by Maya Nicole
"A balance of what?" I furrowed my brows.
"Light and dark, good and evil, love and hate. That's why he is so even in temperament."
I considered his words. "So him being an asshole when I first met him was a balance?"
"He's not perfect. All angels have a learning curve." He laughed and took a tray of biscuits out of the oven. "His just took an interesting turn."
"Since when do you cook?" The buttery scent hit my nose and my mouth watered.
"I've always been able to cook, I just haven't had the desire." He turned off all the burners on the stove. "Go get all of your boyfriends up. The food is ready."
It still amazed me that he was fine with me having more than one boyfriend. He hadn't even batted an eyelid. He had seen and heard it all apparently.
After waking up Tobias and Asher, and convincing Olly that my dad wasn't going to kill him for having a boner in the kitchen, we gathered around the dining room table. Everyone was impressed by the biscuits and gravy and the perfectly cooked bacon that was crispy but not burnt.
"What did you four do last night? Danica was about to tell me when Woody wandered into the kitchen." My dad put his fork down on his empty plate and leaned back in his chair.
Olly's cheeks turned pink and I suppressed a laugh. My dad had made it his mission to give Olly as much shit as possible and he didn't need any more ammo. He never teased or tormented Asher and Tobias.
They all looked at me, waiting for me to answer the question. I didn't think the breakfast table, where we were all still in our pajamas, was the place to tell Lucifer that we had dug up his love's grave because I was a neurotic mess.
"Danica." The warning in his voice was clear. It was that tone parents got when they knew you were hiding something and they wanted the truth, or else.
"Why don't you guys go upstairs and change?" I was pretty sure that my dad was going to have a less than favorable reaction to what we did last night and didn't want them to bear any of the fallout.
"What did you do?" He narrowed his eyes at me and I felt hot. How the hell did he do that? It was like he had turned up my internal thermostat a few degrees.
Tobias, Asher, and Olly stood to leave.
"Sit."
Their asses hit their chairs and they kept their eyes averted from us. They looked like scolded puppies who had been caught tearing up the house. All they needed were the shame signs.
"Dad, I don't think... let's talk alone." I stood and gave him a pleading look. I didn't know how he was going to react.
"If they were with you, then they are just as responsible. And my guess is from how all four of you are acting, that it wasn't something good." His voice was neutral, which was the scariest of all because that meant he was holding back his emotions.
I put my hands on the edge of the table and braced myself. I should have considered this last night, but I also had been hopefully optimistic that the casket wouldn't be empty and we would just pretend it never happened.
For once in my life, I went over my words in my head. I needed all the blame to fall on me, not the others.
"I made them dig up Mom's grave. It was empty and had a crescent symbol drawn in blood."
My heart was beating so hard I was certain it was about to stop working from overuse. Hearing my own words come from my mouth, made me feel sick. We dug up a grave last night.
The silence was deafening. My dad's jaw ticked and then he stood abruptly. I gripped the table, my knuckles turning white.
"Get out."
"What?" My voice was shaking. What did he mean, get out? Was he talking to me?
"Get. Out," he repeated, his words coming out between his clenched teeth.
I stared at him, not completely comprehending his words. I felt a hand on my arm and was led out of the dining room and upstairs. My bedroom door wasn't even shut all the way when we heard a large crash from downstairs.
We sat on the roof in a tight circle around the unlit fire pit. My cheeks were stained from tears. I had fucked up royally this time.
Once the noise from downstairs had stopped, we had taken our bags and gone downstairs. My dad was gone, but the dining room and living room were trashed. The table was flipped, the television was cracked with a broken lamp laying under it, and glass was everywhere. There were even singe marks marring the couch and chairs. I hadn't even known my dad was capable of producing flames.
No one had said a word. Instead, Tobias drove me back in my car, while Asher and Olly stayed to clean up a bit before flying back to Asher's place.
"He hates me." It had been hours since any of us had spoken. My voice sounded foreign to my ears.
"He doesn't hate you. He's hurt. I don't think it had anything to do with you." I was surprised at Olly's insight. "You just told him that the woman he loved was not who he thought she was."
I looked down at my nails that were almost bitten down to the quick. I never bit my nails. Until today. I frowned down at them. Wasn't I doing the same thing to them as my mother had done to my father?
"He's your father, he could never hate you. Give him some time." Tobias ran his hand over his beard and then reached for my hand. I let him take it and he ran his thumb over the ends of my fingers.
The rooftop went silent again, the only sound the noise from the street below. It was overcast, the sun hidden behind a blanket of clouds. It was fitting considering the mood.
"We should do something to take our minds off things," Olly suggested.
I looked up at him and examined his face and demeanor. Now that I knew more about him, I was going to pay closer attention. He was the least affected by what had happened. His body was relaxed and his face was content.
"Now is not the time for sex, angel baby. I know that now you popped your cherry you're going to want it all the time, but now is not that time." Asher had his chin in his hand and he looked over at Olly as he spoke.
