Celestials

The anguished screaming awakened me. It was raw and agonized, like whoever was screaming had been doing it for a long time. I shuddered, afraid of what was happening to that poor soul.

Pain ripped through my entire body. It was like glass was slicing through every bit of me and then someone poured salt and acid on the wounds.

“Just kill me!” I screamed.

And that’s when I realized the screaming that had awakened me was mine. I must be in Hell and the demons were torturing me. Excruciating pain tore through me again. Tears coursed down my cheeks and my throat was raw.

When I tried to open my eyes, I couldn’t make much out in the hazy darkness. I could see a light and a figure moving around.

“Please,” I begged the figure. Even I didn’t know what I was begging for. I wanted to plead for death, but I was already dead. What would a torturous demon possibly want to give me?

Cool hands gripped me and I felt momentary relief until the pain sliced through me again, shattering my body. A scream tore through my throat.

“Please,” I cried. “Please.” My voice was getting weaker. I couldn’t handle much more pain.

Something cool touched my forehead and then the glass sliced through my body once again. I couldn’t handle it. My mind receded. The world went black and peaceful.

My throat was dry and sore. My mouth was raw and felt like I had swallowed a bag of cotton. Everything in my body ached and it took all of my energy just to blink my eyes open.

There were pipes running above my head and concrete walls. There were metal boxes, that I assumed held air conditioning or electrical things, scattered throughout the room. There was a weight on my leg and holding onto my hand. Before I could figure out what it was, I noticed twenty or so cloths full of blood and orange and blue substances. Ew. They were near shoes.

I followed the trail of shoes and socks until I got to bare feet. They were connected to a body that was using my shin as a pillow and holding my hand. I would recognize that mane of curled dark hair anywhere. Jude.

Shifting slightly, I tried to get more comfortable. I was on a pile of blankets on the concrete floor. The movement woke Jude and he immediately sat up, a hand going to my forehead. He sighed in relief, his body hanging wearily. It was then he noticed my eyes. The relief that flooded his face was evident.

“You’re awake.”

I nodded. The vision of a torturous hell popped into my head. “I think. I’m not dead?”

Jude faintly smiled in relief. “Almost. But not quite.” He held a water bottle up to my mouth. I tried to lift my arms to reach it but they flopped uselessly by my side. It was like I wasn’t strong enough to lift them.

After I took a few sips of the refreshing water, I looked back at Jude. “What happened to me?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

My eyes widened when images flooded my mind. Oh god, they had attacked Sandy and Jim’s family. “Sandy and Jim and everyone? Are they okay?”

Jude nodded sadly. “Yeah. A few of them have burns and I’m sure the kids will have nightmares for a long time, but they’re okay. I had to explain to them what I was and what was going on.”

I let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad they’re okay. I’m sure they still love you, hard as our reality is to believe.” Then I looked back at him, as he nodded. “Hey Lancelot, shouldn’t I be dead? I’m pretty sure I should be.”

Jude shook his head. “No,” he told me vehemently. “I vanished us before they could kill you off. Then I sucked the poison out until you were clean. You’re weak from blood loss and you haven’t eaten anything in a few days.”

“Days?” I asked. How long had I been out?

“It’s been three days since we were at Sandy and Jim’s. You’ve been in and out of consciousness the whole time,” Jude explained. Dark circles under his eyes told me he had been awake most of those. Probably trying to save me.

“Thanks…for saving me,” I said softly.

He smiled. “Couldn’t let those bastards win, could I?” I shook my head. “Besides you have really good aim. I don’t think they’re going to want you.”

I smiled myself. “I wasn’t going without a fight. And I figured if I drew attention to myself, everyone could get away easier.”

He rubbed his thumb across my brow. “You’re insane.”

I shook my head. “Your family shouldn’t have been dragged into my mess. If it was a choice between them getting hurt or me dying…well, I’m dying anyway.”

Jude shook his head sadly. He seemed too tired to argue with me. “I talked to them briefly, to make sure everyone was okay. They’re calling you their hero.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m the bad luck that brought war to their backyard,” I argued.

“Rory, you put yourself on the line to save people you’d known twenty-four hours,” he countered.

I tried to sit up, but failed and instead flopped back. “They are innocent. No one is getting hurt because of me – not if I can help it. Besides,” I started but wasn’t sure if I could finish.

Jude waited a moment and then asked. “Besides?”

I avoided his eyes. I didn’t want him to see how much it mattered to me. “You need them. Somewhere to go back to, people who make you smile. You need them, Lancelot,” I explained softly.

Jude looked at me but I couldn’t read him. There was a lot going on in his eyes, but his emotions were shifting too quickly for me to get a handle on them. Finally, he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Are you hungry?”

