Archangel Evolution (5 page)

Since her magical transformation into an
angel (or something angel-like), Taylor and Gabriel had spent very
little time together. They were simply too busy. Taylor had been
forced to return home, pack her bags, and return to college. And
Gabriel had his war stuff to fill his waking hours. The power of
her sudden desire to waste away a day with just Gabriel overwhelmed
her for a moment.
Not cool
, she thought. Taylor hated
feeling like she couldn’t control her emotions or that she needed
someone else to be happy. She wanted to always be independent, like
her mom had been.

To cut off the unwanted feelings before they
got out of control, Taylor slapped herself…literally. Smack! It
wasn’t a friendly love pat on her cheek, but a forceful blow
intended to sting. And it did. Taylor winced. But with the pain
came clarity of thought.

“What was that for?” Gabriel asked, a smirk
crossing his face.

“Nothing. Bird’s Nest would be perfect, but
no hanky-panky. We have a lot to talk about.”

Gabriel laughed. “What did you think, that I
was going to try to seduce you or something?”

“Well, no, but I’m just saying….we don’t have
time for being in love right now.”

“There’s always time for love.”

“Whatever, can we just go?” Taylor
snapped.

Gabriel was still chuckling. “Sure, I just
have to find a demon to port us back to UT.”

“We’ll use one of my guards,” Taylor said.
“They are always within sight, although they try to blend in like
they’re spies or something.” She glanced up and down the hall. “Ah,
there’s one.”

“Where?” Gabriel said.

“Dude in the ratty Yankees hat with the
magazine.”

“You sure? He might just be visiting someone
in the hospital.”

“Watch and learn, my friend.” Taylor
approached a demon who appeared to be concentrating hard on reading
an article. She dipped her head around the top edge of his reading
material so she could see it. “Interesting…‘Sexy or Elegant: This
Year’s Choice in Eveningwear.’ Good article?”

Startled, the guy looked up at Taylor. “Well,
uh, yeah. Very well-written. You can never be too informed.”

“Right,” Taylor said. “Can you take us back
to UT?”

“Sure.” He flushed, embarrassed that he had
been made so easily. He didn’t turn red exactly, because it just
wasn’t possible; rather, he turned a slighter darker shade of
dark.

Moments later and thousands of miles away,
they were back on UT’s campus, where night was fast approaching.
They had instructed the demon to get them as close to the stadium
as possible and he obliged by teleporting them onto the empty
field. Now that the season was over, there was little risk of
running into anyone except maintenance crews. They thanked the
demon and Gabriel promised him that he would protect Taylor for the
rest of the night.

“I don’t need protection,” Taylor said when
the demon left.

“I know, I only said it to get rid of
him.”

“I can protect myself.”

“I know that.”

“Fly me,” Taylor said.

“Why don’t you give it a try?”

“No, thanks. I still don’t know what the hell
I’m doing.”

Without another word, Gabriel snatched Taylor
in his muscular arms and leapt into the air—his jump was impossibly
high, the equivalent of a high-jumper clearing the bar without
using a pole. Then, with a slight
pop!
his wings escaped
from his sinewy back. With powerful strokes, Gabriel’s wings
propelled them higher and higher until they were looking down from
above the stadium. The sky looked beautiful: clusters of stars
winked off and on; wispy clouds caught final red rays of the
already-set sun; a giant, low-set full moon illuminated a broad
pathway across the landscape.

“Unnecessary and show-offy flying: a clear
attempt at seduction,” Taylor said.

“You’re crazy,” Gabriel said. “I’m just
enjoying the evening.”

“Right.”

Unexpectedly, Gabriel dropped sharply,
allowing them to momentarily free fall until they had cleared the
upper ramparts of the stadium. “Woohoo!” Taylor yelled, enjoying
the butterflies in her stomach and the thrill from the extreme
maneuver.

Turning sharply to the left, Gabriel headed
directly for a corner of the stadium. Just when it looked—and
felt—like they would surely crash into the steel rafters, he weaved
between two flagpoles and landed on his feet on a hidden platform
set against the stadium wall. “Honey, we’re home!” Gabriel
joked.

