The Midnight Murder Series: Pieces

Rufus kneeled miserably before the upstairs toilet. He groaned while leaning over, heaving into the bowl. Adán sat on the edge of the tub, holding the werewolf’s hair back.

“This is your punishment, Rufus,” the vampire spoke with Rufus whimpering in pain. “You’re not young, anymore. You know, I could say nasty things to make you more miserable, but I’m nice.”

“Thank you.” Rufus groaned again and vomited from the sickly stench of his body fluid. “My head is still killing me.”

“Well, binge-drinking, after you had come back and took some Advil, didn’t help,” Adán stated. “Never take pills with alcohol.”

“Oh, thanks, doc,” Rufus sarcastically remarked. “I’ll try to remember that.”

Adán rolled his eyes and verified his watch for the time. “It’s ten o’clock.”

“Do you have a hot date or something?” Rufus grunted in pain as he emptied his stomach into the toilet again. “Why am I still puking?!”

Adán huffed before yanking his friend’s hair back, causing the hangover werewolf to yelp. “Eres un idiota, Rufus.”

“Halt die Klappe,” he shooed the other’s hands away from his head and stood up painfully. Rufus closed the lid and flushed. “My stomach is dead.”

Adán grinned for a second before putting on his frown face and standing up. “You’ll be fine, Rufus. Why don’t you go back to bed, okay? I’ll buy you some ginger ale and crackers at the dollar store.”

“See if they have any peanut butter crackers and any coffee-energy drinks,” Rufus nodded and dragged his feet out the bathroom, leaving the vampire to roll his eyes and smiling.

“I have no idea, bro. I’m thinking of dumping Sydney’s crazy ass,” Jerry Reed spoke on his phone while cutting through the field on Torrence Avenue to the CrossRoad Apartments. He carefully hopped over the creek and sighed. “She thinks I’m cheating on her when I’m at work. Dude, none of the females I work with are even hot.... Ken, you work with me.” He laughed when he reached the top of the hill. The twenty-six-year-old paused in his tracks when he heard a crashing sound next to him. He looked right at the concrete wall dumpster enclosure with a hickory shingle roof.

“Jerry, you there?” Ken’s voice spoke on the other line. “Jerry? Earth to Jerry, hello?”

“Ken, I’ll have to call you back,” Jerry ended the call and slowly approached the enclosure with caution as a figure appeared behind him. He peered around the wall in the hope of seeing an animal, but nothing was there. “My scared ass and I,” Jerry shook his head and laughed, began turning around. He gasped in surprise when he saw the figure behind him. “Dude, you scared me,” he chuckled. “Be careful when you throw out your trash. I heard some noises in here.” His phone rang in his hand. Jerry looked down to check the screen but saw a curved blade in the person’s hand, instead. The terrified male quickly pushed the answer button while looking up at the hooded person. “Look, I’ll give you my money, just please don’t kill me.”

“Jerry, who’s trying to kill you?” asked a female voice on the other end of the call. “Jerry, where are you? I’ll call the police.”

“NO!” Jerry screamed as the hooded person raised the weapon and slit the male’s throat. He began gargling loudly on his blood as his body dropped to the ground. His phone landed next to him.

“Oh, my God! Jerry, what’s happening?! Jerry? JERRY!?” yelled the panicked female. “Aaliyah, call the pol-”

The figure stamped on the phone before dragging Jerry’s struggling body inside the dumpster enclosure.

Adán dashed across the street in front of Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church and turned left. He covered his head with his hood as the sun peeked out from the clouds. The vampire maundered on about the food that he’d need to buy for the gang while walking. He counted on his fingers how much an item will be with the Illinois state tax. The knight sighed and passed a small, tree island in front of the CrossRoad Apartments parking lot, and the apartment sign.

“NO!”

Startled, Adán paused in his tracks in front of the end of a guardrail. It wasn’t long until the scent of fresh blood hit his nostrils. He surveyed left and right, then, saw a hooded person dragging what appeared to be a human inside a dumpster enclosure.

