Stepping to the window, he pushed the glass frame open with his left hand, while his right hand invited me into his presence. I stood there, silent and stunned for a brief moment before he waved his hand again, his eyes calling me to him.
“Where are we going?”
“Some place where we can talk in private. Somewhere where I can show you what is going on.”
I wondered what he meant by private; after all, just the two of us stood in my room. Then he answered my question without me asking.
“Your mother and brother could hear us.”
Wrapping his right arm around my waist, he pulled me against his chest, and we floated outside the window. I almost screamed. At first, I felt as if I would fall, and panic ensued. Heart palpitations quickened as I adjusted to the airborne movement, the lack of ground below my feet. But as his elegant white wings projected about him flapping up and down, I felt elevated like a queen on coronation day. He would not let me go. He had saved me from Dameon. I could trust him completely. I then became aware of Kian’s well-developed arms, muscles that held me and kept me from falling. The vanilla scent from his skin made me want to breathe in everything about him as the view above the city emerged. This experience could not be replaced by anything, perhaps not even by a good date at prom. A date which would no longer be Dameon. Roofs belonging to apartment buildings squared off the streets. Towers even looked small. Cars below us rushed to traffic lights as they shrank into negligible sizes. The house I called home became a speck the further we flew into the sky. I felt like a bird as the city below slowly vanished.
I had so many questions, but with the gusts of wind slapping my face and the distractingly dangerous height, I couldn’t focus on anything but where we were...in the clouds. And I wasn’t dreaming. Kian flew. He had fought Dameon in my room, with both of them appearing to be angels, and he had protected me. He protected me now. I could feel that warmth, that sincerity vibrate off of him and engulf me like the fog that had engulfed me on the bench in the park. That had been Kian watching out for me. And now I knew from what...Dameon.
As we landed behind a building on Eagle Lake, Manhattan, all my questions returned. Thump! Kian’s frame hit the ground softly, with the ease of a feather. Amber eyes glowed, and I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. Words burst out of me, and then just flowed.
“Where are we? How did you get into my room? Why is Dameon trying to kill me? Who killed Tommy?”
“One question at a time, Ali.” Kian winked and raked his fingers through his tussled hair. He placed his hands over my shoulders, and I stepped backward against the wall of the building. We lingered there for a minute or two, just staring, just breathing, just taking each other in. I felt like I saw him for the first time with my back against the brick wall. Closing my eyes, I breathed in as if this reality would slip away from me like a dream I could awake from, and then I opened my eyes just as he answered.
“We are at my home.”
“You mean where you, Krysta, and Nathaniel stay?”
“Yes.” His answer only demanded more questions, like, who are your adopted parents? Are they like you? And how did they find the three of you? Are all three of you like angels? But I wanted to stick with the first few for now.
“I got into your room the same way I transform into my angel form. There is a period between human and angel where we become mist.”
“You mean not angel and not human, but mist?”
“Something like that. It is a transitory period. All angels can do it. As mist, I can travel through the cracks between your window frames.”
I could only stare.
“Dameon...is not like me. Not like Krysta or Nathaniel.”
“You mean not an angel.”
“You could call us that. Though our leader calls us Angelfire. We are born to protect the city. But Dameon...he is a different creature altogether.”
“A demon?”
“Something like that. A demon is really anything that feeds off the darkness. But the form he takes is that of a Dark Angel.”
“A Dark Angel?” I grabbed my head, dizzy. “You mean, not only do angels exist in New York, but demons exist, too?”
“You could say that.”
“And he...Dameon killed Tommy, didn’t he?” My face wrinkled with anger.
“Yes, well, technically his gang. Dameon made sure he had an alibi when Tommy fell. In the English classroom,” he said simply.
I slipped to my knees with those words. “He knows where I live, where my mother and brother live.” I covered my face with my hands. “I’ve brought a murderer to my home, to my family. Oh, God!” I started to hyperventilate.
