by Riley London
Realizing I’d lost my cool, I took in a breath before I peered back at Zachary. “Sorry. It’s just that...this jacket is everything to me.”
“Everything to you?” Zachary’s tone was low, almost at a whisper.
“Yeah. I got it when I was in high school. Sixteen years old, with my first job ever. I worked at Santino’s, you know, the Mexican restaurant on 5th street.” I smiled, as the memory played inside my mind. “I was just waiting tables, nothing special, but this woman comes in. I think she worked in finance. She was sitting in my booth, and the whole time she was talking on the phone. I didn’t even think she noticed that I was alive, but at the end of the night, she gives me this huge tip. $300. And she tells me to spend it on something special, something that would make me happy.”
“And you spent it all on a jacket?”
“It wasn’t just any jacket. I’d been seeing this thing in the same store window ever since I was like, eight or something. Just waiting for someone to buy it.” I brushed the arm of my jacket for emphasis. “I never thought it could be me, though. I never thought I could be the one wearing it. I never thought that I could be...that special. Something about having this jacket...I don’t know. It just gave me hope, you know?”
“Why couldn’t you just ask your parents to get it for you? Isn’t that what most girls do?”
“Yeah. My foster parents at the time weren’t exactly rolling in dough.” I sighed. “There was barely enough for all of us to eat dinner sometimes. But they were trying their best, honestly, so I shouldn’t complain too much. They were nice to me.”
“What happened to your real parents?” Zachary asked, as he used his elbow to lean against the wall.
“I have no idea.” I admitted. “Wish I did.”
“Huh. No wonder Benjie latched onto you.” Zachary grinned. “He must have a sixth sense for foster kids.”
“You were a foster kid, too?”
“Something like that. My parents were killed, a long time ago. I was raised by my aunt, until I was old enough to make it on my own. And then, she sent me off to high school, where I met Benjie.”
“There’s an angel high school?” I couldn’t hide the amusement in my voice.
“There’s an angel everything, but a part of me suspects that you know that already.” Zachary broke our eye contact, as he looked away. “I’m going to figure out why you’re really here, Celeste Venoix.”
“And then?”
Zachary turned his gaze back towards my own. “And then, I’m going to do what needs to be done.”
“I’m not a bad person, Zachary. I just didn’t know what I was—”
“Yeah, yeah. Save it for the tribunal.” Zachary moved away from the wall. “And welcome to Angel Academy.”
Chapter 4
I dream of you, world-ender.
I sought you in the night.
I've seen what you do to beautiful things.
And I long to be by your side.
I pray for you, world-ender.
I long to see your face.
I've seen what you do to beautiful things.
And I wish to take her place.
There was a woman singing a haunting melody, her voice lilting and light.
And everything around me was so impossibly warm.
How could you forget me, my Venus?
How could you forget me, my stars?
How could you forget me, my love?
How could you forget what’s ours?
Come back to me, my Venus.
Come back to me, my stars,
Come back to me, my love.
And we will take back what is ours.
I woke up in a cold sweat, with the woman’s strange song still ringing in my ears.
What the hell was that?
Since when did I have dreams that mostly consisted of singing?
And why had everything been so warm?
The worst part had been that it’d felt so real.
Like she was walking right beside me, or behind me or something, even though I never caught a glimpse of her face.
I looked over at Zachary, who was still fast asleep. He’d basically passed out as soon as we got back from dinner, not saying another word to me as he plopped down on his bedsheets.
Shit.
I needed to talk to someone.
I needed to talk to Charlie.
He could help me decode that weird-ass dream, couldn’t he? Or at least, he could make me feel better about having it, in the first place.
I tiptoed across the bedroom, as I made my way towards the door. I was trying to be as quiet as I possibly could, even holding my breath until my fingers grasped the doorknob.
But that’s when I felt something sharp, poking into the side of my waist.
A knife.
I knew it was a knife, thanks to the moonlight that trickled in through the window.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Zachary asked.
“I’m not going anywhere, Zachary. I just wanted to talk to Charlie—”
“You can talk to him in the morning. Why the hell would you need to talk to him right now?”
“Because I had a weird dream, and usually when I have a weird dream, I tell Charlie about it, okay?” I scoffed. “I’m not trying to blow up the school or anything, alright? I just wanted to talk to my friend.”
“Get back to bed. Talk to him tomorrow.”
“Fuck you.” I moved away from the knife pressed against my side. “I’m not your prisoner, Zachary. If you want to keep a watch on me, fine, but I’m gonna’ go talk to Charlie now, whether you like it or not.”
“Auxilium.” Zachary spoke the word, and his knife began to glow a golden color in the darkness.
“Are you serious? You’d really kill me over wanting to talk to my friend?”
“Blessed weapons don’t hurt angels. At least, not so badly, anyway.” Zachary explained. “If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve left it dull. But you don’t have enough training to even ward off an attack with non-blessed weaponry, do you?”
“Maybe you should’ve left it dull.”
“Celeste—”
“Let me go, Zachary. Or else.” I replied. “I really don’t like being bossed around.”
“Was that a threat?”
