Wings
When the bell at my front door rang Saturday evening, I expected Dameon. Mom had dolled up in her best attire, purple silk blouse and satiny black slacks. She had pinned her dirty blond hair up in a bun, but I wore my dark dreads down. Racing to the door, I pulled the knob like my life depended on it. Freshly baked muffins and a rack of lamb sat on the dining table.
“Smells delicious.” Dameon revealed a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
“We didn’t want to eat without you.” In fact Mom had insisted, which was a good sign. As I placed the flowers in a vase my words competed with Mom’s. “They’re beautiful!”
We sat around the table, Samuel across from me and Mom across from Dameon.
“So, you go to Millennium High, too?” Samuel’s thick brows rose over his inquiring blue eyes. With his hair finely trimmed around the ears, he could be mistaken for military.
“Yeah, for several months.”
“You like it there?” Sam stabbed his lamb chop.
“It’s alright. Got better when I started hanging with Ali though.”
I blushed. Besides the senior who broke my heart, whose name I rarely mentioned anymore, I didn’t have boys over to meet my family.
Mom poured us each a glass of milk. . “Well, I’m just glad that you are such a nice young man. Ali has told us so much about you.”
I had?
“It’s nice to meet the both of you. I can see where Ali gets her good looks now.” Dameon complimented Mom with a crooked grin.
“Ah, you’re sweet! Dig in; the lamb is topped with fresh mint.”
“To die for.” Dameon practically salivated. He had never looked more famished.
“So, will you be taking my Ali to the Prom this year?” Mom asked with little inhibition.
“Mom!” I turned stark red.
“I don’t know; do you think she’d go with me?” Dameon teased easily and made me feel less stupid.
Samuel took it upon himself to answer. “All she’s been talking about is you this past week. I’m sure if you ask, she’d say yes.”
“Thanks!” I whispered under my breath through gritted teeth, with a predatory glare aimed at my brother.
“You’re welcome.” He whispered with a wink.
“I hadn’t actually put much thought into it before, but since it’s on the table...” Dameon stood up and got on one knee as if he were about to present a marriage proposal. “Would you go with me to Prom?”
Grinning from ear to ear, my enthusiasm could not be categorized. I hopped up from my seat and hugged him so hard that I may have stopped his circulation at one point. “Yes, yes!”
Returning to our seats, we finished eating, and all the while I felt as if I were aglow. I beamed with joy like a neon light. Mom couldn’t stop smiling, either.
“Thanks for a wonderful meal, Ms. Maney.”
“You’re so welcome. Stop by anytime.”
“I’ll see you all later. I’m heading back into the office.” Samuel cleared his plate and stood. Dameon and I waved bye and then headed upstairs. Normally, Mom would have had the boy out of the house after dinner; she always had with what’s-his-name. But ever since I told Mom about Dameon’s misfortunes, she had a soft spot for him, and after the flowers and the romantic display at the dining table, she couldn’t refuse us some alone time. Plus, I was one year older than I had been the last time I had a boy over.
Upstairs, my room was in shambles. Scrambling to hide clothes on the floor in the closet, I directed Dameon to the foot of the bed where he could sit on the wooden chest, the chest where I kept all my memorabilia from Dad, from school, from what’s-his-name. My past all bottled up into one chest. Who knew; I might actually enjoy sifting through it when I got older.
After pushing the last of my jeans over the closet floor, I managed to squeeze the door shut, turn with my back against the wall and smile. My hands still clasped the closet doorknobs.
“Come here.” He waved to me and then tapped his hand on the chest beside him. I somehow glided across the room to the exact spot, as if it were marked with an X.
Leaning into me, he let his soft lips flirt with my ear lobe before caressing my neck. Goosebumps scattered all across my arms, and I felt a chill down my back. Ecstasy or anxiety? I felt like a fish out of water, my arms flaying about undirected. Then he turned into me, grabbed me with both arms, pulled me into his chest and let my head hang beside his as his lips pursued other options. My cheek, my eyelid, my chin. I rather liked the eyelid kiss. Too bad I didn’t have a camera to mark this moment forever to keep in my chest.