Olly just smiled in response and then turned his attention to me. "Let's go do something."
"What did you have in mind?" I pulled out my phone and opened the document I had started listing all the things Olly hadn't experienced. It was fairly long and I started listing off all that was on the list.
"Universal Studios!" His eyes lit up and he moved to the edge of his seat. "That will cheer us right up."
"I'm not sure I'm up for faking a good time." I put my phone away and Olly's face fell. "You guys can go."
"I know you probably don't want to hear any advice right now, but keeping busy will help you keep your mind off of it. There's no point in sitting here and marinating in your unhappiness. Trust me on that." Asher stood and stretched his arms over his head. My eyes fell on the sliver of stomach showing as his shirt lifted. So did Olly's.
I sighed and squinted up at him, the day still bright despite the overcast skies. "Are you going to be all right going to a place like that?"
He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Olly. "I think I'll be fine."
I'll admit it. I was having fun, especially after my dad texted me back after I sent numerous apology texts. He said he was fine and we'd talk later. I tried to push the negative thoughts that had been running through my head away for the time being.
We walked through the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and made our way along the path. I felt like I was walking up to Hogwarts itself.
We walked through a stone archway and into a dark and damp tunnel. Asher and Olly walked in front and Asher stepped closer to Olly, their arms connecting as they walked.
Once we were back outside again under the frosted glass of the greenhouse, Asher's shoulders relaxed. I had been worried about him coming to a theme park because the sheer amount of people and the noises were overwhelming at times. Whatever Olly was doing, seemed to be keeping him, well, balanced.
We walked back inside after the winding pathway ended and into the halls of Hogwarts. Tobias and I followed Asher and Olly, who were chatting animatedly.
"What do you think is
going on with them?" Tobias said in my ear so they wouldn't hear.
"Something special." I didn't quite know how to respond to his question. There were moments between them that transcended the boundaries between friends and more than friends.
Although, I guess that would be the case in a relationship like we had. Tobias wasn't like that with either of them though. He was closest to Asher, but they didn't walk around touching arms or hold hands secretly. At least, not that I had seen.
After the ride, we exited back outside and made our way towards the bathrooms. It had taken almost an hour for the ride and before that we had all drank butterbeers.
I stood in the line for the women's restroom. Someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned. The woman looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place her. Her hair was pulled back through a baseball cap. Half her face was covered in a large pair of sunglasses.
"Can I help you?" I turned my body to the side so I could still watch the line moving in front of me.
"I couldn't help but notice outside that you are with three very gorgeous men." Her voice was seductive and I felt myself leaning towards her slightly, drawn into the sound.
"I am." I wasn't sure what else to say. I didn't know if this woman was about to compliment me for having three boyfriends or give me her opinion about how wrong it was.
"You're with them all? Romantically?" Her voice sounded curious but I narrowed my eyes anyway. She noticed and held up a hand. "There's nothing wrong with it, I was just wondering."
I looked past her and outside but couldn't see the men in question anywhere. I looked back at the woman and looked at where her eyes were. I hated not seeing people's eyes.
"We are, yes." She smiled broadly at my response and then tapped her bottom lip with her pristinely manicured nail.
"My daughter is in a similar relationship, but with four men. Do you have more or just the three?"
I felt myself flush. Four boyfriends? How would I handle that? This woman had some balls talking to me about my relationship.
"Nope, just the three." I turned back around and moved forward in line. I was almost at the front.
I turned back to tell the woman she should consider minding her own business in the future but she was gone. The woman now behind me raised her eyebrows at my confused face and took hold of her little girl's hand.
"What happened to the woman that was right behind me?"
"What? I've been behind you the entire time." The woman backed up a step.
"I was talking to a woman, she had on a baseball cap, big glasses." I knew I was freaking the woman out, especially because she had her little girl with her.
"You haven't said anything until just now when you turned around. It's your turn."
I turned back around and walked to the open stall.
What the hell had just happened?
Chapter Six
Reve
Watching them together was killing me. For weeks I had endured these men that kept her from me. I hadn't seen Danica in days. It was the weekend, when she was typically at Asher's, but this weekend she was gone and so was Asher.
I sat in the dark room, waiting. I felt like a damn stalker.
In a way, I suppose I was.
It was a Sunday and there were unpacked bags in the living room. Wherever they had gone, they were back, just not here. The weekends were the only times she was here and the only time she was accessible to me.
I had followed her on my bike one evening and most of the time she was hidden away at some kind of angel military fortress. I couldn't even get within ten feet of the boundary without feeling intense pain.
This never should have happened, me falling for a woman inside of her dreams. I needed her more than she needed me. She had woken me up from my own nightmare that I lived day after day, night after night.
After my first night with her, I had tried to replicate what had happened with her, with others. It never worked and my hunger for fear would overwhelm me. I could only produce nightmares with everyone except her.
