She was running.

I'd been doing my best today to stay out of her way but she seemed to be everywhere I turned. I'm not sure how much of that is intentional. I let out a breath-- in and out --trying to manage the numbing pain that went through the rip in my chest.

Nearly twice a day I came to the same conclusion on how I was going to stop Helios. I wasn't.

The world was going to end and I had no fucking idea how to stop it. Helios was enigmatic. He had an army, money and ambition. He was made for this. . . I was not. I had to hold on though and at least appear that I had any idea what the fuck I was doing.

I watched Sera do one final lap around the building. Speed wasn't her thing, endurance was.She'd been running  laps around St. Lilth's property line for three hours straight. Isobel had been with her at first, but given up after 30 minutes. Plus the 58 degree weather wasn't to Isobel's taste. Last I'd seen Isobel she was getting information out of Lysander about what went on when she had been gone.

Sera finally wound her way up the pathway and to the steps of St. Lilth's. She was covered in cold sweat, her white undershirt and long shorts clung to her body. I hadn't liked the way Callum had tried to humiliate her but I'd been transfixed by her placation, by her blue eyes watching me as she cleaned my wound. It was. . . uncomfortably erotic.

I sighed and shurged it off.

Nearly three times a day I came to the conclusion that if Sera could keep going after being attacked, hell, if Lysander could keep going after he was nearly blown up. . .so could I.

I slipped out of my office so I could casually bump into her in the hall. When I saw her everything about her was anxious energy. She hated being here and after being on lockdown for 7 days straight everyone was on edge , which was making for the worst Christmas Eve yet.

At the same time Sera turned down the next hall. Callum strode out of another. They were both distracted and they slammed into each other. At first it was silent then there were mutual looks of disdain exchanged. It probably would have been fine but Callum had to start talking.

“Watch where you are going sweetheart”, he says, “You might get yourself shot again.”

Searphina stops and makes a point of studying his expression. Back when Helios had stormed the warehouse and  taken Callum's bullets it had been speculation on who accidentally shot her.

“Is that a threat ?”, she asks

“It’s a promise.”, he says, "I'm so fucking tired of your useless ass taking up space and getting our leader butchered by Helios. It's you he wants and you should turn your self in. Hmjeu would have never stood for this. Every minute you are here we are in danger"

“What are you going to do about it”, she says nonchalantly, "We're all stuck. Helios is the enemy not me. It seems your only ideas are to shoot everyone. You going to shot me ?"

“I don't need a gun to take a bitch who let four men tie her up and fuck her--”

Callum didn’t get to finish before Sera threw a right hook into his face. He was quick to react and threw his fist into her jaw. They slammed into one another and Callum shoved and dragged her down to the floor. A crowd formed out of nowhere and no one even tried to separate them. Sera got the upper hand quickly and pinned Callum down. I saw the glint of one of Sera's knives and when she reached down to stab  Callum he grabbed her short hair and punched her in the eye.

"Callum", I shouted and tried to push my way through. He was now on top of her landing blow after blow on her face.

When I reach them I hear the squelching sound of his fist slamming into her face highlighting each word.

“Stupid. . .weak. .  . . . you think you’re. . .so. . .strong. . . you're not . . . you're. . . not”,

Callum goes slack and another brother finally helps me haul Callum off Sera. Callum doesn't put up a fight and wipes his face.  Seraphina helps herself up and waves away any help, she briefly touches her cheek and stares Callum down.  By the time Callum is upright and calm Seraphina turns on her heels and the fight continues for a second and third round.

+++

“Is this how this works ? Is this how alliances work ? I know being on lockdown is hard but this is getting out of hand. You two are fucking up morale."

I sit on the edge of my desk with Callum and Seraphina sitting across from me. They are both freshly bandaged up and I think the only thing stopping them from fighting now is that they were on the extremely mild sedatives Damien was hoarding for his personal collection along with the last of his infamous cannabis brownies.

“Paris, this Demon--”, Seraphina started

“No Seraphina. I”m not stupid. You started this fight.Your reckless behavior is going to catch up with you.”

“You don't--

“Sera you've got to let all this anger go while you're here. Stop blaming yourself. Stop punishing yourself."

Callum smirks.

“And you Callum ? You hit a woman.”

“Oh, please she's Helios with tits. Which just means all sorts of weirdness for you, Brother.", Callum says.

