Jeremy was beside himself. He could barely refrain from yelling that the only motive he had (and it wasn’t even an ulterior one) was to rush back into the restaurant and throw himself at Lili’s feet. Suddenly he frowned. His eyes grew wide as he realized what Allison had just said about their power, and he remembered what Flint had told them about getting “concrete results.”
“I have to go back inside,” he said suddenly, still lost in his thoughts. “There’s something really important I have to ask Flint.”
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said,” Allison retorted. “That guy scares me. He’s too powerful, too charismatic. I won’t be able to resist him for long!”
“I’ll go alone,” Jeremy said curtly. “I hear you, Allison! Lili got inside my head too. She … she hypnotized me.”
“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Allison murmured, still trembling. “He hypnotized me. I felt like a mouse being toyed with by a cat. He finds me amusing now, but at some point he’ll show his claws. And there will be blood.”
“Stay here,” Jeremy ordered her, too obsessed by his idea to listen to her. “If I can find a way to get Flint to follow us, without Lili, I should be able to think straight. I just have to keep from looking at her, and I’ll be OK. I’ll be right back.”
“Jeremy!” Allison yelled, but it was too late. He had already disappeared inside the restaurant.
She waited for what seemed like an eternity, alone in the middle of the street, shuddering whenever one of the living walked right through her Angel body.
Finally, Flint and Jeremy came outside. She quickly fixed her eyes on Jeremy, refusing to look away. As long as she could steer clear of Flint’s fatal charms, everything would be fine.
“I have a big problem, and Flint may be able to help us,” Jeremy explained.
“Great!” Allison said with a quavering voice. She was staring so intently at Jeremy that her eyes began to cross. “Uh, what’s the problem?”
“My little sister is being tortured by a red Angel. I talked to Albert about it, but he told me there was nothing he could do. He’s far less powerful than one of the Ancients, as you so rightly pointed out to him earlier. But Flint has that power, and he thinks he might have a solution. So we’re going to go to my house—I mean, my old house.”
Then Lili sashayed out of the restaurant.
Allison shuddered, without knowing quite why. Strangely enough, even though the girl had been very friendly to them, Allison feared her almost more than Flint.
“Lucius is very upset that we slipped out like that,” Lili said in her deep voice. “But I’m delighted to be part of your little expedition. It’s been ages since I crossed swords with a big red bully!”
Allison gave Jeremy a questioning look, and he smiled back apologetically. It looked as if everything wasn’t going as he’d planned, because Lili was going with them.
But Allison noticed that Jeremy was avoiding Lili’s eyes, just as she was doing with Flint. He had realized how overwhelming her powers of seduction were, and he wanted to remain lucid: Helping his little sister was more important than anything.
Jeremy was about to apologize for having left the table so unexpectedly, when the two Angels once again unfurled their magnificent wings, which made a fascinating noise.
Jeremy was intrigued: The Angels didn’t really need the wings to fly, did they?
Before he and Allison could make the slightest objection, the two Ancients had already scooped them up in their arms and carried them off into the clear blue sky. The air was warm, but they flew so high and so fast that they almost felt cold. Lili carried Jeremy, who was hardly pleased to be cradled like a baby by a girl who was only half his weight. And it was Flint, of course, who carried Allison. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, and Allison looked tiny in his big, muscular arms. Without warning he found himself looking into Lili’s eyes.
“I hope you’re enjoying the flight,” she whispered, in complete control of the situation. “Some people suffer from vertigo.”
Her magnificent wings sliced effortlessly through the air. The sensation was indescribable.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he squeaked, once again overcome by the young woman’s sensuality. “As long as you don’t drop me, everything will be just fine.”
She laughed.
“The first time I flew I broke all my bones! Since then, I don’t think I’ve ever let anyone or anything slip out of my hands!”
That was fine with him, since about the last thing he wanted was to slip out of her hands!
