+1+

They don’t see Paul coming , they were to busy admiring their new soldiers. It's not until the guard that Paul kicked starts yelling that they all turn. Isaiah makes a gesture and Jona and Oberon bolt for him. A few of the kids rush them in defense of Paul. The other guards start shooting and for a few moments it is absolute chaos. I see Paul pull the trigger on the gun he'd taken, he does it clumsily and almost drops the gun. He has no idea what he's doing

“Don’t shoot him”, Isaiah yells from his spot far away, "Don't shoot the boy."

Paul keeps shooting but he misses and  he can't quite recuperate from the backfire. Jona pushes through the crowd and twist the gun out of Paul's hands. With Paul disarmed the guards quickly get the huge crowd in order. I still do my best to blend in.

“My very first creation.”, Isaiah studied Paul, “You were always my favorite. He comes back to Queen Anne' s with us.”

Oberon and Jona grab the now disarmed Paul and hustle him into the Hummer. I considered my options. If I stayed and I was discovered who knows what they would do to me. Paul is the only one who knows that I'm not human. I can't trust any of the other kids here.

“No”, I scream, “Take me too.”

I hold out my hands and walk over to where they have Paul. A guard reaches to shoot me for stepping out of line and this time  Jona comes to my defense.

“Shit”, Jona says, "Isaiah, she's an angel. "

“Not anymore”, I explain, “I’m what you made me.”

“Interesting”, Isaiah walks around me, "An Angel Daemon hybrid. Fascinating. She can come with us."

He grabs my hair and drags me over to the Hummer. Once inside they handcuff me and shove me in the backseat next to Paul.

“What the hell ?”, Paul says. I turn to him so we are facing nose to nose, we whisper so they can’t hear.

“They would have found me out anyway”, I decide, “It's funny. . .I wanted to go back to Queen Anne’s, but not like this.”

“They won’t kill us, we’re special.” he says

“Or they’ll kill us because we are special.”

He looks at me and gives me a half smile. I guess he’d nicked the optimism out of me.

Paul leans in further and our lips touch, his mouth is dry but it still feels surprisingly good. I'm supposed to be mad at him but I can't force myself. I wondered if it was normal for someone to make you feel that way. Wasn't there a word for that ?

“Paul,  I think I’m falling in love with you.”

He smirks . . . then laughs.

Callum and Sera are both leaning over a dining room table, quietly snapping back and forth at each other. They are both determined and whether they like or not they are in the same boat of wanting Paul and Ariel back. Admittedly they work well when they are on the same side.

Damien and Ashe are hovering nearby. Ashe is listening in and taking mental notes. Damien is there purely because he'd shown himself to be trustworthy, when he was the one out of all of us I expected to defect.

“Hey”

Lysander.

I turned to face him, I’d nearly forgotten he was here. He sat down next to me and put his cane across his lap.

“You don’t expect to join us do you?”, I ask him, “I mean you just started walking again.”

“I do actually. Helios gave me this limp, you better believe I’m going”

“Noble”, I said peering across him to where Seraphina was drawing something out for Callum

“You can’t have her you know”, Lysander said, “Seraphina, that is”

“God, you sound like Isobel.”

“Paris, Seraphina is not going to stick around after all of this. She’s not going to want to be a part of the change that’s going to happen. Isobel does. She wants to be here and. . . .”

“I love her—Seraphina.  Not because I believe in Angel premonition bullshit but because when I see her I think. . I need her. And right now she and Callum are five minutes away from blowing Queen Anne's to. . . hell. . . so I’m going to focus on that. I've done a lot of wrong by Isobel and right now I just want her to besafe.“

Lysander shifts uncomfortably, then sets his cane down.

“Uh, look if you’ve got two minutes. . . there’s something I need to tell you.”

                                                                                               +++

“So. . . your house has cells”, Paul says. He pretends like he is admiring the place. Like he’s in my bedroom or something.

