William
Luke noticed the sudden change in power in her before I did. He cried, "Will, let her go!"
As I stared at the demon, I noticed her eyes had changed color. The colors were inverted; originally being black with red slit pupils and now they were ruby with black pupils. Her smirk was wicked, despite the painful grip around her throat. My whole body suddenly tingled violently with pain as I yelled and threw her from me. I jumped back from her, my nerve endings feeling raw and sensitive.
She landed on her feet and brought a slim hand up to her injured throat, which was already nothing more than a scar. Removing her hand she stared at her extremity as though seeing it for the first time, twisting it this way and that. Her hair was as white as Luke's, much to my bafflement; a stark contrast to the inky strands I had seen just moments before.
"It has been a while since I have been able to come out and play." She hummed, her voice noticeably different. Each time I had heard the demon speak, her voice was low and hoarse. This time, though, it was soft and higher pitched. Even the pungent smell of her fear was dissipating.
"What's up with her?" I asked Luke, figuring he had some idea of what was going on.
Luke was a little more than two thousand years older than me, old enough to be considered an expert on demons. He had been around for the First Great War which decimated the earth millennia ago.
My brother's one good eye didn't leave the demon. "She's let her Adsecula take over."
"'Adsecula?'"
"Demons have two sides: their 'original' personality and a split, if you will. Eventually, the split merges with the original, forming a complete demon. She must be young, given that she has yet to merge with her Adsecula." He replied.
She was staring at us, her head tilted slightly to the side. With her large eyes, she looked like a child staring curiously at a stranger. "I am not in league with you two even now. Had she and I been fully merged, perhaps I could kill you."
She turned her back on us, her head lifted up. "Ah, I found the portal."
Without turning to look at us, she disappeared. Luke and I sprung back into action, our wings ripping out of our backs. We took to the sky, just high enough to be above the trees, while we quickly found her scent. Given the few second head start we unintentionally granted her, she hadn't gotten all that far.
"I'll go ahead and intercept her; we'll get her this time." Luke promised, speeding up and diving when he had an opening.
I landed and broke into a run. This forest was familiar to me and knew the portal was only a few kilometers away. The portal was a pair of ancient oak trees. They looked ill, their gnarled and knottedbranches stretching toward the sky and instead tangled together, forming a largearch. No plants grew around them, the earth deadened and scorched. The air wasstale with the slightest hint of sulfur, though there was no cause for it.
The strong smell of blood filled my nose as I drew near and I faintly worried if it was Luke's blood. When I got to the site of the portal I saw my apprehension was unfounded.
Luke had gotten to her on time, his scythe even bloodier than before. The demon was on one knee, clutching her previously injured shoulder. I noticed the fresher cut, the limb barely attached to the socket. She was breathing heavily, glaring at Luke with intense rage.
"You Angels are certainly faster than I had initially believed." Her voice was raspy with pain.
"Damned One, it is our duty to execute any of the Fallen who dare step into the realm of the humans." Luke stated, approaching her.
She was back on her feet, skirting away from the swipe. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. You will not get me thrice."
Clutching her injured arm, she bolted for the portal. I stopped in front of her, blocking her way. Thinking she would stop, I was shocked when she placed her good hand on my shoulder and vaulted herself over me, leaving a bloodied handprint on my clean tunic. I gaped at her as she cleared my head and Luke shot past me, his scythe poised to strike.
"I won't let you escape!" He bellowed and swung his scythe.
The demon cried out and collapsed face first, her Achilles Tendons sliced. She turned to look at us. Her eyes were no longer red and her hair was darkened until it was jet black. Her eyes were misted over with tears and the lack of fear from before came back tenfold. She attempted to crawl toward the portal but Luke stepped on her back, grinding her into the ground. She coughed and moved weakly beneath his foot. He aimed his scythe for the back of her neck. The demon's body stiffened and her eyes widened with fright. My stomach convulsed when I heard her whimper and turned away, oddly sickened by the sight.
"Any last words, Demon?" Luke spat.
"I'm not going to beg for my life, if that's what you're hoping for." She sneered rebelliously.
There was a black blur that shot at Luke. He cried out and landed heavily on his back. I spun around and stared in horror at his wound before turning to snarl at the newcomer.
Melanie
The weight on my back disappeared as did the chill of the Angel of Death's scythe against the back of my neck. I looked over my shoulder to see my brother was standing over me, his cestuses bloody. His right hand was clenching something.
