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“Why would that make me feel better? I feel like we have something in common now, though—both of us were fooled by him.”
“I was not fooled by anyone. I followed him willingly.”
“So, what made you join the rebels?” I pressed. Getting answers out of him was like bleeding a stone; he was replying but the tension could be felt for miles. Finally, it looked like I’d hit a nerve, and everything came pouring out.
“He left us here to rot. We gave up everything for him and we waited, dutifully, our beautiful forms twisted into these abominations you see before you. Abaddon was not my leader, I did not choose to follow him, yet he placed himself as King. He promised us a better life down here. Ultimately, we swapped God for Abaddon and were worse off for it.”
I hadn’t realized until then, but his hands had been balled into fists the whole time he spoke. Malachi lowered his head, looked at his hooves, then turned his eyes up at me. “I joined the rebels because I was sick of unfulfilled promises.”
I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You saved my life. Because of you, I have a chance to fulfill the promises I made. I owe you, Malachi… I owe all of you, and I swear on my own Light, I’ll do everything in my power to protect you and the rest of your people when we get to Earth.”
He didn’t seem instantly moved by what I had just said, and I couldn’t blame him, but he did visibly loosen. “You believe your own words, that much is true. Whether you can accomplish this monumental task remains to be seen, but I make you a promise of my own: if you betray my people, I will kill you myself.”
He reached his hand toward my face. I recoiled, expecting to feel his hands wrap around my throat, but instead he caressed my cheeks. “This will not hurt,” he said, as his hands began to feel warm against my skin.
“I didn’t think demons cared about their appearance,” I said.
“Some do, but it comes in handy when you are part of a resistance group.” The heat stopped and he retracted his hand. “That’s it.”
“That’s it?”
“I would give you a mirror to look at yourself with, but we really should make our way to the surface.”
“Wait, at least tell me what you’ve done to me.” I looked at my hands. “Why are my hands red? How did you change the color of my marks?”
“I changed your skin tone and the color of your eyes. I gave you sharpened canines, and I elongated your ears. I also scarred up your face a little. No one should be able to recognize you as an angel from a distance, but you won’t be able to hide your resonance.”
“Resonance?”
“Your grace, your Light. If a demon gets too close to you, they’ll sense it immediately.”
“There should be no reason for me to get close to anyone who isn’t one of you.”
Malachi nodded. “In that case, we’re done here.” He started to walk off but stopped, “Don’t let us down.”
“I won’t.”
I walked behind him all the way to the top of the cavern, where Missolis and her lieutenants were gathered. They were watching everyone leave, filtering through the invisible portal that led out into the wastes of Hell.
Once everyone was out, Missolis and the rest of us followed. I was instantly shocked to see the variety of wings in front of me. None of them had appeared to have wings as they made their way out of the cavern, but here was a totally different story.
Many of them had scaly wings, bat-like wings, and wings that looked like their plumage was falling out. There were a few whose wings looked like they were made of a kind of semi-translucent, jelly-like membrane, and very likely wouldn’t be able to support the weight of the demon attached to them in the air.
Some of the demons assembled, though, didn’t have wings at all. A few, tragically, looked like they’d had their wings cut long ago.
Those demons who couldn’t fly on their own were pairing up with larger, winged demons who would be able to carry them across the wastes. I had kept my wings out of sight since we had arrived, partly for fear of knocking something over with them in the tight corridors below, but mostly because I didn’t need another reason to attract attention.
Malachi hadn’t mentioned altering their appearance, but he couldn’t have left them as they were I thought. Revealing and extending my wings, I was somehow still surprised to see that they weren’t fluffy and white.
Not anymore.
When I caught a glimpse of the leathery, claw-tipped wings attached to my shoulders, I almost yelped. “You didn’t tell me you had changed my wings, too!” I said to Malachi.
“Didn’t I?” he asked, a slight grin on his face. “I couldn’t exactly leave them as they were.”
I curled my wings around my body for a closer look. It was going to take some getting used to, but after a moment I had to admit, “they’re actually kind of… badass.”
“Badass?” asked Missolis who joined me and Malachi at the mouth of the cavern.
