Vyn looked Mawlkon up and down, seeming to measure the situation, before he smirked and said, “Let’s go, Elle. He’s boring me and he’s about to get his wings shoved up his tail,” then turned and paced off.
While slipping my flats on, I angled a glance up at Mawlkon. His leer seemed to be calculating my nutritional value as a potential meal. I shuffled after Vyn, grabbed his hand and entwined my fingers with his, held tight.
Vyn and I strolled along the path, holding hands, our mood a bit distracted. The welcome sight of the gradual curve ahead hinted at Angie’s house just around the bend. We knew Mawlkon wouldn’t leave that easy, so the sound of wings behind and above came as no surprise.
Thoughts wandered like shadows in the dark. The hunters did pose a danger to us all. They would circle high above, on the outskirts of town—a nightmare reminder. We couldn’t see them, but images of the giant black vultures hid in the back of our minds—the wrinkled-skin heads; hooked beaks and talons; soulless eyes. We knew they were there, but we never talked about it. The female angels would hang on to their males, and thoughts would slip into some sort of comfort.
“Where ya goin?” squawked Mawlkon, swooping and hovering before us.
“Just leave us alone,” I said, my eyes tracking his flight.
Mawlkon dropped down, blocking our path. “Must be nice, huh, Princess?”
Princess! That word I hated so much. Was it a crime to like nice things? His comment forced a clench of my jaw and a burning glower. I snapped out, “Flap off, Mawlkon.”
He said in his nasal tone, “You angels, walking around in those daft looking shoes and fancy clothes, mocking us with your wealth. And what’s in that little purse of yours, Elle? Diamonds and expensive perfume, I suppose.”
Vyn blew a sigh, released my hand. “Please, Mawlkon, spare us the poor drek song. Would you like a tissue? Or maybe you’d like some lipstick.” A glance at me. “You got some lipstick in there, Elle?” Eyes back on Mawlkon. “No, you’d need more than lipstick to cover up that ugly.”
Mawlkon clicked his razor teeth. “I wasn’t talking to you. You’re going to be some big scientist, eh? Change the world with your flight stuff, eh? You know, you might want to treat me better. You might need my help some night.”
Vyn’s look went to concerned confusion. “How did you know about my work?”
Mawlkon turned a pool of ego. He stiffened up straight, paced in front of us like a stick-legged shadow with a plan. “Everyone knows. You’re not that stupid are you? I mean, you can’t keep a secret that big. Do you know what that would mean, angels flying at night? Look at the other side. What would happen if the hunters were able to fly during the day? Are you sure that wouldn’t happen, Vyn?”
Oh my Source, could he be right?
Vyn morphed the look of a defensive animal. When I reached over and tried to grab his hand, he brushed me away, formed a fist. Then added a little fierce to his leer at Mawlkon, and growled, “We’re not gonna let that happen, so don’t get your hopes up, drek.”
Mawlkon stopped, wheeled and gave a ghoulish grin, leaned closer to Vyn and scratched a whisper, “We’ll see about that.”
A large angel was travelling down the path in front of Angie’s home.
Mawlkon pulled my attention back with a scrape of his wingtip over my cheek as he said, “So, whattaya think, would you like my protection, Prin—?”
Before Mawlkon could finish his thought, he let out a strangled Yawp as Vyn wrapped a hand around his throat and clamped down, cutting off any chance of a drekavac yell.
Vyn’s clenched teeth dripped light as his lips pulled back. A striking blue glow shot from his eyes. Mawlkon flapped and flapped his wings. Vyn’s tight ropes of muscle seemed to pulse, tendons popping, heat wafting in waves. The force of Mawlkon’s flailing lifted Vyn off the path. Wing-propelled air fluttered my hair and skirt. With all I had in me, I jumped, reached and grabbed Vyn’s ankle as he lifted higher off the cobbles. I screamed, “Let him go, Vyn, we’re getting too high.”
We fell to the cobbles. I landed light on my feet.
Vyn followed, touched one knee down, one foot before him in a crouched and kneeled position, fingertips to the path. Stretched wide, his white wings drooped to the stones. With his head bowed to the ground, chest heaving, his lungs pushed billows of steamed light into the night.
