House of the Angels

Several more days went by monotonously for the residents of Angel Manor who passed them any way they possibly could. Every so often they discussed their plans regarding the Caulfields, but other than small shreds of information nothing had changed…..until the last week of July.

“Feeling any better?” Eve asked as she came back into the room with another one of Kyle’s hoodies.

“A little bit.” Kyle replied.

“I brought you a fresh hoodie.” Eve told him, tossing the folded up sweatshirt at the foot of the bed. “Just in case.”

“I’ll be ok.” He answered back, nudging Eve’s leg with his foot.

Kyle swung his legs over the side of Dan’s bed and stretched out his legs, the muscles aching from being confined to bed for twenty four hours at a time. The scabs itched against his skin as the bandages scraped against them every time he moved, irritating his skin and the deep wounds in his back.

“Evie can you…”

“Gotcha.”

Eve helped Kyle remove his sweatshirt and very carefully probed the wounds beneath the red tinged bandages. She could feel a small nub forming beneath, a clear sign that his wings were just starting to grow back and quicker than normal.

“Are they coming in?” he asked.

“They’ll come in soon.” Eve informed him. “I’d say in a day or two at most. But if we’re lucky they’ll come in sooner.”

Kyle was relieved to say the least. Fifteen days he had been confined to Dan’s room with only Eve and Floyd to inspect those wretched mutilations. The entire time he had felt so drained and weak that all he wanted was sleep. Hopefully when his wings came back in he’d finally be free.

“How’s the rest of you?” Eve asked, tentatively running her fingertips over the scabbing cuts.

“Still hurts a little.” Kyle answered. “Not as bad as it used to be.”

Eve knew that the physical injuries would heal but as far as she knew, the ones that were unseen would not so easily disappear.

“We still shouldn’t have left you alone.” She said forlornly.

Kyle turned and faced her, his mismatched eyes full of pity for making her worry. He didn’t want everyone in the house to flagellate themselves for leaving him alone in that wretched house. It was his fault for going alone when he knew there would be trouble.

“It’s not your fault Eve.” He assured her, drawing her close to him. “I made a stupid decision and I paid for it.”

A few stray tears fell from Eve’s eyes as she leaned herself against Kyle’s chest. “What does it matter anymore?” she said with sad bitterness. “She’s got us beat.”

Kyle looked down into her eyes with disbelief. He couldn’t believe that Eve would admit defeat at a time like this. “No she doesn’t.” he said, shaking his head.

“She almost killed you!” Eve blurted out. “Don’t you see? Sally Caulfield will stop at nothing to…”

Kyle tilted her chin up so that their eyes met. “That’s exactly what she wants you to think.” He told her, his voice full of wisdom. “If you buy into it, then we’re defeated. But Eve, sooner or later you’re gonna have to accept the fact that she can’t and won’t win. Don’t accept defeat before it’s over.”

Eve breathed deeply, inhaling the piney scent that clung to Kyle wherever he went. He was right. She had to stay strong even when she felt her weakest.

Hear fear calmed and ebbed away as Kyle ran his hand through Eve’s tangled, pale gold hair, trailing from the back of her head and down her back eventually sneaking in into the back pocket of her jeans.

“Kyle Boisfontaine get your dirty hand out of my back pocket.” Eve said, her sadness giving way to laughter.

She and Kyle laughed, leaning into each other until their foreheads touched. Eve felt a bit odd being this close to Kyle with barely a space between them, but it didn’t feel wrong either. Even when Kyle kissed her it didn’t feel wrong at all.

At first Eve was in shock but a voice in the back of her mind kept telling her kiss him back you idiot….what are you waiting for?

Eve’s heart raced furiously when she kissed Kyle back, fearing that he would back away, but to her amazement he didn’t. They kept going, their lips moving with each other’s, the spark slowly growing into a flame that had no hope of being quelled. That flame between them flared when she felt Kyle smiling as he kissed her.

Kyle, with his arms around Eve, moved forward until her back was against the wall and her nerves were trembling. Kyle kissed her neck and nipped at her fair skin, the weight of him pressed against her. He murmured her name even as she carefully removed his hoodie, running her fingers through his ruddy red hair and the both of them breathing heavily.

A breathy moan escaped Eve as she lost herself in her own euphoria, caressing herself in the heat that radiated from Kyle’s thin, but well-built body. The two of them forgot about the wretched injuries and reveled in the moment as Eve thought about all the wickedly sinful things she wished Kyle would do to her. She could feel the heat radiating from his scratched skin as her hands instinctively undid his belt…..

Kyle suddenly broke away with a start as sharp stabbing pains in his back and shoulders shot from one end to the other, tightening the muscles in his back and leaving him breathless. Eve gasped when he suddenly squeezed her, breaking her from her reverie. When they stopped he began scratching at the irritated skin beneath his bandages.

“Kyle?” Eve asked. “Are you ok?”

“My back hurts.” He said fidgeting. “It’s starting to itch too.”

Eve tapped his shoulder and when Kyle released her from his arms she ordered him to turn around. “Here,” she said. “Let me take a look.”

