The only difference between the first guitar lesson and the second was the atmosphere in the studio went from apprehensive to calm fairly quickly. Jack allowed Joey to read his lessons from his mind, testing how detailed his ability was by thinking of complicated chord combinations. The boy consistently aced everything, and Jack couldn’t help but marvel in his abilities, both in mind reading and guitar playing.

Annabelle still sat in the producer’s chair, but she was much more relaxed, no longer clutching her purse like she was afraid it would be stolen or sitting straight up like a statue. Instead, she leaned back and to the side, her chin resting on her hand as she watched Joey learn. There was pride in her eyes. Jack remembered what she had said at the concert, that Joey had been sheltered and she was trying to fix the damage; whatever that plan was seemed to be going to her satisfaction.

During the second hour of the lesson, Jack felt the angel’s eyes on him almost constantly. For a moment he worried that she might be able to tell who he really was, that maybe she had some sort of power to sense it. But whenever he returned the gaze, he saw she was not scrutinizing him, that there was no concern there. She was studying him, but peacefully. And that pink aura was more apparent. He was disappointed he had to focus on Joey instead of investigating what that color meant.

“What about pink?” Joey asked.

Shit. “Never mind.” Jack shook his head while Joey stifled a snicker.

After the lesson it was Annabelle who hung back at the front door, motioning for Joey to stand away on the sidewalk. “Listen,” she said to Jack, “I just want to thank you for doing this. He’s loving it so much and considering how well he’s doing, you’re obviously an excellent teacher.”

Jack leaned against the door frame and smiled. “Nah. He’s a natural. I’m serious. Might be time to get a guitar of his own maybe.”

“I’m sure he’d love that. Not sure I can afford it right now. I assume those things are expensive.”

An idea popped into his mind. “I got you, don’t worry.” He winked. The pink got stronger.

“You’re not going to buy him a guitar, are you? I can’t let you do that.”

“You can and you will.” To his disappointment she looked down, leaving him unable to read her once again.

“I suppose I can’t stop you.”

“Nope. And if you need anything else, let me know. Anything.”

Annabelle smiled, then chuckled. “I don’t suppose you know how to tutor high school subjects too. Joey needs one.”

“I don’t…” Jack stood up straight. “But I know someone who can.” Looking inside the house, he said, “Dorian, how would you like to play high school teacher?”

“Excuse me?” The intelligent demon sat on a chair in the living room, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

“I was really just joking,” Annabelle said, though her face showed disappointment.

Jack looked at his band mate. “Don’t be a dick, Dorian. I know that’s hard for you, but help them out. It’s not like you to decline an opportunity to show off your brilliant mind.”

To his relief, Dorian seemed to understand Jack’s insistent expression. He nodded. “All right. What do you need me to teach?”

Annabelle began playing with the strap of her purse. “Are you a teacher?”

“You could say that. I’ve been…sharing knowledge for a long time.”

“Oh. Well, the thing is, Joey can’t exactly go to school. He kind of clashes with other kids his age, to put it lightly. He’s been homeschooled since he was eight, and long story short his schooling fell through when he moved in with me and I’m kind of stuck. I worry about him, you know, well…” She looked at Jack for a moment. “You experienced what he can do, and I worry he’ll scare someone. But since he’s comfortable with you and you seem okay with his…specialness…then maybe you could help him get a GED or something. I want things as normal as possible for him.”

Dorian seemed to soften. “I can do that. No problem. He’s welcome to come here during the day. We’re not going anywhere.”

Annabelle nodded, though Jack saw some purple surround her. “I’ll have to leave him alone with you because I work during the day.”

“He’ll be fine with us,” Jack assured her. “He’s a teenager, I don’t think he needs much babysitting.”

“You say that now.” Annabelle sighed. “But okay. I can drop him off on my way to work and pick him up after. As long as you’re sure you don’t mind him hanging around all day. He can get…excited easily.”

Jack smiled. “Don’t worry. We can handle it.”

The pink returned and she smiled. “Thank you so much.”

She motioned for Joey to come back and told him about his new teacher. His face lit up. “No way! Really? For real? You guys are the best!”

Promising to start lessons the next day, the band bid their guests farewell and looked at each other once they were gone.