I couldn’t believe he wanted me out of all the prettier girls at Millennium High.
Uncertainty and nerves all rolled into one. When his long fingers scraped over my scalp, my silky hair fell between his fingers. Holding my head firmly in his hand, he leaned into my unpracticed lips and lingered for what felt like eternity. As he fiddled with my blouse buttons with his other hand, I felt the tip of his fingers caress the top of my breast, and took in a deep breath. Mom was just downstairs! I inched back to give myself room. If she walked in now...OMG!
“I’d better lock the door.” I pulled away, his taste still on my lips, and padded to the door lock. Clink. “OK, sealed.”
“Great, now come back here.” His raven eyes called me inside his tilting head. Grinning, I saw Dameon’s mischievous nature as he leaned over my bed. With his back to sheets, his arms invited me into his space. A space I had longed for since he arrived. “I won’t leave until I’ve kissed you at least fifty times!” he joked with a smirk.
“Keeping track?” With a hint of sarcasm, I flirted. I puckered my lips and closed my eyes and allowed myself to fall into him. Outlining his chest with my fingertips I wanted to dig in more. Unbuttoning his black shirt I found dark hairs over finely sculptured pecs. I wanted to sear his body with kisses, but Mom still cooked downstairs, preparing for Samuel’s Police Banquet. She grilled chicken and steamed vegetables every year for the occasion. But more importantly, I didn’t want to move too fast. Being the first time alone with him, I didn’t want to come across as easy.
My dark tresses trailed over my cheeks and flowed onto his shirt. Like an ocean wave my hair cascaded. He played with my locks, twisting them in his fingers around and around as I braced myself up with one hand on the bed and the other on him. Lost in his cryptic eyes, I gazed into them like one gazes at the moon. Seen, but yet so far away and seemingly untouchable. A pointy smile crept onto his lips and a sharpened edge rounded his eyes.
I couldn’t quite make out what his expression said. I’d only been with one other guy. What exactly did he want?
“I know what you are,” I whispered. My body shook like boughs on the trees in a winter storm, and his skin grew cold. “You’re an angel, aren’t you?”
His dark eyes turned silvery, and his hands reached out to me.
“You came here to help the school through Tommy’s death, didn’t you?”
A transparent mist rose from beneath him, encasing his form.
“The newbies followed you here...’cuz they know, too. Don’t they? I won’t let them hurt you...”
In an instant his fingers pressed against my neck, wrapping around my throat. A cacophony of competing thoughts circled in my mind. His fingers grew tighter and tighter around my throat like a boa constrictor. I thought for one merciful minute that Dameon might be playing a game with me, but when I coughed, no air came out of my mouth. The pressure of his thumb over my esophagus made me nauseous. As reality dawned on me, the predicament of my situation grew dim. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t cry, couldn’t yell. His legs fought to remain wrapped around mine, holding me down. A primal scream fought to surface, but nothing! I couldn’t move...and I was running out of air.
It felt like we sat there for an immeasurable amount of time as I searched my brain to figure out why he was doing this. And when I looked closer, really close, I could see now his veiled amusement at the thought of kill
ing me. Everything had been a ruse. I struggled back and forth just before he threw me over the bed and sat on top, his legs on either side of me with one hand still against my throat and the other beside my head. It didn’t matter that he didn’t cover my mouth; air grew scarce at this point.
My lips quivered as they turned cold, and my eyes widened as blackened wings sprouted from either side of him, ripping his shirt and jacket off his body. At first, just a few feathers emerged, and then a handful more at a time until a full set of wings appeared. A surge of energy coursed through his body. It felt to me like a bolt of electricity. He seemed stronger then, as if the taking of life from me gave him power somehow.
I tossed left and right, struggling, while my head craned back, searching for air, for any gap that might give me what I needed. A thin cruel smile broke his lips apart before he laughed; something sinister and chilling. Anger bubbled up from my chest and pounded in every part of me. Even my heart thumped louder. When I twisted my entire body around I finally broke free of his hardened clasp about my neck for just a second, long enough for a few desperate gulps of air.