"Oh, no, it looks like you've lost your arm!" He exclaimed, looking at Luke with wide eyes. As though he were surprised such a thing had occurred.
I glanced over at Luke and his right arm was indeed gone, looking like it had been twisted off. He was gripping the place where his arm had been, his white eyes narrowed. My brother then lifted up his hand, holding up the mangled limb. "I've found it, though! I suppose you can have it back."
He tossed it over to the angel and wiped his cestuses on his trousers. As I rolled as best I could onto my back and propped myself up on my elbows, I stammered, "Z-Zane, how did you-"
"Kopa. He sensed Rayi's distress and thought we should come check it out." He answered shortly, looking at me briefly out of the corner of his eye. "Fine mess you've gotten yourself into: the Angels of Life and Death? Really?"
I shot him a withered scowl. "It's not like I went looking for them."
"You bastard!" Will snarled, his face contorted with anger.
Zane turned his attention on Will, looking at him as though he had just noticed him. "Oh, what, his injury? He should be able to re-attach it...or are you angels incapable of even that much?"
Will was a blur, fading from existence and appearing directly in front of me and Zane, his flaming fist poised for attack. There was a flash of black and a thud. My sister, Mikayla, had made her appearance, her high heels striking Will in his chest. She forced him back and he had to take a moment to catch his breath. She spun around to glare at me disdainfully.
"Honestly, are you so weak you can't complete a contract without almost getting killed?" She growled, tossing her long hair over her shoulder.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'll tell you what I told Zane: I did not go looking for these two. The Angel of Life intimidated my Summoner and he refused to send me back."
She scoffed before turning her back on me to keep an eye on Luke and Will. Luke was re-attaching his severed arm, his eyes never leaving us. Will was rubbing the spot on his chest where Mikayla had knocked him back.
"Luke, who are these two?" He demanded, looking briefly at his brother.
Luke stood back up, experimentally moving his arm this way and that. "I am not familiar with them; they must be young, too. We cannot let any of them escape. Our first target is too injured to move and her injuries cannot be regenerated without aid."
Zane lifted his fists up to his face, hunkering his body into his signature stance. He danced lightly from one foot to the other. "Mikayla, take Melanie and get through the portal. I'll hold them off."
Mikayla pouted. "No fair, you get all the fun! Why can't you take care of the weakling?"
As she turned to look at Zane, Luke shot toward her. Zane placed himself between the two, blocking Luke's scythe with the back of his hand. His arm shook with the effort of holding the weapon at bay, his face set in grim determination. "Because you don't have a weapon to deal with this one! I can touch his weapon without the risk of frostbite. Now go!"
Scowling once more, Mikayla scooped me up and sprinted for the portal. I peeked over her slender shoulder to see Will chasing after us, his face red with anger. A slab of rock formed behind us, shooting several feet into the air. Will clambered to the top of the wall, his wings outstretched. Mikayla jumped through the portal and the familiar smell of Hell filled my nose.
Sighing, she walked into the city, still holding me. I noticed she wasn't walking in the direction of home.
"Where are we going?" I asked warily, resting my head against her shoulder. I was beginning to feel the effects of my injuries and blood loss made my head swim.
"Where do you think? We can't treat your wounds at home; you were hit with Anti-Demon weaponry. Only the healers can take care of it." She muttered, shooting me another glare.
I closed my eyes and sighed simultaneously with her. "Sorry."
I felt her huff as she adjusted me. "Whatever. No skin off my back whether or not you die. Kopa was the one who was worried."
I didn't answer back and ignored Rayi's grumbling. She wasn't too pleased with her easy defeat. My eyes grew heavier as I sunk into slumber.
**********************************************************
When I came to I was in a hospital bed, the covers tucked to my chin. I blinked blearily and stared at the dimly lit stone ceiling. My body ached, especially the back of my feet and my arm. I pulled my arm from my covers and held it out in front of me. It hurt to do so and I noticed the thousands of tiny stitches holding it together. Looking at my fingers, I saw they were bandaged from where I had touched Luke's scythe. Sighing, I dropped my hand to my side and closed my eyes again.
It was then I noticed the sound of an unfamiliar heartbeat beside my bed. Sitting up, I noticed with alarm it was Lucifer Himself.
He was sitting with His legs crossed, His left foot swinging indolently. His glowing red eyes were fixated on me, drinking in my expression. He was dressed in a crisp suit, His shoes freshly shined. His long brown hair was hanging loosely with the strands tucked behind His right ear. When He caught my gaze He smiled, revealing shark-like teeth.
