34

The streets looked like a truck carrying bodies crashed and spilled everywhere.

I knew they’d been dead well before all this, but the sight burned into my brain. One peek at the unbound Ghoul was enough to make me consider adding more disgusting fluids to Guy’s shirt.

Ambulances arrived along with more peacekeepers and law enforcement to examine the damage. Two more angels arrived that I hadn’t seen before. Even their reverent demeanor was chal lenged. Guy got a medic to look at him while I sat alone in the back of a peacekeeper car. Human medicine couldn’t do better than my natural healing could and, thanks to Guy, I was almost completely whole.

I reached for my lips, trying to remember what he’d felt like. But everything was numb. I thought I should cry at least or excitedly retell the events when asked, but I didn’t say a word. My eyes dried out as I counted the tiny stitch marks in the gray interior without blinking. I kept one of the ambu lance’s spare blankets draped over my shoulders to hide my tattered clothing.

On a maybe positive note; Faris survived.

The peacekeepers and purifiers who’d followed Zak and Jarmiel arrested him. He sat in the back of an ambulance, also silent from what I could tell.

“Winters?” Jarmiel came around to the vehicle again. The door hung open so he could check on me periodically. His perfect, smooth features scrunched but otherwise he kept a professional tone. “Jess. I don’t want to rush you, but we should talk.”

I nodded. The conversation I dreaded had inevitably come. What would they do now? EXO couldn’t allow demon royalty in their ranks. At least, that seemed damnable to me.

Zak made himself known by clapping his friend on the back. “Let me handle this, buddy. We all know you’re not so great with sensitivity.”

The air got warmer, along with the space around my heart. I barely glanced up at his bright and cheery face. Jarmiel muttered incoherently. I thought he would argue, but he left to assist the others.

I let my eyes shift to Guy with his medical team, getting some quick patchwork done on his forehead. It looked like they had to cut him out of his shirt too; no loss there. He gave me a gentle raise of his lips. Thanks to him being terribly difficult to read, I didn’t know if that was a “goodbye” smile, a “you’re screwed” smile, or a “don’t worry about it” smile.

“Jess.” Zak’s voice made me jump. I forced myself to meet his twinkling eyes. The dawn crept its way up around us, still shrouded by the tall buildings. He raised one hand and opened his palm to me. “Go on. Gods know you’re seconds away from keeling over. What a night, huh?”

I let out a sharp breath. He offered his life to me, as he had many times. I wanted to scream; shake him by his shoulders and demand to know what his problem was.

“You knew what I was,” I said.

Zak’s hand retreated an inch. “Not hungry?” When all I did was glare, he added, “I wasn’t positive. But I had an idea.”

“When?”

“Soon as I met you.”

I squinted at him through a sheen of tears. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why recruit me? The hell is wrong with you?”

He didn’t flinch at my rudeness. “I told you I wasn’t a perfect angel. It’s true. I used my authority and position to bring you to EXO. I wanted to be sure my hunch was correct.”

“Did you know Clayton too?” I remembered the way he’d cried his name.

His handsome features never tarnished, even as he frowned. “I knew him when we were younger. I’d wanted to help him too, back then. I didn’t realize he was The Necromancer until recently. I thought he died.” Hurt pooled in the crystal lake of his eyes. “Maybe he did, in a way.”

“Who is he?” I asked.

“Someone a bit like you with even worse luck. I guess it’s not surprising he reached out to you. He’s always been the lonely sort.”

“He’s a demon.”

“A changeling demon, yes. They switch places with human infants. It’s a rare occurrence and even rarer if the changeling survives. Neither of the children can consent to it, obviously, so, it’s traumatic for all parties.”

I nodded. “What now?”

“Now?” He huffed, either impressed or offended by my sharp tongue. “Now, I ask for your forgiveness.”

My chest had already puffed out, ready to release more of my angst, but his words popped me like a balloon. “I’m sorry?”

“No. I’m sorry.” He got on one knee just outside the car and my jaw dropped. I was torn between being appalled and embarrassed. His head dipped into a bow, like a dutiful knight. “Jess—” he began.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Proposing. Obviously.”

Heat consumed my face until I felt my heartbeat in my cheeks. Zak widened his glorious smile. “I am being a little serious. I’m proposing new changes to our contract since the old one is void. Ya’ know, since you ran away.”

“Right…”

He rolled his neck and shoulders and cleared his throat. “I want to offer you another chance with EXO but you can also walk away. Right now.”

I opened my mouth but half a vowel came out. We all needed a meal and a nap before having these serious conversations. Neither of us was in our right mind.

“You were approached by Clayton with a similar offer, right?” Zak said, grimacing a bit, “I’m delighted you turned him down, but truthfully, you have little reason to trust me either. When I offered to bring you to EXO, you knew you were given the illusion of choice. Not very angelic of me, I think you said. And you were right. I still want to figure this out together and I believe we can, but if you want to find your own way, you can.”

“The other angels won’t let you do that,” I said, knowing better.

