“Careful.” Angelina’s dagger stopped millimetres from my neck. “You’re distracted today. What’s going on?”

I had to admit, my mind had been wandering. Who was that Demon that had been watching me from the forest? Why had she been watching us? Why hadn’t she done anything? Or had she done something already? “Are you worried about me?”

“No. I’m worried that you’ll be distracted and fail us at a critical moment. And I don’t want that. Or do you want to be like Heidi, cracking whenever something gets under your skin but still refusing anyone’s help until it’s too late?”

“Don’t make fun of Heidi—”

“I’m not making fun. I’m simply stating facts. She is not meant to deal with Demons, and that’s not her responsibility, thankfully. But it is mine, and it will be yours, and so you’d better start to focus.”

“Not her responsibility?”

Angelina sighed. “Guard up, first.” I raised my glaive and readied to block her flurry of slashes and thrusts. As she attacked, she explained. “Each symbiote gives their Angel more than an Imago.”

“Yes, yes.” Right. I didn’t want to think about it. “They’re slowly changing our own... our genetic makeup.”

“More than that, too. That’s just biological, Quinn. We each inherit a position in this divine conflict, too. A place in the host of Angels, inherited from those who were hosts before you, in ages past. Haven’t you wondered where the muscle memory comes from? Why it’s so easy to hold the weapon, and swing it, blocking my strikes perfectly because you already know what you need to do? That, too, is part of the legacy of those who shared your Imago before you. Your appointment in the heavens. And mine...” she pursed her lips. “Mine is to kill Demons. That is the purpose I have inherited from Libellula. Heidi’s is to protect others. To destroy Echoes. That’s why her Imago is so durable.”

“And what’s mine?”

“To save the world.”

“What?”

“Just kidding.” Angelina. “Your Imago seems like it’s made for killing Demons, that’s all. Stop trying to block backhand. It’s not going to work. You’re crossing your arms, and that’s severely limiting your movements.”

These daily practice sessions were getting tolerable. Angelina’s quips had lessened over the weeks, replaced by increased focus on combat. Each day I made less mistakes, tightened my guard, improved my angles of attack and understanding of how I fought. Or was that just the memory, the legacy that I’d inherited? No. It was me. It had to. This was all to... to get my parents back? Had I forgotten? Or did I not care anymore?

“Okay, your turn,” she said, crossing her blades. “Try to hit me.”

I steadied my blade and took deep breaths. Stepping forward, I swung straight at her, the glaive swinging high overhead. She caught it between her daggers and I thrust the butt of the handle forward at her stomach. She hopped back to avoid it, the staff meeting only air.

“Swoosh swoosh,” said Vespa. “Very impressive.”

I knew that Angelina was uncomfortable letting me get to her sides. If I so much as took a step in one direction, she’d immediately pivot or strafe to face me head-on. Perhaps because her Imago’s wings were so wide and she was used to accommodating them. Was there a way to take advantage of that?

“Stop walking,” she said. “Come on. Attack.”

Forward. Strike to the left, then right, then keep moving right. Step. Step. Another step. She turned to keep facing me. Keep circling. Keep striking. She caught each strike, still, but the spinning was getting to her. I was getting dizzy, but I was close. Close enough? I doubled back suddenly and hit her with the handle. It made contact. I swung the blade forward and stopped. My blade hovered just above her shoulder. “I got you.” I said.

She pushed it away with her daggers, shaking her head to clear her mind. “Good job. Next time, maybe I’ll actually try.”

***

That night, there was a storm.

Rain was of course common here in Vancouver, but the clouds today seemed ominous. They swirled overhead, angry and gray. Sarah was out late, working her Tuesday shift at the hospital. Nep was at the lab. Only Heidi and Angelina were sitting with me at the dinner table, though neither seemed to be fully there. Angelina ate in silence as she always did, while Heidi simply pushed around her food with her fork. Things had been quiet this past week, and a restless mood was falling on all of us, but especially Heidi.

Abruptly, Angelina stood up, morphing into her Imago and heading towards the door. “I’m going out,” she said. To hunt demons. As she always did every night. Because that was her purpose, the form of her Imago slowly altering her genetic makeup day by day.

“Quinn.” Heidi’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “Are you done eating?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

She took my plate for me and took it to the sink to wash. “You can go ahead. I’ll do the dishes today. Get some rest. I’m going to be up late anyways.”

