by Lola StVil
I take his hand and force him to stay away from the heap of books and vials. I place my hands on either side of his face and look into his weary eyes.
“I know this has been hard on you. And I know how much you love the Paras. They haven’t lost faith in you. They’re just hurting and afraid. It doesn’t mean they don’t believe in you,” I assure him.
“I can’t let things go on like this.”
“I know but—”
Before I can finish, Bex tackles me to the ground and covers me with his body; a massive ball of blue fire comes at us. Bex is able to roll us far enough away to avoid direct impact. But the tower starts to crumble; everything around us is in flames. We are under attack from all sides by angels with long dark gray cloaks. Bex and I quickly take cover as a mix of fire, Powerballs, and glass rains down on us.
I signal to Bex when I spot a possible exit. We head straight for it, knowing we won’t make it without taking out at least two dozen Paras. Bex is conflicted fighting his own, but you’d never know it based on his attack. His aim is as usual: precise, focused, and lethal. He leaves dead Paras in his wake with his every move.
When a Para with hate in her eyes and a scowl on her lips approaches, I hesitate to kill her. But once she grabs hold of Bex’s wing and tries to sever it in half, I open my palm and drain the life out of her. The nearest Para to her sends a Powerball straight for me. I dodge it, cut through the air, and tackle him before he can take a second shot at me.
The New Order Para pulls my leg out from under me with a swift kick, a kick so hard I hear the bone in my lower leg snap in two. I cry out from the insane pain traveling down my leg. I go crashing to the ground. He stands over me and shakes his head in disdain. He reaches down to the floor and grabs my throat.
“You deserve to die like your bastard brother, Malakaro!” he rages as he sends me flying across the room and into the wall of the now shaky tower. He runs over, ready to strike me yet again.
“If my son had to die, then so do you!” he shouts as he slams his fist into my face. The blood gushes from my face from every opening. The room starts to spin thanks to the continuous blows to my head.
“I’m sorry about your family. I’m also sorry about this…” I yell as I grab the remains of a shattered glass vial and stab him in the chest. He screams, but he doesn’t stop hitting me, so I slice into his chest, and his guts spill out from their casing and land on top of me.
“Daniel, no!” one of the New Order Paras shouts as she watches her fallen friend’s remains spread across the floor.
“ARGHHHHH!” she yells in a frenzy as she leaps towards me.
“Fuck!” I shout, knowing I’m going to have to kill her crazy ass too. I hop to my feet, and a sharp pain in my leg reminds me that it’s broken. I lean on what remains of the wall and try to maintain my balance as the crazy Para comes towards me.
She could have fired a Powerball, but she wants to be up close and personal. Judging from her reaction, Daniel was probably her husband. She grabs me by my hair, flips me over her head, and slams me down to the floor. A large patch of my hair is ripped from its roots. Blood runs down from my scalp and spills over my face.
“Pry!” Bex yells as he takes on six Paras at once.
“I got this,” I promise him.
I ignore the pain and beg her to reconsider attacking me. She curses and tells me she no longer cares about getting Malakaro. She will settle for killing me, because my family is the reason she lost hers.
“Please, think this over,” I beg one last time as the blood drips down into my mouth.
“Die, bitch!” she rages as she pulls on what’s left of the bone in my leg.
“ARGHHHHHH.” The agony can’t be put into words. The pain is blinding and makes my mind foggy. But thanks to the Center, I’m familiar with that kind of pain. In fact, it’s almost a friend. So while I’m yelling, I’m also reaching for the stack of books next to me. I use them to prop me up from the floor. And with my last bit of energy, I flip over and pin her to the ground.
She has far more energy than I do at this point, but I am still more powerful. Before she can get the upper hand, I slam her head into the ground and force her mouth open. I place my palm over her gaping lips and force her to inhale the surge of power coming from my palm. She is literally swallowing death. Soon she stops moving and her eyes go blank. The Para, like her son and her husband, is dead.
I look over, expecting to keep fighting, but there’s no need. Every New Order Para that attacked us in the room has been killed. I look up at Bex, who now stands in a pool of his people’s blood. I want to walk over to him, but with my leg, I can’t even stand up.
“Bex, are you okay? Bex!” I call out. Being forced to kill his own kind has seriously made him out of it. Before I can call out to him again, the team enters the tower. They run in to help me get on my feet. Just as I rise from the floor and lean on Swoop for support, a series of flashing lights emanates from outside the window. We all look into the sky and find two moving images, side by side, playing out in the air.
In the first image, taken minutes earlier, Bex is killing a member of the New Order by snapping his wings off and blasting a Powerball into his chest. In the second image, Bex and I are on the beach. I’m straddling him and we’re having wild, all-consuming sex. Above the images one word is written:
Traitor.
Everyone in the room is rendered motionless as they watch the images play on a loop. I know it’s a mistake; still, I can’t help but turn to Aaden. When I look into his face, I see the pained, angry expression of someone who has just been bitterly betrayed.
