Noel's POV

"Gran B! I'm here!" I called through the old farmhouse my grandmother resided in. No answer, maybe she was sleeping, she'd just gotten back from being out of town for the millionth time. I was supposed to pick her up to come have dinner at our house tonight. I walked through the house, not bothering to be quiet, and stopped when I saw the piece of paper on the counter. I picked it up, my name was written in an unfamiliar scrawl on the top of it, and everything in me seemed to grow tense.

Dear Noel,

I have your grandmother. She shouldn't have been so careless as to leave her security system off after a long day of work, though that wouldn't have kept me out. I'll be at the Bo's Arcade, pool table four, do be polite, and come alone. It's not nice to bring uninvited guests like your boyfriend, mother, or father. If you do, it's one of your grandmother's limbs, and she only has so many. A trade will be in order, obviously. Be on time at 6 o'clock. I do believe you have to cancel dinner with your parents tonight, what a shame.

Sincerely,

Your Enemy

I shredded the note and threw it in the trash. For a split second, I hesitated, and then I was out the door. I had fifteen minutes to make it over to Bo's, a place my dad used to hang out as a "teenager." I'd never been there, but there was a first time for everything. The ringtone set for Matt sang through my truck, but I only slipped it into the middle console. I felt a huge wave of guilt collide into me, but I needed to take every word of that note to heart. I wouldn't risk Gran B. Mom had put her through a lot and now so had I. I pulled into the parking lot and cut my engine. Oh. God. I wished I would've grabbed my padded lettermen instead of favoring my cute blue jacket that did little to fight off the biting cold of winter in Maine. I entered the arcade and trotted down the stairs. Gran B was perched on a chair at the corner table of the basement, a martini in her hand, and I could tell she was under the false pretenses of comfort and safety.

"Noel,"

"Detective Basso?" My voice sounded half strangled as I recognized the tall form of the archangel. Lazily, he leaned against the wall. On the table, a full rack of balls was in a triangle formation, and the cue ball was motionless at the ready dot.

"You break," Basso said with an unconcerned tone as I chose my stick, keeping a watchful eye on Gran B. I could feel his hold on her; she probably thought she was safe at home right now, on the couch instead of a bar chair, a glass of wine instead of a martini, and a soap opera instead of archangels and hybrids. Dad had taught me to play pool, so I knew what I was doing. I pretended to be relaxed; though he probably knew just how tightly twisted I was on the inside.

"Leave her out of this," I said after we both silently watched a solid land in the right corner pocket after my break.

"It got your attention, didn't it? Your parents were still so grateful about that gift I gave your father that they didn't bother being suspicious of why I was really in Clearwater. A perfect alibi was all I needed to be close enough to keep tabs on you until I could find the right time to get you alone. Now, here's the trade. We send good old granny home in your truck and you come with me. Special means for your death that will guarantee you won't be able to stop me,"

"Devil craft?"

"Yes," I watched him hit a double and I countered with a triple before carefully circling the table, mentally poking at my grandmother, but I was inexperienced with the strength of an archangel's grasp. I knew they weren't invincible, but I didn't know if I necessarily had the tools to make him falter in his control. Even if I did, how would I convince Gran B to just leave me and run or make up some fake memory as to why she ended up here in the first place?

"My daddy will come for you, he'll kill you, but not before torturing every single nerve in your body until you're begging for mercy that you don't deserve. You won't go unpunished for killing me," I kept Matt out of the picture. More than ever I wanted to sprint to my truck, grab my phone, and call him to come. I wanted to feel the reassurance of his presence, it was selfish, but it was what I wanted. Instead, my daddy was a safe threat, someone who would follow through on something like that, because I didn't want to think about what my death would do to Matt, or what it would mean for him as a guardian angel.

"You think you have the biggest and baddest daddy on the street, don't you?"

"I don't think, I know I do," He snorted, but I saw something in his eyes shift and recalculate. That's right, make him make a mistake, dad said that all the time in my sparring lessons. Keep your head, think it through, don't just admit to the fact that you don't have control. You can easily take it back, just do it like a dance.

"I'm an arch angel," He asserted with a growl and sneered at him.

"I'm my father's daughter," I shot back with equal malice.

"Come on," He nodded up the stairs as I nailed the 8 ball in the corner pocket after calling it. Gran B got up with ease and followed Detective Basso. I handed her my keys and watched her drive away.

"My hold will wear off when she gets home, giving me plenty of time," I barely heard his words as I rounded the corner of the building, sprinting at full speed. I could hear his own footsteps in pursuit, but I only ran faster. I mentally mapped out my choices for escape, so I zigzagged through old alleyways, leaping a few fences, and coming out on the main street downtown. Finding a public parking lot, I found a car in the security camera's blind spot, and easily hotwired it. One of dad's lessons.

"Not today asshole," I growled, leaving the parking lot as fast as possible. I saw Basso on the street as I passed him, but I had my mind on mental lockdown. He wouldn't be getting to me, not in that way anyway. His gaze was ice cold as we made eye contact and I headed home, speeding the entire way. Just as I pulled up, dad's truck was peeling down the driveway before he slammed on his brakes. I barely had time to get out of the stolen car as I was wrapped up in a massive hug from him.

"Daddy," I whispered, clinging back. He pulled away just enough for me to see his face, and then I saw it. Those weren't our eyes. They were ice blue.

"What the . . ." I tried to step back but his grip on my arms grew painful as he suddenly wore a cynical smile.

"Nice try," He whispered.

"NO!" I screamed, but found my hands and legs chained. I slowly followed the line, seeing it disappeared within the cement wall. I looked around, but it took a while for my eyes to dilate to the pitch black darkness of the room. A door opened and Basso stood in the entrance. I didn't escape, I realized in complete horror. The whole fiasco had been planted by Basso. I'd never made it home.