“Shut up”, Seaphina yells at him, “Don’t you dare say his name. You filthy creature.”

"Right", Callum says, " I think his tits might be bigger than yours."

Seraphina lunges for him but Callum puts up a quick defense.

“Sera, love. let him go”, the endearment is out of my mouth before I can stop it. Her eyes snap to me and she lets him go. She relaxes back in her chair. clearly she needed more sedatives or to get high. . .er.

“Caleb", Sera starts

"Callum", I correct her

"Callum" she starts again.

“What”, he glares

Sera relaxes and thinks over her question.

“Was it . . . was it Hmeju”, Seraphina asks and I’m not sure what she is talking about.

“What”, Callum says without the venom.

“Was it Hmeju. . . ? Tell me it wasn't him.”

“Callum what is she talking about ?", I ask but it’s like I’m not there. Like they are having their own conversation.

“No. . .  it wasn't Hmjeu”, he said

“Good”, Sera says

I knew Sera and Callum didn't get on well together, but I got the feeling the anger Callum had for Seraphina since she arrived wasn't just because he hated her, but because he saw something of himself in her.

“I find you two fighting surprising considering how well Dante and Ariel get on.", I say

“Don’t worry Dante hates Angels.”, Callum says

"I wouldn't be so sure about that", I said, "I always see them together now that schools on break."

"Nonsense", Seraphina says, "Ariel knows better than to spend time with those monsters. This arrangement is only temporary she'll never see any of you again after this."

I raised an eyebrow wondering if either of them remembered what it was like to be teenagers.

"Do you even know where they are right now ?"

"Dante been in the back melting white gold all day." Callum says, "He takes over while I'm in the kitchen"

"Really ", I said, "Isn't it great that you're in the kitchen at the same time Seraphina runs her marathons. I'd say that leaves the two of them alone. . ."

Seraphina stands up and strides out the door. Callum jumps up and follows her. I trailed behind them out of curiosity. When Sera came to the door of the small room she and Ariel shared the door was unexpectedly locked.

"Ariel", She yelled and banged on the door.

"No fucking way", Callum said.

Sera stood back and rammed her shoulder into the door causing one of the weak hinges to bend, the door didn't budge and when went she went to do it again I stopped her.

"I have a fucking key", I said pulling a key ring out of my pocket. I moved infront of her and twisted the lock open. Sera pushed in ahead of me.

Dante seemed to be scrambling for a way out of the windowless room, he had his shirt thrown on but it was inside out. His was mouth covered in cheap pink lipstick. Ariel had her hands over her face and was shaking her head and saying something that sounded like 'I'm sorry'.

"Holy shit", Callum said half laughing and slyly picked up a  condom wrapper from the floor so Sera wouldn't see it.

Instead of going for Dante, Sera went for her own pillow. From underneath it she pulled out that tiny gold pistol I'd seen her with the first time I met her. The little gun clicked in her hands, she took all the bullets out. . . except for one.

"Now who solves everything with guns ?", Callum whispers.

"Get out", she said to Dante

She pulled the trigger. It was blank

"It's not what you think", he started, "We just. . .

"Five", she said. The gun clicked again.

Fuck I--"

"Four. . . three", it clicked again and I knew the next time Sera pulled it there would be a bullet in Dante's skull.

The gun was trained on him as he grabbed his shoe and backpack. He slid out the door past us and Callum followed him down the hall with a smile on his face.

"Seraphina", Ariel screamed, "How could you ?"

"How could I not. That boy is an abomination. He will drag you down. "

"You don't know him", Ariel stood in front of the aimed gun and Seraphina lowered it. Defiantly Ariel twisted it out of her hand.

"Ariel--"

"We were just. . . ", Ariel has no idea how to cover herself, "What happened to your face."

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend ? He's a monster who lies down with dogs and you just let him take advantage of you"

"He's not a monster, Sera. You think all the boys who like me are monsters. You know what I think ? I think you're jealous because I like kissing Caden and Paul and not you."

"Don't you dare-"

Ariel stormed out with Sera's gun before Seraphina could even finish talking. Seraphina opened a small medical kit and pulled off a strip of athletic tape and wrapped it carefully around her split knuckles.

"Uh, Sera", I started, "What are you doing"

"I'm going to teach Dante a lesson"

+2+

" . . .and then I swear she pulls this gun out of nowhere and starts counting."