I nodded. He moved stiffly over to a cooler in the corner. Jude rolled his shoulders. Sleeping on the floor must have been a lot less comfortable for him than me.

While he was digging around in the white Styrofoam cooler, I asked, “Where are we anyway?”

With a small bottle of orange juice and two sandwiches in his hand, Jude returned. “We’re in an electricity station in West Tokyo. Shibuya, exactly. It’s like Times Square in New York but uses even more energy. Being here at the energy’s source, it hides us better.”

I nodded and lifted up the pieces of sandwich I had ripped off. “So we’re safe?”

Jude sank onto the blankets and helped me sit up, propping me against the cement wall. “No. We’re never going to be safe. It will just take them longer to find us here because of all the electricity flying around.” When my face fell, Jude took my hand sending chills up my arm. “We’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah,” I answered noncommittally. There was no way we were going to figure this out unless I handed myself over and started a war. “I’ve never been to Tokyo before.”

“I don’t know how much of it you’ll actually see,” Jude lamented.

I smiled. “Fun, remember?”

“Yeah. Fun.” His gaze strayed towards the bloodied, orange and blue splotched rags. What was he thinking?

“Was that from me?” I asked. When he nodded, I continued. “What’s the blue?”

“Lightning bolt,” he sighed. “That’s how your body reacts to it.”

Suddenly, a loud metal scraping sounded from outside the room. I grabbed Jude’s hand in panic. They couldn’t have found us already. Clamping my mouth shut, I held in a scream.

Jude must have sensed my fear because his arm immediately came around me. “It’s okay, Rory. It’s probably just-“

“She finally wakes up and already you two are going at it? You are my kind of people,” a thickly accented male voice laughed. A pair of slanted hazel eyes, peeking out from a swoop of white hair zeroed in on me. “If he played for my team, I’d be trying to get him in bed as fast as possible too.”

Jude sighed next to me. “You scared her, Tanaka.”

Tanaka strolled toward us, his distinctly Japanese features arranged in a smile. He was tall and wiry, with straightened white hair that swooped over his forehead and stuck out a little on the sides. There was a black stripe down the middle of the swoop. He was wearing fitted red jeans with checkerboard suspenders over a T-shirt with some sort of Anime character on it. The outfit was completed with bright blue sneakers and a pair of demon wings.

Demon wings? I looked from the wings, to Jude, back to the wings, and back to Jude.

He squeezed my shoulder. “He’s not here for you.”

Tanaka reached the bed and bowed slightly, then stuck out his hand. He dropped a few grocery bags at the end of the bed. With encouragement from Jude, I grasped his hand. A slight buzzing current moved from his skin to mine. Tanaka’s smile widened. “I’m Tanaka and I presume you are Rory. I’m what you would call a defector, like Jude but not as-“

“Good at it,” Jude piped up, smirking.

Tanaka threw him a withered glance and then smiled at me again. “Not as self-sacrificing about it and I do it for different reasons. I don’t want a war anymore than you do and I think it’s very brave that you are doing this.”

“Thanks,” I told him. “Uh, nice to meet you.” If Jude trusted him, I guess I was going to have to also.

“He’s been getting us supplies for the past couple of days,” Jude added.

“Thanks,” I said once more to Tanaka.

Tanaka bowed slightly to me again. “Marco’s packing us up.”

“You don’t need to do this,” Jude grumbled.

Hazel eyes rolled under the white swoop. “Your loner tendencies are very frustrating. We have been over this. Marco and I are coming.”

My eyes moved between Jude and Tanaka, neither of them budging in their stare down. “He’s coming with us?”

Tanaka smiled again. “Not just me. Marco and possibly a few others too.”

“Others?” Jude glared at Tanaka who just smiled. Jude hopped up and started pacing. “It will be dangerous with too many. We can’t.”

“Who’s Marco?” I piped in before Jude’s head exploded.

Jude waved his hand in Tanaka’s general direction. “His boyfriend.”

“Partner,” Tanaka sighed. Then he looked at me. “When you’ve been together over one hundred years, calling him a boyfriend trivializes it.”

“Wow. That’s a long time,” I told him, then smiled. “Good for you. I didn’t realize people, er…beings, uh…you had long term relationships.”

Tanaka’s hazel eyes leveled me. “What did you think that we were all sad loners miserably walking eternity alone?”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

His hands flew into the air in a helpless gesture. “Not all of us are like Jude. In fact, very few of us are.”

“He’s the Incomitatus, the alone. I guess I just assumed he was the only one who was….like him,” I lamely finished.

