She Speaks to Angels (26 page)

“
What was it?”

“
Fire from his hands,” Kian retorted, and then Jacob continued.

“
But this doesn’t mean he is an easy target. He is still one of the more powerful demons, and we are not sure why. We still have to be very careful with Dameon. He is as clever as he is evil.”

“
I don’t get it; why is he so evil? Why would any angel choose to be demon?” I huffed in frustration. Frustration for my situation; frustration for not understanding.

“
Because, Ali...” Kian pressed his hand on my shoulder, “they can have powers they can’t have as angels. They can do what they want when they want. Take what they want. They don’t have to care.”

“
Powers you can’t have?” I squirmed.

“
Darkness affords demons gifts of fire and of land. The eye color they manifest is silver when they’re in demon form. But angels have gifts of the waters and air. Our skin hints of glowing gold,” Kian clarified.

“
Though there is one exception,” Jacob interjected, clearing his throat.

“
What is that?” I asked with a curious curve of my lips.

“
Nathaniel possesses the powers of fire. We are not sure why, but it seems one angel and one demon each decade is born with the opposition’s gifts.”

“
So Nathaniel is unique?” I pondered aloud.

“
Yes, he is.” Jacob agreed and took my hand. “We Angelfire are having a banquet in thirty minutes. Would you come join us and meet Lucianda?”

“
I’d like that.” I felt so welcomed by Jacob, not like I felt around Krysta. Jacob reminded me of Sammael in that they both had a calmness and loftiness -yet not conceded- quality about them, like two wise sages.

At the banquet, I sat next to Kian at a large dark-stained rectangular dining table. Kian and I backtracked through the room with the piano and entered the door in that room to get to the dining hall. I still had not gone through the mahogany door in the library.

Photos of the city decorated the stark gold walls of the dining room, and a variety of dishes were spread out over the lace tablecloth. Carrots with peas, lamb chops, mashed potatoes, cauliflower soup, cheesecake, Rib-eye, freshly baked rolls, spiced tuna fillets, and many other dishes I didn’t have a chance to savor.

Nathaniel sat on the other side of me, while Krysta sat across from me. Jacob sat between Krysta and a woman whom I could only guess to be Lucianda. Sammael sat at the head of the table, while the other end of the table remained empty.

Sitting at the two end seats across from me and the two end seats aligned with me, were four Angelfire I’d never seen before and might not ever see again. They remained in their angel guise to keep me from knowing their human identity. Two had gold-blond hair and eyes, and two had blue-gold eyes and black hair. Beneath all the wings, glowing skin and bright pupils, I wouldn’t have been able to make much of their human identity.

The table quickly grew loud with various conversations about the city, about the state of angels, about Dameon and Azrael. I listened intently, but my most favorite conversation came much later after all the talks of politics and state.

“
We must crush Dameon soon before he regains his strength,” the gold-blond angel to my far left declared.

“
And use Ali as bait? Risky,” Krysta argued, and I began to like her more, “but doable.” She made me hate her again.

“
Well, Dameon is after Ali anyway. We might as well use this to our advantage.” The blond-gold angel to my far right agreed. “What else can we do? The powers of darkness are strengthening. We have all felt the power rising. Either Dameon will lead us to Azrael or we destroy him. Either way, we weaken the Dark Angels.”

“
But we must be ever aware that we are risking the life of a human, an innocent life.” Sammael interjected with a calm firmness. “We will not proceed without her consent.”

All eyes turned to me. Sparkling gold, emerald, amethyst, and even Kian’s hazel eyes, which took on a hint of amber. My lips quivered at the corners.

“
I’ve talked about this with Kian. I’m game. It’s the only way to end this, and I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life...afraid, afraid Dameon is going to strangle me.”

“
Then, it is settled.” Sammael turned left and then right, making sure to catch everyone’s attention. “We will proceed with the plan.”