The flight was a bit shorter than he would have liked, and they soon set down on the perfectly manicured lawn in front of Tachini’s mansion. The guard dogs walking nearby seemed more sensitive to the old Angels’ presence than to Jeremy’s, as they quickly began growling nervously.
Night was falling. Jeremy had hardly slept a wink the previous night, but the food he’d eaten must have made up for his lack of sleep, because he felt raring to go.
“Follow me,” he said. “I don’t know if that foul red Angel has arrived yet. It’s still a bit early for him, but he shouldn’t be long. He haunts my little sister—my half sister—every night. My mother has to give her a syrup to help her sleep.”
“Sleeping drugs?” Lili frowned. “That’s hardly ideal. It lessens the Angel’s influence, of course, but she could become addicted to it.”
Jeremy ventured a look at Lili. There was nothing he could do about it: Every time he looked at her, her beauty took his breath away.
“I know, that’s exactly why I need your—” He caught himself. “Why I need Flint’s help.”
“And I told you I would do whatever I could to resolve your problem,” added the centurion with a friendly tap on his shoulder.
When Jeremy looked over at Flint, he realized that Allison, who had a dreamy look on her face, was still holding on to Flint’s brawny arm.
“Allison, are you all right?” Jeremy asked, remembering how she had told him that she was afraid of Flint (it was true that Jeremy couldn’t have known that they would be flying through the sky and the old satyr would carry her in his arms).
Her eyes were clouded over, as if she couldn’t even see straight.
“Allison?” he barked.
She jumped.
“Whu—? Sorry … what?”
“I asked you if everything was all right. Was the flying OK?”
Clearly disconcerted, she passed a shaky hand over her face, released Flint’s arm, and walked over to Jeremy.
“I’m OK. I just kind of blacked out up there. It was weird. We took off and then presto! Here we are …”
Jeremy bit his lip. He was about to ask Flint what he had done to Allison, but then thought better of it. He needed him too much, but he hardly appreciated the fact that the old Angel was using his powers on the girl.
He was surprised when Flint winked at him and said: “Your friend didn’t seem to be enjoying the flight, and because we flew so fast on our urgent mission, I clouded her mind a little bit.”
“Clouded her mind?”
“Yes. With our powers, we can transmit the Mist that we ourselves have eaten to another Angel, who might be too weak to eat on their own, for example. It’s what I did to Allison. I projected some sleeping Mist into her body, and she slept during the flight. She’ll be back to her old self in no time!”
His explanation reassured Jeremy, even if Lili did give Flint an inquisitive look.
“You ‘shared’ some Mist with Allison,” she remarked thoughtfully. “How interesting.”
Flint smiled stiffly. Jeremy wasn’t sure what it meant, but apparently Lili had been surprised enough to point out what Flint had done. Jeremy resolved to ask Einstein about it later. He could only hope the old scientist would have an explanation.
As Allison still looked a bit groggy, he took her gently by the arm, ignoring the sullen expression that flashed over Flint’s face. Lili did the same, giving her old friend an impish grin. Apparently, she g
ot a kick out of yanking his chain. Jeremy couldn’t help but feel somewhat satisfied by this discovery. They walked up the steps to the imposing mansion, and Allison was still too disoriented to put up any fight when they passed through the front door.
Once inside, they walked up to Angela’s room.
“She is absolutely beautiful!” exclaimed Lili when she saw the little girl, who looked tiny in her enormous white bed.
Angela had propped some big fluffy pillows behind her back, and was reading a book. Her brow creased from time to time as she followed the adventures of her favorite hero, Tara Duncan. Jeremy smiled warmly at her. His little sister read some pretty big books for her age! He sat down next to her and stroked her hair.
The sight of them took Allison’s breath away. She hardly knew Jeremy, but here he was showing such unrestrained affection for a child who couldn’t even see him. Even beyond death, he protected the people he loved.
She didn’t realize it then, but it was precisely at that moment that she fell in love with him.
