Arrival of the Prophecy Read online

  Arrival of the Prophecy

  Robin Renee Ray

  Arrival of the Prophecy is a work of fiction. Characters, names, place, incidents, organizations are a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.

  Arrival of the Prophecy

  Robin Renee Ray

  Copyright Robin Renee Ray 2012

  Published by Hellfire Publishing

  www.hellfirepublishing.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-937179-35-9

  Cover art by: Dara England

  Edited by: Jen Hart

  DEDICATION:

  I dedicate this book to my nephew ‘DJ Ray’ for always treating me like I was his full blood Auntie and my daughter like she was a blood cousin, no matter what.

  “DJ, from day one, over 25 years ago, you have been such an inspiration to me! I love and thank you for always making us feel like we were part of your family. Many Blessing to you and your wonderful little ones. Auntie loves you all so very much!”

  Prologue

  Sky Lashlay was one of those types of individuals that prefered to blend in. She had no need or desire to stand out and was content to disappear into the background of any given social situation. On the night our story begins, she was getting ready to go out to a club for the first time in over a year. She had promised the girls from the ladies clothing store where she worked that she would meet them to do a little celebrating. She was turning twenty four years old, but wasn’t really one to do things like bar hop, or drink until ungodly hours of the night like some of the other girls bragged about around the store. But, it was her birthday and she was looking forward to actually doing something other than her normal weekend routine.

  She usually went straight home from work to her two cats, Doc and Holiday, and on weekends watched horror movies while eating popcorn with a feline on each side of her. This Friday, she was going to go out and enjoy herself. The last time she tried to have an evening out was when her step mother, Bonny, called her over for her stepsister, Tiffany’s college graduation party. Once there she was reminded of the fact that she too could have made it through more than the first semester, if only she had listened like her perfect little replacement. She was annoyed by her stepmother to the point that she walked out of the party early, just like she had at every gathering held that had to do with her family, ever since her father married for the second time.

  After Sky’s mother passed away five years prior from breast cancer, her father Henry Delaney, met and married what Sky liked to think of as a ‘gold digging wench’ that came along with a semi-smaller version of herself. Sky already had her own apartment when her father married the almighty Ms. Bonny, and had little to say about what her father did with his life. But, it didn’t stop the wicked stepmother from trying to interfere with her life at every possible opportunity. She was absolutely determined that this was going to be one night that she put all thoughts of family and the lack of friends on the back burner and just have a good time. Little did she know, that this one dark evening would bring on more than just disappointment from her coworkers. It would lead her on the path of a destiny that would turn out to be anything but one of simple normality.

  Chapter One

  Sky was pulling off the third shirt that she had tried on when the phone rang. She fumbled half-in and half-out of the garment as she tried to grab the phone on its fourth ring. “Yes, hello,” Sky answered with the cloth between her and the phone.

  “Sky, is that you?” Came a shrill reply followed by laughter on the other end of the phone.

  “Could you hold on please?” She responded, ripping the shirt off and throwing it across the bed. “This is, Sky.”

  “Hey, Sky, it’s Mallory. We heard about this new club down on Lincoln Avenue, on the other side of the tracks, it’s called The Blue Howler, you can’t miss it.”

  “I heard that anything on the other side of the tracks was bad news,” Sky replied, flipping through the things hanging in her closet.

  “Oh please, are you going to believe everything you hear? Becky and I will be there around ten. You need to wear something dark. The place is rocker, not diva,” Mallory said, then simply hung up.

  “Wow, thanks for the ‘see ya there Sky’, or hell I would’ve been happy with, ‘later’,” she spoke out loud, walking over and hanging up the receiver, then she reached down and ran her hand over her cat Holidays black back.

  She walked back to the closet, contemplating on not going out at all, after the way Mallory had acted on the phone, not to mention the abrupt change of locations to meet each other. The south side was well known by everyone that lived in the city as the place you didn’t want to be during the day, much less after the sun had gone down. Sky pulled out her black leather jacket and the only pair of black shoes she owned, and set them on the chair next to the bed. She didn’t have a black shirt, so she chose a dark red, sparkly tank top and a pair of dark blue jeans that flared at the bottom.

  She got dressed then looked in the mirror that was on her dresser, deciding to add her black belt and hot pink watch to complete her outfit. Her hair was as dark brown as her eyes, and hung down to the middle of her back. She turned to see if her hair, as well as the pants, looked okay from the backside, pursing her lips tight in dislike at the sight of her lower half. Sky always thought that she could lose a few pounds, in many areas of her body, and even tried to cover her chest with jackets because she thought her breasts were too large for her size. Sky stood five three and weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds. She was a perfect thirty four C cup, with a twenty six inch waist, and thirty six inch hips. She had ivory white skin that was flawless, behind her glasses were large almond shaped eyes with high arched brows, and below them was a small delicate nose and pouting, red tinted lips. Yet she had no self confidence and preferred to dress down and remain in the background.

