I am startled by the angel’s soft, deadly tone as he says, “No, I think I will stay. Something very interesting just walked in.”

The caller must be saying something else because the angel just listens again. I put my foot on the third step and the other one on the fourth step, moving up the stairs while he tracks me with an intensity that makes me sweat. Feeling a twitch move across my back, I ignore the foreign pain, continuing to focus on the threat in front of me.

The angel’s frown becomes sinister. “Why have you not taken care of this yourself?” he asks in disgust.

As I put my foot on the fifth step and the other one on the sixth step, the angel growls at me; it is a deeply terrifying sound, making my heart slam against the walls of my chest. I freeze where I stand on the sixth step.

The angel’s voice booms loudly as he snarls into his phone, “You are willing to take that chance?”

Stiffening at his fury, my legs shake beneath me. The angel looks away from me then, toward the front door, so I put my foot on the seventh step and the other one on the eighth step. He glances back in agitation, glaring at me. I freeze on the steps, pretending that I haven’t moved while he wasn’t looking.

His jaw becomes rigid. “It has redemption—not if I send it back to the abyss…” the angel says in a scathing tone.

I put my foot on the ninth step, and the other one on the tenth step, before feeling a tearing pain across my back. It makes me take a deep, gasping breath in. Trying to ignore the pain, because it isn’t as significant a threat as the angry angel only steps below me, I slide my hand up the railing, still trying to edge my way upward.

“Maybe you have lost your perspective in this matter,” the angel injects into the phone again, taking his eyes from me to gaze around in exasperation.

I put my foot on the eleventh step, and I nearly have my other foot on the twelfth step when a slicing pain stops me. In my next breath, all the air in my lungs is forced out of my body. Looking down at the angel below me, I try desperately to gauge his reaction to what is happening to me. He is completely still, watching me with his cold blue eyes. Another punch rocks me, and as I gasp again for breath, something forces its way through my back with the sound like a parachute releasing into the wind. A rending, tearing sounds at precisely the same time as my shirt and bra fall away from my body, leaving me half naked on the stairway.

Bringing my hands up to my breasts, I cover them from the stranger in front of me. Shock tears through the confusion in my mind as I realize I’ve just sprouted wings. Chancing another glance at the angel below me in the foyer, he regards me with something like surprise in his beautiful eyes. Seeing that this is my best chance for escape, I take it.

Turning swiftly, I sprint up the remaining stairs with my wings stretching out and moving of their own volition. When I make it to Reed’s room, I burst through the door, slamming it closed behind me and locking it securely in place. Backing away from the door, I just manage to clear it before the angel on the other side kicks it in. Freaking strong angel!

I continue to back up with my arms crossed in front of my body. He follows me into the room; his sharp, predatory eyes stalk me, and for a moment I feel as if I can see myself reflected in their icy depths. I can’t sense even the smallest hint of mercy or compassion in him for me. He’s going to kill me in Reed’s room. What if Reed walks in before he’s done? Will he kill Reed, too? I wonder, and then I still.

“Was that Reed on the phone?” I ask him. He doesn’t answer, but he stops his pursuit of me for the moment. “He’s coming here, isn’t he?” I ask, panicking again. My question is met with silence. “You’re going to kill me aren’t you?” I state rhetorically, knowing that it is his intention. “You’ll need to hurry. I don’t want Reed to walk in while you’re doing it. He will try to defend me, and I don’t want him hurt. So, just do it fast…please,” I say, straightening up out of the defensive crouch I had adopted at some point in my retreat.

I can’t seem to drop my arms to my sides, so I hug them over my breasts and close my eyes. My breath comes in short gasps, and my heart drums like the wings of a hummingbird. I hear the clocks in the house all ticking in synchronization. How Reed managed that, I don’t know, but they keep perfect time together. I also smell Reed’s scent in the room, and it is a little comforting to me.

