Chapter 1. The restaurant
Art: Ling Yun
The artifact, vague as it sounded, is stored in a thirteen-by-four red mahogany box with weird symbols carved all over it.
If Kye didn't already know it was the box, she would've easily mistaken it for a solid block of wood.
It has no lock, keypad, or even an opening slit. It's also deceptively light. Aside from the fact that the box is quite beautiful to look at, nothing indicates it holds one of the most powerful weapons ever created.
Kye only learns from Ruby that it's some type of close-combat weapon — one that could destroy anything it touches, mortal or not. A true Michael masterpiece.
The Resistance has been in the process of collecting supernatural objects forever. They want to "tip the scale toward us," as Bobby, Ruby's handler, once said. The Resistance — or Red Serpent Resistance in full — used to be a small grassroots movement, one among many similar organizations. By some miracle, it survived countless seek-and-destroy operations to become the only one left standing in the Western Hemisphere. It has caused major chaos and been a nuisance to the garrisons and their councils for the past decade.
Kye understands the artifact's importance to Michael and the angels, but what was hers to the Resistance?
It had taken them five years and many well-trained, devoted-to-the-cause men and women to acquire that weapon, so it doesn't make sense that they're willing to hand it back to Michael, right after they've gotten it, in exchange for her.
Kye doesn't know much about their plans. She's only been in contact with them for four months, solely through Ruby and her handler. Ruby had said the guy was a big shot. He would contact Kye whenever she was needed, never the other way around.
How a simple girl like Kye ended up tangled with them, you'd ask.
It all started with a nothing-out-of-the-ordinary business dinner. Kye accompanied Michael to a restaurant located between Aax District and Steel Heights — an industrial area of Ayham.
Michael was there to meet Fergus Crowley, a businessman-turned-politician. Crowley wasn't just a survivor under angel rule — he thrived.
He's known as a Council member who knows how to play all his cards right. A lot of people see Crowley as a disgrace to humankind — a crook who'd sell his own mother for half a cent — but Kye always saw him as witty and resourceful. Crowley could be downright charming when he wanted to be, but never, ever, get the wrong idea that he's your friend.
Crowley is only Crowley's friend. Cross him, and you die — or wish you could.
Michael listened to Crowley's yapping about reopening the harbor, about how it would revive the city and help the miserable citizens. Angels didn't need food or necessities to survive, but humans did, and the city was in bad shape. That had been the root of all crimes and riots. The Resistance had been waiting for an opportunity to incite more uproars. They might seem like a bunch of backcountry idiots with death wishes, but they'd gotten bolder and more creative each day.
Michael agreed that the angels shouldn't underestimate these individuals if they hoped to govern Earth in peace.
They were about to conclude the meeting when Alastair and his men burst in, guns blazing. The man's cold gray eyes locked onto Crowley's surprised face for a second before moving on to Michael.
The archangel didn't show a single thread of emotion, but his left hand grabbed Kye's wrist with bone-crushing force the moment Alastair's men kicked down the door. Michael's eyes stayed fixed on the humans across the room. He was about to teleport out with Kye in tow when a silver bullet hit him in the shoulder.
Alastair gave them a triumphant grin. His whole demeanor in that moment reminded Kye of a predator who had just located his prey and was ready to pounce.
While plenty of people wished death on the angels and the councils' members, only a few had the guts and resources to carry out the threat. Alastair happened to be one of them — and he meant business this time.
He had recruited a lot of competent people to work for him. One of them was a young woman named Charlie. She was a weapons engineer who'd obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry and material science at the age of sixteen. Her family had been a dominant force in the biotechnology field until they were all killed during the War.
When an angel dies, for whatever reason, they leave behind their angel blade, made of grace-infused celestial steel. It's considered an extension of the angel. During the War, the battlefields had been littered with these blades. Alastair had ordered his men to collect them, having foreseen they could be of use someday. When Charlie started working for him, she discovered the extensive collection of angel blades gathering dust in storage. She decided to turn them into something more useful — and familiar.
The blades had all been melted down and molded into different-sized bullets before being strengthened with Enochian sigils. It had been Charlie's most noteworthy work.
The bullet in Michael's shoulder was one of those.