After picking my purse off the ground, I hitched the straps over my shoulder and said, “Vyn?” Then brushed hair off my face, tucked it behind my ear. “Vyn, sweetie, are you okay?”
Vyn expelled a glowing cloud. When I lifted my vision to watch it float I saw Mawlkon flying away, coughing, ragged wings beating the air, his hand clutching his neck as he disappeared into the night.
“Ellie,” Angie called from the distance, “I thought I heard something. Get your butt over here, sis.” She stood in a pool of light by her cottage doorway, wearing a short robe over some sort of matching nighty, her arms folded over her chest. “I can’t wait out here all night, you know.”
“Vyncynte?” I laid my palm on his back, felt the heat subsiding, breath slowing. “Let’s go, sweetie. It’s fine now.”
He angled his searing blue gaze over his shoulder and up to me. “It’s not fine.” Then got to his feet, folded his wings back, snatched his shirt off the ground and pulled it over his head, didn’t even bother to button the wing-flaps. Standing before me, he framed my face with his palms, looked me in the eyes and said, “I have to take care of this.”
Wait. Did he get taller? He did, inches over my height!
Oh, yummy.
CHAPTER 3
“Guess I can’t call you stubby anymore, huh?” Angie said to Vyn as we stood under the entry light before her front door. In the cutest peach-silk nighty, matching robe, furry socks, she rubbed the chill off her arms. Lustrous brown hair spilled around her shoulders to her chest. Something was different; did she put in highlights? A teasing grin made her exotic green eyes glitter. She stood at my height and petite size, but her female curves under the silken fabric had me beat by a few years. Peaking over her shoulders, her white wings glistened; the result of a fresh application of feather-gloss, I suspected.
“Yeah, yeah,” Vyn said, “can we just go in?”
When we walked into the scent of flowers and baking, I couldn’t help but notice Angie had cleaned her cottage. While I stood on the hardwood floor, a hint of color caught my eye, and I turned to see her oak coffee table in the living room with a nice bouquet of daisies in a porcelain vase. Next to it sat an unopened DVD still in the plastic wrap; a box of tissues; a popcorn bowl and a box of candy. Evidently, she’d planned one of our sisterly movie nights. We would curl up under a blanket on the couch, munching popcorn and snuffling at a love story, while the boys did, well, whatever they did. My gaze narrowed in suspicion when I noticed the unfamiliar decorative pillows on her overstuffed couch and chair, and a new throw blanket folded on the chair back.
“Is there something you need to tell me, sis?” I asked as I walked around the kitchen table, pulled a wooden chair and sat. Then looked up at her and tightened my gaze. “You went shopping, didn’t you? You went to that new store without me, didn’t you?”
Vyn sat across from me, relaxed back on his wings and scratched his stomach.
Angie approached with a guilty look. “Yeah, sorry about that, Ellie. I just couldn’t wait any longer and you were in class.” She shuffled her furry socks over the tiled floor to the kitchen cupboard, removed a large wooden bowl and set it to the countertop. “I picked up some fresh petals. You have to try these, they’re so tasty.” She dumped lavender petal chips from a bag into the bowl.
“You cleaned up, huh?” I asked. “Did we, um, interrupt something?”
“No, no, just— what’s with all the questions?” She stepped over and set the bowl to the table. Vyn leaned back in his chair, folded his arms over his chest and gave me a lopsided grin.
Probably should’ve just let it go, but I asked Angie, “So, ho
w’s Jaydenn?” Smirk.
“He’s fine.” She turned, stepped away and whispered, “Really fine.” She pushed her hair over a shoulder while her wings did a little flitter.
On the kitchen counter nearest the living room was the crystal cake-cover Angie’d received as a wedding present last year, a fresh white cake under it, one piece missing. I commented, “I see you already baked the cake, huh. Did you finally figure it out?” She’d been trying to duplicate her wedding cake, couldn’t quite get it right. I never could figure out how she keeps her waist so thin, eating all that cake. It must go right to her boobs, or something, whatever.
“Nope,” she replied with a hint of frustration, and went about pulling clean dishes from the drying rack beside the stainless sink and putting them away into cupboards and drawers.
“Why don’t you just go back to Isis Cakes and ask Faye how she does it?” I asked.
