Ten minutes later, the brothers, Kain, the twins, and Israfel stood in the living room.
"Now, boys," Tansy began happily, "This is Israfel. He's an old family friend and he's going to be staying with us for a little while! I want you all to be extra super nice to him . . . or else."
"Or else what?" Turel asked meekly.
"You don't want to find out," Ky assured him. "Trust me, I know." She rubbed the top of her head, wincing.
Zephon stood in the corner glaring at Israfel and balling his fists. "How dare he," he muttered under his breath. "How dare he just come in here . . . oh! Just look at how she's hanging all over him! Rar . . ."
Turel sidled up to his younger brother. "Well, technically, she's not hanging all over him. And furthermore, little brother, observe the look in his eyes."
Zephon looked at the angel's face for a split second. "What about it?"
"He has no idea that Tansy's absolutely in love with him!" Turel crowed.
"Are you suggesting . . ." Zephon started, but Turel cut him off.
"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just telling you that Israfel is blissfully oblivious."
"Always has been," another voice popped up on Zephon's other side. Both looked over to see Ky leaning against the wall. She continued.
"Tansy's been like this around him since I can remember. I still don't really know if it's actually love, but I doubt it. I think it's just one of those childhood crushes. He's an ideal for her, not really a love interest."
Both brothers appraised her silently.
"How do you know so much about love?" Turel finally inquired. Ky laughed.
"Tansy wasn't ever really much into dating people. I am. But really, when it comes down to it, it's the fact that Tansy belongs to the realm of the mind, of intellect. I belong to the realm of what's instinctual, and so love and desire fall under my genre."
She abruptly patted Zephon on the shoulder.
"Besides, I like you with Tansy better than Issy. Tansy's got a real mean streak that would scare off angels that a vampire would find just lovely. She just manages to hide that mean side of hers very, very well."
Ky pushed away from the wall and headed out of the room before either brother could respond. Tansy turned after her.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"I've heard this lecture before." Ky popped her head back in the room. "It's boring."
Kain sighed and teleported out of the room, and Ky indicated a hand toward where the master vampire had sat.
"See? Even he thinks it's boring."
Tansy gasped at the thought before retorting, "So what?! Listen!"
"Um . . . no."
"Fine then!" Tansy crossed her arms like the conversation was over as far as she was concerned. Ky walked out of the room, then leaned back in again.
"You know, Tans, it's almost ten o'clock . . ."
"Oh! Right . . ."
"Beddy-by time," Ky supplied at Tansy's blank expression.
"Gotcha! Hey, uh, guys, I'm heading to bed now."
Both girls walked out of the room, and Ky eyed her sister maliciously. When Tansy looked at her curiously, Ky grinned. Tansy returned it, then in an eye blink, both broke into a dead run for the stairs, racing one another. Ky slipped past her sister on the second flight and slammed the door shut at the top of the stairs. Tansy grinned, quickly headed down, and stopped at the bookshelf on the second floor. She glanced around cautiously, then grabbed her diary and headed back into her room. With a relieved sigh, she plopped down on her bed, grabbed her green pen, and began writing.
"Dear Diary,
Good news! Issy's decided that he wants to stay with us for a little while . . . I suspect he's worried about the vampires . . . But oh well! He's here!
Zephon seemed quite upset by his arrival. I'm wondering what his problem is. I don't like him, he knows I don't like him, so I don't see why he's so annoyed by Issy's arrival . . .
Furthermore, Rahab seemed a little upset with the angel's arrival as well. Not as upset as Zephon, mind. I'll try my very best to figure out what Rahab's problem is. He's far too nice to be upset over something like Issy coming to visit.
I really hope Zephon doesn't try fighting Issy . . . he doesn't stand a chance."
Tansy sighed, nibbling the edge of the pen, wondering what to write, when suddenly she felt something slam her in the back of the head. She dropped both pen and diary and turned to find Ky standing on the edge of her bed, a pillow clutched in hand, a very evil little smile on her face.
"C'mon, she who is dead to the world when she writes," Ky teased, "we haven't had a good pillow fight in a while."
Tansy grinned, baring her teeth.
"If you insist . . ."
She grabbed her pillow and in minutes, feathers were flying and happy squealing sounded out of Tansy's room.
Kain chuckled from the third floor hallway. The girls were completely occupied with their pillow fight, and Kain was certain that there was a library on the third floor that was probably full of the secrets the twins were keeping. He peered into the door directly across from him. A squeaky clean bathroom. He moved and gazed into the door to his left . . . and succeeded in finding Tansy's endless supply of feather dusters and mops. Kain eased down the hallway until he found another door, closer to Tansy's room.
