As much as Jack wanted to hide in his bunk to ponder how he would tell Lucifer about their mediocre progress, he decided it would be best to take Joey into the venue to see some of the other bands. He could use the distraction and the boy was getting bored and hungry. Inside he bought Joey a slice of pizza and they stood near the back to watch the band on stage.

But he paid no attention to them. Instead he could only visualize himself kneeling before Lucifer under the Dark Lord’s vicious glare that intensified with every desperate word of explanation, then getting thrown across the room before a pulse of lava flowed through him once again. Or maybe it would be worse. He didn’t want to think that the others were right, that Lucifer would accept their news as progress and leave him unharmed. Any bit of hope would make the failure hurt worse. He chose to expect only the worst and no less.

He still had one full day before that moment would arrive. And it would be a good day. He missed performing, watching all the auras change before his eyes because of the music they created. Playing guitar had become so much fun, a gift he was forever grateful for. He never wanted it to end even if it would have to end at some point.

There would be another person in the audience, too. Someone who didn’t belong there but he wanted her there anyway. Even though he had hesitated to agree to her terms of coming, it was only because he knew his bandmates would not approve. Jack liked the idea. He liked it very much, in fact. But he would never tell anyone, not even Miles. It was unfortunate enough that Joey had read it from his mind. Though he was certain nothing would come of it, it was fun to pretend that it might.

Between each band, Joey wanted to discuss the music, but Jack had been going in so many mental circles that he couldn’t participate much as he had barely heard any of it. At least the boy seemed so enthralled by all the music that he didn’t seem interested in reading his mind.

After the show they retreated to the bus. Besides the crew and bus driver, the only person in need of sleep was Joey. Jack lay in his bunk anyway, wishing he could sleep. He had done it before, but this time there was too much on his mind, blocking the unnecessary sleep from him. It was only when he forced himself to only think of Annabelle that he could finally relax enough to doze a bit.

Miles questioned Jack’s pep the next morning, but only Joey could see the reason for it. At least the boy’s scowl was faint enough. Jack tried to bring up thoughts of the upcoming show to appease him, and he got out his guitar to help that along. But when the text came that Annabelle had arrived, hiding his happiness was no longer possible.

She was waiting outside the bus door, glowing with pink at the sight of him, and Jack invited her in. “You live in this thing for weeks?” she asked, looking around, especially surprised by the size of the beds.

“It’s cozy once you get used to it.”

“I suppose so. But this room is cute.” She entered the back room where the others were sitting. The band members waved casually, but Joey jumped up and they hugged tightly.

Jack saw how relaxed she was now. “Told you I’d take care of him.”

Annabelle looked up at him. “I knew you would. Thank you.”

It was a tight squeeze for all six of them to sit together in the room, but Jack was glad that Annabelle didn’t seem to mind sitting right next to him, sandwiched very closely between him and Joey. They sat across from the two TV junkies, Cameron twirling his drumstick in his fingers, and Dorian sat nearby with his laptop.

Annabelle had removed her jacket, her bare arm against Jack’s. After a few moments of that contact, she placed her hand on his arm. “You’re so warm. Are you feeling okay?”

Jack thought it a very odd question. Then he remembered how Miles used to use the natural high heat from his body to manipulate snow and realized she must feel that. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She placed her hand on his forehead and frowned. “Are you sure? I think you might have a fever. I’m a nurse, remember?”

“I’m fine, I promise. I’m always like this.”

“Cameron!”

Dorian had made everyone jump when he shouted the drummer’s name. Jack saw that Cameron now had a miniature gavel in his hand to match the one the judge on TV was holding. He quickly tucked it behind him on the seat, avoiding everyone’s glares and Annabelle’s look of confusion. Though Jack was annoyed that the demon had used his powers in the presence of an angel, it at least got them off the topic of his body heat.

They ordered pizza for lunch, all the demons except Joey audibly enjoying it as if they’d never had something so wonderful. “It seems you guys don’t get out much,” Annabelle said. “Jack was the same way when we went out. It’s like you don’t eat or something.”

Jack ignored the observation and focused on the words “when we went out.” He wanted to do that again, and not because of the heavenly food. The heavenly company.

Showtime neared and excitement abounded as they went into the venue’s backstage area. The only one not showing excitement was Annabelle who was now surrounded by a purple haze. “Stick near me and you’ll be okay,” Jack promised, and the pink returned as she did just that.

