Pretty Faces and Dark Places

by Rose B Mashal

  Andrew shook his head, looking frustrated with his lips pulled into a tight line before he spoke. “Don’t you get it, Maya?” he asked, seeming not really looking for answer. “You’re not a human anymore. You haven’t been a human since you were brought to the underworld; humans can’t live here,” he once again said those words he’d already told me.

  “What am I then?” I was completely confused.

  “I had my doubts at first. I thought it was crazy of me to think so,” he started. “You’re too pure to be a demon, Maya. There’s too much love in your heart.”

  “What do you mean, Andrew? I don’t understand anything.”

  Andrew sighed, moving his hands through his hair in frustration. “You had so many questions when you went through the converting, when you should be able to understand them well even without me having to tell you so much. Your wings keep growing white when they are supposed to be black. The food was strange to you at first and then you couldn’t swallow. And then you couldn’t bear the heat, same heat that demons enjoy more than anything. But what really got to me is how you forgave me so easily and so fast after I cut your wings off myself – you’re too forgiving for a demon, too loving,” he said with a kind of devastation lacing his voice.

  “I also can’t sleep… I can’t cry,” I blurted out.

  “I know you can’t sleep, but you can cry. It’s just very rare and the need should be stronger than anything,” he said.

  “Why?” I asked with a frown on my face.

  “Because your tears heal, that’s why,” he replied.

  “Heal?”

  “Yes, Maya. They heal open wounds and broken bones. Tears of an angel.”

  “Angel?” I gasped my question. “I’m an angel?”

  Andrew nodded, but before he looked away, there was a look of distaste evident on his face, reminding me right away of what he’d said about angels being a threat to his kind.

  Something happened inside of me, a feeling that I couldn’t name, but I knew that I was wondering what this meant for us – me and him.

  “You thought I was your mate,” I said.

  Andrew’s head snapped to my direction, and his eyes were hard when he said sternly, “I know you are my mate; it’s the truth.”

  “How come?” I asked. “You said that angels were a threat to your kind, so we can’t be mates.”

  “I don’t know, Maya,” he started, his voice holding so much sadness. “I know what I feel in my heart. I know that every beat is calling your name. I know that I love you more than anything or anyone in the whole two worlds. I know that what I feel for you is what I should feel for my mate. I know I’ll always feel it even if you never love me back,” his voice cracked as he said the last words, and it broke my heart.

  My legs moved on their own, taking the few steps that separated us until I was standing right in front of him. He wouldn’t look into my eyes. He still looked away, so I touched his face with my hand, trying to bring his attention to me.

  His head leaned into my touch, his eyes closed for a moment before he opened them to look at me, his green eyes full of passion. I refused to let him think that mine held any less emotion than what he held for me, so I had to tell him exactly that.

  “How could you think that?” I asked, not really looking for an answer. “I’ve spend the last year, from the moment I saw you, from the moment we met and until we met again, doing nothing but grieving over my best friend and aching because of how much I missed you,” I told him, because he had to understand.

  His eyes widened slightly, and I felt his skin heating even more under my touch, if that was possible. He looked shocked, and I disliked that he didn’t already know this. “Andrew, how could you think I don’t love you back?” I wondered. “I’ve been in love with you since the very first time you called me ‘Angel’.”

  Andrew’s lips parted and he breathed out my name in disbelief, “Maya!” as if he was asking silently and with just a simple call of my name if what he’d just heard was true.

  So I confirmed it for him once more. “I love you, Andrew,” I said. “And my love for you is so great that I don’t think there’s a place in my heart to hate anyone or even anything. I love you more than I could possibly explain. I don’t know how I can be your soulmate when you’re a demon and I’m an angel, but I know that I could never love anyone more than I love you. I love you.”

  Without a warning, Andrew’s lips pressed to mine, warm and hard, but tender and nice at the same time. He pulled my bottom lip into his mouth, sucking on it, causing me to moan and to finally react and kiss him back. I sucked on his top lip, tasting him with my tongue when his touched mine. His hands pulled me to his body, tightly. And I felt his wings spreading out behind him. My legs almost gave out when his hand moved up my back from underneath my top where he kneaded my skin, warming it under his touch even more.

  “Andrew,” I murmured his name when his lips left my own and began trailing kisses down my neck. My head was already spinning with all of the things I was feeling, and a strong desire grew in my heart for him to touch me more, to hold me more, to … love me more.

  “Maya,” he breathed into my neck, sending fire-hot chills down my spine. “I want you, I want you so bad,” he panted.

  “Yes!” I said without hesitation. In an instant he had his other hand – the one that wasn’t on my back – under my thighs from behind, and then he carried me bridal style, walking us a few steps to a spot where the grass was a bit thicker, and the purple flowers were surrounding it.

  Andrew set me down on the grassy ground, and then his lips found mine again. It wasn’t a minute later before his lips once again travelled to attack my neck and the top of my chest.

  I moaned in pleasure when his tongue darted out to taste the start of the swell of my breast. I couldn’t take it anymore; I wanted to feel his body covering mine. With my hands that were on his neck, I pulled him with me as I lay down on my back.