Rest. Perhaps that was what I needed. I headed up to my room and just lay on my bed. I couldn’t really get comfortable. It was too hot, or too stuffy, or something. Instead, I simply stared at the ceiling and listened to the sound of the rain pattering against the window.

I was startled awake by a sound. Tapping at the window. A child wearing a suit was standing on the roof, staring at me. Must have been a Demon. No. The Demon. From yesterday. “Vespa,” I whispered.

No response.

The Demon approached the window, reaching under them with her slender little fingers before flipping them open with ease. She stepped inside, taking off her jacket to dry and sitting down before me. Though I knew she must have been a Demon, I couldn’t help but see just a child, as unnerving as it was. Still, I backed up, readying myself to... to do what, exactly? Kill her? That seemed a bit hasty. I couldn’t exactly just up and murder a child, even if it wasn’t really a child.

“What’s wrong?” she said. The voice was too old to be coming from such a small body. “You’re an Angel. Aren’t you going to try to kill me?”

My body morphed on instinct. I grit my teeth the moment before my skin melted away, feeling my bones dissolve and muscles reshape themselves beneath my shiny carapace. In this body, I could feel it, feel how wrong she was. That she needed to die. But still...

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Oh my. Could you be different from the other Angels? Your own master? Someone who can control herself, instead of running into a blind rage, killing anyone or anything that those compound eyes perceive as wrong?”

Was that what Angels were like? “You’re Demons, though. Not human.”

“Does that make it any less a crime to kill us? We’re only trying to live our lives.” As she spoke, her body morphed, aging before my eyes. Within moments she was the same age as me, her suit having magically grown to fit perfectly alongside her. “Perhaps you’re more comfortable with someone like this?” She held out her hand. “A friend. A peer?”

“What do you want?” Demons were always up to something. That was what Heidi had said. Never the truth, only lies to get what they wanted.

She held a hand to her chest, feigning offence. “How rude! I only want to talk to you. To have a chat. To be your friend. Because you’re not like the other Angels. You’re not brainwashed. Not yet. You’re thinking, wondering why they won’t tell you where your parents are. As they keep you here, and that parasite Vespa slowly overwrites your genetic code, changes your very body, twists you to their purposes. And just like that, you’re another Angel.”

“I...” My eyes involuntarily flew to the horrifying insect-flesh-jacket Sarah had given me, still hanging on my bedpost since that first night weeks ago. Come to think of it, wasn’t this whole Angel thing really messed up?

“Oh, you poor thing. You weren’t even questioning that? Just taking it at face value? Accepting their little charade? And I’m the one with ulterior motives? Now here I thought you were smart enough to think for yourself.”

“Okay, I’ll listen.” For a bit. Perhaps I hadn’t been questioning all this stuff quite enough. After all, it was weird, how being an Angel had transformed everything in my life. And what was the worst that could happen? Heidi was just downstairs. I could always call for her if I needed help. Now where was Vespa?

“Good, good.” She smiled, holding out her hand again. “I’m Thea.”

“Quinn.”

She sat down on my bed. “It’s nice to meet you Quinn. So nice to see someone else breaking with the mould. Someone who isn’t like the other Angels. Because you see, I’m not like the other Demons, either.”

“What?”

“I’m so young, really almost brand-new. They’re all so old, so experienced, and so... cruel. Twisting and hurting people to get their ends. No better than the Angels.”

“So then, you don’t like either? Demons or Angels?”

“Quinn, Demons like Ecto are awful. They just take and take, use their paradoxes to steal from humans and enact their sadistic fantasies. He’s obsessed with you guys, you know. Dead-set on finding Sanctuary 73 and torturing you all. Thinks you guys are the only thing holding him back from his grand ambitions. And oh boy are they grand. Why, he’s really itching for promotion from the first sphere, and I— oops, I’m getting ahead of myself. The Demon system is rotten, though. It’s full of people like him who will do anything to scramble to the top of the heap.

“But we aren’t all like that. Some of us, like me, are peaceful. Even so, the Angels come and destroy us and our Echoes, even if most of us do no harm to the people of Earth. We wish no ill will on humans. We just want to live. And yet they come at us again and again and hurt us and kill us and tell us that we are destined to do evil. You know, we don’t want to kill people, or erase people. We actually want to make this place a better place for all of you you. We know that you’re struggling, crushed beneath the boots of the powerful and wealthy. And we have the solution to that. We would bring about a better world for you.”

