Page 68 of Wings of Torment
Ezekiel: So is that a no to the blueprints?
Raphael: Demon Slayers! Assemble! My room, 5 minutes.
Ezekiel: Right. Give me ten.
“Isn’t it so cute when they get along?” Hayliel teases.
“Don’t you dare jinx it, firefly.”
“Think it’s okay if I tell Dina to come? She’s pretty invested at this point, and I think she’d be pissed if we made plans without her.”
“Absolutely. She’s part of the Demon Slayer squad,” I say, making Hayliel laugh. I could listen to that sound forever. Maybe I should record it and turn the sound into my ringtone. Or is that creepy?
After Hayliel sends the details of our meet to Dina, we head to Power house and arrive on Raphael’s balcony in no time. I use my wings to unlock the door and we find him inside with a frantic look on his face.
“Sunshine!” he says when he sees us before rushing to her side. “I have to tell you this now, because I’m certain she’s only trying to cause shit between us. Seraphina cornered me in the weaponry building and I tried to get away without literally tossing her aside, which didn’t work by the way, but I have no interest in her at all, and in fact I’m falling so fucking hard for you that I couldn’t even imagine—”
“Hey,” Hayliel says, putting a finger over his lips to stop his rambling. “Breathe.”
He nods and sucks in a few deep breaths. “Sorry. I just figured she’d try to start shit, and I wanted to make sure you knew the full story before she could do any damage to our relationship.”
A knock sounds at the door, pulling me from the heartfelt moment, and I silently excuse myself to answer it. Before I get there, Raphael calls out to me.
“Theo, that includes you, too. I wouldn’t risk the relationship we all have. We’re a family.”
“I know you wouldn’t, Raph,” I tell him as Hayliel’s eyes well with tears. Wearea family. Maybe not of blood and bone, but something better. We chose each other, and something about that feels far stronger.
Raphael kisses Hayliel, and I take a moment to just smile and watch. Another knock interrupts my intense stare, reminding me that I was doing something.
Ezekiel and Dina stand on the other side, and as they walk through Raphael’s door, it’s obvious they can sense the weird vibes in the air.
Dina being Dina doesn’t let us get away without mentioning it. “Shit, babe. Can you bottle up some of that sexual tension for me? Because damn!”
While Hayliel laughs, I wait on bated breath to see how the Fallen house leader will take it. When he doesn’t say anything, I wonder if maybe our conversation over break really did something.
He settles into a chair with all the comfort of a king sitting on his throne, which reminds me he’s been here before. He and Raphael hung out just the other day, and I guess things went well. Good. Now Ezekiel just needs to put everything out in the open with Hayliel and maybe we can all get along the way we were always intended to.
“Alright, so the Guild usually flies a route over the area where that building is located, but when I looked through the logs, something seemed off.”
“What was it?” Hayliel asks, dropping into the seat opposite him as Raphael moves to stand behind her. If Zeke notices, I can’t tell, but I stay where I am beside Dina against the wall. I don’t want to test out his newfound calm just yet.
“The flight paths have changed over the last few years. On its own, that doesn’t seem like a big deal at all. But knowing what we do about that building … isn’t it suspicious that those changes result in very little patrol in that area?”
“You think it’s the work of the mole?” I ask, not wanting it to be true but fearing it might be.
“The thought might have crossed my mind a time or ten. Even if it is, though, I’m now more positive than ever that we have to investigate.”
“You’re right,” Raphael adds. “We need to see for ourselves. Theo, was there anything interesting to note from the blueprints?”
“The house itself is a bungalow, so all the rooms are on the main floor. There are three bedrooms, one bathroom, an office, and an open concept kitchen and living room. I did find something a little strange, though. One photo showed a rather large barn on the property as well, but I couldn’t find any blueprints for it and it didn’t exist in any of the other photos.”
“That is odd,” Zeke adds, his expression thoughtful.
“How are we even going to get off campus?” Hayliel asks. And she’s right. We can’t exactly tell the principal that we’re off to investigate an old house with the hopes of retrieving the items stolen from the Guild.
“We could just lie and tell them we’re going to the merchant district,” Dina states.
Ezekiel shakes his head. “That won’t work. All absences are reported to the Guild and spot checked. From what I could find, someone thinks a student was involved in the attack, so they’re going to great lengths to discover who it was.”
