An Angel and a Demon

Chapter 14

“What the hell?” 

Marilyn turned around to see Noah, bruised but standing with a gun aimed at Xenna and a frown etched on his face. She tried to stand, but dizziness overcame her. She lost her balance but Noah caught her and helped her steady herself. 

“What happened to her? What did you do?” he asked, looking at Marilyn.

“Overdose,” coughed Elijah from a few meters away. Zayn was still kneeling by him, blankly staring at the crushed leaves, holding onto his father’s arm.

“She tried to take the drug in Zayn’s blood,” said Marilyn, answering his confused look. “Where’s mom? Where did she take you guys?”

He looked back at Marilyn.

“Our house. She needed somewhere fresh in her memory. Your mom’s passed out in her bed but she’s safe. It took me a while to find you guys. You don’t have to worry now,” he said, and walked over to Elijah. Marliyn followed, although her legs felt like jelly. Her wings weighed her down.

He knelt beside Elijah, assessing the wound.

“Well, the good thing is that it isn’t too deep. He’ll be able to recover within a few days,” he said and pulled out the pocket knife from his stomach.

Elijah cursed and Marilyn stared at Noah, appalled. He splayed his hand over the wound and it started to close up, the flesh stretching over and binding once again. Marilyn watched it, disgusted but too curious to look away.

“I’ll be back,” he said, putting the gun in his back pocket. “You two get back to our house as soon as possible.”

“Where are you going?” asked Marilyn.

“I know a medic who’s a demon across town. I only sealed the wound, not healed it. I’ll see you two in a bit,” he said.

Marilyn watched him as he stood up.

“You said ‘our house’ that time.”

Noah looked at her, but didn’t answer, and teleported away with Elijah, leaving Zayn and Marilyn alone. 

She retracted her wings and pulled him up off the ground, leading him away from the clearing, away from Xenna’s lifeless corpse. 

“Daddy issues, huh?” said Zayn, his voice weak.

She shook her head at him but failed to hide the grin that spread across her face.

Her head was still as they walked, her brain shutting off all memory of the past few hours. A coping mechanism, she reckoned.

They ventured into the dark until they found a fallen tree trunk, covered with moss. They sat against it, watching the stars. For the first time, she realised she was tired. Physically and mentally. She thought about sinking into her mattress, but the thought of her own house put her off.

She let her head loll onto Zayn’s shoulder and felt him rest his on hers. They let the sounds in the quiet fill their ears and she was reminded of the river bend from earlier that night. As she closed her eyes, she felt Zayn take her hand in his.

“I could get used to this,” she whispered.