Milayna's Angel

by Michelle K. Pickett

  I looked up when I heard Muriel call my name, and I saw the rest of the group looking at me. “Huh?”

  “What did you see?”

  “Oh.” I waved my hand in the air. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

  The rest of the people around the table seemed to believe my excuse. But when my gaze flitted to Chay, his mouth was turned down slightly at the corners. He knew I was lying. The question was, did he know what I was seeing?

  Blood covering Chay’s hands. Demon arms around Benjamin.

  ***

  As soon as it was dark, they lined up in front of Muriel’s house.

  “They’re here,” she said quietly. Drew placed a protective arm around her waist, pulling her to him for a quick kiss.

  “Great,” Jen said under her breath. “I was hoping Edward was just trying to scare you.”

  I stared out the window at the five Evils and four demi-demons standing on the sidewalk. “Me too.”

  Six of us and nine of them. Why are the odds never on our side?

  Chay walked to me. “Do you have it?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I pulled up my pant leg and unsnapped the knife sheath I wore around my ankle. Taking the dagger out of the leather pouch, I weighed it in the palm of my hand. It fit my grip perfectly, like it was made for me.

  Xavier looked over my shoulder. “What is it?”

  “A kick-ass, demon-killing dagger,” I said with a smile.

  Xavier stepped in front of me and looked at the dagger lying in the palm of my hand. “Where’d you get it?”

  “Jake.”

  “He gave it to you?”

  “Hardly,” I said with a laugh. “I took it from him. It just flew right out of his hand and into mine.” Chay chuckled at my joke. Xavier looked confused.

  “Milayna is the only one of us that’s figured out how to harness the telekinetic power we are all supposed to have,” Drew grumbled with a frown. He’d been practicing, trying to learn how to use his power since he’d turned eighteen and learned he possessed it.

  “No luck, huh, Drew?” Chay asked with a grin.

  Drew grunted something in answer. I couldn’t understand what and probably didn’t want to.

  “How’d you do it?” Xavier took a step closer to me to get a better look at the dagger. Chay pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against.

  “I don’t have a clue. I haven’t been able to do it since my birthday, the night I saw Azazel.”

  “Maybe because you haven’t had a need to,” Chay said.

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “So tell me about the knife.” Xavier reached for it. My fingers closed around the handle.

  “First rule, I don’t give it up for anyone. No offense, but when demons are trying to kill you, you get a little protective of your only defense against them.”

  Xavier dropped his hand with a tight smile. “Sure.”

  “Besides, you should know the angel legend.” I looked up at him. “A dagger made from the coals of Hell. The only known weapon able to kill a demon.”

  Xavier’s eyes flitted to the dagger, to me, and then back again. “I didn’t pay much attention to any of the old legends.”

  “You didn’t pay attention to what would kill your vicious enemy?” Chay asked, sarcasm lacing his words.

  Xavier shrugged a shoulder. “It sure is beautiful considering it’s from the bowels of Hell.”

  “Yes, it is.” I slipped it back in the leather sheath around my ankle. “So, should we get the party started or wait and see if they’re just going to spend the night staring at us?”

  Muriel crossed her arms in front of her, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “I don’t really want to go out there if I don’t have to.”

  Considering none of us wanted to fight, it was an easy decision. We popped in a DVD, made popcorn, and settled around the television to watch a movie and wait them out. It lasted about forty-five minutes—just when the dang movie was getting good—before we heard from them.

  “You can’t sit in there all night,” Jake yelled.

  I sighed. “I knew they wouldn’t just leave. I’m surprised they didn’t just come up and ring the doorbell.”

  Chay chuckled. “That’d be something Jake would do.”

  I walked to the door and pulled it open. Two red noses were pressed against the glass of the storm door. “I wondered where they were.” I pushed it open. Their fat, red bodies fell backward. Their butts scooting across the porch floor left a trail in the light dusting of snow.

