Milayna's Angel

by Michelle K. Pickett

“Maybe he will.”

  Over my dead body… Of course, that’s a real possibility right now.

  “Good! Then I’ll call and ask if he’ll come over.” Benjamin grabbed the phone. I reached around, took it out of his hands, and held it up where he couldn’t reach it.

  “No, he isn’t coming over today. Maybe another time.”

  “You’re just saying that. You know, you go to Hell for lying. My Sunday school teacher told me so,” Benjamin said just before he stuck his tongue out at me.

  Yup, I’m just saying it. I’ll probably go to Hell anyway if the demons have their way, so I might as well use up all my lies now.

  Of course, I didn’t say what I was thinking out loud so Benjamin could hear. We were trying to shield him from as much of what was going on as possible. There was only so much a seven-year-old needed to know.

  Breakfast was horrid. I sat with Benjamin on one side of me and an empty chair on the other. I didn’t know where to look. Every time I looked at Benjamin, he glared back, mad because I wouldn’t let him call and invite Chay to breakfast. Every time I looked at the empty chair, I got mad because I wanted Chay to be there. I wanted things to be normal, to make sense again.

  After breakfast, I helped my parents with some chores and then spent the rest of the day doing homework—a pretty boring day. It wasn’t until that night that things got interesting.

  First, Chay showed up. He was just telling my dad the reason for his impromptu visit when I saw Xavier jog up the front porch steps.

  What are they doing here? This can’t end well.

  “They’re coming,” Xavier said when I opened the door.

  “Who?”

  “The Evils and another group of people.”

  “Demi-demons,” Chay told him.

  Xavier looked up and glared at Chay. “What’s he doing here?” he whispered to me.

  Jealousy from both sides now. Great.

  “He’s here for the same reason you are apparently. And the same reason Muriel is crossing the street. I’m sure Jen and Drew will be right behind her.”

  “How’d he get here so fast?” Xavier still eyed Chay.

  “How’d you?” Chay countered.

  “I saw them walking down the road from the tall one’s house.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and finger. A migraine was bouncing around, and, for once, it didn’t have anything to do with a vision. “That’s Jake,” I said.

  “Whoever,” Xavier said, dismissing me. I rolled my eyes and walked away.

  Let them tear each other apart. Then I won’t have to worry about my feelings for either one of them.

  “I just knew,” Chay said.

  “Xavier, Chay has the unique ability to know when one of the group members is in danger. That’s why he’s here before the others. Not that it matters.” I rubbed my temples.

  “Ah. That’s all it is.” Xavier smiled and bent down to kiss me. I turned my face, and his kiss landed on my cheek. He frowned.

  “Did you think it was something else?” Chay smirked when Xavier’s kiss missed its intended mark.

  “Yeah, I was afraid you were over here harassing her.”

  “Oh, would you two knock it off! We have bigger problems than who wins your pissing contest,” I yelled.

  “Trouble in paradise?” Muriel whispered, walking to stand beside me.

  “Yeah. I have every girl’s dream. Two incredibly sexy guys. One wants me. The other doesn’t, but he doesn’t want the other to have me. Two guys, two major headaches.”

  Personally, I can’t figure it out. They are, like, Greek-god handsome and could have any girl—and I mean any—they wanted. I guess I’m nice enough, but factor in the fact that I have the demons of Hell after my soul and even that doesn’t carry much weight.

  “They’re almost here.” Drew opened the front door and walked in to stand next to Muriel. “Hey.”

  She giggled. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

  “Milayna!” Jake called from the front yard. My blood ran cold at the sound of his voice.

  I stepped through the door, my legs shaking. “What do you want, Jake?” I tried to sound bored. In truth, I was scared. Of all the Evils and demi-demons, Jake scared me the most. Worse, he knew it.

  “Just to talk. Come down so I don’t have to yell.”

  Yeah, right.

  “We can talk from here.” I folded my arms over my chest to hide their shaking.