“HEY!” the knight hurtled across the yard and onto the parking lot. He made it to the place to only discover the hooded person was gone and a body with a slit throat was trying to stay alive. “My God,” he crouched over him and quickly took off his jacket to apply pressure to the male’s wound. “Don’t panic. My name is Adán, and I’m a doctor. Breathe with me, sir.”

“M-M-Mama, I love you,” Jerry choked out with tears rolling down the sides of his face. His body convulsed and went still. His lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling with blood dribbling from the edge of his mouth.

Adán cursed himself. He removed his hand from his jacket and gently brushed his fingers over the male’s eyelids to close them. The knight noticed some fresh blood on the eyelids. He observed his mackinaw to see most of the fabric soaked in the victim’s blood and surfacing. Adán’s eyes glowed red and his fangs extended as the aroma of the blood burned in his nostrils. He turned over his hand and gazed at the blood on his palm. His breath began heavy as he inched his stained fingers towards his lips. His mouth watered as he parted his lips for his index finger to enter.

“NO!”

Adán halted his action. His senses overpowered his urges, and he immediately took his finger out of his mouth. His eyes returned to normal, and his fangs retracted. He peered over his shoulders to find the owner of that voice but instead found Mark approaching him with some EMTs.

“Agent, what happened?” asked Mark as Adán stood up straight.

“I...” Adán’s mind fogged. His eyes fixed on his bloodstained fingers. He closed his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the fog before looking up at Mark. “Victim was a young, African-American male. I believe in his early to mid-twenties. His throat was slit, destroying the jugular vein and the windpipe. His attacker was wearing a hoodie. By the time I got here, they were already gone. The victim’s last words were to his mom, telling her that he loves her.”

Mark covered his mouth with a hand and shook his head. “Do you think our victim was going to be our case’s new kidnap victim?”

Adán shrugged. “I don’t know,” he wiped his hands on his pants leg. “I-I-I have to go.” He brushed past the cop and hurried away.

~*~

Adán sat down on one of the swings in the park on 223rd Street and watched some children play on the slide and monkey bars. He rubbed the back of his neck and cracking it as the children’s laughter echoed in the air.

“Adán, we need to talk,” Beyond appeared behind him. “It’s important. I think only you can understand it.”

Adán sighed in annoyance while standing up from his seat. “Is it about Rufus?”

“It’s also about you and something else,” she strolled towards him and stopped when he turned to face her. “Rufus told me that your daughter is still with you and you’re blaming yourself for her death till this day.”

Adán shook his head in disbelief. “I’m not blaming myself. I’m not.”

“You and Rufus are blaming yourselves for your kids. You didn’t know about that illness. It was new to everyone,” she placed a hand on his shoulder. “And Rufus won’t talk to his son. He fears that he may have given him his curse.”

The male knight blinked in shock. “Rufus has a son?”

She nodded. “Yes. His son is still alive. He told me that he’s just the sperm donor and not his father. You didn’t know?”

“No,” he frowned and looked down. “Rufus never tells me anything about his life. What’s his son’s name if he told you?”

“Zachariah Rhodes,” she replied. “I’m sorry he doesn’t tell you anything. I thought you two were close, I’m sorry. I overheard him telling a woman to leave unless she was a Latino male. I think he loves you.”

A long pause filled the air.

“Zachariah Rhodes, huh?” he broke the silence and snickered. “Okay, that’s good information for me.” He uppercut her in the jaw and sent her flying back fifty feet. Adán morphed into Dany and grinned. “You do know letting down your guard is dangerous, right?”

Beyond gasped in agony when her back hit the side of the pull-up metal bar. She picked herself up and extended her blade from her sleeve. “How did you know what my comrade look like?”

Dany shrugged and pushed the swing out of his way to step closer to her. “I have spies, you know. You continue forgetting that us, reapers, can control or transform into other people. Oh, how I’m loving these odds.”

She tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Look around you,” she did and saw the crowd of children and adults coming behind her brother. She can see the fiends’ real faces underneath the humans’ ones – Sneering at her like they made a victory mark on their team. “My slaves found bodies.”

“You bastard!” she snarled. “What fiends are controlling them?”

“Leviathans. Easy there, sister. I come in peace. Why don’t you put down your weapon and chat with your big brother for old times’ sake?” he smiled and pointed a gloved finger at her. “Ignis gladius.”

She gasped as her blade burned in her hand and immediately dropped it. The end of the handle clattered when it hit the sidebar. She wrung her hands while glaring at the other half-breed. “Fire of sword? Still speaking your attacks, fiend?”

Dany winced and raised his hands in surrender. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s with the name calling? It took me a week to become less insane, you know. What? I can’t be extra nice to you, Dest? I’m sorry for asking our father if you were a virgin or not. You’re not, I’m sorry, but still. I’m nice.”

“What? You want an award for that?” she huffed. “Screw you and don’t you dare call me that name.” She brandished a hand in front of him as it burst into flame, but it suddenly went out. Her face became surprised while looking at her hand.

“Iron bar, sister,” he sneered.

“As I said, you want an award for that?!” she vociferated.

“Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on what the award will be,” Dany smiled and ambulated to her and stopped ten feet before her. He knelt and slammed a hand on the hard grass. “Ostendo sigil.”

Beyond grabbed the bar as the ground underneath her began shaking violently. She was surprised when a reaper sigil rose from the grass, entrapping her within. “How-”

“As I said before, I want to talk,” Dany interrupted her while standing up straight. “It has been ages since we talked.”

Her eyebrows arched uncomprehending. “Ages? What do you mean?”

Dany stared at her. “You don’t remember our last chat back before your wedding?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“What do you remember about me?” he questioned.

“You opened Purgatory, you attacked me in an alley, and dad told me that you’re my brother,” she answered.

He clicked his tongue before studying her. “I see. Destiny, I think dad put a wall in your memory of me. Do you remember when a bee stung you in the eye, and Doctor Stein told you and dad that you would have to wear glasses for the rest of your life? I think you were around five or six at the time.”

She nodded. “I was six and didn’t want those big things on my face. How did you know about that?”

“I was the one who chased you around Netherworld to get you for Stein,” he smiled. “You punched me in the balls when I tried reasoning with you. How about learning to dance or fishing or using your magic? Did dad or anyone help you with them?”

She frowned as she tried remembering. “I don’t know.”

Dany sighed before facepalming. “That’s because I helped you with them. You were a two-year-old when I taught you to write, you were six when I taught you to fish at that small pond by our old house in Massachusetts, you were fourteen when I taught you to dance, and you were five when I helped you control your magic as Elizabeth did with me.”

“My mother helped you with magic?” she asked with shock in her voice, and her eyes widened like the moon. “B-But how can this be true? Are you lying to me?”

“Ask dad – No, don’t ask him. He’ll lie like always. Go ask our uncles and aunts,” he replied while outstretching his arms with a smile. “Matter of fact, let’s have them all over for dinner. The apocalypse sounds nice about now. Uncle War, Uncle Pestilence, and Uncle Famine. Of course, dad won’t be joining; he’ll be dead. I’ll take his place.”

“Listen here, you bag of dicks. I don’t know what shit you have with dad. There is a thing called family therapy. And if you think I’ll let you destroy this world and ours, then you thought wrong,” she told him firmly. “I’ll end you before you could even speak the summon. Got it?”

Dany snorted at her loyalty. “Sister, why are you fighting me? Look around you. The humans are already killing themselves. I’m just suggesting that we help them out with the final blow.”

“Over my dead body,” she gave him an icy look.

He rolled his eyes with a bored expression. “Fine,” he snapped his fingers to the fiends. “Sic her, boys!”

