Of course he was the one to ask. Anything to keep Claire safe. Didn’t he get that I was laying there on the couch not just because of the pain, but because they had asked me to? It would be easy for me to swallow that stinging around my wings and smash him to the ground. I had done it before, I could do it again. “You can’t. Unless you trust that I would have eradicated all of you by now if I’d wanted.” I made it sound a bit more dramatic than necessary, just to shut the guardian angel up, and instantly regretted it as I noticed how Claire cringed away from me. I hadn’t intended to make her feel uneasy.
“I haven’t and I won’t,” I reassured. “I just got all of you back. I won’t risk this by betraying you.”
While the others remained silent, alarmed, as if waiting for Jaden to relax, the guardian angel sat like a statue, eyeing me, reading me. He knew I didn’t have it in me to hurt any of them. Not my family, not Claire, and not him—because it would hurt Claire. When Jaden unfroze, the rest of the room relaxed, too.
“This could be our only chance to get rid of Volpert forever,” he agreed, seeing sense in my proposed plan, now that he had put his over-protective nature aside. See, he could be reasonable. Claire looked at him as incredulously as I did.
“He has been causing this region too much pain. And now that he is after someone important to me—and someone who is important to this someone...” he gave Claire his comforting smile. “We need to make the plan one-hundred percent safe, though. Otherwise, Claire is not going anywhere near that devil. Am I clear?”
He was. His tone went into my bones, resonating with the threatening consequences if we didn’t live up to his expectations…my own expectations. I myself wouldn’t put Claire at risk without having a plan to get her out safely. She was simply the bait.
“We’ll find a way,” Claire was convincing herself mostly, but it did have an effect on me as well. “If I get to keep Sophie safe without having to die in the process, that makes it all the better of a plan.” Her words pained me. She was willing to die for Sophie, the same way I had died for her. And it had been in vain. Volpert was still going after her, despite my sacrifice. And again we were looking for a plan to avoid the darkness. Only, this time, I was part of the darkness, and I could use it as a disguise.
While Ben cringed from the thought, I had learned to be more practical over these past weeks.
“We’ll find a way,” I reassured Claire that we would manage both, to save Sophie and keep her alive doing so.
“One-hundred percent safe,” Jaden pressed.
As if I hadn’t heard him the first time.
A plan would involve me appearing as if nothing had changed, as if I was still the memory-less demon, dependent on Volpert’s guidance.
“First, I need to find a way to make my wings disappear without bleeding out.”
I tried to move, without opening the tears in my flesh. Claire eyed me with a line of concern between her eyebrows.
“Are you still in pain?” Dad rushed to my side, helplessly watching as my injuries kept causing me discomfort.
There was only one way to figure out how far I could go without breaking the wounds open. With a slow movement of my head, I straightened my spine and propped myself up a little bit. It was bearable until the searing pain ran not only through my back but also through my wings. Reluctant to sit through it, I dropped back on the couch with a groan.
“Still does. Not as bad as an hour ago, though.”
Jenna squeezed my arm gently, comforting as she always had when I had been sick as a child. “Maybe in a couple of hours it will be gone completely—”
“Jaden,” while Jenna was still speaking, Liz called to get his attention, a spark of inspiration in her eyes. “You tried healing the wounds with your powers and it worked to a limited degree, right?”
“Correct,” Jaden confirmed and waited for Liz to explain.
“What if you all combine your powers? Maybe together you can overcome that limit.”
Her approach made sense. Hadn’t the demons combined their powers to transfer the life energy of humans into me? If angels and demons were as similar as I’d learned they were, what would speak against trying?
“Why hadn’t I thought of this?” Jaden shook his head at himself, disgruntled that yet again he had to rely on the Latina for aid and information.
“It’s worth a try,” Jenna agreed. “Ben, Chris, shall we?”
While Dad’s hands were resting on my back in an instant, my brother seemed to have doubts.