  “Come on, Milayna. You’ve never been shy before.”

  I’m not shy now. I just don’t want you handing me my butt on a silver platter. A shiver ran through me.

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t trust my voice.

  “Okay.” He shrugged. “I’ll come up there.” Jake took a step toward the house, and I jogged down the stairs to intercept him. I didn’t want him anywhere near my house. That was my sanctuary, free from him and the ugliness that stained his soul.

  I stopped about five feet away from Jake. He looked directly into my eyes, and I forced myself to hold his gaze. The electricity buzzed across my nerves. It reached out and touched Jake. It poked at him, feeling over him, looking for the connection that would create the bridge. Just when the bridge was beginning to form, I felt someone walk up and stand beside me. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. I could smell him. But I turned my head anyway—to break my connection with Jake. I’d already felt enough of his emotion. Hate. The same as always.

  “Jake,” Chay said.

  “Still standing by your woman? Oh, wait! She isn’t your woman anymore from what I hear. So, who dumped who?”

  “Whom.”

  Jake frowned. “Huh?”

  “It’d be who dumped whom, idiot,” Chay said.

  Jake ran at him, grabbing Chay through the middle and slamming them both against a large oak standing in the front yard.

  And here we go.

  Shayla walked toward me with a grin on her face. My hand itched to slap it off. Of course, I was going to get my wish. I just had to wait for her to throw the first punch. Demi-angels never started the fights; we just defended ourselves against them.

  Her hand snaked out and slapped me hard across the face. My head flew to the side from the impact. “Is that it, Shayla?”

  I should have sensed that coming. What’s up with that?

  She screamed and lunged at me, clawing at my face with her fingernails. I shielded my face with one hand. Leaving my foot in front of her, I moved to the side and pushed her shoulder with my free hand, sending her sprawling face-first on the ground.

  That’s not going to improve her mood.

  Scrambling up, she barreled toward my middle. Lifting my feet off the ground, she slammed into me. I grunted when I hit the side of the house. My head cracked against it, and stars lit up in front of my eyes. Pain ricocheted across my shoulders. A hard upper cut cracked against my jaw.

  Oh, this girl is so getting on my bitch nerve.

  I jabbed her in the side, blocked a hit from her, and kicked her legs out from under her. She fell on the ground with a very unladylike grunt, blood spurting out her mouth.

  There was no time to think, or even feel, only to react. To protect. To defend. Shayla was a dirty fighter. She pulled hair, bit, scratched. Anything that inflicted pain, the more the better. She reminded me of Jake that way. He was a dirty fighter. And that night was no different, although it was by far an all new low, even for him.

  “Milayna. Milayna!” I heard a child’s voice call. I recognized it immediately.

  “Benjamin?”

  I turned to see Jake run from the house carrying Benjamin. My mother ran after him. I searched the jostling bodies for my father. He was involved in a fight of his own with a much younger and faster demi-demon.

  I searched quickly for Chay. He was holding his own against Rod and Steven—no help.

  I ran in a diagonal line aiming for an area just before Jake; I knew I’d never catch him if I chased him from behind. My only hope was to cut him
off. I pumped my arms and ran as fast as I could push my body. When I was just feet away, I launched myself toward him, knocking into him with enough force that he dropped Benjamin. I saw my mom scoop him into her arms just before Jake hit me so hard across the face that I saw stars… and then nothing at all.

  ***

  I felt the cold first. Then I heard the scuffling.

  “Milayna,” my mom called softly.

  I tried to open my eyes. One opened painfully. I thought I’d opened them both, but the other stayed closed. I tried again. Still, only one eye opened. I reached up to touch it, but my mom took my hand in hers.

  “It’s swollen shut.” She patted my hand.

  I tried to sit up. “Benjamin?”

  “He’s fine. A little shaken up is all.” My mom pushed me back into the couch.

  “Jake?”

  “They took off right after he…” Her voice cracked, and she turned her head. A tear rolled down her cheek. My dad laid his hand over her shoulder, massaging it. “Right after he hit you, the police came,” she managed to answer before she started crying.

