The Revelations of Jace Forester Read online

  And at the speed of light, he was reminded about Joey and Violet. Had they survived?

  He took no time to rest as he jumped up, wore his blue jeans, Calvin Klein t-shirt and strode off in search of any of the two victims, his only two friends. His body ached and screamed as if he had run a marathon, but he had no time to ponder over it

  “Um sir where is the burn unit?”

  The hospital felt like a dark maze to Jace, and he asked the first uniform-clad soul about the whereabouts of the victims of the CominCafe accident.

  After a few minutes of visiting from room to room, Jace was left just where he started. He had no clue whatsoever of where Joey or Violet were.

  “I can’t believe I’m gonna do this” whispered Jace to himself.

  He knew what he was about to do was not very rational, and if he looked a couple of minutes more for Joey and Violet then he would have found them, but love makes you do stupid things, and Jace couldn’t wait. He loved his friends

  He closed his eyes and entered a stance.

  This was one of the so-called powers he possessed apart from the strength of a bear, speed of a cheetah and vision of an eagle. He could hear like a bat.

  He filtered out all the unnecessary noises sounds and looked for anything that had “Violet” or “Joey” in it.

  He let his auditory senses control him, not giving a second of thought to any other sense.

  He heard the quarrel of couples, the dying breath of an old man, the crying of an infant, and in a few moments Jace had the whole 8th floor under his surveillance.

  “Maybe the dick…”

  Violet

  Even though improbable, Jace was sure he heard Violet’s voice.

  He came back to his normal self, and considered himself for a second

  What am I?

  He ran towards the source of the sound and found himself facing a door which read “ROOM 202”

  He prayed that his auditory senses be right, and that Violet be actually alive, even though there was a very slim chance to that.

  She was the closest to the fire, and unlike Joey, had no one to offer themselves as a sacrificial armor.

  He was ready to knock when he felt his stomach turn over.

  He felt the hair on his harms tingle

  The spidey sense again he thought

  He looked back and saw the same inconspicuous man from CominCafe.

  Those same dark brown eyes, those same muscular arms.

  He was clutching something tightly in his left hand, but Jace was unsure of what.

  Maybe a ring?

  Jace’s blue eyes didn’t falter this time as he approached the man with his gaze intently on his brown ones.

  Jace opened his mouth to say something. Surely the “BOOM” text from the fake ID, that strange-anime-guy and the petrol truck blasting in front of the perfectly safe thus far regular hangout of the trio, surely it all wasn’t just a coincidence.

  “JACE FORESTER”

  Jace swirled behind and was hit with a punch of nausea.

  “I thought I lost you Vi”

  In front of him stood the rugged Violet, with scars and bandages all over her face. Her violet eyes watered as it met Jace’s Atlantic blue ones, and the two embraced in a tight hug

  “How did you? How did you survive that explosion, wait how’s Joey is he inside? He’s okay right?” asked Jace

  Violet only nodded with no enthusiasm whatsoever, and her lush red lips now ragged with blood curled up in disappointment.

  Before Jace entered the room, he chanced a glance behind to see the “Anime-Guy”.

  As expected, he was gone, like a ghost who could walk through walls.

  Joey lay there on his bed. The white of the hospital gowns almost mixed with his pale skin. He had burn marks all over his body. Jace was able to cover the most of Joey’s body, but still the perfectly weighted Jace’s body wasn’t enough to properly protect the overweight figure.

  He was hurt bad

  Real bad

  According to the doctors, only a handful had survived. Violet and Jace were the only ones in a good enough shape to stand on their feet and start walking already.

  “This must be a maniac or something Jace. This whole threatening thing is giving me the creeps. Maybe we should go to the police”

  “Won’t help Vi. They’ll just excuse it to teenage mischief. Anyways, we have no proof that the person behind the texts had anything to do with the accident”

  “It can’t just be a coincidence Jace! He freaking knew it was gonna happen and it happened this was planned I’m telling you”

  “even if….”

