Love Lies Bleeding

Love rolled his shoulders and looked up from the waste land before him. He remembered this place. It had been a school back before the fights had started.
There were golden-brown bricks strewn haplessly across what used to be the play ground. Large chunks of the bell tower littered the street, some parts even reaching into the green trees on the other side of the road.

A number of rusted cars had been piled up precariously to create a wall around the barely passable trail someone had created to get through the heaps of rubble, from all the broken buildings.

Love had perched himself atop of the remnants of an old fuel tanker that had crashed into the school gates. It was badly beaten and had a misshapen hole torn into one side.

Must have been some of the few remaining humans. Gathering fuel for cars. Useless, filthy things, are cars.
The humans don't seem to be able to grasp the fact that any member of Damnation could easily catch them, whether they were in a car or not.

Love didn't know much about the group Damnation. When he was briefed by the higher powers they didn't seem to know much either.
Except that they were dangerous.
The seven members of Damnation had somehow brought the world to it's knees in a few short months.
Love's understanding was that they were gathered by some sinister being born from a dark star. Whatever that meant.

This being had traced the land seeking out these twisted creatures with the promise of world domination.
Everything from a failed lab experiment to a demon from the depths of Hell.
And there was no denying, these misfits made quite the team.
Quite the powerful team.
That's probably why Heaven had gotten involved.

The Almighty one had hired a group of angelic beings to combat the seven in Damnation.
And Love was one of them.
Redemption is what they called us. Project redemption, Earths only salvation.
Rather dramatic but hey, Love's always liked a bit of drama.

Love kicked away a small brown rock at his feet as the painful memories flooded back. He always ended up in the middle of some kind of drama. That's how he'd been demoted to this stupid job.

Whatever no time to think about that now. He had to regroup with the others back at base.

Love ran his fingers through his inky black hair and  gritted his teeth in preparation for the onslaught of pain he was about to feel.

Everyone seems to believe that flying is the freest you can be. Like it is the ultimate release.
It's not.
They think you can just spread your wings and float away on the breeze.
You can't.

It's hard work.
You have to keep your wings moving so fast just to hold your body off the ground. And if you stop for even a second, if you miss a single beat....Splat.
Not pretty.

And it hurts. Oh, does it hurt!

Love felt the extra bones between his shoulder blades begin to be pulled by the strong muscles that no human could ever hope to have.
The bones were pulled tighter and tighter until they were pressed firmly under the skin of his back. Then with one deep breath, Love let them pierce through his flesh.
The bones shot out and stood from the now bleeding tears in his coat.

Then something happened that love had never been able to understand. No one had ever been able to explain it.
All he knew is that it felt like all of his bones were being torn out of his body at once and pulled through the two burning holes in his back and pushed out at an incredible speed.

The pain was excruciating and the relief didn't last long. Love had to begin flying.
He moved his now fully formed wings a few times to try and shake off his own blood. Then spread them wide and took off to head for the base.Where he knew the others would be waiting for him.

So they could plan their next attack on the Seven of Damnation.