Kahree and Oki moved out of their hiding spot after the elevator doors closed. Running down the hallway, the smoke from the fire upstairs began pouring through like a chimney. Thick clouds of black and gray smoke filled the air quickly. “We don’t have that much time left.” Yelled Kahree as they ran to the end of the hall. The underground bunker was set up like a storage unit. There were at least a dozen rows with two main columns at the end.

  “How are we going to get all these people out of here?” Oki asked as they ran past the imprisoned Star Children who were banging on the door screaming for help.

  “There has to be a main switch somewhere," Replied Kahree. Just as she turned the corner, she bumped into a guard who had an oxygen mask covering his face. Kahree quickly grabbed the guard by the neck and slammed him into the wall. She took off his mask, exposing his frightened face. “I’ll take that...” Throwing the oxygen face mask to Oki, Kahree turned back to her hostage. Touching his bare skin, she put the guard under her ‘spell’. His body started to loosen, and his stare became aimless as everything around drowned out. “John... You go by Johnny. I want you to listen to me very carefully. You’re going to take us to your control room and release all of the prisoners. If any of the Star Children die down here because you didn’t go quick enough; I’ll make you eat your own shit before you die.” Oki gave her partner the side-eye after the last comment. Kahree shrugged her shoulders and then said, “What? Too much?”

  The guard dashed down the hallway and quickly made another left. Dashing again quickly down the middle hallway, Johnny stopped in front of a cell room. After pushing in a code on the keypad, the door beeped disabling the security system. The control room was hidden in plain sight right in the middle of all the captives. Inside, the alarms sounded off with loud beeps along with flashing red and white lights. There were camera feeds from wall to ceiling all showing a small picture of the captives.

  Oki pushed the guard inside then said, “Open all the doors. Hurry up, the smoke down here will kill everyone before any of you rebel bastards will.” Kahree found another oxygen mask and put it over her head. Looking at the camera footage, the girls noticed some of the cells were empty. The ones who were stuck continued to bang on their doors, screaming for help. That’s when one particular captive caught Oki’s eyes. She stood motionless in shock as she stared at the screen. “Hurry the fuck up!” Pushing the guard on his shoulder, Oki made a point to show how inpatient she was getting. After the guard typed in a few codes, he pressed the large red button to his left.

  All at once, the prison cells open at the same time. Oki dashed out the door mumbling under her breath, leaving Kahree alone with their hostage. “Oki! Wait for me dammit!” Instead of getting frustrated, Kahree turned her attention back to finding the way out. “You, Johnny boy! Take me to the exit. This hatch the other guards were talking about...” Walking back out to the hallway, she saw all the captured Star Children burst out in excitement they were free. Each captive had a gray jumpsuit with black flats covering their feet. “Everyone! This way! We have to hurry before the house comes down completely!” Before following the guard to the escape hatch, Kahree took one last look behind her and that’s when Oki came back into view. “There you are! Where did you go?”

  Smiling from ear to ear, Oki replied, “Ree, this is my brother, Conner. I found him! I finally fucking found him and he’s alive!” Conner leaned against his sister for support as he tried to regain his strength. He was pale in color from the lack of sunlight. The clothes hung off his body like they were two times bigger than what he normally wore. His face was a little sunken from not eating as much as he should have. The man looked like a walking skeleton.

  Kahree noticed, however, he was the only captive that looked that bad. She brushed the thought aside for the moment as she continued guiding the Star Children to freedom. One captive stopped and grabbed her cell neighbor. “Wait, we can’t go up there. What if the guards are waiting for us?”

  “They won’t...” Kahree said with confidence. “I’ll make sure no one sees you all once we reach the top. It’s these fucking Essence Stones embedded everywhere that hinders my full power.”

  The crowd gasped at her response. Another one spoke up and said, “You must be very powerful to be able to cover us all. You didn’t tell us who you were.”

  Oki ran to the front to stand beside her partner then announced, “Let’s save the introductions for later, shall we? The house is crumbling on top of us, and we don’t have much time left.” Instructing the guard to go first, one by one the freed captured Star Children climbed the ladder that led upstairs to the outside. He assisted each person to their feet then led them through the narrow exit of the mountain. Luckily for them, no guards were around to stop them. No one was around... Everyone from last night’s party had abandoned the burning house like it was never there.