Tanaka’s laugh echoed in the basement. “He is certainly the only one like him, as you put it – loner, brooder, martyr.” Tanaka eyes narrowed at Jude disapprovingly on martyr. “Technically, he’s not claimed by either side, now. But there are others of us who are unsatisfied by the way things are running. We have reasons that we don’t want to fight with the other side. It’s like a civil war – you end up battling a brother or mother or lover.”

I nodded. That made sense. “So what are we going to do?”

“You need to recover first,” Jude told me. “Then we’ll figure it out.”

I looked down at my abused body. There were dark purple bruises mixed in with dried blood and crusted orange and blue ooze. My body had so many bandages on it, I lost count of the injured spots. “I would sell my soul for a bath,” I told them.

Jude paled visibly. When Tanaka caught Jude’s reaction, he started chuckling. Now Jude was scowling.

“What?” I asked them.

The chuckling Tanaka moved closer. “A poor choice of word’s considering the Evertos and Angelus would give anything to have your soul.”

I couldn’t restrain rolling my eyes. “Figure of speech, Jude. Relax.”

He cleared his throat and glared at both Tanaka and I. “When you are feeling stronger, we’ll see what we can do about a bath.”

“You’re the ones who have to look at me and smell me,” I told them.

Tanaka eyes glittered with mischief. “Then you better recover quickly. It’s beginning to smell funky down here.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “Don’t stick that out unless you intend to use it.”

I laughed. “Wow, I haven’t heard that since high school. Besides,” I smiled at Tanaka, “I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t want to take me up on that offer.”

Tanaka winked at me. “You are correct. However, I can offer Jude in my stead.”

“Children!” Jude growled at us. “Can we please act our age?”

Tanaka and I grinned slyly at each other like two kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar. I couldn’t help it, I started giggling. Once I started I couldn’t stop, which then set Tanaka off. Jude started pacing off his frustration again.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized to Jude, wiping at the tears coming from my eyes. “It’s just that – whose age are we acting? If we’re acting yours, I’m like a zygote in comparison to you.”

Tanaka laughed louder, doubling over. “So that makes me…an adolescent?” He laughed harder. “Perfect.”

“How old are you?” I asked. “I mean, how long have you been a demon?”

“Three hundred and twelve years,” Tanaka answered.

I yawned loudly and slumped against the wall. Ugh, I was out for three days, I couldn’t possibly be tired. Jude came over and took the paper wrapping left from my sandwich.

“You should rest. Your body is still recovering.”

“I know. But I’m tired of sleeping.” I yawned again and this time Jude yawned with me.

“Look, why don’t you both get some sleep?” Tanaka put his hand on Jude’s shoulder. “She’s fine now. Both of you get some rest and I’ll keep an eye out. Besides, Marco should be here any minute.”

Jude nodded. “Thanks.”

I snuggled down into the blankets, my body feeling better after a little food. Jude looked around like he was at loss as to where to sleep. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I patted the space next to me. Jude stretched himself out in the blankets and I immediately curved my body into him. His arms automatically curled around me.

Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard Tanaka whisper, “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Shut up,” Jude mumbled and I could hear Tanaka’s soft laughter.

I barely had time to wonder what they were talking about before I passed out.

My eyes opened and things were hazy. The light was low and all I could make out were two pairs of very different wings and strong arms locked around each other. I could make out Tanaka but I wasn’t sure who was with him. Shit. They found me.

The guy with angel wings overpowered Tanaka and tumbled with him to the floor.

“Jude,” I hissed, swatting the hand that was holding me. “Jude!”

He awoke with a start. “What?” Jude rubbed his eyes. “What?”

“They found us,” I whispered, my eyes locked on the pair wrestling in the darkness.

Jude pushed me behind him and blocked most of my body against him. I could feel his pulse thrumming in his bicep where I held onto him. And then his whole body sagged in relief.

“Do you think that maybe you two could keep your hands off each other for two seconds?” Jude grumbled at the pair. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Holy hell! Rory thought you were after her.”

Tanaka looked up and I could see his lips were swollen from kissing. “We wouldn’t be after you,” he told me with a wink that had me giggling.

I pointed to the white winged figure. Incredulity leaked into my voice. “That’s Marco?”

Both men stood up. Tanaka turned the lights up as Marco made his way toward us. He was small, probably only 5’4”, but strong with lean muscle. His jet black hair was in wild, curly disarray around his angular face. Dark brown eyes smiled affably at me and his full mouth formed a smile. If his Italian roots weren’t already known, his olive skin gave it away.

Marco stuck his hand out to me. Reaching around Jude, I grasped it.

“I am Marco. Nice to finally meet you while you are awake,” a melodic voice with an Italian accent told me.