Michael managed to teleport himself and Kye to an alley two blocks away from the restaurant before passing out. Kye feared the worst when the archangel gave her a drowsy smile and went limp in her arms. Blood poured from his wound, turning his pristine white shirt red. His suit jacket was soaked through.
Kye used all her strength to lift Michael and drag him deeper into the dark alley. His shallow, shaky breaths told her he was still alive. Kye prayed for the people back at the restaurant, but she highly doubted anyone had escaped unscathed. Now wasn't the time to worry about anyone else.
Michael leaned heavily on her. Kye's dress and heels made it even harder to move. They were exposed out there. She needed to find shelter and wait for help. By now, Michael's people should have known something was wrong.
Then she heard a familiar "Psst, kitty." A thin silhouette emerged from the shadows. Ruby looked exactly as she had the last time Kye saw her, three and a half years ago. She wore a burgundy leather jacket, a black top, and dark jeans. Ruby gracefully leaned against one of the back doors, concern in her eyes and that familiar, confident smirk Kye had always found endearing. As bad as the timing was, seeing Ruby standing there calmed Kye down. The weight on her shoulders and the knot in her stomach slowly eased.
Ruby had been Kye's best friend and family since Kye was only seven, right after her father's passing. After promising to sign up for the job in Aax District with Kye, Ruby had vanished. No goodbyes, no explanations. It drove Kye crazy with worry. She searched everywhere, chasing false leads and conflicting stories, until life overwhelmed her, and she had no choice but to let it go — and pray Ruby had made the best of wherever she'd ended up. Ruby had always been a survivor, and Kye could only take comfort in that.
Kye scanned the other girl from head to toe, the whole moment feeling unreal.
"Ruby, how... Why are you here?" Kye asked under her breath. Her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else.
"Later, Kye. Right now, we need to get your feather boyfriend somewhere safe." Ruby straightened up and stepped away from the doorframe, hands in her jeans pockets.
"He's not... Ruby, where are we going?" Kye panted, struggling under Michael's weight.
"Sorry." Ruby turned back, looping Michael's other arm over her shoulder but didn't answer Kye's question.
They walked a few minutes before Ruby stopped at the back of an empty two-story building. She pulled out her phone and typed in a line of numbers. The heavy metal door creaked open.
"Cool, huh?" Ruby looked proud.
They dragged Michael up a narrow flight of stairs behind the door. The steps led to the second floor, where another door waited. Ruby unlocked it the same way.
The floor was empty and dusty. On the other side, a twin-size mattress sat with a single pillow and blanket. A small fridge, an old TV with two antennas, a chair, and a laptop lay on a wooden table littered with empty beer bottles and takeout boxes. The streetlights outside shone through large casement windows, bathing the room in an orange hue.
"Nice place..." Kye said uncertainly.
"Thanks, but put your boyfriend down here. I only have one bed. Don't want to sleep in blood." Ruby tossed the laptop onto the mattress, then swept the bottles and takeout boxes onto the floor with her free arm. They eased Michael onto the table, which, luckily, was long enough for his tall frame. Ruby went over to the windows, peeked out, and then pulled the sand-colored curtains shut, plunging the room into darkness. She retrieved the desk lamp from the floor and turned it on, then pulled out her phone.
"Hey Fig, got a favor to ask. Please get your cute ass over here... Yes, the bird nest. Hurry up!" Ruby hung up and looked at Kye. "He's not gonna die, y'know."
Kye knew she must look awful. She'd been holding it together since the alley, but now she glanced up and gave Ruby her best attempt at a smile.
Ruby rolled her eyes and groaned. "Please, don't give me that heartbroken-lover look like you're gonna die with him. His kind is tough, and he's an archangel, for God's sake. That bullet does nothing to him! Beer?" She opened the fridge, not looking back.
"No thanks. Maybe later... Do you have something stronger?" Kye sat down on the only chair beside the table. She took Michael's hand. It was always cold, but this time she couldn't feel his grace prickling against her skin as usual. She frowned, unsure what that could mean.
Ruby gave her a thoughtful look before walking to the corner, kneeling on one knee, and using her pocket knife to lift a floorboard. "I hide all the good stuff down here," she said, pulling out a tall glass bottle with clear, amber-colored liquid inside. "Whiskey, neat?"
