Milayna's Angel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  “You’re a liar.”

  “You’re a pain in the ass. Go away.” I kicked snow at him.

  “It won’t be long, Milayna,” Scarface warned.

  “Whatever.”

  “Milayna’s coming to our house to play!” Friendly exclaimed in his shrill voice.

  There were two puffs of white smoke and the little red goblins disappeared, the scent of sulfur heavy in the air.

  “Well, that was interesting.” Xavier covered his mouth and nose with his hand. “They stink.”

  “You get used to it.” I walked back into the sunroom, Chay and Xavier following close behind.

  “I’ve never seen one up close before.”

  “Really?”

  “No, they aren’t all that common where I come from.” Xavier smiled with a quirked eyebrow.

  I shrugged. “I guess not.”

  “Well, now that the party’s over, I guess you should be on your way.” Chay glared at Xavier.

  Subtle, Chay.

  “They won’t be back?” Xavier asked.

  “My house is close if they are.”

  “Okay, then. I guess I’ll see you at school, Milayna.” Xavier bent and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he strolled out the door, whistling.

  Chay took a step after him. “Chay Roberts! Don’t you go out that door,” I said through clenched teeth.

  He looked from me to the door, clearly weighing his options. “He kissed you.”

  “On the cheek. I barely felt it.”

  “You were trying to feel it?”

  “No! Look, the important thing is this…” I took his face in my hands and kissed him, my tongue dipping slowly between his lips before I gently sucked his bottom lip in my mouth. Pulling back, I looked into his blue-green eyes. “I kissed you. Which do you want to go after, the one who kissed me or the one who kissed you?”

  He smirked and lowered his lips to mine, grazing over them softly. “Definitely the one who kissed me.” He leaned in for another kiss when someone behind me cleared their throat.

  “Damn it!” Chay threw his arms up in the air. They came down with a thwack against his legs. “I swear, Milayna, I’m going to kill him. And he’s so infuriating that no sane jury is going to convict me of it either. Hell, they’ll probably give me a medal.”

  I turned around and rolled my eyes. “What do you want, Xavier?”

  “Well, on my way home, I came across a group of not-so-nice looking demi-angels. I believe you call them Evils.”

  “And how do you know they’re Evils?” Chay licked his lips before sucking his bottom lip into his mouth.

  “Call it a sixth sense,” Xavier said blandly.

  We walked around the side of the house, stopping short before Muriel ran into us.

  “Drew’s on his way. What’s he doing here?” She jerked her thumb in Xavier’s direction.

  “He can answer, you know,” Xavier snapped.

  “Sorry. Check the ‘tude, dude, geez.” She glared at Xavier before looking at me with her eyebrows raised.

  Oh! She doesn’t know yet. She’s probably trying to figure out a way to get rid of him before the fireworks begin.

  “Muriel, there’s something you should know about Xavier. He’s an angel.”

  Muriel opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” I said with a frown.

  “Well, whatever. We can sort all that out after the fun is over. Jake and his crew are here.”

  “Jake?” Xavier asked.

  “Yeah. He’s the worst. A real badass who gets off on the fights.” Drew jogged to us from the side yard. “He has a thing for Milayna.”

  “You mean like a romantic thing?” Xavier’s eyebrows pulled down over his eyes.

  “No, that’d be me.” Chay gently pushed me behind him and away from Xavier. “Jake has an I-want-to-see-her-dead thing for her.”

  Xavier’s jawed worked. The tendons in his neck grew taut. “I guess I don’t like Jake.”

  “That’s probably the only thing you and I agree on. I don’t like Jake, either. We thought he was dead three months ago when Azazel threw him in the pit. It was a big surprise when he showed up for school the next day. Him, Stephen, and the bitchy duo.”

  Xavier pinched his forehead between his thumb and index finger and asked, “The bitchy duo?”

  “Lily and Shayla. Jeff was the only unfortunate one. Azazel broke his neck,” I shuddered at the memory of the sound of Jeff’s bones cracking and watching his body crumple in a heap on the floor. “It’s a memory I wish I could erase.”

