Alex

At least the food looks okay. I filled my plate with blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, grapes, and a big helping of bacon and eggs.

I surveyed the dining hall, looking for an empty table where I could eat my breakfast alone.

“You can sit here,” someone waved to me from a table right in front of me.

Can’t avoid the other angels forever. I hopped onto the perch opposite her.

“I’m Lilly.” She smiled–as much as it’s possible to smile with a beak.

“Alex.” I took a forkful of eggs.

“I take it you don’t know anyone here?”

I shrugged.

“Me neither. I live right by Saint Williams, so everyone else went there.”

“Why didn’t you?” Saint Williams was halfway across the country, and this wasn’t a very well-known school.

“I just… wanted a little change of scenery, after 22 years in the same place.”

“Yeah… I get that.” After a while, you start to feel trapped. Walls meant to keep danger out start to feel like a cage to keep you in.

I tried the strawberries, skipping my fork and just grabbing them with my beak. Nice and juicy.

Lilly gave me a look of dissapproval and disgust.

I sighed, taking up my fork again. I’d forgotten how much importance angels put on stuff like that. “Sorry.”

“That’s no way for an angel to eat. We’re better than that.”

It took all my effort to refrain from making a snide comment.

“I must have left my manners with my feathers.” I spread my pathetic featherless wings.

My not-making-snide-comments skills could use a bit of work…

She shook her head.

I’d taken care to choose a more-lenient angel academy. One that didn’t make everyone wear chastity belts. But it was still going to be a struggle.

Suddenly, Lilly grabbed half a dozen berries with her beak.

I blinked.

“Can’t be perfect all the time.” She smiled warmly and resumed using her fork again.

“Right.” I smiled back.

Maybe it won’t be so bad, after all.

Alex

I’m ashamed to call myself an angel, I thought as I ritualistically plucked out my feathers.

I had to keep reminding myself that angels do a lot of good, too. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, guiding people towards spiritual fulfillment… committing genocide and acts of terrorism, threatening to rip off my wings if I didn’t train to “fulfill my divine duty”…

I glanced around the chapel, where hundreds of other angels were participating in this plucking ritual alongside me. It was supposed to be a sign of devotion towards the divine, but for me, this mandatory act of self-mutilation–stripping myself of both flight and magic–had a different meaning: impermanence. With time, my feathers would regrow and I’d once more fly, just like my training would end, and I’d once more be free.

The Angelic Church/government insists that angels were created to serve their god, and that any angel who refuses to do so doesn’t deserve to live. Luckily for me, the inter-species Common Government recognized that as slavery, and told the Church that they couldn’t actually force people to serve them. All they can do is make me train to serve them.

Last one. I gripped the base of a secondary flight feather with my pliers and pulled it out quickly. Put it in a large plastic bag with the rest of my plumage (minus what my underwear covers. The Church isn’t too fond of public nudity).

One of the teachers nodded at me approvingly as I left the chapel, into the cool night air.

Instinctively, I spread my wings to fly back to my dorm room. Then sighed, folded up those now-useless chunks of flesh and bone, and started walking.

Most sentient species get by with just two legs and two arms, so they often think of wings as “extra limbs”. They’re wrong. Angels, like most birds, are evolved for flight. It’s how we escape from predators. A survival skill.

Despite the efforts angels made to fit in with humans, we’re not humans. We’re prey, not predators. Birds, sticking together in a flock/church for safety. And hiding our weakness. The weak are kicked out–or even killed–before they put the rest of the flock in danger. For most angels, the “flock” is the Church, and “weakness” means lack of faith. A single angel would stand no chance against a human, or a were-cat, or any other predatory species, but the Church… they brought a technologically and magically-advanced fire-breathing species to (supposed) extinction. It’s no wonder angels find such safety in being a part of that.

But the Church isn’t my flock. My flock was a group of outcasts, willing to accept anyone, even me. With them, I’m safe to be myself. And not worry about hiding my religion (Eclectic Witchcraft, or Wicca) for fear of execution.