  “Oh my boyyy!”

  Jace’s reply was cut off as Mrs. Moreno, Joey’s mother, burst into the room with an eye full of tears.

  It had always amazed Jace how closely Joey assembled his mother, and now that they were literally beside each other, Jace observed how they both had the same cheeks, the same small yet sharp eyes, and of course the fat that ran in their family.

  “Yo! Don’t know ‘bout you, but I could really use a drink right now” whispered Violet as she elbowed Jace “besides I don’t wanna stay here with Mrs. Moreno. She always ends up forcing me to eat sugar and cookies”

  “That’s not a really good idea. We aren’t eighteen yet and its late already look at the”

  “Oh would you stop them self-righteous-obedient mode once in a while and just relax. Now come we’re having a drink”

  The duo were walking the cold streets of Michigan Street, with snow on the sides, when a chill swept through Jace.

  They both mounted the bus that would take them home.

  They viewed the remains of CominCafe from the window, it was a chunk of concrete and wood and snow and yellow tape now.

  Even though Violet was drunk, and Jace with exceptional amounts of caffeine from the strong coffee he drank (Violet couldn’t get him to drink) they were well sober.

  They were discussing the events of the day when Jace felt the hair on his hand tingle once again.

  Two seats in front of him sat the same man he had been seeing.

  This time he was wearing a robe, something a character from Harry Potter would wear on a chilly night. He wore black gloves and his eyes looked bored as he stared outside the window, as if seeing Los Angeles for the first time.

  “Jace where are you going?” shushed Violet

  “I saw this man at the Café at the hospital. Something about him just doesn’t feel right Vi”

  “It could’ve been just a coincidence Jace. I don’t know why”

  “Oh really” Jace cut her off “Then explain, how this man was present in the café in the time of the explosion, and yet he doesn’t have a single scratch”

  Violet eyed Jace with concern

  “Explain this Vi, the doctors said we were the only ones from the explosion to be able to walk already. And here we find the same man taking a bus, coming in front of me for the THIRD TIME in a single day!”

  Violet broke her silence “Jace I think you drank too muc….”

  But Jace didn’t hear the rest.

  This time he wasn’t going to let any distraction obstacle him from encountering this peculiar man.

  Jace put his hand on his shoulder. The muscles were hard there, and now Jace was sure that the gym indeed was his second home.

  “I think it’s time you tell us who you really are and what you’re really up to mister” said Jace with all the confidence in the world, even though the man was almost twice older than him.

  The man’s face went blank, and just for a second Jace could trace a wrinkle in his rather young-looking face, revealing he wasn’t that young after all.

  But his dark brown eyes were full of shock and horror, as if Jace was a little ghost who had just threatened to kill the man in seven days.

  “You’re not supposed to see me” said the man with a deep, cold voice, keeping his face still full of shock.

  “wha…Viole..”

  �
��Jace” Violet cut Jace off “may I ask you why you are talking to that empty seat?”

  Chapter 3

  “Everything is about to change. You are about to kill”

  Jace didn’t have enough time to stare at the text for long.

  “What? Another text from your mystic admirer?” asked Violet. They were standing just outside Violet’s house.

  “Nope, just spam this time. I’ll see you tomorrow Vi”

  “Where? In case you didn’t notice, CominCafe’s reduced to a pile of rubble now” she gave him a sparkly smile that revealed her white teeth.

  “I have noticed Vi, the debris is quite large. We’ll meet at the hospital. I bet Joey’s gonna be awake by then”

  “Then it’s settled. Goodnight handsome”

  “Good night…um..pretty?”

  They both giggled.

  Violet walked into her doorstep, pulled out a key, unlocked the door, entered and shut it behind her in one swift move.

  “Is that your wife?” said the man who was standing behind Jace the entire time.