  Large thick clouds of smoke filled the night sky. The bones of the house were exposed from the raging fire. Kahree gathered the rescues and encouraged them to head towards the nearby forest. Pulling her partner aside, Oki asked “Where are you taking them?”

  “I don’t know yet... I thought we’d find a place near the city or something. Do you have a place in mind?” Kahree looked over her shoulder and saw Conner slowly moving through the crowd.

  “I’ll take that from here.” Conner coughed in his fist. “I’ll take them to a safe place. You never said who you were. How did you know we were down there?”

  Oki stepped in between her brother and Kahree holding her hands up in surrender. “Conner, this is Kahree. The Child of Dreams... Her father sent the Angels to res...’” She was interrupted by her brother when he put his palm in the air. He didn’t turn in her direction. Conner not once took his eyes off the youngest Angel of Death. His mood quickly turned from relief to pure anger.

  “You’re one of them? You’re the reason we’re all here in the first place! Those anti-Star Counsel fucks used us ‘special people’ as bait so they could capture you and your sisters!” Again, Conner coughed hard into his hand. Others surrounding him gathered around trying to comfort him. Instead, he brushed them off as if they were insects. “I watched as one of your fucking queens ordered her soldiers to ransack my town pulling all the special ones out. That bitch ordered us in chains and separated us from our families. She took my wife and kids... My wife is a Star Child. Your Star Counsel turned their backs on us. How in the fuck can we trust you? Fuego and his men tortured me for weeks because I wouldn’t give up where I hid the ones who got away.”

  The Child of Dreams for once didn’t know what to say. She just put her head down and also lifted her arms in the air. “I agree. You don’t know if you can trust me, but I’m willing to prove it. Like you mentioned, those bitch queens were after us the whole time. My sisters and I had no idea the Star Counsel was working with the rebels all along. Trust. That fucking word doesn’t exist for us anymore. If I had to be quite fucking frank, my sisters and I are no longer the Angels of Death.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Oki stepped in and stood in front of her friend. Grabbing Kahree by the arms, she said “No more Angels? Fuck that! You were sent here to save us, and you did. You and Sky snuck into Freeland and pretended to be a part of the working class. Like the legends you two are, you girls single handedly ended three out of the five KFM. It took me three years in counting to get this far and look at what happened tonight. Those bastards were going to leave all of these innocent people to die with no remorse. Ree, without you and Sky, we would be hopeless.”

  Conner made his way through the crowd then stood by his sister’s side. “You and the other Angel took out the KFM?”

  Kahree nodded. "Yes. Fuego and Rogelio are the only ones left.” She turned her attention back to the burning house and stared at it as it crumbled. “Sky and Luna are still in there... I haven’t seen them come out yet. I’m fucking scared Oki.”

  Oki grabbed Kahree’s hand and softly replied, “Me too, Ree. Me too...”

  *

  Sky didn’t stop right away when she heard her real name being shouted from across the room. Debris and wooden beams fell from all directions as she continued to get Jordy outside of harm's way. Blood dripped from his head as he leaned over on Sky’s shoulders. As soon as they were outside, Sky carefully laid Jordy on the ground near the trees. He moaned as he turned to his side. Grasping for Sky, Jordy grabbed her leg before she walked away. “Sky, wait...”

  She could barely hear his hoarse voice over the burning house. “Why didn’t you leave sooner? You would have died in there if I hadn’t come back.” Sky took Jordy’s hand from her leg then cupped her hand over his.

  “Downstairs... They are Star Children downstairs. They’ll die if you don't...” Jordy coughed in his hand.

  “Shh... That’s why you came back.” Sky hushed her lover’s concerns. “Don’t worry about them. They’re going to be okay. I’ll be right back...” The Child of Fire returned her attention back to her artwork. Fuego’s home was almost completely engulfed. She knew she had to go back in there. She knew this would be her only chance to kill two birds with one stone. Rescue her sister and kill the one who was holding her hostage.

  Alex pushed Luna to the ground as he pulled the oxygen mask over his head. “Looks like your sister abandoned you. No worries, once I grab what I need, we’re out of here. I’ll handle her later since I know what she looks like now. That fool Fuego didn’t know what hidden gems were stashed here.”

  Moments later, all the fire abruptly went off turning into thick black and gray smoke. It was obvious to the two the fire turning off was not from natural wind. Luna smiled as she watched her sister walk back through the entrance. Sky sucked in the air that was fueling her flames then blew the thick gray smoke from her lungs. In Alex’s eyes, one minute she was there, then the next she wasn’t. Sky disappeared within the smoke like a vanishing act in a magic trick. Smoke covered every existing corner that remained. Luna began to laugh in a sinister way, for she knew what was coming. Her perfect escape...

