Noel's POV

I felt myself groggily come to. My head hurt, I went to touch it, see if there was a bump, but my hands were restrained with metal. It dug into my skin and I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent any sound from escaping. My ankles were crossed, also held together. I could smell the mustiness and the sounds of shuffling could be heard. My eyelids were heavy, but I managed to open them. Well, this didn't look too good. There were five fallen angels in a concrete room, all gazing at me, no judgment, just patient. I recognized the black haired lady from the restaurant, but none of the others were familiar. The concrete dug into my arm, my legs were tucked under me as I leaned back against the wall.

"Who are you?" I whispered, throat dry. The woman smirked and took a couple of steps forward from the others.

"I'm Dabria, bet your daddy has forgotten all about me now that he has that imperfect . . . scum as his wife and then they created you, something that shouldn't even exist. Do you understand? You're the unimaginable, the impossible, and you've thrown the whole world off balance. You didn't ever feel the effects, but we did, in Hell. From the moment you were born we could all feel your soul, it was so tempting, so wished-for, because it was a one of a kind. Any of us could make a Nephilim swear fealty, but you would put up a fight, making the victory so much sweeter. Except, the problem was, we couldn't get to you from Hell. None of could have the one thing we were crazing so badly. An unnamed archangel, for some dark, dark reason, agreed to let a portion of us out. Only a certain amount of us could go after you at one time unfortunately and every time you shot in the wing scars, they were sent back to Hell. You've been very effective, haven't you? Instead of trying to make you swear fealty at the risk of you killing us . . . we decided to just kill you instead with devil craft. Of course it will be sad to see your soul die, but it's for the greater good, don't you agree? Again considering the fact that you are pointless with your existence, what are you? How could anyone ever love someone who wasn't meant to ever live? With our newfound resistance to mental attack, all the Nephilim in the world will be ripe for the taking without their . . . champion so to speak. But don't worry, we can't leave loose ends undone, now can we? So we'll kill your parents too and that human boy will forget all about you," I didn't react, didn't give away how every part of me was screaming. She couldn't see how bothered I was by it all. I looked away from her eyes over to my letterman that was folded neatly on the single chair in the room.

"We didn't want you overheating, it would've been very dangerous to combine heat with the sedative we gave you," One of the other fallen angels explained after following my gaze with a dark chuckle.

"You won't win, even if you kill me. Daddy and mom will stop you. They won't rest until they have revenge and send you all back to the . . . heh heh, hell hole you came from," Dabria lip only sneered as I smiled up at her. I was cocky . . . scared . . . and oddly at ease, all at the same time.

"There's another option . . . besides killing you," Dabria said with a grim smile and I only smirked at her, not at all impressed, "We can make you swear an oath to be a pure bred Nephilim, much like your mother. Then you can swear fealty to me and you can live forever."

"Why are they here then?" I shot back.

"Only to ensure that no matter what happens, fallen angels end up on the winning side. Come on, don't you want to be like your mommy. Isn't that every little girl's dream? To be just like the person who raised her? I wouldn't know . . . besides, we can leave your parents be if you agree to the second option," I started poking a little at Dabria and the others' minds, making sure not to alarm them of my presence.

"Keep talking," I tipped my chin up, faking interest, buying myself more time to show these dumbasses what Noel Cipriano was made of.

"You'll be rich with such a long time to accumulate money. You can still have a family, especially with that sexy boyfriend of yours. All you have to do is give up your humanity for two weeks out of the year, what's that to everything you can have over an eternity?" She was so focused on selling me on the idea of fealty, that I pinpointed the one weak spot in her mind, the spot that still hated my dad for choosing my mom, and spearheaded my way into her mind. She didn't sense me until it was too late and she screamed as I imagined sending up her world in flames, lava raining down on anything that survived, and an everlasting darkness. So surprised at her reaction, the other fallen angles dropped their guard, and I did the same. I grinned to myself and broke the handcuffs and untied my feet to stand on aching legs. A gun stuck out of a back holster on Dabria and I pulled it out as she screamed her pain.

"Now you be a good fallen angel and go back to Hell . . . and stay there while you're at it," I told her, though she was easily beyond hearing me. I shot each of them in the back, twice for good measure, and put on my letterman. I flicked the lapels to make the hood sit right again before running through the halls. Finally I made it through a huge open room, I guessed this to be a warehouse now, and headed toward the nearest exit door. I noticed a figure coming at my right and recognized my mom.

"Noel," She said breathlessly as she stopped in front of me, a huge smile on her face as she wrapped me up in a hug. From a stack of boxes, I saw a shadowed figure step out, the shiny metal of a gun glinting off the moonlight that came in through the overhead skylight.

"Mom!" I snapped, pushing her out of the way before the shot rang out, and I stumbled back. I pressed my hand to my right thigh and felt slippery liquid easily cover my fingers as I hit the floor. Mom's rage filled eyes locked on the figure heading slowly towards us. I pulled the gun that had been jabbing into my back and shoved toward my mom's feet. She didn't take her eyes off the figure as she quickly bent over and stood back up with the gun in both hands. The figure also had its gun pointed at mom, but stopped just before the darkness ended, not revealing itself from the shadows. I effortlessly ripped a piece of my shirt off and pressed it on the wound, biting my lip to keep from screaming in pain, and applied even more pressure.

