MIDNIGHT DIVINE (The Helio Trilogy Book 1) (14 page)

I take slow and purposeful
steps around him, a silent predator assessing its prey. Upon reaching behind
him, I can see his feathers with more clarity. They glistened iridescent with
multiple shades of greens and blues, bearing a keen resemblance to the downy of
a male peacock. Upon instinct, I raise my hand and stroke their softness with
equal gentleness. They're silk with edges of velvet under my fingertips.

“Jack,” I whisper. His body
turns to face me with leisure finesse. “Their beautiful.” My voice is full of
wonder and awe.

Jack brushes my cheeks with
the back of his fingers. “They’
r
e nothing compared to
you.”

I can’t keep myself from
him any longer. I'm putty. I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him with an
intensity I didn’t know I could possess. Jack’s arms wrap around me, crushing
his lips against mine.

Jack’s obtrusive phone
rings from within his back pocket. Our lips part, and he pulls his phone out. I
noticed his wings are concealed within his body again. Jack’s lips quirk at a
devious angle as he tells me, “Alice and Eric are here.”

“Shit,” I lament. My
complexion pales with my horror stricken face. I begin to pace, holding the
tops of my shoulders with my head tucked tight
against
my chest.
I stare at my feet
before facing Jack again.

“Ivy, it’s fine. I
promise,” Jack smirks at me with his arms crossed over his bulging naked chest.

“Why's this funny to you? I
just had a lot of profound revelations about myself! I don’t feel like the same
person! I don’t know who I am anymore! My life just changed in an instant! How
am I supposed to act normal around them? Like nothing ever happened? Like I’m
still the same person?” I can’t stop the elevation of my voice or let go of the
tight hold I have on my body. It's the only thing keeping me together.

Jack stops me in my tracks,
his hands on my biceps, “Look at me, Sunshine.” I lift my face to meet his.
“You're still the same person. You’ll always be you. That’ll never change. The
only thing that will be different about you are your accumulation of new abilities.”

I look to the ceiling and
empty my lungs. Alice and Eric appear in the doorway, observing our vulnerable
moment. I drop my hands and twist to face them. Alice came prepared for a dip
in the pool, wearing her red bikini with a matching wrap around her waist and a
paisley tote over her shoulder. I
try
to appear impassive,
“Hey.”

“H-hey,” Alice stammers,
reading past my unnatural façade. Worry creases her brow, “What’s going on?”
She enters the room with Eric on her heels, and I glance to Jack, hoping he has
an excuse
.

I contemplate professing
ignorance as Jack fields the situation with a cheeky grin, “She knows.”

“What?” I'm flabbergasted
at the smiles on Alice and Eric’s faces. My head jerks back and forth between
them for an explanation. “You knew?” I'm hurt and pissed off that everyone
seems to know, but
me
! Alice motions to walk towards me, and I put my
hands up to stop her. “What the fuck, Alice!” I yell. “Why didn’t you tell me?
How do you know? Who are you?”

“I’m sorry, Ivy. We weren't
allowed to tell you. If we did, we would be punished. Your fate isn't exactly
known. If we told you, it could change your actions, and in result, change your
fate. We were told to let it happen naturally and to keep you protected until
your transformation. Only then, would we be allowed to reveal your destiny.”
Alice appears truly sorry.

Eric adds, “We really
wanted to tell you, Ivy. We’re angels, like Jack, like you are. We would never
hurt you. We're still your friends. You can trust us.”

My temper recedes, and I
lower my voice, “But, neither of you have green eyes like Jack. You're not
Archangels.”

Eric shrugs his shoulders.
“We're not Archs. Our contacts were necessary to hide who we are from you and
avoid questions.”

“What color
are
they?”

Alice answers with
hesitation, “Violet.”

“You’re Reapers?” My
anxiety begins to surface again with the raise of my voice.

Eric clears his throat with
a bowed head and gives Alice a sidelong glance. Alice steps forward. “Yes. We’
re Reapers
.
But some of us like to be referred to as
Guides.
People have put horrible labels on us through the
ages.
”

I take a step back as my
voice strains to speak, “I don’t want to be like you. I don’t want to take
peoples souls. I don’t want to watch people die and take their chance to fight
for their lives.”