  “What egregious error did Jeff make that caused his untimely demise?” Xavier asked me.

  “Dude, you talk like my grandfather,” Drew said, looking at Xavier. “What’s he doing here anyway?”

  “He’s an angel.” Muriel jerked her thumb at Xavier.

  “You’re an angel,” Drew told Muriel, making her cheeks turn pink.

  Chay rolled his eyes. “I see you’ve finally gotten around to realizing what everyone else has known for a year.”

  “What?”

  “That you two are complete idiots for each other.”

  I laughed.

  Drew looked Xavier up and down, drumming his thumb on his thigh. “So, an angel, huh? How old are you?”

  “Eightee—”

  Drew shook his head and interrupted, “No, not how old you came to earth as. How old are you really?”

  “We don’t have the same concept of time as you do. I don’t know how to calculate it into human years.”

  “That old, huh?” Drew grinned and turned his ball cap backward.

  “Milayna,” Shayla called from the front yard.

  “Hmm, I guess the fun’s about to start. Do you know how to do this?” I looked at Xavier.

  Uh-oh. There’s gonna be an angel beatdown.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, we’ve all been trained in hand-to-hand combat and self-defense. You know, high-impact mixed martial arts and crap like that. Personally, I always wanted to take piano, but my parents forced me to take—”

  “Milayna,” Chay interrupted with a sharp shake of his head.

  “Right, save that for later. Anyway, do you have any… talents? I don’t suppose they have dojos where you come from.”

  “Dojos? No, but I can hold my own,” he said with a smirk.

  “Whatever,” Chay said under his breath.

  “Milayna!” Jake yelled.

  “Well, your initiation is about to start.” I knocked on the side door to the house. “Dad? We have company.”

  “Yeah, I see them. I’ll call the police.”

  “What will the police do?” Xavier asked. It was obvious he was totally unprepared for human life.

  “You’d think they’d have a training course or somethin’ for you guys before you come bouncing down the clouds to our part of the universe,” Drew said, shaking his head. “You’re gonna get your angelic butt handed to ya.”

  Chay sniggered.

  “The cops break up the fight. That’s usually how these things end. It helps that a lot of cops are angels or demis themselves, like my dad, Uncle Rory, and Chay’s dad. They know the drill. So they usually put a stop to the fights. Unless, of course, the Evils and demi-demons complete their mission,” I explained as quickly as I could. Jake walked up the driveway toward us.

  “And their mission is?”

  “Dunno. Last time, it was to either get me to change sides or kill me before I turned eighteen and Azazel was able to absorb my powers. Maybe Azazel is still trying to kill me, who knows?”

  “But you’re eighteen. What good would killing you do?” Muriel asked, turning to me. “I thought we were done with that.”

  Chay scrubbed his hands up and down his face. “He can’t absorb her powers, but he can take her powers away from the group. She’s the highest-ranked, strongest demi we’ve got. Robbing the group of her visions would mean he could pick us off one by o
ne if he wanted. None of us are immune like she is,” he said.

  “Hey, Milayna.” A smile slid across Jake’s movie-star handsome face. His baby blues sparkled in the light cast from the porch light. A lock of blond hair fell over his forehead.

  “Stay out of the way and try not to pee yourself, that’s all you need to do tonight, Xavier.” Chay shooed him away with a flick of his fingers.

  I inclined my head toward Jake in acknowledgement.

  “It’s been a while,” Jake said.

  I stared at him, not speaking. I felt Chay’s hand on the small of my back, his thumb rubbing the skin just under the hem of my T-shirt. “Be careful.” He kissed the hollow behind my ear.

  I smiled slightly. “You, too.”

  I knew what was about to happen. Everyone, except maybe Xavier, did. Jake had a thing for hitting girls. He liked it. A lot. Especially hitting me. He was gearing up to rush me. I could see his body tensing, getting ready to push off and launch himself at me. I also knew he’d never make it. I could feel Chay’s body grow taut, ready beside me. He’d block me before Jake could ever lay a finger on even one hair on my head. I had no doubt of that.