  “Milayna!” Friendly exclaimed. “We wondered when you’d come out to play.”

  “Nice house,” Scarface said with a scowl.

  “I suppose I have you to thank for that,” I said. The grumpy hobgoblin had fingers that shot fireballs. A fact we found out firsthand just months earlier.

  “Nope. That was Aba—”

  “Shh! Don’t say his name,” the other goblin said, wide-eyed.

  “Hmph. That was him,” Scarface muttered.

  Chay looked over my shoulder. “Why are you two so scared of Abaddon?”

  Both goblins took a step backward as if Abaddon were going to strike Chay down where he stood for daring to utter his name.

  “Because he’s scary,” Friendly said.

  Chay threw some popcorn in his mouth and shrugged. “That clears it up.”

  “Getting bored out here. Stop playing with the little demons and come outside and play with us,” Jake called.

  “I called the police,” my aunt said quietly. “There’s no need to go out there.”

  “Thank goodness.” We all sighed.

  Minutes later, the police showed. The red and blue bubblegum lights on top of the car swirled in the darkness, casting their faces in eerie shadows, making them look as evil as they were. A blip of the siren sent them scattering in all directions.

  “I guess that’s our cue to leave too,” Xavier said.

  “Yeah, it’s getting late,” I agreed.

  “Walk me to the door, Milayna?”

  I hesitated. Xavier raised his eyebrows in question. “Sure.” I walked beside him to the front door. Everyone else made their way into the kitchen, cleaning up the popcorn bowls and pop cans.

  “So…” Xavier rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets. “You’re back with Chay.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  He reached out and hooked his finger around the chain I wore, pulling it out from under my T-shirt. The gold band glittered when the light hit it. “I don’t know too many girls that still wear their ex-boyfriend’s ring.”

  “Oh.”

  “The funny thing is, he didn’t touch you all night. So either you’re back together and he’s all of a sudden become shy about public displays of affection, or you’re not back together but something has happened that makes you think you’ll be getting back together.”

  “We aren’t back together,” I said quietly, wondering how much of our conversation Chay was listening to.

  “Then something happened.”

  “No. I’m just not giving up yet.”

  “And where does that leave me?” Xavier let the chain fall against my chest. I quickly pushed it under my shirt.

  “The same place you’ve always been. A friend.”

  “Ah. I thought that’d be your answer.”

  “I never said—”

  “I know. You said we weren’t really dating, but you sure kissed me like we were.”

  I felt a flaming hot blush sear my cheeks.

  Geez, I hope Chay didn’t hear that.

  “Xavier…” I sighed, squeezing my forehead with one hand. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to say. He was right.

  “Don’t worry, Milayna. I knew if Chay gave any indication he wanted you back, you’d go. But just so you know, I’m not giving up either.” He leaned down and quickly grazed his lips over mine before walking out the door.

  I turned toward the kitchen and saw Chay staring at me, his face impassive.
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  “Chay, it happened—”

  “Don’t bother, Milayna.” He brushed past me and stormed out the door, breaking into a run toward his house.

  Crap, crap, crap. I’ve so screwed this up.

  I ran my hand over the chain until I found the gold band hanging from it. I rolled it between my fingers.

  How’d I make such a colossal mess out of everything? Of course, if I want to get pissy, I could blame it on Chay. He’s the one who broke up with me in the first place. But it isn’t entirely his fault. I was teetering on the fence. I can’t have it both ways. Either I walk away from Chay and commit to Xavier or I sit around and wait for Chay to make up his mind and figure out what he wants. I can’t have it both ways. It isn’t fair to any of us, especially Xavier.

  “Choices, choices,” Muriel said softly. She wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her chin on my shoulder. “It’d be so much easier if guys came with instructions.”

  “Or we could read their minds.”

  “Yeah, that too.” She kissed me on the cheek. “It’s gonna work out.”

  “With which one?”

  Muriel shrugged “I wish I had the answer for you.”

