Chapter Twenty-Seven

I wake and push myself up from the ground. Everything hurts like it did when Dorian changed me but it's sudden and brutal.

I glance over at Ari. She is on the ground too. She looks confused and in pain like I do.

I look up at Lorri standing above me.

"What did you do?"

She shakes her head, "I don't know."

Blake is standing beside her. He almost glows in the dark. "What have you done to him."

His head snaps toward me with a grin like I've never seen. He's ecstatic. "Aimes, I'm an angel."

I focus my eyes better and look. His shirt is gone. Stretched out from his back, is a pair of huge black wings. They blend into the night. I glance at Shane and see the same thing. His chiseled and muscular chest is bare, but behind him is a pair of massive wings.

"You make angels?"

She presses her lips together, "Not just any kind."

It dawns on me when I look at Aleks. He is dressed and normal looking, except his face which is angry.

"You have condemned our souls?" Sam says slowly looking behind him at the wings on his back.

Giselle is shaking and attempting to stand. I wink and I'm on the mountaintop in Norway. I wink back, "I can still wink."

She nods, "You can never go to heaven Aimee. I've taken your souls."

"You are the devil? The real devil?" I mutter, still stunned.

Only Lucas, Ben and Aleks look the way they did before. I scream, as my shirt is ripped from me and my back explodes in pain. I look back at the black wings and cry. They're so beautiful and frightening I can't cope. I cover my breasts and sob. Aleks looks frightened.

"I am the real devil, Aimee. I was sent with the mission of keeping the balance. I've always had the ability to create an army of darkness. An army of beings so strong that there is no force that can kill them. But all of my brother's have betrayed me. All of them. It was always a losing battle. I just didn’t see it. Like Jonathan said, always the last to know." She strolls to where Aleks is. She looks at me, "I have never done it before. I needed to be sure." She punches Aleks in the face hard. She grabs his mouth and plants a kiss on him. They flash and wink and then they're back and he is on the ground "Lorri, what the hell?" He growls at her.

She stands back and watches us changing and touching ourselves. Lucas and Ben creep back on the balcony.

She points at them and wags her finger.

I run to Aleks and hold him close. His warmth sends chills across my naked skin.

I look back at her, "Why would you do this to us?"

She shakes her head, "It's too late." She winks and is behind Aleks. She snaps his neck. He drops to the ground. I scream.

His neck starts making popping sounds. She sighs, "I have failed. You are plan b." She winks and grabs the wolves and winks them away.

Ari is crying and shaking. She turns to face me. I am covering Aleks with my naked skin.

My wings feel the breeze in them. They feel the way my arms or legs do. I can feel every feather.

Giselle is spinning like a dog trying to catch its tail.

Shane starts to smile at Blake who is jumping and flapping the wings like a bird. Shane's start to twitch.

Ari is shaking and trembling until Lucas's dead body is dumped next to hers. Then Ben's. They are in naked human form. Ari is shirtless and covering herself, sobbing into Lucas's bare skin.

Lorri is back. Marcus steps forward, "You had this all along? Why didn't you use it?"

She shakes her head, "I couldn’t. It was the emergency hatch. Once pulled it couldn’t be un-pulled. These cannot be unmade. There is no destroying them. No hellfire. No magic. No angel. No nothing. They're completely indestructible. God's last stand against it all. Do you have any idea the kind of power that is to bestow upon someone?"

He laughs and points, "You chose this group? These people?"

She nods, "I have. They are called redeemers. They can redeem a soul and send it back to heaven. For every soul they save, the balance will tip slightly in the favor of the light." I catch the stolen glance she sends me. I know what she wants.

Aleks starts to stir. He wakes and screams. He flashes away. We all have our safe haven we go to when we're scared. He and I share the same one.

Lorri points, "These are true angels. How I was before I fell."

Marcus sighs and looks at Giselle, who is still moving in a circle trying to touch her wings. "This is the best you had to choose from?"

Lorri laughs, "Yes. No human or immortal has lived through what they have. Except you and I buddy."

He puffs his chest out, "I'm one of them."

Lorri gives him a look and rolls her eyes, "I trust them. Completely."

Shane looks back at Lorri, "What do we do now?"

Lorri looks grimly at us all, "Prepare. You can feel pain. You can bleed. You can suffer. She will try to make you live through all of those things. She will try to make you join her. She will have things equally as strong as you are."