Beyond stood there horrifying as the leviathans charged at her. She swallowed the lump in her throat when the reality of her sitting like a duck drew on her. It was either fight or die for Beyond, and she wasn’t going down without a fight. The knight’s body tightened as she threw a punch at the first leviathan’s face. She heard the bones of the fiend’s neck shattering underneath the skin. She made sure it was dead before elbowing another one in the face when it came up behind her. Beyond upper kicked another one in the jaw.

“We like a fighter,” spoke one of the leviathans as it rammed her towards the ground. Beyond couldn’t help but grunt in pain when her stitches began burning. The fiend wrapped its hands around her neck, cutting off the air supply. “You know, Master Dany is allowing us to eat you is an honor in a million ways.” She frantically searched for her blade while trying to get the fiend off of her. “I’ll enjoy picking you out of my teeth.” Its face transformed into an enlarged toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth like a lamprey.

“Get off!” she yelled as she finally found her blade and quickly decapitated it. Beyond gasped for air as the fiend fell beside her with gooey-blood spraying out the neck hole. She leaped to her feet while coughing and kicking the head across the field. Her vision was fuzzy, but she tried her best to stay focus on her targets. The knight flourished her blade at them.

Dany scoffed as he watched his little sister decapitating some more of his leviathans when they came near her. “I see you and dad like to play unfair,” he smirked before taking out the stolen, bloodied scythe from his jacket pocket. “Well, three can play that game.”

The leviathans stopped in their tracks when they heard a shrieking noise. They put their fingers in their ears and winced as the sound increased. “What is that noise?!” shouted a leviathan.

It wasn’t too long that Dany began hearing the noise. He dropped the scythe and grimaced in pain. He covered his ears as the shrieking intensified in both his and the leviathans’ brains. “What the-” he bent over in pain with the leviathans whimpering from the now high-pitched scream. “Ohh!”

Beyond stared in confusion, asking herself why the others were acting strangely. She examined her surroundings for anything that was causing the monsters to act. Her search came to a pause when one of the leviathans ran towards her. The female threatened it with her blade until it ran past her. She arched an eyebrow when the monster began banging its head against the iron bar. “What?” she murmured while watching the other leviathans banging their heads against the playground metal equipment. She finally figured it out. A joyful smile crept across her face when she noticed a bright light coming from underneath her glove.

Dany closed his eyes to remember a silent spell for a moment. He opened his eyes to see a woman with long, dirty silver hair and sunken eyes in a plum purple and black gown and corset with a quilted skirt, flowing in the air before him. Her fingernails were long and blacken with her skin rotten like a corpse, and her teeth were sharpened when she opened her mouth to release another piercing scream. Dany has never seen this monster before in his whole life. He can’t even focus due to her screaming in his head. The half-breed closed his eyes again and screamed as the ground underneath him quaked.

The streetlights began flickering before exploding along with the windows from the following nearby houses and churches.

The screaming finally stopped.

Dany uncovered his ears and opened his eyes to see the crowd of leviathans dead on the ground with their heads bashed in. Shock became visible on his face as he noticed massive cracks in the field. He looked up and saw his reaper trap broken with no little sister in it and no mystery monster. Dany panicked while scanning the area to find her. He hissed in pain when something plunged into his back.

“As I said before, I will end you,” spoke Beyond from behind him when she stabbed him in the back. Dany looked down to see the tip of her blade piercing through his jacket. She pulled out her blade and watched him collapse to the floor, holding his wound. The knight lifted her blade overhead. “Goodbye, fiend.”

Dany apace seized the scythe and rolled away before Beyond could ram her blade into him again to kill him. He got to his feet and smirked while holding his bleeding wound. “Still with that word, huh? What was that creature?”

“Backup,” Beyond smirked then noticed fresh bloodstains on the stolen scythe’s blade. “Who did you kill?”

“A human,” he snorted. “He was telling me to be careful when taking out the trash. Slit his throat with only one move.” The knight growled before charging at him. Dany blocked her attack with the scythe and smiled. “Isn’t sibling rivalry fun?” He used his free hand to grab her collar and threw her across the field towards the Saint James Catholic Church parking lot, using the advantage to heal his wound.