  Owens, if that was his real name, had been stalking Jace since he and Violet had got off from the bus and started walking towards her house.

  Unexpectedly and yet quite expectedly, Jace was the only one who could see the black-clad man walking behind him in the dark of the night.

  Jace had convinced Violet that he had sneaked a shot of tequila, and that it was just the aftereffects. Still, Violet wasn’t convinced. She thought Jace needed rest after all that had happened that day.

  “Ew no that’s gross! She’s my friend you sick dude” replied Jace angrily to the accusations of Owens

  “But I am not sick. I am perfectly healthy” replied Owens with zero sarcasm

  “If we’re done chitchatting, you mind telling me why the hell you’re invisible to everyone but me?”

  “Yes I suppose you would want to know that. Let’s walk while we talk sir” and as he said the word “sir” Owens gave a wry smile that showed his rather uneven teeth. He was around six feet, and his dark hair seemed longer than before now.

  “Sure. Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any weirder I find an invisible Goth vampire stalking me”

  “I am not a vampire sir. Such creatures are only myths, they do not exist. I am a Griffin”

  “You say that as if that’s supposed to explain everything”

  “Like I said, walk while we talk”

  They walked for a few minutes before Owens started to talk again with his deep booming voice

  “I am a Griffin, sir. I was sent here by your father to look out after you as…”

  “Wait wait hold on right there pal” interrupted Jace “My father’s been dead for as long as I can remember”

  “Is that what your mother has told you?” said Owens “I’m afraid Angels can’t die, Sir”

  “Okay at first I thought you were crazy but now I’m starting to think you’re insane. You know what I don’t need to know anything just leave please”

  “You have his eyes” said Owens, “Didn’t you ever wonder from where you got that immense strength from? Or that speed? Or maybe the hypnosis?”

  “What hypnosis?”

  “Oh you haven’t figured it out yet. Never mind these things usually take time, and you’re the first half-breed to be brought up outside of Castel. This is not unexpected”

  “Okay listen up whackadoodle” by now Jace had lost it “One more piece of shit n imma punch you back to that bus”

  “I highly discourage that sir. Griffins are helpers of Angels and thus Part Angels too”

  “So you’re telling me that I’m an angel?”

  “How else do you describe the inhumane powers you possess, Sir?”

  Jace was baffled now. He didn’t know what to say. This was too much to take in in only one day. He had read in books how a boy’s life can change in a day, but this was absurd.

  So Jace didn’t say anything. Instead he let Owens talk.

  “Millions of years ago, long before mankind existed, Angels and Demons wondered the earth. After the creation of humans though, the Angels stopped visiting the blue planet anymore. However, the Demons never ceased to control their mischief. They wreaked havoc in every possible way. They’re only goal was to lead the human race into destruction, and they actually did it. Diseases, plague, suicides, unprecedented accidents, all the shenanigans of the Demons. Just it seemed the humans wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, the angels decided to come back. They had glorious battles with the Demons, Day versus Night, Light Versus Darkness. These battles went on for hundreds of years until it was evident that the wars were only aggravating what the angels wanted to fix. The humans were suffering from the fiery battles. So it was then that God banned any Demon to ever again kill a human. Such a feat would vaporize the Demons out of existence in an instant…Um Sir?”

  Jace had stopped walking and Owens realized this when he was about twenty feet ahead of the shock stricken boy.

  “Carry on” Jace mouthed

  “Many Demons revolted and still killed humans. All of them were, of course, annihilated. Just like the Angels, Demons aren’t allowed to kill humans. And that rule still stands today. However..” Owens’ face paled down a little, as if he was reminded of a memory he wanted out of his amygdala.