We are both on the floor of the sub-basement of Helios' mansion with our hands fastened above our heads. The soft carpeted floor that used to be in this sub-basement are gone. The cement floor was exposed and 8X8 foot cells had been constructed all throughout the room. The cells smelled brand new. It was macabre knowing this little prison was in a house. Paul and I hadn’t been placed in cells yet, and were left handcuffed to the corridor. We'd been escorted in blindfolded by Oberon and Jona. Then left to . . . wait.

“This isn’t my house. . . it’s Anne’s or Helios' now. Also it used to be a craft storage room”, I tell him.

“I guess torture is a craft of It’s own."

“Don’t say that. How can you be so . . . irreverent”

“Cause you said that you thought you loved me and I think that's kind of funny. I mean I'm flattered but we just met."

I wondered why Helios felt the need to build prisons. New Aeterna was supposed to be a paradise. Why did he need a personal prison ?

Paul and I both still at the click of boots coming from down the hall. Paul pulls himself as close as he can to me when Helios comes into view. Leon and Oberon are standing behind him and Leon's face falters for a second.

“Welll, well , well what do we have here,” Paul says.

“Excuse me." Helios says in such a Seraphina like way.

“I was just moving this along”, Paul offers, “This is where you start monologuing."

Helios kicks Paul in the face, blood spurts cleanly from his nose. Satisfied Helios leans down to me.

“Where is she”, Helios asks, I forgot how lethal his eyes could be.

“Who ?”, My voice trembles.

“Seraphina.”

“I don’t know—“

The back of Helios’ hand smacks into my face so hard it feels like rock. My lip burns and it feel like a little bit of skin came off. Paul tries to lunge for him, but the cuffs make it impossible.

“You’re special, Ariel”, Helios continues,”An undead angel. A pretty girl with a thirst for human blood. You could be my greatest weapon against the powerful men who will try and take New Aeterna from me. Think about it.”

“No”, I say because that’s the brave thing to do, “You hurt people. I saw what you did to Hippolyta and Seraphina. You hurt my sisters. I hate you--”

He grabs my chin and I am so so afraid.

“You know the Demons don't want your kind to live. They can’t fix you. No one can fix you. Even Seraphina will want to kill you after she sees what you are. You can die whimpering or you can live fighting for me.”

I work up the nerve to spit in his face, he hits me again and I hold in the tears like my life depends on it.

“Fine then. You just signed away your life. Leon schedule an execution. Make it a double.”

"But Isaiah wants them aliv--"

"Do I look like I care what he wants ? He works for me."

Helios storms out with Leon and Oberon close behind him. When I hear the door shut I start bawling.

“Ariel. It’s okay.”

I look up. That wasn’t Paul’s voice.

Paul and I both turn to the voice that comes from one of the cells down the way. It takes me a while to recognize it.

“I-isobel ?”

She comes to the bars and tries to peer out at us.

“You guys okay ?”

“Isobel. . . what are you doing here ?”

“Long story, but Paris knows I’m here. Hopefully someone will come for us. What are you doing here”

“Long story”, Paul answers.

“Ariel don’t listen to Helios. You’ll be fine.”

“Fine ?”, I squeak out, “I drink blood from humans. This city is full of humans and they all smell so good and I want to drink from them. . . but I also really don’t.”

“It’s not that bad when you are away from the source of the cravings. When I was in Florida .  . . I didn’t crave the Demon blood so much because I was away from it.”

“To bad humans are everywhere in this city.”

I pull against my restraints because this is not a conversation I want to have. I wanted to get out. I needed to.

+++

Callums smiles at the dozens of homemade explosives he was able to cobble together in under six hours. It was actually frightening how easy it was to throw together the makeshift explosives. Callum and Lysander had completely destroyed the kitchen in the processes. They spread the results out on the table next to a hand drawn map of Queen Anne’s that  covered the entire table. As many Brothers as possible crowded around the table and studied the map and listened to Callum's plan.

“This is so fucked up”, I said looking at the map and then at Seraphina, “Someone could get hurt. This looks unpredictable.”

Sera ignored me and tapped the pencil on the table.

