A/N: Okay, next chapter…Lol All the reviews about Cali killing the whole "true love" thing is making me want to write. The whole thing will explain itself in time, I promise. Cali has a very, very twisted past. You'll see. Let's just say there's going to be a bit of a crossover with my books in later chapters.

Also, I know this is short. My brain got stopped, started mixing this with my books, lol.

Chapter 8: Cali's Not-So-Little Secret

            **Suze**

            That had to have been one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Cali, who fully hates Paul's guts, just leaned over and kissed him right on the lips. Jeez. I felt sorry for her. I had a feeling this was part of her plan, whatever it was. Except for the fact that Paul got up soon, and Cali was still on the floor unconscious. Paul stood up and the first thing I noticed was the fact that his eyes were either very bloodshot or just bloodred.

            "What's wrong, Suze?" His voice was messed up, too. It was deeper, and kind of…rough. Evil?

            "Paul, what's wrong with you…?" I asked quietly, backing up as he walked towards me. I tripped over my own feet, and Jesse stepped between me and Paul.

            "Leave her alone, Slater," he snapped, folding his arms over his chest, almost challenging Paul to do something. "What do you want with Susannah? It's Calixte you're after, isn't it? Please, Slater. Just leave her out of it," he begged. He was pleading for my safety…Wow. I've never had anyone do that for me before…

            "Or what? You'll kill me? Face it, Rico Suave. We're in the same boat. The only difference is I have another direction. I don't have to act dead. I don't have to be a ghost," he said, grinning maliciously. What the hell was he talking about? Cali had killed him. He was a ghost. What was he talking about? I was looking at him, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Too bad I didn't have telepathy like Cali. I could've really used it. He noticed me looking at him and started laughing. Just laughing…but it was the scariest thing I'd ever heard. "What am I talking about, Suze? I'm talking about another option. I'm talking about more life. I'm talking about these." On the word "these," there was a flash of rust-colored light, and a pair of leathery wings the color of dried blood grew from his back, tearing through his shirt with their claws.

            "Holy -" I would've finished my sentence if Jesse hadn't covered my mouth, finishing my sentence with a Spanish curse.

            "Nombre de dios," he breathed, staring at Paul.

            "Nombre de dios," Paul said mockingly, stretching his wings. "Is that all you can say? How about - ?"

            "You're a stupid asshole of a guy," Cali said, finishing his sentence for him. "I can't believe you blew your cover voluntarily like that. Didn't you get the point when they exiled you?" she said calmly, stepping out in front of Jesse and me. "God, Paul. Just because you're his nephew does not mean you have the right to basically tell them what you are, and about – that place. You're so stupid, Paul. What the hell is wrong with you?"

            I blinked, Cali was talking to him about…whatever it was…as if she was an older sister, bitching at her little brother for spilling to their parents that she had gone out without permission, or something. I thought she hated him…

            Jesse looked down at me. I didn't need to have telepathy to know that he was thinking the exact same thing I was. "What the hell is going on?" we chorused.

                        **Cali**

            God, was Paul stupid! Okay, I have a confession for everyone. I'm not quite…ah, human. In fact, I'm not human at all. I'm an angel/malaengel mix of a goddess with a dash of siren. That's why guys always fall for me. I can't help it. My mom was half siren, and an angel. My dad was half angel, half god, but he was turned evil…but not quite. See, he went through a sort of Jekyll/Hyde episode, and he was already in love with my mom. Fortunately for her, the Hyde part of him fell for her, too. This is really hard to explain…see, he died, and mom killed Lucifer…but killed herself in the process. The Hevanican master god, Indiro, gave her life back, and said she could bring back one person with her, so she chose my dad, Nic. His full name's Nicodemus, but everyone calls him Nic for short. It used to be Nick because the Jekyll part of him hated his real name. It got changed to Nic because the Hyde part liked Nicodemus. Anyway…so they both came back and then they had me sixteen years ago. I was born on earth, and Paul was born in Heaven. He's not my brother, no. He's not even related to me. He's Neo's nephew. Neodym currently holds the throne to Hell. Mom brought him back to rule after she killed off Lucifer. Paul lived in Heaven until he killed…killed my parents. He killed them. Attacked them in the middle of the night…I turned him in, and they immediately exiled him. They chopped off his feather wings (the first wings he had), which was the punishment for murder, but new ones grew in their place. Leather ones, like Neo had. Unfortunately, he managed to escape Hell and had been living under the pseudonym Paul Slater. I don't know his real name, but that isn't it.

            "Aww, why spoil all my fun?" Paul asked me, pouting.

            I walked over to him, spun, and kicked up, catching him hard in the jaw. "You are an asshole, Paul. You are an asshole," I said. I couldn't help it. What could I do? He had just blown his cover, and in response I had blown mine.

            "Yeah, you demon. You're an asshole. Really," Suze said.

            "He's not a demon, he's a malaengel," I snapped, turning my head so I could see her out of the corner of my eye.

            "He's a…a mal-wha?" Suze said, blinking at me.

            I turned to them and told them everything I just told you. "He's a malaengel. Not a demon. There is one big fat difference. Paul used to be an angel," I said. I had no idea what I was going to do now. Everything was just so confusing. I had completely spilled everything. Everything. Oh, was I going to get a beating from the Archangel for this one…

                        **Jesse**

            I just sort of stood there in complete shock as Calixte told us she was an angel. Angel? "What about your wings?" I asked. I couldn't help it. I was curious…

            "Oh no. No way," she insisted, backing up against the pole, as if to make sure we couldn't get to her back.

