My world was caving in and the walls were getting closer and closer. It was truly the end for me. The sinister doctors had told me that I would never see the pristine light of day or the light, baby blue sky ever again. The smell of antiseptic stung my nose and the artificial light made my eyes water.
“Here we are,” said the man in the white coat with a mocking voice, “Welcome to your new home. I have a feeling that you will be here a while, Jezebel.”
…

“The walls are so cushy and like a pillow. I can run into them and nothing hurts. It’s like falling into air,” I told my therapist.

She frowned slightly and scribbled in her little idiotic notebook. Why the frown? I mean, I was only being honest. She thought I didn’t notice the little irritating things she always seemed to do when we had a “session”, but I did. They were a hint as to when she was getting mad. It enraged me. It made me want to scream at her until my voice was raspy.

“Why do you always write in that tiny blue notebook?” I asked sweetly trying to calm myself.

She ignored me and scribbled in her notebook. That stupid little blue notebook that wasn’t even a good shade of blue! It was all faded it out like she had it forever, which she had not. She pulled it out brand new the first day I got here.

“Why do you never listen to me or answer any of my questions?” I asked more persistently with a slight break in my voice showing my frustration.

She scribbled quickly in her notebook again. This time I was not going to let it slide. She was just like the people at the boot camp. I had to do something to get a reaction out of her, even if it was the most miniscule of a reaction. I was tired of her giving me vague answers and not even answering me at all like right now. I thought a little, thinking about how I could get her attention. I suddenly had an idea. I tensed my muscles and looked at the door just in case. I took a giant breath and I threw myself at her like a puma. It wasn’t even five seconds and security came. The whiteness of their uniforms made my eyes water and so did the prick of the needle I had come to know so well during the time I had been there. Within seconds, I drifted off into my eerie dreamland.
…

I awoke to the sound of a blood curdling scream. It made me cringe in defense of my precious hearing and curl into a compact little ball.

“Shut it off, shut it off, shut it off.” I chanted helplessly at them.

They were making my life utterly miserable! They were the only reason I was in here. The banshees. Of course no one else could see them; it just had to be that way. It was the only luck I had when I was young; always getting the worst of everything. They were the reason everyone thought I was clinically insane.

I was the young age of twelve when they started to talk to me in their screechy voices.

“Jezabel,” they screeched mockingly, “We know you hear us, daaaarling.”

I didn’t know what to do back then so I answered them. I shouldn’t have. Just one mistake had me give up five agonizing years of my life in this loony bin. I was seventeen now, and they couldn’t hurt me while I was
awake anymore. If I wasn’t insane when they brought me here, surely just being inside this building has driven me to the breaking point.

They gave me the chills just thinking about them, but whenever I thought of them, they appeared like a fog disappears with the morning sun; slowly rolling. It was always peculiar how one moment could be perfectly fine, and the next I see something that reminds me of them and they appear spontaneously.

“Daaaaarling, you have a destiny to fulfill with us. You must follow the path that the fates have laid out before you,” they whispered in the dark nights, their voices always fading in and out so that I had to strain to make out the breathy words.

I had no idea what they meant by “destiny” and I most certainly had no idea what these “fates” were! I was for sure that I had no greater purpose. I mean, I live in the loony bin and the only time I leave the room is when I go to my little sessions with the condescending Dr. Keller!

Three days later, the whole hospital got some terribly dreadful news that a nearby mental hospital had been burnt down with only a few loonies getting out alive. Yeah, I know…Horribly dreadful. The even worse thing in my opinion was that they were shipping them here! So here we were, allowed out of our rooms to mop the floors of the ole asylum preparing for the new guests. Why you may ask? I have not even the slightest clue! They are insane and are most certainly not going to care how clean our floors are or how our putrid air smells. Well, on second thought, maybe the air. It does smell like someone burnt some hair every once in a while, but that was only because of the “electrical therapy”.

So pretty soon, I had another session of “who is going to blink first” with the good old doc before our new “guests” arrived. Great, what are they going to tell me? Don’t attack the visitors?
Yeah, riiiiight. If they even so much as uttered a word to me, I would for sure do what I did to the others. Let’s just say, they would be too scared to even look at me in the wrong way.