“
Once Dameon is out of the picture, the streets of New York will be much easier to protect.” Lucianda spoke in a similar accent to Jacob’s. Her raven black hair hung to her breasts and matched her eyes. Rose-red lips puckered when she spoke. A lace Victorian dress covered her feminine form. Sun kissed skin kept her from looking too vampish, and an arched nose reminded me of the French Aristocracy.

“
Yes, my love. They will be.” Jacob patted her hand on the table.

I was so excited to be sitting with another human, someone whose experiences must have something similar to my own. I sensed that Lucianda and I might even become good friends.

“
So, how did the two of you meet?” I asked, naively pointing at Jacob and Lucianda.

Lucianda’s usual esoteric expression broke into a smile as she entertained happy memories. “I was returning a few library books to the local library when a gang of thugs surrounded me on the sidewalk. As they pushed me into the alley, I began to panic. I was only twenty at the time.”

Her skin did not look a day older than thirty now, Ali thought.

Lucianda shuddered, “The big one pushed me to the ground as he pulled my purse off of my shoulder. I sprained my ankle. When I tried to get up, the shorter one held me down and said something like, ‘Let’s have some fun with this one.’ I nearly threw up then and there. My nerves felt fried.”

Lucianda straightened a wrinkle in the tablecloth on her side of the table before continuing, “Then, when I’d almost given up, Jacob appeared out of nowhere and threw the large thug halfway down the alley. I’d never seen such strength before! A few of the gang tried to tackle Jacob, but he pushed them off and left them all scrambling to get away. He lifted me to my feet, and we dated awhile after that before I found out the truth about who he was.”

“
How did you react?” I played with my fork over my mashed potatoes, not really interested in eating anymore.

“
I wasn’t as surprised as you’d think. I took the whole thing pretty well. I don’t know, it was like somehow I always knew who he was...I just didn’t have the words for it before, you know?”

I wanted to say I knew exactly what she meant, but I honestly did not. I shook my head. “The whole angel-demon thing threw me for a loop...but then, maybe that was because my introduction to the world was through the demon Dameon trying to strangle me.”

“
And how do you feel now?” Lucianda asked, and I felt like I’d known her for much longer than the time it took to eat a mere dinner.

Gazing at Kian, I answered. “Good. Really good.”

Lucianda

Later that evening, Lucianda invited me out on the town with her. All of the unknown angels disappeared after the banquet; Sammael had important matters to discuss with Krysta, Nathaniel, Jacob and Kian: private angel-engagements that I overheard briefly. Something about Dameon and Azrael. Sounded serous. We human girls got bored just sitting around the mansion.

I imagine Kian would have put up a fight about me going out that night, but while he busied himself with angel-demon conversations, I slipped away unnoticed with Lucianda. She had a way of making the adventure sound safe as long as I stayed with her.

“
Ever been here?” Lucianda and I took a taxi downtown, into the inner city of Manhattan. I didn’t usually go there unless Molly had an itch to scratch, but Lucianda loved it there. She insisted. Tall buildings offered plenty of reflective windows where I could make out my reflection. Billboards hung on side walls, up high on towers, and down low where taxis zoomed past.

Red and white striped canopies above the windows decorated a cute little shop on one corner while a window washer sat on a ladder cleaning the glass. A few bicyclists peddled past the shop as Lucianda signaled for the cab driver to pull over to the curb. “Here, here!” Her rather dull and tightened lips sprung like a loosened spring.

“
Where are we?” I squeezed out of the back seat and circled in my step as I gazed skyward at all the neon lights and loud sounds.

“
The bike shop. We are going to ride along the Riverside Trail.”

I shrugged. I hadn’t ridden a bicycle in some time and didn’t know how comfortable I felt with one.

“
Oh, come on. You can do it! Besides, I’m paying...so no qualms!” Lucianda hadn’t struck me as the adventurous type sitting across from me so stoically and esoterically at the banquet, but I guess appearances are deceiving.

“
I’m fine. Looking forward to it.” Even Lucianda could see through my pasty smile. In truth, it actually seemed like one of the more fun things I’d seen. Heck, if I could go fist-to-fist with a demon, I could surely handle a bike ride.