“I don’t make threats. I make promises.” I peered over at Zachary in the darkened room. “I’m not just some innocent, little girl that you can push around like a ragdoll.”
“Never said you were innocent.”
“Then you should know better than to fuck with me.” A familiar sense of rage went through my frame, as I balled my hand into a fist. “Let me go talk to Charlie.”
“Make me.”
As soon as the words escaped Zachary’s mouth, I’d kicked the knife right out of his grip.
He grabbed me, then threw me down towards the floor. I landed with a thud, as the air escaped right out of my lungs.
Shit.
I'd forgotten about that super-strength shit.
First, Benjamin had flung me across that white room, and now Zachary was wiping the floor with me.
Okay. So, I knew I couldn’t beat them when it came to strength...
I’d just have to outsmart them, then.
My hands went towards the knife on the ground, its glow catching my eye. I brought it into my palm, before I sprung back up to my feet.
“Are you really going to come at me with that?” Zachary was already in a fighting stance.
I then looked back down at the knife, hoping against hope that its glow would begin to fade away.
And it did.
I smiled to myself, as the knife went dull in my hand. I returned my gaze back to Zachary, before I brought the blade down to my wrist. “So, how does this commandment stuff work? If I kill myself with your knife, does that still count against you? Or what?”
“What the fuck? Are you crazy?” Zachary’s eyes went wide. “Put the knife down, right now—”
&nbs
p; “You’re right. Killing myself would be insane. But I’m not too good at protecting myself from human weaponry, so maybe I’ll just bleed all over the dorm room, instead. I’ll let you have fun explaining that to Mrs. Deveraux.”
“Celeste. Shit. Shit!” Zachary cursed. “Fine! You can go talk to Charlie. I’ll lead the fucking way.”
“Thanks.” I smirked, as I handed the knife back to Zachary.
“How’d you do that, by the way?”
“Do what?”
“Take the blessing off the knife? Did Benjie already teach you that trick?” Zachary asked, as he opened the bedroom door.
There was a trick to that?
I’d just assumed that since I hadn’t said the blessing over the weapon myself, that the angels or whatever wouldn’t have granted me permission to use it.
“Yeah. Sure. I just, uh, mastered the trick.” I nodded along with my lie, as I followed Zachary out of the room.
“It’s almost midnight. What do you want, Celeste?” Benjamin’s voice was lined with sleep, as he stood behind a cracked-open door. “And why are your wings out?”
“I just wanted to speak to Charlie.” I replied.
“Yeah, and she said if she doesn’t speak to Charlie, then she’ll kill herself on the academy grounds.” Zachary sighed. “You know, like a sane person would do.”
“Celeste? What? You threatened to kill yourself?”
“Only after Zachary threw me on the goddamn ground.”
“You threw her on the ground?” Benjamin’s jaw fell open. “Zachary!”
“She kicked my knife out of my hand! What else was I supposed to do?”
“You two were fighting?” Benjamin brought a hand towards the side of his head, as he shook it back and forth. “I don’t even. I can’t even. There are no words. Zachary, you’re supposed to be her protector—”
“I’m not supposed to be her protector. I’m supposed to be monitoring her.”
“Yes, but you are not supposed to bring any danger to her, either.” Benjamin groaned. “Why are you being so combative, anyway? Celeste can’t do you any harm. She doesn’t know anything—”
“She knows enough.” Zachary shot an annoyed look back at Benjamin.
And Benjamin returned the expression, with just as much annoyance.
It felt like a perfect encapsulation of the friendship I’d seen between them so far, one built on unending frustration as they continually butted heads.
A part of me wondered how they ever became so close in the first place.
But a bigger part of me still wanted to talk to Charlie, and so, I squeezed by Benjamin, until I was standing in his dorm room.
“Charlie? Charlie!” I whisper-yelled, as I shuffled throughout the room.
“Celeste?” Charlie’s dazed voice greeted me in the darkness. “What’s up?”
“There you are.” I smiled, as I took a seat beside the frame of his bed. “How’s it been going?”
“Ah, pretty much the same since we had dinner together, like, a few hours ago.” Charlie chuckled. “What brings you to Casa La Benjie and Charlie?”
“You might wanna’ check your Spanish on that one.” I can’t help but laugh at Charlie’s nickname for the dorm room. “And I had another weird dream. I don’t know. I just wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Did you really want to talk to me about it? Or is this some kind of angel test?” Charlie sat up in his bed. “Did Mrs. Deveraux send you in here to see if I could predict the future or something?”
“Is that what you’ve been up to? Taking supernatural-ish tests?”
“Pretty much. Whenever I’m not with you, I have someone checking out my back for wings that aren’t there or trying to get me to confess to being...something.”
“No. No one sent me, Charlie.” I offered him a smile. “I just wanted to talk to you. I kinda’ missed you.”
“Kinda’ missed you, too.” Charlie returned my smile, before he let out a deep sigh. “Alright. Weird dream. Lay it on me.”
“Okay, so—”
The sound of the academy’s alarm blew through the dorm room, cutting me off before I could even start describing my dream.
“We’ve gotta’ move.” Benjamin spoke, as he slid a glowing sword out from underneath his mattress. “Right now.”