“So Keller, what’s got you all riled up like a squirrel getting ready for winter?” I said trying my best at getting the information about these new loons.

“Address me with respect Jezabel. My name is Dr. Keller, and you will not degrade me in my own office,” she said snottily.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Cool your jets. It was only a question!” I said quickly.

I would not be given a sedative for misbehaving in risk of not being awake when the newbies get here. Who knows, maybe they would provide a much needed distraction so that I could escape! My plan had been in place for months and this might be the only chance I would get.

“Now, Jezabel,” the mean lady said like I was a little kid, “When our visitors come here, we will all be down in the main hall to greet them. We need to make them feel at home in this foreign place.”

“Wait, why are they so important? I mean, we are going through so much trouble for them!” I asked innocently.

“Well, there is a boy around your age that is in the group and he has a certain…pull if you know what I mean.”

“Ohh, so he’s rich?”

“Yes,” she said firmly.

“Hmm, very interesting… Well anyways, will they have cake?!” I asked enthusiastically.
“Yes, Jezabel, there will be cake,” she said exasperatingly.

“Well then what are we waiting for,” I said chirpily, “let’s go get some cake!”

As we walked down the halls to the main hall, I noticed that someone had painted the walls a sickeningly happy shade of yellow. What were they thinking when the painted the walls that color? No one thinks a mental hospital is a “happy place”. Although for us it’s considered our happy place. The color was almost mocking me in a way by saying “you will never be happy”. It was kind of making me angry in a way that made me want to punch someone. It was almost like the color “tickle me pink”. Who in their right mind names a color that? Well, certainly not the people here!

We finally arrived and I could see that they even decorated the place! Heck, there was even a big banner that said “Welcome to Your New Home!” What kind of sick joke is this? There were bright colors of balloons and all sorts of streamers hanging from the ceiling. It was like a birthday party, except instead of presents there were handcuffs and needles filled with tranquilizer.

After waiting there for a while and noticing that there was not a cake to be seen in the room, the guests finally arrived in a big white van. Oh, just fantastic. Out walked about twenty kids who all looked troubled. Then, my jaw dropped. There stood the cutest guy I had ever seen. As soon as I saw him, I was angry. He had perfect beach blonde hair with ocean blue eyes that everyone wanted their children to have, but they never got them. He looked like an exact replica of Alexander Petrov. As in, Alexander the Russian spy from boot camp they sent me to before I was sent here. Oh, no.

You see, before I came here, well after they diagnosed me a mentally ill, I met a boy. This boy was sickeningly nice to me and I had this aching feeling every time that I saw him that he didn’t belong with all the other delinquents. I fell in love with this boy and my feelings shocked me more than you would think. He had quite the cover story, but nothing seemed to quite add up. Then, one night we were lying in the meadow outside of the camp after jumping the fence. He came clean about everything. How he was a spy and was reporting back all of the military’s training tactics to his government.

I liked this boy. I even would go as far to say I fell madly in love with him. One night, everything went wrong. There was a raid at camp from the Russian Sentella. He was a part of it too. Long story short… they captured me. Said I was the daughter of some wealthy dude who could give them an inestimable amount of money to get me back. He saw them torture me every day, and never even gave me a second glance. My hatred for him goes bone deep. Not just for abandoning me, but for making me believe that he had the same feelings that I had for him.

“Okay, okay,” A loud voice interrupted my reminiscing. “We will now have all of our new residents introduce themselves. You’re up,” Keller said pointing to the line making them all jump. “Say your name and tell us one of your hobbies.”

It seemed to drag on and on. Let’s see, the first girl thought she was a fairy, the next thought that he was some sort of assassin, and then the one after that? Well, he thought he was an apple.

“I like to eat applesauce in closets with the lights off,” The boy who thought he was an apple said.

“Well, how depressing this is. The next one will probably say that he is a carrot!” I said to the girl next to me who then rolled her eyes in response.

Finally, the last person was up. It was the boy. I looked at him and I narrowed my eyes. He was looking right at me and laughing.

“My name is Alexander and I like to…read.” He said with a smirk knowing that I knew who he was.