"Ah, you're awake. Good, I am so relieved." His baritone voice rattled inside my rib cage.
I averted my gaze from Him, bowing my head. "M-my Lord, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
He uncrossed His legs, His smile dropping. "I heard from Zane and Mikayla that you had a run-in with the Angels of Life and Death, therefore explaining your injuries. They also notified me of the obvious lack of wounds on the Angels."
Wincing, I bowed my head lower until my forehead nearly brushed against my thigh. "Forgive me, my Lord, they were stronger than me, and I-"
"Silence." I shut up at His sharp tone. "Melanie, I do not blame you. It was a Summoning gone wrong, or at least, that is to my understanding."
He stood and I kept my head bowed, squeezing my eyes when I felt Him sit on the edge of my bed. He placed His hand on my head. I tried not to flinch.
"My poor child, I am sorry you had to go through so much at the hands of those disgusting creatures." He cooed, stroking my hair. "Your wounds, while not grave, required...my touch. The healers are not all that knowledgeable of Anti-Demon weapons. How do you feel?"
I peeked at Him through my fringe, noticing the genuinely sympathetic look on His face. The back of my head tingled with unease at the expression. "F-fine, my Lord, thank You for healing me. I am forever in Your debt."
"Nonsense. You are one of my children and I must take care of my own. You just focus on recovering." His tone grew darker at the end of His sentence.
He removed His hand from my head and stood. "I planned on staying only until you woke. Now that you are awake, I will take my leave."
He disappeared without a word and I let out the breath I had been holding.
My suspicions were running high after His visit; Lucifer did not visit anyone out of the "kindness" of His heart, not even when He had personally healed them. He had some ulterior motive.
I lied back down and blinked slowly up at the ceiling. The door opened and I tipped my head to see who was coming in now. Zane closed the door carelessly behind him and I cringed when it slammed.
"I could have been sleeping, you know." I said dryly.
He rolled his eyes at me, sitting beside me at the edge of my bed. "Your heartbeat is too fast for you to be sleeping and Lucifer is gone. I know He wanted to speak with you when you woke up."
He folded his arms across his chest and stared me down with his emerald eyes. I stared back at him. "What? Did I drool?"
The right side of his mouth twitched. "No, I'm just trying to figure out how stupid you could be."
"This again?" I groaned. "Look, it was a simple contract that got complicated. What was I supposed to do?"
"Find the portal? Force the human to send you back?" Zane snapped rhetorically.
"Really? Because those ideas never crossed my mind. I really thought I could stand a chance against two Archangels." I growled back sarcastically, already getting tired of his "big brother" shtick.
"You know what I mean, Mel," his tone softened, "I was just-"
He cut himself off, knowing I knew what the end of his sentence would have been. I nodded slightly, suddenly feeling a little sheepish.
While we weren't necessarily on the best of terms, Zane and I always got along much better with each other than with Mikayla. We were close, I guess you could say, but that didn't mean we liked each other...much.
"So, Father is waiting at home." He suddenly said.
"Fantastic. I take it His Majesty let him off early?" I queried.
Zane nodded. "So he could take care of his 'precious' daughter."
I wrinkled my nose; Father had never been very fond of me, or any of his children for that matter. We demons weren't very good at love, naturally. It was a positive emotion that we deemed as a weakness.
"When can I leave?"
"Whenever you can walk. Lucifer could only do so much with your feet and having to recreate your Achilles Tendons was pretty intricate work."
I frowned and looked at my blanket-covered feet. "Will I ever be able to walk?"
"Oh, yes. You just shouldn't for the next couple days or so, I think that's what He said. If you walked now, you would undo all that delicate work and He would have to do it all over again." Zane looked at my feet as well, his eyes flashing slightly.
I sighed and turned onto my side, resting my head on my arm. He followed my movement, his expression unreadable. "They really didn't want me to leave, huh?"
He snorted. "If they knew how troublesome you were, they would have escorted you back here personally."
My lips quirked up. "Yeah, if only they knew."
He smirked at me and I was suddenly glad that he was here. Whether or not I'd care to outright admit it, my brother was special to me. He was the only one in my family who treated me civilly.
He unfolded his arm and placed his hand on my knee. I looked up at him. "Get some rest. I'll come back tomorrow if I can to see how you're doing."
I nodded as he gave my knee a gentle squeeze before he swept out of the room.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