“She’s seriously going to leave the kid with us every day?” Cameron said. “Can this get any easier?”

But Jack was not thinking about his job now. “I need you to do me a favor,” he said to the drummer. “Think you can make a guitar out of raw materials for Joey?”

* * *

“What happened to your microwave?”

As Joey was escorted to the dining table, he spotted the dismantled appliance on the kitchen counter. Since the demons never used it, Dorian had suggested Cameron take the metal parts inside in order to create the necessary electronics for Joey’s guitar. He had also requested it remain in pieces so he could study it later.

“Dorian’s really into electronics,” Jack said, glad to not be entirely lying. “We’re having some trouble with it and he’s working on fixing it.”

The boy seemed to accept that and sat at the table as instructed. Dorian had notebooks and pencils laid out on the table, smiling as if excited to show off all he knew. Jack decided to sit with them, curious to see Dorian’s reaction to getting lessons read from his mind.

But Joey had other ideas. “So, now that Annie’s not here, you’re gonna tell me about myself now, right? That’s the real reason I’m here, isn’t it?”

Jack had completely forgotten about making such a promise, but it was clear he could not avoid it now. He ignored Dorian’s glare.

“That’s not the reason,” Jack said. “But I suppose now is as good a time as any.”

“Jack…” Dorian growled.

“Shut up, you’ll get your turn.”

“No. We need to talk.” To Joey, Dorian said, “Excuse us a second.”

Jack followed him out of sight of the table and sighed as he prepared for Dorian’s argument.

“Have you completely lost your mind?” Dorian was in his face, his whisper like a hiss. “You can’t just openly tell him all about us like that. About everything.”

“I’m not going to tell him everything. Just what he needs to know.”

“He doesn’t need to know anything. If you tell him about where he came from, he’s gonna want to know how we know that. How will you explain that? How will you explain that his favorite band knows all about him?”

Jack didn’t want to admit that he hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe…maybe he’ll trust us more if we tell him who we are. He probably already suspects something about me. I think he knows that I know what his aunt is. Might as well explain it.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“And when he tells her about that? We are fucked!”

“No we are not. We make him keep it a secret.”

“The kid can’t even keep secret that he reads minds. That’s kind of a big secret. What makes you think he’ll keep this one?”

Again Jack didn’t want to give credit to Dorian’s good points. He thought about suggesting they just take his soul if he seems untrustworthy in the moment, but he hesitated. The excited face of the boy waiting for them in the next room was something he didn’t want to lose. He didn’t want this boy to be afraid of him after all he’d done, after how they’d connected so deeply. “What if…what if we tell him how we’re looking for Buriel and we’d like his help. We explain how we’re trying to avoid a war, and that Annabelle finding out would be dangerous. He’d understand that. If I explain it to him, he’ll listen to me. I know he will.”

Dorian was silent, staring at him. Jack took the opportunity to try reading him; the demon wouldn’t dare attack him in retaliation for doing it, not with Joey present.

Wrong-stupid-fool-maybe-bad-maybe—

The connection that had remained tight between them since resolving their argument months ago suddenly expanded. Painfully expanded. Dorian’s eyes widened for a brief moment before he scowled and a burst of electricity came through and spread through his nerves. Jack screamed, the lights in the house flickered, and he collapsed, twitching on the floor.

When his body calmed and vision cleared slightly, he looked up at his attacker. Dorian’s gaze was on the doorway to the kitchen. Joey stood there, eyes wide with fear. “How did you do that?” he squeaked.

Jack slowly sat up, still numb and trembling. “Well, Dorian, you fucking idiot, what do you suggest we tell him now?”

“What did you see?” Dorian asked Joey.

“You…you electrocuted him. With your mind.”

Dorian sighed and closed his eyes.

“Are you like me? Do you have powers like me? Are you…demons too?”

Cameron had come out of the bedroom adjacent to the living room, and Miles had come downstairs, now standing behind Joey.

“Well done, Dorian,” Miles said. “I thought you were the smart one.”

“This fool,” Dorian growled, pointing at Jack still on the floor, “decided it would be a good idea to just tell the kid everything. When I told him he was insane, he got in my head. Just like he did in front of Lucifer. Blame him for pissing me off.”

