The Demon's Angel

Chapter 11

Kurt
Life quickly went back to normal. We began to pack up for Spain, where we would be working on our act through the winter. Once spring came, we would go to Italy for our first public performance of "Quand les anges et les démons tombent amoureux". I anticipated the first performance excitedly.

  Margali drove the trailer with Amanda in the passenger seat, while Elizabeth and I sat in the back playing cards. The swaying of the trailer was soothing, however, so soon we were both curled together on the floor, sound asleep. I woke up when I felt the trailer stop. Elizabeth's wings had relaxed, unfolding on the ground until they hit the table. My tail had somehow ended up underneath her torso. "Are we there yet?" I asked sleepily. Margali smiled back at me. "No. We're just stopping for fuel." Amanda glanced back at Elizabeth's sleeping form and me staring blearily at her and laughed. "I swear, for a sixteen-year-old and seventeen-year-old, you both look a lot like you're five right now!" she giggled. I pointed at her, my arm swaying a little. "Don't make fun of my sleeping habits!" I complained. "Yeah," Elizabeth murmured sleepily. "I can't help when I'm tired!" Amanda and I stared at her for a moment. Elizabeth grabbed my tail and continued to snore softly. "Did she just speak perfect German in her sleep?" I asked. Amanda shrugged and Margali laughed.

  We arrived about six hours later. Elizabeth and I were both wide awake when we arrived, playing a board game. Amanda was asleep. I laughed quietly. "Now who's acting like a five-year-old?" I whispered to Elizabeth. She giggled. Apparently she was more awake than we'd thought.

    We worked endlessly on the show. By the time that Christmas arrived, we were only working on figuring out the end. Elizabeth loved Christmas. She helped Margali and Amanda bake and made presents for everyone. Mine was a multicolored scarf. "So that it matches with all of your clothes!" was her exact explanation to the wild range of colors. If I was honest with myself, it did match all of my crazy wardrobe, which was made up of cloth from the scrap bin. It was also very soft. Amanda got a hat, and Margali got gloves. Elizabeth seemed thoroughly proud of all of her work.

The one thing about Christmas that  she didn't participate in was the Godly aspect. She was respectful when I prayed at Christmas dinner, but she didn't join in. When I asked why she wouldn't, she said simply, "I gave up on God a long time ago." I was disappointed. I promised that year that I would eventually get her to realize that God did love her, even if it sometimes didn't feel like it.

  Christmas ended, and spring was almost upon us. Lance was getting frustrated. He just couldn't figure out how to end the show. "I can't think of anything!" he shouted, sweeping all of his papers into a drawer on his small desk and slamming it. I patted his back. "Maybe if you see what we've so far, then you'll be able to come up with something," I suggested. He took a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

    We went through everything we had of the show. Elizabeth and I both entered. We met and did our act together (this included a series of tricks that combined the trapeze for me and the silks for Elizabeth; it had a cool effect). I exited when I heard a musical note like a crying child. Elizabeth did this act with a young girl by the name of Emily. This would be her first show as well. She and Elizabeth did an act together that represented Elizabeth comforting her. Then, they both exited, holding hands. The purpose was to show Elizabeth's more angelic side and give Emily a chance to perform. Next was a small act done by the people of a village as the forest scene was set up. I walked out once it was completed. I began to swing around on the trapeze in my own act, but it was  'interrupted' by the village people. Once they saw me, they chased me around. I swung and jumped from place to place as they followed. Then, I used teleportation to get away in a puff of smoke (close to the exit as to not arouse suspicion). The story continued with Elizabeth and I falling in love. The angels and demons found out, and although the demons were thrilled (they thought that it gave them power over an angel), the angels weren't. They came down from heaven, Rose in the lead on her silks, and told the villagers where I was hiding in the forest. They caught me, and they were about to burn me alive (just a barrel of fun). Elizabeth flew down, the silks billowing around her only as decoration, looking exactly like an avenging angel. She landed right in front of the pole where I was tied (loosely; I had a fear of being trapped after being kidnapped), blocking me from the villagers. They all looked shocked and fell onto their faces, begging forgiveness for whatever they'd done. They didn't understand what they did wrong. She kept her wings spread wide and acted out reprimanding them. The villagers turned and ran. Elizabeth instantly softened when they were gone, and she turned to me, tied to my pole. I could almost believe that she was an angel as she looked at me. I was impressed with her acting; it really looked as if she was in love with me. Even her eyes showed it. I hoped that I was just as convincing. She untied me, and I scooped her into my arms. She hugged me tightly, and we performed our final dance before the finale. I put her down and looked up at Lance in the stands. "What do you have?" I called. Lance looked thrilled. He scribbled furiously on a piece of paper and yelled back, "A finale. That's what!"

  And he did. It was actually really beautiful. We spent our last few weeks in Spain practicing it. The only thing we had left to do before opening night was find Elizabeth a stage name and make posters for the event. Elizabeth discussed names as we practiced for the last week. "How about Dove?" I asked. Elizabeth shook her head, but said, "Maybe. I want to keep thinking though." "Angel?" I suggested. She shivered. "No." I thought as hard as I could. "Nightingale?" She shook her head. "It's a good name, but I don't think it fits my character." My mind drew a blank. After a moment, Elizabeth said, "Maybe we'll think of something if we go outside." The moment I stepped outside, I spotted a large bird circling overhead. "What about Falcon?" I asked, pointing. Elizabeth paused, watching the bird high above. "I like it," she said. "Falcons are graceful, but also fierce. I don't know if it fits me, but it fits my character." So, Elizabeth became Falcon when she performed, just as I became Nightcrawler. It suited her character perfectly; Falcon was tough, but also elegant in a way that an angel should be.

  The posters for the show came out a week later. They looked amazing. Although some of the posters showed the villagers or angels, most of them showed Elizabeth and I together. Our costumes had been designed, so they were on the poster, although they weren't quite done in real life. The poster was divided diagonally, showing me on the trapeze, the other Elizabeth with on the flying silks. I had the usual mischievous grin, but Elizabeth looked more serious. She was beautiful. She snorted when she saw herself. "I do not look like that!" she said incredulously. I smiled. "You do when you're performing." The last touch on the poster was that it said "Come See-" at the top, with "The Incredible Nightcrawler" underneath my picture and "The Beautiful Falcon" under Elizabeth's. It looked great.

   Everyone had mastered the show. Winter was giving way to spring. All that was left to do was pack up our tents and journey to Italy. We would show the world what we worked so hard to  create.