Pete had gone home and Jack and I were laying on the couch watching a movie with my head in his lap as he absentmindedly scratched my back. My back had been aching for the past few days and I wasn’t sure why.

“When was the last time you let out your wings?” Jack asked.
“What?”
“Well I was trying to think of why your back would be hurting, besides a poor mattress, this was one of the ideas I had.”
“Um. I think it’s been about three days.” I said, the last time I’d let them out was when I had been with Pete.
“Do you think they could be cramping up after being in your back for so long?” He asked.
“Maybe.” I said, sitting up and pulling off my shirt, letting them out.

I watched Jack take a breath. I blinked as I realized that this was the first time he’d seen them up close and without anything else going on. This was the first time he’d actually gotten to see them. I watched him extend his hand slowly before hesitating. I gently moved my wing into his hand and felt it press against my feathers, stroking them. He exhaled the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Wow.” He whispered, more to himself than me.

He looked entranced, captivated by what he saw. I gulped self consciously, even though Jack’s reaction was positive, I was still embarrassed. He noticed my action and met my gaze.

“They’re beautiful.” He whispered, looking back over to where his hand was.

I watched his eyes as he cast his gaze over what seemed like each individual feather.
His hand left my wing and cupped my cheek, guiding me into a gentle kiss.

“You are so beautiful.”
“Hey Alex what did you do with th- holy shit.”

Jack and I whipped around to find Eliza standing there dumbfounded and staring at my wings. Jack jumped up and started toward her.

“Jack no stop.” I cried, running in front of him.
“She saw, she’s a liability.” He snarled.
“We can trust her. Stop.” I pleaded, placing my hands on his chest and pushing but I was no match, my feet slid against the floor.
“I don’t.” He snapped, shoving me away and reaching for her.
“JACK!” I yelled, standing between them again and spreading my wings as far as they’d go, shielding her from him. “No.”

Jack’s eyes flashed as he clenched his jaw. He gave me a deathly glare before turning and stalking off.

“Wh-why do you have w-wings?” Eliza asked, her voice trembling.

I turned around with a grimace.

“I’m an angel?” I sounded as if I was asking a question.
“Wh- how?”
“We don’t really know. I only transitioned last summer.” I said.
“A-and I’m sure Jack is pissed because he thinks I’m going to go off telling everybody that my best friend is a-an an-angel.” She replied.
“Yeah basically.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, looking hurt.
“I-I wanted too, I really did. It was lonely, you not knowing, but I didn’t want Jack to… Well… Do what he just did.”
“Try to kill me?”
“Yeah.” I mumbled, looking down.
“I won’t tell anyone… I guess that goes without saying—I don’t know…” She mumbled.
“Thank you,” I smiled, I hesitated before I spoke again, “do you wanna come see something?”
“Yeah, sure.” She answered.

I took her hand and lead her out the back door, into the yard.
“Alright do you trust me?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“Okay good.” I laughed, picking her up and stretching out my wings.
“Oh god.” She cried, clinging to me.
“Hold on.” I laughed which really wasn’t possible for her considering that she couldn’t possibly be holding onto me any tighter.

I flapped hard and shot us up so that we were only a few feet under some low hanging clouds. I laughed as she screamed for a second. I flew us over to the tallest tree and gently placed her at the top. I flew a few feet away from her so that I could fly up even higher, only to drop down to the ground before swooping back up. When I came back to her, her fear had disappeared and she was grinning.

“Okay that is pretty cool.” She laughed.
“Jump.” I said.
“W-what?” She stammered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you. Just jump.” I smiled.
“You’d better, Gaskarth.” She sighed, but she smiled too.

She took a breath before looking at me and hopping off the branch and plunging down. I immediately swooped to her side but decided to let her fall for a few seconds before catching her in my arms. She laughed when I shot us back up to the top branches.
We did this a few times until we both started to get tired. We ended up with me sitting and leaning against the tree with Liza’s head on my stomach.

“I think I should go try to calm Jack down.” I hummed.
“Yeah.” She sighed, getting off me.
“Don’t worry.” I smiled, standing and helping her up.
“My angel best friend is about to go attempt to convince my demon king master not to kill me… Yeah I’ll try not to worry too much.” She replied, laughing.

---

“I understand your concern, but can you really see her running off and telling everyone?” I asked Jack.
“Yes.” He shot back.
“Stop being so cynical.” I rolled my eyes.
“Stop being so naïve.” He scoffed, heading out the back door. I caught up to him but I almost had to jog because his pace was so fast.
“Jack think about it. I’m one of her only friends in the world okay? And her best one at that. No matter what, she hasn’t left me or betrayed me and she’s helped me through some tough shit. After everything she’s stuck around for, why would she leave now?” I asked, trying to look at this from a business like perspective.

He stopped at the mouth of the trail into the woods.

“I just don’t want your life in the hands of someone I don’t trust.” He said, running his hands through his hair.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay good and I trust her. If you don’t, I understand. But at least trust my decision.” I pressed.
“Your ‘decision’.” He laughed, stepping onto the trail.
“Yes. My decision.” I confirmed, following him.
“You do realize that the only reason I haven’t ripped her to shreds yet is because, for the time being, I’m letting her live?”
“Why do you have to be like that?” I sighed.

It seemed like he was always reminding me that I was his possession. That anything I did, he was letting me do it.

“Because you’re mine.”
“YES JACK OKAY!” I snapped, “I get it! I’m yours! I’m not a being who can make my own decisions! Why? Because I belong to you! How dare I try to resist that? How dare I not completely surrender to a species who wants to control every aspect of my life-“
“Shut up.” He murmured.
“No! I won’t! I’m so fucking sick-“
“Alex. Be quiet.” Jack whispered, turning his head to the right.

Now I knew this wasn’t him being an ass.

Jack’s eyes widened and he whipped to face me.

“Alex fly. Fly as high as you can. Get back to the house now.” He whispered again.
Fear curled in my chest.
“Jack what’s go-“
“Now!” He pleaded, looking over my shoulder.

I gasped and flapped hard, sending my self up above the trees but still watched Jack get knocked to the ground by something.

What on Earth could be strong enough to knock Jack off his feet?

I almost obeyed him and flew back to the house, but I looked back down to see Jack bleeding and knew there was no way I could leave him.

I dropped down hard, sending leaves flying.

A man stood in front of Jack, who was hunched over, injured.

“Alexander William Gaskarth.” He said, his voice like the sound of nails scratching on a chalk board.

I watched him start to move and all I thought was

Oh god no. Don’t turn around. Go away. Just go away. Don’t turn around.

He turned around. His face is what got me. He seemed to have no muscle whatsoever, just skin and bones. His complexion was a pasty white with lesions all over it. They looked like burn marks. His eyes weren’t black though, they were cloudy.
The way he looked at me made me want to get as far away from him as I possibly could.

“Alex go.” Jack rasped but I stayed planted.
“Who are you?” I asked, trying to seem fearless but there was a tremor in my voice.
“Sorry, I should’ve introduced myself.” His lips curled upwards into a smile of anything but joy.

“My name’s Lucifer.”

Notes

title cred: Dancing With A Wolf - All Time Low


Betcha didn't see that one coming