With Kian’s hands on mine, he lifted my face up to meet his and wrapped his fingers around my arms, pulling me up until I stood straight.
“Dameon doesn’t want your family. He wants you.”
“Me? Why? Why is he trying to kill me? Why did he kill Tommy?” I tried not to sound hysterical, but it’s not every day you find out the paranormal is hunting you.
“Because Tommy discovered us, discovered Dameon. Because you now know. I tried to keep you from the truth. I tried to protect you from your investigations. But you just kept digging.”
“It was you who rumpled through Tommy’s papers and books at my house. You took them from my room?”
“Yes, I had too. You were getting too close.”
“But why? Why must you keep this a secret? Why must Dameon kill me for this secret?”
The sun shone over his skin, his hair, and he illuminated like a jewel. “Because, Ali, when a human discovers our existence, we lose power. Dameon felt himself losing power every day. To gain the power back, the human who knows the truth has to die. Then the knowledge dies.”
“God.” I brought my hand to my neck and remembered what Dameon had tried yesterday.
“The Dark Angels expedite this process by killing the humans who discover the truth.”
“And...the Angelfire?” My voice cracked.
“We try to bring the humans into our fold, to help us in the war against the demons.”
The alley behind the building grew quiet; only the wind brushing past us made a sound in my ears. My hands shook.
Encasing my hands with his, Kian tried to encourage me. “Don’t be afraid, Ali. I’m here for you. That is why I was born. To protect you.”
I fell against his chest, and he held me for what felt like eternity. He pushed the back door of the building open, and I could only hear the padding of our feet as we walked up the winding staircase, and then the door slammed with a bang.
“And Krysta and Nathaniel...they are here to protect, too?”
“Yes, we all are. All of us with white wings.”
The staircase ended and a lavish hardwood-floored room opened before me. Expensive paintings by Van Gogh and Gustav Glimt, among others, decorated the walls. Statues in the shape of human figures stood at each corner. A black grand piano set in the center of the room under a crystal chandelier.
I didn’t know what kind of world I had gotten myself into, but walking in with Kian at my side felt....safe, right.
“How did you...I mean, when did you become an angel?” I fumbled with my words as I plopped onto the piano bench. Sitting beside me, caressing the black and white keys with his long fingers, Kian played a sweet and at times, eerie melody.
“When a city grows in evil, sin, darkness, whatever you want to call it, angels are born to balance the power, to protect those in need.”
“Like out of thin air?” The tune continued as he spoke.
“No,” he shook his head, his fingers moving across the keys like a professional. “When an accident in the city occurs, killing an entire family, sometimes the youngest is spared and the spirit of an angel is breathed into the human form.” He looked at me, pausing his tune for just a moment, “This usually occurs with infants, or one-year-old babies. But sometimes this gift is given to a child of more years. Depends on the needs of the city and
availability of human forms.”
“So, your family died and you...you were given the spirit of an angel?”
“Something like that.” His fingers hit the keys as his mind wandered to the past. “The car swerved off the road, skidding into a tree. My father was dead on impact.” His eyes closed. “The car exploded and burned. My mother died several minutes afterward from asphyxiation. I saw a warm light enter the windshield and wash over me. I sat in the backseat baby chair crying until the ambulance arrived. I was called a miracle, and, because I had no other living relatives, they put me up for adoption. Soon afterward, Sammael adopted me. I was only six months old.” “Your adoptive father?”
“Yes, also an angel.”
“Krysta and Nathaniel?”
“Krysta’s parents and one brother were murdered. A robber came to the house and stole the family’s jewels. When the mother awoke, she tip-toed downstairs, saw the robber and screamed. Krysta’s father and brother rushed downstairs to her. Krysta sat quietly in her crib upstairs the whole time. It took the robber seven seconds to murder her entire family. Then he left with the jewels. Soon afterward, the spirit of the angel entered her. She also had no other living relatives and so Sammael took care of her.”