  Sky was beautiful as she stood looking at herself, only she didn’t see it. She started to put her glasses on, then decided to wear her contacts, as well as leaving her hair down, giggling, as she thought how the girls would never recognize her. She knew they had occasionally seen her wear makeup, but knew for a fact that they had never seen her without her glasses for longer than a few minutes. She grabbed her coat after calling a cab and headed down the stairs of her apartment complex. Sky dialed Mallory’s cell phone number several times, trying to reach her on the way to the club, but she never answered. As the cab driver pulled the car over in front of a two story, paint peeling, warehouse looking building, he asked Sky twice, if she was sure the Howler was the place that she wanted to be dropped off,

  The wind blew lightly as Sky stood under the street light that was on the corner next to the night club that she was supposed to be going into. It was close to ten o’clock and she hoped that Mallory and Becky would show up soon, and weren’t already inside waiting on her. She tried Mallory’s number again and finally got an answer.

  “Hello,” Mallory said laughing, with club noise blaring in the background.

  “Mallory, where are you?”

  “Is that you, Sky?” She asked, laughing even harder. “Where are you?”

  “I’m standing outside The Blue Howler, where you told me to meet you,” she explained, becoming angry as well as fear filled.

  “Well, I tried to leave you a message that we changed our minds about going down there, but your phone was busy...sorry,” Mallory sarcastically replied.

  “I hope you and your friends had a good laugh.” Sky hung up the phone.

&n
bsp; Fearing someone would see her, she walked out of the light of the street lamp, her eyes full of tears and her heart beating far faster than it should have been and did her best to hide from the view of anyone that might be passing. She tried to call the cab company but her phone was starting to die. The only other options that she had was to go into the club or walk. Two things she did not want to do.

  Sky leaned up against the building that looked like it should have been condemned years ago. Music she was unfamiliar with pounded from within. She closed her eyes and took a moment to try to compose herself. It seemed like every time she turned around, someone was being cruel to her for absolutely no reason at all and it was starting to take its toll. She couldn’t bring herself to go inside and call because the tears threatened to fall at the mere thought of opening her mouth.

  “Can I help you with something?” a man’s voice softly asked.

  Sky let out a scream that would have made any passersby think she was being attacked. She opened her eyes to see a tall man holding out his hands and backing up. Her heart rested at the base of her throat, while she tried to breathe enough to control the shaking that her body was doing uncontrollably. She swallowed and lowered her head, taking in several deep breaths to keep from passing out. Her body started sliding down the wall, as the world spun circles around her head. She ended up squatting down, putting her head on her knees and waiting for the dizziness to pass.

  “Are you okay? I won’t hurt you,” he claimed, stepping back up and leaning down.

  “I think so. I didn’t mean to scream like I did, you just scared me,” she stammered, looking up and now seeing the face of the voice she was hearing.

  “My name is Anthony, do you think you can stand up?” he asked, holding out his hand.

  “Thank you,” she nodded, taking the offer. “I’m, Sky.”

  “What brings you to the south side, Sky?” he asked, still gripping her elbow and looking down at her.

  “It seems I was someone’s way of getting a good laugh tonight,” she replied, gently pulling away from his hand. “And now I can’t even call a cab.” She lifted her cell phone.

  “I think anyone would be foolish to try and make a joke out of someone so beautiful,” he said taking her hand in his and raising it to his lips. He lightly kissed the back of her hand, never taking his eyes off of hers. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  Anthony was tall, dark and handsome. His short black hair went amazingly with his eyes that were so blue they were even striking by the low illumination of the street light. Sky’s eyes lingered on his high cheek bones and very masculine jaw line, then stopped on his mouth which had the fullest lips that she had ever seen on a man. His roman nose went perfectly with the rest of his features, and those features graced the crown of a frame that stood six foot five, towering over her like a gentle giant. The long black trench coat he wore swayed around the tops of his shiny black boots, so she could only speculate in her own mind as to what his body might be like. She was doing just that when he asked her the same question a second time.

  “Could you say that one more time, I think I’m still a bit dizzy,” she said lowering her eyes toward the ground, hoping it was dark enough to hide the rose color that had appeared on her cheeks. Then she heard the shuffle of several feet moving their way.

  “Would you mind if I bought you a drink?” he asked looking back to what she was staring at.

  A group of four rough looking young men were coming down the other side of the street, fixing to enter the club. One was glaring back at Sky, groping his crouch and nodding his head as if provoking her. Anthony’s teeth slid together as he gave a glare of his own. The stringy haired youth dashed through the door without another glance.

  “I’m just not too sure I wanna go in that place,” she replied as she shivered.

  “We’ll go straight to my office,” he laughed. “I’ll call you a cab from in there.”

  “Oh…I didn’t mean to sound like a snob, I just...”

  “Please, don’t apologize,” he interrupted her. “It belongs to my brother. I just work here on the weekends.”