The Church was a flock to many, but to me, it was a vicious predator that forced me to pluck myself and walk straight into its mouth.

Alex

“What!?” My wings did an involuntary half-flap. “Lilly broke your wings?”

Startled, the ‘cubus started running for his life.

I was too shocked to pursue him. Which was probably for the best, since he probably would’ve tried to kill me if I’d caught up.

“Lilly…” I hesitated, not wanting to ask. But I had to. “Did–did you really…?”

“No. That’s crazy. You really think I’d crush someone’s wings? Torture them? What kind of monster would–” She cut herself off abruptly. Looked down. “Oh… Right… The kind that… enjoys slaying dragons.”

As much as I wished I could just disregard the idea of Lilly torturing someone like that, I couldn’t. Not anymore. She has a darker side somewhere within her, one that takes pleasure in taking lives. I had to consider that there might be other activities she hadn’t mentioned.

“I can’t blame you for not trusting me, Alex. But… I didn’t hurt him. I promise. I–I don’t know why he–”

“You only hurt dragons, right?”

She nodded weakly.

“Well… that’s good, I guess.” I paused. “But do you ever… do that kind of thing to dragons?” I had to have answers. Had to know just how bad her dark side was. Otherwise, I’d just keep wondering.

“It’s… not always a quick death,” she admitted, “I… I did break some of their wings…”

“Thanks.”

“You believe me?” She finally looked over at me, and it was clear she was crying.

I wrapped my wings around her. “You admitted you enjoy killing–and torturing–the last remaining members of my species. I have faith in your honesty.”

“…I guess that’s one way to look at it, but…”

“We have enough things to worry about right now. Let’s just… try to survive the Academy. When we make it out, then we can worry about all this fucked-up personal stuff. Okay?”

“I suppose this isn’t quite as life-threatening…”

“Yep. Best to put the whole subplot on hold for now.”

I tried not to think about how depressing it is that my serial killer girlfriend, trained to ruthlessly murder my species, was among the least life-threatening concerns in my life.

I did not succeed.

Alex

As Jack and his goons walked away, I glanced down at the ‘cubus I was healing. Or rather, had healed, and was now basically just increasing the chances that she’d get cancer. Got a bit distracted by the tension with Jack, and… should’ve stopped earlier.

I moved on to the next ‘cubus. Just one crossbow bolt in this one, but it went almost all the way through their chest, and I was sure it must have hit something vital. The pulse felt weak–really weak.

“Any way I can help?” Lilly crouched down next to me.

“I…” I shook my head. “I don’t think I can help here, actually.”

“What? But you can–”

“The bolt is plugging up the wound. I’d need to pull it out in order to heal it, but if I remove the bolt… he’ll likely bleed to death.”

“There’s no way to save him?”

“I…” I hesitated. “That’s the thing. I could save him with magic, but… it would drain me considerably.” I looked around at the other bodies. “I–I can’t save them all.”

“Hospital?” Lilly suggested halfheartedly.

I shook my head. We were in the middle of angel territory. We both knew that no hospital around here would be willing to treat ‘cubi.

We checked another ‘cubus. Already dead; throat slit.

Another. Wings were a tangled mess of feathers and blood, with a piece of bone jutting out of one. But nothing lethal.

He moaned when I put my hand on his wing.

“Don’t worry,” I told him, “I’m here to help you, okay? Your wings are broken. I need to re-align the bones. It’s… going to hurt. A lot.” I grabbed the ends of his humerus and moved them back together, as gently as I could. Not as gentle as I would have liked, judging by his scream.

“There. The painful part is over now.” I channeled some magic into his wing, to get the healing process started.

“Um… Alex?” Lilly touched the incubus’s other wing gently.

“Yeah?”

“These… these wounds don’t look fresh. Most of this blood is dried. And… there are scars.”