I hated him. I was all ready to say something witty and sarcastic. I stood up, and I saw them. The banshees. They were screeching and snarling like they were angry at me. Then, I heard them say two words.

“Kill him.”

It’s crazy how sometimes you see yourself do something and even know you are doing it and don’t know why. You have no control over what is happening. I saw myself flying towards the boy in a quick blur of white. His face was surprised and I would imagine mine was composed of a snarl of some sort. I heard someone screaming words at me, but I couldn’t quite make out the muffled sounds.

Then, suddenly I felt a pinch and the world started to blur around me. Then I was engulfed in blackness.

I woke up to a face standing over me shrouded with worry. I frowned, rolled over, and groaned.

“Just five more minutes…” I snapped.

“Whoa, whoa! No need to get testy now,” I heard that irritatingly deep voice say,” It’s not time to wake up. I just was wondering what happened…you just…passed out. It was scary to watch.”

I slowly opened my eyes hoping that I wouldn’t see the dreadful banshees staring back at me, beckoning for me to kill him. I cracked them open and rolled over slowly. They weren’t there! Thank goodness. I may hate him, but I certainly didn’t want to kill him.

“I…uhh, I just passed out. Too many painkillers I suppose. Something like that.” I lied through my teeth.

“Oh, well whatever you say,” he paused unsure of what to say next. “Ok I guess I will go then.” He said.

I could tell he didn’t believe me. He had that knowing look in his eyes. It was like he knew something I didn’t. As I watched him walk away, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that he was keeping from me. I had only been with him for less than a minute and I felt like I could read him like an open book again. He was keeping something from me, and I needed to know. No matter what I had to do to get it out of him, I was going to find out his secret.
I went for a walk to clear my head and suddenly found myself on his floor standing right in front of his door. He was in there laughing at something. I was mad now and out for answers.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE?!” I yelled at Alexander.

I had barged into his room and cornered him. I know, I know. Drastic, right, but how else was I supposed to get him to tell me without being given a tranquilizer?! He was a spy and they didn’t even seem to care.

“Please”, he said with his hands in the air and that annoying little smirk plastered on his face once again. “Call me Ace.”

Bad move on his part. It only angered me even further that he used his old nickname I had for him. So I did what any rational, lunatic girl would do. I threw myself at him again, but this time I used my nails. I was finally getting a little bit of revenge, but that was very short lived. Before I knew it, I was flung up against the wall against his arm with piercing eyes alight with fury staring back at me. Why was he mad? I was the one that got left by him, not the other way around!

“Let me go!” I spat in his face.

“Just listen to me, will you?”

“NO!”

“Just give me one minute and then you can scream in my face all you want, ok?” He said calmly.

“Fine,” I bit out, defeated.

“I know you hate me-”

“YOU THINK?!”

“Gosh darn it, Jezabel! Just listen, will you?!”

“Whatever.”

“When the Sentella captured you, the reason I couldn’t save you is because they would have killed you,” he said getting right to the point. “If I told them that I knew you, no questions asked they would have killed you. They frown upon relations when on a mission. I wanted to rescue you, but you had a better chance if I just said nothing. They don’t kill-“

“BEEEEEEEEP! Time’s up!” I interrupted harshly.

“Did you even listen to anything I just said?”

“Nope,” I said smugly.

Well that must have angered him. He let go of me so quickly I didn’t have enough time to regain my balance. I collapsed straight to the floor, and my eyes widened in shock.

“Oh, crap Jezabel! I didn’t mean to do that,” He said as he realized what he had done.

He reached out a hand to help me up and I batted it away with disgust.

“You know, I don’t understand why you are here. You’re clearly not insane. Do you have an
assignment or are you just here to taunt me even more?”

“Assignment,” He said grimacing.

“…Jezabel,” I heard someone drawl out my name in the distance.

“Get up!” he barked at me.

“No,” I said stubbornly.

“Jez, if they find you in here, I don’t know what will happen.”

“I do. They will see me sitting here on the floor with a clear red marks on my arms and a forming bruise on my neck with fresh tears streaming down my face. You will most certainly never see me ever again.”

“Wait…what tears?” he said confused. He then realized my uncanny ability to cry on cue.


“Really?” he said clearly irritated with me.