I shook his hand. “I’m Rory. Thanks for helping us out.”

Marco shrugged and put a hand on his hip. “It’s not just about you. It’s about all of us.”

I nodded. “Of course.” But I really didn’t understand what he meant. It was about all of them? Does he mean what Tanaka was saying about not wanting to fight people you love?

And then I looked at Marco’s wings. He was an angel – an angelus. If they went to war Tanaka and Marco would be forced to fight against each other. No wonder they were so eager to help us. My realization must have hit my face because Tanaka started laughing.

“I see you’ve finally figured out what we mean.” He joined Marco near the bed, casually throwing an arm over his shoulder.

I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts together. My neck craned looking up at Tanaka. “I didn’t realize that…people…that you guys were…not…both….demons,” I finished lamely.

Tanaka smirked at me. “That we had inter-being relationships?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why would you think we didn’t?” Marco asked, a little piqued. Great. I was making him mad because I hadn’t assumed angels and demons want to love and have sex with each other.

“Well,” I took a deep steadying breath and then launched into my explanation. “I guess because the ones I’ve met didn’t seem to even tolerate each other let alone want to you know, go and have a relationship or sex or anything like that with them, because it was more like they completely loathed each other on every level which is natural to assume when they are hurling lightning bolts, fireballs, and insults at each other.”

“Marco isn’t going to hurt you,” Jude whispered to me.

I glared at him. “I know.”

“Your run-on sentence told me otherwise,” he countered. Touché, Jude. It was oddly comforting and completely discombobulating that he knew me so well.

I looked up to see Marco and Tanaka beholding me skeptically. Then with a warm smile and chuckle, Tanaka turned to Marco.

“Did you get all that?” he asked, referring to my diatribe.

Marco shook his head laughing. “Not at all.”

“But she’s a newbie to all this, so we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt,” Tanaka added.

Marco nodded. “She’s only been twenty-nine for what, six months?”

“Twenty-nine?” I asked. “But I’ve only known about all of this stuff for a week and half!”

Tanaka sat down in front of Jude and I, staring open mouthed at Jude. “You didn’t tell her it’s activated at twenty-nine?”

Jude ran another hand over his face. “It wasn’t exactly the most pertinent information.”

I crawled out from behind Jude to face him as Marco sat down next to Tanaka. He handed out some water bottles. I nodded my thanks and then turned to Jude. “How much haven’t you told me?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. Probably a lot.”

“What?” I couldn’t help the screeching in my voice. Total honesty. We had agreed. We needed it to keep going. How could I trust him if he was keeping things from me?

Jude put his hands up as if to calm my rising anger. “It’s not like there’s been a lot of time to talk between fireball attacks, tsunamis, Gabe, and you starting a war against the angelus and everto.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “There was plenty of time. Like when we were in Nebraska at the hotel.”

“You were drunk,” Jude injected.

“And what does Gabe have to do with anything?” I asked petulantly. It’s not like Jude couldn’t have asked me to stay behind to explain things to me.

Jude snorted. “Please. The date with him? And him coming to your window to check in on you? Breakfast?”

“He was concerned and that date was forced,” I added. I didn’t add that I hadn’t minded because Gabe was good looking.

“Gabe was checking up on you. He was trying to woo you into siding with the angelus,” Jude informed me angrily. “What do you think telling your Dad he wanted to settle down in Aleut Harbor was? You think he actually wants to be a fisherman and live there?”

I wanted to walk away or pace or something, but I didn’t have the energy. “What’s wrong with living there and fishing?” My voice was rising and I could feel anger flushing my face. What right did Jude have to make fun of my hometown?

“Nothing!” Jude spat. “God, why are you getting so pissed? You don’t even want to live there! Gabe was trying to get into your Dad’s favor to get into your pants. How dense could you be?”

That did it! “Dense? Dense!” I screamed. “Is it that impossible that a guy might actually want to be with me?” I refused to admit to myself how much it hurt that he thought a guy wouldn’t be into me. I would not acknowledge that it hurt more because I wanted him to be attracted to me – which was stupid.

“Rory, he is not a guy. He’s an angel. He’s not going to marry you, have your 2.5 kids and live happily ever after with you. It’s impossible,” he argued, pacing around the room for both of us. We’d all but forgotten Marco and Tanaka.

“Like that was something that could have been an option anyway and he knew that,” I raged. “I either become an angel or a demon or die. No fucking future for me, remember?”

I flung myself back on the blankets, all of my energy spent. Never let them see you cry. My breathing was ragged and heavy from anger and now from holding back tears. Never let them see you cry.

Tanaka whistled low and turned to Marco. “Sounds to me like Jude is jealous.”