“It’s not like that, Ivy,”
Eric assures. “We don’t kill people, we don’t
take
their souls, and we
don’t keep them from fighting to live. It’s our job to guide the souls to their
next destination
after
the body has died. We help them. We don’t harm
them. And it’s more satisfying than you think
—t
o be able to guide
the deserving to Paradise and see them become overwhelmed with a sense of
peace. And when you guide the dammed into Sheol
,
it’s with gratifying
conviction you're relieving the world of their wickedness and delivering them
to atone for their offenses.”

My voice rises in anger,
“How do you know who's deserving of Paradise and who's not? Who are you to
Judge?”

Alice answers me with
softness, “We never judge. Their destinations are revealed to us in the Veil
between life and death.”

“It seems I won’t really
have a choice if The Powers That Be sent you to watch over me. It appears my
fate's already been determined.”

Alice sighs. “Not exactly.
We were told there would be a warrior sent to find us. We were supposed to work
together to protect you, but they never showed. The night of the party, we
couldn’t come because we were
trying to
investigate
the warrior’s
position
. Jack had to leave you at the party for a
little while to help us. He found out the warrior had been intercepted by
demons long before you arrived in Red Meadow. They want to keep you from the
influence of the Angels of Light. It’s unclear why at this point, but we’re
doing everything we can to find out.”

“
I got caught up ta
l
king to some guys from out of town,
”
I remember Jack’s excuse for disappearing at the
party. “Demons?”

Alice quirks her lips tight
in a grimace and nods. Jack turns me to face him, “There’s something else you
should know… Trey…” My eyes widen at the name. “He's a demon.”

“What! Don’t you think you
should have warned me?” I can’t keep from yelling at them again. My head's
spinning from the emotional rollercoaster.

“I tried. And when you were
with him, I was always there watching you when I could. I made him leave the
night of your date. I'm sorry, but there have been legions protecting him, and
I couldn't risk you leaving alone with him.”

I remember everything that
happened between Trey and me.
Oh my God. I kissed a demon. He tried to rape
me! I kissed a demon in front of Jack! If I wasn’t embarrassed enough, I’m
completely mortified now!
“I need to sit down.” I stumble on weak legs to
the bed and plop down. Jack and Eric come to stand before me, and Alice sits
beside me, holding my hand and rubbing my back in soothing circular strokes.
They wait for me to absorb the torrent of information. “Why would there be a
legion protecting Trey? Why's he important? What does he want from me?”

“We don’t know yet, but we
have reason to believe he's working for Beleth. We think Beleth was in charge
of the capture of the missing warrior as well,” Jack professes.

Great. Now I’m responsible
for the
kidnapping
of an angel. What’s
next? What do I do now? Do I keep going to class as if everything’s normal?

“Ivy?” Alice whispers.

“I need a drink.”

“I’ll get you some water,”
Jack offers.

“No. I need a real drink.”
I jump off of the bed and swipe the bottle of Jäger from the bedside table. I
twist the cap off and pause. “Am I allowed to drink? Will it be a determining
factor in my transformation?”

They start laughing at me
in hysterics. Jack adds, “Yes, Ivy. You can drink. But soon, its affects won't
be the same.”

That’s really going to
suck. I don’t care at this point.
“Bottoms up,” I muse
before chugging the dark liquid. Its robust spice of Anise numbs my gums and
burns icicles down my throat. Its icy slow descent into my stomach creeps
through my body, and my extremities fall slack in an instant. I place the
bottle back down on the nightstand and toss the cap beside it.

Jack brakes the tension in
the room, “How would you guys like to stay here with us until Ivy’s
transformation?”

Alice touches my arm with
tenderness, “Ivy? Would that be ok with you?”

“Yeah. I think it would
actually make me feel better.”

“Hell
,
yeah!” Eric cheers.

“So, who exactly is
Beleth?” I prompt them.

“Before the fall, he was a
Seraphim of Light—a guardian of the Throne in Heaven. Now, he's one of five
Dukes to the King of Sheol,” Alice states.