“Very funny. Thanks for the ride; I didn’t
realize how much I’d missed that.”

“Giving in to my charms already, I see,”
Gabriel said, setting Taylor back on her feet, only to clamp his
hands around her waist and pull her tightly against his body.

Unlocking his hands from her hips, Taylor
said, “Nice try, angel-boy, but I want to get straight to
business.”

“Okay,” Gabriel said as he sat down with his
back to the wall, “what do you want to know?”

“You said my test results were ready.”

“Right. The actual report is a couple hundred
pages long, but the summary is all up here,” he said, pointing to
his head.

“Am I turning into a three-eyed
hobgoblin?”

“Yes, in fact, you are,” he joked. “But I
promise to love you all the same and will even attempt to gaze
romantically into all three of your eyes at the same time.”

“Thanks. What’s the real story?”

Gabriel smiled. “The real story is much
better. Simply put, you’re an anomaly.”

“So a freak, right?”

“Yes, but a very powerful freak. You are the
first of your kind. Previously, only one angel had
evolved—Dionysus—and all other angels were his offspring. In other
words, I am technically related to him, although we don’t really
see it that way, just as you probably don’t think of Adam from the
Bible as your relative. And even Dionysus evolved from the demon
race; there have been no instances of humans evolving directly to
angels. Well, until you, of course.”

“Okay, I get that, but how did it
happen?”

“We’re not sure exactly, but what the
researchers do know, is that your inner light is stronger than the
average angel. Actually, much stronger. It’s similar to how your
aura was much stronger than all other humans, except now you are
stronger than all other angels, too.”

“I’m stronger than
all
angels?” Taylor
asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

“So I’m stronger than Sampson, the walking,
talking tank?”

“Yes.”

“And stronger than Dionysus and his remaining
Archangels?”

“Yep.”

“Then that must mean….I’m stronger than you,
too!”

Gabriel sighed. “I wouldn’t get carried away,
but yes. Their theory is that the size of your aura as a human and
the constant
use
of your aura by me caused some kind of a
metamorphosis. Your blood was probably the first to change—from red
to white—and provided the source of nourishment to allow your body
to change.”

“And my wings to grow.”

Nodding, Gabriel said, “Exactly. And for some
reason you are more powerful than all other angels, almost like a
real
archangel
.”

Taylor frowned. “But I thought Dionysus and
his Council
were
archangels?”

“That’s just a name Dionysus made up. While
they tend to be the most powerful—and evil—angels, there is nothing
truly special about them. You, on the other hand, are genuinely
special, one of a kind, unique...”

Gabriel continued on with his synonym list,
but Taylor stopped listening. She was remembering that first night
with Gabriel, when he had told her he thought she was special. She
had made a joke out of it. Now he was saying it again, but for a
different reason. It felt like déjà vu.

Gabriel was saying, “…singular, distinct,
exceptional—”

“Enough!” Taylor snapped. “I get it, I’m
different. I’ve always been different though, so it’s cool with
me.”

Gabriel laughed. “You are definitely
different.”

Taylor said, “Is that it? That I’m unique and
powerful.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“So what happens next?”

“The demon Elders wanted me to ask you
something.” Taylor waited expectantly. “They wanted to ask if you
would be willing to use your newfound abilities to help kill
Dionysus.”

Taylor stared at Gabriel.
Dionysus.
Just thinking his name sent snakes of anger wriggling through her.
Her heart rate leapt, her hands sweated, her eyes narrowed. Her mom
had taught her the strength of the word
hate
, and had
counseled her never to use it or to feel it. But in this case she
would make an exception. She hated the Evil that was Dionysus. And
she would do anything in her power to destroy him.

“Damn straight I’ll help.”

“I thought you might say that,” Gabriel said.
“Training begins tomorrow if you’re ready.”

W
hile the fiercest
portion of his anger had subsided, a smaller, more controllable
fury remained below the surface, simmering, like a witch’s brew
filled with eye of newt, unicorn blood, vampire fangs, and
clippings from anything else that goes
bump
in the night. It
was the heat from his rage that seemed to sustain him, to give him
power. He was changed by it. There was no reason to question
whether the changes were for the better. The joy that he felt
confirmed it.