Beyond tried using her wings to stop her from falling, but it was too late. She landed on her back, skidding across the parking lot, twisting and breaking her wings, and ripping some of her stitches. She whimpered as she got up from the now destroyed pavement with broken wings behind her. Her body quivered in agony.

Some church members gasped in fright while witnessing the fight from the church broken window

“My God, it’s an angel,” gossiped one of the three members while recording the fight on her phone. “An angel fighting,” she awed as the female shot fire from her hands, and the male blocked the attack with black wings from his back as well. “Fighting another angel live on Facebook. My Lord, why are the angels fighting each other?”

“Maybe they’re archangels,” responded another member also recording the fight on his phone. “I didn’t know they can shoot fire from their hands.”

“GO, ANGELS, GO!” screamed the third members, causing the feathered fighters to stop and look at them. “KICK THE DEVIL’S BUTT!”

Dany and Beyond traded confused looks.

“I’m going to kill them,” Dany whispered to his sister.

“Don’t you dare,” Beyond whispered back.

“What? They’re just humans,” he remarked.

“They’re old humans,” she stated while glaring at him.

Dany pointed his index finger at her and pouted. “You’re... Old.”

Beyond rolled her eyes. “You’re older than me, so you’re calling yourself old.”

“I’m not old!” he gasped dramatically at her comment while putting a hand over his heart. “I still have my youth and young looks than you do. You have bags under your eyes and fight like an old human.”

“You suck at comebacks,” she shook her head before throwing another fireball at him.

“No, you suck,” he twisted his hand. A gust of wind appeared before him to block the fireball coming closer. “Really, a fireball? Wind beats fire, little sister. You do know that the end is near. One of my leviathans already ate the real president. Leviathan Donald Trump will eat all the other world’s leaders, and soon, bye-bye human world. When I win, I’ll thank daddy and you in my speech.”

Beyond closed her eyes, trying her best not to react.

“Thank him for locking me up in the first place, and you for not killing me,” Dany continued.

She shook her head and opened her eyes. “No, you won’t win. Even with broken wings and a broken body, I will stop you,” Beyond looked down at her blade then back at her brother. “And I will kill you.” she sneaked a hand into her pocket.

Dany seemed unimpressed with his sister’s address. “Good for you, dearie,” he spoke unenthusiastically. “Now, I’ll give you two doors to pick. One: You join me. Two: You don’t join me, and you can die. Which door will baby sister pick?”

“You already know my answer, Dany,” she spoke while covertly pulling out a baby jar from her pocket.

“Join me?” Dany smiled with glee, but Beyond shook her head. He looked down with sad, pouty lips. “Oh. I thought you wanted to be with your big brother, Destiny. I was there for you through the light and dark days, but I see you don’t love me anymore,” he sighed before vanishing.

Beyond sighed in relief. She put the baby jar back inside her pocket and began receding her wings.

“BEHIND YOU!” screamed one of the church members.

It was too late. Beyond’s wings were captured from behind before she could turn around. She tried defending herself the best that she could, but it was useless. “W-Wh-What are you-” Beyond gasped when she felt the bones of her wings cracking. A gut-wrenching pain spread through her body like a waterfall. She opened her mouth to scream, but it only came out as gasp after gasp. The female whimpered as the last bone finally snapped echoing in the air. The ground shook from her blood-curdling scream as her flesh and muscle began splitting into two. Beyond fell hard on her knees and arched her back. The pain was unbearable. “STOP IT, PLEASE!!” she begged with tears falling from her eyes and down her cheeks.