There was a knock at the door.

“Mr.Petrov? Have you seen Miss Connor?” I heard the doc say through the door.

“Uh, no… Why don’t you try the main hall? I heard that she was unhappy she didn’t get to pig out on the cake,” He said lightly with a bit of frustration seeping through his voice.

I looked for something to throw at him. I found a lamp, so I chucked it at him. He didn’t even flinch and he caught it effortlessly. My eyes widened in shock. He didn’t even see that one coming and he still caught it!

“Okay, thanks Mr.Petrov, I will be sure to look there,” she said laughing a little.

You could hear the footsteps echoing away as we stared at each other with hatred in our eyes. I wasn’t sure if I would make the first move or if he would. I was feeling daring, so I got up slowly with my eyes still locked with his. I then proceeded to walk over to him cautiously, brought up my arm, and slapped him. I put all of my strength into that slap. All of my pent up anger and frustration compacted into that one physical blow. It wasn’t enough. I ran out of the room with angry tears streaming down my face and an ache in my heart.

I had just gotten back to my room when I heard the Banshees.

“You didn’t kill him…” I heard a whisper echo through the room.

Oh, crap. Did they really have to come at this time? I was getting so used to not having to deal with them; they were just a minor nuisance.

“Jezabel…the time has come for you to fulfill what you were meant to. You missed your chance twice and you will not let it slip through your fingers again!” they finished with their voices rising in anger at the end.

“Why must I kill him? I am not a murderer!” I yelled back.

“He will kill you if you do not strike first! Once you kill your first person, it will get easier as you continue as our silent killer.”

I finally realized why they drove me to do the things that I have done in the past at this moment. I was their tool. I was nothing more than an object to be used in their evil schemes. Well, they picked the wrong girl to mess with. I was going to tell them!

“I am not going to kill for you! If you think you can just use me like that and throw me away into the dust, you are most certainly wrong!” I yelled outraged.

“Very well Jezabel, but we will make you play a role in his death. You will get used to the pain,” They said with hardness in their voices.

“I won’t! I won’t! This isn’t my destiny. I can stop this.”

“You cannot. You may think your love will conquer us, but in the end nothing will matter.”

“What is that supposed to mean? I do not love him!”

“We simply mean that you can never love. You can never be loved. By Lucifer’s Curse you are the unloved one. You have lived many lives, even played important roles in historic events. You are the fallen angel that was cast from heaven. Cursed to roam the earth with no heart to neither love nor be loved,” They whispered with sadness in their voices, “You are the vessel. Only by purest blood may you be free…”

“So I have a chance,” I stated simply.

“It can never be.”

“But there is a way?”

“Yes, but he hasn’t been reborn in over fifteen hundred years,” They said surprisingly exasperated.

“I will find a way,” I replied hardly.

“It is too late. You are to fulfill your destiny soon. In fact, my child… you are to fulfill it now.”

“What?” I asked surprised.

“You must kill Alexander Petrov, for he is about to assassinate our future president,” They said with a surprising urgency leaking through their calm demeanor.

“WHERE IS HE?!” I asked, but it wasn’t really me asking. It was like someone was inside me…speaking for me.

“On the roof! Run before it is too late. Remember, at all costs…” the voice died out with an echoing whisper.

It was like an invisible force was pulling my body up the stairs. I had no control over any of my actions. I felt myself open the door and run up the steps, but yet I didn’t. I was in shock, I realized. I wasn’t really sure of what to do, so I was doing what I was told.

Breathing heavily with my hair mussed over my face I busted through the door to find… no one. I looked around panicked. Where was he? They said he was here, but he was nowhere in sight.

Then, I spotted him. I would go up to him, except one thing… he was on the roof next to the one I was on. What was even more surprising is what he had in his hand. It was an assault rifle! That little sneaky idiotic boy. How in the world did he get THAT past security? Then it dawned on me…he was on the other roof where the Sentella probably put it for him.

He spotted me then. It probably looked a little weird in my case. I was standing there with my hair flowing wildly, staring at him. He was a little shocked from what I could tell. I could see him mouthing cuss words to himself. Then he started to speak.