"You went a lot more quietly as I gave that situation. You were so complacent getting in my vehicle after I allowed your grandmother to drive away. You really thought it would be that easy to escape an arch angel, truly? What did that 'daddy' of yours teach you? I mean, do you have any idea how long you've been unconscious?" He snickered, flicking on a too-bright light and I had to rapidly blink as my eyes were forced to adjust again.

"Daddy kill you," I tried to think back to my last memories, but it wasn't worth the expenditure of energy if I wanted to escape.

"Not after I frame another arch angel in my place. I'd been meaning to get rid of Henry for quite some time," He leaned lazily against the wall. I felt disappointed at myself. I was an idiot. I'd done it all for the right reasons, but I was still just a stupid girl who had dove in head first and found the dark water to be bottomless and lightless. I should've been better. I should've been perfect. After all, that's what everyone had glorified me to be. Straight A student, homecoming royalty, superstar athlete, and yet, I was so imperfect as to get myself caught by the one person my parents and Matt had been blindly trying to protect me from.

"He won't kill you."

"I'm so glad you've come to terms with that fact. I—"

"I'll kill you," I don't know what snapped, but the over competitive bitch within me came alive, thrived, and was enraged by my lack of control. I was strong. I was ruthless. I was done. So I hit hard with every mental trick I'd ever learned. I imagined the darkest nights, the hottest fires, the most powerful destruction rushing at him, colliding into him, and dragging Basso down into his own dark abyss. He moaned, going to his knees, but I forced it on still. There would be no giving up. There would be no stopping. He'd asked for this when he'd come at me. When he'd made a single move against everyone I loved. There was no backing down when I felt threatened. He screamed aloud, painful, blood curdling, but I only let it hit that much harder. Then his brain snapped, let go, and he was a limp heap on the floor.

The moment he was completely dead, the chains crumbled and turned to ash, probably bound together with the no longer existent devil craft.

"Told you so," I spit on his body as I stood up. It was an abandoned factory to the looks of the inside as I stumbled outside. It was in the middle of a field, an old paved parking lot for the workers, and there didn't seem to be anything for miles around. I rolled my eyes and began on my jog on the dirt road, not sure where I was, but it had to be better than the place of a dead man. I spotted a car, probably Basso's, and was surprised to find it open. Then again, who would steal a car in the middle of no where? When I saw the highway and knew my way home, then I was ecstatic. I drove too fast, but the midnight darkness promised lack of other cars and hopefully police. I almost cried, coming down my street, recognizing Matt's truck in the driveway, and slammed on the brakes. I didn't even bother closing the driver's door as I stumbled out of it. Harsh light broke through the darkness and I recognized the silhouette before we were both in a mad frenzy to get to one another and then a crushing embrace.

"Matt," I whimpered before realizing tears were pouring down my face in my joy. He didn't say anything in return. I could feel where his fingers clung to my back and his face was buried in my hair. There was no space left between us, but we erased any possibility of it as we finally kissed. It was everything. It was perfection. It was us. I sobbed between another passionate press of lips before we finally parted and I was able to see his clear blue eyes.

"Your home," He whispered in a desperate tone, as if he was terrified to believe I was real. I felt fresh tears fall at all he had endured because of me. I pressed my hands to either side of his face and guided him into another kiss, less rough this time, more gentle and reassuring. A clearing of the throat made me peek around Matt. Mom was practically shaking she was fighting to contain herself so much as tears also streamed down her face and dad's eyes were stripped down to the bareness of relief. I released Matt and took a couple of quick strides over to them, hugging tightly, whispering murmured greetings that probably didn't even sound like words.

"Let's get you inside," Mom ushered us all into my house and Matt and I immediately curled ourselves around each other on the couch. It felt like the best dream I'd ever had. He kissed me again as my mom disappeared in the kitchen to probably bring out food and dad rearranged the couch pillows so he and mom could comfortably face me. Once mom sat down, I played back the mental reel for them to see everything that I remembered had transpired. Matt held protectively to me and cussed through what Basso had done.

"Wait a second, how long have I been gone?" Mom's bottom lip quivered as dad's gaze met mine.

"Two weeks," Matt crushed me closer and all their pains seemed explained in that moment. It wasn't just missing me or wondering where I was, it was the amount of time I'd been gone.

"How did he keep me under for two weeks?"

"When someone plants a memory like the one of you escaping, it's so realistic to the brain that when you realize it was lie, you become traumatized, and the recovery can be long. You probably floated in and out of consciousness. Just because he told you he made it when you remember him saying it, doesn't mean you didn't figure that out at a much earlier time," Dad explained gently, holding mom as she finally stopped crying.

"Two weeks," I whispered before realizing I probably looked like hell. The plate of food mom had set on the coffee table suddenly seemed to take up the whole room as my stomach grumbled to life. I ate quickly, not even sure of what she prepared, but feeling much more solid once I was done.

"I love you two," I reminded them as I stood up and hugged them tightly, daddy longer than mom. There was a greater amount of fear there for him. We both hated to risk failure and that's what my death would've been. I smiled dazzlingly for them both, though I'm sure my teeth probably didn't look sparkling white. Matt followed me upstairs and got in bed while I finally took a well needed shower and teeth brushing, avoiding the mirror at all costs until my work was done, and I recognized exactly who I was.

"I missed you so much," He murmured in my hair as I crawled into bed with him, nodding into his neck as he tangled together in a human braid. I didn't care where one of us started and the other began, we were better this way, better together.

"I love you," I whispered, finally relieved that there was no longer fear there. The threat to us was gone and we were finally a "normal" teenage couple.

"I love you, all of you, only you,"