Since they were the second of five bands, the crowd for their show was somewhat sparser. Jack led his guests out to the crowd and had them stand near the side of the stage where they would be away from the rowdier fans yet still have a good view of the show. And when he took the stage he was glad he had a good view of them as well, not only to make sure they were safe, but to hopefully have a few moments with Annabelle. Not too many so as to not upset Joey and ruin his experience, but enough to increase his enjoyment of his own performance.

Her eyes were on him the entire time; he felt it from the side as he spent most of the show facing forward, watching the crowd go from uncertain to highly entertained. Cameron had done well to choose other bands that would bring people who didn’t know them but would quickly morph into fans. It would help spread the word about their music, and Lucifer might be happy about that.

He put the Dark Lord out of his mind to focus on the moment. The invisible soul bonds between all of the band members were strong, but strongest with Miles, more so than Jack could remember. When they played their melodies in synch or dueled back and forth, there was a rush, a pulse in their connection that their smiles couldn’t even truly illustrate. His own soul was filling with pleasure as he played the instrument he had fallen in love with and sang with the voice that expressed it as much as his fast fingers did. And it was topped off by the woman and the boy to his right.

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Jack stole a glance at Annabelle. Her discomfort was apparent, but her smile was genuine, the pink aura still strong. Being a demon didn’t matter anymore. Demons weren’t supposed to have feelings and emotions, let alone these emotions. He never felt more human than he did in that moment.

After the show, Jack expected his guests to return backstage, but they did not, even after waiting for ten minutes. He was certain Annabelle would want to get out of there as fast as possible. Something didn’t seem right.

“I’m going to look for Annabelle and Joey,” he told Miles. “They should be back here by now.”

“I’ll go with you.”

They went to the side of the stage where the two had been during the show and found that the crowd had thickened there. Two tall men seemed to be looking down menacingly at whoever was in front of them. As Jack approached, he looked between the men and saw one was incredibly close to Annabelle, his hands on her in places they shouldn’t be. She was looking up at her assailant in fear, trying to push his hands away and get past. The other man was pushing Joey back and out of the way, and the red aura around the boy made Jack worry he was about to use his powers in a huge crowd.

It happened before Jack could intervene. The plastic cup of beer in the second man’s hand flew up and into the face of the one groping Annabelle. Though Jack knew it was due to Joey’s power, the target had not seen it and assumed Annabelle had done it as her arms were flailing more to get away. He grabbed her by the neck and yelled.

Jack lunged, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck to pull him back. Though he stumbled from the force, it didn’t stop him from throwing Annabelle to the ground and stomping on her ankle. She cried out loudly.

In an instant, Jack kicked the man behind the knees, knocking him to the ground. The red aura was intense; the bastard was going to Hell anyway, but Jack couldn’t stop himself from wanting to send him there early. He connected.

Fuck-kill-dead-destroy

But Miles grabbed Jack from behind, thrusting the Soul Reacher’s right arm behind his back and between them to hide the developing glow of his hand. After a moment, the man on the floor put up his hands. “All right, all right, I’m out of here.” His friend helped him up and they walked away under the glares of many. Then the glares stopped and everyone went about their conversations again. Miles had cleaned up the mess for him.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Miles hissed in Jack’s ear before releasing him.

“Thanks for that.” Relieved that the close calls of a show of demonic powers had been averted, Jack got to his knees beside Annabelle, who was sitting up slightly, holding her ankle as she cried. Some other fans were beside her attempting to comfort her along with Joey. Jack was thankful that Miles knew what to do, subconsciously telling everyone to step away and mind their own business. Without hesitation, Jack put his arms around the trembling woman, who almost instantly relaxed against his chest.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his face close to hers. “I’m sorry. Will you be okay?”

She nodded and met his eyes for a moment. Almost all the purple disappeared from around her, the pink fading in.

Jack helped her to her feet, and with Joey’s help led her backstage. Dorian and Cameron looked at them in surprise, and Miles went to them, likely to tell them that Jack had nearly ripped the soul out of a man in front of nearly a thousand people. Jack led Annabelle to a couch, and Joey brought a chair for her to elevate her ankle. He kept his arm around her, and she did not pull away in the slightest.

“I’m really sorry about that,” he said again.

“Stop that.”

“It’s true though.”

“You rescued me. Thank you.” She looked at Joey. “I really wish you hadn’t done what you did. I thought you’d learned to not show your powers in front of strangers like that.”