  “Me too.”

  I just wish I knew who I wanted it to work out with. And if he wanted to kill me or not.

  24

  The Pit

  Wednesday and Thursday nights, I had the same dream. Or maybe they were visions coming to me in my sleep. It didn’t really matter what I called them.

  This dream was different from dreams and visions I’d had. This time I could see my attacker. I watched him walk toward me. He smiled. Even in my vision, I could feel my heart dance at the sight of him. Love, and maybe a little lust, filled me, and I felt my lips curve into a smile. He was gorgeous. Sexy. Smart and funny. Almost perfect. Except for the one thing he dreamt of doing—was going to do. He held out his arms to me and I walked into them willingly, even though I knew he was as dangerous as the demons in Hell. Maybe more so, because even though I knew I shouldn’t trust him, I did.

  I breathed in his scent. Clean and outdoorsy. I weaved my fingers through his silky hair, my other hand massaging his shoulder. He tensed under my touch.

  “I’m sorry, Milayna,” he whispered against my ear, his breath fanning against my neck, wisps of hair tickling my skin. He placed a kiss on the hollow behind my ear.

  He pulled back and looked into my eyes. A hand on each shoulder, he gently pushed me until my back was against the wall. His hands glided over my skin softly, gently making their way to my neck.

  I dropped my hand from his hair, pushing on his chest and trying to wiggle free. His hands encircled my neck, his thumbs pressing painfully into my throat, squeezing. My head began to pound from the lack of oxygen, and my chest burned. The sound of blood rushing behind my ears was deafening.

  Adrenaline surged through my bloodstream, and I hit and clawed at his hands and arms. I kicked at him, trying to break free of his grasp. His hold tightened. Stars floated in front of my eyes. The edges of the room began to darken. The darkness grew until everything but his face was blotted out.

  “I love you, Milayna,” he murmured, gripping my neck harder still.

  The last thing I saw before the blackness blanketed me was Chay’s blue-green eyes looking into mine as he squeezed the life out of my body, watching me die.

  I woke up with a scream, Muriel by my side calling my name.

  “Sorry.” I covered my face with my hands.

  “Milayna!” My mom burst through the bedroom door, my dad right behind her.

  “I’m fine. It was just a nightmare.”

  “This makes one every night this week,” Muriel told them, and I shot her a dirty glare. They didn’t need to know the nightmares were as bad as they were. They had enough to deal with without me adding to their stress.

  “Milayna, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It’s not that big of deal, Mom. Everyone has nightmares.”

  “Still, you should have said something. I’ll call Jen’s dad in the morning and ask him to drop something by to help you sleep.”

  Jen’s dad was a doctor. He was also married to an angel, so he knew firsthand what we were dealing with.

  “I don’t want anything, Mom. I’m fine.” I didn’t tell her that a sleeping pill would only make the nightmares worse. Staying asleep would let the dream play over and over again. I might not be getting a full night’s sleep because of the dreams, but at least I could wake up and end them. “If it’s okay, I think I’ll sleep on the couch from now on, though. I don’t want to keep waking Muriel.”

  “You’re not bothering me. You’ll stay in my room. Do you want to talk about your nightmare?” Muriel asked after my parents went back to bed, and we were lying in her darkened bedroom.

  “It’s just the same old stuff. Demons and the pit of Hell, people trying to kill me, you know, standard teenage problems,” I said with a laugh.

  “Who do you see?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  She shifted in bed to see me better. “In your dream. Who’s trying to kill you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s funny because you keep calling out the same name every night.”

  “Really? Whose name?”

  “Chay. You need to be careful. Your subconscious is trying to tell you something. Listen to it.”

  “Do you know something I don’t?”

  “Yeah. Chay is going to try to kill you,” she said.

  ***

  Friday, our group sat around a table in the school cafeteria during lunch. Chay leaned back in his chair, his legs stretched out in front of him. “Have you had anymore visions? Any of the person trying to kill you?” He poked at his lunch with a plastic fork. Muriel’s head turned toward me.