“My God, I can’t even imagine how horrible that must be!” I had only lost my father, and that felt bad enough. It crushed me the day he died.
“Nathaniel lost his parents when they traveled to Asia. Plane crash.”
“Are there only the four of you?”
His song sounded more haunting now, the higher keys yielding a sharp pitch. “No, there is one more in the house with us. Jacob, you will meet later. And there are others in the city. Some older and living alone. Some younger and with a living relative. Most of them already know who they are, as Sammael has made his acquaintance with them, but the truth is kept a secret from their relatives. And some do not know who they are and won’t until they are ready.”
“A city of angels.” I comment under my breath as Kian slowed his fingers over the keys and turned to me.
“This must never be made known to any of your friends or family.” His eyes beat over me like heat from the sun. “If they ever found out, their lives would also be put in danger.”
“No, I would never say a thing.”
He stood, taking my hand as he guided me toward a wide oak door. “I know I can trust you.” I’m not sure why, but at that moment his lips stood out to me like fine red wine I had to sip, and yet couldn’t savor.
“Why did Krysta and Nathaniel come here, to New York? To you? Why not just stay in Washington? Nathaniel told me in Journalism.” I confessed.
“Sammael sensed Dameon’s movement. When he left for New York, they had to leave, too. They have to keep a close watch on their target. He is one of the more dangerous Dark Angels.”
“One of the more dangerous?”
“His real name, his angel name is Apolloin. Stands for Angel of Destruction.”
“You all have angel names?”
“Yes, we do.” I wanted to ask him his real name and how Dameon became a Dark Angel, and what exactly were the rules of being angel and what kind of powers he had, but he pushed the oak door open and we entered a crimson-colored room where I saw Krysta, Nathaniel, and who I could only imagine to be Sammael. When Sammael’s white eyes met mine, his white brows rose and I lost my breath.
Rooms
“You brought her here!” Krysta threw her hands into the air like an Italian mobster about to strike. Rushing toward Kian and me, she looked as hot as a bolt of lightning. Hot red. “You know she didn’t fully see us yet! This could have stayed under wraps.”
Kian stopped her ranting with an outstretched arm. “No, Krysta. Dameon paid her a visit yesterday.” Krysta’s expression grew grave and her luminescent skin lost part of its glow.
“Oh, God!” Sammael responded. Although he still stood several yards away from me, he looked in deep concentration in our direction. Nathaniel kept quiet, but watched everything.
Kian exploded. “He tried to strangle her to death!” Veins throbbed under his neck and forehead. “If I...” he shook his head, “If I hadn’t been watching her, who knows what he could have done!”
“I’m so sorry.” Sammael glided across the tiled floor to where I still stood, frozen in awe. As he took my hands into his, he felt warm. “I never intended for this to happen to you. Our responsibility is to keep humans out of this feud between angels and demons.”
“I...” I tried to formulate my circling thoughts. “I don’t understand. I mean, Kian explained to me how and when angels are formed...but how do demons exist? How do creatures like Dameon exist among the human world unknown?” The reality rattled my brain like a car engine in need of some serious oil.
Sammael sighed, and then his white eyes swelled as if he would cry. Glancing once at the floor below him, his grey-silver tunic flowed over him, and then he turned his head toward me. “You’ll see, Ali.”
He knew my name, which meant Kian spoke to him about me. I felt conflicted about that, glad Kian talked about me, that I was on his mind, and yet curious to know what he said about me, like all these words lay in secret behind my back.
“Not all those who are chosen to be angels stay angels. Some of us, for whatever reasons, decide to go toward the darkness, to relish the power there. At times, the darkness can seem to have more power than the light. This illusion causes some angels to...how do you say...defect, in a way.”
“So, Dameon...he is a defected angel.”
Laughing at the double meaning of the word, Krysta retorted. “Yes, he is. He has left us, and he is riddled with flaws.” I joined in with a giggle as she flicked her blond curls from her shoulders to behind her back.