“When Helios blew your shops he was smart about it. He went for the gas lines. That way when the humans went to inspect they’d simply think it was an accident. The solvent disintegrates in the flame and so does the wiring, so we could get away with this. The humans might think it was another accident. ”

“That means”, Callum said, “Once we get past the gates. . . the best place for the explosive is the dining hall. It has three gas lines running through it. We just need to get all of the SGI and their weapons there in time for the explosion. Seraphina says they store their weapons in the cars, for getaways in case the ATF comes around, so we need to hot-wire the cars to move them. "

“Yes,” said Damien, “Sign me up for that.”

“No”, Callum said throwing the pencil at him, “We need you to take care of medical.”

Callum take the pencil Seraphina is holding and marks a spot on the map.

“So. . .we need 8 people to drive the cars, two to plant the explosives at the dinning hall and the rest will be in charge of rushing the campus, causing a little chaos . . . try and take the main mansion and this dormitory. Once we have them we need to defend them for as long as it takes." He circles the dorm that the Angels live in.

“My sisters are not the enemies. They are innocent”, Searphina says, “Please protect them. Don’t hurt them. It’s all I ask.”

“Yeah. Fine”, Callum says marking Xs and Os on the map.

Callum starts breaking people into groups and Lysander pulls him aside for a moment. Sera picks up the pencil again and circles one spot on the roof of Helio’s mansion again and again.

“I didn’t hear much about Helios”, I said now that everyone else had dispersed.

“Helios has a saferoom in the mansion. He’ll be in there. Helios is mine”, she said.

“Ours.”

She set the pencil down.

“Paris. . . you’re not going. You need to be here where it’s safe. It’s what men like you do. You can help. . . .”

She waived her had at Damien, once again forgetting his name,

“No. When Helios Thantos goes down he’s going to see my fucked up face when it happens.”

She sat back and studied the map.

“It’s just . . . death seems to easy a punishment for Helios, doesn't it.”

“Sera. I don’t want you to kill him.”

“Please, Paris.", she said dismissively.

“Killing is easy. That’s not the direction I want the Brotherhood to go in. Don’t kill him. Do it as my friend, if not because I’m your leader.”

She glances at me after I say that last part.

“What do you suppose we do, Fair Prince.”

"I think I can come up with something," I say running a hand over my scars, "Sera, don’t do anything stupid tonight. Promise me.”

“I can’t make that promise.”

“Please”

“Whatever suits you”, she says and walks over to where Callum and Lysander are waiving her over.

We spent the hours before nightfall ripping the logos off our vans and repainting them black. It was a bang-up job but would have to do. Seraphina wasn’t the only one who had objections to me going but this was a fight I had to see to the end.

I rode in a van with Callum, Lysander and Seraphina. The city appeared ominous as we pulled cautiously into Brooklyn.

“Listen”, I said to no one in particular, “If I don’t make it for whatever reason. . . .Lysander I’m leaving you to take my place.”

“I—are you sure”, he asks.

“You are the most loyal man I know.”

 “I’m honor-“

“Stop it”, Seraphina cut him off, “You’re not dying Paris. I won’t let you.”

“Living or dying isn’t much of a choice.”

Sera scoffed and looked out the window as we approached Queen Anne's, "That's what you think."

Queen Anne’s was secured with two gates. The outer gates are a pretty white gold reinforced gates that separated Queen Anne’s property from Prospect park. The inner gate was made of a black metal alloy and was as ornamental as it was secure. It separated the campus buildings from the greenspace and was manned 24 hours a day by an SGI.

There were usually two SGI on duty, and according to Sera at the end of every half hour they did a walk around the perimeter. When they were on the far-sides of the perimeter that gave us just enough time for our first strike. Or in this case for Callum to strike. At the exact second of the half hour mark the guards started around the perimeter it took 8 minutes for them to reach the farside of the perimeter. Callum quietly slipped from the van.

