Pretty Faces and Dark Places

by Rose B Mashal

  I quickly shrugged the thought away. These were not someone, they were demons. I couldn’t live one more day with the knowledge that I’d never helped and never done anything to save the lives of people we would think had been kidnapped, when in truth it was worse than kidnapping. It was killing for the soul, as well. It was changing who you are and becoming something else that pleased them. It wasn’t fair, and I was determined to fix it.

  The swooshing sound of the wind made me look up at the sky. I saw Andrew as he flew toward where I was sitting, landing when he was closer to the ground. I smiled as I looked at him, not saying anything, and I saw in his eyes that kind of sadness that had been with him for what felt like too long. He smiled softly, and I grinned. “Andrew,” I said as I stood up, seeing him take a step back and away from me. My smile dropped.

  Realization came to me when I wondered why he’d done that. I understood that was his first instinct – he was seeing the enemy, after all. The same enemy that he was in love with.

  My hand on its own reacted for me. I reached out to touch his shoulder, intending to hug him, but once my fingers connected with his skin, he yelped in pain and shrugged his shoulder away from my touch.

  It hurt. To know that Andrew didn’t want my touch hurt. But at the same second, I figured it all out. I realized why I had all of those answers without looking for them. I realized why I knew all of that information without any effort from me to find it. And I realized why Andrew had winced in pain; because when he shrugged himself away from my touch, I saw the spots where my fingertips had touched him turn extremely reddish. I’d burned him with my touch. And that meant one thing: I’d grown a halo.

  Gut-wrenching. Not being able to touch him, it was gut-wrenching.

  It felt so awful to have him right in front of me, knowing I couldn’t touch him ever again. It broke me. How could I live this way? How would I survive without his closeness and warmth? How could I accept the fact that my touch would hurt him? How could I accept the fact that my touch would hurt him, though I was the one who loved him the most? How could I accept that I’d never be able to hug him, kiss him … make love with him?

  It was too much, the worst torture anyone could go through – not to be able to touch your soulmate, not even a small, tiny touch. It was even more painful than when they’d cut my wings off, and that was pure agony.

  Andrew tried to hide his pain – not the pain I’d caused with my touch, but the pain I’d caused by just being me. An angel. An angel in love with a demon.

  I could see it in his eyes very clearly. I could see it in his eyes brighter than anything – he was sad. So sad. He was just as broken as me. But he kept trying to show me that he was only upset, not extremely depressed. I knew better, though.

  Heartwarming. For him to keep smiling at me while he was burning from the inside, it was heartwarming.

  He kept that smile on his face as he helped me learn how to fly. My wings by then were huge. My white feathers seemed like they could light the entire space around us, giving the flowers a lighter color and making the grass seem fresher. I couldn’t help but smile when finally my feet left the ground, this time without falling, and then I grinned when I was actually flying. Andrew had told me that it would come naturally, and it did. At last.

  I could never describe the amazing feeling of freedom I felt as I flew in the blank, dark space. It was magical. And while I flew, I made sure that I didn’t get close enough to feel the horrible heat where the center of the earth was.

  There was a glow surrounding my form that I could easily see from the way every spot around me brightened. Andrew smiled every time I did, and chuckled lightly when I squealed, enjoying the new sensation of being able to fly.

  Time passed, and we talked a lot. I asked him questions that I already knew the answers for, and he always answered me with honest replies, never lying to me once even though I knew he could. Could very well, even.

  Soon, he had to sleep. I was surprised for a moment when he said he needed to get some sleep, because earlier, he’d told me that they sleep every few months by humans’ calculation. But then the answer came to my mind, and I realized that I’d been away from my first life as a human for about ten months already. It was shocking.

  Spirit-freeing. Knowing that I wouldn’t be alone with my plan and knowing that my warnings and my attempts to get the converters to help hadn’t gone to waste was spirit-freeing.