  “The Demons got tired. It was only a few thousand years ago when they finally figured out a solution. The Demons named them Zealots” he continued “They filled dark and magical beings from their own dark blood. The Zealots are what the demons call them, mere pets. But these pets aren’t disallowed to kill humans unlike them. All the monsters you heard about in the myths, The Tri-Headed Snake Dragon to even Medusa, all Zealots. They picked up from where the Demons left; the Zealots started attacking the humans once again. And only then were we created, created from light and the blood of Angels; Griffins. Our sole purpose is to fight Zealots and prevent them from destroying human kind. We are now why you are safe from anarchy, Sir”

  “So you’re telling me I’m like you? A Griffin?”

  “What no! We are merely created from blood and light. But you sir, you are the descendant of human and Angel. You’re mother is, of course, an ordinary human. She was particularly ravishing in her time, maybe that’s why you’re father fell in love with her”

  “Why should I believe anything you say?”

  “Because it is the truth. And also because I can do this”

  Owens raised his hands up, snapped his fingers, and the whole of Michigan Street became dark. All the street lights were turned off with one snap.

  “What the” Jace started, but before he could finish, they were all turned on again with another snap from Owens.

  “We Griffins possess different types of abilities ourselves, and they always vary from Griffin to Griffin. For example, I can control, transfer and change the state of what you here call energy” he went on “I had this friend in Castel who could increases the speed of photosynthesis. It’s beautiful really, one day there a sapling and twenty four hours later they’re a full grown mango tree”

  “And even if everything you’ve been saying is true, it still doesn’t explain why this _SexyDevil69_ is texting me that I have to kill someone soon”

  “Ah yes that. That is evidently why I am here Sir. You see, like a have previously mentioned before, you are the only Half Angel who has been brought out of Castel”

  “You keep using terms I don’t understand. What is Castel? I’m guessing it’s not Las Vegas”

  Owens didn’t smile at that.

  “I don’t understand the joke sir. Castel is a land of magic which is situated roughly in Europe. It is a safe haven for the holy. It is run by Griffins, and the Angels visit the place often. It was built to shelter Half-Breeds from evil”

  “You mean there are more like me? And they have super-powers too”

  “Yes sir. Quite a handful actually. They all have their sets of special abilities yes. However, for all they’re life t
hey have been guarded from the Zealots and Demons outside. You are the only one outside with no training and battle. You don’t even know how to fully use you’re powers, even though you have so much latent potential sir” he kept on talking and talking “We Griffin have been guiding the Half-Breeds for centuries now. It is only because you’re father had decided to keep your existence a secret that we could not contact to you sooner”

  Jace was again triggered by the mention of his so-called-angel-daddy “Oh yeah, then why isn’t he here himself, why send a Griffin? And why on earth was I a secret? And if I was a secret, then why come to me now? After all this, I have friends and family and a normal life”

  “I wish I knew the intentions of your father, but the Angels are always righteous and do what is best for everyone. One thing I know for certain though, you would have remained a secret if it wasn’t for Blardan”

  A chill swept through Jace at the mention of the name.

  He felt as if he had heard the name before, even though he had no memory of it.

  “Who’s Blardan and why is he sending me spam texts on Instagram”

  “He is a demon, Jace. And quite a deadly and dangerous one I might add. He is one of the youngest of them and he loves mischief. He is often interpreted as the Demon of Mischief in most of the history books in Castel. Oh you’re gonna love it at Castel.” Jace eyed him wildly

  “Oh I’m getting distracted again my apologies Sir. Yes, Blardan”

  He looked like such a sincere man, but when he talked it was as if he was a fifteen year old stuck in an adult male’s body.

  “He has always eyed for opportunities to create havoc, Sir. And that has led him to you”

  “To me? How what did I do?”

  “We don’t know particularly what it was you did, but we’re pretty sure one of his Zealots noticed your powers.”

  “So what he wants to kill me now? Just because I don’t have the same voodoo training the other kids in your Castel have”

  “The absence of training and soul-searching does make you extremely prone to the dark forces. But no, its not just that. Blardan doesn’t want to kill you know, he wants to MAKE you kill someone.”

  “Okay what the fuck?”