Holy Angels
Has a rumor or myth started in the next county but you weren’t even aware of it? I’ve lived my entire life in Indiana but had never heard of the Holy Angels.
They were supposedly twin Ash trees, located on hallow ground, in the next county. The first stake ever used on an American vampire originated from one of these trees. At least that’s what the myth claimed.
Knowing I’m a huge vampire fan, my boyfriend, Seth, wanted to watch Dracula films before we take a trip on Halloween to the site. After getting a group together, we decided on creating a Halloween party out of the event.
By the morning of the party, I’d finally found enough materials to make my costume. This year, I’m going as a dark angel. Gluing and stitching my wings together with silky and flowing fabrics along with feathers and beads, I used a frame of gears and thin metal strips to add some steam-punk.
A veil covers my face, flowing around my neck to join the ribbons of satin and silk that drape over my shoulders and back. Falling down to spiral outwards from behind, they flutter in the draft with each step I take. The highly polished copper and silver metals of my framed wings, attached to my elbows, glint in the light as I move.
My father was always tinkering with some type of gadget, attaching bits of material formerly known as garbage to what another might consider art. The end result would always be something completely functional and unique.
Creating treasure from trash, my angel wings are expandable by releasing a lock. Keeping my elbows to my side, I could fold the wings on my back or spread them by extending my arms.
Currently, I placed them into the back of Seth’s truck. I would wear them for the costume party at the school but couldn’t function all day with them on my back. They were just too cumbersome.
I was normally the shy wallflower in school but Halloween breathed life into me. I could create something bizarre and become someone else…that outgoing girl for once.
I’d recognized a difference deep within myself a long time ago but, in spite of constant work, I couldn’t figure out why or what to do about this abnormal state. It wasn’t that I was stuck up but simply unmotivated to make friends at school.
Seth had sought me out over a month ago and I’d slowly gotten to know his group of friends. They were the only friends I had at the moment. I used to hang out with a group but rarely spoke to them. To my thinking, they stayed close to me because I wasn’t normal. They could relate.
I had no idea that our destination on Halloween that year would clear the issues as I walked into the school beside Seth.
He shot me a grin, “That eyepiece will look better if you raise the veil, Raven.”
Lifting the feather-trimmed veil, I draped it over my hair as a scarf and exposed my steam-punked monocle. It covered half my face before disappearing around my neck. My mother had carefully applied makeup for a sensuous smoky-eyed look to the other side of my face. The black chains wrapped around my waist rattled as I walked.
After making it through to the day, I met Seth back at his truck before judging time in order to connect the wings. They weren’t heavy but just awkward. During the walk back to the school, I familiarized myself with their movements. When we entered the gym, my gaze flew to the other students who’d dressed this year.
There was a few traditional angels but none that used steam-punk. When it was time for us to walk around, I stood still and spread my wings. Everyone stopped moving and stared as the wispy black fabric as my veil and ribbons unfurled behind me. The light winked off the highly polished frame of my wings while I grinned behind the dulled metallic monocle.
Needless to say, I won the contest.
After showing everyone how the wings worked, word somehow got around that we were going to the Holy Angels after school for a party. This would normally be the epitome of every freshman’s dream but I wasn’t the type that normally wanted attention.
Still, it was Halloween…
I didn’t deny there was a party but smiled as people invited themselves. Seth appeared beside me to help me get the wings back off and into his truck. When we neared it, I said, “With so many people, we’ll get busted if we try to visit those trees.”
He shrugged it off, “We won’t park nearby. We’ll sneak over to them.”
Thinking that he meant a few people, I nodded. After all, I’d never get an opportunity to actually touch the tree where a vampire stake originated again if this fell through. I tried not to worry through the two classes after the contest. When I saw the small group with Seth again, I hissed, “We can’t bring a lot of people with us, okay?”
He nodded as we climbed back into his truck. After picking up the movie, he called a few friends as I thanked my mom for letting us watch it in our basement. About ten people showed up. They all witnessed a photo of the Holy Angels, twin trees from our neighboring county, randomly appearing throughout the movie.
We backed the movie up, watching the scenes again to make sure we weren’t seeing things. In all, we counted four surreal images of the trees. One guy pulled his laptop out and discovered a site but the scant information offered little more than what we already knew.
One thing jumped out at me right away—the types of trees. Twin Ash trees were separated by two Hawthorn trees. We dug deeper and discovered the Hawthorn Tree was known for its protective warding-off-evil qualities. It resided between regal Ash trees, which are rumored to be the Tree of Life. That makes both considered prime Vampire Stake material.
In the photo, a church tower stood behind one of them with the cross hovering above the limbs as if its own powerful and heavy history clung to it. Everything in the photo held a silvery quality, making my eyes want to search within the limbs for images that I knew were there. I just couldn’t detect them.
For some reason, it struck me that solving this phantom mystery was top priority. I needed to know this information before we went there tonight.
I studied the image before they froze the movie once again, showing a slightly different angle of the same trees. When my gaze landed on the tree to the right, it felt safe but I knew the tree on the left was the correct one. Growing in front of the high tower, it needed something but I couldn’t figure out exactly what.
I never breathed a word of my theory to anyone else in the room. I didn’t want many people insisting on coming with us. I also didn’t know exactly what I would do once we arrived but climbing would be part of it.
Since I would be wearing my costume, I thought about how to secure the long wispy strands of fabric so they didn’t snag anything. While we watched the movie, I discreetly wrapped them around my body and tucked them into my clothing. By the time I was finished, I resembled a ninja within yards of black fabric.
Somehow, I knew I’d be climbing one of them before the night was over. The thought of leaving my wings behind didn’t feel right but I couldn’t imagine bringing them along. Shoving that thought aside, I focused on the Tree of Life in front of the church tower while wondering how can a Tree of Life, owning healing properties and standing beside the magical properties of a Hawthorn Tree, have such a dire need of…anything?