***
That night, Kye first learned about what Ruby really did during the time they were apart. She had joined the Resistance right after Kye was selected to work for Michael. It turned out it was Ruby's plan all along to encourage Kye to take that job. She had waited for her sister to settle in before leaving the city. Ruby knew Kye would never agree with her decision to join the organization.
After Kye's dad died, she had vowed never to be like him, to go out and die for some great cause, leaving behind a broken family.
Her dad had been a medic. A bomb had exploded right under his unit's van when they were on their regular search-and-rescue route. It had taken Kye, her mom, and her brother Nick a long time to pick up the pieces and rebuild the family after his death.
Ironically, the War was almost over then. Humanity was forced to enter negotiations, more like a surrender to the angels, because there was really not much else to do. Earth had already depleted most of its resources. People who didn't get killed during the War struggled to survive with food shortages and diseases. It was hell. Kye's family took Ruby in around this time. She was this skinny, dirty thing wrapped in rags with eyes that had seen too much. Kye's mom found her wandering the street all by herself, eating scraps off the ground. She must've looked miserable enough for a woman with no means to survive and two mouths to feed to decide to take her in.
Listening to Ruby just left Kye in thorough disbelief. One thing to be an occasional troublemaker, but an entirely different thing to actually join a rebel group. She never, in a million years, thought Ruby was the type. She was not some doe-eyed naïve girl or an idealist who would die for a cause, no matter how good the cause was.
Ruby leaned back on the table and sighed. "My life's shit anyway, Kye. Maybe I can do some good before leaving this Earth. This is no way to live under these sky assholes. I'm not gonna play house with them. No offense to you." She looked down and bit her lower lip. "By the way, I would not make a good pet either. I'd probably get my ass smitten if I didn't find a way to kill the fucker first." Ruby chuckled sadly.
"Then why did you encourage me to sign up for the job if you thought angels were assholes? Which, by the way, most of them are! You just left me high and dry!"
Kye was getting very upset. Ruby made it sound so light the way she just up and left everyone behind.
"'Cause what else were we supposed to do, Kye? Ma's health ain't getting any better, and Nick was growing bigger every day. We needed money. Food. There were not a lot of job options out there, if you haven't noticed." Ruby scoffed. "My job at the bar ain't cutting it anymore, so I had to figure something else out. Fast. They were hiring companion jobs for some hotshots just rotated down from Heaven, so I figured, why not? It's not an honorable job, but the pay's great. Maybe suffer a few beatings here and there, but other than that, you don't have to do much most of the time. And if the angel likes you, you're getting out of the shithole. Like I said before, I'm no angel's pet, but you could be. Sorry, but that's just the truth. You hated the everyday hustles in Eastwick and would rather just stick to your dead-end job at Donn's store getting abused by that asshole every day. So I thought this might be the way out for both of us. I could go join the Resistance with peace of mind knowing that you're taken care of."
"That's real thoughtful of you, Ruby," Kye laughed dryly. "Mom worried sick about you. Nick didn't leave his corner for days, blaming himself that maybe he annoyed you so much, that's why you left for good. And I," Kye shook her head. Tears slowly filled her eyes. "I went out looking for you like a maniac. We had no idea what happened to you. We thought of the worst-case scenarios. Where could you have gone? Why didn't you come back? Did something happen to you? After a while, it became 'Were you alive?' Because if you were, why didn't you bother to call? You're something else, Ruby."
Ruby sighed with an apologetic look in her eyes. "Look, I know I've been real shitty to you guys. I never meant for it to be like that. But it was dangerous, okay? What I decided to do was dangerous. I wasn't even sure I did the right thing, so the less you knew, the better."
She came closer and kneeled on one knee to be at eye level with Kye.
Her sister continued shaking her head. There were so many things left unsaid between them, so many questions Kye wanted to ask. They stayed like that for a long moment, staring at each other, before three crude knocks threw them back to reality.
Notes:
I wondered why this chapter took so long to complete. Turned out, it was as long as 2-3 chapters combined after I did the word count. I didn't want it to become so long so I decided to cut it in half and save the rest for the next update. Work smarter, not harder lol :D Hope I won't bore you guys to death! Give me some feedback and suggestions, lovely people! Thank you so much!
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