“Sheol?” I echo.

“Hell,” Eric answers.

“Oh.”
I’m not even fully
transformed yet, and I have a Duke of Hell after me.
“What does he want
with me? How does he even know about me?”

Jack sighs. “Trey. You had
class with him. He must have recognized your essence as angelic and notified
Beleth of an undeveloped angel. We noticed Beleth’s legion has been converging
on Red Meadow within the last few months. I got a hold of one of the lowers and
made him talk. All he could tell me was they were sent to capture you and bring
you to Beleth.” He pauses in reflection. “I hadn’t met you yet. I had only
known of you from Eric and Alice. When you came to the race that first night…”

Eric fields Jack’s open
hanging confession, “We shouldn’t have brought you there. We didn’t know Trey
was after you. He’s a lower demon. We usually don’t pay him any attention. He
feeds off of people’s misery with his touch. After you left, I overheard him
planning to go after you. The night Jack took you to the concert out of town…
it was so you wouldn’t be around when Trey planned to make his move that night.
But, we think someone had been watching you and tailed you to the concert.
That’s why you were attacked.”

“But you guys left me with
him at the party!” I'm livid with their logic.

“We aren’t supposed to
interfere with your life. You’re supposed to make your own decisions. That’s
why Jack asked if you wanted to go for a ride instead of telling you that you
had
to go for your own safety. It had to be your decision. And there were others at
the Green House watching you. They obviously didn't do a good job of it, but we
tried not to leave you alone with him,” Alice defends.

“This is insane,” I huff.

“Why don’t you get some
rest, honey? It’s been a big day. Whatever you need
,
we’re here for you.” Alice hugs me and kisses my
cheek.

“Yeah. Ok.”

Jack acknowledges our
friends, “You can stay down the hall. Do you need to go get some stuff from
home?”

I walk to the French doors
leading out to the balcony.
I need some air.
I open the doors, filling
my lungs with the cool night air.

Alice speaks from behind
me, “Yeah. Do you need anything, Ivy?” I shake my head.

Eric appears on the other
side of me, peeking over to his girlfriend with a mischievous glint in his
countenance, “You know… It would be faster if we flew.” His eyebrows wiggle to
sway her decision.

I smile at her with
reassurance, “It’s fine. Jack showed me his wings… And I’m curious to see what
yours look like—What mine may look like?”

Without a word, they step
up onto the terrace wall together. Eric takes his shirt off and tucks it into
the back pocket of his jeans. Alice looks over her shoulder with a gracious
smile as Eric looks at her with adoration. Their eyes begin to illuminate in
unison with white blinding light. There's a synchronized crunch as their wings
split the skin of their shoulder blades. The abrupt flourish of their wings
makes it hard to process what I'm seeing. The brilliance in their eyes
diminish.
They're exquisite!
The feathers of their wings are as deep of
a purple as a ripe eggplant. At a closer look, they glisten a prism of deep
purples, dark blues, and black.

“Wow,”
I breathe
so low I don’t think they can hear me. Jack envelopes
his strong arms around my center and rests his chin on my shoulder. With one flap
of our friend's wings, they’re in the air. They float above us with the slow
beating of their wings, creating a strong breeze blowing my hair away from my
face with wild fervor.

“We’ll be back as soon as
we can. Don’t wait up!” Alice calls to me. I watch them fly into the night sky
like falcons until their silhouettes disappear.

gh

I hide within the confines
of my bed for the next three days with my thoughts constantly turning like
revolving gears of a clock. I can’t avoid my classes any longer. It’s Friday,
and I need to at least show up.

Time flies by, sitting in
the auditorium of my Music History class. My professor’s words are nothing but
a low hum of murmurs in the background, and my surroundings are suffocated by
darkness at the edges of my vision. My body's twitching with nerves as I lean
back in my seat with my knee bouncing energetically as my fingers rub my pen to
a rapid beat
,
making a constant tapping on the notebook in
front of me. Before I know it, bodies are shuffling and pushing to get out of
the back doors of the auditorium. Realizing class is over, I glide out of my
chair, sweeping up my books and slinging my backpack over my shoulder.