rundown police station. Theodore tossed me in a cell, cuffing my hands.
A few minutes after that, someone shows up with a camera and puts it against my face. Then they leave. Theodore walks in, his smirk inevitably growing.
"Want to see my little parting gift to you?" He smirks. He takes out his phone, and opens up an app. Me Tube.
My face pops out as he searches for arson convict. An image shows Rafael. Dead. With his head chopped up. He is covered in pool of crimson as his eyes are gouged out. His lifeless body looks pale. His head lies a few centimetres away from the rest of the body.
The video plays. It shows the poice entering my apartment to resist me. It captures every moment till they lead me to the police car. Then the footage cuts to the forest where a girl. Someone with my face. Brown eyes. Brunette. Small height. Kills a man.
She chops off his head, with something that looks like an axe. His body doesn't even rebel. Or move. Blood pools in the.
I look at Theodore with profound horror.
"What have you done?" I asked him, as tears pooled into his eyes.
"Oh dear, do not worry. I promise to make your parting painless," he says, as the video keeps playing.
Then the letters flash on the video.
JANE WILSON, 21 YEAR OLD, STUDENT KILLS HER PROFESSOR FOR INSULTING HER IN CLASS.
My picture shows up. And then Rafael's.
The convict's mother's said to have cut all ties with her daughter after a similar psychotic episode ten years ago. She is also convicted in a double murder case, that was closed without much investigation.
"I fucking hate you," I raised my hand, connecting it with his cheek. The slap ringed in the cellar. It caught him off guard.
But it didn't take him much time to recover.
"You bitch!" He kicked me in the gut, and I landed with a thud on the floor.
"I am going to kill you!" He spits, reaching for something in his pocket. This place stinked. Of gasoline.
"What are you doing?" I cried. Before long, he carefully lights up the lighter and lets it fall to the floor.
Flames lick the trail soon, spreading from everywhere around us. The paper on the wall catches the fire first, giving out smoke.
I realised I am still locked in the cellar, with Theodore. His eyes burning, as he kneed me to the ground.
The female cop walked in right then.
"Ma'am, please move your hands over your head. Do not show resistance," the cops announced.
My head buzzed. It seemed like I had missed something. Then, there was shooting pain, climbing all the way to my arm.
My back arched, and my eyes looked at the source of it. The bullet. It shot through my left arm.
Blood gushed out. Tears gathered at the corner of my eyes. If only I could make it to the truth of it all...
"Why me?" I asked, watching his facial features.
His eyes seemed distant. His disheveled long hair framed his face, and his fingers coiled around my throat.
"Vanya, no longer tethers to your body. You are useless to me," his grip confiscated around my throat.
"What are you doing? Lady Versailles wants her alive!" The female cop tells him.
He pushes her down and shoots her next. Her eyes pop out, as the bullet goes through her head.
Commotion gathered. More people dressed as cops surrounded us. I knew I wasn't hallucinating.
Gaah~
The siren from police vans slowly faded. A ringing shot up through my ear, running all the way to my spine.
Cops circled us, as I laid there on the floor of the cell. The stinking of blood morphed with the scent of ashes and smoke.
"I have set the whole place on fire. Before they reach you, you will be long gone. No one's going to save you, Jane," he spitted.
"Please..."
I wasn't sure why I was begging. Not one good thing came from my wretched life, and yet.
"You know too much. It's only fair that you die. So now, don't try to live. Die." His smirk cut through all the blurry visions.
The fire was catching up, choking my breath with its smoke.
This was my destiny. To live an alienated life, only to die in a criminal cellar; murdered by a creature who thought my body embodied someone else's soul.
Was my life truly mine to live?
My eyes gave up. My body struggled. But death took over. With lungs full of smoke and no respite, I gave up.
I expected darkness to guide me to peace. Perhaps, death would be kinder.
But I was mistaken...
Poor Girl. Your destiny has brought you to the Realm Of Souls.
The Greater One has known all the misgivings imposed on you.
Do not lose heart, O Child.
The Greater One has decided to grant you another chance at life.
No. No. This couldn't be! It's just like those Isekai novels. But I wasn't meant to live in the worlds I read about. What good could ever come out of life?
A blinding light filled in. The soft cadence of it, pulled me in.
Before long, I realised there was something different. I could feel it again.
Something hard. Under my skin. My arms hurt. My head spun.
I lifted my eyelids, as they ached with pain. Golden embellishments traced the walls. I laid on the cold floor, as blood trickled and dried around me.
With great strength, I lifted my body. What the hell was I wearing?
Where was I? I remembered life... To be different. This. This was not my life.
"Grand Duke Canton," someone was at the door. Loud thuds followed.
"Please open up, Sire! We have come at your call!"
Wait. Was I dreaming?
A soft voice ringed in my head.
Make Good use of this life. Serve justice where it's required and you'll be rewarded.