by Jacob Henry
good at that look. I roll my eyes.
“As I’ll ever be,” he pouts.
I follow him. We travel to a part of town that I’ve only been to once in my life. It was horrific. It was actually the first time Oren’s powers manifested. We were fifteen and I was out on a date with this creep. Things weren’t going well and I just wanted to be taken home, but we ran into a couple of his friends. They began getting a little too handsy and I started screaming for help. Oren described the experience to me once. He said that he was at least ten miles away when my screams suddenly filled his ears. He told me he just ran. That is when I saw him. He was just a blur, grabbing the jerk that was holding me and tackling him to the ground before I could even blink. Oren jumped to the next guy. I don’t even know how to describe what came next. He just lost it. He was throwing them with unnatural strength and beating them mercilessly. With each hit, he became more feral. After the last one fell, Oren dropped to his knees and he looked back at me. His eyes were warped, fangs were sticking out of his gums, and his fingers had turned into claws.
His familiar hand grabs me out of the memory. His voice is tense, “Hold on.”
“Did you hear something?” I ask.
He looks around, “Maybe.”
I scoot in closer to him and he curves his arm around me protectively. Oren snaps his head to the right and growls. This guy, sporting a full red beard, walks out of the darkness holding his hands up.
“That’s far enough,” Oren growls with authority.
The man stops and lowers his arms. I peek over Oren’s shoulder as the man laughs. “What can I do for you?”
“Who are you?” Oren asks.
“I don’t think this is the time or place,” the man says as he looks around. He seems quite paranoid.
Oren isn’t having it. “No, you’re going to tell me who you are and how the hell you knew what I was? I need some answers and for some reason you seem to be the only one that knows what is happening to me.”
“Please,” I squeak out.
Oren sighs. The redheaded man looks at me and gives a light chuckle. I smile.
“Follow me, it isn’t safe for us to be out like this. Especially now,” he says.
“Why especially now?” I blurt out.
He chuckles again, “Since your boyfriend here decided to be a hero and kill an angel. Not that I’m complaining, I am actually quite impressed. Angels are incredibly tough little pricks. Pretentious and arrogant, yes, but tough nonetheless.”
“We’re not together,” Oren and I say at the same time. The man rolls his eyes. Even I have to admit that it sounded kind of sketchy. Not that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind, just the opportunity never presented itself. Why am I thinking about this right now?
Oren takes a step away from me, he’s probably embarrassed, and clears his throat, “Wait, you were there?”
The man folds his arms, “I got there just as that cherub scum’s heart was being ripped from his pompous chest.”
“Wow, I’m sensing a little hostility. I don’t understand, I thought angels were the good guys,” I say, genuinely curious.
He laughs. It’s a bitter, cynical one, “History is generally written by the victors, don’t always believe what you read, kid.”
“Are you going to tell me what I need to know, or am I wasting my time?” Oren growls. He never was one for patience, especially when it’s something important.
“If you follow me, I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but not out in the open,” he says.
Huge gusts of wind hit us out of nowhere. Oren and I look around. There is a flapping of wings and we snap a look back to the redheaded man. Two gorgeous women are now standing behind him. He closes his eyes and sighs.
“Fantastic,” he states as he turns around.
The blonde on the left forces a smile, “Happy to see you, too.”
The raven-haired girl on the right’s voice is just as stern as her face, “Hello, Cato.”
“Well if it isn’t Sophia,” the redheaded man, Cato she called him, says back with a weary tone.
The blonde takes a very hostile step forward, “Demon filth.”
Oren begins to move but Cato holds a hand back to him, “Easy kid, I’ve got this. Take your girl and go.”
“Not a chance,” Oren growls.
Sophia looks at us. Her mesmerizing almond eyes feel like they pierce right through my soul. I move behind Oren. I feel so exposed.
Sophia looks back at Cato as she says, “Please leave. This does not concern either of you.”
“The hell it does.”
The blonde snaps a look at him, “You have no place here, human. Go crawl back into your insignificant lives and stay out of matters above your comprehension.”
“Osmadiel,” Sophia snaps at the blonde, “Have some respect. Every human is sacred to Him.”
