She Speaks to Angels (17 page)

Kian raked his fingers through my brunette hair. “He has done it once already.”

“
Tommy?”

“
Yes. Dameon went to a kind of graduation ceremony with Azrael after he murdered Tommy. A graduation of sorts for his first kill. Now he is officially a member of the Dark Angels.”

“
You mean the supposed funeral arrangements for his mother?” I realized.

“
Was his graduation ceremony into Azrael’s fold.” The chill crawled along my skin like a spider.

“
All lies?”

“
Not completely.” Kian walked me across the hardwood floors, and I saw the piano out of the corner of my eyes. “He did lose his mother to a car accident long ago when he was one year old. He never knew his father. Sammael tried to adopt him, but Azrael beat him to it. When Azrael and his legion of demons moved from Washington to New York, Sammael followed. He sensed Azrael was up to something. But what, we can’t be sure.”

“
Why Dameon? I mean, Azrael didn’t try to take you did he?”

“
No, he didn’t, and for reasons we can’t be sure of, either.”

“
Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me...” I chuckled, tilting my head in Kian’s direction. “To figure out what Azrael is up to in New York City, why he needs Dameon, and eventually, to figure out how I can lead you angels to him so that you can destroy him...and then New York can be a safe place to live once again...ha ha!” I felt rather overwhelmed.

When we strolled to the ground floor, a dingy cubicle with a stairwell, a few cobwebs and an exit door, Kian wrapped his arms around me and drew me close to his chest. I felt his breath over my skin and wanted desperately to kiss him. “I’m glad that if I had to do this with anyone, it is with you.”

I blushed, but before I could kiss him, he flitted off the hard ground with me bundled in his arms and against his chest, shot through the door and into the sky and through the clouds, until we disappeared from human view. The time we spent flying seemed to pass like a dream until we approached my house. Shooting through the window of my room, which was still ajar, he landed softly on the carpeted floor before releasing me.

“
I’ll be close; always.”

“
Wait!” I called to him just before he vanished. His foot stopped on the window frame.

“
What is your angel name?”

His left brow arched. “Qaphsiel, Angel of the Moon. The angel who drives away enemies.”

Assignments

Monday
morning I rushed to get ready on time. I hadn’t slept much Sunday night on account of Kian’s secrets and all. The vision of his home stained my mind; the winding iron stairwell, the empty crimson room with only a bookcase, the piano room...and then there was, of course, the mahogany door at the end of the crimson room which everyone seemed to go through, except me. Curiosity left my head spinning. Had the room been where...what was his name? Jacob slept? Could the room harbor even more secrets? I felt information overload.

As Jennifer pulled into the school parking lot to let Molly and me out for classes, I felt Kian nearby. Somewhere in the skies, I sensed him and smiled, the kind of smile that stretched from ear to ear. I never had to feel lonely or scared again, because I knew Kian would always be there protecting me.

“
So whatever happened to you over the weekend?” Molly asked, tugging on her paintbrush as we walked side by side. Jennifer neglected her preoccupation with her hair to tune her ears in closer to the conversation. “Did you and Dameon kiss?” Mol’s face lit up like a Christmas light, and Jennifer barked.

“
Do we really care, Mol? I mean you’ve been ditching us at lunch lately and we don’t seem to be very important to you anymore. Your best friends since middle school, not important enough!” Jen rolled her shoulders back which meant she really fumed.

“
I care,” Mol defended herself.

“
The only reason I still chauffeur you to school is in the hope that you’ll come to your senses again!” Jen concluded with loud a huff.

Fidgeting, I answered, “I’m...I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt so strongly. I didn’t mean to push you two out of my life or something. I just have a lot going on is all.”

Jen butted in, “I have a lot going on too, Ali. A Chem test, a who’s going to take me to prom dilemma. There are other people besides you, you know.”

“
I know.” My head dropped. I felt ashamed of my behavior. “I promise I will make more of an effort.”

“
Good.” I caught a slight smile on Jen’s lips.

“
Well, I for one need to know,” Mol interjected. “Did you kiss Dameon?”

“
I...we...never got to that point.” The memory made me cringe, and Mol noticed my uneasiness.

“
Why not? What happened?” Mol’s jerky reaction sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn’t tell them. How could I? Endanger their lives? My best friends. They’d never believe me anyway.

“
I...I,” I couldn’t find the words, so I squirmed, even resorting to biting my lip..

“
I’m sure she has her reasons.” Jen butted heads with Mol. I couldn’t be sure if she just didn’t care or if she was defending me at this point.

“
You’d better tell us at lunch.” Mol shook her bob, excited.

“
Sure, lunch.” I gave in, because that would at least put us back into good graces with each other. I took off toward my locker and noticed Kian leaning beside mine already. He was decked out in a white t-shirt, brown jacket and blue jeans; he seemed to enjoy dressing casually.

“
OK, lunch it is.” Jen affirmed and nudged Mol in the shoulder to direct her down the hall to their classes. The curious grin on her face that said ‘I won’ assured me she wouldn’t let go until she learned the details come lunch time.

As I approached my locker, my eyes searched vigilantly for Dameon. I didn’t want to run into him today. “Is
he
here yet?”

“
Just arrived. I can hear his screeching Cadillac pull up in the parking lot.” Kian leaned against Dameon’s locker liked he owned it, like he had readied himself to take the demon down. Calm, collected. I guess Kian faced demons every day.

“
You can hear that far?”

“
Angelfire can hone in on sounds and sights, as if nothing else is around us.”

“
Cool gift. Can Dameon do that too?”

“
Unfortunately, yes.”

The hallway where my locker set cleared of students, and soon only Kian and I stood by my locker. I fumbled over the combination as a figure in a black leather jacket with one red stripe rounded the corner. My hands shook as I pressed my fingers over the lock.

