“You mean like a romantic thing?” Xavier’s eyebrows pulled down over his eyes.
“No, that’d be me.” Chay gently pushed me behind him and away from Xavier. “Jake has an I-want-to-see-her-dead thing for her.”
Xavier’s jawed worked. The tendons in his neck grew taut. “I guess I don’t like Jake.”
“That’s probably the only thing you and I agree on. I don’t like Jake, either. We thought he was dead three months ago when Azazel threw him in the pit. It was a big surprise when he showed up for school the next day. Him, Stephen, and the bitchy duo.”
Xavier pinched his forehead between his thumb and index finger and asked, “The bitchy duo?”
“Lily and Shayla. Jeff was the only unfortunate one. Azazel broke his neck,” I shuddered at the memory of the sound of Jeff’s bones cracking and watching his body crumple in a heap on the floor. “It’s a memory I wish I could erase.”
“What egregious error did Jeff make that caused his untimely demise?” Xavier asked me.
“Dude, you talk like my grandfather,” Drew said, looking at Xavier. “What’s he doing here anyway?”
“He’s an angel.” Muriel jerked her thumb at Xavier.
“You’re an angel,” Drew told Muriel, making her cheeks turn pink.
Chay rolled his eyes. “I see you’ve finally gotten around to realizing what everyone else has known for a year.”
“What?”
“That you two are complete idiots for each other.”
I laughed.
Drew looked Xavier up and down, drumming his thumb on his thigh. “So, an angel, huh? How old are you?”
“Eightee—”
Drew shook his head and interrupted, “No, not how old you came to earth as. How old are you really?”
“We don’t have the same concept of time as you do. I don’t know how to calculate it into human years.”
“That old, huh?” Drew grinned and turned his ball cap backward.
“Milayna,” Shayla called from the front yard.
“Hmm, I guess the fun’s about to start. Do you know how to do this?” I looked at Xavier.
Uh-oh. There’s gonna be an angel beatdown.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’ve all been trained in hand-to-hand combat and self-defense. You know, high-impact mixed martial arts and crap like that. Personally, I always wanted to take piano, but my parents forced me to take—”
“Milayna,” Chay interrupted with a sharp shake of his head.
“Right, save that for later. Anyway, do you have any… talents? I don’t suppose they have dojos where you come from.”
“Dojos? No, but I can hold my own,” he said with a smirk.
“Whatever,” Chay said under his breath.
“Milayna!” Jake yelled.
“Well, your initiation is about to start.” I knocked on the side door to the house. “Dad? We have company.”
“Yeah, I see them. I’ll call the police.”
“What will the police do?” Xavier asked. It was obvious he was totally unprepared for human life.
“You’d think they’d have a training course or somethin’ for you guys before you come bouncing down the clouds to our part of the universe,” Drew said, shaking his head. “You’re gonna get your angelic butt handed to ya.”
Chay sniggered.
“The cops break up the fight. That’s usually how these things end. It helps that a lot of cops are angels or demis themselves, like my dad, Uncle Rory, and Chay’s dad. They know the drill. So they usually put a stop to the fights. Unless, of course, the Evils and demi-demons complete their mission,” I explained as quickly as I could. Jake walked up the driveway toward us.
“And their mission is?”
“Dunno. Last time, it was to either get me to change sides or kill me before I turned eighteen and Azazel was able to absorb my powers. Maybe Azazel is still trying to kill me, who knows?”
“But you’re eighteen. What good would killing you do?” Muriel asked, turning to me. “I thought we were done with that.”
Chay scrubbed his hands up and down his face. “He can’t absorb her powers, but he can take her powers away from the group. She’s the highest-ranked, strongest demi we’ve got. Robbing the group of her visions would mean he could pick us off one by one if he wanted. None of us are immune like she is,” he said.
“Hey, Milayna.” A smile slid across Jake’s movie-star handsome face. His baby blues sparkled in the light cast from the porch light. A lock of blond hair fell over his forehead.
“Stay out of the way and try not to pee yourself, that’s all you need to do tonight, Xavier.” Chay shooed him away with a flick of his fingers.
I inclined my head toward Jake in acknowledgement.
“It’s been a while,” Jake said.
I stared at him, not speaking. I felt Chay’s hand on the small of my back, his thumb rubbing the skin just under the hem of my T-shirt. “Be careful.” He kissed the hollow behind my ear.