Color of Angels' Souls (25 page)

As Allison still looked a bit groggy, he took her gently by the arm, ignoring the sullen expression that flashed over Flint's face. Lili did the same, giving her old friend an impish grin. Apparently, she got a kick out of yanking his chain. Jeremy couldn't help but feel somewhat satisfied by this discovery. They walked up the steps to the imposing mansion, and Allison was still too disoriented to put up any fight when they passed through the front door.

Once inside, they walked up to Angela's room.

“She is absolutely beautiful!” exclaimed Lili when she saw the little girl, who looked tiny in her enormous white bed.

Angela had propped some big fluffy pillows behind her back, and was reading a book. Her brow creased from time to time as she followed the adventures of her favorite hero, Tara Duncan. Jeremy smiled warmly at her. His little sister read some pretty big books for her age! He sat down next to her and stroked her hair.

The sight of them took Allison's breath away. She hardly knew Jeremy, but here he was showing such unrestrained affection for a child who couldn't even see him. Even beyond death, he protected the people he loved.

She didn't realize it then, but it was precisely at that moment that she fell in love with him.

Jeremy had been right: The horrible red Angel hadn't arrived yet, but after just a few minutes he passed through the ceiling and floated above the bed, paying absolutely no attention to who was in the room. A sickening wave of power began to spread through the room, and Jeremy jumped to his feet, suddenly feeling nauseous. Angela tensed up on her bed, uneasy now.

He began gloating greedily, already relishing the thought of all the terror he would soon be devouring, when finally he noticed the two old Angels. His gaping maw spread into a horrible grimace, but Jeremy could sense the fear in his crazed eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he roared. “She's mine! ALL MINE!”

Then he began yelling “MINE! MINE! MINE!” like a wild animal.

Flint cocked his head to one side, clearly amused by the spectacle.

“He's completely mad,” Lili noted with bemusement. “How shall we proceed, my dear Flint?”

“We can't make him leave.”

“No.”

“But we can do even better.”

“Yes.”

Neither Jeremy nor Allison could understand what they were talking about, but Flint and Lili knew exactly what they were doing. In unison, they turned toward the red Angel and extended their hands.

The bloated monster made a horrible grimace and bared his teeth at them.

“You think you two old dinosaurs can scare me? You can't do anything to stop me! I'm going to drive her crazy, and you—”

Something shot out of Flint and Lili's hands, something impossible for Jeremy to see, but it slammed into the red Angel like a jackhammer. His face was twisted in a horrible grimace of agony, and his eyes bulged in their sockets.

Suddenly he smiled. A gluttonous, nauseating smile.

“Oh yeah!” he growled. “Oh yeah, that's good, gimme more, more!”

Flint and Lili frowned in concentration, and another invisible wall of force slammed into the red Angel, who toppled over onto Angela.

Jeremy yelled out in fear, but of course the Angel fell right through his sister's body without harming her. Lili noticed the anguish that had suddenly appeared on the little girl's face, and she leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“Did you forget to brush your teeth, Angela? Hurry up now; go to the bathroom!”

“Oh,” the little girl said out loud. “I forgot to brush my teeth!”

She set her book down on the nightstand and scampered out of the room, to Jeremy's great relief. He couldn't stand seeing that horrible Angel splayed out on top of her.

“Thank you,” he whispered to Lili, noting once again how sensitive the living were to the entreaties of the old Angels—much more than to the pleas of younger Angels, that was sure.

Allison came over and took his hand. He squeezed tightly, comforted for some reason when he felt her small, warm hand in his.

“It's all so horrible,” she confided in a low voice. “Why would the red Angel do such a thing? And why did he say
she's all mine
?”

“He told me the other day that my stepfather was behind his murder. And that he was getting his revenge through Tachini's daughter. He's a monster, and he's completely insane. I don't doubt for an instant that the weapons trafficker my mom married is capable of having someone killed, but that's no reason to take it out on an innocent little girl!”