“
Come on, come on!” I whispered to myself, trying to get my mind to focus. But all I could think of were Dameon’s hands squeezing around my throat.

“
17-75-1” Kian whispered, seeing my distress. As red hot as my cheeks felt, I knew my freckles had surely disappeared.

“
Made it to school today,” Dameon surprised me as he commented over my shoulder. Kian released a sound I’d never heard from him before, a cross between a growl and a squawk. His body language geared into attack mode. Coarse breathing wrapped over my shoulder and neck from behind, and
Dameon’s
smell brought back all the memories of yesterday as the day replayed in my mind. Why did he have to have a locker right next to mine?

Opening my locker, I pulled out my assignment folder as Kian retorted. “You think you could really scare us away, Dameon? You’ve got to know by now that we run into your kind every day.”

“
You’d better hope so, because you’re going to have to keep a close eye on your little girlfriend if you don’t want her ending up in the obituaries.”

My locker clicked shut as my face remained frozen and my eyes stared at the yellow metallic paint in front of me. I couldn’t turn around and look into those empty, liquid black eyes again.

Stepping away from me and toward Dameon, Kian formed a true blocked space between the demon and me. “Better keep close eyes on yourself, or one day, you’ll just up and vanish,” Kian returned like a smart ass kid, and I’d never been happier that someone else besides Molly knew how to sound tough.

Just when Dameon opened his mouth in retort, Principal Patty passed through the hall and stopped as her eyes fell over us. “The three of you need to get to class. Pronto!”

“
Yes, Ma’am.” I nodded and hugged my assignment folder to my chest as Kian slid his arm through mine. Dameon scurried down the hall ahead of us. After Kian walked me to class, he winked.

“
See you in a few.” He made it all sound so simple.

“
What do I do until then?” My body leaned forward as if he had some magical hold on me.

Taking a step back, he answered. “Stay clear of Dameon. Always stay in a public place. I’ll meet you after each class.”

Opening the English class door, Dameon’s abyss-like eyes met mine, and I never felt more creeped out in all my life, like a solider suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or something. My body literally rumbled, and I had to take in a deep breath before I could enter. Kian watched me until I found my seat in the front of the room. Dameon sat in his usual back-of-the-room spot. Our separation seemed to draw attention to us. Whispers began almost immediately, since the school pegged us as ‘dating’ on Friday, before the English teacher hushed us and Kian disappeared behind the closed door.

Fifty minutes could have been fifty hours. I never felt more claustrophobic, and occasional sweat beads tracked down the sides of my temples. Perspiration, dizziness, heart-palpitations. I realized I was headed in the direction of full-on panic attack. I just kept my head pointed ahead and managed to repress any temptation of flicking my eyes back to look at Dameon. I didn’t need the visual. Somehow the clock ticked closer to time for the bell to ring, and I fidgeted in my seat before I finally gave into the urge and allowed a quick twist of my head in Dameon’s direction. I felt his eyes on me the entire class, but couldn’t be sure until my eyes met his again. In that second, that split second, I knew he would never let me go until he had what he wanted. Me, dead.

RING.

The bell sounded and the students filed out the English class door. Quick to jump out of my seat, I made it to the exit where Kian waited on the other side before I felt Dameon’s cold fingers touch my shoulder from behind.

“
I’ll be waiting for you.” His whisper creeped me out even more, and I dashed into Kian’s arms as Dameon dispersed with the rest of the students down the hall.

“
Couldn’t he be arrested for stalking me or something?” I fumed, half in jest. Of course, bars would never hold him, even if I could convince the police I had a stalker. Telling my brother might keep Dameon away for a night in a cold cell, but the demon would be up and ready to kill me by morning. What would be the point?

“
Don’t worry.” Kian encouraged me, and I remembered he had some kind of sonic-hearing ability which heard everything Dameon had said to me as we had exited the classroom.

“
How can I not worry?” With an arm around my shoulder, Kian consoled me. I beat myself up for falling for the
bad
guy as we strolled to my next class. If I had only trusted Kian to begin with or stayed out of Tommy’s business, perhaps I wouldn’t be in this mess!

“
We’re almost there.” Kian said. His mouth was close to my ear, and the velvety fabric of his lips touched its surface. I really wanted to kiss him, but he let go of me at the P.E. door and waved. “I’ll see you in fifty.”

I had a feeling that would become our new thing, our new word. Like the whole world would revolve around the number fifty. It would take fifty minutes of me being without Kian, fifty minutes where Dameon could have an opening to nab me, fifty minutes where I would stress out or have an anxiety attack, fifty minutes to contemplate my next move, before the bell. And my class schedule never became so obvious. What had once been in the refuges of my mind was now placed front and center. I had to be vigilant of where I headed, entered and exited. All the time.

This crumpled piece of paper stapled to the inside flap of my assignment folder, my schedule, would become my safety or my peril, depending on how well I played this dangerous game.

1st period-English

2nd period-P.E.

3rd period-Biology

4th period-World History

Lunch

5th period-Journalism

6th period-Calculus

7th period-Spanish

In Biology, Mr. Straub pulled a pig’s heart from a clear glass jar resting on his desk. I wanted to throw up, but I couldn’t leave the room. Kian would kill me, and Dameon just actually might. As if this past week hadn’t been strange enough, I now was expected to examine an animal’s heart!

At least in World History I could feign attention by staring at my open NOOK. I did turn to the corresponding textbook page. Ten minutes after sitting down in class, I received a text and my cell vibrated in my back pocket. Slipping out the cell as Mrs. Korn wrote something on the whiteboard, I flipped open the phone and read.

Ali,

Don’t Forget!

We’re meeting at lunch and you’re dishing out everything!