  “Are you alright?” Xavier asked from across the room.

  “Yeah. Comes with the job.” I smiled. “Ow.” I touched my fingers to my face, gently probing the area. “He got me good, huh?”

  “I hope your favorite color is purple,” Drew said with a small laugh.

  I sat up. The room tilted under me. Things started to spin around me. They whizzed by so fast that colors bled into each other. It looked like a giant kaleidoscope. “Whoa, I think I’d better lay back down.”

  “Okay, you’ve all seen she’s okay. Now everyone needs to leave,” my dad announced.

  Muriel, Jen, and Drew said goodbye. Muriel promised to call the next day. “I won’t text. You probably won’t be able to see the screen on your cell phone with that shiner,” she teased. I groaned.

  Xavier stood back like he was afraid to get too close. “I’ll talk with you tomorrow, Milayna. Check on how your feeling.”

  “Okay. Bye, Xavier.”

  Chay was the last to leave. I noticed my parents had made themselves scarce. He walked over to the couch and knelt beside it, gently brushing a stray curl behind my ear. He smiled. “You look like hell, Milayna.”

  Geez, you don’t. Even after a fight, you look amazing.

  “Thanks. I feel like I’ve been there.” I tried to sit up again. Putting his hands on my shoulders, he pushed me down. He didn’t have to push hard. At that moment, I had less strength than a wet noodle.

  “Chay?”

  “Hmm.” He was playing with my hair.

  “Why Ben?”

  His hand stilled for a second before he started twirling the piece of my hair around his finger again. “I don’t know.” He stood. “I guess I should get outta here before your dad kicks me out. Stay out of trouble, Milayna.”

  “Yeah.”

  Chay turned toward the door, but he didn’t move. He stood with his back to me for what seemed like an eternity before turning and bending down. He grazed his lips over mine. It took all my willpower not to reach out to grab him and hold him to me.

  “You didn’t turn away,” he said when he lifted his head, reminding me that I had when Xavier tried to kiss me.

  “You have me at a disadvantage,” I said coolly.

  He smiled and stood. “You’ve always had me at one.” He walked out the back door.

  Well, hell. What was that supposed to mean?

  19

  Flowers

  A shrill ringing pulled me out of my peaceful cocoon where my eye and head didn’t throb, there were no demons chasing me, I’d never heard the name Azazel, and Chay was still madly in love with me. I wanted to stay in that place.

  Too bad we didn’t always get what we wanted.

  My eyes still closed—I could only open one, anyway—I fumbled across my bedside table for my cell phone.

  “What?” I mumbled into the phone when I finally found the answer button.

  “Geez, you sound grumpy,” Muriel said.

  “Someone just woke me up.”

  “It’s after eleven. You should be up by now.”

  “I got the crap kicked outta me last night. I think that gives me an excuse.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. “How are you feeling?”

  “Sore. I haven’t been up long enough to know any more than that.” Slowly unfolding myself from the bed, I tested my balance before standing and walking into my bathroom to peer into the mirror. I groaned at what I saw.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Ugh, I look like I was in a bar fight.”

  “Yeah, well, it was worse than a bar fight. Jake was involved.”

  “Jake. I really don’t like him,” I grumbled and turned to look at the damage from another angle. It didn’t get any better no matter which way I turned.

  Muriel laughed. “Gee, I don’t know why. He seems to love you.”

  “I wish he wouldn’t share his love so much.”

  “So how bad is it on a scale of I’ll-be-at-school-tomorrow to there’s-no-freaking-way-I’ll-be-at-school?”

  “Um, I’d say it’s somewhere on the there’s-no-way-in-hell-I’ll-be-at-school-soon scale,” I answered.

  “I was afraid of that. I’ll get your assignments from your classes and bring them over tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Muriel.”

  We hung up shortly after that. I’d just disconnected the line when my phone rang again.