“Lucifer?” Joey asked. “You are demons.” Though he was shaking now, there was light in his eyes.

Cameron came over and helped Jack to his feet. “Better hope Malphas didn’t detect that little outburst,” the drummer said.

“He won’t,” Dorian said. “That was nothing.” His voice was laced with embarrassment. “Tell him, Jack. Tell him what you told me you would.”

Jack motioned for Joey to go back to the table and sat beside him. Miles and Cameron sat in the other two chairs while Dorian hung back, leaning against the wall with arms crossed and head down.

“Listen,” he began, “What I’m about to tell you is a secret beyond any secret you’ve ever had to keep. You must not tell anyone, especially Annabelle.”

“Oh, I won’t,” Joey said. “She’ll freak out. I promise I won’t tell her.”

“Okay. Yes, we are demons. We each have powers, strong like you, but different.”

“I can do stuff with electricity too,” Joey said. “Not zapping people from my head like that, but I can control it around me, like make it burst out of an outlet or something. And take over things like tablets and TVs. But you knew that already. What powers do you have?”

“I’ll explain all that later. What I need to explain first is what you’ve been wanting to know. But before that, I need you to tell me what you know about your origins.”

“Well, all I know is what Annie told me, and I know she hasn’t told me everything. She said that they ‘think’ a demon attacked my mom and that’s how I was made. I know how babies are made, so that’s pretty scary to think about, you know, what happened to her. Then she died when I was born. That’s all I know.”

“Who’s ‘they’?”

“Annie and my grandparents. Well, my grandparents are certain of it, Annie probably too, but she’s always been in denial. About a lot of things actually.” Joey leaned forward on the table, looking closely at Jack. “You know she’s an angel, don’t you. I keep telling her she is, but she doesn’t believe me. But you can tell because you’re a demon, right?”

“I can, yes. These guys can’t. But I’ll explain all that later. Now, listen carefully, okay? Your ‘father’ for lack of a better term, is a really nasty, evil demon named Buriel. He got summoned to Earth somehow, and either your mom was involved in that or was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Annie said she was hanging out with the wrong crowd. She’d never summon a demon.”

“So Annabelle is actually related to your mom?”

“Yeah. Though she was adopted when she was a baby.”

“Annabelle was?” Jack looked at his friends, knowing they were thinking about possibilities of her origins. ”Interesting.”

“You’re not gonna hurt her, are you?”

“No. Definitely not.”

Joey seemed to read the truth in that statement from his mind. “Okay. But…why were you looking for me? Are you gonna take me to my dad? To Hell?” He scooted back slightly in his chair, his face filled with terror. “You are. That’s what you want from me.”

“No—”

“I’ve spent my whole life trying to avoid going to Hell. So many times I’ve wanted to kill myself because my life has been awful. My grandpa has tried to kill me so many times and condemned me because I’m a demon, making me feel like the worst thing ever. I’ve been locked in a room for eight years with nothing but music to keep me from crying every day. But I didn’t kill myself because I know I’ll go to Hell no matter how much I’ve prayed and read the Bible and believed so hard. Don’t take me there. I won’t let you!”

The lights flickered again, the sound of intense electricity filling the room. The outlets began to sizzle and Jack’s heart pounded.

“No, Joey, we’re not taking you anywhere. We’re not doing anything to you. We need you. Here on Earth. We need your help.”

There were tears in the boy’s eyes as he looked at Jack. His aura was stronger now, still fainter than normal but almost entirely purple. Tentatively Jack connected, trying not to think about doing it, just doing it.

Why-he cared-nice-scared-please-don’t-nice

Joey winced and Jack released him. I’m not going to hurt you, he thought, hoping Joey could read it. I promise you. Please don’t be scared. You are safe with me. I promise.

The purple faded and Joey relaxed, the electric sensations dissipating from the room. But a blue aura remained, and the tears stayed.

“Listen, Joey,” Jack continued, his voice soft, “Buriel is a terrible demon. He’s so evil that literally every demon in Hell hates him. And that’s saying a lot. The problem is, after he attacked your mom, he got away. Him and two of his dukes. They’re still here on Earth somewhere, killing people. And we need to stop them before he causes a war.”

