“Your wing!” Kian reacted in shock. Then a soft cushion of feathers folded beneath my back and wrapped around my chest. Warmth. Somehow, the exhausting pain lessened.
“Tear off the other one! Now! Before she is dead,” Nathaniel demanded, and I heard Kian whimper just before there was the sound of another popping tear. The second wing felt warm on my body, wrapped around me like a baby blanket.
“Arghhhhh.” Nathaniel shrieked. The pain must have been agonizing as the blood drained from his sides, his back and his neck. Within seconds I heard him no more.
“Nathaniel!” Krysta and Kian cried out his name as they withdrew from my presence.
“What have you done to her?” Samuel screamed. He must have broken away from Jacob, because I heard his footsteps pound closer to me.
“Saving her life.” Kian declared.
“Ali! Ali!” Samuel put his hand under my neck as his tears fell over my eyelids and cheek.
Krysta, Kian and Jacob grew silent.
“Ali!” Samuel’s head fell to my chest to hear my heartbeat as blood began to vehemently churn in my veins. Energy surged through my bones and cracked my back into place. A radiant glow engulfed me. The soreness of my neck alleviated as I moved my fingers over the holes the fangs had left.
As my fingers touched the openings, they healed and sealed up beneath newly forming skin. The wings wrapped around me, fused beneath my arms, and became like my own limbs. I felt warm...like the sun. I had never felt more energized, like every sickness, cold, or injury I ever had vanished inside this perfect form. This perfect angelic creature that became...ME.
“Ali? Are you alright?” I heard Samuel’s sigh of relief when my fingers moved over my neck. Opening my eyes I saw my brother first, and then I glanced at Kian, who was still hanging over Nathaniel’s deplumed body. Jacob held Krysta as she sobbed.
Using my hands to push me upward, I stood erect, and the wings that used to belong to Nathaniel fluttered on either side of my body.
“Ali, your eyes!” Sam looked flabbergasted at my appearance.
“What?” I shrugged.
“Your eyes are silver-violet.”
I moved my arms to hug Sam but found my wings in the way. “I have wings!” I must have looked perplexed and pleased at the same time.
“Yes, you do.” Jacob assured me that he saw them too.
“What happened to you? What are you?” Samuel’s brows quirked and his expression looked grave as he took a step backward.
“She is like us now,” Kian told him.
“A demon thing!” Sam snapped.
“An angel.” Kian answered matter-of-factly. I guess it was best Sam learned the new facts quickly.
“Why? What did you do to her?” Sam batted his hands as he talked as if he could throw a punch.
“Calm down, Sam!” I defended Kian. “I was going to die! Nathaniel saved me! I would have died if he had not given me his wings!” I turned to Nathaniel lifeless body on the ground and whispered his name. The sacrifice he made sat heavily on my mind. Nathaniel was dead. He died to save me. I fell beside his body and waved my — his wings — over him. My forehead rested on his chest. Kian laid his hands over my shoulders as he stood behind me. Krysta stayed in Jacob’s comforting arms. Samuel remained dumfounded for some time while watching us, me. Or at least what used to be me.
Sam mulled over this angelology and retorted, “So, if Ali is an angel now and not human,” he gulped, “then what does that mean for Dameon? I mean, he is still out there!”
Kian rubbed his forehead before answering. “Because Ali’s human form no longer exists, Dameon has regained his Essence power. He will have felt the power shift as we all did. He might actually believe she is dead.”
“So, he will leave her alone?” Samuel’s eyes lit up brightly.
“Possibly, but he still has you to contend with to regain his full Essence.” Jacob interjected.
“So...how come Dameon was so strong anyway? I thought if a demon loses Essence he becomes weak.” Samuel quirked his brows.
“Dameon is weaker than he should be, but then so am I,” Kian answered, “and so is Jacob, Krysta and...” He glanced at Nathaniel and grew silent.
Jacob finished. “Besides, Dameon is one of the strongest demons since he is the prince, the son of the demon king Azrael. His strength will be greater than all other demons.”
