She Speaks to Angels: YA Angel Thriller (AngelFire Chronicles Bk #1)

by Blackwelder, Ami

  Transitions

  Finally the weekend had arrived, and as I awoke I could see the vague outline of Kian near my bedroom window. With his form in some kind of flux between fog and skin, I rolled to my knees and stared. Wide-eyed like a deer, I must have looked like an amateur to all of this angel stuff. In a way I still felt like one. Despite everything I’d been through, I didn’t know how to defend myself from Dameon; I didn’t know enough about the angel-demon world to keep myself safe. There were so many details I still had to learn!

  Hovering over my carpet in the dim morning, Kian glided toward the bed and laid his translucent hands over the wooden rail. He looked pale and wintery. As his hands became flesh, celestial wings sprawled out behind him and amber eyes shone like a newly lit fire. His angelic appearance made me forget for an instant that I had almost died yesterday.

  Then I blinked and remembered.

  Lunging at him, I threw my fists at him. “Where were you yesterday?” My face flushed hot red. “I could have been killed! Dameon followed me to the dance club!” I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth fast enough. “He nearly strangled me to death!” I could only hope the heated words had been muffled by the door well enough to keep from alarming Mom. “All I hear is what he called me: ‘You bitch!’” Dameon’s voice bellowed in my brain, the words I had heard as I hit my head.

  Kian reached out and laid his hands on my shoulders. “Take a breath Ali. I didn’t leave you alone. I would never leave you...I sent Jacob to watch over you.”

  “Jacob?” My voice lingered between pissed and curious.

  “You haven’t met him, but you will. I trust him completely.”

  “You pawned me off to some other angel? Have you given up on me already?” I fumed irrationally. My cotton pajamas stuck to my skin.

  “No.” Kian shook his head and leaned into me. “I had to be somewhere.”

  “Where?”

  “Another human in danger. She would have died if I had not arrived on time.”

  “More important than me?”

  “Of course not.” Shaking his head, Kian fluttered next to me and wrapped his arms around my shaking body. “Don’t be like this.” I let my head rest against his cheek, and a feather fell from his wings.

  “Then why?” I whined.

  “Because I could help her; all the other angels would have taken too long to get there, and you were not in any immediate danger. Besides, Jacob arrived before I left. He is a strong fighter. Perhaps even better than me.”

  “Who is she?”

  “Just a human in the wrong place at the wrong time. A few muggers wanted her purse, and she fought. They pulled a knife and stabbed her. They would have killed her, too, had I not flown to her aid.”

  I lowered my head, a bit ashamed of myself. Kian had a lot on his plate. He protected the city, not just me, and I had better get used to that fact. I had to share him with the city, or else who knew how bad New York could get?

  His warm feathers felt like embers, not too hot or cold...just right. I basked in his presence for a minute before pulling myself away, and I really had to try hard to pull away. His milky scent and airy influence always kept me returning.

  “So, were you here the whole night...watching me?”

  “Most of the night, yes.” He blushed like he’d seen something he shouldn’t have, and the way he looked at me made my stomach swirl with nervous butterflies. “Sometimes I stayed in the skies.”

  I looked up at him I responded calmly. “Well, thanks.” I bounced off the bed like a jack rabbit and headed to my closet. “So, what are we going to do today?” I brushed my fingers over the various clothes on hangers.

  “Well, I’d like to take you back to my place to meet Jacob, if you don’t mind?”

  “Mind? I’d love to!” I beamed.

  “Well then, I’ll leave you to get changed.” Flitting to the window, he vaporized in micro-seconds. My gaze stayed fixed in awe on his metamorphosis, and then I turned to the closet filled with clothes. Piles of clothes, really. At least twenty pairs of jeans, an eclectic mix of shirts, hats, boots, a few heavy coats, and many sweaters. Too many sweaters to count.

  I yanked out a crimson colored hat and sweater along with a pair of blue jeans and a white wool coat. The air felt chilly yesterday, and I didn’t want to get sick. After all, I had wounds to heal from all the demon-fighting yesterday. More of a demon-beating, but I liked to think I got in a few good punches.