“Don’t worry, I will,” Dany’s voice replied from behind. “You won’t be needing these things anymore, little sister.” He placed his foot on the middle of her back and his hands at the wings’ bases. “Tollere.” With all of his strength, he tore the wings out from her back with nerves and muscles attached to them. Dany removed his foot and watched the now fallen knight fall on the pavement and tremble in agony, blood gushing out of the open wounds and onto her clothing and floor. He dropped the wings and turned to the church. He smirked as he held up his right hand. It glowed green. Dany threw a bolt of lightning at the church, causing the church members to gasp and scream.

The bolt was about to hit them when the side of a scythe’s blade appeared from the side and collided with it. It mirrored off the surface and backfired on Dany. The lightning hit the half-breed in the shoulder, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

“Nice aim, Rufus,” Dany heard a female’s voice.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Rufus’ voice spoke.

That voice, he thought as he quickly rose to his feet, covering his bleeding shoulder with his right hand. “Fancy seeing you here, Hope,” Dany scoffed while watching Rufus retreat his weapon back in hand. “Aren’t you a little old to play make-believe? I see you still possess that body since the seventeen hundreds.”

Hope and Rufus glared at him. Hope was wearing black boots, blue jeans, an orange shirt, and an opened red trenchcoat. She perused the damaged land before fixing her eyes on her best friend’s seemingly unconscious body, unknowing if she was dead or alive. Hope swallowed. “Dany, what have you done?”

“Oh, nothing,” Dany giggled while healing himself. “Just two siblings fighting, like Lucifer and Michael, right?”

Hope narrowed her eyes and clenched her fist. “Don’t you DARE speak my brothers’ names, you disgrace fiend.”

“Wait, brothers?” Rufus turned to Hope with confusion on his face. “Michael and Lucifer are your brothers? That can’t be. They’re angels, and you’re King Thanatos’ daughter.”

Dany rolled his eyes and groaned. “What’s with you and her,” he pointed to Beyond’s bloodied body. “And that word? You know what? Y’all are racists for calling me that. I can sue your asses.”

Hope ignored Rufus’ question, and her body began glowing in a blinding fiery light. Everyone shielded their eyes, but they could still see some of that incandescent light.

“Oh my God!” screamed one of the church members when she opened her eyes to see more of the light. Her eyes began bleeding as blisters popped on her skin. Her skin turned blackened and charred as she burst into flames. The other two church members cringed at their friend’s cries with their eyes still shut. They wanted to help but couldn’t. “Somebody help me!” Her last screaming words before falling down on the marble floor, dead with the fire crackling.

Dany uncovered his eyes when the light subsided. Tremendous terror instilled in him. Stood before Dany was the second, highest class of the winged creatures has ever known. A pair of thirty feet wide, hot wings manifested and outstretched. He swallowed as he felt Hope’s piercing stare burn within him.

“You do know I’m a seraph, Dany,” she stated. “Even with only two wings, I can still kill you with one touch. Now, get out of here.”

Dany started to laugh. “You’re bluffing. You can’t kill me. I’m a reaper. Reaper beats any old angel.”

“Do you want to take that chance?” Hope asked while Rufus uncovered his eyes and awed at the fiery wings.

Dany hesitated to answer. He bit his bottom lip. She was right. A seraph, a high-class angel just below an archangel, can kill any reaper including him. He couldn’t take that chance, that’s a death wish. “This isn’t over, bitch,” he scowled. “I will torture you, slowly but surely, you’ll die by my hands. Mark my wor – AHH!” Dany yelped from something hurting his foot. He looked down to see Beyond’s blade in the middle of his foot with her hand wrap around the handle. “YOU!”

Beyond, her face covered in sweat and dirt, shook her head while looking up at him with dull and dark painful eyes “It is over, Dany,” she whispered while twisting the blade deeper in his foot. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the handle. Her other hand reached into her pocket and pulled out the baby jar filled with some gray liquid. “Bound!” she slammed the glass jar down on the pavement. Plumes of gray smoke emerged from the thousand shards of glass and began wrapping around the two half-breeds.

“What is this?” questioned Dany with horror in his eyes when he saw snakes forming in the smoke. He struggled to break his foot free but couldn’t. “Sister, what’s with the snakes? Please stop them,” he begged.