He did this part on his own because he could move fast and didn't trust anyone else to execute this vital and very uncertain task. As Callum moved along the gate bright red sparks were left in his wake. He dug shallow holes and stuck in the tiny C-4 expanders and lit the fuses. They sparked for several long minutes

"Come on", Lysander said from next to me, "They should have--"

The sound was like a loud pop and at first it just looked like the grass had caught on fire (not something we had accounted for) Then the gates started to sway.The molten gold base of the gates started to twist and become malleable. Gravity slowly took over and the gates fell inward, screeching and smashing into the black alloy gates and knocking them down.

The beautiful white stone neoclassical structures of Queen Anne’s were laid open and vulnerable to the outside.

 “Paris”, Callum says opening the door and signaling everyone out of the vans behind us, “You don’t have to be here. You can stay back and help Damien and Ashe.”

“No, I’m making sure this ends. I can handle it.”

I keep close to Lysander and Seraphina as we step over the fallen gates. I see one of the SGI guards is lying dead on the ground, crushed beneath the fallen gate. Shit. Hadn't accounted for that either. Fucking collateral damage.

Two feet away the other SGI guard is still alive, he’d managed to bring a radio to his mouth.

“Leon. Pick up”, He says, “Leon, the—g-a--”

Seraphina pulls the radio for him and she looks almost sorry for him. There was no helping him, chances are he was already bleeding internally.

“Send someone to cut him out, maybe we can still save him", I whisper to a Brother next to me

“Fuck you”, the SGI says, “You really are the fucking devil.”

"I'm trying to save your fucking life. . . but fine."

Within seconds The SGI merge onto the campus of Queen Anne’s, they have their guns drawn and are aiming for us in a perfect formation. In a matter of seconds Chaos breaks loose at my Brothers begin to rush the SGI. Seraphina grabs my hand and pushes me into some dense shrubbery, Lysander follow suite. Sera lands haphazardly on top of me.

“This feels familiar”, I said

“Shhh”, she says taking out her gun and giving it to me, "Take this."

“Sera—“

“It’s for your own good. Just hold on to it. The SGI are not fucking around.”

“What about me”, Lysander asks.

“You have a fucking cane” I say only half serious.

From our location in the shrubs I see Leon surveying the scene from the mansion steps. He says what I assume is a small prayer to himself, then he raises his gun into the air and lets off two shots. The advancing SGI stop for a moment to watch Helios' second-in-command. Leon slowly rips off the SGI insignia from his coat

“Enough”, Leon's booming voice carries, “Enough of this. They are not our enemies. Helios Thantos is. We have all seen it. We've all been bent under the weight of his tyranny for to long. We have a choice tonight. We can fight each other or fight Helios.”

The tides turn,  some of the SGI wait for him to recant when he doesn't they begin to shoot at him. However, some follow Leon's suit and rip of their SGI  insignias and they fight back.

“What the hell is he doing ?”, I whisper, “Is he seriously doing this now?”

“What better time to overthrow you leader than in the midst of battle?”, Lysander suggest.

“Dramatic”

Once it’s clear sides have been chosen the brawn and stone male Angels go on the attack. Watching the skilled, large men clash together is like watching gods fights. Even more so they are too busy fighting each other to realize our plan is still in motion. Maybe that was Leon's plan all along.

I watched in awe as Leon threw his entire weight against a man knocking him to the ground, Leon turns to a man coming up on his right and throws the man down like it’s nothing. He stealthy deflects the very shiny white gold bullets and uses his gun more like a club. He won't shoot anyone though. His only weapon was his body. He was bold and bloody and no where ready to stop. He was a fucking Titan.

“We need to get into the Mansion. Are you ready.”, Sera asks. Her eyes following Leon’s every move, her fist clenched.

“Lets’ go”, Lysander says pushing himself  up

We start to run and are halfway to the mansion when the SGI start to notice us, one of the SGI—a young one--points his handgun at us, the shots pop off instantly. The bullet misses Seraphina and I but soars right into Lysander’s bad leg. The young SGI raises the gun again and before I know it I’m standing and Sera’s gun is in my hand. It’s so small and elegant like an extension of my arm. I close my eyes and pull. . . no, squeeze the trigger. I watched the bullet sail right into that young man’s neck and he drops instantly to the ground.

Just like that I killed a man.