  After showering and dressing, I took a long look at myself in the vanity mirror in my room. I saw a black and blue cheek and an obvious reddish-pink scrape on my forehead and neck. Using foundation and blush, I managed to hide my cheek bruises, and the hat and coat collar hid what the makeup didn’t. I hopped downstairs to kiss Mom and to scarf down my oatmeal before heading out with Kian.

  “Where are you going, and when will you be back?” Kian stood outside the front door in his human guise. I could see the top of his head through the door’s rectangular window.

  “I’m going out with a friend. Just hanging out nearby, and I’ll be back before ten.”

  “Ten tonight?”

  “Sure, Mom; it is Saturday. You let me go to The Edge Friday night.”

  “That was different.”

  “How?”

  “You went with your girlfriends. Girlfriends I know.”

  “Well, maybe you can meet Kian. He’s right outside.”

  She inspected the top of his head through the small door-window and nodded. She walked beside me to the front door, and I swung it open with confidence. Kian smiled a welcoming smile and extended his hand to shake Mom’s.

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Kian. I go to Millennium High with Ali.”

  “You two have been hanging out a lot?” Mom fished to find out how serious our relationship really was.

  “Sometimes, Mrs. Maney.”

  “We hang out at lunch with Molly and Jen,” I told her.

  “I see.” Mom bit her lip. I knew she worried about me since she saw Dameon upstairs with me. She didn’t want me getting hurt. Losing Dad had been hurt enough. “Well, take care of my Ali while you two are out and about.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Kian snapped to attention like a Marine.

  “And have her back by ten at the latest.” Mom sounded firm, more firmly than usual.

  “I will.” Kian took my hand, and Mom glared at our touch as I stepped out of the house.

  When the door shut, I could still feel Mom’s glare on me, on us. “You know she is going to watch us until we are out of her sight,” I commented with a chuckle.

  “I figured as much.”

  “So no vaporizing or morphing,” I joked.

  “I’ll try to restrain myself.” He bumped his hip against mine deliberately and smiled.

  “So are we going to walk the whole way?” I looked down at my expensive Hugg boots and wondered if they’d be spoiled in the streets.

  “No.”

  “Fly?” My eyes caught a passing cloud.

  “No,” Kian stepped off the sidewalk and hailed a passing cab. “We are going to travel New York style.”

  My body shook in laughter as I slid into the backseat of the yellow marked taxi cab. The Indian-descent cab driver raked his fingers through blue-black hair before eyeing us in the leathered backseat. “Where to?”

  “Manhattan, Eagle Lake.”

  “That’s a pretty large family. Any address?” The dark skinned man grumbled, his accent heavy.

  “At the end of North Eagle Lake Rd.”

  My knees leaned toward Kian, and I played with my thumbs as my hands lay in my lap. Turning to Kian, I whispered, “So are you ever going to train me how to fight for myself? After all, Dameon might slip by Angelfire again...and then what?”

  Kian paused, deep in thought as he gazed out the back window. “I will, but first you must learn more about us.”

  I couldn't argue with that suggestion. I’d been wanting to know more about Angelfire since I had heard the name
. I’d only had one opportunity to explore the immense library inside the Angelfire mansion. I hadn’t talked to any other angels besides Kian, his duo, and Sammael, of course. At least, no other angels I’d known to be angels.

  “Will Sammael be fine with me being there?”

  “Yes; he knows you’re coming. No human is allowed inside without his permission.’

  “Oh.”

  “There are only a handful of humans allowed inside Angelfire walls.”

  “More than me?”

  “A couple more.”

  “Who?”

  “An old man of about sixty, Josh Stagger. Sammael met him long ago, during some of the earlier demon-angel wars. Sammael trusts him implicitly. You might see him from time to time speaking with Sammael.”

  “What about?” I tilted my head in Kian’s direction.

  “Survival mostly. Human survival.”

  I swallowed hard. “And who else?”