“Jezabel-“

“No!” I cut him off. “I get to ask the questions,” Satisfied that he wasn’t going to talk, I continued. “What are you doing up here? No, wait what are you doing up here with an assault rifle?!”

“I-I-I can explain,” He stuttered.

“Explain? Ha! If I had a quarter for every time someone said that to me,” I scoffed.

“Jez, I have a job to do and you are just holding me up,” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

Wrong move there, brother. One? You don’t dismiss me with a wave of your hand. Two? He is soooo not allowed to call me Jez… ever! Three? I had to stop him. Something in the back of my mind was pushing me to do it, and I didn’t have the willpower to resist it. Suddenly, a dagger appeared in my hand while they whispered for me to use it on him. It was so pretty… intricate with diamonds and swirls of black crawling up the point to form a very detailed dragon. I could stare at it all day… that was until I heard the crackle of a shoe against concrete. Right! Mission.

Now, I just had to get over to that roof. So, what does a logical girl like me do when she has to get from one roof to the other? Well, she jumps of course! I started running, bounded off the ledge, and hurled myself into open space. I could feel the rush of adrenaline rush through my veins and hear the roar of it in my ears. I could vaguely make out a deep voice yell my name with pain laced into it.

I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it, but somehow I did. I landed on my feet with a very audible thump. I would have been perfectly fine if I didn’t crash into a big wall of Petrov. Why was he always in the way?

I slowly looked up, because I know his face would be inches from mine. I was afraid of what I might see when I looked up. I thought I would see eyes dark with anger, but what I did see shocked me to my bones. I saw fear. What was he afraid of? For sure it couldn’t be me.

“What are you afraid of?” I asked him lightly. “See a ghost?”

He backed away slowly. I could see him swallow a lump in his throat and lick his lips to speak.

“Jezabel…what are you?” he said forcing it out of his mouth.

“What do you mean by ‘What are you?’” I said confused.

That’s when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a puddle from the recent rain. What I saw there…was an angel. My hair was a platinum blonde and was long and flowing. My face no longer had the faint scar on my right cheek, it was flawless. This made my dark blue eyes stand out and seem like someone had dyed them the color of sapphires. My clothes were pure white and it seemed that I was emitting a slight glow, but that wasn’t the oddest thing. The oddest thing was the giant wings sprouting out of my back. The only thing was they weren’t the white that you would usually imagine seeing on a…angel I guess. They were obsidian.

“What happened to me?” I screamed, particularly at the Banshees.

Suddenly, they appeared in front of me. It startled me and I jumped slightly. Alexander noticed and shifted uncomfortably.

“So you have brought about your true identity, fallen angel,” They said snottily. “You couldn’t have at least killed the boy before transforming all the way. Now it will hurt you more than him…stupid girl.”

“What do you mean ‘hurt me more than him’?” I asked scared.

“When you kill him-“

“I won’t!” I screamed interrupting them.

“You must… you must kill him or you will die along with him. He cannot escape his fate, but if you try to avert it for him you will both die.”

“Choose Jezabel. Or you both die!” they stated angrily.

They stood there waiting for me to make my decision. I walked over to Alexander and spoke not knowing what I was actually saying to him, just knowing that it sounded right.

“So, this is quite the predicament. You see, I am a fallen angel apparently. Yeah, I know.” I said eyeing his shocked face. “Apparently I’m ‘Cursed’. Reborn time and time again.”

“Well, that changes things a little,” He replied breathlessly.

“You don’t have to tell me! My first assignment is to kill someone.”

“Well, that’s just wonderful.”

“I need to go, but I need to know one thing before I leave.”

“What?” he asked.

“Did you ever love me?” I asked shakily.

I moved toward him two steps and he backed up two just the same. I eyed the edge of the twenty story building warily. I had a plan forming, but I needed to know one thing before I enacted it.

His eyes widened and he drew in a shaky breath. I moved toward him three steps. He let that breath out and drew in another. This time it was steady and composed. I backed him up against the ledge. He didn’t seem to notice.

I put my hands on his chest and got up on my tiptoes. I then repeated my question in his ear, whispering it like a caress.

“Did you ever really love me?”

I waited nervous for his answer; the answer that would determine whether or not if I would die tonight.