            Paul smirked. "She just doesn't want to reveal them because they're not normal wings. Are they, goddess?" he sneered at Calixte. "Goddess?" now I was confused. What was she? A goddess, an angel, a siren…too much information for me to handle.

            "They're perfectly – shit!" she exclaimed, realizing she had just admitted that she had wings. "God damn you, Paul Slater," she hissed, then murmured something in a completely bizarre language. "Hevanican, Jesse. The language is Hevanican," she corrected quietly, then was silhouetted by a blinding flash of brilliant blue light. When it faded, and my vision cleared, I saw her dark wings fully extended. I guessed she had a twelve foot wingspan. The feathers were all edged with sapphire and a cerulean blue. "Eleven and a half," she corrected as she folded them. "Close, though."

            I looked down at Susannah and watched her jaw drop. "…Wow," she breathed.

            Calixte was clearly disgusted with herself, not at all happy with what she had just done. "It's not as wow as you'd think. Do you have any idea how hard I trained to get these muscles?" she said, turning around to show us the muscles surrounding the bases of her powerful wings.

            "Oh, and I haven't trained?" Paul said, raising an eyebrow at her.

            Calixte turned to him and hissed. Just hissed, like she had hissed at Spike. I couldn't help smiling slightly. "Yes, but there's one difference: I'm trained to fight malaengels." She said the word, sneering at him. I'd never heard her use that voice before. Now I really saw the connection between them. They were connected by pure hatred. They were opposites, and they hated each other. That made more sense than it didn't. Loads more.

            "So now what, angel? Hmm? Someone's gonna die and it's not gonna be me," Paul Slater said, folding his arms over his chest and opening his wings slightly.

            Calixte sighed. "Paul, don't make me use my tridaggers. My mother was the best trifighter in all the worlds, and I inherited her skills. I don't want to kill, Paul. Don't give me a reason to," she said calmly. It wasn't an order or a threat. It was just a request. "Above all, really – leave them alone," she said, gesturing towards me and Susannah. "They have nothing to do with us."

            "Oh sure they do," Slater protested.

            "No, they really don't." Calixte sighed. "Look. I can kill you, malaengel. I can kill you. I don't want to, but I can. What do you want, anyway? Why involve them? Why try to kill me? Explain everything. Neo doesn't want to take over Heaven, so it can't be that story again. Just leave us alone. Go back to Hell, where you belong," she snapped, glaring at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

                        **Cali**

            Okay, why wouldn't Paul leave? He was starting to really piss me off. That was bad, seeing as I have a temper. When I get really mad, I feel no pain. I can punch clear through a wall and feel nothing. I blame my mom's side of the family for that. They all had tempers. Her temper got her exiled when she was a little younger than me.

            "Explain everything? You inherited your mother's mission. It's now your job to protect the earthlings from us Hellatians. You're the only thing standing between me and rule of Earth now," he said, glaring at me as he spoke.

            I swallowed hard. How did he know I inherited the mission? I didn't even know I inherited it. I wouldn't let him know he scared me. "So you're gonna kill me because I inherited a mission to protect earth?" I rolled my eyes. "Please. If I had my tridaggers on me, you'd be dead in three seconds," I said cockily. I knew I was being overconfident, but I didn't care. I watched his eyes until our gazes locked. "Paul," I called in my siren voice. Paul predictably froze. I, keeping my gaze locked with his, called to my tridaggers, which were on my bed at home. I waited, unblinking, for a full minute, and then they fell through the floor, bladefirst at me. I blinked, cutting off the spell, and reached up to them. I caught the tips of the long blades, then flipped them around, holding the hilts. They were interesting weapons. They looked like big Ws, and the outer lines were blades, shaped like symmetrical S's on either side of a single, long blade. We used them as extentions of our arms.

            "Your tridaggers?" Paul said, smirking. "They don't look like they could do all that much damage. You're not strong enough to use those," he said, hands on his hips, sneering the whole time.

            I started spinning them around my fingers, faster and faster until my fingers and the weapons were a big blur of flesh, crystal, and metal. "Don't make me do this, Paul," I said quietly, still spinning the weapons.

            "Why not? You want to. I know you want to kill me, Cali. Give into your hatred," he said. He walked closer to me and I felt the blades slicing up his arm as he grabbed my wrist and started pulling my arm towards his throat. "Do it," he dared.

            When the blades had come close to slicing his neck, I stopped spinning them and held the weapons steady in my hands. "Paul, let go of my wrist," I said, starting to freak out. I didn't really want to kill him. I hated him, but I couldn't handle killing. My mom couldn't either. "Paul," I said louder when he didn't let go. "Paul, let me go."

            "Do it, Calixte. Kill me and rid yourself of one more annoyance," Paul hissed. He was daring me. I did pride myself in never turning down a dare…I tensed my grip on the weapons, particularly the one against his neck. I pressed down slightly and felt my body start to shake. I stared into his eyes and we both remained still, until I dropped the weapons. "I knew you couldn't do it," Paul said, smirking as usual. "You're not strong enough to kill."