“I’m sorry,” Joey said. “I was just so mad.”

“I don’t think anyone noticed,” Jack said, knowing his own mistake would have been much more costly. “It’s okay.”

Cameron came over with some ice, which Annabelle placed over her injury. “Next time I come to your show,” she said, “I’m not standing in the crowd.”

Jack smiled. “I’m surprised you’d willingly come to our show again after this.”

Her return smile was accompanied by a blush. “Your music’s not terrible like the others, so coming to be with Joey isn’t torture.”

Jack laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

After a few minutes of sitting quietly, Jack still with his arm around her and Joey still fuming over what had happened, Annabelle requested to go to the bathroom. They helped her there, and when she came out a while later, she seemed to be walking normally.

“Feeling better?” Jack said, trying to hide a smirk. He knew she had healed herself but didn’t want her to feel like she’d spoiled her own secret.

Annabelle added a fake limp. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m feeling better already. I’d like to get out of here if that’s okay.”

She accepted an invitation to join them on the bus once again, a relief as Jack was worried she wanted to go home already. She sat beside him, his arm over her shoulders again. He ignored all the looks from everyone else, ranging from curious to concerned to annoyed. They watched as Joey practiced his guitar more, everyone complimenting his exceptional progress. Dorian eventually went to the front of the bus to have peace on his computer, and Cameron got up to walk around as well. Though Miles was watching TV, he continuously glanced at Jack, who returned the look casually. There was no doubt Miles was judging his actions, especially when Annabelle rested her head on his shoulder.

He looked down at her, his face so close to the top of her head that her hair tickled his nose, his breath rustling the stray strands. Surely she could feel it, sense it, but she didn’t move. And he stayed that way, wishing he could connect to her that way, not requiring her eyes, just simply the closeness. It worked with his bandmates, though that was a connection for different reasons. She was a supernatural being, but maybe it only worked with demons.

At last she looked up, their faces so close together that they both pulled back slightly, Annabelle blushing. She looked like she was going to speak, but Jack took the opportunity to connect like he wanted, deeper than he’d been able to before.

Her soul was a wide open door that his could walk through so easily. Not a single bit of resistance.

Awkward-nice-sweet-strange-go-leave

Instead of his actual hand glowing and reaching and grasping, which he could have done with no effort whatsoever, it was as if his own soul grew fingers and gripped hers through the invisible connection. He hoped he was gentle enough for it to not be noticeable or scary for her.

Go now-wait-like-nice-wonderful-warm-stay

“What?” he asked, knowing she wanted to say something.

“Never mind,” she said with a smile, and relaxed beside him again. The connection remained even after their gaze was broken. He put all his focus on holding it for as long as possible. It also helped him ignore the look of revulsion from Joey and the raised eyebrow from Miles across the room.

Soon Cameron walked back in, stopping short at the scene of the angel and demon, stumbling on his words. “Uh…so…the driver wants to get moving. Hate to kick anyone out, but…”

Annabelle sat up and Jack reluctantly released her. “I should get going anyway,” she said. “I have church in the morning and we have a long drive ahead.”

Jack walked their guests outside and saw Joey’s relief turn to annoyance once again when Annabelle turned back. She was no longer doing a fake limp and no one questioned it. He knew that as soon as she left, the connection he’d been holding would be broken, and though he could get it back easily, he didn’t want to wait to regain it.

“So…” Annabelle said, “I had a nice time with you tonight.”

“Even though you got assaulted and stomped on?”

“I said with you. I had a nice time with you.”

“Same.” The sheepish woman didn’t seem so sheepish at the moment. And the few minutes twice a day during the week would not be nearly enough time to enjoy anything. “If you’re interested,” he continued, “we could get together again. Go out or something. Us. You know.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. I assume you’re busy tomorrow with your meetings or whatever.”

Jack did not want the reminder of his meeting with Lucifer. “Yeah. Sundays are bad still.”

“Can we go already?” Joey was now next to them, exasperated.

Annabelle rolled her eyes. “Fine.” To Jack she waved and said, “We’ll talk later.”

“Goodbye, Annabelle.”

She stopped after one step. “You can call me Annie.”

“Okay, Annie.”

He watched them walk away, and though the connection faded and eventually vanished, there was still a piece inside him that remained.

I don’t care how wrong this is. I don’t care. These are human feelings, and I won’t let it go.