  “Yes.”

  His fork stilled for a beat before he continued spearing an unrecognizable lump of mush on his tray. “And? Have you seen the person’s face?”

  “Yes.” I studied his face. The briefest flicker of emotion crossed his features. If I hadn’t been watching him so closely, I would have missed it.

  “Who is it?” I saw his shoulders tighten. The cords of muscles in his arms constricted.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before,” I lied. His body relaxed, a breath hissing through his teeth.

  Maybe I should have told him I knew it was him, that I’d overheard him talking to Muriel about his visions. Maybe he’d try to fight the visions harder, let me help. We could’ve done it together. I could’ve reassured him that I trusted him, that he wouldn’t hurt me.

  Then again, maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference at all.

  ***

  Friday night, they showed up again. It was the worst night for them to make an appearance. Police response time was notoriously slow on the weekends, which was exactly why they chose it.

  They stood in a line on the sidewalk in front of Muriel’s house. Waiting. Watching.

  “Oh, for the love of Mike,” my aunt said, looking out the window. “I’ll call the police.”

  I’d had about enough of the whole mess. The constant visions. The threat of the relentless and pointless fighting. I was ready for it to be over with, regardless of the outcome.

  I was out the door before anyone could stop me. “What?” I yelled, lifting my arms out to my sides before letting them fall against my legs. “What do you want?”

  “To play,” Friendly said, sticking his head around the corner of the house. I rolled my eyes. The hobgoblins were another thing I was tired of. Their fat little bodies running through the yard was getting old. I was definitely over it.

  “Go away,” I snapped. Friendly’s face turned…well, not so friendly. His wide eyes turned black and he scowled, his fat lips pulling grotesquely over his square, yellow teeth.

  I jogged down the porch stairs and stood in the yard. Hands on my hips, I stared back at the group of Evils and demi-demons.

  “Mi
layna, what are you doing?” Xavier walked up behind me. “Do you want to fight?”

  I blew out a breath and wiped my forehead with the side of my hand. “No. I want this to be over.”

  I wasn’t paying attention. Big mistake. While I was talking with Xavier, Jake rushed us. He picked me up and slammed me on the ground. My teeth clamped together from the impact, and pain sizzled through my back and shoulders.

  Jake raised his hand, and I braced myself for the blow. Chay plowed into us before his fist connected with my face. He and Jake rolled on the ground, exchanging punches. That got the party started. The rest of the group advanced on us, and I braced myself for a long, painful battle.

  A pretty brunette sauntered up to me, a sweet smile on her face. I was momentarily distracted, thinking maybe she’d be reasonable and see how pointless the fighting was. Then she slapped me hard across the face and brought me back to reality. Demi-demons were not reasonable. And they didn’t see the fighting as pointless. They saw it as a way to wear us down, weaken the group. It was also a distraction—a fact I’d be reminded of.

  I was deep into the fight with the brunette, holding my own. Our skills were fairly matched, so neither of us gained the upper hand. She’d jab, and I’d block. I’d kick, and she blocked. It was boring, actually. Then things took a turn for the worse, at least for me.

  Another demi-demon rushed over to help her. He punched me hard in the gut. I bent over in pain. The brunette took a swing at my face. I concentrated on my power to feel others’ feelings to anticipate her blows before they connected. Her arm moved in slow motion toward me, and I blocked.

  Jen saw I was out numbered and ran to help. She pulled the brunette off me. I concentrated on blocking the blows from the second demi-demon. He was big, but I concentrated on following his thoughts. I was able to block most of his blows while managing to sneak in a few good jabs of my own.

  Still fighting off the demi-demon, I felt the earth begin to shake and heard the demons punch through the dirt. The smell of burning flesh and sulfur stung my nose. The heat radiating from the opening in the ground melted the snow around it.