  “Lucianda.”

  “Who?”

  “She is a close friend of Jacob’s. You will meet her today and learn all about the two of them.”

  “I will?”

  “Sure, unless you don’t want to.”

  “No, I want to.” I said eagerly. “Anyone else?”

  “Nope, just you three. Although we have had a few break-ins over the years. Probably from burglars thinking they could score a rich heist.”

  “What happened?”

  “A broken window now and then. Nathaniel scared them straight.” Kian laughed hard into his hands. “Sammael has improved security since then.”

  “I would hope so!” A dimple formed in my cheek with my half-smile.

  “So how are you feeling since last night?” Kian touched my sore cheek with his pinky; the light caress felt soothing.

  “I have to admit I was shaken up a bit, but I really do feel better now. After a long sleep and warm shower and, well...you’re here. I feel good.”

  “I’m really sorry I wasn’t there to protect you when Dameon hit. We had no reason to think he would be there. Krysta saw him miles away pacing back and forth in an alley, and Nathaniel had his eyes on a few other demons who were also miles away.”

  “I had Jacob,” I told him. “Let’s not quarrel over it. But I am anxious to meet this angel who saved my life.”

  “Yes, we both have a lot to thank him for.” Kian kissed my wounded cheek, and I let my head nestle against his neck as a few feathers plummeted from his covered back to the leather car seat.

  He looked handsome in his black suit jacket and white button-down undershirt. Paired with a pair of blue jeans, he could have been off the cover of GQ Magazine. But instead, he sat here with me in the backseat of a cab. Not on a magazine, not in the clouds, not in his mansion.

  I wrapped my arm around his as the cab stopped in front of Kian’s place, and we stepped out together. Kian handed the driver a stash of cash from the wallet he carried in his back pocket.

  “Thanks.”

  Kian turned away from the cab and squeezed my arm tightly as he walked me to the back entrance. We unlatched arms so Kian could pry open the iron door. I followed him up the iron staircase.

  At the top, I admired the hardwood floor and lone piano in the center of the otherwise empty room. Besides a few statues and paintings, the room looked bare, just as it had the first time I saw it.

  “Angels must not like furniture,” I commented under my breath.

  “We are more minimalistic creatures,” Kian responded as he guided me to the next room, the crimson room. The library looked the same, still a large bookcase filled with encyclopedia-like information about this unknown angel-demon world.

  “Do you mind?” I nudged Kian as I pulled a book off the shelf.

  “No, go ahead. Sammael encourages you to read our histories. This will better prepare you for attacks.”

  I swallowed hard. I never got used to thinking about myself as someone in fights. I never once got into a fight with a student at school. Molly, on the other hand, had fought a few times (at school and on the streets), but me? Never. And now, I had fought with a demon several times. I guess that, next to a demon, fighting a student would be nothing, but I didn’t really want to find out.

  The book I pulled had a black cover with an etched dragon in the center, and it felt ominous just looking at it...as if by opening it, I would allow the whole of the dark legions to come after me. Turning to the first page, I read about how darkness filled the souls of man and sin increased. Angels born of man would be the balance needed to set humanity right again. But then some of the angels relished in the darkness too and turned into demons. A war waged between angels and demons, the former trying to keep the light and the latter trying to overcome the light with darkness.

  The book got a bit deep and used a lot of metaphors and symbolism. I couldn’t be sure exactly how much of the book to take literally and how much to take in allegory. But then, I sat here on the floor of a mansion with an angel in my mist. Who was I to say what was a metaphor and what was not?

  Jacob

  While I sprawled over the floor with my legs spread out and the black book flat in my lap, a tall older man walked into the room from the mysterious mahogany door I had yet to enter. In this crimson colored room, I blended in with my sweater. Strolling up in a nonchalant fashion, he hugged Kian before squatting to meet me eye to eye.

  “You must be Ali. You look different without blood all over you.”

  I half-grimaced and half-smiled as he gave me his hand. Taking his offer, I stood and returned the book hastily to the shelf.