Allison nodded in approval. She was still reeling from the view of the horrible red Angel, hanging above the little girl like some obscene, bloated vampire bat.

“What are they doing to him?” she asked, referring to Flint and Lili.

“I'm not sure,” Jeremy whispered. “But … oh! Look out, he's starting to move!”

Up until now, the Angel had been happy to soak up each blast from Lili and Flint, growing redder and redder in the process. But now he began to squirm on the bed, and a look of terror came over his bloated face.

“No!” he yelled. “No! Stop it!”

But Flint and Lili kept pouring it on.

“No, no, nooooooooooo! Stop!”

They continued to pummel the Angel with blast after blast—but now it wasn't pleasure he was feeling, but pain. Horrible pain.

Then he raised his face toward the ceiling and howled so loudly that the dogs outside began barking in response.

A loud “pop!” rang out in the room.

The Angel was gone.

Just like the scarlet-colored Angel that Jeremy had seen disappear the day he passed over.

Exhausted by their efforts, both Lili and Flint looked to be on the verge of collapse.

Jeremy and Allison hurried over in a panic to help, but the two old Angels managed to sit down on the bed.

“Whew!” Lili said, wiping the sweat from her brow. “He certainly was an ornery fellow!”

“Yeah,” panted Flint. “A hard one to root out, that's for sure.”

For the first time, some wrinkles blemished his smooth, noble face, and he had turned a much paler shade of blue.

“I'm afraid you're going to have to go find us a bite to eat,” he told Jeremy and Allison. “Because I think we'll be staying put here for quite a while.”

Jeremy sped out of the room, with Allison following close behind. She wasn't much help, but he did his best to show her how to grab hold of the Mist. He took some from his mother, his stepfather, the cook, and the butler. The resulting Mist was a hodgepodge of all different colors, but he didn't think the two Angels would care. He was right. They gobbled up the Mist greedily even though they had just finished eating a delicious meal at the restaurant.

“Thank you so much,” Lili finally said, smiling radiantly. “Whew! It's been quite a while since I've drawn so heavily on my reserves!”

“And you, sir, how do you feel?” Allison asked shyly.

Flint left off eating and stared intently at the young girl.

“Would you please call me Flint, my pretty little dove?
Sir
? Brrr, it makes me feel so old!”

“It's … it's a sign of respect,” Allison mumbled. “I just wanted to show you respect. What you can do is so … so impressive, si—” Flint raised his eyebrows and she caught herself: “I mean, Flint.”

Jeremy felt uncomfortable. He could tell Allison was trying to create a psychological barrier between herself and the old Angel, but he was so grateful for what the two Ancients had done that he didn't want to dwell on it.

“Thank you, thank you,” he gushed. “How can I ever thank you for what you did for my little sister? That was amazing! How did you do it?”

“We force-fed him,” Lili said matter-of-factly. “Flint and I sent him an enormous dose of food. He was already quite ripe, after stuffing himself with so much sadness, hate, and vengeance. It wasn't as hard as it looked. Of course, it's much easier for two Angels than one. And you were right, Jeremy!”

“About what?”

“All alone, there was nothing you could do. Only Angels with powers such as ours could make him disappear.”

Was there a veiled warning hidden behind her bantering tone?

“He … he can't come back?” asked Allison, still in shock.

“No,” Flint reassured her. “He's gone for good. One thing is for sure: If Angels eat too much—to greedily or too often—they have the same types of problems as a living person who overeats. They ‘pass over' more quickly, at a younger age.”

Allison's eyes opened wide.

“But what happened to him?” she asked insistently. “He looked as if he were suffering terribly!”

“I have no idea,” Flint sighed. “We don't know what happens to Angels who disappear when they stop eating, any more than we know what happens to those who eat too much.”

All three suddenly grew quiet: Could there be a god somewhere, at some other level, in a third universe?

“I realize it must be frustrating for you,” Lili admitted, breaking the spell. “I've been here for quite some time now, and there are still so many mysteries!”

Jeremy only shrugged. That didn't seem important now. All that mattered was that his half sister had finally been freed of that horrible bloodsucker!