Then vomited in the bushes.

+++

Ariel

 

Paul grunts and rips at his chains again. Something was happening upstairs.The ground had started shake and rumble like an earthquake, but that was impossible here. Wasn’t it ? Isobel is encouraging Paul, but it’s a lost cause. Maybe if this was an old rusty prison and not a brand new one we stood a chance.

The door to the prison swings open and instead of the face of our executioner Aria peeks into the room. She is in a bright white sweater dress and white boots. She was carrying a howling Tessa and a ring of keys

“Aria”

“. . .oh my, Ariel. Oh. Ariel”, She kneels down carefully and presses herself against me. Everything about her smells and feels like home, “Your hair.”

“That’s not all that’s changed.”

Aria looked at my skin and the tiny bit of blood staining my lips. She holds Tessa closer and starts to fiddle with the keys. Trying to open the handcuffs.

“I know. Leon came to  me after he saw you. How could you let this happen ? I--I talked to Anne about it and--”

There was a loud thud from upstairs.

“What’s going on up there ?”, I asked as Aria one-handedly began to unlock Paul's cuffs.

“I don’t know. Tessa and I were upstairs and Leon said the gates fell. He told me to let you out and then he just ran out. I saw Helios going to his saferoom and I begged him to take Tessa but he wouldn't . . . there are gunshots, I think. And I don't think Leon is coming back for us so I’m getting Tessa out of here.”

Aria then went to open the locks to Isobel’s cell. Paul rubbed his wrist and looked around at the group he had to work with.

“I don’t know what’s going on out there. . .”, Paul said, "But should get to safety too Ariel.”

“There’s a back door we can take”, Aria said clutching the baby tightly.

The four of us headed up to the main floor. Keeping an ear out for Helios or one of the SGI. When we reach the ground floor I can hear the sounds of gunfire and shouts. I try not to look out the window. Isobel and Paul can’t keep their eyes off it.

“We should go to the dormitories. To Anne," I suggest. She’d know what to do next.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea”, Aria said.

“Why ?”, Isobel asked

“Anne doesn’t really approve of daemons. She’ll make quick waste of you two”, she indicated Paul and Isobel, "And Ariel . . ."

“What is it ?”

“Look. . . Ariel. You’re not Calliope or Demetria—“

“I’m not one of Anne’s favorites, you mean.”

“Ariel. . . Anne will turn you into a servant or worse for this. I tried to talk her down but she is very resolute. She won't have one of her Angels be a monster.”

My tongue felt heavy in my mouth. I didn’t want to lose it. That’s what Anne did to the Angels she deemed unworthy.

“Aria, it was an accident”, Isobel tries to help. We’d had plenty of time to recount our story to her in during our imprisonment.

“I’m sorry,” Aria said kindly, “It’s just our way---“

The front door thudded open and Aria pressed herself against a side wall to hide.  It was useless because Tessa started crying. I peeked around the corner and saw Seraphina and The Prince topple in.  Seraphina slammed and locked the door behind them, but the Prince tried to move her out the way.

He looked paler and his right hand was trembling.

“Lysander", he shouted, “We have to go back for him.”

“He’ll be fine”, Sera said calmly and started pushing chairs infront of the door, "You shot a man you're just in shock."

“He’s shot and lame for godsakes,  get the hell out of my way.”

“Paris--"

In that moment he raised his gun her face.

“Move, Seraphina."

“Par—“

"Get the fuck out of my way--"

“Seraphina”, I screamed, “Seraphina”

Paris dropped the gun and bought he hands to his face, clearly ashamed that his actions has been witnessed. He should be.

Sera ran over to me and embraced Aria and I. Isobel and Paris pulled each other into a long intimate hug. Tears were streaming down Isobel’s face. I could barley hear The Prince whispering “I’m sorry” over and over again to Isobel.

Sera ran her hands over my face.

“What did they do to you”

“I’m sorry”, I said

“It’s okay. You need to get out of here. All of you. Callum’s rigged the dining hall to detonate in”, She looked at a watch I’d never seen her with, “6 minutes. It’s a battlefield out there. The SGI are turning on one another and things are becoming unpredictable.  Isobel make sure Tessa and Aria  get to safety."