  This time when I moaned, it was more like a wince that I let out at the feel of my wings blocking the way for my back to be flat to the soft grass. I didn’t know how I would ever be able to lie on my back from now on.

  “It’s okay, Love, just relax,” Andrew said, as if he understood why I was wincing, but I still felt the need to explain to him what I was feeling.

  “I can’t lie back on my wings.”

  “You can, just try to relax them. Don’t tighten them, don’t keep them erect this way, soften them and they’ll feel even better than your back without them,” he said.

  “How?” I asked when I found it hard to follow what he was saying. To be honest, my mind was still fogged from all of the desire I felt for him.

  “You’ll know how, just relax,” he said again. Just like he’d said when I tried to breathe in and out normally and focus on settling down my panting, my wings softened behind me, and I was able to lie back without feeling any kind of discomfort.

  I didn’t wait any longer. I’d missed his lips and the feel of his body against my own in that minute he took to explain things to me, so I pulled him to me quickly, kissing his lips with so much passion. Both of our bodies were heating to the point I thought we would set the grass on fire soon.

  Andrew didn’t waste any more time. He pulled my strapless top down, revealing my breasts to him, my nipples erect and asking for his attention, which he gave to them right away, answering my silent plea.

  His lips wrapped around my right nipple and he kissed it slightly, then moved to the other before I could whine and plead with him to get back to the first. He sucked on my left nipple as if his life depended on it while his left hand kneaded my right breast hard enough to make me groan and for my moans to grow uncontrollable.

  After a while of serving my breasts with the sweetest assault, Andrew started fumbling with the fly of my jeans. When he got it undone, he pulled my jeans down, after I’d kicked my heels off to make it easier to get the jeans off of me.

  His mouth touched my sex over
my thong. He wasn’t kissing it, he was only moving his lips sweetly over it, driving me crazy with lust and need for him to be inside me right then and right now. When I heard him inhaling deeply, I knew he was taking in my scent, and the realization caused me to moan louder and pull at the grass underneath my hands.

  When my thong made it beside my jeans, I was very ready for Andrew to join our bodies together, but he had other plans for me. He lowered his mouth to my center and I felt his tongue touching my lower lips. I cried out loud when he flicked the tip of his tongue over my clit, and I knew if he kept going this way, I wouldn’t be able to hold back my orgasm any longer. I was already so close to the edge.

  Andrew then put two fingers inside of me, and I gasped his name loudly. He moved them in and out of me for a second before he stopped. Even his tongue stopped, and I all but moaned at the loss and need for him to do more of that, the need for him to never stop.

  I realized when I looked down at where he was and saw him looking at me with eyes that were heavy with lust that he was waiting for me to look at him. Because he then held up the two fingers that were just inside of me, which were glistening with my wetness, and put them in his mouth, sucking on them.

  I blushed deeply and I couldn’t stop myself from asking him with a pleading voice, “Andrew, please! I need you inside of me.”

  “You don’t have to ask, My Soul. But I have to admit, I love hearing you begging for me.”

  I moaned, and then cried out when I felt him finally inside of me after he took his pants off. I could never explain how much I’d missed this – so much, more than so much. I was so sensitive down there that all I needed was two or three thrusts for my orgasm to break free, satisfying the need I’d felt for what seemed to be too long. I was so close to uttering the word ‘finally’ but Andrew’s whispers of love in my ear and his words of how I felt good to him were so erotic that I found another orgasm building inside of me, mere seconds from the last one.

  We made love, we loved, we were loved back, and we felt so much. I loved how most of the time when I came, Andrew was right there with me. I adored every and each word of love he whispered in my ear, and I knew I would live just to see those green eyes of his staring at me that way, with so much love and passion. I wanted our time together to never end. But I knew that we can’t always get what we wish for.

  “When I will be able to fly?” I asked, because the thought of flying was so pleasant that even when I was asking him the question I couldn’t help the smile that was planted on my lips. The sensation I’d felt as Andrew flew while holding me was outstanding; I couldn’t imagine flying on my own would be any less thrilling.

  “So eager, aren’t we?” Andrew looked down at me, smiling sweetly at me. We were lying on the ground, his wing underneath me so I was lying on soft feathers instead of grass, fully naked, as I rested my head on Andrew’s hard chest, enjoying his closeness and completely spent from our love making.

  I giggled, “I mean, I have wings, what am I supposed to do with them?”

  “You will fly, Love, but not until your wings are bigger. They are still too small to carry your weight,” Andrew explained.

  “Oh! I see,” I said. “Do you know much about angels?”

  Andrew sighed, “I know that they could finish us so easily.”

  A wave of sadness washed over me at the sound of his words. I couldn’t deny to myself that my first thought when he told me what they do to humans was to protect said humans from them. But truth be told, how would I be able to protect them if demons existed? Because as long as they were there, they’d forever take girls – and sometime boys – against their will, and change them enough to make them something else that would fit into their world. Point was, if I wanted to protect, I had to end lives. Of demons.

