Nephilum

Chapter 13

"Where's Lizzy?" I heard from down the stairs. Devin was picking me up today and so we can start our training.

"Coming." I called back. I finished putting my hair in a pony tail and rushed down the stairs. I waved to Michael as I hurried out the door with Devin. His outfit was very similar to the one he wore when I met him. He still wore a white button up shirt and a loose tie. The shirts sleeves were pushed up. The only difference was the color of the tie. Today it was a dark blue.

"You're wearing that?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not always going to be prepared when I need to fight."

We walked to a part of Heaven I had never been before. It looked much the same as every other place in Heaven I've been, but the building he led me into was much less formal. People walked in and out in more casual clothes.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This is what we like to call The Gym. It's where we train angels that go on assignments and angels that are chosen to protect Heaven."

I nodded. "That's cool."

"Come on."

I followed him as he led me through a hallway with many doors. The hallway opened out to a very large area where people fought with each other. There must have been about three different pairs of people engaged in a battle. It looked more like a dance than a fight though. It kind of looked beautiful.

A man came foward to greet Devin. "Hey man, long time no see." Devin's face instantly lit up and they did the guy hug thing.

"What brings you here? You haven't been here since you were appointed to that fancy position on the council." The man who spoke looked a little younger than us-maybe about fiftten.

"I have to train someone." That's when the kid took notice of me.

"Hi, I'm Brent." He stuck out his hand and I shook it.

"Lizzy."

I zoned out a little as Brent and Devin started talking. I looked around. As magnificent as Heaven is, I was really starting to miss the variety of colors back on Earth. Don't get me wrong, Heaven is beatiful and awesome, but after seeing nothing but gold and white and perfection everywhere I turn-it just gets old. Imperfections are what made life interesting.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Devin touching my shoulder gently. "Hey, you ok?"

I jumped. "Oh, yeah. I'm great."

His face lit up with a crooked smile. "Then let's get started."

***

"Again? I think my arms are about to fall off." I muttered the last bit under my breath.

Devin laughed. An actual laugh-not the humorless chuckles James emits. We had been training for at least an hour and a half and so far all he's taught me to do was how much it hurts to get punched.

"Come on. You haven't even tried." Devin's brown eyes sparkled with amusement.

I gestured to the sweat dripping down my temple. "You call this evidence of not trying? I'm going to have to go full out ninja to impress you."

He smiled cheekily. Then he was gone. I looked around in confusion for a moment before I felt strong arms wrap around my arm and flip me onto my back. I groaned, more from embarassment than from pain.

Devin held out a hand to help me up and I took it. He didn't even break a sweat. Do angels sweat? I guess I may never know.

"What's the point of this anyway?" I asked. I walked to the side of the gym, dodging another pair of angels engaged in a fight, and took a swig from my water bottle. Devin was thoughtful enough to get me a bottle of water from the house before we left. I hadn't even noticed until we were here.

"How much longer?" I asked him. I could feel his presence behind me, even though I didn't hear approach.

"A few more hours. I'm finding that you're a bit clumsier than I gave you credit for."

I laughed and turned around to face him. I realized then how attractive he was. His brown hair and eyes stood out against his pale skin and perfectly white teeth. His lips were pink, but not too pink.

"You know, we'd get more done if we'd actually start training instead of you complaining." He retorted. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the area we were before. I watched in envy as the two guys who were fighting earlier walked out of the gym.

"Why can't we be more like them?" I asked.

He looked at me quizically then looked at the stranger's retreating forms. "What do you mean?"

"They get to leave."

He rolled his head and shook his head in amusement. "Come on. If I don't actually teach you something Veronica is going to kill me."

I finally gave up on trying to convince him to stop training me. I smiled again, wondering what Sam and Ethan would say if they could see the position I'm in.

***

"I'm home." I called throughout the house as Devin deposited me at the door step. Devin already disapeared into thin air, probably to go somewhere else without having to walk. I was surprised by silence.

"James? Michael?" I called. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the house stayed eerily quiet. "Guys?"

I gave up on trying to get them to answer me and took it upon myself to search the house for them. First I checked the downstairs and then the upsatairs. Nothing. I was really starting to freak out. Where could they be? Are they ok? They're probably just out doing something, right?

Creak.

I froze. There was no denying the sound I heard. I looked behind me and came face to face with a demon. Their red eyes shined brightly. It took me a whole second to notice the knife in her hand. She was just a few inches taller than me, but I knew I was no match against a probably well trained demon.

With no other option, I screamed and started backing up. I bumped into my nightstand and cringed at the sound of my lamp shattering as it fell to the ground. Glass crunched under my feet as I continued to retreat.

I held my breath when my back hit the wall. I was out of space. No where to go. Except... I glanced to my right towards the window then back to the woman a few feet in front of me. I gulped and realized I had no other option.

The only other thing I could do was torch her, but I don't even know how to do it on purpose. Every time I've done it was because I was mad.

My breathing had increased to the point where I was pratically gasping for air. I couldn't allow myself to think or I would talk myself out of it. Before I had the chance to do that, I lunged for the window. I bit my lip as the glass broke and cut my arms. They would have cut my face, but I had already covered it with my arms. I heard the frustrated cry from the demon.

You know how when you see on the movies how someone does something stupid and reckless and time slows down? Well that's the opposite of what happened to me. Time seemed to speed up and I didn't even have time to open my eyes before I hit the ground.

Pain immediately laced through my left arm, but otherwise I seemed to be unharmed. I smiled at the fact that I haven't died yet. The small cuts from the glass stung and my shoulder felt like it was being ripped from my body, but I was alive.

I didn't have time to congradulate myself on not dying because the demon was already jogging out the doors and to me. Before I could do anything James appeared out of nowhere. The annoyed expression faded from his face and was replaced with a confused one as he took in me on the ground surrounded by blood and the demon a few yards from me.

In seconds he was in front of the demon and a knife was sticking out of her chest. He didn't even stay there long enough to make sure she was dead. He was already by my side, picking my up bridal style.

"I can walk." I stated defiantly, but I hissed in pain as my shoulder brushed his when he set me down.

"We need to leave. Now." He took my hand and we were immediately thrust into the dark world where we always seemed to go before ending up somewhere else.