The bed cover wrinkled below us as I scrambled forward. My hands clawed over the sheets toward the bed’s edge. My feet lunged up and down in their attempt to escape. I could feel his body closing in over me. I tried to scream, but my lungs still didn’t have enough air. Taking a few distressed breaths, I tumbled to the floor. His dark eyes peered above me. Hunched like a vulture, his black feathers ruffled as he watched me cower below him. My arms and legs carried me in a retreating back crawl as I kept my eyes fixed on his.
Everything happened so fast that it took a few moments to digest it and have my emotions catch up with my intellect. My heart jammed within my chest; the thump-thump, was the loudest sound in the room. As he stretched his arms out above him, his wingspan extended from one side of the bed to the other. I stood frozen, like a girl paralyzed by the threat of a poisonous snake. This strange reality churned inside my brain and made it hurt. Now when I looked at him, his eyes appeared empty. Not black like stone, but black like an abyss.
A few more deep breaths, and I felt reasonably good again. Only the painful bruise around my neck proved what he had done. His lips curled arrogantly as I rasped, “Why are you doing this?”
Silence.
He still remained a young man, angel...or whatever he was, of few words. No words at times. This being one of those times.
Then Mom broke the silence. Her voice was like a beacon of light as it shot into my room from downstairs. “You two OK in there?”
I’m sure her curiosity and urge to protect her daughter from premarital sex motivated her. If she only had known how much trouble I stepped into tonight!
Both of our heads jerked in the direction of the door, and my mouth opened to scream. But Dameon acted quickly, faster than I had ever seen anyone move, even football players. Diving forward, he slammed into me, knocking the air out of my lungs. Gasping, I fell again to the carpeted floors. As we twisted on the floor, his hand wrapped around my throat again. This would be it; it would all be over soon. I couldn’t break away from him again. Not this time. I felt too weak. He had too much strength.
A funny thing happened with death staring at me in the face. My entire life flashed before my eyes. I regretted not spending more time with Jennifer and Molly the past week. I wanted to get to know the newbies better. Perhaps this is why they followed Dameon to New York. They had discovered his secret, that he turned into some kind of demon. This is what Kian meant when he said to stay away from Dameon, when he warned me my life would be in danger. Why didn’t I listen?
As I hung teetering between life and death, I vaguely made out the silhouette of a white winged angelic creature standing behind Dameon. His eyes glowed amber like a golden sun. His arms reached around Dameon’s neck and yanked Dameon backward off of me. The lack of oxygen made me so dizzy that I knew I was on the verge of fainting. Maybe I had imagined the white angel, I thought, but when Dameon hit the floor, I began to feel relief. Air filled my lungs again. I lay on my side soaking up the air while I watched two sets of wings, one black and one white, roll around my room.
They crashed into my dresser, and the noise elicited another shout from Mom. “What are you two doing up there?” I heaved for more air. No strength to answer.
Tumbling backward, the white winged creature kept his arm locked around Dameon’s neck. Tossing from side to side, Dameon tried to shake my defender from his tight hold. But the white angelesque form did not retreat. Then Dameon hit him with a quick sharp elbow to the side, and the white winged form let out a painful gasp. Dameon spun around, breaking the clutch.
Each stumbled to either side of the room, with stark eyes fixed on one another. A quavering, vibrating sound permeated from each angel-thing’s mouth. They fought like birds, trilling at one another. Black wings puffed at one end of the room and white wings huffed at the other end. Wings flitted up momentarily from both before their sudden charge brought them to the center of my room. Reminding me of bulls, they hit dead-center with a loud thud and clasped their hands over each other’s biceps, spiraling around, knocking into everything as they fought.