“Is it safe?” he asked.
“There is no reason why it wouldn’t be,” Liz encouraged with a smile.
Even though I didn’t know that woman, she seemed to have helped my family a lot while I had been gone. I needed to find a way to thank her one day.
“Step back, Claire, Liz,” Jaden instructed as he added his hands, “Adam, are you ready?”
I was. As ready as anyone could be. What should I be expecting? More pain? I nodded.
“On three. One—two—three—”
While I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the pain, suddenly a trickle of warmth ran through my back. It wasn’t the searing sensation from before or the uprooting pressure at the base of my wings. It was a light, comforting feeling. Like a touch of sunlight. While I relaxed under the healing powers of the angels, the flesh seemed to knit back together beside my wings. Energy ran through them, letting me think the feathers would fly off in a blast at any second. The next moment, it was all gone.
Before anyone could speak, I jumped to my feet, testing my balance and glancing around. The room looked as I remembered it. The only difference was the blood stains on the couch where I had laid a moment ago. It wasn’t necessary for me to try to spread my wings, or flex them. I knew I had them under control. Just like before I had died, before anything had ever happened to make me this dark creature.
Claire was staring at me, a blend of awe and fear on her face. I wasn’t sure how exactly I felt about her reaction. Somehow relieved she still looked at me the same as before I had turned dark. But the new look of fear was somehow satisfying as well. It meant she understood that I wasn’t the same, I was dangerous.
“Adam? Are you okay?” she asked when the tension had become unbearable.
“I am.” I moved my wings carefully and flexed my arms, not because I needed to, I knew without further tests that the pain had ceased and I was okay. It was to give the others a sense of comfort when they could witness for themselves that I had control over my body and my wings. “No pain.”
No pain also meant that my body had stopped fighting the symbol of angels—my wings. They no longer threatened to uproot. Whether it was due to my decision to help bring Volpert down in order to save Claire and her sister, or to the angelic energy that had healed me, sealed them, I didn't know.
While the others were watching me with caution, all I saw was Claire. Now that I was finally back in control of my physique, I needed to be close to her. Without a second thought, I skipped to her side and wrapped her in my arms. She didn’t even flinch, despite my unexpected movement. She closed her eyes and cuddled into my chest, emitting warmth, love, comfort. She didn’t judge me for who I was or had become, instead she enjoyed the moment for however long it lasted.
I myself got so caught up in our moment, I almost didn’t notice my brother and Jaden breathing down my neck. They had taken a stance on each side of me, judging me heavily with their looks. While Jaden was worried about Claire’s safety, Ben had another emotion on his sleeve. Above the standard concern about Claire, there was a layer of jealousy. He was dismayed about how close I was to her and he seemed hurt. Almost as if it caused him physical pain how easily she had returned to my arms.
While I was still studying my brother’s multilayered emotions, Jaden claimed my attention, shifting nervously as I didn’t react immediately.
“Adam, please let Claire go.”
I looked at Claire, rather than at the agitated guardian angel, hoping to
find in her eyes if that was what she wanted. She didn’t. It was coming off of her, strong like a tidal wave, that she would rather poison herself than let me go, but there was also insight in the depth of her eyes as she lifted her head and said, “it’s ok.” She glanced at Jaden, avoiding Ben’s gaze, and then back to me. “For now it’s probably safer for all of us if we don’t experiment.”
It was difficult to get my arms to unlock her and slowly let her slide out of my grasp. For a moment, I thought the pain in my back would return. It was almost as if Claire was the one holding me together, not the healing energy of the angels.
“When all this is over, I’ll never let you go,” I promised before I let go, running my fingers down her arms, hoping to have another second or two where I was touching her. Her heart accelerated at my words, or my touch, I couldn’t tell, and the way she reacted made me wish I had a heartbeat which could mirror hers.
21
Plan
“So, what’s the plan? How do we get rid of Volpert?” Claire asked in a voice too cheerful for the danger involved in the situation.