Jeremy had been right: The horrible red Angel hadn’t arrived yet, but after just a few minutes he passed through the ceiling and floated above the bed, paying absolutely no attention to who was in the room. A sickening wave of power began to spread through the room, and Jeremy jumped to his feet, suddenly feeling nauseous. Angela tensed up on her bed, uneasy now.
He began gloating greedily, already relishing the thought of all the terror he would soon be devouring, when finally he noticed the two old Angels. His gaping maw spread into a horrible grimace, but Jeremy could sense the fear in his crazed eyes.
“What are you doing here?” he roared. “She’s mine! ALL MINE!”
Then he began yelling “MINE! MINE! MINE!” like a wild animal.
Flint cocked his head to one side, clearly amused by the spectacle.
“He’s completely mad,” Lili noted with bemusement. “How shall we proceed, my dear Flint?”
“We can’t make him leave.”
“No.”
“But we can do even better.”
“Yes.”
Neither Jeremy nor Allison could understand what they were talking about, but Flint and Lili knew exactly what they were doing. In unison, they turned toward the red Angel and extended their hands.
The bloated monster made a horrible grimace and bared his teeth at them.
“You think you two old dinosaurs can scare me? You can’t do anything to stop me! I’m going to drive her crazy, and you—”
Something shot out of Flint and Lili’s hands, something impossible for Jeremy to see, but it slammed into the red Angel like a jackhammer. His face was twisted in a horrible grimace of agony, and his eyes bulged in their sockets.
Suddenly he smiled. A gluttonous, nauseating smile.
“Oh yeah!” he growled. “Oh yeah, that’s good, gimme more, more!”
Flint and Lili frowned in concentration, and another invisible wall of force slammed into the red Angel, who toppled over onto Angela.
Jeremy yelled out in fear, but of course the Angel fell right through his sister’s body without harming her. Lili noticed the anguish that had suddenly appeared on the little girl’s face, and she leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“Did you forget to brush your teeth, Angela? Hurry up now; go to the bathroom!”
“Oh,” the little girl said out loud. “I forgot to brush my teeth!”
She set her book down on the nightstand and scampered out of the room, to Jeremy’s great relief. He couldn’t stand seeing that horrible Angel splayed out on top of her.
“Thank you,” he whispered to Lili, noting once again how sensitive the living were to the entreaties of the old Angels—much more than to the pleas of younger Angels, that was sure.
Allison came over and took his hand. He squeezed tightly, comforted for some reason when he felt her small, warm hand in his.
“It’s all so horrible,” she confided in a low voice. “Why would the red Angel do such a thing? And why did he say she’s all mine?”
“He told me the other day that my stepfather was behind his murder. And that he was getting his revenge through Tachini’s daughter. He’s a monster, and he’s completely insane. I don’t doubt for an instant that the weapons trafficker my mom married is capable of having someone killed, but that’s no reason to take it out on an innocent little girl!”
Allison nodded in approval. She was still reeling from the view of the horrible red Angel, hanging above the little girl like some obscene, bloated vampire bat.
“What are they doing to him?” she asked, referring to Flint and Lili.
“I’m not sure,” Jeremy whispered. “But … oh! Look out, he’s starting to move!”
Up until now, the Angel had been happy to soak up each blast from Lili and Flint, growing redder and redder in the process. But now he began to squirm on the bed, and a look of terror came over his bloated face.
“No!” he yelled. “No! Stop it!”
But Flint and Lili kept pouring it on.
“No, no, nooooooooooo! Stop!”
They continued to pummel the Angel with blast after blast—but now it wasn’t pleasure he was feeling, but pain. Horrible pain.
Then he raised his face toward the ceiling and howled so loudly that the dogs outside began barking in response.
A loud “pop!” rang out in the room.
The Angel was gone.
Just like the scarlet-colored Angel that Jeremy had seen disappear the day he passed over.
Exhausted by their efforts, both Lili and Flint looked to be on the verge of collapse.
