There were a lot of accounts of the war. Of what it did to places, to people, to the dead. Anna never read them after she graduated from college and could look the other way on what happened. Her nightmares were more than enough. The shriek of the Demons and melodic ring of the Angels' blades as they swung through the air, they weren't things easily forgotten. Nor the splatter of dark blood when a stray swing of a weapon took off her mother's head.
She did her best to ignore everything beyond her immediate sight. To ignore the news constantly displaying the latest battle field and the ribbon at the bottom continuously tallying the dead. The fighting was in Argentina right now but people were predicting that it'd come back to North America this decade. All Anna wanted to do was hunker down in her blissfully boring life and forget it all.
Her place of work never allowed that, though. The television in the corner was always playing the news and it was all she could do to duck her head and continue working without losing it. Her father continued to tell her that she needed to deal with what happened instead of burying it but it was too hard. How do you tell someone to get over watching their mother be beheaded at ten years old? And she knew that wasn't what he meant but that's she had snapped at him the last time they had spoken six months ago.
All Anna wanted to do was get through her shift at the Blue Cloud Cafe and go home to her dog like every evening. So that meant tying up her mauve dyed hair and blocking out the news while smiling at the rude customers. (She was very good at ignoring snide remarks or verbal abuse, the same that she was good at ignoring the world outside her little life.)
"-na! Hello?" A hand waved across her vision. Anna startled back from the counter she was leaning and the book she had been reading sitting on the glass. "Christ, you need to get your ears checked." Blue eyes glanced at where the voice came from to find a very familiar man standing on the other side of the counter.
"Oh, hey." She wasn't surprised to see him.
Caleb Fortner was a regular at this cafe and she knew it was because of her. They had been best friends since middle school to the point that they had moved to Seattle together for college. He was about the only person that Anna got along with.
"'Oh, hey'? That's all the greeting I get?" Caleb asked with an offended scoff. "I take time out of my busy to see your sour face and this is the thanks I get?"
"My bad, would you like the royal red carpet rolled out?" Anna shot back, closing her book with a loud snap.
A deep frown crossed his handsome face before it was cracking into a large grin. "You must be having a bad day," he said, "let me to cheer you up a bit. I'll take you out to dinner tonight."
"And be seen with the most powerful man in North America? No shot."
"Hey, hey, I didn't give myself that title!"
He didn't have too. The world gave it to him after he was scouted by Archangel Raphael a couple years ago. He became one of the Chosen and it was very obvious like it was for every single person that had been claimed by an Angel.
There was no denying that Caleb was a good looking man and he'd always been handsome even in high school. Tall and athletic with a sleek look of a lion. Some of the prettiest dreads Anna had seen on a person with golden bleached hair and bound in gold rings. They matched perfectly with his dark skin and the sign of Archangel Raphael painted over top. Glittering stars like a nebula had been taken and laid over him.
"I can't tonight," Anna said, denying the offer a second time. She moved to get started on his usual order. "Brandy and I have plans to watch Game of Thrones again while destroying a bottle of white."
"Fine," Caleb tapped on the glass, "I'll bring over food and the three of us can watch your dragons."
"Yeah?" It was bit sarcastic to her ears. "And, uh, what's your new girl got to say about that?"
She didn't need to look to know the look on Caleb's face. His newest girlfriend was a bitch and hated her from the moment they met. Something, something, Anna was a boyfriend stealing whore. As if she hadn't been the best friend of fourteen years while Candice was just the newest arm candy.
"Don't mention her," Caleb groaned, "I'm at my wits end with her."
"Trouble in paradise?" Anna asked, sarcasm thick on her tongue. She put the lid on the iced London Fog and turned around to set it on the counter. "Don't answer that." There was no point when she already knew from last night's texts.
"I'm this close to breaking it off." Two fingers were held together in to show his patience. It had her snorting as she rang up his order. "You know, that's what I'll do then I'll drink with you with shitty old TV shows."
"Whatever shall I do with the the honor?"
Anna watched the payment go through from Caleb's phone before moving to lean on the counter again with her book. There was a lean from the other side as Caleb read the book upside down. Clearly he was taking a long lunch today. It didn't bother her any when his presence helped drown out the constant droning of the television.
Close to five minutes later he was saying his goodbyes and promises to bring take out to her apartment at six. She got off at four-thirty so that left more than enough time to take Brandy out on a walk and take a shower. Especially since she knew Caleb would get held back for at least an hour breaking up with his girlfriend and probably another thirty to forty minutes depending on what he wanted for dinner.
Come four-forty Anna was unlocking the apartment door to the huff and snuffle of her mutt of a dog. Brandy was six years old and picked up at a shelter four years ago. No one could tell her what breeds she might have been beyond a possible Australia Shepard and Bernese Mountain Dog. She wasn't exactly a small dog.
Anna set her purse on the table next to the door to grab the dark purple lead off the hook as Brandy took a heavy seat on her foot. This was their typical routine and she was a smart dog. In a matter of two minutes the door was locked again and they were leaving the apartment building for their after work walk. It was only to a dog park a few blocks away to let her run and use the bathroom. They usually went again at ten for their night walk before bed.
Typically they stayed out for an hour then went home. Give or take a little time depending on who else was at the dog park. Anna could not stand a few of the usuals but they were clear today. Mr. Jones was there with his old ass corgi and so was Tiffany and her golden retriever mutt. There was someone else that she didn't know but that wasn't unusual given the placement of the park so close to the apartment buildings.
Brandy was let off the leash in the fence and almost immediately she went off to sniff at Tiffany's retriever. Anna sat on a bench by herself to simply watch and wait. It was a little too close to the young man that she didn't know and let her overhear whatever was playing on his phone. She clenched her hands in the pocket of her black hoodie to control herself as the man's phone talked about the movement pattern of the war. About how it was growing and spreading instead of moving like it had for the last century. Whoever was talking was speculating that another big clash was coming like the one that sparked World War Two a hundred years ago.
She hated to listen but she knew what this was too. She had gone to school, learned about the war patterns, and tried to block it all out. But everyone knew that a clash between Archangels and Demon Kings came very hundred or so years, and they were due. It was why the Archangels had picked their Chosen. They were preparing for another several decade long battle.
Listening to that had her nerves alighting. She held out for as long as she could for Brandy before she was whistling for her dog while getting to her feet. Almost an hour would have to be enough until later. She didn't want to hear another word about Angels, Demons, or their war.