  The thought sent pain over my heart, just like a sharp knife to the chest would feel. If I finished demons, it meant that I needed to finish Andrew as well. I couldn’t risk him getting some other girl pregnant and continuing to reproduce his race. But just the thought of hurting Andrew was enough to make my blood run cold in my veins. I’d never do it. I think …

  But before any of that, how would I finish any of them if I didn’t have any kind of powers or even know how – I had no idea about anything.

  I heard Andrew sighing again. “Do you feel any new changes in your body? Other than your wings, I mean,” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I have a slight headache, and my fingertips kinda hurt,” I told him.

  Andrew’s face paled, and he sat up, causing me to sit up as well. “What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion.

  It took him a moment too long before he replied, “Nothing.”

  “Andrew?”

  “Your fingertips … it’s where your powers come from. You’ll need a little time before it’s fully active,” he said, not looking my way, but ahead of him to the space surrounding us.

  “But it can work a little now?” I wondered.

  “Yes.”

  “Would you teach me how?” Andrew’s head snapped to my direction.

  “You want me to teach you how to use your powers?” he asked in shock.

  “Yeah. If you don’t mind.”

  He went into a few moments of silence again before he replied, “I’ll teach you, but you need to promise me one thing.”

  “What?” I swallowed.

  “Promise me you’ll never use them against one of my own unless you are in danger.”

  “I promise,” I said, fully aware that I would find a way to keep my word – but still be able to do what I wanted to do.

  I could shoot fire from my fingertips.

  Okay, it wasn’t really fire, but it burned whatever I turned it on. It looked more like lightning, but Andrew called it White Fire.

  “I’m exhausted. I don’t think I can do this anymore,” I told him. He was standing quite a far distance away; I was worried that I might not be able to control it, and could potentially hurt him, so I told him to stay away.

  “You still can do it – you just need more energy,” he said.

  “Energy? Where do I get this energy from? I don’t eat,” I pointed out. Andrew came closer to me, which confused me because I knew he had to be careful not to get hurt. He’d told me that if I shot a demon with this White Fire, I’d end them on the spot.

  Andrew hugged me from behind, and though I was worried about him getting hurt by accident, I still couldn’t resist the chance to enjoy his closeness and the warmth his body gave me when his broad chest touched my wings – which were by now much larger, with much thicker feathers. I loved them so much; they were beautiful.

  Andrew then gave me a light kiss on my neck, and his arms tightened even more around me. “Try it now, My Soul, on that big rock over there,” he said.

  “But it’s too far away, my powers aren’t that strong.”

  “Just try it and we’ll see,” he insisted.

  I took a deep breath, trying my hardest to convince myself that I wouldn’t hurt him since he was behind me. I stretched my right arm out in front of me, with my left hand on Andrew’s hands that were holding me to him over my stomach, and then I worked on releasing the White Fire from my fingertips.

  Huge lines of lightning came out and my eyes widened, shocked at how strong and big the lines were. I had to hold my fingers back, making a fist to stop them from shooting any further. The fire was so powerful, making sounds similar to when electricity strikes something. When I looked at the rock I’d been aiming at, I found it nothing but black ashes with smoke coming out of it.

  “Oh. My …!” I gushed in disbelief.

  Andrew chuckled nervously, and then he spoke softly in my ear. “Angels don’t get their energy from food, Maya. They get it from love.”

  “Oh, Andrew!” I turned around in his arms and hugged him tightly. I pecked him lightly on his shoulder where I rested my head, then hummed as he hugged me tighter to his body. My humming turned to a wince when the headache I’d been feeling came b
ack again, even more painful this time.

  “What is it?” Andrew asked with concern.

  “My head, it’s hurting again,” I replied.

  I heard Andrew inhale a sharp breath, and then his body tensed before he spoke. “Maya, there’s something you need to know.”

  I took a half step back and looked up at him. His eyes had that sadness in them that I disliked more than I could describe. “What is it?”

  “I don’t think you’re just an angel. There’s something of a higher creature in you,” he said, confusing me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This headache you’re feeling – it’ll be gone when the halo above your head forms,” he said sadly.

  My eyes grew wide again. “Really?” My question was full of excitement and joy, happy at the thought of having a halo for some reason I didn’t understand.

  He nodded.

  I reached out with my hand and touched his cheek, and he leaned into my touch, closing his sad eyes. “Why are you so sad, Andrew?”

  He opened his eyes, sadness still filling them as he answered, “When the halo is formed, I won’t be able to touch you ever again, Maya.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “It’s the truth. If I touch you – I’ll burn,” he explained.

  “No way, that’s impossible. We love each other, we can’t not touch! It would kill me,” I protested, the urge to cry growing greater inside me.

  “We were never supposed to love each other in the first place, Maya.” He shook his head in sorrow. “You’re an angel, and I’m a demon, don’t you get it?”

  “No! I refuse to believe that. We were meant for each other; you’re my soulmate, Andrew. I know it in my heart, and my heart never lies to me.”

  Andrew took me in his arms again and hugged me tightly. “I know, My Soul. I love you, too. I love you more than love. More than every drop of water in all of the oceans pooled together. My love for you is higher than the sky. I love you to no end.”