  Jake’s eyes flicked to my middle just as his back foot pushed off the ground. Chay dove in front of me. They hit each other and fell to the pavement with a grunt. That started it.

  Shayla and Lily rushed Muriel and me. And I caught a glimpse of another guy. He and Drew were exchanging punches.

  “Who’s that?” I yelled to Muriel just as Shayla threw her first jab in my direction. I blocked it easily.

  “Dunno,” she answered, landing a roundhouse kick to Lily’s side.

  Shayla and I circled each other. She smiled. “I’ve missed this,” she said sweetly.

  “Mm-hmm, brings back memories,” I answered, my eyes trained on her, watching for her tell—the slightest motion or gesture a person made just before they threw a punch or a kick. I was also tapping into my ability to sense others’ emotions, feel what they were feeling—that was why my visions felt so real to me—or sense what they were going to do just before they do it.

  “Have you met Rod, yet?”

  I smiled wryly. “Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.”

  “He just transferred.” She tried to side kick me. I saw it an instant before she acted it out. I blocked it easily.

  “Nice that you two have a new friend to play with,” I said, unaffected by her attempt to distract me. She mentioned the new guy so I’d glance in his direction—it was usually an involuntary response, one she would’ve exploited to her advantage. I didn’t take my eyes off her for a second. “Are you afraid, Shayla?” I taunted.

  “Of you? Hardly.”

  “Then grow a pair and stop circling me. The police are gonna be here any minute. I’d like to get a few hits in first.”

  She hesitated. Just for a millisecond, her concentration waned. It was all I needed. I landed a roundhouse kick to her side and a side snap to her middle. She stumbled backward, a look of shock on her face. I swept my foot under hers, and she fell to the ground.

  I could hear sirens in the distance and knew the fight was coming to an end. I crouched next to Shayla and looked her square in the eye. “Don’t screw with me. You’ll only get hurt.” She spit in my face. I wiped it off with my arm, blowing a lock of hair out of my face. “Is that all you’ve got?”

  She screamed and jumped from the ground. Lily put her hand in front of her before she could advance on me. “We need to go, Shayla. Now.”

  I wiggled my fingers at her. “See you in gym class. Toodles.”

  I watched the group run down the drive and into the street, scattering before the police caught them.

  We filed into my house. Drew grabbed Xavier by the sleeve and pulled him along with us. I went through the usual drill—turned the porch light off, turned the living room lights off, and closed the drapes. Then we went into the kitchen and compared our wounds.

  “Hey, I made out okay tonight,” I said, grabbing a coke from the fridge. “Just a welt where I blocked a decent roundhouse. Otherwise, I’m good.”

  “Lucky you,” Muriel grumbled, holding an icepack to the side of her face. Lily loved to hit in the face.

  I walked to where Chay sat and kissed his forehead. “You need to ice that lip. We have an assortment of styles and colors to pick from. What’ll it be? A red or blue ice pack? Or you could use my favorite… pink and purple polka dot.”

  When we were battling Azazel’s team before I turned eighteen, my mother stocked up on first aid supplies. She bought the pink and purple icepack as a joke. Little did she know how much it would actually get used.

  “Surprise me,” Chay grumbled. He pulled away the damp paper towel he held against his lip and scowled at the blood soaking it.

  I grabbed an icepack and filled it with crushed ice from the icemaker. “Here you go. I gotcha the red. Filled it with your favorite—crushed ice.”

  “Thanks. The cubes hurt.” He took the ice pack, letting his fingers graze over mine in a soft caress.

  I shivered from his touch. “Hurry and get the ice on before it swells too much. I don’t want it interfering with our kissing time.” I winked.

  “It’ll take more than a fat lip to interfere with that.” Snaking his arm around my waist, he pulled me to stand in front of him. He rested his forehead on my stomach, just under my breasts. I ran my fingers through his hair and down over his shoulders, massaging them.