Claire walked into the room and Angela smiled at her. Jeremy couldn't help but feel sad when he saw the warm smile on his mother's face. He missed her. He had decided to exclude her from his life after she fell in love with a man he didn't like. He now realized how stupid and selfish he had been: Behind her high-society appearance, his mother was a warm, caring person. He was happy to see how she dropped her mask with her little daughter.

“Sweetheart! How do you feel?”

Angela wrinkled up her nose.

“It was weird, Mommy. I brushed my teeth and then, for some strange reason, I got up to brush them again! It wasn't until I'd gotten back to my room that I remembered! And you know how at night, when I go to bed, I always have trouble breathing?”

“Yes, I know dear,” Claire said affectionately. “We even thought it was an allergy, but you're not allergic to anything.”

“Well, it started again a little while ago! And then it just went away, Mommy. Just like that! Now I feel a lot better!”

Jeremy gave a thumbs-up sign to Allison, who beamed back at him. Even Lili couldn't equal her radiant smile. The young woman was so happy for Jeremy that she was positively glowing.

Flint rubbed his hands and rose hesitantly from the bed. He wavered again for a moment, and without thinking, Allison came over to hold him steady. He thanked her with a weak smile. And held her tightly against him.

Lili also got to her feet, but she was white as a sheet. Jeremy held her up, troubled once again by the shapely forms he could feel beneath his hands. She was temptation incarnate, and he could feel his heart do a loop-the-loop. And yet, her soft thighs couldn't completely wipe away the memory of Allison's little hand in his own just a few minutes earlier. At least … not completely.

Claire climbed into Angela's bed to read her a story. As Jeremy looked on, he finally felt that his soul was appeased. They decided to leave the mother and daughter alone, and passed through the wall. The two elderly Angels were so exhausted that the passage was actually a bit difficult for them. Once outside, they were unable to unfurl their wings, and could only walk, still leaning heavily on their young companions.

“What you did for me back there was amazing,” Jeremy repeated after a while. “How can I ever repay the favor?”

“You don't have to thank us,” Flint said with a wave of his hand. “Angels don't do things out of their own interest. We gave you a hand: That's all there is to it. Maybe one day you'll be able to help somebody out and repay your debt.”

Jeremy and Allison exchanged a look, both ashamed now to have doubted the two Angels' good intentions. Especially after the incredible exertion both had made.

They caught a bus back to Manhattan and the two elderly Angels invited them back to Flint's place. He lived in a magnificent two-story penthouse decorated with dark wood finishing and blue, white, and gold marble. The apartment was huge—at least six thousand square feet—and empty of all human furnishings. Flint had filled it with Mist furniture. All the “real” doors in the penthouse were open, but to recreate some privacy in each room, Flint had added beautifully sculpted doors made of Mist, which the Angels could open and close as they wished.

“Extraordinary!” exclaimed Jeremy, as he walked from room to fabulous room. “How did you find this place?”

“Oh, it's just one of the prerogatives of us Ancients. The owner is an old man who doesn't even know how many apartments he owns anymore. I convinced him to redo this one, and then to forget about it. It doesn't really cost him much, since he's a billionaire. This way, I have a place to stay without having to depend on a living person. It's quite a luxury.”

Aha! Now Jeremy understood why so many wealthy people held on to empty apartments, often for no good reason. It was the old Angels that talked them into it!

Jeremy admired the furniture and the various objects that Flint had created in each room. The overall impression was quite impressive, even though he knew it was all ephemeral.

“But don't you have to make everything over from time to time?” he asked.

Remembering how his stupid loincloth kept disappearing on him, Jeremy looked warily at the armchairs. He had no desire to find himself laid out flat on the floor.

Flint only laughed.

“Don't worry, my young friend. Everything you see here was made by me, or by other Angels who passed over at least five hundred years ago. The Mist we use has been compacted, you might say, and those chairs can last for years. And when they disappear, I just make new ones, or else I get in touch with other Angels who make them for me.”