“Vespa said—”

“Vespa? Quinn, that’s one of the parasites. She is the one corrupting you, rewriting your body into a demon-killing machine. There’s a reason I took her out of the equation.” Thea reached into her pocket and pulled out a small mason jar. Sure enough, a large hornet was buzzing around inside it. “But if you insist on listening to one of those, I’m not going to stay and listen.”

“Fine.” I wanted to hear more. Maybe I could figure out a thing or two from this Demon. “Why should I think that Angels are bad, though?”

“Isn’t it just obvious? Look at your world. Look at how it crumbles, how millions crawl through the mud and filth for scraps while the rich get only richer. How the people cry for justice. And yet there is nobody to listen. Certainly not the Angels, though they have the power. Because Angels only exist to kill and destroy Demons and Echoes. That’s your only purpose. To fight in some cosmic battle, to struggle against us.” She scoffed. “Even though we’re the ones trying to help humanity.

“And all the while, the Angels are slowly changing your genes, transforming who you are into something completely different. It’s miserable. But don’t take my word for it. No, no. Ask them. Ask Nep and see what reasoning she has. It’ll just be more of the same. ‘Don’t trust the Demons.’ ‘Have you considered that Demons could be bad?’” Thea laughed again. “Ignore that we’re living beings. That we only want what’s best for everyone.”

Maybe... maybe she had a point. “But why tell me any of this? I’m...”

“You’re the newest Angel, Quinn. And you’re Vespa’s Angel. But you’re also you. You’re not lost yet into the hazy bloodlust of the other angels. The rage they fly into when faced with real Demons.” At the mention of that, my muscles twitched. This body certainly wanted to move, screaming at me to pounce on her, to tear her apart with my blade, because she was a Demon. But that... that was seriously messed up, wasn’t it? She was a living being. Why would I just... kill her? With a deep breath, my Imago dissolved, and I was left back in my own, human body, breathing heavily. Thea’s eyes widened. “Thank you, Quinn. I’m impressed at your self-control.”

“I... you said you knew something about my parents?”

Thea smiled. “Ecto has been keeping them away. Away from you. But I can show you them, if you want.”

“Do it, then.”

She bit her lip. “Hold on. I can’t do that right away. I need to arrange things first. But sure. You’ll just need a way to get in contact with me... how about this?” she took out a scrap of paper and laid it on my desk. A phone number was neatly scrawled in pen. “Old-fashioned, I know, sorry. But you can call me anytime. If you have any more questions. It might be useful to chat with someone who actually knows a thing or two about Angels and Demons.”

“I’ll think about it. But for now—”

“For now, it’s time to go. Sorry.” She winked and climbed out the window, disappearing into the torrential rain. What? Why had she left so quickly?

Moments later, I’d get my answer. The door swung open, and Heidi stepped inside. “Hey Quinn, how are you doing? Having trouble sleeping?”

I checked the clock at my bedside. It was past midnight. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Just be awake on time tomorrow.” She noticed the jar Thea had laid on the table and chuckled. “What’s Vespa doing in there?”

“Ah!” I’d almost forgotten. “Yeah, she was... being annoying. I’ll let her out soon.”

Heidi chuckled. “Okay, then. Goodnight, Quinn.” She smiled, and now I couldn’t help but feel a pang of suspicion. What really lay behind that smile? What was she thinking? Did she know where my parents were? Or the purpose behind the Angels? I wanted to ask, but I was afraid of the answer. Why was I taking a Demon’s words so seriously? She’d probably been lying the whole time. And the Angels here had been taking such good care of me these past weeks. But I still wanted answers, and I’d have ample time for them tomorrow with Nep. Or so I hoped.

“Goodnight,” I replied. Heidi closed the door and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. And with Vespa. I considered leaving her inside the jar. She’d surely get in the way of any future contact with Thea. But it’d also be suspicious if Vespa just remained absent.

“Well?” she said.

“Well what?” I replied.

“Open the jar.”

“Promise that you won’t tell any of the others about Thea, first.”

“It’s my responsibility to.”

“Promise me. I just... I have to ask her more questions. I need answers, okay? I need to find them.”

Vespa buzzed angrily in the jar, banging herself against the glass over and over again. Of course, it made no real difference. Eventually, she gave up. “Fine.”

How convenient. I unscrewed the jar, and the hornet zipped around the room, landing on my forehead a few times before retiring to the corner of the top shelf, where she liked to rest. It was time for me to sleep as well. But with all the thoughts swirling in my head, I didn’t think I’d be getting any sleep at all.