  I punched the answer key on my cell. “What now?”

  “What?” Xavier asked.

  “Hey, Xavier. Nothing. I thought you were Muriel.”

  “Oh, do you need to go?”

  “Nope,” I said with a smile.

  “How are you feeling?”

  I sighed. “That seems to be the question of the day.”

  “And the answer that goes with the question?”

  “I’ve definitely felt better,” I admitted.

  “How’s it look?”

  I ran my fingers over the area and cringed. “Black, purple, and very, very swollen.”

  “Yeah, it was swelling up pretty bad last night. I figured you’d be downright deformed this morning.”

  I burst out laughing. “Ow, don’t make me laugh.” I held my hand against the side of my head. The pounding in my skull felt like a pickaxe was hacking away in there.

  “Sorry. Do you feel like company?”

  No. Yes. Hell, I don’t know.

  “I don’t think so, not today anyway. My head is killing me,” I answered.

  “Okay, I didn’t think you would.”

  My phone vibrated in my hand. “Hold on just a sec,” I said before pulling the phone from my ear and reading the text that just came through.

  Muriel: What’s Xavier doing sitting outside your house?

  I sighed. At least he asked before knocking on the door.

  “Listen,” Xavier continued, “I’m going to hang up now so you can get some rest. Keep ice on that eye, bruiser.” He chuckled.

  I smiled at the nickname. “I will. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

  “Sure. Bye, Milayna.”

  I disconnected the call and dialed Muriel. “Is he still there?” I asked as soon as she picked up the phone.

  “No, he just drove away. What was that all about?”

  “He wanted to come over. I told him I didn’t feel like company, but I didn’t know he was sitting outside in his car. I would have let him in… maybe. I don’t know.”

  “No, you wouldn’t have,” Muriel said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you didn’t tell him to come in after you knew he was there, that’s how. Probably because he isn’t the one you want taking care of you.”

  “Maybe.”

  “You know I’m right,” she sang.

  I yanked my robe on. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter, does it? Even if it is Chay I want sitting next to m
e today, he doesn’t want to be here.”

  “Wow,” she whispered.

  “What now?”

  “There’s a ridiculously huge flower arrangement bobbing up your front stairs right now.”

  “Who’s carrying it?” I bit the inside of my lower lip, waiting for her answer.

  “Who are you hoping is?”

  “Just tell me,” I snapped.

  “The florist.”

  “Oh.” That wasn’t who I was hoping for.

  The doorbell sang through the house.

  “I got it,” Benjamin yelled, his bare feet thudding across the hardwood floor. “Milayna,” Ben called. “It’s for you.”

  I padded down the stairs and found the front door hanging open. A huge vase of flowers sat on the floor just inside, and a man holding a clipboard stood staring at me.

  I twiddled my fingers in a small wave. “Hi.”

  “Milayna Jackson?” The man smiled at me.

  “That’s me.”

  “Then these are for you.” He motioned toward the flowers. “If you’d just sign here.” He pointed to a line on the clipboard and handed me a pen. I scribbled my name across the page. “Here you go.” He lifted the vase off the floor and held them out to me.

  “Thanks.”

  “Have a nice day.” He trotted down the stairs to his bright green delivery van. I watched him drive away, gray smoke billowing out the tailpipe.

  Balancing the vase on one hip, I closed the front door before carrying the flowers to the kitchen table. I put the vase in the center and stepped back to look at it. The flowers were beautiful. Red and pink roses mixed with lilies and fern fronds. A giant white bow circled the vase, with a card attached to it. The sweet scent of rose petals filled the room.

  “Who are those from?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t looked at the card yet,” I answered my dad.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s a girl thing, Dad.”

  “Oh, and your old dad wouldn’t get it, huh? Who do you want them to be from?”

  “You sound like Muriel,” I teased, laughing at the bewildered look on his face. I reached out for the card only to pull my hand back just before I touched it.

  Who do I want them to be from? When I open that card, am I going to be disappointed? Most likely.