After all, wood from this sacred tree was used to kill vampires! What in the world could be so wrong with it? The more I stared at it, though, the more I admitted that there was indeed something off…
Anxiety boiled within my stomach to right whatever wrongs had befallen it before it was too late. Driven now, I was actually happy when the credits rolled at the end of the movie. Everyone rose, less eager than I but eager nonetheless to see the trees which had stilled the gruesome forward momentum of vampires.
I tried not to fidget in the car on the way over but I was never good at conversation. I listened to the murmurings around me while keeping the image of the Holy Angels in my mind. My previous thoughts of regal twin trees now expanded to include sets of Ash and Hawthorns, currently being described in whispered voices with phrases such as hard to kill…powerful magic.
At the time, I thought they were speaking of vampire lore. Later, I would recognize in the heat of things that they saw something off with the trees too. They also paid much closer attention to the movie. On the way, I realized that all ten of us were headed that way as if drawn there. As we approached the road, we saw cars pulled over with people stepping from them.
Flanked on each side by a row of people, we drove down the road and parked at the end. Without question, Seth and another guy lifted my wings from the back of the truck
In a surreal fashion, we walked in the center of the road toward the sight while Seth and friend helped me lock my wings into a folded position. I was out front, feeling the costume’s silky and wispy material move where it was tucked into my clothing. I couldn’t tell if it was working itself free or settling around my body into a tighter fit.
Since there was no constriction, I tried to tuck it back in but set a couple of ribbons free in the process. The closer we got to the trees, the stronger the wind was blowing. It whipped the fabric around my body, tugging at the wings as if urging them to soar.
The minute that my toes touched the same ground as the trees, wind swept around me in a howling rage. My costume exploded out from around me in a wild tornado of black fabric before wrapping gracefully around my wings. In the drama of the moment, I didn’t realize I was off the ground until the piercing shrieks of my boyfriend made me look down.
I was hovering in the air with the steam-punked wings spread wide. My eyes widened when the distance between Seth and I suddenly expanded. I had reached for him, drawing my wings towards my body. I had pushed myself higher into the air on a gust of wind. Trying not to panic, I extended them quickly and rode the gust straight into the Ash Tree on the left.
The fact that my wings were literally staked on the limbs of this tree was a rattling moment but thunder shook me out of my awestruck funk. When I glanced back, I realized it wasn’t thunder that was shaking the tree. The Ash Tree was vibrating, creating the thundering sound in the earth.
A loud bell from the tower behind us jangled, sending my mind crashing as the limbs seem to draw me toward the trunk of the tree. At first, I fought the discerning feeling of being swallowed alive by a giant tree. The fabric of my costume was on the move again but, this time, it flowed like liquid and realigned itself around the limbs. The tree was giving my costume life.
Mesmerized, I watched the wind whip the flowing black material straight at me. Shrouded within, I could hear the roar of the wind and see the Ash shake. I couldn’t help but wonder that it didn’t shake itself apart.
Lightning cracked behind me, shifting the wind. The fabric bellowed outward, drawing my wings straight and wide. I caught the wind, fought it until the great Ash stopped trembling but lost control again. Like a rolling quake from its roots to the top branches, the Ash shook itself at me in a tremendous burst.
It was the angry roar of an unbalanced beast. The wind howled, blowing my fabric and wings back around my body to dance in that shielding but unproductive way. The only solution that I could see was to control the wind and stop the Ash from tearing itself apart. I reversed my purpose, needing to control that shaking Ash before it brought down the world.
Unfortunately, I was only going on instinct. I had no idea what I was doing.
Lightning crashed behind me, exploding in the air. My fabric set the air ablaze, billowing outward to fan the flames. I rose above the blaze, fighting to gather air into my new wings. The chains pulled at my hips as the wind howled within my hold before I threw my arms downward in a mighty sweep.
The Hawthorn Tree below me was snuffed out before lightning flashed. I could only think Oh No! You don’t!!
I caught the wind and launched myself between powerful bolt and Hawthorn Tree. The liquid texture of fabric melted over me, rolling me into a ball as my wings folded over my head. Fire sealed my cocoon, spinning the gears of my frame into realignment, and absorbing the energy from the bolt.
For a second, I thought my blood was on fire…
…and then I crashed into the Hawthorn Tree. As if it needed a taste of my heated blood in order to heal my tattered state, it drew hisses from me at every new harsh blow. I finally stopped, nestled in the lower branches while my costume clicked behind me. Looking down, I saw the remainder of my party tending to bumps and bruises while casting a worried look my way
I finally called out, “I’m okay. Are you going to help me down?”
Seth and his friend approached, wary but willing to aid in some way. Having no idea of what they’d seen, I asked, “What happened?”
Both looked at me as if I’d lost my mind before Seth nodded, “Yeah…you first since you had the better seat.”
I dumbly muttered, “Did you see it? The thing caught fire.”
He nodded, “You caught fire.”
Shaking my head, I corrected him, “I put its fire out.”
Still nodding, he grinned, “You caught fire.”
“I flew.”
We bumped knuckles before his grin widened, “Before you caught fire.”
“I stopped that Ash Quake.”
“Yeah, but you…!”
“Caught fire?” I shook my head, “Actually, I absorbed that lightning bolt.”
His eyes widened as he insisted, “You caught fire!”
I realized his literal meaning and nodded, “Yeah…I guess I did.”
He whooped as he jumped into the air, “You’re the Holy Angel, carver of the stakes. The trees just blessed you.” At my intense confusion, he rolled his eyes and said, “You need to watch that movie again.”
~~ The End ~~