While I was still trying to figure out the details, I remembered the priorities. First things first. My wings had to disappear before I could make any promises.
“Adam?” Jaden disturbed my focus and I blinked, hoping he would disappear, but he didn’t.
So, under the stare of six people, I tried to retreat my angelic attachments back into my demon body. My muscles remembered how they’d done it before I had died and I let them do their job, giving control to my instincts. With the slightest movement, the wings flapped and then the weight on my back disappeared.
“That was easy.” I was both surprised and relieved. One less thing to worry about. There still were countless others. Top of the list: Volpert’s vengeful nature. If, for one second, he suspected my betrayal, I wouldn’t live long enough to warn my angel family. “Volpert—we need to make him believe that Claire figured it out by herself.” I was referring to her Thompson bloodline. “He can never know I have my memory back. If he finds out I betrayed him, we’ll all be dead.”
“Well, that’s something to cheer us up,” Ben commented, still the same chilly expression on his face.
“Ben, be nice. We are family, we support each other,” Jenna hissed from behind me, embarrassment for Ben’s behavior driving her to be harsher than intended.
As a result Ben let himself drop on the couch, scowling. I wondered what was the real reason he was so upset: that he wasn’t sure I could be trusted or that I was back alltogether. He was emitting that weird claim on Claire, which I had never felt from him before. Attraction, yes, but this was different. What had happened while I’d been gone?
“How do we make him believe I figured it out on my own?” Claire stayed focused on the plan, rescuing me from making Ben speak.
“Lucas Baker.” I shot out, without letting my own guilt in his death interfere. For some reason, Claire felt oddly guilty as I brought up his name. “The demons don’t know how much he shared with you before they got him—just that he knew and that he shared something with you.”
She seemed to understand without further explanation and nodded.
“How can I contact Volpert? I assume not through you, or he’ll suspect something fishy...”
Claire was quick. Even smarter than I’d remembered. She was thinking of everything. She was right, Volpert would get suspicious if I delivered the message. She had to be the one to do it, and hopefully, he'd fall for the bait.
“The phone—” Jaden was the one to say it before I could suggest it. “Maureen contacted you from a cell. You could text that number.”
He was right. Maureen was still devoted to Volpert. Despite everything she had said to me, that she had supported me after I had failed to kill Claire… It became more and more obvious that she was playing her own game in this story, but the goal was the same as Volpert’s. A Claire-less world was a better world. She would be the best channel to connect with Volpert and deliver a message in a way that he’d believe it truly was a chance to get rid of Claire once and for all.
I nodded at the others, approving of their idea with a smile, and at the same time, my stomach squirmed as I imagined how Volpert would turn the request for a meeting with Claire over and over until he was one-hundred percent certain it was real. And he would think of at least ten safety options in case the one who was supposed to kill her failed, or failed again if he intended to use me as a weapon—he probably would. And I would have to go along with it, whether I liked it or not. I would have to act as if I wanted to harm the innocent girl, the love of my life, the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.
“You’ll suggest for him to meet you in the graveyard. That’s a place he’s familiar with. He’ll feel safe there,” I voiced the first option of making the meeting bullet-proof for our side, hoping to install risk management into the plan.
“Okay,” Claire agreed, eager to go through with it, now that her mind was set. For once, her over-protective guardian angel wasn’t trying to talk her out of it.
Her determination was as much of an asset as my inside knowledge about the demons. Together we might actually be able to fool them. What saddened me was that for her it wasn’t about her own survival, but the safety of her sister. She would go to any lengths to protect her. And I would go to any lengths to protect Claire.
“I’ll make sure Volpert comes alone to meet you,” I promised the one thing I’d never thought I’d want. “Of course, I’ll be there. He still has this obsession with me being the one to kill you.”
That was the one flaw Volpert had. His quest for revenge made him blind. If I managed to fool him long enough that he’d take me to the graveyard, I’d be there to protect Claire. Even if it meant dying in her place.