Marco nodded with a smile. Jude stalked over to us.

“Jealous? Of Gabe? I’m trying to get her to see the reality of the situation,” he argued.

Marco turned to me, patting me lightly on the knee. “He’s right, darling. Gabe was trying to seduce you to the angelus side. When Beings of the Regnum feel the certus awaken, it sends them all into a frenzy. Both sides will do whatever it takes to get you onto their side including sending a fine looking man to seduce you.” He patted my knee again. “Darling, you are beautiful and feisty – what man or woman wouldn’t want you? Which is why Jude was jealous.”

“I was not jealous!” he roared.

“Me thinks he doth protest too much,” Tanaka said under his breath.

This was stupid. It really didn’t matter whether Gabe was actually attracted to me or not or whether Jude was jealous. Only my stupid pride was hurting. As I pointed out to everyone before, it didn’t matter whether a guy liked me or not. I had no future, so what was the point.

I ignored Jude and his outburst and turned to Marco. “What is the regnum and certus?” I asked. I just needed them to talk to keep my mind off of my non-existent future.

“The regnum is the broader term for both angelus and everto. It is what we call our world.” Marco smiled at me. “Certus is you. The undoubted one. The one who chooses which side will rule earth.”

I nodded and breathed calming breaths. “Oh, right. I wonder what the opposite of certus is? You know, the doubted one, the one who isn’t going to give them the satisfaction of them choosing?”

“Dubitandum,” Tanaka muttered.

“Dubitandum,” I repeated and attempted a smile. “I like it. It’s long, confusing, and a bit cumbersome – like me.”

Suddenly the door made a metallic scraping noise at it creaked open. A pixie of a woman with honey colored skin and dark, cropped hair entered. Her dark eyes took in our surroundings and then her full lips lifted into a smirk. She crossed her arms over her green sundress as demon wings unfurled from her shoulders. Her barefeet slapped against the concrete as she came forward.

“Thank Satan,” she turned back towards the door apologetically. “Sorry, old habits die hard. Thank the goddess you called me. There’s no protection on this place. Anyone could walk in.”

The person she had apologized to in the door stepped forward and dropped two packs on the floor. He was an average size man, probably just under six feet, but standing next to this pixie woman he was a giant. His tall, ebony form towered at least a foot over her. His dark hair fell in neat dreadlocks to just below his shoulders and was held back in a ponytail. He was muscular under his jeans and t-shirt and also sported bare feet. The man had beautiful high cheekbones, a strong chin, and chocolate eyes that lit up with amusement.

“What Willa meant was,” he said coming over to me. His white angel wings unfurled as he walked. “I am Jerrick and this is Willa. Happy to meet you.” Jerrick’s voice had a soft Jamaican accent. He reached out his hand.

I shook it and the same small buzz I had felt with Tanaka happened with Jerrick. Then it happened again when Willa shook it. It must be perks of the job, I rationalized. “I’m Rory.”

“This place needs some protection spells,” Willa told us and walked around the room, speaking low.

Jerrick turned to me. “Willa was a witch in her life. That energy and knowledge carried over when she became a demon.”

Willa turned from her spot in the corner and glared at us. “That’s what happens when witch trials are happening around the world when you die. The Court decides you’re demonic.” She threw her hands up in frustration. Clearly this was an old wound. “If the Court had ever read up on witches they would know our motto is ‘harm none’. Small minded…” She trailed off muttering to herself and continued with her spells around the room.

Jerrick turned to shake Jude’s hand and clap him on the shoulder, a genuine smile lighting up Jerrick’s face. “It’s good to see you, man. We got your stuff.”

Jude took his hand but he was still clearly upset. Bitterness leached from his voice. “Good to see you. Thanks for bringing our stuff, but you really don’t need to stay.”

“Don’t mind him,” Tanaka jumped in. “Jude’s mad because we know he was jealous of Gabe hitting on Rory and he won’t admit it.”

“I’m not-“ Jude cut himself off and walked to the other side of the room.

Jerrick’s laugh boomed around the room. “This must be the reason we never see Jude anymore. Or that he’s trying to keep this pretty lady all to himself. “

He nodded in my direction and I felt myself blush.

Willa bounced up from behind Jerrick and jumped on his back. “Are you flirting with other girls when I’m not around?”

Jerrick smiled. “Always.”

Willa looked me over and for a moment I thought she was going to be mad. Instead she smiled and winked at me. What was going on? Then she turned back to Jerrick. “Just remember who you come home with.”

Jerrick reached around and shifted her so she now had her legs wrapped around his waist and faced him. “Always, baby love.” He planted the sweetest kiss on her lips.