Kyle turned around, revealing the bloodstained bandages on his shirtless upper half full of different shades of red, some dark and others so light they turned the bandages pink. Eve grabbed a pair of small scissors from Dan’s desk and cut them away, tossing them in the recycling bucket.

The two wounds on Kyle’s back were beginning to bleed again, red streams running down the surface of his skin like bloody tears. Eve took a closer look at Kyle’s back. His skin was inflamed and itching while the surface of the wounds showed signs that the new set of wings was beginning to poke through. She ran her gentle hand between the two huge gashes but had to stop when a twinge of pain made Kyle shake violently.

“I think your wings are going to come through.” She concluded. “Sooner than we thought too.”

“Sure feels like it.” Kyle winced when a wave of pain tore through his body, wringing him out like a wet washcloth.

“Just wait here.” Eve told him. “I have to go and get a knife from the kitchen.”

“Ok.” Kyle said, taking a few deep breaths here and there as the pain subsided.

Eve rushed downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed an exacto knife that Anne kept for small emergencies in the cutlery drawer. She rushed back up to Dan’s room to find Kyle down on one knee and steadying himself against the desk. His breathing was heavy, his face pale and clammy and his knuckles white from gripping the edge of Dan’s desk.

“Oh God this really hurts.” Kyle groaned, his voice clenched and strained before the pain subsided again.

“How bad?” Eve asked. “On a scale of one to ten?”

“Like…..fifteen.” Kyle gasped, loosening his grip on the desk. “I can’t even breathe when it hits.”

“Ok.” Eve answered. “You’re gonna be ok, but don’t flinch when I have to cut the membrane.”

“I’ll try!” Kyle yelped as another shock of pain overtook him.

Eve did everything in her power to ease Kyle’s pain but it was no easy task. Every few minutes a crushing shock wracked his entire body, making him shake and tremble. Tears streamed down his face and tendrils of his red gold hair clung to his sweaty forehead. But soon his piteous cries became screams of agony as the hurting grew worse.

“MAKE IT STOP EVE MAKE IT STOP!!!!” Kyle screamed as the stabbing pains became unbearable.

“Kyle calm down!” Eve ordered, trying to keep a cool demeanor. “Shut up and hold still!”

He let out another hellish wail, throwing his head up toward high heaven and letting it out. Eve couldn’t stand seeing Kyle like this, but she had to keep him from waking up the entire house.

He held onto Eve’s hand with a vicelike grip, burying his tear stung face in her shoulder. Eve ran her hand along the tender skin and felt the wings beneath. If she didn’t cut away the membrane over the wound, then it could scar the skin.

“Kyle.” She said. “I have to cut away the membrane, I know it’s gonna hurt but……”

“Eve just do what you’ve gotta do!” Kyle answered through his clenched teeth.

He let go of Eve and left her to her work, kneeling on the hard floor of Dan’s bedroom, gripping handfuls of his red hair in his clenched fists.

Eve carefully traced the outline of the wounds with her gentle, nimble fingers, prompting Kyle to let out another yelp of pain as she touched his inflamed skin.

“Can you feel that?” she asked.

Kyle gave a weak nod.

“Ok, on three…….one……two……THREE!”

Kyle let out a scream that would have shattered the glass when Eve cut away the membrane on the first wound, shaking violently from the sudden shock.

“One more ok?”

“No…..Eve please……please don’t it hurts too much, PLEASE!!!”

But Kyle’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Eve cut away the next one. Kyle’s ear bleeding screams were loud enough to wake the dead and the entire house at the same time, but within second of Eve cutting away the slimy membrane that coated over his wounds, he suddenly felt something burst from his back and a long wished for relief from the pressure that had built up within them.

His breathing began to even out but when he saw the shocked, wide eyed expression on Eve’s face, he wanted to know what happened. Her hand was over her mouth and her eyes were red and swollen as though she had been crying.

“Eve?” he asked, trying to catch his breath. “What happened? What did you do? Is it bad?”

“No you…..you just…..you just birthed a pair of wings out of your back.” She stammered.

Kyle looked at his reflection in the window of Dan’s room that led out to the balcony. His wings were coal black and covered in a layer of blood and clear, mucousy slime. An awed chill ran down the small of his back when they opened and folded back up again.

“Here.” Eve said. “I have an idea.”

She led Kyle out into the humid morning air, just as the sun was beginning to come up over the horizon. When it finally peaked up and into the sky, the shining rays stained Kyle’s new wings a brilliant amber color when he spread them to their full extent.

He could feel the warmth washing away all that he had endured within the last hour. All that he faced, Kyle began to slowly forget about, his pain and suffering turning to overwhelming joy. He pulled Eve right into his arms and didn’t let go.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“You might wanna wash off.” Eve laughed.

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh with her. His wings folded themselves back up, forming into a brilliant bronze tattoo unlike the black ones on the backs of the other angels. Once he was finally able to get a shower, he washed off all the blood that had dried to his skin and coated his new wings. The more he looked at them, the more Kyle swelled with pride and awe. Wait till those creeps get a load of these…..he thought to himself.