“I’m coming up now. You kids are making too much racket,” Mom roared as I heard her stepping up the stairs. In an instant, the two angel forms swept to the window and flung themselves out into the night air. The night outside my window was no longer serene; it became savage. The two circled each other, and the memory of the two angels fighting outside my window earlier came to my mind. I hadn’t imagined it! They had fought there, one black winged and one white winged.
Under the moonlight, they struggled now in some sort of angelic dance before they disappeared.
Knock, knock, knock.
I slapped my hand against the closet knob and pulled myself up. A mix of shock and weakness kept me moving slowly toward the door. When I unlocked it, Mom pushed in, took one look at my room and gasped.
“What the hell happened in here?”
I couldn’t very well tell her, so I yanked my shirt up over my neck. Signs of bruising would bring Samuel and the entire police department after Dameon. That could lead them to my rescuer. I didn’t want that. Besides, Dameon surely could do more harm to Samuel than Samuel could do to Dameon. I didn’t know what kind of powers he had, but I did know he wasn’t human.
“Where is that boy Dameon? I’ve got a few things to say to him.”
“I don’t know. We were dancing, and when he heard you coming up, he got scared about the looks of the trashed room and jumped down the tree out my window.” We stared at the open window until Mom made a point to look up and down the sidewalk.
“You expect me to believe that? I was seventeen once, you know. By the looks of things you two really got into your...dancing. Now, I know you like this boy and all.” Mom sat on the bed, looking me straight in the eyes. I swallowed hard. “But I will not allow Dameon to step foot in this house again. And I’m not too keen on you two going to Prom together, either.”
“I understand. And I promise I won’t be hanging out with him anymore.” If she only knew! Thank God I didn’t have to explain to her how we broke up!
“Good.” She closed the door after kissing me on the cheek. “See you tomorrow.” I was so shaken that I checked the lock on the window twice and drew down the curtains before I curled up under my covers shivering.
Luminescence
I could have been dreaming as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes Sunday morning. A pair of white wings flitted like floating cotton at the foot of my bed. Batting my lids, I refocused. The vague image became clearer. Pushing myself up, I gasped as my back hit the headboard. My eyes never moved from the form, and slowly the image at the foot of the bed inched onto my floor. Standing, or maybe hovering, I watched, unable to take my eyes off of him.
Deep amber eyes stared back, so familiar. Copper blond hair dressed his forehead in such regal elegance that I nearly swooned. When I rubbed my eyes again, vapo
r swiveled about me, and when the fog cleared, only a young man stood there.
Peering into his hazel eyes I asked, “Kian?”
He didn’t say anything at first; like a ghost caught in my mind, he simply hung there.
“Kian?”
Stepping toward the bed, the figure laid his hands over my shoulders and his face became very clear. I could see the freckles on my cheeks in the reflection of his amber eyes. “Yes, Ali.” His words echoed through my ears like a dream, not sure whether this really happened or if I just needed to wake up. I shook my head and batted my lids again. “It’s me, Kian.”
“But...but how? Who...what are you?” I struggled to find the right words as the luminescence of his skin shone like diamonds. Could there be any right words? Could an angel really be standing in front of me, disguised as a human? A stoner newbie?
His soft blue jeans met my bed as he sat on the sheets. Eye to eye with him, I took in a deep breath. He exhaled, and like the fog I had seen around me many times lately, a mist blew from his nostrils and floated between us.
“Not here.”
I searched his expression for more clarity.
“Get dressed,” he told me, “and I’ll explain everything.”
I could not peel my gaze away from him, from his soft skin, effervescent presence and telling eyes. Why hadn’t I seen him, really seen him, before? Why had I been drawn to the darkness, to Dameon? These thoughts circled my mind as I threw on a pair of jeans underneath my nightgown. Spinning around, I stared at him, and I was hooked. Turning away from me, Kian blushed briefly before my eyes caressed his squared back and toned arms. Suddenly, he didn’t seem like the same person. Then again, he wasn’t a person, was he? I tossed on a t-shirt and a salmon colored sweater as the seconds of silence seemed too long.
She Speaks to Angels: YA Angel Thriller (AngelFire Chronicles Bk #1) Page 10