“Is it time for breakfast already?” Charlie joked, but I could hear the nerves in his voice.
“Demonic energy. We need to get to our stations.” Zachary answered. “You two should probably stay on campus—”
“No. They should come with us.” Benjamin walked over to me, before he offered me the hilt of his sword. “You need experience out in the field, and this is the only way to get it.”
“But I literally just got here yesterday. I don’t know anything!”
“Yeah, Benjie, she doesn’t know anything! She could get us killed out there!”
Benjamin looked between Zachary and me, giving us a hardened glare. “Cowardice isn’t becoming of angels.”
“Good thing I’m not an angel.” Charlie grimaced, as he eyed the sword in my hands. “And what am I supposed to do out there?”
“Hmm.” Benjamin paused for a moment, before he continued. “We could always use some bait.”
“Bait?”
“Yes. Bait.” Benjamin nodded. “They like it when they sense a viable human around.”
“I thought I wasn’t a human.”
“You’re human enough.” Zachary added. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“Garry’s Funhouse?” I looked up at the sign, as I ran my fingers along the hilt of my sword now hidden at my side. “The demons are at the bar?”
“That’s weird.” Charlie replied. “Or wait. Is that normal? I don’t know what’s weird and what’s normal.”
“It’s normal.” Benjamin moved until he was standing in front of us both. “Demons typically hang out in packs, but their energy can get into anyone. Even regular, everyday people. Kings, presidents, teachers...even the occasional serial killer or two.”
“Oh. That’s horrifying.” Charlie sucked in air through his teeth. “And we’re about to meet one, face to face?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s our duty to check out whatever’s in our assigned zones of the city, whenever we hear that alarm. Doesn’t always mean the demon’s even in our area. Could be halfway across town. But since you two are tagging along, we might as well start with a place you’re both familiar with. Makes it easier to scope out.” Zachary then opened the front door of the bar, before he disappeared inside. “Don’t forget to act natural.”
I followed behind Zachary, with Charlie at my side. Benjamin mentioned something under his breath about scoping out the perimeter of the building, and before I knew it, his black field clothing had faded into the night and he was nowhere to be seen.
I felt like a crazy person, walking into the bar with a sword discreetly at my side. Thankfully, the lighting was kept pretty dim, so I wasn’t too worried about anyone spotting the weapon.
As I made my way towards a leather booth near the back of the bar, a friendly face appeared right in my line of vision. “Celeste!”
It was Garry, himself, and he shook his head as he looked me up and down. “What the hell? You were supposed to open.”
Oh right.
I’d forgotten all about my shift at the bar.
“Sorry about that, Garry.”
“Oh, it’s no problem! I was just worried that something had happened to you. You weren’t answering your phone or anything.” Garry reached out a hand and patted me on my shoulder. “Are you doing okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Fine enough to help out on a shift tonight?” Garry grinned. “We’re a little short-staffed. Melanie had to go home early, look after her kid. Are you up for it?”
“I...” I thought over Garry’s offer, unsure of how to respond.
Hadn’t Zachary told us to “act natural”?
Well, the natural thing for me to
do would be to take Garry up on his offer, immediately, since I’d need all the extra cash I could get if I wanted to make rent.
But I didn’t need to pay rent anymore, and I wasn’t sure if minding the bar was on the schedule of angel activities for the night.
“...Sure. I’ll do it.” I shrugged, as I decided on my final answer. Besides, turning down Garry’s offer would only lead to more questions, and I didn’t feel like explaining that I was now enrolled in an academy for angels-in-training.
“Great! Charlie, did you want something to drink, my man? First drink is on the house.”
“Can I get a White Russian? Without the vodka?”
“Do you want it without coffee liqueur, too?”
“Sounds perfect! Thanks.” Charlie beamed back at Garry.
I smiled at the interaction between them. Charlie had never been much of a drinker. His dad was an alcoholic, and he didn’t want to be anything like him.
And despite Garry owning a bar, he didn’t hold Charlie’s non-alcoholic preferences against him. Instead, he was always happy to offer Charlie a drink, virgin style.
“Yo! Get behind the bar, kid. Those drinks aren’t going to make themselves.” Garry smirked back at me. “Although, with you behind the bar, I’m not sure you’ll be able to make those drinks, either.”
“Hey!” I feigned an offended tone. “I’ve been reading books, you know. Watching YouTube videos.”
“Can you make me a Bloody Mary?”
“I...can try my best.”
Garry laughed, before he patted me on the shoulder again. “I’m happy you’re alright, Celeste. We would’ve missed you around here.”
“I would’ve missed you, too.” The words hit me hard, as I realized that this would probably be the last time that I’d ever see Garry.
There was no way that I could keep my job here and be a full-time angel. I had a feeling that the academy didn’t allow too much fraternization between angels and humankind, unless absolutely necessary.
I was going to miss him a lot.
And I was going to miss this bar, too. Even with its dark atmosphere, pool table that’d been in the back at least since the 80’s, and Garry’s insistence on playing nothing through the speakers if it wasn’t disco or synth pop, this place had started to feel like my second home.