"What was she planning on doing once she got to one ?", Isobel reaches over and turns off the stove int he spotless industrial kitchen

"I have no fucking idea, Then she decides she is going to beat the shit out of Dante. I have no idea where Dante was hiding but after an hour I managed to talk her down."

"I miss all the good stuff.", Isobel says

"Where were you anyway ? "

Isobel shrugs her shoulders. This Christmas evening feels very different from our last Christmas together. Last year we'd been dating for six months then. Isobel lived with her roommate and I lived here, but we'd wanted to spent the day together. Alone. So we settled on spending the whole day underground at Penn Station.  We people watched, read magazines, and managed breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Isobel turns off the stove and pours the makeshift hot chocolate into the mini styrofam cups. This is about as festive as Christmas is going to get this year.

"Take this", she says handing me a tray while she takes the lighter one.

Holidays are usually sad and lonely affairs. Even more so when you you've seen traditions grow and change over the years leaving one not sure what to believe anymore. Not being able to afford heat also didn't help.

Everyone is in the main recreation room. It's the only room with a fireplace and as I look around I realize how small our numbers are. Seraphina and Ariel are bundled together on the floor next to the fireplace. Ariel’s eyes passing from the copy of  A Christmas Story they are sharing to Dante on the complete other side of the room hiding by Callum. Ariel and Seraphina weren't speaking to each other, but Sera refused to let Ariel out of her sight.

Holidays have always been sort of a tense time for us. It was claustrophobic, like the entire world shut down. gifts were never really exchanged, if you were lucky you had a human girlfriend to spend the day with.

The food could have been worse. Apparently Callum had been stock piling turkey broth for this particular occasion. On that note Turkey broth taste a hell of a lot like salt water.

“Here”’, I say to the Angels holding two mugs, “It’s hot chocolate. White hot chocolate. I figured you like that. . . well it’s really hot water and dry milk powder with artificial candy coating from last year. . .but . . .”

"Oh, thank you", Ariel takes the cup, actually smiles then takes a sip, “It’s like sugar.”

“I-um.. . do you usually celebrate Christmas ?”

Ariel nods enthusiastically.

“It's our favorite. We usually get to help decorate the entire campus. Everyone  picks teams and gets a section to decorate and Anne and Aria judge.. It’s lovely. I wanted to do white poinsettias and glitter this year but. . . well it probably would have looked tacky.”

Sera draws her eyes to me and then back, Her expression is no longer unreadable. She’s just always angry.

“Here“, I give Sera a particular cup, "I added a little liquid cheer in there."

She takes it and doesn't offer me a word. The copious amount of hot rum I'd doused the hot chocolate with doesn't even seem to phase her. She looks back at the book, quietly dismissing me.

I move across the room and back to Isobel who is alone at a table, she is concentrating on putting together a puzzle. I take a piece from her pile and connect the edges, then start to fill in the center piece by piece.

“Hey”, she says, “How are you doing that  ?”

“I’ve done this puzzle thousands of times.”

“Bragging ?

“Of how much time I’ve spent alone with a puzzle since ", I look at the box, "1987 ? No.”

“It’s Christmas, Paris. No more sob stories. I’m the one who is an orphan miles away from hometown, without my best friend and locked in an old church with my convalescing ex-boyfriend."

“Now who’s the one with the sob stories ?  Also I’m hurt I’m not your best friend.”

“Not funny.”

“Well. . . if you had to choose.”

“I wouldn’t choose you. . .”, she says smiling.

I resist helping her with the puzzle for as long as I can, then I finally sort through the final pieces until I find the one that fits perfectly to the corner.

“This is so easy”, she says

“You’re not even halfway done.”

She looks up at me, “I don’t mean the puzzle.”

It feels like the entire room gets silent at that.

“Paris. I’m so sorry I got scared and ranaway it was irresponsible. The thing is--”

“It's okay”, I tell her

“Paris, since I've come back you and I just kind of fell back into place and ----"

“l know", I said. It had always been so easy for me to see myself her, "I think we should see how this thing with Helios pans out first before we make any big commitments.."

Isobel looks down and I see she has an piece of stray Christmas decoration in her hand. It's. . .mistletoe.

“Oh.”, I say.

Isobel notices me noticing.

“Oh ?”, she raises an eyebrow, a challenging gesture.