  It wasn’t long after Andrew left me to get some sleep that I saw another demon approaching. There was something strange about that demon that had me confused for a moment, only for my confused frown to disappear right away when I realized what was happening.

  “William!” I cried. “What’s brought you here?” I asked, realizing that my knowledge of things only was about the past memories of others and the details of things related to humans and demons.

  “We are ready to fight, Maya,” William told me.

  “We?” I asked, completely stunned at what he was saying.

  “The baby they killed wasn’t Sophia’s alone. My mother killed my son and my sister knew about it; I’m seeking revenge,” he said with venom lacing his voice.

  Though I already knew that it was revenge which had lead him here, I also knew that there was goodness in his heart, and the few white feathers that I could see in his wing proved me right.

  I was shocked at first when I saw his white feathers. He wasn’t a converted demon, he was born a demon. Or so I’d thought.

  The answer I learned was even more confusing, and it took a few long moments for me to be able to comprehend it.

  It was true that you can’t turn a born-demon into an angel, because they have never had a drop of goodness in them. Shockingly, William was born a human, because his parents had had sexual intercourse before the converting of his father had completed, just like what had happened with Sophie and him. No one spoke of this because nobody knew, but they’d put baby William and his twin brother through the converting process when they were merely infants. It was sickening. And this was why his mother had instituted the rule of never having sex with your mate until the converting is over.

  I nodded. “Yes, William, I understand.”

  “We don’t have much time. Kathrin saw Sophia’s wings, which are all white, and she went to tell our mother. I hid her, but they might find her, so we need to fight. Now.”

  “Now?” I asked with wide eyes.

  “Maya, don’t you understand? I won’t see my soulmate get killed. I’ve already lost a son!”

  “Alright, I’m coming with y–” I stopped midsentence when I saw Andrew coming closer to us. I had no idea what to tell him or how to make an excuse for my leaving – I couldn’t lie. I motioned with my head and eyes for William to leave, and he took off right away. I knew he was going to see if Sophie was okay or if they’d found her.

  “Going with him where, Maya?” Andrew asked, his voice stained by anger that I could easily hear in his tone.

  He was mad at me. Of course.

  “Andrew, I – uh …” I tried, but I couldn’t find any answer I could tell him. I was still not able to lie.

  “I knew you were lying from the start. You want to harm my kind, it’s in your blood,” he said with disgust clouding his voice.

  “Andrew, please, try to understand,” I said when I saw his eyes shifting to be completely dark. His beautiful features turning hard and his pale skin turning into a light reddish color showing just how mad he really was.

  “You can’t touch my kind! You can’t!” Andrew’s voice changed from all of the kindness I was used to hearing in it, to a strongly hoarse one. Anger, madness, and rage were lacing his loud voice, and I saw his fangs already showing up.

  I took a step back, and suddenly without thinking I found my hand aiming at him, as if I was ready to shoot and finish him.

  I saw Andrew’s black eyes as they widened at my reaction. And to tell you the truth, even I was surprised – shocked even – by my own actions, but
I had no control over them. It was my natural instinct when I saw a demon looking that way, ready to fight. I would aim to hurt them before they could hurt me or someone I needed to protect. Because … he was right – it was in my blood.

  “Maya!” his shocked voice didn’t sound as harsh. It was just disbelieving, and maybe there was even hurt.

  Quickly, I withdrew my arm from his direction, leaving it hanging to my side, my hand forming a tight fist, and a look of shame in my eyes. “Andrew, I didn’t mean to - …”

  I guess the damage had already been done, because Andrew left right away, and I was left there not knowing what to do. I wanted him to understand that it was never my intention to hurt him. It was a natural reaction, but he was nowhere near me for me to try and explain.

  I sighed, feeling Andrew’s hurt. He just couldn’t control himself, and his anger spoke for him, making him turn to look like that. I knew I shouldn’t have reacted that way, but just like him, it was out of my control. I wished he would understand.

