I'll stop loving you
When diamonds never sparkle
And flowers cease to grow
When thunder never echoes
And rivers don't flow
When hearts no longer wonder
And hands are never held
When smiles are only memories
And hope is never felt
When trees no longer blossom
And stars refuse to shine
When God alone commands me
Then I'll stop loving you
PROLOUGE
AT FIRST THE WOLVES SEEMED NORMAL. THE ONLY strange thing about them was their small numbers, but every species had those who run their lives differently. They were also too large to be average. They were both at least seven foot long and four feet high.
There were two of them; one a silvery grey, the other black as midnight. The grey was big and its muscles rippled visibly under its fur. The black wolf was just as strong, but its muscles were the thin, wiry kind. It looked at lot less dangerous than its companion.
The two of them padded slowly through the thick woods they were in. If anyone had been watching closely, they would have noticed that their gait was a little uneven, like they usually did not travel on four legs. Otherwise, they were sleek and graceful as they wandered through the night.
Nothing else moved in the wood, which was strange. There was always some activity. An owl on a midnight hunt, a bat rising from its slumber. Cicadas usually chirped all through the long summer nights, but there was no sound. The land held its breath, waiting, it seemed, on the two opposite-coloured wolves.
The grey shook the fur on its neck in impatience. Then, if anyone had been watching, they would have gasped in amazement and disbelief. For the wolf stood slowly, transforming as it did so into a boy of about eighteen years of age.
His hair was platinum blonde, silver in the moonlight shining through the branches of the tall oaks around him. It was close to the shade of his fur as a wolf, and it stuck up in all directions. His eyes were hazel and sharp; they darted around the clearing he had stopped in, taking in everything he could. His face was oval in shape and his skin was a healthy golden colour, not the pallor you expect from such a blonde as him.
He stood in the chill of night bare of chest and foot, with only some ragged denim shorts to cover him. He looked expectantly at the black wolf, who seemed to sigh before performing the same change as his companion.
This boy looked around the same age as the other, but they couldn't have been more different. This one had dark hair, longer than the other's, and his eyes were a bright, unnatural green. His face was warm and open, with a smile that never really seemed to leave his face. He grinned now, at his companion as he spoke in a slightly husky voice.
“Come on, Lucien. I thought I was the impatient one.”
“We are both impatient,” said Lucien. One half of his mouth twisted up in a wry smile. “I just hide it better.”
“Of course you do. You're just trying to make me think I can match your timeless grace. I already told you that you won.”
Lucien laughed at that. “Ah, Jet. If only times were still that simple. I thought Yasmyn said that this was the place.”
“She did. Yasmyn is not usually wrong.”
“We have wandered around for hours though. Surely if an archangel were here, we would have found it by now. Or it would have attacked us.”
“Perhaps it was simply waiting for a time when we were vulnerable,” said Jet. “Like now. Can you not feel the heaviness hanging like an omen over the wood? That is not just some grizzly bear!”
“Yes I know, but we have found nothing on the ground. Maybe it is time to take to the skies.”
“Lucien,” Jet said, “that is the best idea you've had all night.”
They both changed into their wolf selves and performed another impossible feat. Instead of touching the ground, their first bound launched them into the air. They climbed quickly, and soon they were above the trees.
There was a sudden blur of black, and the archangel was on top of them. The dark wolf, Jet, moved just as fast and before the archangel could attack, he had his jaws around its neck. From there on, Lucien assisted in the killing of the beast, all still in mid-air. It was quite easy. A single archangel was a simple opponent for two aerewolves. The pair returned to the ground soon after, where they disassembled the archangel.
Jet was the first to change to human this time. After Lucien had copied him, he sat on the roots of one of the old trees around him.
“This isn't even hard anymore,” Jet said, eyes on the pile of dead archangel. “We didn't even get a good fight. This one was too slow.”
“You can't be a hero all the time. Sometimes you just have to take the easy way out,” Lucien replied, sitting beside him. “The rest of us do it all the time.”
Jet elbowed him in the ribs. “I know you want some glory too, Lucien. Or do you want to live your life in my shadow?”
“You wish you were that talented. Come on, lets go. Everyone's probably wondering where we are. Anyway, dead archangels always creep me out.”
“Just my luck. I get stuck with the only aerewolf ever born that's scared of a dead archangel.”
Jet changed and leapt into the air before Lucien could get his hands around his neck. He was already high in the sky when Lucien caught up to him, and the pair ran home in a good mood.
Behind them, the animals of the wood slowly reappeared. They all examined the dead archangel and they all took a piece of it with them, so they could destroy it in their own way. And so peace came once again to the small piece of land.
