The Angel's Locket - Prologue

I could sense that the way was through the trees. I could also sense that they did not trust me. Even I couldn't convince them that they had to trust me, that I knew, that I could tell. No. They would never understand. It was hard to know the way, yes, with trees and leaves whistling loudly, making it hard to concentrate. Luckily, I had years of practice. I could sense that they were not as willing as they could be to follow me. The way they walked. Slowly, anxiously, untrustworthy. They were what made the job difficult. They were also afraid. Whether they trusted me or not, the main idea of this was to survive. Of course.

As we passed each tree, they looked questionably at them. Not that the trees were queer, it was me they were questioning. I laughed to myself at the thought. They thought I was taking them in circles. What did they know? I knew where we were, whether they could tell or not. They couldn't of course. They thought the trees were all the same. They couldn't see the differences, the uniqueness of the oaks, the way they sang, the way the leaves danced. All very distracting, but useful. Then I found it. The opening. The way. I could tell. The two cedars, the only in the forest, curved into an arch, twisted around each at the top. The only light coming through the arch, and my flashlight.

“We're here,” I said calmly, my tone reserved. Those were the rules.

“How do you know?” The tall man said, accusingly. He still did not trust me. How foolish. “How do we know you aren't leading us to the death?” Again, I laughed to myself. Typical. The others were silent, but I knew they agreed.

“I won't go.” This comment startled me. This was not as typical. Yes, they usually commented that I could be leading them to die, but they always followed. Always. I did not know who had said this, at first. Then a little boy, letting go of the hand of his mother, walked up to me. “I won't go.” He said again.

“Oh, won't you? Little boy, I know what I'm doing. This is where we were going, and now we're here.” I said, with a sly smile on my face, with mockery in my eyes.

“I won't go either.” His mother told me, not looking at me, taking her son's hand. She was afraid. Still, that would not stop her. Typical, typical. What I didn't expect happened next. The rest of them joined in one after the other, saying they would not go. This angered me, and this time I could not hold it in, putting my job on the line.

“What do you mean you won't go? Why follow me all the way out here, if at the last moment you turn away! You said that I could be leading you to your death? You would have died anyways if I hadn't found you! This your only chance, don't you get it!” I screamed at them. Putting us in jeopardy.

“What was that?” I had heard it too. I couldn't help myself. I laughed, and they all looked at me.

“Why are you laughing?” The little boy asked me, with a determined stare. I stared back at him. He wouldn't understand. None of them would. They think that the thing that could hurt them the most would be a bear or another wild animal. But they were wrong.

“What does it matter to you?” I asked sternly, gaining my composure.

“Don't you talk to him that way!” His mother said in a commanding tone.

“I can do as I please thank you very much. I have nothing to lose” Which was a lie, but they didn't know that. This was starting to be fun, and trying my patience at the same time. “Now, you have a choice: stay here and die, or come with me and hopefully survive. It's your choice.” I folded my arms across my chest, waiting. They looked at each other, worried. Finally one of them said:

“Alright, we'll go with you, but if something happens, it's all on you.” I rolled my eyes and thought to myself obviously. I could tell they still didn't trust me.

“Follow me.” If you can keep up, I added silently to myself. I ran through the arch. I could hear them behind me, some of them panting, some of them thinking, what the hell? We all ran into the light. Then we were there. We had made it.

“We're here,” I said calmly, but on the inside I was, as they say, jumping for joy. I had done it. Promotion, here I come! But all was not done. Something was wrong, out of place, not as it was supposed to be. I could feel it. I stopped.

“Why are we stopping?” one of the men, I'm fairly sure they called him Rob, asked me, impatiently. “Keep going, you said we're here. What's wrong with you?” I stayed silent. I was watching, listening. There was but one light, and the grass and dirt had disappeared. They started to walk forward without me. What were they doing? They keep getting dumber by the minute!

“Stop, you must be quiet and don't move,” I told them in a hushed, but harsh, tone.

“Why? We're there, aren't we? You said so.” The little boy, Kenny, asked, as loudly as he possibly could. Oh, these people were definitely getting on my nerves.

“Would you people just shut up?” Oh shit, I probably just blew it. Suddenly, another light came on, straight across from the one we had seen first. What were they? We could not tell, but we realized that we were standing on concrete.

“Where are we?” A young girl asked. The others joined in, making so much noise!

“Shh! I have no idea, but it could be a trap, so shut up!” Geez, theses people were frustrating. Probably the worst group I have had.

Suddenly, making everyone jump, more lights came on. They came on in pairs across from each other. Pair by pair they came on, smoothly, as if they were dancing. Everyone started to panic. They all turned their heads and bodies around, like chickens when their heads are cut off, running around in havoc.

“People, people! Calm down! Nothing has happened yet. Look at the bright side, there now is light! We can see! People calm down!” My cries went over their heads. They were scared, worried. “People, PLEASE!” I cried, and everyone stopped and looked at me.

“What are we going to do?” Rob asked, voice shaking with every word he spoke.

“Stay calm. Just stay calm.” So I can think, I added silently to myself. Then I turned around to face all the lights. They were bright, as bright as the northern star. They flickered, they grew dim. I knew whoever was here with us, they were not strong; they were struggling. I closed my eyes and looked. We were in a parking lot! There were cars lined up facing each other. The cars were all different colors; there was red, navy blue, black, silver, blue, dark green, and there was even a gold car. Through the middle of the cars, where the lights couldn't reach, there was utter darkness. Something was wrong.

Suddenly, car lights came on right in front of us. The lights blinded most of the people, and there were shouts of annoyance and despair. Oh, how theses people were annoying. They thought the problem was the lights, but that wasn't the case. I could see the eyes in the truck. The mustard-yellow eyes staring at me, and me not being able to see a body in the car. But I knew who – rather what – was in the red truck. Next to the thing in the truck, there was a pair of pair of eyes, which were the midnight sky full of clouds. Ah, I knew what was going on.

“Come out and face me, you coward!” I shouted at the anonymous thing in the truck. I could hear the confused whispers behind me.

“What are you doing?” One of them whispered harshly into my ear.

“Trust me. I know you have questioned me this whole time, but if I was to ask you for one moment to trust me, this would be it.” I said plainly, but my eyes said it pleadingly.

“Alright.” One of the women said.

“Annie, what are you doing?' Asked Rob, who seemed to be really into contradicting me.

“No, we need to get to safety, and she is the only way.” She said harshly to her husband. Then she turned to me, and said plainly, “What is it you want us to do?” I stared at her, in awe. I almost respected her. Almost.

“Alright, crouch down, behind those bushes. Now, and please don't ask questions.” They whispered to each other, confused. But the girl, Annie, started to crawl to the bushes. They all started to follow her, even that Rob guy. All right, things were starting to go a little better. Like, 1 percent. I still had another problem. I turned my focus back to the red truck, with those eyes, those creepy eyes that never blink, never close. Then I noticed that there was a second pair of eyes, but blood red eyes. Shit! I was in real trouble now. Why did this always happen to me?

“Well, now that it is just me, why don't you just come out? What are you, afraid of me? Ha! Why are you here then? If you are so much of a coward as to not fight me?” Oops, not the smartest thing to say, but I wasn't worried about that now. What I wanted was for them to get out of the truck. What do you know, it worked. They both got out of the truck, and they were not happy. Not happy at all. Just what I'm good at, pissing people off.

At least I was right. It was definitely who I thought it was. There was the two of them, side by side, glaring at me. The wolf was on the left, and the vampire on the right.

“Well, well, well. If it isn't our old friend Jocelyn.”