  A while later, I was still standing in the same spot I’d been when Andrew left, still not being able to get over the fact that I was going to hurt him, without even having the chance to think about it. Maybe it was a reaction my mind knew was the right thing to do, but in my heart, I was very aware that I’d never hurt Andrew.

  Before I knew it, I heard the undeniable noise of fluttering wings. The sound was very loud, telling me that a huge number of angels were coming my way. I was actually pleased by how many there were; it would be easy to fight this way.

  Sadly, I didn’t get to stay pleased for very long, because the first thing I saw was hundreds and hundreds of black wings, no hint of white ones among them – and the ones leading the group were Kathrin and her mother.

  I gasped at the sight. My mother had told me that they would win due to how many there were and that I needed help, but I was completely alone, and I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t use my powers on them, I’d promised Andrew, and I couldn’t break that promise even if I wanted to. It was devastating.

  My first thought was to question if Andrew had been the one to warn them and tell them where I was, which was senseless – Andrew would never do that. But then the truth was spoken in my mind, telling me that it was Ashley who’d done it, not Andrew.

  I disliked how stupid I’d been to think that I could change Ashley with my words. Ashley had had an ugly life full of abuse, hurt, and pain. Of course she wouldn’t want that life back even if it was possible; of course none of my words had affected her, so she’d lied. And cheated. She’d ratted my plan out and now I had to deal with the damage. Alone. I just hoped that it wouldn’t last for too long.

  Out of nowhere, I saw rays of red-hot fire coming my way. I couldn’t tell at first who’d shot it, but eventually I realized it was Andrew’s mother, the ruler of her kind.

  I aimed at the rays and shot lightning out of my fingertips to intercept the fire rays and stop them. It worked, but then I found many more rays coming my way, forcing me to use both hands to stop them. I wished I was able to shoot back to hurt and not just to defend – they needed to go. They needed to vanish.

  I saw Matthew come out of the crowd, using his powers to work along with mine on stopping the fire from reaching me. His own powers were also hurting demons, knocking them to the ground due to how strong the fire coming out of his hands was, right before Kathrin’s disbelieving eyes.

  Matthew’s wings were pitch black, no trace of any white in them, and I felt sorry for how much hate he had inside, which sadly was toward no one other than himself. He hated himself entirely too much.

  It wasn’t long before I found myself already losing energy. It was only Matthew and me fighting against them. It was unreal how strong Matthew was, that he could stop so many fire rays coming our way and knock off so many demons. I was pushing away hundreds of rays, but I wasn’t hurting anyone, still not having the ability to break my promise – it was just impossible.

  Soon, but not soon enough, I found a decent number of the half-demons that I’d managed to change into angels coming our way. They started fighting right away, from where they were flying above us. Their powers looked a lot like mine, but mine – even though I was running out of energy – were much stronger, thicker and faster.

  Suddenly, Andrew’s mother raised her hands up, then shot a powerful, thick fire right inside the center of the earth, causing it to crack and send up red-hot fire drops that were just like rain, though the drops of fire were much thicker than a drop of water on a rainy day.

  I was shocked at the sight in front of me. The fire was able to hurt the demons just as it was able to hurt angels. I had no idea how she could do that, but then I realized that she wanted to finish the angels even though it meant sacrificing a large number of her own kind along with them.

  I was trying my hardest to keep the fire from touching me, as well as trying to protect the rest of the angels from the volcano-like drops of rain, unable to deny that I was horrified by what was happening.

  My thoughts were on Andrew and whether he was fighting with me or against me. Not a second later, I saw that he was up in the sky, trying his best to make a shield of his own powers to protect me. It was such an overwhelming thing to learn.

  Eventually, I could say that we were winning. Lots of demons were already down on the ground, but we’d also lost a number of angels, and it pained me.

  “Matthew! No!” I heard Kathrin’s shrieking scream and saw the agony on her features. I looked to the side where Kathrin was looking, only to see Matthew lying on the ground with only half a wing.