“The rest of you need to be ready to teleport in. You’ll need to be close enough to hear the conversation, but far enough away so that Volpert won’t sense your energy.” And as I spoke the words, it hit me, like a predator lurking in the shadows, jumping right at me. Their lights, their souls, one of them brighter and more beautiful than all the others. My face distorted as I fought to maintain control over my hunger. When it almost tore me apart, I couldn’t stand to look at her any longer. The floor was a nice alternative. No light there. I bit back my urges and tried to focus on the plan instead of the idea of ripping Claire’s soul from her body.
“You’ll wait and make sure we are alone, and then you strike him down quick. He is extremely dangerous—ancient and stronger than any demon I’ve seen.”
The thought didn’t make me feel any better. Instead of fighting my hunger, now I was fighting the sense we were trying to solve a hopeless cause, and I had suggested Claire face the enemy. Human, weak Claire. I wanted to hit my forehead with the palm of my hand but hid my insecurity behind a strong facade. Claire needed me to be tenacious. They all did.
“If he’s that strong—how are we going to defeat him?” Ben asked.
“The same way you healed Adam’s wounds,” Liz reminded us she was still there, presenting a solution to something which had seemed impossible a second ago. “You work together. Combine your powers and you’ll defeat him.”
My mood brightened.
“All of us,” Dad warned my brother, as he grmpf-ed on the couch.
I ignored his mood and instead focused on preparing to face Volpert. Without holding Claire in my arms, I was free to check again if my wings were still up to do my bidding. Intuitively, I knew everything was fine with them, but they still felt like a heavenly foreign body, too good for a demon.
Claire eyed me as I spread them, slowly folded them, made them disappear, and did the same thing again. There wasn’t any resistance in my anatomy. As I flexed them, I wrapped them all the way around my body, the way I had once done when I had embraced Claire. I watched the black feathers move against the warm air. Black. A symbol of my non-existent soul. Sadness overcame me.
“You alright, son?” Dad asked, observ
ing me with caution and wonder.
I nodded. I had to be. If I wanted to make sure Claire came out of this alive, I had to keep my calm. Luckily, my rational mind had once been my strength—before all the angel-demon-phase had begun—and now that I remembered my past, it was likely that it would help me to face Volpert and the clan without losing my cool.
“When you come to the graveyard—given that Volpert accepts the bait—we’ll need to work like one mind, otherwise we won’t stand a chance,” I thought of Blackbird, and Nora and Jin. Who knew how many Volpert was going to bring? “The second Claire gives the signal, all of you,” I gave a serious look to all the angels in the room, “need to teleport in at once. If anyone of us hesitates, Claire will be dead.” Probably more than just Claire, but I couldn’t think that direction.
“And strike together,” Liz added the most crucial part. We had to combine our powers or we wouldn’t stand a chance.
I nodded, looking at Ben in particular, after his hesitation earlier. I could sense how much distrust he held for this new situation. But something about my demon-self helped me shove all emotions aside in a way I hadn’t been able when I had been ruled by my angel-compassion.
“Why are you looking at me?” he complained, hiding his frown behind his hand as he ran it through his blond hair. “I won’t do anything to put Claire in danger. You of all people should know that.”
He stared at me for a moment, a familiar hostility in his eyes. It was the way he had looked at Claire before I had died. Beneath the mask laid pain.
“I do.”
There was no point getting into an argument with him right now. It would have to wait until later when Claire was safe. Instead, I turned to her, reaching out my hands for hers.
“Time to send that message, I guess.”
I didn’t get to touch her. Jaden planted himself in my path, looking deadly.
“No experiments.”
He was right. It wasn’t safe. I saw Claire, but I saw her soul, too—her beautiful, delicious soul—and hunger flared in my system. My hands dropped to the sides, willing to postpone feeling her in my arms until after we’d solved the Volpert issue.
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