Samuel nodded, assuring us he didn’t have any more questions, but I knew Mom was heavy on his mind. What would we tell her? Would I have to hide my wings from her forever?
Eventually quiet encased all of us and we had nothing else to distract our attention away from the fact that our friend, an angel, lay dead in the grove before us. Turning in Nathaniel’s direction, we stayed like that for at least ten minutes in silence before we heard a giggling couple strolling along the trail, yards from us. “We had better get out of here before someone sees us.” Kian warned.
“You won’t say anything to your cop buddies, right?” Jacob stared Samuel straight in the eyes. “We don’t need any heat on our paranormal activities.”
“I have to admit the thought crossed my mind. But I can see we would be in way over our heads. Besides, I don’t want more demons fixed on killing humans to regain their Essence.”
“Good. Then we can trust you to keep this, us, a secret,” Jacob concluded, and Sam nodded with a tug on his baseball cap.
“We didn’t kill Dameon. He is still out there,” Kian fumed. Kian must have felt defeated in a way. Dameon escaped. Nathaniel died. And I almost died.
“So much for plans,” Krysta responded.
“Yeah.” Jacob rolled his eyes.
“But I did figure a few things out,” Krysta reasoned.
“What?” Jacob let go of her as her tears eased.
“I’ll have to tell you all later, in private.” Krysta glared at Sam and me.
“No, I am as much as part of this as Ali is, as any of you are. Ali risked her life to help you, and I risked my life too. We deserve to know what you know. This is our war now, too,” Samuel fought tooth and nail.
“He is right,” Kian agreed. “Besides, anything you tell me I will tell Ali eventually anyway.”
“And I’ll tell Sam.” I lifted my head from Nathaniel’s chest.
“Fine,” Krysta huffed.
“What is it?” Kian pried himself away from me to stare at Krysta.
“I think there is a bigger reason why Azrael is a Were and Dameon is Fanged.”
“Yeah?” Jacob listened intently as Krysta continued.
“The two creatures who attacked Ali were newborns. Newborns raised to kill humans.”
“What does that mean?” I asked naively.
Kian processed the information quickly and turned to me. “I think what Krysta is trying to say is that Azrael and Dameon are building an army of newborn Weres and Fangs.”
“But why?” I pushed myself up from Nathaniel. Dirt stained my fingers and nails.
“To kill the remaining angels and take over Manhattan,” Jacob interjected like a sage.
We all exchanged glances before Jacob walked over to Nathaniel’s body. “We will take him home now to be buried in peace.” Jacob lifted Nathaniel with Krysta’s help.
“And I’ll take you two home,” Kian told me as I watched Nathaniel disappear into the sky on his last flight, suspended between Jacob and Krysta. That would be the last time I ever saw Nathaniel, but I’d never forget him.
Aftermath
Took me a week to figure out how to work those wings of mine. Kian stayed with me every day and every night, unknown to Mom. He’d push the wings in underneath my arms and fit them into the slot of skin on my sides. I guess every angel had skin like this, opening and shutting under their arms to allow the wings to enter and exit the body. But it felt weird to me.
One night I couldn’t draw my wings into my skin, and I fell onto my bed too exhausted to try again. When I awoke, the wings had naturally inserted themselves inside my for
m. I figured I just didn’t have to try so hard. Kian being there helped a lot. When I finally mastered the control of my wings, I wanted to resume as much normalcy as I could. I still had no idea how to fly, but figured that would come in time. Flying was not my main priority now; I wanted my life back. After everything I’d been through, I deserved it.
I decided to return to Millennium High School. Mom looked pleased. Samuel struggled with the notion of not having me locked up in the house where he could watch me and know I’d be safe. After all, Dameon believed me dead, and if I continued to show myself around the city, it would not take him very long to figure out that I was still alive.
“Be careful is all I’m saying.” Samuel tugged on my shoulder before I bolted through the front door.
“I will be, Sam. You don’t have to worry.” My face squished like it does when I half-lie.
