She Speaks to Angels (30 page)

My brother continued more stern, “...and I saw the angel, that flying creature, or
whatever
on the recorder.”

I contemplated lying, appearing dumbfounded. Maybe
I
didn’t see it? But then I saw Samuel’s piercing, inquisitive eyes. He knew more then he let on, and he knew I knew something.

“
I...I don’t know what to say.”

“
Tell the truth. How did you get it? Why?” He sounded different. Not like a cop, but like a concerned brother.

“
I...” I stumbled over my words. I couldn’t tell him the truth, but how much did he know?

“
I also found your fingerprints by the two murdered bodies we found at the River Side. I know Tommy Bachelor was murdered. I know you took Tommy’s iPhone from the waitress at the cafe. I’ve been investigating strange phenomenon in the area for years. Until now, I never had the evidence I needed to go public. These murders are related, aren’t they, Ali? And what I saw on the iPhone is somehow involved.
You
are somehow involved.”

“
No, no!” Public? I shook my head vehemently. Samuel was coming too dangerously close to the truth, and that would be bad, really bad. The angels and demons would surely feel a power shift in the balance because of how much Samuel knew. It would only take so long for Dameon to come after him, too.

“
It’s Kian, isn’t it? He got you into the middle of all of this.”

“
No, no.” I shivered.

“
Or that other guy you kicked out of the house...that, that Dameon.” He fought to remember his name.

My face concealed nothing. Worry and fear consumed me.

“
What is it, Ali?” Samuel shook me gently with his hands on my shoulders. Tears fell from my eyes and I shivered again. I felt like Kian was drifting further and further away from me, yet I needed him here. I didn’t know what to say, what to do. “What is the truth?” Samuel shook me again, and I saw in my mirror the reflection of a pair of white wings flutter behind the bed by the window. Calmness washed over me as I closed my eyes. Kian’s presence surged through my bones, and then I heard his voice.

“
She has nothing to do with this.” Kian’s amber eyes glowed like the sun as he spoke to Samuel. My brother jolted back, his hands shuffling over the sheets, as he watched this angelic creature speak.

Samuel's mouth fell open.

“
Ali simply fell for the wrong guy.”

“
Dameon?” Samuel put the pieces together quickly, faster than I had.

“
Yes. But I’m here to protect her.”

“
So angels are murdering citizens of New York?” Samuel said proudly, like he had known it all along, something no one else would have believed.

“
Angels, no,” Kian clarified. “Demons.”

“
Demons?” Samuel’s lashes fluttered. I’d never seen him flush before that morning, as if he didn’t know what to do with the grave information.

“
And the two you found at the River Side were not humans. They were rogue demons killed before they murdered more humans.”

“
And Tommy Bachelor?”

“
A tragedy of what happens when humans get too close to the truth.”

Samuel’s glare turned from Kian to me. “And Ali? Is the same going to happen to her?” He sounded outraged at Kian, as if anything that might happen to me would be all his fault.

“
Not if I can help it. But Dameon is a clever and strong demon, stronger than all the others. We will have to work together to get rid of him, and I have a plan.”

“
A plan?” Samuel sounded doubtful.

“
Well, really a plan devised by Sammael, but a plan nonetheless.”

“
Sammael?” My brother had an insatiable curiosity.

“
Our Angelfire leader of Manhattan.”

“
Wow! This is all real, isn’t it?” Samuel’s face paled as the truth of everything rushed through him and he stood up. After a minute, he sat back down, and his color retuned.

“
Yes, very real, Samuel.” I turned to him, letting my concern show on my face. “And Dameon is going to feel this power shift and come after you now, too!” I didn’t want to add pressure, but he had to know his life could be in danger.

“
I can take care of myself, Shrimp. I can protect you.” My brother tried to show a brave face, but I could see the fear hidden in his eyes. Demons in New York? And now, not only after me, but after him as well.

“
Not alone, you can’t.” Kian interrupted. His crisp white wings only reminded me and Samuel how surreal this moment was. There would be no turning back now. Samuel was just as much a part of this as I was, and it would never end until we ended Dameon.

“
So what’s the plan?” Samuel inched closer to Kian, as if getting closer would somehow bring him the clues, the answers he sought.

“
We lure Dameon out of hiding and hope he leads us to his leader, Azrael.” Kian sounded sure of himself, as if this plan he had devised with Sammael had real chance.

“
Leader? You mean the demons have a leader, too?” my brother barked.

Kian laid the information on thick. I guess he figured Samuel could take it, being a cop and all. After all, my brother had claimed to be suspicious of paranormal activity for over a year now.

“
Yes, Azrael has a large demon flock, but Sammael has an even larger Angelfire flock. If we can locate Azrael and destroy him, the demons under him will lose their power, and the city will be safe from demons.”

“
So, those rogue demons,” Samuel interrupted, on his own train of thought, “are there many like them?”

Kian answered with a flutter of his wings. “Not as many as there are demon followers. See, we paranormal beings have rules to obey, and when we break those rules, we lose gifts or powers. One of those rules is that angels and demons cannot harm a human directly.”

“
Then how did...”

“
Demons typically push fear into the minds of humans to motivate them to hurt each other. This way, they’ve found a loophole in the ‘
directly’
rule. But some demons choose to go rogue and leave the fold. They abandon the rule altogether.”

Samuel’s face squished up at this point like he did when he was trying to digest huge amounts of information, and then a quizzical expression crossed his eyes until Kian answered his silent question.

“
How do those demons keep their powers? They don’t. They exchange a stronger form of a gift for another weaker one. Why? Because they feed on the hunger of killing. They are like an infant demon with no control.”