  “You must be Jacob.” I rubbed my dusty hands over my jeans before I shook his hand.

  “At your service.” The red stubble on his chin matched his red curly hair. Aqua-green eyes felt soft and endearing. Nothing about him felt abrasive. His was perhaps the softest angel presence I’d encountered, even compared to Kian, which said a lot about him.

  “I wanted to thank you for saving me the other night. I don’t know what I would have done.”

  “You would have had your hands full...but don’t mention it. That is what I am here for, what Kian is here for. Heck, what we all are here for. To protect humans, especially from demons.”

  “And from other humans?”

  “Sometimes...and sometimes, even from themselves. I can’t tell you how many humans I’ve talked off the ledge. Just a quiet voice in their ear telling them everything will be fine.”

  Jacob wore beige slacks and an off-white cotton t-shirt. For an older man of about forty, he appeared well-chiseled around the abs and arms. Even his legs looked well-toned.

  “Well, thanks. For everything I guess.”

  “So how did you two lovebirds meet, anyway?” Jacob didn’t beat around the bush.

  Kian and I both blushed simultaneously.

  “We’re not...” I stumbled.

  “Not lovebirds.” Kian fidgeted.

  “Sure you are. I can see the amour in the way you two look at each other. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.” Jacob had an accent I couldn’t place; somewhere between French and Italian.

  When I looked at Kian we smiled at each other and maybe for the first time felt completely comfortable about our feelings for each other.

  Jacob continued, “Despite the rules of Angelfire forbidding your intimate touch, the two of you can still spend time together. I know how that longing feels...better than most.”

  “You do?” I could sense that he wanted to tell me his story, a story Kian had to be familiar with already.

  “Ahhh...sweet love. Look at what it has done to me.” Jacob vaporized for a quick second before his flesh transformed into ragged wings and, instead of the usual angel-glow, his skin dimmed. Mossy eyes became emerald in color. The only proof he used to be an angel.

  What stood before me failed in comparison to Kian’s majestic angel form. Instead of fluffy wings, Jacob had arched bare white bones where soft, feathery wings should have been attached t
o his body. The bottom of the bone had a few patches of feathers, and I suddenly felt very sad for him.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I fell in love with Lucianda and lost most of my wings.” I didn’t want to get into the details, but I gathered that Jacob and Lucianda must have touched and been intimate many times to have resulted in such bareness.

  Rubbing his hands over his dull shoulders and arms, he continued, and I felt even sorrier for him, because his color should have been brilliant. “My color is lost because my Essence is weak.”

  “But how?” I shook my head in wonder.

  “I revealed myself to Lucianda, and while I was trying to save her family from a demon, I revealed myself to them. I wanted to become mortal again. I wanted to be with Lucianda. But in the end, the demons killed her entire family and left her alone. Now, she has only me, and I, only her. I have all but lost my wings and my Essence. But my gifts remain. I’ve never harmed a human.”

  Kian interjected, “Jacob is still excellent at hearing and seeing great distances.” He sounded like he wanted to rush over the fact that Lucianda’s entire family had been killed, by demons none-the-less!

  “Her family was killed!”

  “Jacob!” Kian nudged him in the side.

  “Well, her family would have been safe had I not been so insistent in my love for her. My passion brought danger into their lives. I spent too much time with her, and eventually her brother saw me...my angel form. This drew the attention of the demons, because, as you know, once a human discovers the truth of our existence, the entire supernatural world feels the shift of power weaken. If I hadn’t of been so selfish, her family would still be alive today.”

  I wanted to ask more about what happened to the family, but I could see a tear leave a crystal track down his cheek and didn’t want to conjure up past pain. But Jacob volunteered the information.

  “Demons came to the house to kill the brother, and I had to reveal myself to fight them. Two demons! The family saw me and the demons, and more Essence deteriorated in the supernatural realm. Of course, more so with the demons and myself. I saved her brother that day, but the demons returned. I wasn’t prepared, and they killed him. I eventually killed the demons, but not before they murdered her sister and parents.”