  I looked around the room. Muriel had a nice welt forming on the side of her face just below her eye. Drew had a cut above his right eye. Blood was smeared across his face from wiping it. Chay had a bruised and bloodied lip. For the most part, we’d done okay.

  I looked around the kitchen. “Where’s Jen?”

  “I don’t know. I called before I came over. She didn’t pick up,” Muriel said.

  “Huh.”

  “Is it always like that?” I jumped when he spoke from the corner. I’d forgotten he was there.

  I turned to face Xavier. “Like what?”

  “So violent.”

  “No. Usually, it’s worse.” He flinched at my answer. “Now you know why we needed to know if you were trained in anything.”

  “Well, you’ll be happy, and probably surprised, to hear that I refrained from peeing myself. Although, there were some iffy moments.”

  I laughed. “Good to know.”

  “Who was the new guy, Drew?” Chay asked.

  “Gee, Chay, I didn’t stop to take down his bio. I’ll remember to do that next time.”

  Chay opened the Coke can I handed him. “Funny.”

  “Shayla said he’s a transfer student,” I said.

  “You and Shayla were chatting? I got dibs on her next time.” Muriel stood and stretched. “C’mon, Drew. Walk me home.” She looked at me, smiled, and winked.

  “Yeah, I should be going, too.” Xavier pushed off the wall.

  I followed the three of them into the living room. Muriel hugged me goodbye before she and Drew left. Xavier hesitated in the open doorway. “Milayna… I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “I didn’t help tonight.” His cheeks turned slightly pink.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s hard the first time. Next time will be easier.”

  He groaned. “I don’t think I can deal with a next time.” He reached out and fingered a lock of my hair before sliding it behind my ear.

  I stepped away from Xavier’s touch. I could feel Chay’s eyes boring into me, watching my every move, judging my reaction. “Goodbye, Xavier,” I said flatly, looking in his eyes.

  He nodded once. “Bye.”

  Closing the door after him, I snapped the deadbolt in place. I looked at Chay. I was right—he’d been watching. His eyes fell to the floor, and he shook his head. Laying the icepack on the table, he stood and grabbed his jacket. “I need to go. My parents will be worried.”

  “You don’t need to go now. My mom called yours.”

  �
��I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Chay. Don’t leave. Stay with me for a little while.”

  He smiled as much as his busted lip would allow. “It’s late.”

  “You gotta know—”

  “Yeah, I saw. It’s him, not you.”

  “Then why do I feel like you’re mad at me?” When he didn’t answer, I said, “You trust me, right? I’d never…” I let my words trail off.

  He walked to me and lifted the hair from where Xavier had pushed it behind my ear. Chay let it flutter through his fingers and frame my face. “I know.” He bent forward and touched his lips to my forehead. “I love you.”

  ***

  He holds the knife in his hand. Sunlight shines through the kitchen window and glints off the ornate metal blade. The jeweled handle sparkles. So pretty and so very deadly. He looks at me, his denim blue eyes dark, clouded with hate.

  “Any last words?” he asks. It’s such a corny line, and I laugh despite my circumstances. He’s going to kill me. I have no doubt.

  “Is that the best line you can come up with, Jake? Surely even you can think of something more profound to say before you plunge that knife in my chest.”

  He looks up at the ceiling, tapping the flat side of the blade against his pursed lips. “Nope. I don’t need to be profound, Milayna. I have the knife.”

  “Whatever. Just tell me one thing. Why?”

  “Because I can. Because Azazel wants everyone to see that he can get to you no matter how old you are,” he says, as if it should have been obvious. Maybe it should have been.

  He advances. The knife is pointed toward me. He stands in front of me and lays one hand on my shoulder. His touch is surprisingly gentle considering what he’s about to do.

  I look down and watch the knife plunge deep in my gut. Blood seeps across my shirt. He withdraws the blade and I cover the wound with my hands, trying to staunch the flow of thick, warm blood as it spills onto the tiled floor, turning it crimson.

  I look up, expecting to see a sneer on Jake’s face, or at least a look of satisfaction, of pleasure. Instead, I see something else. Someone else.

  Chay.