Joey was grateful that Jack remained at the table during his lessons, even though the demon seemed incredibly bored by it all. It was like having two guardian angels, or one angel and a guardian demon as Joey began to refer to him as, though he kept that secret from him. And Annabelle had become more relaxed about leaving him during the day as the week went on, as Joey assured her that Jack was taking good care of him. He had never felt safer while away from her.

Dorian didn’t seem to be a threat now, especially since there wasn’t as much tension between him and Jack for the time being. And he couldn’t deny how much fun he was having soaking up all the knowledge floating around in Dorian’s head. And to his surprise, Dorian was starting to act excited to share more and more of it, no longer anxious about having his mind read.

By Wednesday, Joey sensed that Dorian’s mind was open wider, like the library doors had expanded and were completely open, subconsciously welcoming him in. He couldn’t resist the temptation in front of him; after soaking in the lesson of the moment, Joey ignored everything being said, instead sifting through whatever he could find. Things completely unrelated to what was being taught. While Dorian’s brain was going through geometry collections, Joey was studying the demonology, or while Dorian was thinking about world history, Joey was learning about science. That part of his brain was one of the biggest and densest, and since Joey had not learned much of it due to his religious-based education, he wanted to know it all. Know as much as his teacher.

Finally he couldn’t hold back anymore. “You know a lot about science stuff,” he said, even though it was irrelevant to the current topic. “Can you teach me that?”

Dorian’s eyes brightened. “Sure. What kind of science in particular?”

“Anything. Everything. All of it.”

“Okay. Well, since we’ve done a lot of algebra, we can talk about physics. It’s one of my favorite topics.”

“Yes please.”

And the science section spilled out, seeming to engulf Dorian’s brain and taking over everything else. There was a strange excitement taking place, a passion Joey had not seen before from his teacher. He dug through the massive pile of physics information, not able to take it all in as fast as he normally would. Something told him to keep digging, to find the end as if looking through a giant pile of books to find what was at the bottom. Then he saw it. A picture. A faint one. Only the hazy form of a man standing behind a dark counter, a tall, long desk of some sort with unidentifiable objects scattered on top around the hands that lay on top. Only the man’s hands, arms and chest were visible, dressed in a casual suit that included a dark jacket and white buttoned shirt with no tie. He studied it hard, trying to see it clearer, but his subject pulled away.

“What are you doing?” Dorian asked, rubbing his forehead. “Don’t tell me you’re like Jack and can hold me hostage in my head.”

Joey ignored the comment. “Were you maybe a teacher when you were human?”

There was silence at the table, Jack looking surprised while Dorian stared in annoyance. “I don’t know what I was when I was human. All my memories were removed.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Trust me. I remember the procedure extremely well and remember nothing from before it. Quit digging through my brain like that. It hurts. You want me to teach this to you or what?”

“Sorry.”

Joey went back to his usual sponge-like intake of the information at the forefront of Dorian’s mind, though the picture he had seen tempted him greatly. He could think of no other reason for it; Dorian had said all his earthly work was done in public places, not in classrooms. It had to be an old memory from long ago. Something left behind.

During his afternoon guitar lesson, he decided to try it with Jack. He’d possibly be more receptive to having him dig into his mind. But having to look down at his guitar repeatedly kept him from digging too deep.

“You’re trying to do what you did to Dorian, aren’t you.”

Joey opened his mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say. Had he been that obvious?

“What did you see in him?”

“Just a picture of someone in a classroom. I couldn’t see a face. Maybe it was nothing.”

He read the curious thoughts from Jack, a hesitation to ask him for the same information.

“You want me to try with you?”

“I guess if you want.”

“Okay. Think about music or what you’re teaching me.” Joey dove in gently. What was inside was drastically different from Dorian. No overwhelming sections of knowledge crammed in every corner. They were smaller and more sporadic, the largest being the one currently spilling musical knowledge. The others seemed more general, likely regular information on human living. But there were seemingly untouchable areas, however, that looked more like bubbles or balloons, colorful and opaque. He chose to leave them alone, instead focusing on the main subject of music.

He dug through it all just like he had with Dorian, looking for the bottom of the pile, the end of the cluttered hall. But there was nothing there other than knowledge. No picture. No memory.

Joey pulled away and Jack squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing his head.

“Sorry if that hurt,” Joey said. “I didn’t see anything like I did with Dorian.”

“Well, I can tell you for sure I was not a musician when I was human. I was given this ability by another demon specifically for this mission.”

“Really? That’s cool. Though I was kind of hoping you’d have been a musician before, too.”

Jack smiled, but behind it Joey read the thoughts of disappointment. If there was one person he wanted to find the truth about, it was his guardian demon.