Chapter Nine:
More Of A Curse
After spending the night being treated by the Healers at the clinic, the team and I head home to the safe house. Bex wanted to come with us, but he had to stay and figure out where security failed. The fact that the New Order found us in the black tower meant that someone had tipped them off. More and more it’s looking like someone on his team is hell-bent on destroying him.
As soon as we enter the house, the Face bombards us with questions. By now everyone in the angel world has seen the beach footage. And everyone has something to say about it. I’m so tired; I can’t bring myself to be annoyed with all the judgment. I just want to shut my eyes for a few hours. So while the team updates Randy, I head to my room.
“No you don’t, missy! Explain yourself!” the Face demands.
Seriously?
“Can we do this later? I need to Recharge,” I reply.
“What you need to do is learn the meaning of the word leadership. With everything that’s happening, I can’t believe you are out there, carrying on like that!”
“Like what?” I ask.
“You know what. You were having intercourse in the middle of a public area with a Kon! I’ve never heard of anything so outlandish!”
“It’s six in the morning; that’s a little too early for slut shaming, isn’t it?” Diana replies.
“I am doing no such thing! I simply ask that Pryor behave like a leader and not like an extra in a Beyoncé video.”
“Um…did the Face just say ‘Beyoncé’?” East asks Randy.
“Yup,” Randy replies.
“Okay, just checking,” East says.
“I really don’t want to talk about this right now,” I tell her yet again.
“Well, you’re going to have to. What does it say about me that I let you go wild in the streets?” the Face asks.
“To be fair, it wasn’t the street. It was the shore,” East says.
“Not helping,” I snap at him.
“Do you think you can tone down the judgment a little?” Diana asks.
“This is not about Pryor being involved with the Kon. This is about the way she chose to display herself in public.”
“We were attacked. Bex may have a traitor on his team. Malakaro has the five vials. And all your stupid box can do to help us is tell us to keep Randy away from a butterfly. Yet all y
ou care about is my naked ass on a beach? Really? Really?”
“Again, to be fair, there was a little more than just your ass. I mean, I saw Pryor’s—”
“What? You saw her what?” Aaden demands, livid.
“Ahhh…nothing. I saw nothing. In fact, I don’t even remember what we were talking about,” East says as he hides behind Randy.
“What happened between the Kon and his… girlfriend is no one’s business. The New Order was out of line. They are the ones to blame. No one else,” Aaden says sternly.
“Um…thanks,” I reply.
He glares at me and walks out of the house.
I turn my attention back to the Face. “Can I go now?” I ask.
“Fine. But in the future, all I’m asking for is a little discretion. We do not have intercourse on a beach, on the side of a mountain, or…on a rooftop,” the Face says pointedly to Diana.
A few hours later, I make some calls and put together what I hope will be an amazing day for Bex. He needs to relax, even if it’s just for a few hours. I talk my plans over with Swoop, and she agrees—he’s in need of a break. Bex, however, isn’t the only guy who could use one. I spot Silver as he enters the safe house, fresh off patrolling the area for demons and New Order assholes.
“Hey, how’d it go?” I ask.
“Fine,” he says, not looking at me.
“Hey, I know it’s awkward and stupid, but I think we should talk about what happened. I can’t stand the thought of you and I avoiding each other.”
“We work together, Pry. Avoiding each other isn’t really an option,” he reminds me.
“Yeah, I know. I just mean that I want us to be able to talk and to be honest with each other.”
“You want me to be honest with you about how I felt when I saw what was on that screen?”
“Yes.”
“No, Pry, you don’t. Trust me. You don’t,” he warns. He walks out of the room, and as I start to go after him, Diana stops me.
“Don’t go after him,” she says.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t have what he wants.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I demand.
“Pryor, he wants you. He wants your heart. Can you give him that?”
“No…”
“Then let him go.”
“So can you fix him?” I snap.
“No.”
“Was he the one you were on the roof with?”
“No.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because you’re my friend,” she says, sounding hurt.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“I don’t have to be the one that goes after him. It could be Swoop or East. It could be anyone—”
“Anyone but me,” I conclude.
“Yeah.”
“You’re right,” I reply as I shove my hands deep inside my pockets and lower my head as she pats me on the shoulder.
“Diana!”
“Yeah?”
“Tell him I’m—I mean…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him. I promise,” she says as she opens the door and walks out of the house. I watch her and Aaden talk on the front steps. I listen quietly and remind myself that Aaden’s heart is no longer in my hands.
“For the record, she wanted to be out here with you, but I told her not to,” Diana says.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
“You know what always impressed me about you?” he asks her.
“Yes…” she says, smiling suggestively.
He laughs out loud and shakes his head. “No, not that, although that really is a skill,” he teases.
“Okay, if not that, then what?”
“You were always up-front with me. If I was being a jerk, you’d come out and say it. No games. No bullshit.”
“It’s what I do,” she says, shrugging her shoulders.
“I need you to tell me if I’m…losing it,” he says.
“Are you kidding? Silver, you are bat-shit crazy. You lost it the moment you fell in love with Pry.”
“Thanks,” he says sardonically.
“At first I thought that was a bad thing—love at first sight. But actually, it’s a little amazing.”
