Runaway Devil
28

Alec had suggested that I stay in my apartment as much as possible in the coming weeks. I hated to admit it but I agreed with him. I knew there were going to be demons after me but that angel the other day slammed me. I had avoided the subject, but eventually, we had to have a serious talk about the coming threat. If Alec had found me, there were undoubtedly others who were close enough to smell me.

I had spent the day with my wings out, relaxing my feathers and grooming them. The upkeep of them in hell, while I'm in my real skin, is no effort and I enjoy keeping them clean and soft. But they were too big for my human body and having them out while on earth made me feel vulnerable and exposed.

After two days I started to feel like a sitting duck. I was getting stir crazy, being trapped in my own shitty apartment with an angel. Even his scent was putting me on edge.

The air was cool, but Alec standing so close to me, as much as I hated to admit it, helped cut the cold. He emitted an unnatural heat that I found comforting, but I would never admit that.

I looked at him without turning my head, giving him the side-eye. The shirt he wore caught my eye. I turned my head and committed to looking at him. "That's my shirt."

He looked at his chest as if he hadn't noticed before. "Yep. You really need to buy bigger clothes."

I sat in my exasperation for a moment before responding. "Well excuse me, I hadn't planned on clothing an angel twice my size."

"You practically own all men's clothes anyway," he said with a shrug.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to check for the 'for girls only' tag next time I go shopping." He nodded at me with an amused smile. "Where are your own clothes? You didn't bring any from home?"

"I made do." And that was the end of it.

I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and my lighter from the other. I turned away from the wind and cupped the end of the cigarette. I clicked my lighter at least four times, only getting sparks, no flame. I smelled it, looking for the butane scent, but only found the ghost of it. I cursed under my breath.

Alec stepped in front of me, offering his first two fingers, with a small flame flickering at the end of them. My eyes flitted from the flame to his eyes, I held his gaze as I leaned forward and inhaled. "Alright, you're not so bad to have around."

"It's about time you saw that."

"Don't push it, angel," The air somehow felt lighter for the rest of our journey.

But, the red and blue flashing lights reflecting off of the school building brought the mood down.

"Ah, shit." My words were muffled with my cigarette between my lips. There were two officers speaking with some faculty, who were vaguely gesturing towards the roof. I watched and listened, sitting at our usual picnic table. Ben, Issac, and Jerry weren't there yet. To anyone passing by it would look like we were just waiting for them, having a morning smoke.

"And you said the security cameras were tampered with in some way? Want to elaborate on that, ma'am?" The officer's voice was experienced and confident. Damn.

"Yeah, it looked like they were tilted upwards. Usually, they point at the quad, over there," she pointed towards the open grassy area, the very place that I gutted that kid. I paled slightly at the memory, I must have been in a mood that day.

"But the tapes did record something, right? We got reports of an alleged fire—"

"The tapes only got some smoke," I raised my brow at Alec. He shrugged as is to say 'what did you expect?'. I guess he had to cover my tracks one way or another. The officer's partner looked bored, he was significantly younger and less focused than his seasoned counterpart. He scanned the schoolyard, looking for anything more interesting than this nervous woman. And he found it.

A girl smoking a cigarette, possibly underaged, and a burly guy in a way-too-tight shirt. I looked at the end of my cigarette and did a mental facepalm. They're talking about a possible fire, and we look exactly like the kind of people who would play with matches on school grounds. The officer nudged his partner, who shrugged him off and continued with the poor receptionist.

As the rookie got closer, I could see his face more clearly. His hair was styled with gel to make it look messy, but not too messy. His face was smooth, hands uncalloused. He walked with a confidence he did not earn, and the arrogance of the entitled.

"Hey, you mind answering a couple of questions?"

"Shoot," I said. He opened his mouth I thought some clarification was necessary. "Not literally, sorry." He smiled quickly and dismissively.

"Are you aware of what happened here, a couple weeks prior to now?" We both looked at the officer, neither of our faces giving anything away.

"Something happened?" Alec said.

"A fire was reported by some of the surrounding residents. You know anything about that? Anything at all?" I exhaled out of the corner of my mouth, not blowing it directly at the officer, but letting some drift up towards his face.

"Not a clue," I said with a straight face.

"How old are you?" The annoyance in his voice was unmistakable.

"How old are you?" From the corner of my eye, I could see Ben and the others hanging back, not wanting anything to do with any kind of police. His partner called him over, he looked at me one last time before jogging over like a trained dog.

"Are they all like that?" Alec said next to my ear.

"Not sure, I try to steer clear."

"And steering clear is making sure you commit multiple crimes within the month?"

"Hey, I'm still getting the hang of this human thing, they're... sensitive." I inhaled and rested my elbows on the table. Ben set his bag down and sat next to me, followed by Issac and Jerry. They all picked their respective seats, like a family of monkeys perched in a tree. Issac sat cross-legged on the table and Jerry next to Alec.