Osmadiel gives Sophia a look that suggests she doesn’t like that idea very much. She barks back, “Just because the apes have learned how to dress themselves and say they are sophisticated, doesn’t make them any less the primitive beasts they were thousands of years ago.”
Cato growls at Osmadiel, “You are a prime example of your fellow snot-nosed brethren. At least we don’t pretend to be something we’re not.” You go, Cato.
Osmadiel’s eyes seem to blaze, just like Balthazar’s did. Before she can say anything, Sophia stomps her foot and powerful gust of wind explodes outward.
“Enough,” she shouts.
Osmadiel backs down and Cato looks at Sophia. He asks, “What do you want?”
She laughs. “I want to know how such a weak, old beast such as yourself was able to take down one of heaven’s most powerful angels? You’ve never presented any fighting skills in the past, yet here you stand, victorious over Balthazar.”
“What makes you think I was the one who killed him?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Cato. Maybe because for the first time in over three thousand years, an angel has been killed and not even 80 miles from where he was slain, here you are. The only thing that even remotely possess the power capable of doing so,” she says, remarkably calm.
Cato does his little chuckle. “I’m flattered, really, but I cannot take credit for his untimely demise. Though, I can’t say I’m particularly sad to know there is one less of you flying about.”
Osmadiel jumps forward and punches Cato in the face, so fast that if I had blinked, I would have missed it. Cato hits the ground hard.
“Osmadiel,” Sophia says with such authority that Osmadiel trembles at the knee.
Oren takes a step forward but I grab him. He looks at me, “Let go, Jenna.”
“No,” I whisper, “You can’t let them know what you are.”
Cato spits out some blood. He laughs as he stands, “Looks like you’re a little rattled, Sophia. Is a fellow angel’s demise spreading panic throughout the ranks?”
Sophia pulls out a wickedly lethal dagger. Osmadiel also pulls out a dagger that looks identical. They circle Cato. Cato’s fingers extend into dark red claws. I mean… I figured he was like Oren, but actually seeing this still kind of shocked me.
“Filth such as you, must be eradicated,” Sophia spits at him.
Sophia and Osmadiel charge Cato. They begin to fight. Oren breaks out of my grip and runs towards them.
“Oren,” I shout.
“You can’t do this,” he calls out.
He runs to Osmadiel and grabs her arm. She reacts by turning and kicking Oren in the chest, which sends him flying. He crashes into the ground hard. I run over to him and kneel down as he looks up at the fight. Sophia slices Cato’s arm and Osmadiel stabs him in his side.
“Please don’t,” Oren cries out. “I need him.”
Cato falls to his knees. The two women stand in front of him. They lift their daggers up high. I see Oren’s fingers change as he stabs them into the ground.
“No,” is all I hear him shout.
I blink and next thing I see is Oren’s plunging his cl
aws into the angel’s chests. He looks back at the wounded man, “Cato, grab her and get out of here. You remember what happened when I killed the last one.”
Cato nods and stands up.
“It was you?” Sophia asks.
I sense Cato appear by my side, but I can’t take my eyes off of Oren. His response is simply just expanding his wings. I’ll never admit it to him, but it was so badass. There is fear in their eyes and for good reason. He looks so… powerful.
Cato grabs me and says what I already know, “Time to go.”
He lifts me up as Oren rips their hearts out. Cato and I speed away as the familiar vibrant colors begin to pulsate. There was no possible way of telling how far we run. All I know, is the bursts of colors are mere specks by the time we are brought to a halt. I look to see Oren crouched down in front of us. Before I even realize it happened, I’m suddenly in Oren’s arms and we are backing away from Cato.
The redheaded man just holds up his hands, “Easy there kid, I know better than to mess with someone who just ripped the hearts out of two Seekers without even breaking a sweat.”
“Seekers?” I couldn’t help but ask.
He smiles at me. “It’s what we call the angels who act kind of as scouts in a way. They send out one or two angels and they carryout swift punishments that they feel the army doesn’t need to be concerned with. There are several classes of different angels that we’ve categorized.”
“I’m not here to learn about the angel hierarchy,” Oren states, rather rudely in my opinion.
“As I’ve said, I am happy to tell you anything you want to know, but we have to get to the safety of my home. There is about to be a battalion of those pricks