"I will." Isobel said from where she was still holding on to The Prince.

“I’ll make sure they are safe.” Paul says from his place in the back, "Then I'm coming back."

Seraphina glares at him and nods her head.

“Go. Go. All of you.”

“What about you ? ”Aria asks.

“Sera and I are here for Helios”, Paris answers coming up behind her. He was still wrapped tightly around Isobel and he reluctantly let her go. Isobel's eyes were red but she put on a brave face.

 Paul and I linked hands and followed Aria to the back service entrance. Isobel followed slowly in the back. Once we were outside we saw the flattened gates stacked on top of one anther. Aria had to carefully navigate over the gates until we were on the public side of the park..

“Wait”, I said looking back at the destruction.

“What ?”

“Aria, I can’t live like this—like a daemon. I hate myself and this craving. I’m going to the dinning hall. I’m going to wait there. . . for the end.”

“God, this isn’t about Caden”, Aria said. The cool air was causing Tessa to start crying.

“No. Trust me. It’s about me. I’ve had such a long life. I can’t live like a Vampire with all these craving and I can’t be Anne’s servant. I’ve had a good life. Great sisters, a wonderful home, good books and even two very nice boys. Well one. But I’ve had a good life. . . I think I’m ready to say good-bye.”

I felt Paul squeeze my hand. . . but he didn’t object.

“Ariel . . .”, Aria pulled me close into a sisterly hug. “You’re not a child Ariel . . . I trust you to make your own decisions. As terrible as I think this is.”

Isobel looked back and forth not being able to believe this.

“Suicide is never the answer”, Isobel said , “Ever. Life is precious”

“Your so young Isobel”, I said honestly, “ You don’t understand. I wish I could have known you better. Please make sure Aria and Tessa get out okay.”

“I—“, Isobel starts, “I will.”

“We should go”, Aria says after a long silence. In the distance the gunshots sound fewer and far between.

Aria kissed me good-bye and she looked Paul up and down before heading off into the darkness with Isobel. For a moment all I could hear is the sound of battle quieting down behind me. Paul slowly lets go of my hand.

“Uh”, Paul starts, “Look you said you were falling in love with me and that was…cool.”

“Uh, thanks”

“I think. . . I think I don’t want to live as a monster either. I’m going with you. Carpool to the afterlife.”

“Paul. . .”

“Sorry, joking makes it easier," He rolls his eyes and looks very uncomfortable.

“Are you really ready for eternity ? I mean you really are sixteen”, I remind him

“Seventeen”, he corrects me.

“Then live. . . go. Fight.”

“I want you to live too Ariel. You don’t have to die. We can fix you. I know it.”

“I can’t live without my family.”

“Fuck your family. If they won’t accept you they aren’t your family”

Paul turned to the war playing out on the other side of campus.

“Things can change. I bet you know that better than anyone. I mean did you think the internet would exist back in the 1200s ?”

“. . .um, no”

“There. Miracles happen.”

“But Anne will make me a serv--”

“I said fuck your family. We don't have to die today, Ariel. Not in that war or in an explosion. We are checking the fuck out.”

I look at the scene behind Paul where we allowed to just. . . leave.

“You want to runaway ? Now ?”

“We’re teenagers Ariel. It’s what we do.”

I took Paul’s hand and the minute I stepped on the street I craved the humans around me. I was a monster now. I was a coward. I life my family behind. I decided to live for a boy. I hope to have few regrets.

 

+2+

Paris

From the second floor of Helios' mansion  I can see eight white BMWs tearing across the lawn of St. Lilth’s. One SGI gets run over, only to then be attacked by his fellow brethren. Two of the cars try to avoid people all together and end up smashing into one another and come a spinning stop infront of the dining hall. The cars settle then start to smoke and flame.

“Shit”, I said, “What have we done."

“Come on”, Seraphina says, “It’s time to find Helios.”