Tears threatened to fall again. God, I was never going to have that. Never. I averted my gaze. Never let them see you cry.

“Will you stop that?” Jude snapped. I looked up and saw him watching me. His eyes blazed angrily. “No one here will make fun of you for showing emotion.”

I wobbled to my feet. As I stumbled toward Jude, Tanaka put an arm out for me to lean on. The tension in the room rose every step I took. Finally, I stood in front of Jude.

“Don’t you dare use my insecurities against me. Protector or not, feeling my panic or not,” I hissed. Then I slapped him across the face. “You’re an asshole.”

In my mind, I slapped him hard, turned on my heel, and stormed out of there. Instead, the slap barely registered and I would have collapsed if Tanaka hadn’t caught me. He carried me back to the blankets and lay me down. I wanted to rage or throw things. Instead any excess energy in my body drained.

Tanaka pulled a blanket over me. “You did good. Now rest.”

I nodded, grateful everyone didn’t hate me. I mean, I did just slap their friend. I closed my eyes thinking sleep would come fast. But it didn’t. My body was awake but I kept my eyes firmly shut.

“What are you doing?” Willa’s voice floated softly over to me.

“Nothing,” Jude grumbled.

Willa tapped her barefoot on the floor. “Why are you provoking her?”

“I’m her protector, she should be truthful with me,” he answered petulantly.

“And maybe she is Jude,” Willa told him. “But her entire world just got turned upside down and now you’ve dumped four strangers on her. Maybe she’s not comfortable with us.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Willa’s voice tinged with annoyance. “You are an asshole.”

Jerrick chuckled. “C’mon Willa, look at the guy. He’s miserable. I think for once in his supernatural life he’s feeling something.”

“Why are you so worried about her expressing her feelings to you?” Marco wanted to know. “It’s obvious you can feel them all.”

There was a pause while, I assumed, Jude was checking to make sure I was still asleep. Keeping my breathing deep and even, I resisted the urge to get up and murder him. He could feel all my feelings?

“How did you know?” Jude asked in a low voice.

“I can see the energy between you two,” Marco said.

“But you can always see that with protectors,” Jude argued.

“Yours is different. It’s strong and the way it moves between you two, I can tell.”

“Besides,” Tanaka jumped in, “I saw her brand just now. Black angel wings on the back of her neck? Who else’s could it be?”

“What?” I shot up from the blankets, feeling the back of my neck. I glared at Jude. “You branded me and you can feel everything? You said ‘it never happened’.”

Jude threw murderous looks at everyone and then stalked over to me. “And it didn’t. You asked if I drank any of your blood. And I didn’t, that never happened. I didn’t drink any of your blood, I accidentally swallowed it.”

“That’s messed up and you know it,” I argued with him. “And we swore there would be no more lies between us!”

He nodded calmly, infuriating me more. “I swore that I would never lie or tell half-truths to you from that moment on. And that is exactly what I’ve been doing.”

I was exhausted and the only thing I could do was glare at him. Tears threatened but I couldn’t let them fall, not after this. As if my childhood hadn’t shattered my heart enough, another large crack just ripped through it at Jude’s betrayal. “Why are you acting like this isn’t a big deal? This is why I don’t show emotion in front of you or anyone. Because I can’t trust anyone!”

“I would never hurt you!” Jude vehemently argued. He came over and took my hand.

I wretched it out of his grasp. “You would never physically hurt me and I trust you to save my life. But you did just hurt me. You’ve been lying to me this whole time and you know it. Tell yourself whatever you need to for it to be okay in your head, but you betrayed my trust.”

I turned toward the wall. The tears were getting harder to hold him. Never let them see you cry.

“Look at me.”

“No.”

“I can feel what you’re feeling remember? You don’t need to hide from me.” Jude’s gentle voice ripped open another wound in my heart. I wanted to bury myself in his arms and punch him all the same time.

“Good. I’m glad you can feel this. I hope it hurts you just as much as it hurts me,” I let him know. “Now leave me alone.”

“Rory-“

“Jude, let her be,” Marco ordered quietly. “Go get some supplies. We’ll keep an eye on her. You two need your space.”

Jude moved away from me. “We don’t need anything.”

“Then go for a walk.” I heard Marco guiding Jude toward the door.

Willa plopped down on the blankets, her legs crossed and her arm immediately thrown over my shoulder. “Jude sometimes forgets that when he protects people, he’s protecting people with feelings. He’s shut them off for a while.”

“How am I supposed to trust him if he keeps hiding things from me?” I asked. “And I can’t have him around all the time, trying to protect me if I can’t trust him.”