Jeremy and Allison hurried over in a panic to help, but the two old Angels managed to sit down on the bed.
“Whew!” Lili said, wiping the sweat from her brow. “He certainly was an ornery fellow!”
“Yeah,” panted Flint. “A hard one to root out, that’s for sure.”
For the first time, some wrinkles blemished his smooth, noble face, and he had turned a much paler shade of blue.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to go find us a bite to eat,” he told Jeremy and Allison. “Because I think we’ll be staying put here for quite a while.”
Jeremy sped out of the room, with Allison following close behind. She wasn’t much help, but he did his best to show her how to grab hold of the Mist. He took some from his mother, his stepfather, the cook, and the butler. The resulting Mist was a hodgepodge of all different colors, but he didn’t think the two Angels would care. He was right. They gobbled up the Mist greedily even though they had just finished eating a delicious meal at the restaurant.
“Thank you so much,” Lili finally said, smiling radiantly. “Whew! It’s been quite a while since I’ve drawn so heavily on my reserves!”
“And you, sir, how do you feel?” Allison asked shyly.
Flint left off eating and stared intently at the young girl.
“Would you please call me Flint, my pretty little dove? Sir? Brrr, it makes me feel so old!”
“It’s … it’s a sign of respect,” Allison mumbled. “I just wanted to show you respect. What you can do is so … so impressive, si—” Flint raised his eyebrows and she caught herself: “I mean, Flint.”
Jeremy felt uncomfortable. He could tell Allison was trying to create a psychological barrier between herself and the old Angel, but he was so grateful for what the two Ancients had done that he didn’t want to dwell on it.
“Thank you, thank you,” he gushed. “How can I ever thank you for what you did for my little sister? That was amazing! How did you do it?”
“We force-fed him,” Lili said matter-of-factly. “Flint and I sent him an enormous dose of food. He was already quite ripe, after stuffing himself with so much sadness, hate, and vengeance. It wasn’t as hard as it looked. Of course, it’s much easier for two Angels than one. And you were right, Jeremy!”
“About what?”
“All alone, there was nothing you could do. Only Angels with powers such as ours could
make him disappear.”
Was there a veiled warning hidden behind her bantering tone?
“He … he can’t come back?” asked Allison, still in shock.
“No,” Flint reassured her. “He’s gone for good. One thing is for sure: If Angels eat too much—to greedily or too often—they have the same types of problems as a living person who overeats. They ‘pass over’ more quickly, at a younger age.”
Allison’s eyes opened wide.
“But what happened to him?” she asked insistently. “He looked as if he were suffering terribly!”
“I have no idea,” Flint sighed. “We don’t know what happens to Angels who disappear when they stop eating, any more than we know what happens to those who eat too much.”
All three suddenly grew quiet: Could there be a god somewhere, at some other level, in a third universe?
“I realize it must be frustrating for you,” Lili admitted, breaking the spell. “I’ve been here for quite some time now, and there are still so many mysteries!”
Jeremy only shrugged. That didn’t seem important now. All that mattered was that his half sister had finally been freed of that horrible bloodsucker!
Claire walked into the room and Angela smiled at her. Jeremy couldn’t help but feel sad when he saw the warm smile on his mother’s face. He missed her. He had decided to exclude her from his life after she fell in love with a man he didn’t like. He now realized how stupid and selfish he had been: Behind her high-society appearance, his mother was a warm, caring person. He was happy to see how she dropped her mask with her little daughter.
“Sweetheart! How do you feel?”
Angela wrinkled up her nose.
“It was weird, Mommy. I brushed my teeth and then, for some strange reason, I got up to brush them again! It wasn’t until I’d gotten back to my room that I remembered! And you know how at night, when I go to bed, I always have trouble breathing?”
“Yes, I know dear,” Claire said affectionately. “We even thought it was an allergy, but you’re not allergic to anything.”
“Well, it started again a little while ago! And then it just went away, Mommy. Just like that! Now I feel a lot better!”
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