Sera ventures somewhere in the mainson and I continue to watch the grisly scene from the second floor landing. From here I can see the entire campus in a 360 view. It’s a beautiful landscape and I have a funny thought.

Mine

I see Leon still standing even though he’s covered in blood. He’s had what looks like a white “X” sloppily painted on his shirt. I watch him and other “white shirts” cuffing and attacking those men still loyal to Helios. Leon shouts orders like a captain. He has two very large guns slung around his body. . . but he doesn’t use them unless prompted.

The place where Lysander fell is empty, save for a dark patch of blood. I'd lost sight of him after I killed the boy who shot him. Seraphina had quickly dragged me into the mansion and I never looked back.

I check my watch

Something was wrong. I turn to look around, I realize Seraphina must have ventured to the third floor.

The explosive in the dining hall haven’t gone off yet.  All eight cars are there, The Brotherhood and Leon’s whites shirts seem to have the upperhand. This should be over.

Nothing

“Shit.”, I say , “Something went wrong.“

A shadow falls over me for a second and I turn. There is a cool uncertain breeze.

Nothing

Another shadow appears and the air around me unsettles.

“Who’s there ?”

I turn again and a figure darts over me, pushing me off the second floor landing and onto the first floor. My back thuds against the cool marble floor. I bite my lip, but am otherwise unharmed. A neat pair of black shoes settle next to me. I push myself to sit up and see Helios. He is shirtless with his pristine white wings on full display.

He smiles at me.

“Helios”

“You think I wouldn’t find those explosives ?”

He drops the dismantled explosives on the table. Then he casually walks into the dining room. He does it slowly and I can see healed scratch marks on his back.

“Follow me when you can”, he says slowly

I force myself up, feeling sore and dizzy. Then I look up the stairs. Helios must not have realized Seraphina was in the mansion too. I decide to keep that to myself.

I limp into the dining room, feeling sore but not broken.

The dinning room is spacious and elegant. Helios has a large glass of dark red wine and turned on some smooth jazz. On the expansive wall the New Aeterna flag is tacked up to the wall.

“Going down with the ship”, I ask, “Leon’s got most of your men detained. The rest have turned on you. It’s all over Helios.”

“No yet. It's a good thing I'm not one to stay put in a saferoom when my property is under attack. ”

“Your men are killing each other. Your unified army is gone, we have your women and you can't jam 911 calls forever, the police will close in. We’ve taken Queen Anne’s for our own. As far as I’m concerned it’s mine now.”

“Your brother did say you were selfish”

“Shut up about Jonah. You brainwashed him.”

"Like you brainwashed my sweet simple fiancee ? Look Paris, let’s see if we can work something out. I know you don’t like killing. I had an arial view of  that pathetic display when you shot Zacahrias.”

“I don’t abide killing but guns are useful for a lot more than that.”

To demonstrate that fact I pulled the gun from my waist and shot Helios in the foot.

 “Fuck”, he was caught off guard and dropped his wine, but he did stay upright. Then he lunged to me, he unfurled his wings and came at me. I kept my hand steady and tried to shoot at his right wing but I missed. I tried again and clipped the end of his wing.

He fell like a wounded bird.

“Shit, I’m good at this. Get against the wall.”

“I don’t take orders from you”, Helios tried to stand but his injured wing made it hard for him to balance.

I shot his other wings and his shoulders sagged, he couldn’t control his wings now. They were dead weights on his back.

“Here’s the thing Helios. SGI has the greatest soldiers in the world. I believe that. I saw it outside. They are resilient and tough. I mean look at them. You ? You’re just their leader. I see your smooth clean hands, and a body made for looks not work. You are nothing but a man who uses fear as a weapon.”

I hear something as Helios tries to stand but he topples forward. I shoot his wing again for good measure.  I grab the handcuffs that Isobel had on her wrist when I last saw her and maneuvered Helios’ hands around the low hanging chandelier, then quickly handcuffed him. Sweat and adrenaline are pouring out of him. He is nothing without his men, and looks pathetic hanging like that.

The familiar noise I hear in the background continues.