“But I do have to worry. What if Dameon is back at school? Or on the streets? He’ll see you.”
I placed my hand on the beige wildfowl cap hiding all my hair. As I took off the hat, I waved my head back and forth, and my recently dyed hair fell over my breasts. “That is why I went blond.” I slipped on a pair of sunglasses and puckered my cherry lips. “I’m ready for war.”
“Wow, Ali. You looked completely different.”
“I know, right?”
“How are you getting to school?” Sam worried, and the creases in his forehead thickened.
“Jennifer is picking me up as usual. Mol will be there, too.”
“So the gang is back?”
“Yep.”
I took a step onto the porch before Sam stopped me again. “Don’t you think hanging with Jen and Mol will be a dead giveaway? It would be smarter to lay low.”
“I will lay low, Sam. But I can’t just ditch my best friends for the rest of the year. They are the only close friends I’ve got.”
“Fine, but just...”
“I know, be careful.” I pulled my arm from his grip as Jennifer honked her horn. I raced up to meet her and hopped into the slippery leather backseat.
“Damn, Ali! You didn’t tell me you were going platinum blond!” Jen reacted with a jerk of her head. Molly whipped around and grinned.
“What happened since last time we saw you, anyhow?” Molly retorted in jest. “Another break-up.”
“No, no. Nothing like that,” I told them.
“Kian likes blonds better?” Jennifer added to the antics.
“No, I just wanted a change is all...and I’d prefer you don’t make such a scene about this. I don’t want to be the talk of the school.” I pulled my hair into a ponytail and tied it there.
“Well, your hair does look nice, different is all, but nice.” Jennifer used diplomacy well.
“I’m just dying to find out what brought about the change,” Molly insisted.
“Enough about me. What have you two been up to? I haven’t seen you guys for a while.” I changed the subject. Jennifer loved talking about herself.
As the sedan drove the familiar roads heading to Millennium High I felt like maybe I could get through this year after all.
Jennifer went first. “Well, remember Michael Cross?”
“You mean the soccer player in your second period class?” I clarified.
“Yep, that would be the one.”
“What about him?”
Molly jumped in. “Jen and Michael are going to prom together!”
“Molly, I wanted to tell her!” Jennifer snapped.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” Mol bounced in her front seat.
“That’s great news! I knew he liked you.” I supported her with a tug on my sunglasses. As we approached the high school, I wanted to remain as disguised as possible.
When we hit the parking lot, Molly continued, “I think I will be going stag. Who needs a date anyway?”
“You’ll find someone.” I threw my arm around her neck. “Someone worthy of your quirky sweetness.”
“Well, I’m content just being there with my two best friends,” Molly defended her bachelorette status. “As long as you two are there, I’ll have fun.”
I pecked Molly on the cheek, and that is when I saw it. A silver angel necklace looped around her neck.
“Where did you get that necklace?” I reacted with a rather curious-suspicious tone.
Mol wrapped her pinky around the silver cord. “You mean this?”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen you wear it before,” I added.
“Oh, Mom gave it to me just yesterday. She said it used to be Gramma’s necklace when Grams roamed with the gypsies. Then when Grams died, Mom kept the necklace in her jewelry box. Mom said she wanted me to have it now.”
“Oh.” My mind circled with unanswered questions. Why now? Did Mol’s gypsy relatives know something about the paranormal world? Better yet, did Molly’s mother? Or Mol herself? I wanted to know the answers to these questions, and yet how could I ever ask? I couldn’t just ask Molly or her mom if she knew about the angels and demons wandering the streets of Manhattan.
But something told me Molly knew more than she let on.
At the front doors of Millennium High I parted ways with my two best friends in the whole world. Walking up the halls of my high school again felt nostalgic and yet foreign. I hardly felt like the same person. Really, I wasn’t the same person. At my locker, combination 17-75-7, I noticed the locker to my left sat unopened, unoccupied.
Suddenly, a blond haired junior with a hint of a mustache and deep blue eyes threw his hand over the vacant locker. “Hey! I’m Chris.”
