“Does he have wings?” Ted asked, fascinated.
“He will have wings. Angelo put a charm inside his body that will stay until a birdman recalls it to the surface. It will keep him earthbound until he’s physically ready to fly and has a teacher at hand. I hope to see that day,” Mia said.
Ted, sensing the wave of sadness approaching Mia, changed the subject. “Tell me about demons.”
“There are many types of demons. Just when I think I know them all, I run into a different sort. The ones you see depicted in horror moves are parasitical demons. They live inside a human host until the host weakens or dies, and then they find a new host. They are the lowest caste of demons. Next, there are the subterranean demons. They live as we do, but in the shadows, caves, and crevasses underground. They don’t need a human host. They have a legal structure and obey laws. There are house demons. Cid will run into one when he is working as a finishing carpenter down south. House demons protect the house they consider theirs. They will only interfere with the human occupants if they are harming the house.”
“Is that maybe the weird feeling you get when you walk into an abandoned house?”
“If it’s not haunted, or even it if is, it could be the house demon. They are normally full-grown demons. Demons don’t reach maturity for two hundred years. They don’t die when you banish them. They come back. You can only kill them with one of their blades or with angel steel.”
“But they are bad,” Ted said.
“I’m not sure? You see, from their perspective, we’re bad.”
“But they’re depicted as evil in the Bible.”
“The Bible was written by men,” Mia said. “But again, I’m in no position to judge because I wasn’t there when Lucifer fell. Which brings up the highest caste of demons, the fallen. They are archangels and angels who fell with Lucifer. They carry a scent similar to frankincense. It’s what the angel feathers smelled like as they were burned off when the victims hit the earth’s atmosphere. They fell so hard that they burst through the earth’s crust. If it weren’t for the subterranean demons who took pity on them, the fallen would never have survived. They are powerful and rarely seen. They amass demon armies and fight with the angels still. Sometimes, when the battles bleed into our dimension, humans are killed. I was engineered to kill Abigor the duke of Hades. He controls sixty legions of demons. This is why I’m a freak. But something unexpected happened when I was a baby.”
“What happened?” Ted asked on the edge of his seat.
“According to a witness, Abigor picked me up and held me in his arms to see his assassin for himself. I looked up at him and smiled. We bonded. He chose then not to kill me. He placed a tracker inside me to keep an eye on his assassin, which I carried until I went back in time before the fall where everything canceled. I didn’t kill him. Before this happened to me, he and I were on good terms. Which is why I suspect, if there is another hand in this mess, it’s because my creators consider me a failure, a very dangerous failure.”
“So, they sent you back in order to retrain you?”
“Possibly, or because I’m weak enough to kill. I haven’t come into my wings yet. My telekinesis is nil. The only thing I have is the knowledge my brain holds. They don’t know about Murphy. I’m not the only one who remembers…”
“He’s impressive.”
“He’s my best friend,” Mia said. “Just like Cid is yours.”
“So, we have birdmen, demons, and fallen with us…”
“And angels,” Mia said with a bemused look on her face. “There are angels with us sometimes. There are too many of us for the angels to take care of daily. They lost more than half their number in the fall, and you can’t make an angel. God made the angels. I don’t understand the total hierarchy of angels yet. I’m familiar with the archangels, Sariel, Michael, and Altair. Michael is my boss. I’m his healer in the other time. Angels couldn’t be healed before I came along. They heal humans but can’t heal themselves. When they die in battle, they are gone. I’m closest to Altair who used to be a fallen until I bargained with Michael to get his wings back. Altair is helping me in this time as the fallen Wyatt Wayne.”
“Your life is so fascinating. I’m starting to form the same opinion Mike has; Mia, you can do better than me.”
Mia grabbed Ted’s hands. “No, Ted, you can do better. You went on this same journey with me but from a much harder place. You pick up the pieces. You’re left behind. When I return, your arms are open, and you forgive me for all I’ve done. I would use the excuse that I’m only human, but I’m not just human. In my time, you’re all I want, you’re all I need, you’re my everything. But if my quest fails, I’m not going to lead this trouble back to you. I’m going to move on.”
“Why?” Ted asked.
“Because I’m going to destroy who did this. There’s going to be a bloodbath. I’ve been promised forty legions of demons, and I’m going to call in that marker.”
“Mia, this isn’t you.”
“No, Ted, it is. You’re the one who gave me humanity. If it’s the Council of Women who have taken our future children from us, I’m going to destroy them. To do so, I’ll have to disappear until I’m strong enough to take on a cosmic force so strong that Lucifer