“I am obedient though, Helios. I did do what you asked.”

“What ?”

“I bought Seraphina to you”

“What ?” he growls.

“Remember you told me if I wanted Isobel back I had to bring you Seraphina. Well. . .”

Maybe she had been waiting for me to mention her but after a moment I hear the click of . .. heels as Seraphina makes her way into the room.

“Seraphina”, he says. His eyes brightening

She walked in slowly, waving to him casually

“I hope you don’t mind,” she says in a light voice I’ve never heard, “I stopped by my old room and picked up a few things and cleaned up a little.”

By cleaning up she meant she had changed into a tight above the knee  black dress. I guess the red bottomed black heels had also been in her room. Her skin was too smooth and matte, her bruises had all but disappeared. I guess she’d never let Helios see the marks he left on her.

She casually set a case down on the dinning room table and opened it up to reveal 6 knives that sat fully sheathed.

“I see you kept my room exactly the same as when I left”, Seraphina continued, “You didn’t even change the sheets.”

“Seraphina”, Helio's voice broke, “That was not my fault. I didn’t tell them to do that. Seraphina I love you and I can’t stop thinking about what we lost. .”

“Is that so ?”, She takes a knife out and starts to sharpen it with a whetstone. She walked over to Helios and he outwardly stares at her legs. Then he start talking again.

“Seraphina, don’t you see. It was a test. I push all of my men to their breaking point. It’s part of the initiation. I push them away I take everything they want, I put them through hell. The ones who don’t give up. The ones who return are the ones I know are loyal.

Don’t you see Seraphina ? That’s you. You came back. My prodigal solider. Kill this smiling idiot and we can have it all again. We can start over. . . build a new army Do it right. Get married have a baby.  That’s what you want. That’s what you told me you want. He can’t ever give that to you.”

She slowly set the knife down and picked up another one to sharpen. She looks at Helios muscular chest and his beautiful but broken wings. She flushed a little bit and pressed her thighs together, Helios had the effect on her.

“Helios, I--”, she says softly

“Comeback to the side of Angels, Seraphina.”, He says, ”We still have a fighting chance. You and I go well together. There is no one else I want to fight, fuck and win with.”

“You’re so pretty, Helios”, She said walking toward him running a hand over his ridged chest.

She walks behind him with the knife still in her hand and runs her hand along the marks on his back. There is something intimate about they way she touches him and the way he reacts. Chemistry, I guess.

“Are these mine ?”, she asks in a flirty voice.

“Come back to me Seraphina.”

“I like you like this”, she says then in a low voice, ““Chained up on the wall like a piece of art. Like a vicious wounded bird, who should be left to die and burn in hell.”

 “Fuck you”, Helios spat, now realizing that he can’t sway her, “I can’t believe you cheated on me with this ugly fucker, you stupid retarded cunt”

“Capricious”, Seraphina says.

“What are you going to do, Paris ?  Kill me ?”, Helios asks still pulling against his restraints.

“No”, I say , “This is where I leave you. Sera and I came to an agreement regarding your punishment. This will be the last time we see each other.”

I walk right up to Helios and whisper into his ear so Seraphina can’t hear me.

“Helios, I know Seraphina was your favorite possession. You called her your greatest solider. She was yours. All tall, beautiful and lethal. She was yours. One day she’s going to be mine. I want you to know that one day this ‘ugly fucker’ is going to fuck your Angel. Actually she’s going to lay in my bed spread her legs and beg me take her and I want that image to stick with you while you can still picture it.”

Sera looks up from the knife she is sharpening, she gives no indication that she had heard what I said to Helios. Helios ground his teeth then tried to lung at me, while snapping his teeth. Sera eyes me carefully as I walk past.

“Good-bye, Helios”

“No”, Helios says, “Wait . . .Paris. PARIS.”

Sera traces his jaw with one of her knives.

“Don’t worry, Helios I’ve instructed Seraphina not to kill you. But when she’s done with you. You’ll wish she would.”

“Wait. . . wait I. . .”

I close the door to Helios screaming.

CHAPTER 10