  I left everything to the rest of angels to take care of and flew to where Matthew was lying. I was aware that Kathrin was trying her hardest to get to him, but the angels were keeping her back.

  When I made it to him, I dropped on my knees, not finding any words to say when I realized that he was dying; he was losing so much blood. My stomach was twisting in pain at the thought of Matthew being killed like that.

  “Matthew!” I whispered, my tears choking me but still not making it out of my eyes.

  “M-maya,” he said with a hushed, struggling voice. “W-watch ov-er Wendy, watch over he-r.”

  “I will, Matthew, I will, I promise.”

  When he heard my words he tried to smile, but then his head turned to the side as he breathed his last breath, informing me silently that there was nothing I could do to help him – he was already dead.

  It made me so sad to have just witnessed Matthew’s death. He had died for a noble cause, but I still couldn’t help feeling wretched as I watched him die.

  When I got up to look around, the battle was still going. Matthew wasn’t the only good soul that had left the two worlds; we had other angels falling as well. The only good thing was that they’d taken down hundreds of demons with them.

  I saw Kathrin as she tried to kill as many angels as she could, her loss making her more angry than actually sad. It was understandable. After all, to her – Matthew was her soulmate.

  I returned to shooting my lightning solely to keep the fire away from me, and it worked for a while. There was only one demon left that I could see: Andrew’s mother. But I couldn’t see Andrew himself, not at all. And the thought of him maybe being killed gutted me. It gutted me. And I refused to believe it.

  I saw Andrew’s mother shooting fire my way with rage filling her, and I kept pushing it back, but I was too weak to do much. I started shaking, no longer able to stand up and not able to shoot back. All I could do was move around so the fire couldn’t get to me.

  Suddenly, I saw a huge ball of fire coming my way, and I couldn’t fight back this time. There was so much hate around me, all coming from her, and it was eating at my soul. I couldn’t take it, and I knew I would be seriously hurt soon, in less than one second.

  Out of nowhere I found myself in the arms of the demon I was in love with. Andrew hugged me so tightly, his love feeding me with more energy than I’d ever thought I could have
.

  “Fight back, Maya, fight back!” was all he said. At the same second, I did as he’d told me to do, shooting out a great ball of white fire that was laced with lightning. The ball took her down to the ground right away.

  I didn’t have much time to smile at the victory we’d achieved when I felt Andrew dropping to the ground right by my feet. It was only then that I realized the horrible noise I’d heard as he hugged me, the same sound you hear when ice touches a hot surface, was my body – burning his own.

  Once again I dropped to the ground on my knees, only this time I felt as if someone was stabbing my heart with a million knives when I saw the condition he was in.

  Andrew wasn’t supposed to touch me, but he had. My touch had burned him, but he didn’t care. He was trying to protect me from getting hurt. But instead he accepted that he would get hurt, just so that he could feed me with his love, knowing that his love was what I’d needed the most.

  I couldn’t find words to describe his noble act.

  “Andrew! Andrew, no! Please don’t die on me, no Andrew, please!” I begged, realizing that it wasn’t only his chest that had been burned as he hugged me. His wings were also broken, for he had taken the fire ball that his mother had shot towards me. He’d sacrificed himself. For my sake.

  “Maya!” he breathed, then coughed blood out of his mouth, causing me to cry out in horror as I watched his soul fading away right before my eyes.

  I hovered on top of him, unable to touch him, even if it was the only thing I would die for. I knew that if I touched him – I would only hurt him even more. I couldn’t find words to explain how this was hurting me; it was such torture.

  “Andrew, please! Don’t die on me. Everyone dies on me, please don’t!” The sensation I felt inside of my heart was too much, too much; it was draining me. I was being gutted, I was being skinned alive, I was being tortured. I couldn’t take it. I screamed and screamed. His name once and a ‘no’ another time. I couldn’t accept the fact that I was losing him; it couldn’t be.