I took a closer look. She was right. This damage couldn’t have been from the fight. Which meant… that he’d gone into the fight with a crushed wing. Which was just ridiculous.

“Y–you!” He jerked away, scrambled to his feet.

“Whoa, hold on,” I said, “what’s–”

“I–I’m not going back!” He grabbed a bolt off the floor and held it up as a weapon. His eyes were shifting around, probably expecting someone to try to make a move.

“Back where?” I asked, “Who–who did that to your wing?”

“Her.” He pointed at Lilly.

Alex

Lilly and I helped the injured girl into the room’s bed, then went rummaging through the closet until we found a white shirt that kind of fit me. Lilly drew some crosses on it with the copious amounts of blood she had on hand (literally). A red cross in a field of white: a universal sign that I’m a medic, a non-combatant, and therefore off-limits.

“Let’s go.” I pulled the shirt on as I rushed to the door. Seven angels–including Lilly, myself, and the wounded girl–against a dozen ‘cubi. And Lilly was by far the best fighter. They didn’t stand a chance without us. They could already be dead.

But when I stepped into the hallway, it was a very different scene. About two dozen heavily-armed angels were picking off the last of the ‘cubi as they tried to run away.

I jumped back as a crossbow bolt whizzed by, narrowly missing me before striking a fleeing ‘cubus in the heart.

“Lilly. Alex. You’re a bit late to the party.” Jack stepped forward from the crowd, smiling.

“The ‘party’?” I glared at him. “Is this seriously your idea of a party? Killing people?”

“They’re not people,” one of the other angels said, “They’re ‘cubi.” He shot a ‘cubus that was trying to get up from the floor.

“What a load of crap.” I clenched my fists.

“It’s kill or be killed,” Jack said, “They attacked us, remember?” He took aim at another ‘cubus on the ground, still alive, barely, but clearly not a threat to anyone.

My feathers puffed out in anger.

“Alex…” Lilly put her hand on my shoulder.

I stepped in between Jack and the ‘cubus. Spread my wings out as far as I could, shielding all of the ‘cubi–assuming nobody decides to just shoot through me, which they very well might.

“Get out of the way!!”

I shook my head. “You’ve already won. It’s not ‘life and death’ anymore, it’s… it’s just murder! Killing defenseless people for your own twisted pleasure!”

Jack looked over at Lilly. “Talk some sense into him, would you?”

“Alex…” Lilly walked over to me. “You…”

“Come on. You can’t seriously think this is okay.” My wings lowered momentarily. Uncertain. “…Can you?”

She enjoys killing, too, I had to remind myself.

For a long moment, she stood silent.

Finally, she shook her head. “You’re right. This… this is not what God would want.” She extended her wings. “Show them we can be merciful.”

“Thank goodness.” I smiled, tucked in my wings, and went to work healing the nearest ‘cubus, who had two crossbow bolts sticking out their back. The first one went straight through a wing, tearing up the feathers and ripping through the flesh, but stopped before hitting anything else vital. I pulled the bolt out as gently as I could, then started working my magic.

“You’re protecting them, too?” Jack asked.

“We’re supposed to be God’s servants,” she said, “Keeping order in the world. Spreading His love and helping those in need. There’s more to it than just killing.”

“And what are you going to do with these ‘cubi? Just let them go?”

“…We can keep them as prisoners for now, I guess.”

“Prisoners?” Jack laughed. “What’s the point? I doubt they’d have any information to give us.”

“Then we set them free,” I suggested, “When ‘cubi attack angels, it’s usually because they know that angels are genocidal assholes. Let them go back home with their wounds healed, and tell people that we’re not all bad. Just most of us.”

“Fair point,” Lilly said, “I’d hate to think what kind of treatment they’d receive as prisoners, so… sounds good.”

Intense silence. (Which is a welcome break from the usual awkward silence we’ve seen so much of lately).

“Fine.” Jack sighed. “But if they come back, it’s on you.”