Briskly walking into the shop, Lucianda opened the door and the bell rang, alerting the attendant. A short man in a Yankees cap came to the desk.

“
What can I do for you two this evening?”

Lucianda spoke up for the both of us. “We’d like two bikes to take on the Riverside Trail.”

“
$25 bucks a bike per hour.”

“
Kinda steep; the trail will take at least two hours.” Lucianda argued. “How about $15?”

“
$20, the man said firmly.”

“
Ok, $40 bucks each, makes it $80. How about we do this for $75?”

“
Alright.” The owner grumbled as if we hadn’t been the first hagglers he’d seen today.

Lucianda handed the man a hundred dollar bill and, after the owner inspected the bill, he gave us two keys to unlock the bicycles.

“
Come on.” Lucianda waved at me as she stood over the two bikes. I had never been to this shop before, nor on the trail. I didn’t particularly like trying new things; Molly usually dragged me along for all my adventures. But Lucianda seemed like a big sister, a sister I never had. She was thirteen years older, so I couldn’t consider her a peer, but we shared something I didn’t share with anyone else in the city. We shared an unbreakable bond of knowledge -knowledge of a supernatural world hidden in New York.

Balancing myself on the bike, memories of me learning to ride with my father came to mind. He had been the one who taught me to keep my weight even on both sides, to pedal fast to keep the balance good, to brace myself when I fell and to dust myself off and get back up. Funny how the know-how came right back to me when I started riding. I hadn’t sat on a bicycle for years, but here I sat, pedaling behind Lucianda, heading toward the Riverside Trail, and I blended right in with the rest of the bicyclers.

Craning her neck back, Lucianda kept an eye on me. “So, how you doing there, Ali?”

“
Good,” I pedaled. So far, so good...and then I hit a pebble and the bike started wobbling. “I...think.” Tightening my hands around the bar grip, I kept my feet on the pedals and tried to stay balanced. Swaying left and right, I squeezed my legs close to the bike spokes as the bicycle headed for the grass on the other side of the sidewalk. Kerplunk! I fell over with my hands bracing my fall. At least I could fall without hurting myself. Dad’s lessons paid off after all.

“
You alright?” Lucianda circled back around to meet me. Watching her parking her bike on the curb easily and slide off the seat like a professional, I felt a bit like a looser. I got my butt kicked three times by Dameon, and now I needed help after falling off my bicycle. Seriously?

With an outstretched hand, Lucianda helped me to my feet and I dusted my knees off before slipping back on the bike seat.

“
You got it?”

“
Yeah, yeah.” I waved her away. “Go on, I’ll catch up to you.”

When we finally arrived at the Riverside Trail, the sights took my breath away. We rode past
beautiful Hudson River views, riding along the water's edge, and saw a few waves rise above the bluff. We past several majestic and historic monuments, along with a series of sycamore trees. Closing my eyes a few times, I just wanted to feel the chilly evening air against my skin, rushing through my hair.

I kept my eyes on Lucianda, who rode ahead of me. She didn’t ride too fast, probably on my account. I appreciated her for that; like my mother she seemed to keep an eye on me, maybe because I fell earlier, or perhaps because she knew how fragile I was fighting against Dameon and that the demon spawn would be looking for his opportunity to kill me whenever he could.

Lucianda looked like a meteor propelling over the Riverside Trail. Her focus was determined by some goal she had set, and she only ever looked back to check on me. She had found a state of mind I envied and could only hope to acquire sometime in the future. She didn’t seem afraid, no trace of cowardice; she didn’t seem timid, but a brute force. A soldier on a mission. At least that is how she seemed to me.

As the sun completely set behind the pink horizon line and the dark canopy of night secured evening, Lucianda picked up her pace. I guess she figured I’d had enough practice and could finally keep up with her.

Skidding around a bend, I stayed close enough to catch the scent of her flowery perfume. I never wore perfume myself, and when I smelled fragrances on others, the aroma always hit me hard. I knew this memory would stay with me long after the event ended, because of the distinct flavor of fragrance, and because I had ridden a bike for the first time since my father’s death.