As the moments pass, I grow nervous about the time. The clocks keep ticking. Time is running out. Reed will be back at any time. Fear chokes me while beads of sweat run down the sides of my face and I swipe them away shakily with the back of my hand.

“Why are you afraid? I was told you have redemption,” the angel sneers from in front of me.

I moisten my lips in order to speak because my mouth has gone so dry. “Maybe it’s the human side of me that fears death,” I reply in a near whisper, not opening my eyes. “This life is all I can remember. It’s all I know—and I don’t know that I will be granted redemption. Reed seems to think so, but there is a chance that I’m evil…in which case, you’d be sending me to Sheol. I hear it’s not very fun there, so I’m hoping that Reed is correct. But, whichever way, I guess I’m about to find out. If I see you in Paradise, then, no hard feelings—if I don’t, well then, good job. Either way, you have my forgiveness if you do this before Reed gets here.”

“You have a serpent’s tongue. Why would you forgive me?” he asks me, angry now…or frustrated.

I don’t hesitate when I answer him, “Because the worst thing I can imagine is that Reed would cease to be on any plane of existence. I can forgive anything short of his annihilation. Please, do this now, before he returns,” I beg him, feeling dizzy with anxiety. I sway on my feet as trembling continues to take hold of me.

“Did you just plead for me to kill you?” the angel asks in an incredulous tone. He is still so near that I can feel his breath on my hair.

I open my eyes to see him standing in front of me, his ice-blue eyes boring into mine. “Umm…sort of, I guess so. I can do a better job, if you’d like.” I say, sinking to my knees, and resting my forehead against the carpet beneath me. “Please hurry, so you don’t have to hurt Reed,” I say softly.

“You are a Seraph, and yet you would bow to me?” he states with confusion in his tone.

Looking up at him from my position on the floor, my eyes widen when he sinks to his knees in front of me. “I’m sorry… I don’t know what a Seraph is,” I say, rising back up onto my knees and crossing my arms over my breasts again.

“You do not know what a Seraph is?” he asks me in shock. I shake my head, waiting for his reaction. “Seraphim are the highest order of Angels. They are God’s guardians.”

“How do you know I’m a Seraph?” I ask him haltingly, trying to ebb the trembling fear that shows no sign of lessening.

He reaches out, and I try not to pull away from him as he touches my wing; it flutters at the contact. “Your wings, they are fiery red,” he observes.

“They are?” I ask, because I haven’t actually seen them yet. I’ve been so focused on this predator, that I haven’t been able to evaluate them. Now, I glance back at them, seeing that they are, indeed, red, the deepest red. They are small too, reaching only to my waist, not the powerful wings that Reed possesses, I think in disappointment.

“Why are they so small?” I ask, and the disappointment is there in my tone.

The angel gives me a half smile, shocking me when I see it. “You have never seen your wings before tonight?” he asks me pointedly. I shake my head. “How old are you?” he asks curiously.

“I just turned eighteen.” I say shivering as my body is starting to sag from fatigue that fear has wrought upon it. A thought creeps into the back of my mind and takes root in my consciousness. Before I can stop myself, I ask the angel, “What order of angel is Lucifer?”

Scanning my face with his ice-blue eyes, he says, “Lucifer is Seraphim.”

My breath catches as tears immediately cloud my vision. A couple of tears escape as I inhale my breath, trying to hold back the burning sob in my throat. Feeling as if I’ve been punched in the stomach, I ruthlessly reign in my emotions and gain control again. Using the back of my fist, I wipe my tears away, and then I cross my arms in front of me once again. I nod to him, acknowledging what he has just told me.

“If it’s all the same to you, I don’t want to know anymore. Let’s just get on with this, okay?” I say, feeling conquered.

“Get on with what?” he asks.

“The smoting…or is it smiting? Whatever you call it,” I reply in exasperation. “Before Reed gets back, remember?” I ask, trying to hold back my raw emotion.

“You do not know if the Fallen are responsible for you being here?” he asks, ignoring my question.