She snatched up a towel, turned and leaned her rear to the counter. Standing there in her new silk nighty and little robe, she wiped her hands on the towel, gave me a sad look. “I’ve already tried that. Faye won’t budge.”
“Did you give her the famous, Angie charm? The charm that melts one and all.”
“Yep, didn’t work. She must have some kind of force field. It’s frustrating.”
“I don’t know about you, but she intimidates me, even though she’s only like, what, five-four. It’s her eyes, like a snowstorm or something. It’s like they suck you in and won’t let you go. You ever notice that?”
“Hmm, I guess. But you know what she did? Listen to this. I gave her the look, even ramped it up a little and begged for the secret. She just grinned at me. Then she said in her tiny sweet voice, ‘that look won’t work on me, little sister. I invented it.’ Then she said, ‘your cake is a special one, Angelica.’ Well, duh, that’s why I want it. I even offered to buy it. Nope, she just smiled and fluttered her little wings. I felt like slapping her.”
“Maybe you should just give up,” I said. “No, scratch that. I like your cakes. And my nineteenth birthday’s coming up, hint, hint.” I offered my sister a grin.
She blew out a breath, grinned back. “Thanks, Ellie. I’ll bake you a nice birthday cake.” On a pause, she flicked a hinting glance toward Vyn, back to me. “But I hope I don’t have to wait till your wedding for a wedding cake.”
“Cut it out, Ang,” I objected. Then begged, “Don’t tease him. Please. For me.”
She considered, softened her look …“Okay, fine. Sorry. I’m just frustrated, that’s all.” She pushed off the counter, stepped over and opened the refrigerator, pulled out a glass pitcher of tea, closed the door and turned with pitcher in hand. “So, Vyn, looks like you’re all grown up now. It’s about time.”
“Yeah, so the teasing days are over. I hope you enjoy the last words.”
After Angie brought over three tall glasses full of iced tea, she sat with us. Then folded her hands on the table, looked at Vyn. “How would you like to help me out?”
“Me? Oh, no. What now?” Vyn the test dummy said.
“I noticed your ankle. I need to practice wrapping for my nurse exam next month. C’mon, Vyn, we’re family now, please.”
Vyn’s lip twitched. He blew a heavy sigh, picked up his glass and tuned eyes on Angie. “When are you gonna be done with this?”
“This is my final. I just need to get it over with. Then I can start my wedding cake business. Faye said she’d teach me when I’m ready to learn.” She paused, a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I’ll tell you what, you help me and you can have all the free cake you can eat, ‘cause, you know, you’re awesome.” She relaxed back on her wings, folded her arms over her chest, waited for Vyn to finish drinking, then pulled out the look—the twinkling green eyes; the flirty tilt of her head as her hair shone under the overhead light. Vyn stood no chance.
You’re shameless, sis. I let out a little snicker, eyes on the master.
Vyn fell for it of course, puffed an exhale. “Fine.” He scraped his chair back, swung his jeaned leg up onto the table. His ankle was red, looked like a burn. How did that happen? With his bare, green-stained foot inches from Angie’s face, a smirk played on his lips.
“Vyn, get your nasty foot off the table,” I said. “Sorry about that, Ang.” Narrowing eyes at Vyn, I beamed a message. He caught the hint, frowned, pulled his leg off the table and sat still. While Angie and I stared, Vyn looked around, blinked, shifted his arms over his chest, then to the table. He finally lifted his glass.
After a long moment, Angie did a little headshake and said to me, “Males, huh?” She pushed off her chair, strolled away and returned with her first aid box, set it to the table and sat. Then rotated her chair around to Vyn and pulled his leg onto her lap. When she took out a squirt bottle of something and sprayed, Vyn worked his jaw muscles. I snatched a purple petal chip out of the bowl and began to nibble on the edge as I watched, entertained.
“How’d you do this, anyway?” Angie asked, unrolling a strip of white gauze before snipping it off with a pair of scissors.
Vyn glanced over at me as I nibbled, and back down to his ankle as Angie began to wrap. He puffed his chest out. “I was watching out for your sister. I had to set Mawlkon straight about a few things. Ellie grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.” Some kind of expression crossed his face, memories maybe, or pain? I couldn’t tell which.