“Don’t worry, I will,” Beyond mocked his words from earlier. “You won’t be needing your powers anymore, big brother,” she pointed a ripped, bloodied gloved finger at him. “Iron with Dany Reaper. Leave him powerless until I, Destiny Anne Reaper, say apoluό!”

“No, Destiny no, please. I’m sorry. No, no, no, NO!” he pleaded and panicked as the smoke engulfed him. He screamed as his wrists began burning. Dany rolled up his sleeves to see wrought iron bracelets burning into his skin. “Not this!” He lunged forward and grabbed Beyond’s throat. “I won’t let this happen to me!” He screamed again as the bracelets burned more into his flesh. Dany released her as the iron charm was almost finished. He quickly seized one of her wings before vanishing.

Once the smoke cleared, Hope and Rufus raced to a crumpled Beyond and kneeled beside her. The two gently put hands on her shoulders and helped her up to her feet.

“Beyond?” Hope spoke softly. No reply. She noticed blood dribbling from the side of the half-breed’s mouth. Hope spared Rufus a glance, who was staring at the black, broken wing on the ground, and sighed. “Rufus, hand me that wing. I think I can fix it.”

“No,” Beyond finally choked out a word. She spat some blood on the ground. “It’s too late. The damage has been done. It’s too late.”

“Dear, I can fix it with some of my feathers,” announced Hope while Rufus bent over and carefully picked up the bloodied wing to give to her.

“DON’T!” the angel blinked when her best friend jerked from their grip. Beyond wobbled a little but caught herself in standing up straight. “I’m fine without my wings. Sure, I can teleport, and it’ll be painful. Plus, seraph’s powers will kill a reaper. They will drive them to madness. Remember Amy and Ben? Amy gave some of her seraph feathers to Ben, and it drove him to the point of murder-suicide.”

“I do,” the seraph whispered, holding onto the reaper’s pinion. “You know you have to eat a soul to repair your body.”

“Please don’t tell dad,” Beyond pleaded. “But I tried eating a hunter’s soul earlier. Don’t tell him about my wings, please?”

“Beyond, he’s the one who sent me,” Hope stated. “You know Death can sense his children’s pain.”

“Okay! Okay!” Rufus yelled and huffed. “Okay, I have a billion questions. Why are you an angel, Princess Hope? You’re King Thanatos’ daughter. That makes you not an angel, right? The black wings are for the reapers only, so why does Beyond have them? She’s a witch. How did our target know your name, Hope? What is going on here?” he inquired while shooting the females a stare. “And Beyond, what was with that smoke?”

“It was an iron potion,” Beyond answered as she took her wing and frowned. “It’s used to leave any witch or wizard powerless until the user speaks a certain word.”

“What was in it?” he wondered while Hope turned to the church.

“Ah, hot water,” Beyond recalled while mending her feathers. “Dry grass, some crushed fall leaves, salt, shed snakeskin, a couple of drops of rare blood, and stir together with something iron.”

“Was that why you pricked Oliver’s finger and asked him for his iron blade back in the diner, Beyond or Destiny, whatever your name is?”

Beyond nodded. “He stirred it for me,” she turned her head to Hope. “Hope?”

“Yes?” she looked over her shoulder at Beyond.

“Dany said that my mother helped him with his powers and that dad put a wall in my head in the memories of him, is that true?”

Hope faltered. “D-Destiny,” she didn’t want to answer her, but knowing deep down, a seraph has to tell the truth when it was asked. With a deep inhale, she finally replied. “Yes.”

Hope’s response left Beyond despondent. Why did dad put a wall in my head? Why did mom help Dany? Why just why? The questions in her mind were sickening her. Beyond closed her eyes and shook her head with a small moan of pain. “No.”

“Beyond, I’m sorry,” Hope frowned while turning to face the others. “But it’s true.”

“But why?” Beyond glanced down then back up. “Never mind. You won’t know the answer. Can you – Can you heal my wing, please?”