"A madman tried to pry my body open. Do you think I can handle a kiss ?"

"I'll be gentle."

She prompts me to stand and just as quickly she kisses me, my hands slide around her waist and I bring her down into a small dip. I’m vaguely aware that someone is whistling then I quickly set her up right.

“Not bad.”, Isobel says

“Plus I'm still in one piece.”

+++

I somehow manage to slip away from the "party"  without being detected. I just want to lie down and hope the cold air seeping in numbs the pain throughout my body. Over the counter just wasn't cutting it. When I make it into the main hall I find Seraphina pacing the corridor. I'd been so focused on Isobel I hadn't even noticed she'd left. Then I realize she is standing in the same place she was the first time I saw her.

Instead of seeing her as a vapid silly girl with a basket of white apples, I saw a terribly broken woman smoking quietly in the dark. The closer I got I realized she was getting high.

"You mind ?", I ask sidling up next to her.

She rolls her eyes and hands me a cigarette from the pack. There is a long silence as she bends down to light my cigarette with the end of hers, even though I can make out a pack of matches in her bra.

"Are these Damien's?"

"No. That. . . child. . . he smokes. He's a bad influence. I can't believe you let those monsters have so much free reign."

"Dante. His name is Dante. . .actually it's Paul and he's just misunderstood. I can't believe you went through his stuff."

She shrugs and I take a drag, I'm struck by how strong it is. It was the last thing I needed but it sure does keep you warm.

“I think. . . I think Isobel wants to get back together.", I say casually.

“Good”, she says , “You should probably fuck her this time.”

“Watch you goddamn mouth.”, I snap.

She stops short and turns to me.

“Excuse me ?”

“I’m trying to have a civil conversation with you. I'm not going to let you talk about her that way. I know you are in a delicate position. But I really need you back at one hundred percent Sera. These outburst are getting out of hand"

“You ?”, she says, “I’m supposed to get better for you ? I hardly sleep, Paris. I just replay it over and over again in my head until it’s a blur. No matter how much I try to avenge--- If this falls apart. . . if Helios catches me . . .I will kill myself before I let him touch me again. I practice sometimes, I practice how I’m going to slit my own throat, just in case he finds me.”

“Sera--."

“Everyone fights for you, Paris. You are so beloved  A spoiled beautiful perfect Prince who can do no wrong. I'm a disgraced whore with no one fighting for me, so I don't care what you want or need.”

“I'm not perfect. I've done wrong, you were my first big mistake. I shouldn't have let you seduce me that first time. I was weak and threw away my scruples and probably started this thing with Helios because of you.You're more like Helen of Troy than you want to admit. --”

“You let me seduce you ? You were just weak.”

“Have you seen you, love?”

"I'm sorry I'm so beautiful you and other men can't control themselves around me."

“No. Sera. I didn't mean.”, I beg her not to go there ,"Look, I don't want to tarnish that memory. Us. . . fucking . . .might have been unconventional but it was certainly worth the wait."

"Is that so ?",  she turns to face me slightly amused

"You somehow manage to be dirty and classy at the same time. You have this quiet sexy confidence and  I don't think kindly of anyone who would take that away from you."

We smoke for a bit in silence. She drops her cigarette on the ground and douses it with her shoe then runs her hand through her hair

“I like you and Isobel together. . .  things are going to change and I can see her right there by your side. Tell her how much you love her. It's Christmas, it's cold and I think it's be an ideal time to warm up the woman you love.”

"Did we go from fighting to you giving me sex advice ?"

She shrugs

“. . . I found a coffee maker in the storage unit. I’ve got it in my office if you ever want to use it. I”, I say as a peace offering.

“Is that a Christmas present ?”, she asks pulling another cigarette from the pack.

“Sure”

“I didn’t get you anything.”

“I think you know what I want.”, I give her a smile for further indication

"What ?"

“Smile for me”

“I can’t” she says after thinking about it, then in a serious tone, "Not now anyway."

“You know. . .when I saw you smile a few months ago, that’s when I knew I was in love with you.”

“Well”, she said, “We can’t have that"

"That's fine. I have a face carved of smiles. . . that should be enough for the both of us.

"Yes", she leans in to light her cigarette with the end of mine, "It should."

Author's Note
This chapter mostly exist to cement Seraphina and Paris' friendship.

“