The door to the roof opened and the four I had become way too familiar with came down the stairs. They had flown wherever they had disappeared to. I watched as they sat down around the kitchen table, a pizza box placed in the middle.
I moved to the kitchen and hopped up on the countertop to be closer. No one looked in my direction. They were talking about a flood, an earthquake, and a shark.
"I wish I had recorded him screaming when that shark came out of the water. It was so plastic-looking and fake that I'm actually surprised I was the one that had to calm you down." Asher laughed as Oliver narrowed his eyes at him.
I watched them as they finished eating and chatted. They all seemed to be in great moods, except for Danica. She did have a smile on her face, but something was wrong. It was a fake smile.
She kept taking her hair out of her ponytail, running her fingers through it, and putting it back up. It took everything in me not to waltz over to her and bury my face in the soft strands. It was probably just as I had imagined it, soft and silky.
Tobias reached over and took her hand. He must have noticed her mood before the other two. The other two had increasingly become more and more infatuated with each other over the last several weeks. It was subtle when they were around Danica and Tobias, but I was certain they held flames for each other.
Jealousy surged in me as Tobias stood and wrapped his arms around Danica from behind. They all touched her entirely too much for my liking and I considered ripping their throats out while they slept on a nightly basis.
Weren't they supposed to be angels? What they did to her on the regular was not very holy at all. The only thing holy about them was that they stuck their dicks in her holes.
If anyone should have been shoving things inside her, it was me.
"What am I going to do if Lilith really is my mother?" she asked out of nowhere. "We need to find her. I need to know for sure."
I hopped off the counter and paced the length of the kitchen. It couldn't be that they were looking for Lilith, could it? The rumor was she disappeared from Inferna decades ago and hadn't been seen since. Thank fuck for that.
I shuddered at the thought of the woman who had caused me and my family so much pain. She needed to be put down. If that was even remotely possible.
"I don't think that's a good idea considering she likes to drain angels of their blood," Tobias said, his chin resting on the top of her head.
It was no secret that Lilith had a few screws loose. The entire demon population of Inferna had suffered at her hands. Many of us, including me, escaped her rule centuries ago and swore fealty to Lucifer. Some disappeared into the vast emptiness beyond the cities or remained loyal to her crazy delusions of grandeur.
If Lilith really was here on Earth, Earth was screwed.
"Excuse me." Danica stood and walked towards the bathroom. Oliver stood to follow her but Asher grabbed his arm, stopping him.
The bathroom door slid shut behind her and I heard the lock slide into place. I frowned at the three men around the table. Here they were making her suffer again. Her suffering should have fueled me; instead it seemed to drain me. This should be enough to make me stay far away, but I was a glutton for punishment, even if it was my own.
"I think we need to consider telling Michael to fuck off about this whole prophecy thing. She's still dealing with everything that's happened. It's too soon to expect her to handle all of this well." Asher stood and walked past me to pour himself a glass of whiskey.
It figured the drunken tormented one was the one with any sense. I would have given anything to get in his dreams and feast on his pain. Too bad I couldn't access angel brains.
"You know we can't do that. We need to talk to Lucifer about this once he's calmed down and find out more about Lilith. If Michael is right about this prophecy then Danica is the key to saving us all," Tobias said, raising his eyebrows as he watched Asher drink the entire glass of whiskey.
"The prophecy
said 'save the light from the dark' not the end of the world. Besides, the prophecy might not even be about her, there are only three of us." Olly put his chin in his hand and watched as Asher poured another glass.
"The other guardian could be her father. It didn't say all of her guardians needed to be in a relationship with her." Asher returned to the table and sat down. "Michael seems to think it is about us though."
"You could be right, Lucifer has been around more lately," Tobias said.
My stomach dropped and I almost lost control of my phantom form. Lucifer was her father. Crap. I unconsciously put my hands over my crotch. He would lop off my balls if he knew what I was doing in her dreams.
My attention went to the bathroom door, where I could hear her crying on the other side. I made my way to the door and walked through it, finding her sitting on the floor against the cabinets. She had her knees drawn up and her face buried in her arms.
I wanted to give her comfort but couldn't until she fell asleep. I sat on the floor across from her, leaning against the clear glass of the shower. Would it be so bad if I revealed myself to her? Would she run away screaming knowing I was the one she dreamed about?
She looked up and right at where I was sitting. I knew she couldn't see me, but it didn't stop my heart from spluttering in my chest.
A soft knock came at the door, snapping us both out of our stare off. If it could be called that.
"Dani, are you okay?" Tobias asked, concern in his voice.
"Yeah. I'll be out in a second." She stood and splashed her face with cold water before exiting the bathroom.
They were getting ready for bed finally. Asher went to the couch and Oliver and Tobias sandwiched Danica in between them in the bed. It was an interesting setup they had going.
As soon as Tobias and Danica were asleep, Oliver slid from the bed and made his way to the couch. He had done this every time they all slept over on the weekends. He would slip out of bed after the other two were asleep and then slip back in before they woke.