Hope nodded and walked over to her to take the wing. “You want me to erase Rufus’ memories?” she asked while going behind the knight, and putting it back in one of the wounds.

Beyond grunted from her touch. “Just today’s.”

“He was sleeping when I visited him,” Hope placed her glowing hands around the wingpit and wounds. “Saying that his hangover was getting worst. I didn’t know werewolves can get them.”

Once the wing and wounds were healed, Beyond’s wing finally receded. “Thank you, Hope. Maybe you could erase the memory of this and replace it with Rufus and I fighting a dragon.”

“Wait, what?!” Rufus squawked. “No one is messing with my memories. I-I-I won’t tell your secrets.” He spun around to leave, but Hope appeared before him. He gasped when the seraph placed her index finger on his forehead. The werewolf’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the ground.

“Thank you again, Hope. Please return to Netherworld. I don’t want your wings getting ripped out as well,” Beyond took off her ripped glove to pick the shreds of glass from her palm. “I’ll talk to dad about this.”

“Be safe,” With the sound of wings, Hope disappeared.

Beyond removed the last piece of glass from her skin and stared at it. It reflected parts of her dirty, wet face. She saw the blood still trickling from the corner of her mouth. Beyond sighed and wiped it with her other hand.

A soft moan escaped Rufus’ lips. “My head,” the werewolf slowly sat up and placed a hand on his head. He spotted Beyond and cleared his throat loudly to get her attention. “What happened? Did we kill the dragon?”

“Yeah,” she spoke as she tossed the glass on the ground and put her glove back on her hand. “It knocked you out, but we killed it.”

Rufus stood up and noticed how the female was swaying slightly on her feet. “Beyond, where did the dragon attack you?”

Beyond shook her head and pointed a shaky finger at the church. “There are some humans in that church. I have to...”

Rufus walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You smell like blood. You have some blood on your face. Don’t lie to me.”

Beyond considered, and before she could speak, Rufus’ phone rang. She frowned when he reached into his pocket to pull it out.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Ru-Rufus?” spoke a male hushed, tearful voice.

“Adán?” Rufus gave Beyond a stunning look. “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“What’s going on?” asked a worried Beyond.

“Shh, Beyond,” Rufus held up a finger and listened for Adán’s answer.

“I don’t know,” Adán spoke on the other end. “I-I-I can’t explain it. I think I’m losing control, Rufus.”

Beyond watched Rufus closely and listened in.

Rufus turned from Beyond. “Where are you, little buddy?”

“Plum Creek Play Meadow,” Adán began crying. “Rufus, please hurry.”

Rufus was starting to get upset. He swallowed and straightened up. “I will. Just stay where you are. Don’t touch or talk to anyone.” He hung up.

“Did he feed on someone?” Rufus turned back to Beyond and frowned. “Did he?” she repeated.

Rufus shook his head. “No, but I think he was going to. I have to go. He’s scared to death, Beyond.” He pulled out his scythe necklace. “Ouranos.” A blue energy light flames appeared out of the necklace and enlarged the scythe. A white butterfly flew off with golden orbs trailing behind it.

“I understand,” she nodded. “Go help Adán. I’ll wait for cleanup.”

“Thanks,” Rufus smiled before getting on and flying off, leaving Beyond alone.

“No problem,” she said with a sigh. “Just keep Adán safe.” She turned and is startled by the other two church members in front of her.

“Hello, sweetheart,” spoke the female member.

“Did we scared you?” smiled the male member.

Beyond closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. No, you didn’t.”

“That’s nice,” giggled the female. “You know, when Master Dany summoned us, he ordered us to kill you and the werewolf, but your little seraph friend killed our sister-”

“So, we withdrew until she left to kill you and were-boy, but he left as well,” continued the male. “So, we can kill you now.”

The knight stared at them calmly then waved her hands which sent them flying across the parking lot. “I’m too old for this shit,” she sighed with annoyance.