“
What forms of gifts are we talking about here?” Samuel wanted specifics. His mind worked in the details, not in vague descriptions. He needed to know what he would be fighting against.

“
Normally, a demon, like an angel, has a special gift. Dameon’s gift is throwing fire from his hands. Mine is throwing ice. Krysta can access the lightening in the sky. The two rogue demons found dead near River Side would have given up something like that in exchange for killing humans. In absence of the gift, fangs developed.”

Samuel’s forehead wrinkled and his lips curled back like an angry Rottweiler. “You mean like vampires?”

“
Not quite. They don’t drink blood, are not afraid of the sun. But they do bite and bite hard! They can still use their wings, and they still possess a lot of strength, because they typically kill any human who knows of their existence, regaining their lost power.”

“
You mean once a human discovers the existence of the paranormal, the demons lose some kind of energy?” Samuel needed clarification.

“
Yes, but the same goes for angels.” Kian rubbed his forehead.

“
So, because I’ve seen you, you now have lost power?” Samuel felt bad, and I could see his regret all over his face.

“
Yes, but don’t worry. There are many of us and few of them.” Kian liked to stay positive, even if he didn’t believe it, one of his characteristics I noticed and had fallen in love with.

“
So, rogue demons are still dangerous?” Samuel continued.

“
Extremely, to humans at least. Against angels, they are weaker than they would have been if they had never killed.”

“
Is that all I need to know?” Samuel retreated from Kian as if he were satisfied.

“
For now.” Kian gazed around the room, at me and then at Samuel. “Well...”

“
What?”

“
Rogue demons come in two types: Fanged and Were.” Kian added with careful calculation.

“
Were?”

“
If a demon is intimate with a human, the demon will lose its wings and grow fur.”

“
Like a Werewolf?” My brother almost gasped.

“
Again, not exactly. They don’t grow fur under the full moon, and they don’t bite humans and make them Were. They simply appear like very large man-wolves. They are still very strong, as all demons and angels are, and they still possess their gift...whatever that might be, but they no longer have wings to fly.”

“
So, basically, demons come in various forms, and I should keep my eyes wide open,” Samuel concluded with a half-smile, trying to ease the tension in his back.

“
I just want you to be fully aware of all the types of demons you will encounter. Dark Angel Demons, Fanged Demons, and Were Demons. You might not come across any of them anytime soon, but you should know they are here in the city.”

“
And the Fanged creatures are even worse in a way than the Dark Angles and Were, because they are rogue, because they are driven to kill humans.”

“
Yes, in a way you are right. But don’t think for a minute you are safer with a Dark Angel or a Were. They will just as quickly try to kill you in indirect ways, pushing fear into your mind. And if Dameon finds you, he will kill you. He would rather gain his Essence power than keep his gift of fire. Especially since his gift power is already at a loss after killing Tommy Bachelor.”

“
Essence power?” Samuel found a question for almost every one of Kian’s statements. “And how come Dameon hasn’t become Fanged if he killed?”

Taking a paper and pen from my desk, Kian jotted down the rules in black and white for my bother to see. Sometimes seeing helped.

Rule 1) If an angel or demon physically harms a human, he loses ‘Gift Power’.

Rule 2) If an angel or demon is intimate with a human, he loses ‘Wing Power’.

Rule 3) If an angel or demon is discovered by a human, he loses ‘Essence Power’.

Rule 4) If an angel leader or demon leader is discovered by a human, the entire flock loses Essence.

Rule 5) If an angel leader or demon leader is killed, the entire flock under him will lose all powers.

Rule 6) If an angel is dying, he may transpose his wings to a human, giving his Essence and Gifts.

Rule 7) If a demon kills humans, forfeiting his Gifts, he will develop fangs.

Rule 8) If a demon is intimate with humans, forfeiting his Wings, he will develop fur.

“
These are the eight paranormal rules which all paranormals have to live by, to address your first question. Your second question is a good one, too. Demons have to kill more than once to eliminate their gift power completely and to replace the gift with fangs.”

“
So, if I’m like his second, or Ali his third...he will finally fang?” Samuel said with sarcastic jest.

“
Something like that, though losing his gift completely might be worth it to Dameon, just to get even with us. We’ve gotten under his skin for sure.”

“
So, that’s everything then, or at least everything I need to know to help with this?” Samuel wanted to be thorough; who knew when he’d speak to a real live angel again.

“
One last thing.”

My eyes darted to Kian. What else could there be?

“
Dameon is Azrael’s son. This is the reason he is so powerful, and Azrael will do everything he can to protect his full-blooded heir.”

“
How’d that happen?” Samuel’s brows rose in curiosity.

“
Azrael took a human mate. He lost most of his wings and grew fur, we presume. But we don’t know for sure since none of us have actually seen him in some time.”

“
You mean the king of the demons of Manhattan is a Were demon?”

“
Something like that.” Kian answered.

“
Great! Just what I need.” Samuel tightened the belt on his pants and, in my mind, he became a cop again in that instant.

The Lure

Samuel
was cool with everything until Kian told him what we would use to lure Dameon out and expose Azrael’s lair. Me. Samuel went ballistic. In a few seconds flat, Samuel had a grip around my wrist as he pulled me away from Kian.

“
This isn’t your decision, Samuel. I want to help Kian. I have to do this!” I pleaded futilely with my big brother.

“
Over my dead body!” Samuel professed in heated words, and I wondered if Mom heard him.

Kian became the middle voice, the celestial peacemaker. “No one is dying here. Not you and not Ali. The angels will have her completely protected. She will be in no risk. If anything goes wrong, one of us will fly her out of there in an instant.”