“Laugh as you must,” Sammael warned, “but don’t be fooled, Ali. Dameon is a powerful demon, and he will stop at nothing until you are dead and he has regained his power.”
“But why did he even pay me any attention in the beginning? Before Tommy even died? Before I even started investigating his death? I didn’t even know Dameon or Tommy,” I wondered. I enjoyed being with Kian, now that I knew who he was and what he was trying to do, but I wanted my life back.
Sammael scratched his white head of hair and answered. “Dameon got a fix on you early on when he moved to New York. He sensed your sensitivity toward him and knew he could use that to his benefit if he ever had to. After Tommy died, he needed to stay close to the humans who were drawn to him...to keep your enemies close, as they say. And then you began investigating Tommy’s death. Each step only brought you closer to the truth, and eventually Dameon sensed you would find it.”
Kian interjected with an angry curl of his lip. “Dameon tried to kill you yesterday because you realized angels lived among the humans. You sensed angels were somehow involved with Tommy’s death, and you saw me once...”
“In the reflection of the Kindle.” I finished.
“Yes.” Kian nodded, and his amber eyes felt like a warm blanket on my skin. “You even saw me fighting Dameon in the skies some time ago...in angel form. All this knowledge, each piece of knowledge deteriorated our powers.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and stared me in the eyes, and I didn’t want to ever have to look away from him.
“The demons are the first to lose power. They begin to lose their gifts. But the Angelfire has felt the shift of power too. We aren’t as strong as we once were, because of what you know.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...” I reacted with chills.
“Not your fault,” Kian said short and plainly. “But now you know the truth.”
“And the more humans who know the truth,” Krysta warned, “the weaker we all become, demon and angel, and the more dangerous life will become for those humans.”
I hadn’t seen this side of Krysta, the one of serious concern for my well-being. It startled me.
“Well, if all this is true...then shouldn’t I just leave now? Why show me more? Why reveal more to me by answe
ring my questions? Won’t more knowledge simply cause all of you to become weaker?”
Shaking his head, Sammael answered with a pondering expression. His eyes searched somewhere behind me, as if I didn’t stand in front of him. “No, you see, the only knowledge that really matters in the shift of power is the one that reveals our existence. Second to that knowledge is the awareness of who the angels and demons are.
We all lost power when you realized angels existed in this city. And I don’t mean just considered the possibility, but possessed real knowledge in that regard, eye-witness accounts, physical details and facts. When you found the black feather on the roof, Dameon felt a surge of power leave him. When you brought Tommy’s books and papers to your house and weeded through them, we all felt a shift. When you saw Kian in the reflection of the Kindle. When you saw Kian and Dameon outside your window fighting in angel form. All of these instances weakened the supernatural life, weakened Kian and Dameon, because they drew you closer to the knowing of angel-demon existence, to knowing who Kian and Dameon really are.
But in your room when you saw Dameon become his Dark Angel form, his identity had been revealed, and he lost even more power. He fought hard to kill you and wouldn’t have left until the deed was done if Kian hadn’t of been there.”
“So, now because Kian saved me and I know what he is, what all of you are....you all have lost power too?” I sounded defeated.
“Yes.” Sammael answered with kind eyes, even though I had brought so much mayhem to their secret world.
“If I had just left it alone!” I shook my head, angry at myself. “Why couldn’t I have just let the cops handle Tommy’s death?”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” Kian defended me like a hero on a horse.
“Yes, go ahead.” Krysta encouraged my volatile emotional state. “It is nosy humans like you who get us all into trouble.”
“Don’t say that, Krysta!” Nathaniel spoke up for the first time in the crimson room. Looking around I noticed the walls had the same coloring as the tiled floor, and as empty as the first room, with exception of the bookcase behind me. “Ali didn’t mean any harm.” His squared shoulders stood firm, like a soldier as he met with Krysta head to head.
She Speaks to Angels: YA Angel Thriller (AngelFire Chronicles Bk #1) Page 11