Matt! I picked up on his mind just as it slipped within my mental range. I felt him pause, wait, wondering if he'd only imagined my voice in his head. I sent him an image of the open area of the warehouse, my mom in front of me, still facing off with whoever that was, and of my bleeding leg.

I'm coming baby, on my way. The door slammed from somewhere else in the warehouse.

"Nora! Noel!" Daddy yelled and then pounding footsteps from behind me. Matt's shirt was off as he crouched beside me and gingerly wrapped it around my leg, on top of the soaked fabric of my shirt. Very carefully, he picked me up in his arms, and pushed through the exit and into the cold night. There was no one on the streets as Matt ran a couple of blocks, around a corner, and I spotted dad's truck. He got me in the back and then joined me there, pulling me back against his chest as he leaned against the door, and my muscles finally released all their tension at being held. Matt unwound his shirt and it hit the floor mat with a wet plop and then my compressions followed.

"It's going to hurt Noel. I'm sorry," He warned, warm breath gliding over the back of my ear, and then he laid a gentle kiss on my neck before he set his hand on the wound. His tanned hand was glowing with a white aura from where I could see it on my leg. I bit my lip at the immediate pain, my teeth clenched together as I felt the bullet moving backwards, out of the hole, and Matt dropped it on the floor somewhere before returning his hand. I clung to his arm that was wrapped gently around my stomach and I felt sharp pain shoot through my wound again. I didn't realize the repair until I felt Matt's fingers lightly graze the round scar, visible because of the light from his hand, until the light faded, and the truck was dark once again.

"You healed me," I whispered, relaxing back into his chest, and leaned my head back to better look at the barely there features of his face in the darkness.

"One of the pluses of being your guardian angel," He replied softly, lips grazing over my temple, and we were just about to kiss before the front doors opened and my parents swung inside.

"Thank you for repaying me for saving your sorry butt all the way in Portland by making out with your boyfriend," Dad said with a smirk back at us before starting the truck. I rolled my eyes and gave mom a reassuring smile when she glanced back.

"No one said you had to come rescue me dad, I was doing just fine on my own. I could've hitchhiked my way back to Coldwater once I got out of that place and yeah, don't worry about my leg that had a bullet lodged in it, I don't mind getting blood all over the back seat as I die," I could sense Matt rolling his eyes as he rested his head against my neck, realizing we would not be kissing any time soon.

"Matt healed you, so that sarcasm is pointless, and you don't have hitchhiker thumbs," Looking sheepishly at my dad through the rearview mirror, I did a thumbs up, and found to my disappointment that he was right, I had normal thumbs. Matt chuckled and curled my thumb back against my fist and rested his arm over mine against my stomach once again.

"Wait . . . what happened to the shooter?"

"He just disappeared, like he hadn't even been there by the time your dad came around the corner of the boxes. I think he was an archangel," Mom said with a growl and Dabria's earlier words fell into place. I showed mom, dad, and Matt then, what had happened, and I could hear the squeeze of dad's fists around the wheel as Matt pulled me a little bit closer.

"An archangel is out to get me. That's it, isn't it? The fallen angels are nothing compared to an archangel on a mission," Matt's lips touched my neck in a show of comfort and I sighed heavily at the truth in my words.

"If what Dabria said is correct, then my guess is he was using the fallen angels to do his dirty work, to make his intentions less obvious. Now that all the ones he released have been sent back to Hell . . . he was forced to finish the job himself. He must have been ill prepared though, to use just normal bullets, and he must've been unsure to have landed such a bad shot in your leg . . . though we're grateful for that obviously," Dad added the last part and I realized it was a good thing to not have hit any major organs. I settled more comfortably in Matt's arms as my mind began to slow to the rhythm of exhaustion.

"Hey mom," I muttered. She twisted in her seat to look at me with warm maternal eyes.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Volleyball tryouts are in a week and if this scar isn't gone by then. I need you to get me some cover up, please," Matt snorted, but mom smiled in understanding and nodded in assurance. With that last thought out and dealt with, I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

Nora's POV

"Noel Cipriano and Matthew Anderson will not be at school today because they both have strep throat, so please excuse their absence," I told the office lady over the phone and she let me know they would be before we both hung up. I peeked into the living room where Matt and Noel were still curled up on the couch, fast asleep, and I smiled at the sight. Twelve hours of sleep and still counting, Patch's arms wrapped around me from behind, and I continued to watch my little girl as if she was a baby in her crib again.

"She's safe," Patch murmured in my ear from where his chin was set on my shoulder. I nodded, knowing the words were true for now, and also knowing just how much danger she was in. An archangel was after her and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to combat him as easily as threats that came before him. Unfortunately, Noel was the answer. Something about her power had caused someone up there to feel threatened, enough so that they came down here.

"We are, but she'd not. This fight isn't over Patch, not until one of them falls,"

AN: Please review and tell me what you thought of the kidnapping and the new twist to the story!