* * *

It was getting harder for Joey to hide his annoyance at Annabelle’s change in demeanor upon being in Jack’s presence twice a day. Even though it was never for more than a couple of minutes, it seemed to be the highlight of her day. She was getting more talkative, and at first it seemed like Jack was just listening to be polite or was just as amused at her not entirely subtle interest, but soon he changed.

That Wednesday, instead of reading Annabelle’s usual thoughts of gushing that she couldn’t suppress, Joey started to read Jack. He was looking more interested, casually leaning against the door frame as he encouraged conversation with her. But his thoughts were strange, not the usual sentence structure, just bursts of words, somewhat muffled. Words that seemed odd coming from him. They were more fitting for Annabelle.

Wow—sweet—care

There were long, staticky pauses between words.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Nice—better

Jack was smiling, but with all the strange words flying through, Joey couldn’t tell what was driving it.

Handsome—

The smile broadened and Joey couldn’t prevent himself from rolling his eyes. It wasn’t until they finally bid goodbye that normal thoughts returned to Jack’s head.

I like this. Her.

“Let’s go, Joey,” Annabelle said, her scowl showing she had not missed his irritated expression. As they walked down the street to where the car was parked she said, “I wish you would mind your own business once in a while.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”

“Well, I think you should work on that. I’d like to have a private life if possible.”

Joey sighed. He knew she was right. But he wasn’t comfortable letting this one go. “I don’t think you should get involved with him.”

She scrutinized him. “Why not? Is he bad? Should I be worried about you?”

“No, no, nothing like that.” He struggled to find a reason that didn’t involve the truth. “It would just be awkward.”

They reached the car and got in, but Annabelle wasn’t done. “Well, I can’t get into a relationship with him anyway. Atheists are off limits, obviously.”

“He’s not atheist.”

Annabelle paused her movement of starting the car. “He’s not? He’s a believer?”

Joey saw thoughts of hope. “Technically, yeah. But still…”

“He’s still off limits anyway.” Annabelle started the car, disappointment returning. “He’s in a secular heavy metal band. Can you imagine Grandpa and Grandma’s reaction if I brought him home? I’m just going to enjoy him from afar, and you’re going to mind your own business.”

As they drove off, Joey tried to read her through the corner of his eye. Without a full view he couldn’t get full thoughts. But she seemed to be hesitating to say something. “What?” he said finally.

“Did you…read his mind too?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he say anything about me? In his thoughts, I mean.”

Joey thought about lying, telling her Jack hadn’t been thinking about her, but her hopeful thoughts tugged at him. “Yeah.”

“What was it? Does he think I’m annoying? No dirty thoughts, I hope.”

“No. Just that he likes you.”

Annabelle smiled, quite content for the rest of the ride home. The only reprieve Joey had was that Annabelle would keep herself out of reach for the very reason she had stated. Her parents would never accept someone like Jack.

That night, after retiring to his room, Joey got out his tablet, its bright screen highlighting his face in the otherwise dark room. He pulled up a search engine, but struggled to think of what might give him good results about Dorian’s human life. Of course more than one teacher had died over time, and with no name or age or location to go by, he knew he’d never find Dorian’s former life. He searched for “teacher death” and had a variety of results from all over, mostly from more recent years and spread all over the country. None of the teachers were science teachers that he could tell. Jack had said he’d been a demon for decades; perhaps Dorian had been as well. But how many decades? He decided to try “teacher death 2000” but nothing stood out to him as possibly being Dorian. He tried 2001 and 2002, then gave up. Even if he did the same search for every single year, there was no guarantee he’d find him. He needed to narrow it down. He needed to question Dorian further. But what to ask someone who had no clues to give was the biggest roadblock of all.

* * *

“I’ve found a handful of missing humans that Buriel and his gang may have...borrowed.” Dorian was at the computer in the studio, surrounded by his bandmates and Joey. “None of them are from the area, though. And in no case are all three mentioned together. There’s a set of two in New York, and another different set in California. All the rest are just about one person. We really need more details on what the attackers look like.”

“In other words, you want me to ask Lucifer to let me see any possible analysis they’ve saved,” Jack said.

“Well…” Dorian hesitated to meet his gaze. “That’s up to you. It would help. And maybe if Lucifer can understand that it’s important for our plan, he’ll let you.”

“He doesn’t often listen to reason.”

“I’m well aware of that. This whole mission is born of his lack of reasoning. The other option is to ask the angel, and I can assure you that will open up a very dangerous door.”

“I doubt she’d recognize them anyway,” Joey said.

“All right.” Jack sighed and rubbed his head. “I’ll ask him. But if I get tortured again, I’m taking it out on you.”