  He took her arm and they made their way through the front door. The first person they passed was a scary looking man with a mohawk. He sat imposingly at the front entrance wearing jeans and black tank top, checking ID’s, and stopping the “wrong sort” from getting in. When they approached he didn’t ask them for anything. He simply stood up, then got down on one knee bowing his head as Anthony took Sky by the arm more securely and walked by. Sky looked back as the man stood up, seeing he was staring back at her. She spun back around in time to see every person in the club, either stop what they were doing and stare in their direction, or take a knee like the man had done. It was the strangest thing that she had ever witnessed. The music blasted as Anthony took her through the crowd that stood perfectly still on the dance floor. Once they were on the other side he held up his hand and the whole room irrupted back into the same chaotic action.

  They stepped into the hall next to the stage. He opened the first door on their left and showed her inside. The noise of the club was muffled, but still loud enough for the bass to judder in Sky’s stomach. Anthony reached over a desk and hit a small button. It opened the wall that hid a two way mirror that looked into the main room where everyone was dancing. Most seemed to be in a drunken state.

  “Wow, that was a neat trick.” She smiled looking at the crowd with amazement on her face.

  “It’s a lot better than walking around in that mess,” he smiled back at her.

  “So, can I use that phone?” she asked, unconsciously closing her jacket.

  “I’ll take care of that for you. Why don’t you take off your coat, it’s very warm in here.” Anthony walked around behind her touching her shoulders.

  “No,” she jumped. “I’m fine, really. Could you call, please?”

  “May I have your address?”

  “Why do you want my address?”

  “So, I may give it to the cab company for you,” he cunningly replied, taking a pen and tablet from the desk.

  Sky didn’t see anything wrong in giving him what he asked for. He was doing her a favor after all, or so she thought. Anthony had the cab pick her up at the back of the building so she wouldn’t have to experience going through the club again. He asked for her phone number and she turned him down, saying she knew where he worked if she wanted to chat. She thanked him for all his help and gratefully got into the cab. She braved a glance out the window and saw Anthony leaning back on the open door jam, watching her drive away. Sky put her hand on her chest and laughed out loud, spinning around in the seat in time to see him disappear through the door. “Yeah, in your life time,” she whispered.

  “Sorry, miss?” The driver spoke as he flipped the gage.

  “Oh! Nothing, just talking to myself,” she blushed.

  “Mind if I ask you a question?”

  “Guess not,” she replied, looking into the review mirror.

  “I’ve picked up a lot of young women from that place, but you just don’t fit the bill. Why would someone like you be at a place like that?”

  “My so called friends were supposed to go out with me tonight,” she explained, lowering her head. “It’s my birthday, and well, guess they thought it was a good present to invite me out.”

  “Happy birthday. They didn’t show did they?”

  “Nope, but I guess I should’ve known better.”

  “That seemed like a pretty nice young man back there,” he replied, causing her to look up. “Maybe it wasn’t all bad.” Then he smiled at her in the review mirror.

  “He was just being helpful to a helpless idiot.” She snorted out a laugh then rolled her eyes.

  The driver turned his eyes back to the road, shaking his head lightly at the young woman in the back seat. He smiled at her as she was getting out, and then told her that things would be better in time, that she just needed to pick better friends. Sky nodded then made her way back to her ap
artment, where she made herself a cup of hot chocolate, then crawled in bed with her two cats, Holiday and Doc.

  ***

  The following Monday, Sky walked into work at the ladies clothing store with the full intention of giving a few people a piece of her mind. What she got was the shock of her life. She had worked in that store for four years and not once had she ever had a male caller. But, there he stood, a tall hunk of, ‘I can’t figure out what he wants with a girl like me,’ she thought. Sky had her hair up in a clip like she did every day for work, glasses on the edge of her nose, a horrid crop-top blue dress on, and not to mention the ugliest blue flats known to man.

  Anthony was holding a vase full of red roses in his hands, with an ear to ear smile on his face. He was wearing a nicely fitted pin striped black suit, with a black silk shirt and no tie. His hair was slicked back giving it the appearance that he had cut it. He set the flowers down on the counter and walked to where she stood frozen and kissed her on the cheek. Every female that she worked with, especially the two that had treated her so badly the night before, stared with utter amazement at the actions of the tall dark stranger.

  “How did you find out where I worked?” she asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose, avoiding his gaze all together.

  “I have my ways,” he replied, taking an oblong box from the inner pocket of his jacket. “I wanted to wish you a happy birthday.” Then he handed the box to her.

  “I can’t take this, Anthony.”

  “You can and you will. I want you to have lunch with me today,” he said, lifting her chin with one of his fingers, getting ‘awes’ out of more than one of the girls that were watching.

  “I can’t go with you looking like that. I mean, me looking like this, are you crazy? Besides, I don’t even know your last name,” she whispered, blushing at the very thought.