Angie paused, gave Vyn some kind of weird grin, then said, “Oh, I see,” and continued wrapping the ankle. “Ellie’s hand did this? She must’ve been pretty scared. Anyway, you defended my sister, you hero. I’d say that deserves a giant piece of cake.”
I popped another chip into my mouth. Crunch. Angie was right, those chips were divine and I could not stop eating them. Crunch. She’d once told me about what happened when the males finally crossed the maturity line and defended. I’d simply brushed it off, figured she was exaggerating. Crunch. The images of Vyn’s power and light seeped in my memory now. Angie continued her nurse duties. Crunch. My gaze locked on Vyn in an attempt to remember what he looked like before. He was no longer my pet. I relished the thought, nibbled the corner off a petal.
“That’s how it happened with Jaydenn, right?” I asked Angie while I chewed up the chip.” He defended you, right?” I knew how it happened, just wanted to see her reply.
Angie kept her eyes on her work, busy with the final wrap. “Yep, that’s exactly how it happened.” Her cheek filled with color. I grinned at her blushing, took another nibble.
“Elle,” Vyn broke my daydream, “I think you’ve had enough a those.” He just sat there with a crooked smirk.
Angie swiveled eyes on me, snorted a chuckle. “You are my sister, aren’t you?”
“Yeah? And, what’s so flappin funny?”
“Oh, Ellie. You’re purple, sweetie. You’ve eaten too many of those.” Her giggle sputtered to life again.
“What?” I instinctively looked at my arm, then jumped and ran to the washroom down the hall. Blinking into the mirror, I screamed, laughed, and calmed in fascination. A goofy-looking purple angel stared at me in the mirror. My wavy hair was still blond, thank Source, as it hung down to my chest. However, when I tilted my head, I saw the roots were tinted. I curled my upper lip to view my stained teeth and gums, then stepped back and lifted my shirt to see my purple belly. When I unfurled my wings, the tips of my white feathers held a deep lavender shine, kinda beautiful actually. But other than that I looked like a flappin cartoon character. I blinked at my reflection, and again, trying to recognize myself.
This is not happening.
Back at the kitchen table in a flash, I snatched up my tall glass of tea and gulped it down as if attempting to dilute a poison. The tea spilled and dribbled off my chin. After a gasp, a shaky breath, I tossed Angie the desperate words, “Is it going to go away soon?”
“Don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll be back from candy land in a little while.”
Angie gave Vyn a mischievous grin, and said, “I
got Jaydenn on that one too. You should’ve seen that giant purple monster.”
Vyn replied on a chuckle, “Yeah, I bet.”
“That wasn’t very nice, sis.” I wiped the back of my hand over my mouth, snickering at the thought of what Jaydenn must have looked like—a huge, muscled, confused and dumbfounded purple angel. Wished I’d been there for—
“Vyn!” A voice called from outside.
Our smiles dropped.
Vyn filled his cheeks with air, blew it out. “Sounds like Mawlkon wants a piece a me.”
CHAPTER 4
“Don’t go out there, Vyn,” I pleaded. “He’s probably got his friends with him.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Angie said. “He’ll be fine.” Her grin was a little sly as she pushed the bowl to me. “Here, have a few more chips and relax.”
My glare burned the sly off her face.
Vyn lifted off his seat. “Thanks for the wrap, Ang. Don’t put that box away just yet.” He strode to the door, looked back at me, smiled and went outside. Angie spun her chair around to the kitchen window, raked the flowered curtains aside. I went over and crouched down beside her so I could see out the lower pane. A wave of cool night air washed over my face when she slid the window open.
Angie bent forward and placed her palms on the sill, stretched her head out the window and raised her voice, “What’s the matter Mawlkon, does the grumpy pecker drek need his binky!”
“Angie,” I snipped, “what the flap are you doing?”
She pulled back in, grinned at me. “I’m just playing.”
“Well, stop it. It’s not funny.”
A little eye roll and a big-sister sigh, before she turned to look out again, as did I.
Skin and bones and long necks, needle-sharp teeth, hairless gray heads and bulging eyes, the drekavac clan stood under the moonlight. A backdrop of looming cottonwood trees lined the far side of the cobbled road, along with the path where Vyn and I had come from.
Wings of Boden Page 2