“Yes.” He answered firmly.

My heart swelled at his answer and tears started to form in my eyes. So I did what any girl would do if a boy had just confessed his love for you; I kissed him. It was like every nerve ending in my body had come alive once our lips met. The kiss was way too short. I wanted to live my life with this boy and kiss him every second of it.

I pulled back and whispered to him, “I love you too.”

“I have made my decision!” I exclaimed.

The next thing I did shocked him, mainly because he was still dazed by the kiss. I took the dagger that they so conveniently gave to me and plunged it into my heart. His face was a mask of agony and shock as he had realized what I had just done.

“I love you,” I choked out with pain and fear laced through my voice.

I then stumbled back and before he could catch me…I flung myself off of the ledge. I felt the impact and the last thing I heard was the sound of my name being yelled into the night before everything faded to black.
…

I had never thought that death would feel like this. I actually didn’t think I would feel anything at all. It took me a while to realize that I was floating through a forest with my newfound wings.

“Hello?” I called out desperately. “Is anyone there?”

I then realized that there was a cloaked figure standing ahead of me, waiting patiently. As I got closer, I was slowly descending from the air. I landed on my feet with a tiny thump and came face to face with the hooded man.

“I see you have passed the test,” The man said coolly.

“What test?” I asked confused.

“The ‘Pureness of Heart’ test, my dear. In fact, you are the only one to ever have completed it. Many have been put to the test, but all have failed. Tell me, how are you so different from the rest?”

“I- I don’t know,” I stuttered.

“Sure you do… Jezabel, is it? Yes, you are Jezabel. Now, it must be something you left behind. Was it your family? No, no not the family,” He answered himself. “Ahhh…” he said in realization. “It was the boy, wasn’t it? But, you aren’t allowed to fall in love.”

He went on and on and seemed to answer every question that flooded out of his mouth. He was having a conversation with himself…how ironic. They put me in a padded cell for doing that.

He then slowly lifted his head up as if coming to a conclusion.
“He is the pure blood. Only by purest blood may you be saved. Somehow, you found him,” He said with a hint of steel in his voice.

“Well, regardless of this predicament you did pass the test. By my word and honor, you get to choose whether to return to earth or to return to your rightful place at my side as the angel of death. Whether you choose to return to my side or not, you will still be the angel of death and will do my bidding.”

“Angel of Death?!” I squeaked.

“Yes, my dear Azrael. You will remember who you were in time. Now your choice! Be quick, I have affairs to deal with. You are trying my patience!” he bit at me.

“Just one question.”

“Fine. You get one question, but then you must choose. I do not have all day, young one,” he said with a sigh.

“What do you mean by all of this?” I asked confused.

“Oh, my dear…” he drawled out lovingly. “You are Azrael. You are death incarnate and anyone that touches you will die if you want them to. You were made to do the bidding of your god. He is the highest power that you answer to and the only one that can kill you. Never cross him, my dear. You also answer to me, and Lucifer, your father by all that defines a father. If you choose to go to earth, you will have the responsibility of protecting the human race from their destruction. This involves never getting too close to anyone, including the Pure One,” He added for extra emphasis. “If you decide to stay here, you will be by your father’s side and go back to earth every so often to collect the souls of the lost. This is not a decision to be taken lightly… now what is your answer?”

I thought about everything that he said. All of my reasoning went out the door when I realized that I would see Alexander again.

“Earth!” I blurted out without a second thought.
“Very well, child. Do not come running back to me when something happens to your beloved. You were told the consequence.” He said with more wisdom then I thought he could muster.

I was then pulled into a hole and for what seemed like the millionth time was engulfed in blackness.
…

I awoke to the sound of sirens going off in the distance. Oh, yeah that’s right…I fell off a building.

I opened my eyes and jumped up gasping for breath. A look of horror was plastered on Alexander’s face. You could see the crazed expression on his face as he realized that he didn’t lose me. The love swelled in his eyes and made the color of his eyes turn in swirls.

I then saw his face which made me rejoice with happiness and also be consumed with the dread that he might touch me and die. My eyes were wide as he leaned toward me so he could look into my eyes. He was so close to touching me and then I heard him whisper two words.

“You’re alive.”