He barely pulled the door open, and looked in. Bingo! A room with every wall lined with bookshelves except for the one with a window facing the backyard. The window was open a crack. He eased the door closed behind him and walked in. He noticed a table in the center of the room. There was a candle burning, which was not unusual to him . . . until he noticed that not only was the candle not dripping wax, but the flame was green. There was also a single feather on the table, white at first glance, but when Kain lifted it up, he found that it was tinged with a very light blue. It was also softer than anything earthly.
Kain set it back down and started looking through books. One shelf was filled with nothing but photographs of the twins as little girls. Tansy had light brown hair and Ky had purple hair. Kain couldn't tell if it was dyed or not, but it probably was.
He sifted through a scrapbook he'd found among the photo albums. It was full of letters, letters written to a woman named Candace from a man named Sariel. Most of them were ridiculously sappy love letters . . . but then he stumbled across an interesting one.
"Candace,
How's your pregnancy? Do you know whether you're having a boy or girl? I apologize for not being around, but with the war going on . . . I'd rather be with you, and I swear that I'm going to come back as soon as I can. I'm tired of this fighting . . ."
"That's odd," Kain murmured softly. "There was no war on this world when this letter was written . . ." Then he chuckled. "It seems our little twins are love children." The flickering green light of the candle was barely visible from the corner of Kain's eye. It aggravated him, and brought on . . . rather unpleasant memories.
Without thinking, he snuffed the candle. In Tansy's room Ky dropped the pillow suddenly and gripped her chest as if in pain. Tansy eyed her worriedly.
"My candle," Ky managed out between her lips. She could feel her skeleton begin to groan as the bones started to shift and a sick snapping sound emerged from her back. Tansy, instantly understanding, grabbed Ky's hand, pulling her forcefully from the room toward the library as Ky's breathing became ragged and came in gasps. Another sickening crack sounded from her body.
Kain looked up hearing the pounding of feet and quickly set the book back on its shelf before pulling back and quickly masked himself with his Gifts. Tansy slammed the door open, pulling Ky in after her. Kain's eyebrow raised; Ky had a hand wrapped around her lower stomach as if in great physical pain, and her eyes were snapped shut tightly. Tansy left Ky to lean against the table and ran to the candle he had put out. She grabbed it and quickly came back, setting it before Ky. Ky brought one of her hands up to her mouth and Kain watched as she placed long fangs down against it, tearing the skin without hesitation. She held her hand over the candle, and her onyx black blood poured out of the wound, covering the candle in the black viscous liquid. As soon as the blood touched it, the green flame burst into the life, rising up and covering her entire hand in it. After a moment, it depleted back to a small flame, and Ky collapsed onto the floor, leaning her head against the table leg. She breathed a shaky sigh of relief. Tansy carefully picked up the candle and moved it to its post again.
"How did this happen?" she inquired softly, almost to the candle. Ky shook her head from where she sat.
"I dunno." She breathed deeply before continuing, "You and I both know that candle can't be blown out by normal means."
Suddenly, Israfel appeared in the doorway.
"What's wrong, girls? I sensed your emotions from down the hall."
"Someone put out Ky's candle," Tansy stated monotonously. Israfel's eyes widened. He kneeled where Ky was sitting on the floor.
"Are you all right, little one?"
"Yeah," she answered, her breath coming out shaky. "I just think I'm going to sit on the floor a few more minutes."
There was a slight crack followed by a sucking sound, and Ky's hand went to her mouth with a surprised noise of painful protest. After a moment, she dropped her hand.
"Fangs retreating?" Tansy asked. Ky nodded.
"You're lucky you don't have such things like teeth and spikes, Tans. They hurt."
"I'll bet."
Ky stood slowly, leaning heavily against the table. Tansy looked cautiously around the room, and Kain found himself thankful the girls weren't any older. Were they, they might actually be powerful enough to penetrate his Gift. His Gifts for hiding were not nearly as well used as his battle-oriented Gifts.
After a moment, Tansy returned to her sister's side and took some of the weight off her feet. She looked over at Israfel.
"Issy, would you grab the candle and the feather? I don't think they're safe to stay here anymore."
"Of course."
He took up the feather gently, treating it as if it was the prized weapon of another warrior, then picked up the candle with much the same reverence. He glanced around the room once, making sure it was empty, then back out, shutting the door. He followed the girls back to Ky's room.
Inside the room, Kain stepped out into the open, rubbing his chin in thought.
"I wonder what that girl is?" Kain murmured before teleporting out of the room.
The next morning, Tansy circled the dining room table, glaring at all seven men seated around it. Israfel leaned against the wall, eyes half-closed.
"One of you was up on the third floor. In the library . . ." Tansy growled, clutching her feather duster threateningly. "I don't know why you were up there, I don't know which of you was up there, but one of you was. I repeat that you are NOT allowed up there, and if any of you go up there again I'll be forced to do something unpleasant to you all."