I glance at Ben's twitching body. Lucas wakes with a start and screams. He tries to phase but instead his wings shoot from his back.

Aleks is back. His huge beautiful black wings look amazing on his strong thick physique.

Blake tries to see things through his glasses and then takes them off. He puts them in his pocket, "So you made us into angels of darkness, but we are good?"

Lorri nods, "You are what you want to be. I have given you the ultimate immortality. You will live forever. With that come horrible amounts of responsibility and terrible things to cope with."

Blake looks upset, "Alise?"

Lorri nods, "She can't ever know."

He looks heartbroken but nods, "Well, we all know her."

I glance at Hanna and realize my hatred is gone. I just see the sweet girl she is. Has always been. She holds her hands over her breasts and shakes her head, "My Siren? My beast?"

Lorri shakes her head, "Gone. You can all wink but no more wolves, no more blood lust or succubus powers. Nothing but the pure power of God."

I cross my arms over my chest and shiver, "It's too much. You've made a mistake. We aren’t worthy of something like this. We'll screw it up. I know we will. One of us is going to be bad and join Lillith in her evil deeds. I know it." My voice is panicked.

Lorri laughs, "I'm counting on it. I'm also counting on the rest of you to be the team you've always been. The best Roses I have ever had. You have to be there for each other."

Sam spins around, "Where are you going to be?"

She laughs, "Retired. I will ask one of you to step forward and help me out. Then Abbey. If you don't mind."

"What?"

"Retired?"

"How?"

"Lorri we can't do this alone."

"She's kidding. She's kidding us."

She shakes her head. She winks and is back a moment later. The silence of the dark is creepy. She smiles at me. Abbey looks confused.

"You guys have wings?" She looks at Lorri, "That’s sweet eh? You got wings too baby?"

Lorri shakes her head, "Not yet."

She looks at me, "It works exactly the same as before Aimes."

I take a breath.

"I have a million questions. You can't go."

She puts her arms out, "You have each other. I'm afraid I don’t have a choice. Making you all, took all there was in me. There is nothing left. I'll be useless now."

I swallow and step forward. The fever and heat isn’t there. There is nothing. My hand's shudder when I lift them and touch her and Abbey. Abbey looks confused, "Aimee? Lorri?"

Lorri nods a head toward Abbey, "One at a time now Aimes. Her first."

I pull my hand off Lorri and squeeze Abbey's arm. She tries to pull away but I grip her hard.

"Aimee!" Her voice breaks with panic and fear. Terror fills her watery eyes. I close my eyes and do my thing. It's different. It's cool and refreshing. I don’t feel like I'm feeding. I'm floating. I'm sailing down the river of her memories and thoughts. It's instant. I open my eyes. She is on the ground in a heap.

My eyes sting instantly when I look into her eyes, "Don't leave me."

Lorri shakes her head, "Never. You'll always have help Aimee." She offer's me her hand. I look back at the others. They look desperate. Aleks takes a step forward. I shake my head and look back at her. I close my eyes again. This time it's long and musical almost. Her memories are huge and amazing. They span the world's life. I see so many things all at once. I can't keep up. I don’t keep them as memories or knowledge. They float past me in a cool breeze. Joy and pain, bliss and love. The way Abbey's face beams in her mind. There is a bright light, a flash. And then it's black.

I open my eyes. She is on the ground in a heap next to her love.

I step back. I don’t want to touch them. I don’t want them near me. My jaw trembles. I turn and look at Marcus. He shakes his head and sighs, "Brilliant. Bloody brilliant."

I turn and face the others. The looks are the same. The faces are desperately sad and horrified.

My wings twitch in the dark wind.

"How do we find Lillith now?"

Aleks steps toward me and takes my hand in his.

"How do we know what to do?" Hanna asks.

Marcus paces, "Henry. We find Henry. I can’t believe she didn’t make me one of you."

Sam laughs and for the first time it's bitter and harsh, "You can't?"

Marcus snorts, "Well of course I can, but I am still pissed about it."

Hanna looks at Sam's wings, "How do we get rid of the wings?"

In the dark we look awesome. There is no doubt. Our skin is slightly glowing, with a light that seems to be who we are now. Our wings are black as the night and filled with shiny black feathers. We all stand topless and glowing. The looks on our faces are all the same. Awe and confusion.