"What was that all about?" Issac said, looking over his shoulder at the retreating officers.

"Apparently there was a fire a couple of weeks ago, they were just asking some questions," Alec said.

"Weren't Dante's guys here a couple weeks ago?" Everyone looked at Jerry. None of us were expected to make the connection so quickly, let alone Jerry. He looked around at all of us staring at him. "Remember? We all went over to Kara's that night and slept over," he said.

"Yeah, but she—" Issac was going to say something but stopped, putting more of the puzzle together. They left me at the school, as per my instructions. And I later came home covered in dirt and soot. Not looking too good for me. Granted, I didn't think any of them would put it together. "Kara?"

"Did you have something to do with this?" Ben said. The look in his eyes hurt my chest, it was unsettling. There was a hint of fear, he so desperately wanted me to have had nothing to do with it.

"I told you guys that Dante just wanted to scare me. They threatened to burn me," I shrugged, "One of them dropped the lighter. It was an honest mistake, he looked young. Maybe the new guy."

"And what about the warehouse that burned down the same night? Someone drop a lighter there too?" Jerry said. His tone was too serious, I didn't expect them to think I did it.

"What are you guys looking to accomplish with this? What are you looking for me to say?" I was starting to get irritated. I thought that I would be grilled by the police maybe, but not them.

"Nothing, there no endgame. You just never told us anything about that night. It's suspicious." Issac said, shrugging. His attempt at an innocent look was flimsy and I saw right through it.

"You guys think I did it," I said and laid the disbelief on thick.

"What do you expect? We haven't seen you in days, you never call or text. None of us even know your last name. We know nothing about you, Kara." Jerry's tone indicated premeditation. They had been talking about me. They had planned this ambush.

"How long have you guys thought this?" I couldn't help but feel a little hurt. I knew that at some point they might catch on, but I had hoped they wouldn't. I had been sloppy, too violent, too quickly. In a matter of seconds, I went back just a couple of weeks. Everything was fine, normal even. I was still invisible, I hadn't killed anyone in months. I was living a normal, human life. I was in high school, I had a job, I was interacting with humans that looked my age.

I hadn't realized when it started to blur. The line between my real self and my human persona started to meld, to blend dangerously. I wasn't in hell, I wasn't a soldier, I wasn't a killer here. I had forgotten that. I didn't know how long I sat there in tense silence. My cigarette smoldered, me having forgotten about it for a short time. I didn't hear their response to my question.

"My last name is James," I said, almost scared to break the silence. I could feel Alec starring at me, his gaze steady and solid. I looked at him, his eyes were the only ones I could trust with my own gaze. He had seen me at one of my more vulnerable points. "I'll try to pay more attention to my phone, I promise." I got up, the tightness in my chest working it's way to my throat. My brows furrowed and I cleared my throat. They were all silent, they had never seen me so quiet, or serious.

I guess I knew even less about humans than I thought. My own human self was a stranger to me. The longer I stayed here, the longer I stayed in this skin, the weaker I felt. I was slowly losing my true self. The weakness I felt in my bones was sorrow. I was still mourning. But what was I mourning? Everything. My old life, my family, Dusty, myself.

I hadn't realized how far I had walked. I just picked a direction and kept moving. I was somewhere in the woods. My legs had stopped, my muscles twitching with residual adrenaline. My face was wet, my nose cold and runny. Was it raining? I held my hand out, looking up towards the canopy above me. The sun was peaking through the leaves, not a single cloud in sight.

I turned at the sound of dry leaves being disturbed. Alec was there in his quietness. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, his eyes were soft. I stood there and silently refused to approach him. He stepped closer.

"I—" I didn't know what I was going to say. I had no thoughts, no words at the ready. I paused and closed my mouth. If you had nothing to say, don't speak. Alec looked down at me and I looked at the orange flecks in his eyes.

His face really was nice to look at. "You're a mess." His tone was soft and paternal.

"You caught me at a bad time. It's been a bad time for a while actually." He moved some hair out of my face. His hands were gentle like they always were. "I forget sometimes why you're here," I said, my voice more solid than before. "When are you going to abduct me?"

He smiled. "I'm in no rush." His rough palms rested on my cheeks, his fingers brushing the stray tears from my face. The quietness of the woods cleared my mind. I let my tired eyes close and just felt the world around me. "Let me see your eyes,"

I opened them, only to find a pair glowing back at me. His burnt orange eyes flickered and weaved under his hooded lids. My own golden eyes reflected off of his, our eyes stuck in an intense gaze.

It's a strange thing; when you spend so much time with someone. You never expect anything to come from it. But there I was, standing toe to toe with an angel, and not trying to kill him.

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