  When Alex turned around, all he could see was smoke. It was so thick, he couldn’t even see his hands in front of him. That didn’t stop him, however, from still trying to complete his mission. “Face me, you coward! I’m not fucking scared of you! Come for me!”

  Again, he could hear Luna laughing nearby. She was close enough to her captor that he began swinging aimlessly. His long nine-inch blade was made of pure Essence Stone, and he knew that was his only real defense against them. This time it was Sky’s turn... She struck Alex in the stomach with an uppercut. Swinging aimlessly again, Sky drifted back into the smoke disappearing. Luna came from behind and pushed Alex on his back causing him to stumble. The girls laughed in unity as they danced around their prey.

  Sky and Luna continued to take turns striking their enemy from all directions. They made a mockery of him until Alex exploded with rage. Once more, Alex began to swing aimlessly only to hit the thick gray smoke that still surrounded him. Coming from opposite directions, Sky and Luna attacked their enemy at the same time. Throwing small fireballs as a distraction, Luna took the opportunity to sneak behind Alex to take his mask off. Holding her breath and exchanging air with Sky was only going to last for so long. The attempt failed as he threw Luna over his shoulder, slamming her to the ground. Before Alex could drive his knife into Luna’s torso, Sky came from behind kicking him in the back. The oxygen mask glass cracked when his face hit the floor, causing the clean air to escape.

  Within minutes, Alex began to cough violently. He tried his hardest to breathe clean air with no luck. Searching for the small tank that contained the air, he was too late when Luna picked up the tube. Pulling the air tube from the mask, Luna sucked in the remaining clean oxygen that streamed out uncontrollably. “You never had a chance, boy...” said Luna as her image turned into a phantom within the smoke. “We’ve trained together since we were children. You think we don’t know how to handle a little pest like yourself? Pathetic really...”

  Walking out of the smoke, Luna came from behind grabbed Alex by the face, lifting him to his feet. He screamed in agony extending his arms out from the energy surge blasting through his body. His Essence Stone tattoos burned bright blue as the Child of Chaos tried to end his life. Still not at her full strength, Luna dropped Alex to the ground, both collapsing next to one another. “Fuck!” said Luna as she rolled around to her side to get back up.

  Just as she approached Alex to finish him off, he quickly turned around and drove his dagger straight into the side of Luna’s torso. Blood quickly poured from her mouth before she realized what just had happened. “Die, bitch!” Alex pulled the knife out then stabbed her again and again until she fell to the ground. White lights beamed from her eyes as the smoke surrounding them started to dissipate. That’s what caught Sky’s attention... She immediately ran over to them then yelled, “No!” Luna’s body laid still, as Alex began coughing and spitting up from the lack of oxygen.

  Sky kicked Alex in his stomach, making him fly to his back. He struggled to breathe but still let out a small chuckle before Sky completely covered him with fire. A large burst of flames shot from her fists like a firehose sprays water. Alex screamed once more until his body turned into charred flesh and bones. Alex LaGon was no more...

  Running back to her sister’s side, Sky quickly moved the lingering smoke that surrounded Luna. Sitting on her knees while holding her hand, Sky noticed how quickly Luna’s body was going cold. “Hold on... Please Luna, you can make it.”

  Luna’s words were so faint that Sky had to put her ear to Luna’s mouth. “I’m sorry, Sky. I never was going to hurt you or Ree... I just wanted to be free...” With her last breath, Luna exhaled deeply and closed her eyes.

  Sky dropped her head against her stomach while she cried profusely against her body. Debris and large pillars still dropped down from above. She knew it was now or never to get her sister’s body out from being destroyed. Sky did her best to place Luna’s lifeless body across her back then carried her outside. There she sat down next to her trying to catch her own breath; until she saw the crowd standing on the other side. That’s when Kahree, Oki, and a few others came dashing towards her as quickly as their legs would allow.

  “I got you, Sky... Come on, let’s get somewhere safe.” Kahree lifted Sky to her bare feet and assisted her to the wooden area to join the rest of the rescued. The others gently picked up Luna and did the same. “Don’t worry sis, it’s just me and you now. Just me and you...”