Joey wondered what torture he was talking about. It was the second time he’d mentioned it. He thought perhaps he could ask him during their guitar lesson, but with the thoughts of dread flashing through the demon’s mind, Joey decided it might be a bad idea. Besides, he had more pressing questions to ask Dorian instead.

Since Joey had been excelling so much at the algebra and geometry he’d been taught in such a short time, Dorian offered more advanced topics like calculus. “As much as I love talking about science topics, and I’m glad it interests you, we’re going to take a break on that for now. I don’t enjoy having my brain sifted through like a junk drawer.”

“Okay,” Joey agreed. “Can I ask you something first though?”

“You can ask.”

“Your job that you talked about, where you got people to drop their religion, where did you do that? Did you travel all over or stay in the same place?”

“My region was all of Texas. Occasionally I’d get sent to Oklahoma or Arkansas, but that was rare. We all have assigned regions. Jack and Miles did the Midwest, and I think Cameron said he was in California somewhere. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious. This demon stuff is interesting. I still don’t like being one, but it’s just so different from all I’ve ever been told.”

As Dorian began his calculus lesson, Joey soaked up everything he could before pretending to listen while he pondered his teacher. What if their work location was the same place they had died? They had their appearance and name changed, it could be possible. He would narrow his search down more by location, but didn’t have his hopes up. And what if that picture he found wasn’t even Dorian? He knew he’d eventually get another chance to see it, maybe get a clearer look if he tried hard enough. While watching Dorian write out equations in the notebook, Joey stared at his hands, trying to memorize their shape just in case they hadn’t been changed. Every inch, every crease of each knuckle, the shape of every fingernail. If he could remember that, he could compare to the hands in the picture.

All he needed now was to access that picture again.

* * *

Something very strange was happening. Strange but quite enjoyable. And very, very wrong. So wrong that Annabelle thought she might go to Hell just for pondering the possibility.

He’s a believer. It’s okay. It’s not wrong.

The idea of inviting him to church had crossed Annabelle’s mind a few times since Joey had told her of Jack not being an atheist as she had thought. Such an invitation had never been difficult for her before. She’d been able to encourage quite a few people to join their church. But for some reason, this time it felt awkward. Too awkward to follow through.

But if she could get him to come to church and make a good impression—which she was certain he would, as he had made an excellent impression on her—then he wouldn’t be forbidden, perhaps even accepted by her parents. But the words would never come out.

She wished the guide voice would show up, give her some confidence, even insist she do it. Though the last time she’d heard it, she defied it, so maybe that wouldn’t even help after all. No, she would need a different tactic, something that would get their conversation away from the front door and Joey’s prying eyes. Some way to become friends instead of acquaintances. Yes, then it would be easier. Maybe.

But for days she was too busy being mesmerized. It felt so weird to call it that, but there was no other word to describe it. When she looked into his eyes it was like something warm was going through her and into her heart. No, her soul.

By Friday she finally decided to try. “So,” she began, “are you busy on Sunday?”

Her heart sank as he almost immediately became uncomfortable. “Actually, Sundays aren’t good days for me. Music business meetings and stuff. You know.”

“Meetings on a Sunday?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it seems weird probably but that’s just how it is. But”—he stood up straight suddenly, the smile that had disappeared now coming back—“I’m free any other day. Or night. Whenever.”

Things were now much more awkward than she had expected. She didn’t want it to seem like she was asking him out on a date. That would be very weird. “Oh. Well…” She looked at Joey, who was standing at the bottom of the steps with his arms crossed, looking at both of them. “I’ll see. Maybe. Something sometime. Or something.”

Jack chuckled. “Sure. See you Monday then.”

Thankfully, Joey waited until they were in the car before he berated her. “So you’re not going to listen to me, are you. Why would you? Of course. I’m telling you, it’s a bad idea.”

“Joey, I was just—”

“Inviting him to church. I know. But he thinks you want a date, and he wants one too. This is weird, so just stop, okay?”

Annabelle sighed. “Is there something I should know about him? Something bad? Because you are freaking out over a little crush.”

“No, he’s not…bad. I told you, it’s just weird and awkward.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I will not be asking him out von a date. Call me old fashioned, but that’s just…abnormal.”

“And if he asks you out? Then what?”

“I’ll say yes, obviously.”

Joey groaned and leaned his head back against the seat. “Didn’t you say he’s off limits anyway?”

“It would just be to get to know him better. That’s hard to do when you and his friends are hovering around.”

“Whatever,” Joey grumbled, slumping in his seat with arms crossed again.

That was all it would be. Becoming friends rather than acquaintances. There was nothing wrong with that.