Zephon raised his hand. "When you say 'unpleasant', what do you mean?"
Tansy snapped her head to the left and fixed Zephon with her coldest, cruelest glare. Israfel caught sight of the look on her face and shuddered. Even Zephon shifted nervously in his seat.
"If you go up there . . ." she snarled, "you'll find out."
"If I go in your room, will you do something unpleasant to me?" Zephon asked in a quieter voice. Tansy narrowed her eyes at him and nodded menacingly.
"All right!" Zephon cheered. "I'll go change and meet you up there!"
Tansy roared and grabbed the vampire by his shirt collar. "Clean up your mind, you dirtbag!" Her face was within inches of his. Zephon couldn't resist his urge to tempt fate. He quickly leaned toward Tansy and touched his lips to hers before darting away again. The pink-haired young woman was momentarily shocked by his action, but recovered quickly. She punched him in the jaw with enough force to knock him out of his chair and rushed toward him. Melchiah dove out of her way.
"Kain, she's gonna kill us all!" he squeaked, before hiding himself in the pantry. Tansy proceeded to kick Zephon in the head several times as she spouted various swear words. Israfel walked calmly over to the enraged girl and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"That's enough, Tansy dear."
Tansy stopped kicking the vampire and looked up at Israfel.
"But Issy, he . . . he . . ."
"I know, I know," the angel soothed. "And he had no right. But please, don't kick him anymore, he's hurt enough."
Tansy nodded and stepped away from Zephon. He sat up and looked around.
"That was painful . . ." he muttered dazedly. "But it was worth the suffering!"
Kain rolled his eyes and struck his son on the back of the head, rendering him unconscious. Raziel raised his hand.
"What?" Tansy growled.
"Where's Ky?"
"She . . . uh . . ." Tansy couldn't think of a reason to explain Ky's absence, but Israfel stepped forward.
"She has the flu," he said simply.
"May I see her?" Raziel inquired softly.
"Later," Tansy snapped with such finality in her voice that Raziel decided not to challenge her. She looked around the table and smiled, all of the anger in her face melting away.
"Today there's an open house at the theatre I work at. Anyone wanna come?"
Melchiah peeked out of the pantry.
"I will," he stated meekly. Israfel volunteered himself, and Turel and Rahab decided to go along.
"The rest of you will stay here, then," Tansy commented firmly. "Keep an eye on Zephon, keep yourselves out of trouble, and STAY OFF OF THE THIRD FLOOR!!"
She organized her posse and left. Dumah looked at Raziel, his father, and Zephon, who was sprawled on the floor.
"Are we really going to listen to her?" he asked, attempting to revive Zephon.
"No," Kain answered flat-out and stood, walking toward the third floor. Zephon sat up, rubbing the back of his head.
"Hey, where's Tansy?" he asked, looking around.
"She went to work," Dumah replied.
"Darn. I wanted to do that again! Hey, where's Kain?"
"Third floor."
"That means that Tansy's not home! I'm going up!" Zephon squealed, jumping up and dashing toward the staircase. Dumah and Raziel exchanged a glance.
"Hell," said the eldest, "I'm going up to see Ky."
"Eh, me too," Dumah agreed softly.
Zephon gleefully skipped around the third floor hallway on his way to Tansy's room, bumping into Raziel and Dumah. "Sorry!" he said happily.
"Why are YOU so happy?" Dumah muttered.
"'Cause I'm going to go in Tansy's room and make off with . . . er . . . an undergarment."
"Don't want to know," Raziel sighed. He opened the nearest door, which happened to be a bedroom, and peered in. It was unoccupied and squeaky clean, with a bed perfectly made. He couldn't even see dust motes in the air.
"Ah," he muttered. "Tansy's room." He looked around for his younger brother, and when he didn't see him, he shouted, "Zephon! I found it!"
The second youngest lieutenant came running.
"Oh. It is her room! Now, which do you think is her underwear drawer?"
"I don't know."
"Well," Zephon said excitedly, "help me find it!" Raziel shook his head and eased toward the door.
"That's all right, Zephon, I don't really want to be an accessory to underwear theft."
Meanwhile, Kain sifted through books in the third floor library. All he'd found were more photo albums, more sappy love letters, and the girls' birth certificates. There seemed to be absolutely nothing incriminating in there whatsoever, save the candle and the feather, which were no longer in the room. He looked toward a shelf to the far left and his eyes fell upon an old, leather-bound book. It seemed to have been neglected for years. Curious, he pulled it off of the shelf.