“Jude takes some time to get used to,” Tanaka piped up. I turned to face him, Marco and Jerrick. Willa’s arm remained around my shoulder in constant comfort. “He’s actually more open now than I’ve ever seen him.”

“With his history, he’s avoided getting too close to anyone so he doesn’t get hurt. After 2,000 years, it’s a hard habit to break,” Jerrick added. Then he winced a little as he looked at me. “He did tell you how long he’s been part of the Regnum, right?”

I nodded. I didn’t want to talk about Jude anymore. My eyes drifted toward the packs at the door. “How did you get our stuff?”

Willa’s eyes twinkled. “Now that is a story! Jerrick and I snuck in to the hotel incognito, but of course, your bags weren’t in your room. So we had to go into their lost and found. And if you ever wanted to score yourself some nice luggage, I suggest checking out the lost and found at a hotel. There was a Louis Vitton that-“

“She’s had her eye on for months,” Jerrick finished winking at her. “So we got the bags out of the hotel, but they must have figured someone would come to collect your things. As soon as we left the hotel, we were swarmed by half the Regnum.”

Willa shook her head. “And they already hate us because we don’t fit into their stupid mold of only sticking with your own kind. Stupid asses. Anyway, they forgot about my witchy powers so sent a couple of stun spells out. It was pretty awesome.”

Jerrick smiled. “I threw a couple of nets over them – I was a fisherman and I figured out a way to make them really lightweight - and we were away in no time. I think the regular regnum has gotten soft. We’re so used to fighting them off, it’s almost easy at this point.”

“What do you mean the regular regnum?” I wanted to know. How many more groups of people were there?

“By regular,” Marco started to fill me in, “he means mainstream. The ones who stick with their own kind and are happy with the afterlife they’ve been dealt. There are others like us that fell in love with someone outside of their kind or like Jude who felt there was something more he was meant to do. There are many who don’t think they should have been cast as an angel or a demon. We’re considered outsiders.”

I thought stuff like this was supposed to go away once you died. Religious organizations the world over would be furious if they knew this was how it ended. “How many are there?”

Marco shrugged, swiping his dark hair out of his eyes. “No one knows really. We tend to recognize each other easily though. Usually, we’re the ones most accustomed to the changes on earth and the current dress or lingo. We spend much more time on earth than others do. It’s not especially comfortable in our ‘homes’.”

Tanaka took Marco’s hand. “Some of us have formed groups to help with the sanguinem occupant – the blood-taker – problem. We’re,” he nodded his head indicating everyone in the room, “part of one of those groups. It’s how we know Jude.”

I rubbed my head. It was being overloaded with information, yet again. “Shouldn’t the angelus and everto be happy that someone is taking care of that problem?”

Jerrick laughed, while Willa smirked. “You would think they would,” Jerrick said, “but they think it upsets the natural balance of earth and regnum. Also, we are depleting the supplies of souls going into the regnum.”

“But people die all the time,” I argued. “You’re saving innocent lives!”

Willa smiled. “Maybe we’ll get you to talk to Appollyon and Micaela for us. Straighten them out.”

I smiled back or tried to. “At this point, I think they would either try to steal whatever great power I supposedly have in me or just outright kill me. I’m probably not your best choice as spokesperson.”

Marco smiled. “I don’t know. Jude can be pretty intimidating and you just called him an asshole.”

Tanaka laughed. “We can hold that over his head for at least a few hundred years.”

I looked around at this amazing group of beings. They were laughing like old friends and bringing me into their circle with no qualms. In reality, they should hate each other and yet, they all sat here fighting for the right to be with each other.

I took a deep breath. “So what do we do next?’

“I imagine that Jude will grovel, a lot, when he comes back,” Tanaka answered with a wink.

“As much as I will enjoy that, I mean, after I’m healed and ready to move.”

“Keep you away from them,” Jerrick told me. “And see if we can figure out how to keep you alive.”

“As in not ripped completely apart?” I asked. When they all nodded, I continued. “Is that possible?”

They all looked at each other and then down at the floor. No one wanted to say anything, so I got my answer.

Willa squeezed my shoulder. “We’re not sure. It’s never been tried before. So at this point, it’s not impossible.”

“It just might not be possible either,” I countered.

Marco took my hand. “We’ll find a way. Everyone has a stake in keeping you alive.”

“Everyone not in the regular Regnum, you mean,” I added. He nodded. I looked around at them. “Do all of you have cool powers?” When they looked at me quizzically, I explained. “Well, Jude can vanish, Willa’s a witch, and I feel like there’s something supernatural about Jerrick’s nets. You can’t just carry fishing nets around with you without people noticing.”

Jerrick smiled. “No. I’ve found a thread that Willa infused with magic to make it lightweight and able to hold a person in it. I weave it into nets and many can fit in my pockets.”