After he had received his appointment to the
Archangel Council, David had made his way back to his small room to
get his stuff. He would be moving to one of the dead Archangel’s
rooms—Thomas’s maybe?—and was excited to escape the rat hole he had
been living in. No longer an apprentice to anyone, David would be
an equal to all but Dionysus. Sarah and Johanna might not
understand how a fifteen-year-old boy could rise to such a
position, but they would soon see the light.

He didn’t even feel like a child anymore,
although he knew that in age and in body he still was. In mind, he
was a god, all-knowing and judging. It was like a thousand years
had passed in the blink of an eye, wizening him. He didn’t know how
it had happened, but it did, and for that he was thankful. It would
give him the ability to kill Gabriel the next time he had the
chance, regardless of his lesser stature and experience.

As he zipped up his duffel bag full of
clothes, there was a knock at the door and Lucas pushed through.
“Ready?” he said.

Without responding, David slung the bag over
his shoulder and followed Lucas out. As they walked, Lucas talked
incessantly. About how cool it was that they were on the Council,
how he couldn’t wait to get his revenge on Gabriel, and even how
awesome it was that David shut down Johanna in the meeting.

David wished he would shut his mouth.

“A
re you okay?”
Gabriel asked.

Taylor raised her eyebrows. They were camped
out in Gabriel’s dorm room eating barbecue chips and drinking
Pepsi, talking about anything but angels and demons, when he had
suddenly asked the question. Before answering, she tried to think
of all the reasons that she might not be okay. Her evolution into a
one-of-a-kind angel? No, she was ecstatic about that. The fact that
she was involved in a century-old war between the two most powerful
armies the world had ever seen? That used to be a problem, but now
that she was as strong—or stronger—than the other angels, she felt
like she could contribute. Having to lie to her father? It was for
his own safety, so no, not a problem. She couldn’t work out what he
meant.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked.

“The dream.”

Ahh, yes, the dream.
Taylor had
completely forgotten about the nightmare she had had the previous
night. Gabriel’s purported death, her lust for revenge, the snake
wrenching her warm, white heart from her chest, Dionysus’s face,
Gabriel’s reanimation and subsequent catching of her bloody,
still-beating heart as it plummeted towards her face: Each memory
flashed by with such intensity that she felt a physical burning in
her head more painful than a migraine or a brain freeze effected by
the overzealous consumption of rocky road ice cream.

Taylor screwed up her face and groaned, in an
effort to lessen the pain.

Gabriel grabbed her, while saying, “Taylor?
What’s the matter, Tay?”

She held her head for moment, gently
massaging her temples. When the bulk of the pain had passed, she
said, “It’s nothing, I’m fine. Just a weird flash-headache.”

“Flash-headache?”

Taylor explained: “Yeah, you know. Like a
flash-flood, except a headache. A quick and unexpected pain in your
head with unknown origins.”

“I’ve never heard about that before. You get
them often?”

“Never. But I read about them somewhere.”

“It seems to me like the origin was me
mentioning the dream,” Gabriel said.

“Maybe,” Taylor admitted. “How do you know
about the dream anyway?”

“I tried to stop it, Tay. Desperately tried,
but Dionysus was too strong. I have been monitoring your dreams for
a long time now, trying to prevent our enemies from messing around
with them.”

Taylor had never really gotten used to the
angels’ and demons’ ability to participate in, and even modify, the
dreams of anyone they chose. But she was an angel now, wasn’t she
protected? “So Dionysus can enter angels’ and demons’ dreams, too?
I thought it only worked with humans?”

“Technically it works with anyone, except for
gargoyles, although we’re not sure why they’re protected.”

“Then why doesn’t Dionysus mess with your
dreams? And other demons’ dreams? And why don’t you mess with
his?”

“Because from a very young age, angels and
demons are taught how to protect themselves. I will be teaching you
as part of your training.”