Page 4 of Feathers and Scales

Simon cleared his throat. “Don’t forget your—”

She dropped her keys into the basket next to her bedroom door. Simon had spent over a century with her and knew her habits, especially her tendency to lose items when she was rushing.

Piles of books created a maze within her white-themed room. She set her bag on her nightstand, brimming with notebooks, and collapsed on her unmade bed.

Her heart thumped with the excitement of discovery, but nervousness shook her fingers. Each time she left her mortal shell, she was taking a risk of permanent death, especially with her limited abilities. Forcing the anxiety aside with a few focused breaths, as it would do her no good, she concentrated on transporting herself away from flesh, bone, and emotion to become energy. Weightlessness rushed over her as she floated into her Fallen spirit form’s most basic structure as a small orb of light.

She pictured the cave she’d researched, and a heavy force pushed against her as she raced at near-light speed from Tennessee toward Acadia National Park halfway across the USA.

A tall figure stood at the mouth of the cave. In her spirit form, Thea dressed like a character from one of Simon’s favorite comics. Her long trench coat split to show boots, tight pants, and a corset. Her blond hair hung in a braid down one side, and she’d shaved the other side. The perpetual smile adorning her lips appeared fierce and intimidating—a shield. It was a facade, Izzy discerned, barely concealing the fragile state of the woman within.

This revelation sparked a sinking dread within her, the unsettling thought that her Fallen friend could one day evolve into an Archfiend. Izzy scrutinized her closely, searching for any trace of the telltale foul energy. The surrounding air remained untainted, devoid of any malevolent aura. Fear still lingered, gnawing at the edges of her mind, a silent forewarning of the possible terror that lay ahead if Thea couldn’t let go of her past. But that was something Izzy understood all too well.

Next to Thea, Izzy morphed her spirit into her dressed human appearance. Pulling energy from her human body, she strengthened her form to interact with her surroundings. Her nearly featherless wings graced her back, a weighted reminder to collect the feathers stripped from her when she fell.

The exciting hum of discovery that had laced her human skin fell away to numbness. As she strode toward Thea, she couldn’t distinguish the muted terrain beneath her. The connection to her human body strained so much over the long distance that the rocky cliff edge appeared in muted textures and colors, as if a gray haze covered her eyes.

“I almost thought you were going to stand me up again, Bookworm,” Thea said. Wind whipped her coat back to show the short sword and pistol hung at her hips.

Izzy’s jaw stiffened. The nickname chafed at her nerves, but Thea liked to believe using nicknames distanced herself from people. Izzy couldn’t blame her. The Fallen suffered centuries of loss when loved ones died, even Cohearts. Pain throbbed through her chest, but she stifled the memories clawing at her mind.

“I got held up,” Izzy said.

“It’s a small raid of them, at least.” Thea slung out her pistol and held it out to Izzy.

Izzy shook her head. “We can split this catch.”

Thea’s smile tightened, and she pressed the heavy metal into Izzy’s dense hand. “You’ll find a way to expand our longevity. But I couldn’t care less about retrieving my feathers and returning to Heaven. I’m just helping you kill demons to aid your research. Besides, I like to hear those evil little bastards scream.”

Once upon a time, Izzy would have argued that her friend also deserved to return to that glorious existence of no emotions. But Izzy knew that no matter how hard she tried to convince Thea, her friend would remain an obstinate rock as unchanging as her smile.

“Fine.” Izzy accepted the heavy weapon and pulled the chamber open to reveal bullets glowing with blue spirit energy.

“I’m going to need more FPP’s soon,” Thea said, nodding toward the bullets as Izzy snapped the chamber closed.

The Fallen Plasma Projectiles were an invention Izzy had created using lead and magnetism. The casing trapped radiation, so Thea could harness her spirit energy in bullet form.

“They’re only green demons, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” Thea said.

Green, meaning they’d stomp all over Izzy’s yellow spirit energy but would fall victim to Thea’s blue. Blue power was strong enough to allow Thea to hide her wings with a blanket of Influence while Izzy’s were out in the open. Having weaker powers meant hunting with Thea was necessary.

“Let’s get this over with,” Izzy said.

A breeze whisked by like a tickle as she entered the small cave with Thea. Izzy’s energy stiffened from the cooler temperature. Thousands of miles away, her body might shiver, but Izzy didn’t feel it. A few steps further, a sulfuric presence blasted into her.

Demons.

The desire to hunt flexed her wings. Energy coursed between her fingers and the gun. As Thea and Izzy went deeper, the glow from their bodies illuminated a large, cavernous room.

“The wannabe angel brought another wannabe with her.” A deep voice scratched along Izzy’s senses. Shadows moved over the cave walls, slinking toward Izzy and backward.

“I’d rather be a wannabe angel than whatever the hell you ended up as.” Thea unsheathed her short sword. The blue crystalline surface of the benitoite refracted in the light of Thea’s body.

A clattering sound like someone threw rocks filled the space. Four shadows lurched from the wall, ripping free rocks and stalagmites until crudely shaped stone beings stood before Izzy and Thea. Demonshad an ever-shifting morphology. Stronger ones could control their appearance, but weaker ones like these could only absorb what was around to conjure a form.

While a human may have been afraid, Izzy thrummed with a heightened state of alertness, a physiological response indicative of predatory instincts.

“Yeah,” Thea scoffed. “I’ll never understand why you didn’t ask for forgiveness from the Supreme, instead of dooming yourselves to living as monsters.”