Unholy Pleasures

Linda

Key Twelve: Linda:

Linda can tell that something is wrong. Lenalee won't talk to anyone. She's isolated herself. The angel of death was so cheerful when she first came here. Not even her own job could get her down. But something was different. Max could see it too.

But what can they do? That wasn't the only thing that she had to worry about.

Lenalee came back today. She looked hollowed out in her eyes. Linda was already waiting for her in the hallway.

"Lenalee, can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked. The angel of death looked at her.

"Yeah?" she asked. She looked like she was ready to cry. Linda felt the pain twisting in her chest.

"What happened to you?" she asked. Lenalee stared at her. She didn't speak at first.

"Are you feeling okay?" Linda asked. The angel of death backed up as she shook her head. Her eyes welled up with tears. Her mentor gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Talk to me," she said. "I want to help you. But I can't do that if you don't tell me what's wrong." Linda took the younger angel by the cheeks. So much pain in that girl's eyes.

"Who hurt you?" Linda asked.

She's asked that before. Many times, in fact. She doesn't remember exactly who. Once was toward Max.

Her sister was being bullied. Max tried to act tough and act like it was nothing, but Linda saw through everything.

"Who hurt you?" she asked.

"Come off it, Linda," Max said.

"Who hurt you?" her sister asked again. The bruised-up twin stared at her. Linda didn't need to yell or raise her voice. Something in her tone was enough to command her to talk. Max had no choice but to tell her.

"Thank you," Linda said. "I will handle it." Max blinked at her.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I will handle it," Linda said again.

The next day, Linda cornered the girls in the library. The lead girl looked up and sneered.

"What do you want, nerd?" she asked. Linda didn't say a word. Instead, she walked up and gave the queen bee quite a right-hook. The bully dropped to the ground with a thud. Linda stood over her with a cold look in her eyes. She reached down and smacked the girl in the face. Linda raised her right foot and slammed down onto the girl's ankle. The lead bully screamed in pain. The other two bullies looked stunned. Linda only said one thing to them all.

"You ever come near my sister or me, they will have to mop you off the sidewalk," she said. She turned and walked out of the library. The bullies left the twins alone ever since. Linda didn't remember if she herself got in trouble or not.

They used to have a friend named Abby. It was rare to have somebody from the outside come into their little bubble. When they did, it was a life-long bond. (Well, life-long before everything went to shit.) The three of them were close together. Linda was just as protective of Abby as she was with Max.

One day, Abby wasn't acting like her cheerful, chatty self. The twins tried to find out what was wrong. Their friend didn't want to tell them.

"Who hurt you?" Linda asked. Again, she didn't raise her voice. Abby stared at her. That tone had a strange command over them like was Max. Abby lowered her eyes.

"I..." she began. Linda waited. Abby broke down and told her everything. She had a crush on a guy in their class. He never had any interest in her. In fact, he used her to do his homework for him. Abby was happy to have the attention at first. Then she met Linda and Max. They showed her that she had self-worth. She tried to tell him no and...

"Go on, what happened?" Linda asked. Abby shivered with tears in her eyes. Her crush didn't take too kindly to her refusal. So he decided to exact a little revenge.

"Wait... did he...?" Linda asked. Abby looked at her and nodded. The other girl hugged her. Abby cried on her shoulder. It all came spilling out. All of the grim and brutal came out. Linda stared at her in shock. The girl's rage bubbled in a quiet way. She only whispered one thing into her ear.

"I will take care of it."

Abby didn't ask questions. As a result, that boy and the football team went to prison. Same with the coach. Nobody in the school wanted to talk about it. That wouldn't be the last time Linda fixed a problem.

"Who hurt you?"

Those words had their own power. Abby and Max had no choice but to tell her the truth. It was Linda who would go and take care of things.

"I don't know how you do it," Max said.

"Do what?" Linda asked. Her sister kind of shrugged.

"I don't know... Fix things?" she asked. "I don't know how you do that." Her twin shrugged.

"I just do, I guess," she said. Max frowned. Even as angels, nothing changed. Linda had to go a fix things. She's doing it right now.

"Who hurt you?" Linda asked. Lenalee trembled as she stared at her.

"There was a man," she said.

"A man?" Linda asked. "What kind of man? What was his name?" Lenalee shook her head.

"What was his name?" Linda asked again. The angel of death shut her eyes.

"Noah!" she blurted out. Her mentor raised her eyebrow.

"Noah? Who is this Noah? Is he a human?" she asked. Lenalee nodded once. Linda cocked her head to the side.

"Was he a priest?" she asked. Lenalee shut her eyes and lifted her chin.

"Yes!" she blurted out. Linda put her hand on her shoulder. The angel of death opened her eyes to see her mentor staring at her. She said the only thing that she could say.

"I will take care of it."

Lenalee said nothing.

This time was different. The situation was worse than what Linda thought it was. Right now, she has Max in her office. Linda lifted her chin.

"It's him," she said. Her twin screwed up her face with a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. Max paused for a moment.

"Wait... are you talking about... no..." she said. Linda pressed her lips together and nodded.

"I'm afraid so," she said. Maz settled into place with unease on her face.

"Damn," was she could say. The twins knew they had to act and act now.