His blond curls bounced on his head like a shampoo commercial as I smiled politely. “I’m Ali.”
“I’ll be using this locker now. I was told the previous owner moved or something.”
“Yeah,” I shrugged, “I guess he did.” I sighed in relief. Maybe Millennium High would remain safe, at last until prom, which, by the way, I still had no date for.
“Well, I’ll see you later. Gotta get to class.”
“Yeah, sure. Later.” I bit my lip in thought. I wondered where Dameon would be spending his time now.
As I turned from my locker with my NOOK and notebook in hand, Kian stood before me, stopping me in my tracks.
“Something wrong?” I gripped my NOOK.
“No, nothing.” Kian grinned. “I just wanted to see my girlfriend to her first class back at school.”
“Oh, good.” I slipped my hand into his, and this time I didn’t feel a struggle within Kian. “I thought you were going to tell me Dameon re-enrolled or something.”
“Nope. Dameon won’t be a problem at this school any longer, at least as long as he believes you’re dead.”
“We’d better keep up that ruse then, huh?” I jested with a wink.
“Love your hair by the way. Do it yourself?” Kian stroked my back and then curled his fingers over my neck.
“Yes, I did. Thanks.”
Kian drew my head close to his with a twist of his hand and then slid his lips over mine just before slipping his tongue into my mouth. We stood in the middle of the hall French kissing for the first time for several minutes before a student bumped me trying to get through. I wanted to apologize for the rudeness, but my eyes stayed fixed on Kian. I couldn’t believe what Kian had just done.
“French kissing? Isn’t that illegal or something? What about your wings?” I worried with furrowed brows.
Chuckling, Kian whispered, “You don’t understand, do you?”
“Understand what?’
“You are not human anymore. You are like me. Your touch no longer diminishes my wings.”
I stood dumbfounded for a few moments, probably the same way Samuel felt as he stood in the grove watching me become an angel.
“You mean...we can touch, kiss...”
“Yes. We are the same now. The rules exist between my kind and humans only.”
I could have swooned and fallen into his chest. His arms caught me. “So, will you go to prom with me, n
ow that we can touch?”
“Is that why you didn’t ask me earlier? Because we couldn’t touch? I would have said yes anyway,” I told him.
“I didn’t want to take away your only memory of Junior Prom by your being with someone whom you could barely dance with or kiss.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed. “You could have asked me.”
“I’m asking you now. So what is it, Ali? Will you go with me?”
I paused as if there could be any question in my mind, but I wanted him to squirm just a little. “Yes!”
Kian grinned his largest grin, and then he took my hand. He walked me to English class and let me go at the closing door.
“Time for first period. I’ll be here after the dismissal bell.”
“Just like old times,” I teased.
“Except there is no high school demon to contend with,” Kian corrected, puckering his lips. We kissed, and the relationship felt real, like a real boyfriend and girlfriend. For the first time, I could show him how I felt on a physical level, and that felt good.
Walking into English class, I waved goodbye to Kian. As my eyes searched for my seat, I noticed the vacant chair where Dameon used to sit. His absence left me feeling satisfied. I had Kian all to myself now. I would be his AngelGirl and he my AngelGuy, and we would be able to connect on all levels now, not just emotionally. And Dameon would not be here to interfere, at least for now. I wanted to daydream about all the time Kian and I would spend together, discovering each other all over again. But throughout the day I couldn’t shake the itch to ponder all the unresolved problems.
Despite Dameon not being at Millennium High, he would still be in Manhattan, in New York. I would have to watch my back. Newborn demons would be encouraged to become Were and Fanged. The city would be at war. Dameon would be able to sense that Samuel still existed and would stop at nothing to kill him. I would have to learn how to fly and fully control my wings and gifts. What was my gift anyway? I still had that to uncover. And then I would have to fight alongside the angels to put a stop to Dameon and the newborn demons.
***
She Speaks to Angels: YA Angel Thriller (AngelFire Chronicles Bk #1) Page 24