Black Wings

Chapter 5

I followed Rachel down stairs after she changed into her pajamas. Even though I told her there was nothing I hadn't seen of her, I left the room as she changed out of courtesy. That seemed to be the norm with humans, while angels didn't necessarily care. Angels viewed the body as a creation of God and wasn't something to be ashamed of. Embarrassment was a human emotion anyway.

I stood in the kitchen and watched her as moved around, opening and closing cabinets and creating new smells of food. She made popcorn and hot chocolate, brought out boxes of cookies and bags of chips, candies and sodas.

"Now that we have our snacks, how are we going to get them upstairs?" Rachel mused to herself.

I snapped my fingers and all of it was teleported from the marble counter to Rachel's desk in her room. Rachel stared at the now clear counter in shock before smiling at me.

"Having angel friends is going to be awesome. Hey, do you think Michael will want anything?"

I shook my head and we started up the stairs.

"No, Michael dislikes eating. It's uncomfortable for him."

"You guys hate each other, but you know quite a bit about, don't you?"

"No, I just noticed it earlier when we arrived on earth."

When we entered her bedroom and she designated half the bed to me, I immediately started building a nest. It was made of extra blankets, pillows, and a few black feathers. It was a common thing for angels to nest, I didn't doubt Michael had already done the same. Rachel asked about the angels and I told her everything.

"So, Michael hates you because he's an archangel?"

"No, Gabriel, Michael's little brother, doesn't hate me. It's about the corruption, the stories they put in their heads. Gabriel, because he's an archangel, has more will of his own. He choose to make a decision on me for himself, not the word of others. Michael however, let the stories get to him before I could."

"You look sad about it." Rachel commented.

"It's just that I had hoped Michael and I could have been friends. I really had hoped if I became Michael's friend, maybe the other angels would see that I'm not the bad person they hear about in the stories. But that obviously didn't work out."

"Must be tough. Well, at least you know you have at least one friend in Heaven and one on Earth. You have Gabriel and me, plus you can always make more down here."

"Yeah." I sighed.

*****

I had a hard time sleeping that night. I would doze off for a little bit, then wake up again shortly afterwards. And when I did sleep, it was restless. So, I spent the night between restless sleeping and keeping tabs on the girls. I had heard the conversation between them about my baby brother and I. Never had I thought about my brother's actions like that. I had always looked down on his treatment of her, but now I at least a tiny understanding of him.

I must have dozed off again, because when I woke up, the girls were quiet. Confused and slightly concerned, I climbed out of my nest on the stripped bed and moved silently to the room. I could hear faint snoring from the room at the end of the hall, telling me Rachel's parents had returned. I open the door and let the soft light wash over me. Rachel was asleep on the right, facing the side of the bed. Blackwing was curled up in her nest facing her, one wing stretched out over Rachel. This was a sign of possessiveness and want to protect. I had only seen it between mates, but then again, angel truly only had attachments to their mates.

I wanted that. To have a mate, someone to protect and care for. Mating season would be coming soon and Blackwing and I would probably return to Heaven during this time. But maybe we wouldn't. Maybe we would just become temporary mates, just for the season. The pull of having a mate was too strong during this time not to have one, so many would have a temporary mate and continue the year alone. The longest temporary mate I had only lasted two season, and it was only during those seasons. I never had an interest in finding a permanent mate and Blackwing had a hard time during those seaons. So, we would probably just spend that time as temporary mates.

I snapped my fingers to clean up the mess the girls had fallen asleep in. I was about to leave, but stopped. Looking at Blackwing, I realized I had never really been looking at her. Just her wings. She was different than I had been told. She was kind, compassionate, and cared deeply about Rachel. And she was beautiful. Had she not had black wings, she would have been coveted and sought by many. But the only thing people saw was her wings. But there was something nagging the back of my mind, and it wasn't just the fact that one of the reasons I got up was because I was concerned deep down. It was that something inside warned him that there was more to her, and it was dark and bad. I was caught between concern for her and concern for Rachel and I's safety.

*****

I sat at the dining room table, drinking coffee and reading the paper. I smirked as Michael entered with bedhead and disheveled pajamas.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty, don't you look like crap."

"Shut up, I didn't sleep well." He growled, glaring at me.

"You know why, don't you?" I asked, setting down the paper.

"Why?"

"You're so used to sleeping in the barracks with others, you couldn't sleep alone. I'll move to the guest bedroom tonight."

"What!?"

"I don't think Rachel will want me in her room all the time. Besides, you're useless when tired."

"Right, sure."

"Have some coffee, it'll wake you up."

I stood to go get him a mug, but he stole mine. I glared at him and he just smirked. Annoying prick. I sighed and began to clean up in the kitchen, leaving Michael with my mug.

"So, where is Rachel?" Michael asked from the other room.

"She's at school."

"School? She's still in school?"

"You forget humans age quicker than we do, due to their shorter lifespans. Besides, humans don't join the forces unless they want to, so it's not a requirement for them to go into training."

"They have that choice?"

"Yep. Not like Heaven where you're told what you're going to do. Humans have more freedom than we do."

Michael didn't say anything. I glanced behind me, through the arch between the kitchen and dining room. Michael had his back to me, staring out the window. His silence was worrying, especially after what I had said. I finished cleaning up and leaned against the counter. I heard a camera click to my left and looked up to Michael.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking photos." Michael leaned against the counter next to me, smiling down at the camera. "I saw Rachel's camera and it reminded me, so I got my own. I want to take lots of pictures of my time on earth. So, I figure that I should start with a photo of my partner. Aren't cameras amazing?"

"What do you know about cameras?"

Michael suddenly looked very sheepish.

"Well, there was this one time I just happened to look...down, you know. And I saw this one human with a camera and I found it kind of interesting. So, I went to the Library of Heaven to learn about them, because the library has books, tablets, and scrolls on everything. I've wanted one since but I never told anyone."

"Why not? That's great! If the other angels saw that an archangel was interested in humans, maybe they would see humans aren't that bad."

Michael shrugged. There was a lot going on in his head, I could see it in his face. He absentmindedly clicked a few buttons until he was looking at the photo he had taken. A soft smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Right here, right now, we seemed normal. Human. But we weren't, we never would be. That didn't mean we couldn't enjoy our time on earth.

"Why don't we go to the park?" I suggested. "You can take photos and learn more about humans."

"That would be great."

I snapped my fingers and we were changed into more appropriate clothing. I was happy Michael had found at least one thing in the human world that he was interested in. That would make things just a little bit easier.