“How’s that?”
“The first mark Sparks made on my skin to let me know she was inside me, I fell in love with her—hard.”
“Yeah, I remember seeing your markings for the first time. Love doesn’t even begin to describe it,” he says.
“So it’s okay that you’re crazy about Pryor and you fell in love at first sight. I’ve watched you go from a raging, pissed-off demon to an incredible caring, attentive father. Share with someone. The Center imprisoned you. It took years, but you broke free. But now you’re entering a prison of your own making, and it’s hard to watch. Silver…let go.”
Later that afternoon, I try to put Diana’s conversation with Aaden out of my mind. After all, today is about making Bex feel better, Bex and no one else.
Then maybe you should stop thinking about Aaden, Pry…
As we take off into the sky, Bex tries every trick in the book to get me to tell him where we’re going, but I refuse. He finally gives up when he realizes that I’m serious about not ruining his surprise. I take him to one of the snowiest places on earth: Glacier National Park in British Columbia. Snowcapped mountains, gray gloomy skies, and bone-chilling wind surround us.
Bex thinks we’re going to stop on one of the nearby mountains, but we don’t. We head several miles past the tourist area to a remote mountaintop where there are no humans in sight. When we land, Bex can’t believe his eyes. We are right in the middle of a frozen mini city.
“You had someone create The City of None in the snow?” he asks.
The City of None was Bex’s favorite game when we were kids. It’s a real-life video game. The city is filled with demons, monsters, and traps. The object is to make it out of the city alive and get to the human who has been kidnapped. This game was fun because there were no real consequences. If we lost, we just started the simulation over again. No one got hurt; there was no pain or grief to follow.
“I called in a few favors. Now, remember the rules: The town is a no-fly zone. So we will both be grounded until we get past the city limits.”
“What’s the goal?” he asks.
“You see that woman over there?” I reply, pointing to the hologram of a middle-aged woman with dark hair three mountains away. She’s hanging off the side of the mountain and shouting for help.
“If I remember correctly, the last time we did this, I beat you,” Bex says.
“Wow, the cold and snow must be playing with your head because I remember it was a tie. We got to the human at the same time.”
“Like hell. I won,” he says.
“Tell yourself whatever you want, but as soon as the bell goes off, you’re done!” I warn him as I press the icon on my cell and activate the game. The bell goes off. Suddenly the mini city is active with holograms of humans, demons, and raging beasts.
“You really want to do this? I’m not gonna go easy on you just because you’re my girl,” he counters with a smile.
“Don’t worry about me. In fact, being that you’re a guy, maybe I should give you a head start. You know, to be fair.”
“You’re going down, Noru!”
“Blah, blah, blah, Kon. Bell rang, move your ass!” I laugh as we both charge towards the frozen city.
He takes off and heads east while I head west. Right away he’s blasting at the demons and taking down monsters with multiple heads.
“Show off!” I shout.
“Jealous?” he teases.
“You wish, Kon,” I reply as I take on three demons with the power in my palm.
For the next few hours, we blow things up, save pets from trees, get crying babies to their moms, and help old ladies get across the street. We also manage to kill the demonic bull and three-headed serpents that pop up. When we make it
out of the city, we then take to the air and head for the “human” who needs to be saved.
Bex is about to land before me. Once he does that, he’ll save the human and win. I can’t let that happen, so as soon as I land, I fake an injury and cry out. Right away, he halts and flies over to me.
“Pry, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asks as he kneels over me.
“I am now!” I reply with a smile as I quickly get up, run past him, and head for the human.
“Cheater!” he shouts as he races towards me. Just as I’m about to reach for the human, he tackles me and we playfully wrestle to the ground. I try to get to the human, but Bex is on top of me and won’t let me get away. I gather a thick ball of snow and shove it in his face.
“Alright, Noru, you asked for it!” he says as he grabs a mountain of snow between his palms and shoves it down my shirt. I squeal with shock as the cold spreads down my body.
“You want to do this, Kon? Let’s do this!” I laugh. We spend the next half hour in an intense, very “serious” snowball fight. Bex gets a win when he sends a snowball right at my face. It was perfect timing because I was laughing and the snow went right into my mouth. Which makes me laugh even harder. My teeth are now frozen.
“Okay, okay, I give up!” I laugh as I drop down onto the bed of snow. Bex falls beside me and says he gives up too because he can’t even feel his wings anymore. He looks a few yards away and starts laughing so hard, he can barely speak.
“What? What is it?” I ask with a big smile.
He signals for me to look back at the human who was dangling on the edge of the mountain.
“Wait, where is the hologram?” I ask.
“She fell! We took too long to rescue her,” Bex says, barely able to catch his breath.
“Oh my Omnis, where is she?” I ask.
“She’s down there,” Bex says, pointing to the landing below. The hologram human lies broken on the side of the mountain.
“Bex, look!” I shout as I examine the hologram closer.
“Is she pointing her middle finger at us?!”
“Yup, we’re being cursed out by a hologram,” I reply.
“She’s right to be mad. We suck as angels,” he says.