Willa smiled at Jerrick. “They’re awesome. Oh, and we can all vanish. It’s an angelus/everto thing.”

“I can read energies,” Marco told me. “It’s not the most useful thing in a fight, but I can get a sense of the person – their life, how they’re feeling by the colors of energy I see around them. That’s how I could tell Jude could feel your feelings. They were rushing out of you at him. Open yourself up to him.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. All I did was open myself up to him and all he did was give me another reason to mistrust him.

“The weird thing was, his emotions and energy were rushing towards you, too. You just weren’t open to receive it. I’ve never seen that with anyone before,” Marco added.

“How do I open myself up?”

Tanaka winked at me. “Calling him an asshole probably didn’t help.”

Marco shrugged. “Actually, her honesty does help. Just think about receiving anything – emotion, thought, whatever Jude has. See how it goes.”

I nodded and turned toward Tanaka. “Anything super cool you can do?”

“My personality isn’t ‘super cool’ enough?” Tanaka winked. “Well, I used to be a medium of sorts, which turned into reading minds when I crossed over.”

“Everyone’s mind?” I squeaked. Great. Jude could feel all my feelings and Tanaka could read my mind. I was going to have no privacy.

Tanaka laughed. “No. Just the Regnum’s,” he specified.

“Oh.” I sagged with relief. “Well, that will come in handy.”

Willa looked me over. “You should probably get some rest. We’ll work on what to do about a shower.”

I smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks.”

She shrugged and with a wink told me, “It’s not just for your comfort.” With a giggle she jumped up and started laying a blanket over my legs. “Now rest.”

The four of them moved to the other side of the room and started talking quietly. They kept glancing in my direction so they must have been talking strategy.

I followed Willa’s orders but I couldn’t get comfortable. There was something unsettling in my stomach. I curled myself into a ball, but it got worse. Then my heart started racing. What was going on?

Sitting straight up, I looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. There was no one here but the five of us. The feeling in my stomach tightened more and I started breathing heavy.

“What’s wrong?” Marco asked, striding to my side.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. My stomach hurts and my heart is racing. It’s hard to breathe.”

Four pairs of concerned eyes looked at each other. Something was wrong, but they didn’t know what it was either.

“Did you eat something weird?” Willa suggested.

“Just the sandwiches,” I huffed out. My breathing was becoming more ragged.

“Is this some sort of reaction to her injuries?” Jerrick asked. “Did Jude get out all of the poison?”

Tanaka nodded. “Trust me, it’s all out. He was very thorough.”

“Jude,” Marco whispered. “Open up to him, Rory.”

“What?” God, I was dying and he wanted me to forgive Jude.

Willa patted Marco’s shoulder to get his attention. “Now might not be the best time to bring up Jude.”

Marco shook his head. “No. It’s the perfect time. His emotions are rushing at her. I can see them. Open up to him, Rory.”

“How?” My heart was racing so fast and my stomach was clenching so painfully, it was hard to squeeze out more than a word or two.

“Focus on him. Focus on receiving whatever he is giving you,” Marco’s gentle voice guided me.

All four of them were staring at me so I closed my eyes. I pictured Jude as he was at Jim and Sandy’s – warm, affectionate, and devastatingly handsome. His eyes lit up. Okay, now I needed to receive whatever he was giving me. With nothing else to go on, I pictured Jude handing me an enormous gift. The wrapping was psychedelic, riotous colors everywhere, and it had a huge blue-green bow on top. The colors on the wrapping paper swirled around each other. Jude looked nervous, but he handed me the gift anyway.

The moment my hand touch the present, everything went black. I was thrown into thoughts and memories. They rushed past my closed eyes at a rapid speed I couldn’t keep up with.

“Focus, Rory,” Marco’s voiced instructed me. “Focus on where he is now and how he’s feeling.”

Now. I told myself. Where is he now?

Bright lights flashed before my face. Signs lit up with Japanese words that I couldn’t understand. Unfamiliar faces went in and out of my sight line. And sadness. So much sadness. I was weighed down with Jude’s sadness. And then –

Uriel. He appeared. Jude’s anger, his panic. Not for himself. For me. Running. Another angel blocking his path. Can’t vanish. They’ll follow him to me. Hiding in shops, running fast. More angels. Some flew from rooftop to rooftop to watch him from the sky. Some followed on foot. They were everywhere.

They were closing in. They were ready to kill him. I saw them gather. Jude was worried. Very, very worried.

“Jude’s in trouble,” I whispered. My eyes snapped opened. “Angels. They found him. He won’t vanish because he doesn’t want to lead them to me. He’s going to die.”