Sweet Death V

The angel sprang to Maddox with a roar, brandishing his blade.

Maddox grabbed the angel’s wrists as it struggled wildly like a beast caught in a trap. Maddox’s blade clattered to the ground. If he didn’t move away, they would crush Aurora, and his efforts would be in vain, so Maddox swung him around, using the angel’s strength against him rather than trying to match it, and slammed the angel against a wall. His eyes briefly went to Aurora to make sure she was alright.

     The angel laughed. “You don’t remember? Huh?!” he crashed his skull against Maddox’s forehead. 

Maddox’s vision went cloudy when he hit the floor. The pain traveled from his head to his neck like spiders, and for an instant, he forgot where he was. Her name beckoned him back. This was his chance to heal her a bit more; that way, she could have enough strength to get out of there while she could. He stretched his fingers towards Aurora to give her a bit more of his healing. 

     “AGH!” the possessed human and angel launched again, but Maddox kicked them on the abdomen, and they flew to the wall, which broke and swallowed them, leaving a hole. Maddox retook hold of his dagger. 

     “I worked next to you, cretin. You don’t even remember that?” the mingled voices of the angel and the human echoed from the darkness. 

     A shot of black fire, coming from the hole, hit Maddox in his shoulder. He yelled as it consumed his suit and, later, the skin leaving an empty hole. Maddox hissed as the name came to his mind. Dayren.  

     Dayren cut the air like a bullet, stabbed Maddox’s right wing with his death dagger, and yanked it back. Maddox yelled in agony, and Dayren cackled, straddling Maddox. Maddox’s wing evaporated into nothing; he couldn’t feel or see anything from it anymore, and half his vision was darkened. Dayren raised his blade with both of his hands, ready to strike. This was it. He was going to cease to exist, become nothing. 

     Then an iron tube hit Dayren, twisting his face to the side. 

Aurora clutched her bleeding stomach with one hand, wide-eyed, and with the other, the iron tube. Maddox stared, unblinking. A reaper’s healing magic was not powerful enough for such a turnout. 

     A string of black liquid slid from Dayren’s busted lip. He slowly turned his head, his face disfigured in anger towards the mortal who dared touch him. He clutched at her neck with one hand, and something snapped to life in Maddox, who took his dagger and plunged it right into Dayren’s heart with such might that part of the hilt was burrowed inside. 

     Maddox pulled it out, eyes wide. 

     Dayren gurgled, his eyes almost popping out of his skull. The human body tumbled on top of Maddox, dead, as the true form burst into ash. Only the shallow breaths of Maddox and Aurora echoed through the room.

     He had just killed another reaper in front of a human. How did he start wanting to save a soul and take two souls at once? If his punishment was going to be bad before, he couldn’t even imagine what awaited him now. Also, he had just lost a wing. 

     “I… can’t believe this…it was all true.” 

     Aurora’s voice broke the spell of his thoughts, and Maddox turned to look at her casting the body of Diego Santos aside.

     “Aurora, I…” he turned, all his muscles screaming in agony, and he tasted his blood. He stretched a hand towards her. She didn’t recoil, but she didn’t take it either. He must’ve looked pretty horrifying in her eyes, and the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her further. Still, her wound was not fully closed yet, and he needed to help before his efforts were lost. They also needed to leave soon. The ruckus wouldn’t be ignored by any of the demons outside. 

     “I’m deeply sorry,” was all he could muster. “This wasn’t supposed to go this way.

     Aurora frowned. “Hell, no, it wasn’t,” she shot. “You were supposed to take my soul, right? So why didn’t you?” 

     A knot formed in his throat. “Nobody has talked to me so…so openly as you. I’ve never…” he said. 

     Did it matter at this point if he told her about R.O.T.S.? He lowered his gaze.

“No one has ever cared to know me the way you have, and when you touched me, I felt like I had something to live for…so I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just couldn’t.” 

      “I felt it, too,” she said. 

     Maddox shot his head upwards in shock, and she laughed. 

     “Don’t get your hopes up yet. I’m going to need some serious therapy after I even consider going out ever again,” she said.  

     “R-right, of course! I uh, yes,” he muttered, surprised that he had enough blood to blush again. Not quite sure what therapy even was with exactitude, but whatever she needed. That reminded him. “May I touch your hand?” 

     “Why?” she asked. 

     “To heal you fully,” he said. 

     “What about your wing?” she said. 

     Maddox shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it. 

     “I’ll be fine,” he assured her, dragging his knees towards her a bit closer. She placed her hand over his. Her fingertips were cold, but he would fix that soon enough. 

     He concentrated his healing magic and made it surge through her fingertips. She looked down, eyes wide, as the remaining gaps of her wound began to close like a zipper until nothing was left but dried blood. 

     Maddox huffed, feeling drained. His extremities were heavy as if frozen in stone. Perhaps the healing magic had taken its toll, or the whole experience had finally caught up with him. It didn’t matter. He wished he could stay in that position a bit longer until his strength came back. 

     Aurora squeezed his hand. “Does it hurt?” she asked. 

     Maddox tilted his head. 

     “Not having a wing and half a shoulder,” she clarified. 

     “They’re both numb,” he whispered.

    Her thumb caressed the back of his hand as light as a feather. He closed his eyes at the foreign contact, focusing his senses on that sensation of closeness to another being before it was taken away. 

     “Thank you, Maddox,” she said.  

     He smiled and opened his eyes to find her smiling too, honest and clear, just like when they met. 

     “I’ve caused you nothing but pain, and here you are thanking me,” he said. 

     “My mother has always told me that there were spirits to guard us against evil. Never thought I’d actually see one but either way, you saved me, so maybe you’re more of that kind of spirit instead. Does it work like that?” she said. 

     For the first time in years, he laughed wholeheartedly. A dusty, closeted, raspy laugh, but a joyous flutter nonetheless coming from the middle of his chest that felt like a ton of weight had been lifted. 

     “Perhaps.” 

     Maddox froze mid-laughter at the sound of the commanding female voice he had learned to listen to and obey. He turned his head around. 

     La Jefa stood there, arms crossed, in her human form. Pale, almost blue, with black hair in a knot, a top hat adorned with wilted orange and red carnations. Her suit was black, unlike Maddox’s, and so were her eyes and lips. The fiery aura that emanated from her was blue. Her expression was stone carved, passive, unreadable.