He shrugged and his wavy hair bounced. “I’ll give you a nice head start before chasing you.”

“Why?”

“Redemption, maybe? My intentions are good but never perfect.” His lips thinned into a sad smile. “Although, I would miss you terribly if you left. So would a certain ghost and her pet reaper.”

I snorted. The illusion of choice, indeed! Especially with him pouting like that, who could turn him down?

Zak looked out toward Guy’s ambulance and paused a moment before chuckling. “I have a feeling he’s loyal to you now.”

“Loyal to me?”

I looked back and caught the cold stare Guy gave Zak.

That was weird.

“Where’s Tori?” I asked. The battle replayed in my head and I couldn’t imagine her stuffed animal making it out unscathed.

“She’s good. Her little teddy lost an eye but we’ll stitch it back up.”

Thank the gods. My harsh exhale tussled the hair framing my face. “I was happy when Guy told me it was a misunderstanding. I didn’t think I’d see any of you again. Not in the best circumstances, anyway.”

“ This counts as the best circumstance?”

Zak gave the scene of carnage around us a scrutinizing look over. It was awful but as always, he somehow made the situation lighter. He baited me until I laughed but too much giggling triggered my sore ribs. “Remind me again why you’re not in an ambulance?”

“They have plenty of people to worry about who can’t heal themselves,” I said and coughed before mentioning that Guy had kissed me back to life earlier.

“Jess. You are the weirdest demon I’ve ever met.”

***

We crammed together in the same car. We were going home.

Yeah, I chose to go back. I never wanted to leave in the first place. As I sat there between Guy and Zak while Jarmiel had the passenger seat, I wondered if it was the right thing. I still didn’t know what my presence would bring to EXO. My friends.

Zak moved his legs a lot , and kept the window rolled down. Normally, he would’ve flown away at the option of driving, like fleeing the plague. I knew he stayed for me because he kept my hand in his, even after I told him I healed. Every bounce of his knees, I felt. Really annoying and kind of adorable.

His energy worked like soothing drops of oil on my rusted bones. My body was fine. My spirit—I wasn’t so sure. Zak made conversation with Jarmiel and the driver; occasionally answered a call or text. News about our evening and Clay’s escape traveled fast. We had no idea where they disappeared to, though Jarmiel suspected the Hell realm. Jarmiel mentioned something about portals but I didn’t have the brain capacity to take that in or ask yet.

Guy fell asleep with his arms crossed over his bare chest. A blanket also covered his shoulders, leaving his chest bare. The breeze from Zak’s window pushed his soft, mousy-colored hair. I couldn’t blame him for needing the rest, but then, I heard him stirring. The dark circles made his waking eyes shine.

I slipped my hand out of Zak’s.

“How’s your head?” I asked.

Guy mumbled. “Better than my arm. Being alive can suck.”

“That’s so weird for you to say.”

“I know.”

“Do reapers not heal?” Almost all manner of supernaturals could to an extent.

“I’m in a different state of being right now, so it’s… slower,” he said, “What about you?”

“I think the venom trip is over,” I offered.

“Thank gods for that.”

“Tori?” I inquired. Her purple bear rested on the floor of the car between his feet, still unresponsive, but her eye had been replaced with a new button.

“We’ll see how she feels about my craftsmanship.” There was a pleasant silence between us until Guy noticed Zak hanging half way out the window like a dog. “So, he really talked you into staying, huh?”

I glanced over at Zak, speaking to somebody on his phone while the wind whipped at his face. The recipient sounded an noyed; I could tell by how many jokes Zak made to purposely aggravate them.

“Not sure how he managed it.” I smiled. “He made a funny comment about you.”

“Hm?” He questioned with a lazy grunt.

“He said you were ‘loyal’ to me.”

He resumed resting with his head leaning back against the seat that time. I watched his eyes close again with his lips stuck in a soft smile. No answer, but he also didn’t deny it.

The sun lit one half of his face. A contrast shadow brought attention to the very faint mark of his cleft chin. I felt strange, one for creepily observing him while he tried to nap, but also because of the tingling in my chest.

I wanted to tell him how grateful I was that he came to find me. He did what my aunt didn’t. Couldn’t? I didn’t think anyone would care that much if I disappeared.

Guy popped one eye open in my direction. “I go where you go.”

I slumped back into my seat. Where there was chaos, surely there was Death. Maybe that was all he meant by it.

Grim. Very grim.

But I couldn’t sit. Couldn’t wallow. Learning what I could about my lineage and my power was the best thing I could do. Not just for me but for everyone else too.

Something fuzzy moved out of the corner of my eye along with a sleepy moaning. Tori’s voice mumbled from the bear’s stitched lips. “Where are we… Jess?”

She scrambled up Guy’s pant leg and was in my lap in seconds. “I’m so sorry I let you go with that creepy vampire! What about Faris? Where is that sneaky, no-good, fancy-haired, bas tard? And why is my left button lower than my right?”

Guy snorted and gave me an apologetic stare from over her purple head.