Joey blinked. “You’re…trying to stop a demon from doing bad things?”

“Yes. Sounds crazy, I know, but believe it or not Lucifer actually wants to avoid a Holy War. Buriel has somehow gone mostly undetected for seventeen years, but it’s only a matter of time before he kills the wrong person or gets too much power. So we’ve been sent here to stop him.”

“How can I help? I don’t know where he is.”

“I know. I was hoping maybe you’d know more about that night, the attack on your mom. I do know that Buriel has taken a human form of some sort, which Dorian says is impossible unless he possessed a human somehow. Perhaps the humans that summoned him in the first place. I suppose Annabelle might know them?”

“She might. I can try to ask her maybe, but I know that whole thing is hard for her to talk about. She was really close to her sister…my mom. It actually feels weird to call her that because she didn’t want me. I understand why, but still.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through so much and that you feel like ending it all. Please don’t. The world needs you.”

“I stopped thinking like that after I moved in with Annie. She’s always been the only one to ever care about me. She lets me be myself. That’s something I never got to do.”

“And now you get to be even more like yourself. You are really powerful, but so is Buriel, and we might actually need your help in bringing him down. The four of us are strong, but we’ll be even stronger with you. Will you help us?”

“Of course.”

Jack smiled, relief flooding him. “Thank you. Now, it would really help if you could get more information from Annabelle about that night, but you can’t tell her that it’s because of us. Insist it’s just your own right to know.”

“Okay. I will.” Joey paused as he looked around at everyone. “I think maybe if I’m working with you guys, I also have a right to know more about you. What powers do you all have?”

Cameron stood. “Well, some of my powers are pretty easy to demonstrate.” He went to the sink and turned it on, letting the water flow for a couple seconds before placing his palm on the faucet. When it turned to wine, Joey gasped. “I’d offer you some wine,” Cameron said, “but I think there’s some law about that.”

“That’s super cool, but how are you going to stop Buriel with that?”

Cameron laughed. “Well, I haven’t tried yet but I might be able to turn blood into wine too. Something to keep in mind. But my main thing is transforming objects. On my own I can turn one thing into another.” He picked up the square metal grill from the top of one of the stove burners and morphed it into a giant knife, its sharp tip gleaming in the light.

“Okay, now that is useful.”

“Yeah, but only if I have a material handy. If I don’t, but I have these guys handy, I can turn organic material into metal. Gave Jack a steel throat once. Would have killed him fast if he weren’t already dead.”

Joey gaped. “That’s amazing.” He looked at Jack and Miles. “What about you guys?”

“My powers are similar to your mind control stuff,” Miles said. “Usually just the power of suggestion, getting into their subconscious, making them do stuff. But now I’ve learned that with a boost of power I can do the same to other demons, and it hurts them. Right, Jack?”

“Yeah. Felt like you were sucking out my brain.”

“And since Buriel has a human form, he’s got a brain. At the very least I can distract him enough to give Jack an opportunity to do what he needs to.”

Joey looked at Jack. “And what is it you do?”

Jack hesitated. As much as his friends had some pretty savage abilities, they weren’t as deadly as his. But if he didn’t tell the truth, the boy would read it from his mind anyway. “I’m a kind of demon called a Soul Reacher. I connect to the souls of humans and can read their emotions. If I choose to connect deep enough, I’m able to…to…take their soul.”

There was silence in the room as Joey stared. “You kill people,” he whispered at last.

“I haven’t killed anyone in a really long time. Many, many years. But yeah, I used to kill every day. Only certain types of people, those who were sinners but close to redemption. I never liked doing it. I hated it. But I had no choice. Miles was my partner, tempting certain people to steal so they would be closer to the line between Heaven and Hell. But now I can do the same to demons, as long as I share power with these guys. The plan is to make Buriel and his dukes my next victims.”

Joey’s faint aura gained more purple again, staring at Jack.

Please don’t hate me. Please don’t be scared of me. I won’t hurt you. I promise.

When the boy relaxed once again, Jack was for once grateful that he could read his mind. He knew his companions would not approve of his words. And he knew at least Miles would know that he actually meant them.