Raziel cautiously peered into the next room. Against one wall was a four-poster bed with drawn drapes. On the posts were beautiful sculpted dragons of medium size. There was also a fireplace on one wall, the only window was covered by heavy drapes, and every flat surface was covered with books and magical paraphernalia. On one table was a goblet surrounded by candles, and there was what looked suspiciously like a human skeleton. Aside from the candles and the fireplace, a globe shaped lamp on the wall lit the room.
"Ky?" he called out softly.
A groaned "What?" answered him.
"It's Raziel. I came to see how you are."
"C'mon in," Ky's voice replied.
Raziel walked toward the bed and opened the drapes before gasping in shock. Ky winced at the light. She was very pale and gaunt, a mere shadow of herself, with dark blue-purple circles under eyes. Her hair wisped around her face, and when Raziel touched her hand it chilled him, as a block of ice would have.
"Do you need anything?" he cooed. He hadn't noticed that Dumah had come in and was standing behind him.
"No . . . no . . ." Ky breathed, looking around the room. Her eyes fell on Dumah and widened. "Wait . . . get him out of here!"
Raziel turned around to see his brother behind him. He narrowed his eyes.
"Get out of here, Dumah! The last thing she needs is your attempts to kill her!"
"I have no desire to kill her," Dumah murmured.
"Oh, really?" Raziel growled.
"Yes! It's dishonorable to kill an opponent while they're ill or otherwise incapacitated!" Dumah responded with a note of annoyance in his voice.
Zephon, meanwhile, seemed to have found the underwear drawer just fine on his own. His next challenge was finding the right garment to take. He had organized Tansy's underwear into piles: one for bras, one for thongs, one for briefs, and one for anything else that didn't fall into the other categories. After sifting through the piles for about ten minutes, he finally saw one he could live with. It was a purple cotton thong. He quickly returned everything to its place and dashed down to his second floor room.
"Oh, and this is the ladies' dressing room," Tansy explained as she pointed to a doorway on her left side. Melchiah turned to go in.
"No, Melly," Turel said, grabbing his younger brother by the arm. "You can't go in there."
"Why?"
Everyone in Tansy's group turned and stared at the young vampire.
"You seriously don't know?" Tansy squeaked. Melchiah shook his head. Turel and Rahab glared at their brother for daring to ask such a stupid question. Israfel, meanwhile, seemed to be on the verge of laughter.
"Would you tell me, Tansy?" Melchiah pleaded.
"When you're older, Mel."
Tansy then led the group into a room adjoining the men's and women's dressing rooms. It was well lit with mirrors on the left and right walls.
"This is the make-up room."
"Do the men need make-up, too?" Turel asked innocently. Tansy eyed the vampire with amusement. The tone of his voice hinted that he knew the answer, but hoped he was wrong.
"Of course they do, Turel! Keeps the light from glaring off of your head. Now then, on to the sound booth, which should be of special interest to you, Issy . . ."
Nobody noticed the irritation in Rahab's face.
Kain had discovered that the old book was the journal of the twins' father. In it were detailed accounts of wars between demons and angels. Had he participated in these wars? Had angels and demons told him of these battles? Kain turned to the next page, fascinated by what he was reading, but before he could read the page, he heard a soft female voice calling out for Ky. He froze, head cocked, listening intently. It was not Tansy's voice that he heard.
Interested, he set down the old journal and peered out the door. A young woman with mousy brown hair clad in white robes walked down the hall. She seemed to have a white aura that brightened the dark hallway. He followed her down the hallway as swiftly and silently as he could. She peeked into one room on the far wall, swore quietly, and dashed into a broom closet at the end of the hall. A moment later she emerged, clad in garments from this world. She wore a beige knee-length skirt and a white shirt. The woman looked furtively around the hall before stepping into the room. Kain followed her into the doorway.
"I'll take over taking care of her from here, boys!" she chirped. "I'm sure you've done a good job, but I can help her from here!"
"I'm not leaving," Raziel growled at the woman.
"Nor am I!" Dumah declared. His hand flew to the hilt of his ever-present sword.
"Now, now," she scolded gently, "no need to get violent!" The young woman tossed her hair and took Ky's hand. "Now, dear," she cooed, "my name is Amihiel. And you, child, are going to get better under my care!"
Ky stared at the woman in shock.
"Why didn't they just send Raphael?" she groaned.
"Now, you know as well as I do that Raphael only comes down in extreme emergencies."
"This IS an emergency!"
Amihiel sighed. "Well, you're my charge, and I have to heal you, so we're going to be spending a lot of time together!"
Ky rolled over and sighed. This was already turning out to be a crappy week . . .
In Tansy's room, one of the books Zephon brushed passed wavered back and forth on its shelf, almost seeming to contemplate falling. It leaned back more to its place a moment, then jolted forward and fell off its shelf, flipping as it went down. It landed on the bed table beneath it with a loud explosion, slightly muffled by the large white feather that it had crushed . . .