Just so you're all aware, I didn't have a good excuse for not updating. Literally all I did over break was watch Doctor Who. Nothing else. Didn't even rewrite my novel like I was supposed to. So, least to say, I'm super behind. Enjoy the story anyhow!

By the way, I apologize that the last chapter seemed rushed. It sounded that way because, well, I rushed to write it and post it for you guys. Soz D:

MPOV

Considering you all know how stressful and time-consuming Blooming is, I won't go into all the juicy details of what happened the rest of the day. Least to say, there was a lot of screams, tears, and sugar-highs. Their episodes were on rapid fire, some of the episodes even seeming to crash into each other. It was becoming vividly apparent that Our Lady was trying to speed up the process a bit here. With the given circumstances, I couldn't necessarily be upset with the fast forward, but with Fang gone out to the store, I was left to fend for myself against these five maniacs. And, even with my angelic gifts, I didn't have a prayer of keeping up with one of them, let alone five.

By the time Fang was sweeping into the kitchen, beads of sweat were rolling down my skin and my heart was thundering in time with my ragged pants. Iggy and Ella were both currently shouting at each other, arm gestures flying, but I made the executive decision to let them be. I desperately needed a break from the psychos; besides, what couple didn't have their little tufts now and again? Technically this brawl was healthy—even if they were precariously close to whipping the claws out.

My heart lurched into my throat when Fang's gentle hands encased my waist. Relief soaring through me, I spun in his grasp to reveal a hopeful smile. "You're here to help!"

His chest rumbled. "Had your hands full?"

"You have no idea," I admitted, an exasperated sigh escaping me.

Placing his hands on either side of my face, Fang leaned in to create a barricade against the personal Armageddon ensuing around us. The piercing black orbs of his eyes consumed me along with all my stress. Slowly, my heart leveled out again. "Tell you what," he conceded. "You go upstairs and set up the cages, and I'll round up our little Angels-in-Training."

"Angels!" I scoffed.

After a quick peck on the lips, I dutifully towered three cages into my arms and began the treacherous ascent upstairs. I nearly fell to my death on multiple occasions, but eventually I was flitting in and out of vacant bedrooms, placing a cage down before continuing on. When I ran out of the three cages, I made a second trip for the other two.

I placed the last cage down in the room I had occupied the day before with a huff. Hands on hips, I turned to leave just as Fang came striding in with a rabid Nudge at his side. She snapped her pearly whites at me as soon as I was spotted, lips curled back in a snarl. My eyebrows arched.

"She was the only one I couldn't get calm. Go figure, right? Must be all those teenage girl hormones," Fang muttered.

Rolling my eyes, I aided Fang in securing Nudge safely inside the steel cage. We stepped back as soon as it was locked, and watched her thrash at the bars through narrowed eyes. "How do you even find cages that strong?"

Fang glanced at me. "I've kept some contacts over the century."

Maybe I should have questioned that. But at the moment, with the weight of sleeping leering at me, I honestly didn't have the patience to marvel at an elaborate story about Fang's…interesting friends. So with a nod, I walked from the room with Fang's penetrating stare right at my heels.

Earlier, we decided to keep all the doors open and hang out downstairs until we heard anything that might entail Blooming. Personally, Fang's heavenly comfortable bed was beckoning me, but I forced myself to travel the descent downstairs to sever the yearning. Sleep wasn't an option so I might as well get over my broken dreams before they consumed me with grief.

Don't worry, we'll sleep soon.

Startled, I nearly sent myself sailing over the railing. Ungraceful as always. "Are my walls down?" I asked, pressing a hand to my head absently.

Fang took my hand away, intertwining it with his own . "They come down when you're tired or stressed. At least, that's what I've noticed over the years."

"How come yours never drop?" My nose crinkled irritably.

As his eyes burned a mischievous glint he stepped close enough to me to spark an electric current thick as tar to occupy the space left between our bodies. From this position, I could see how one could find him intimidating. Even I felt a tickle of the urge to step a pace back.

"I guess I just have more self-control."

If he had said it to anyone else, they probably would have accepted it as an average statement passing over their head. But me—I had memorized this boy for centuries on end; I saw his words as a challenge. Stepping forward, I was toe-to-toe with the looming boy, my chin jutted out in my own silent dare; showing him I was the only girl—only person—who wouldn't shy away from him, would always stubbornly push and pull against him. Without a doubt, I knew I irritated him to no end with my hardened drive, but I also knew that he loved me for it simply because I was the only one bold enough to do it.

In that moment, I realized why we loved each other, why we remained soul mates for the extent of several centuries. When one is in such a high position of power, it becomes difficult to uncover someone who challenges what you think, how you act, the ideas that flit through your head. Power becomes all too attainable, and suddenly you find yourself in the position where you could do anything you wanted and no one would care. Fang and I keep each other in check, dissuade the other from consuming ideas that would shoot out with horrible consequences. Dares and fights and arguments; they're part of loving someone because they're part of making you the best person you can be.

Grinning wickedly as all these revelations waded through the waters of my mind, my hand crept up and down the length of Fang's arm. My lips were dangerously close to the weak spot on his neck, tickling sweet breath over it as I spoke. "We'll see about that."

We were gravitating towards each other then, leaning as eyes locked on lips. My hands reached out eagerly, latching onto Fang's neck only to yank him down to me. Rising on my toes, I hesitated only a second—

A scream drenched in agony tore through the air. Fang and I stepped back in a startled daze and glanced about, forgetting what was locked upstairs for a moment. With another screech, something inside us shattered. Not another second was wasted; we were upstairs in Nudge's room before anyone could blink.

Poor Nudge looked so small and weak in that moment. Sweat was pouring off her, and her scrawny arms clawed at her skin as if peeling it all off would be better than sitting through the agonizing heat. I cringed involuntarily, knowing all too well what she was experiencing. My memory of Blooming was still painfully fresh at the front of my mind. Flashes of it froze me to the doorway as I relived them for a moment.

Thankfully Fang was with me; otherwise I wouldn't have snapped out of my reveries, and Nudge would have been left convulsing in pain. Double tapping the back of my wrist, he rushed to Nudge and left me to shake my head clear. By the time I was fully engaged in the present, he was already tugging Nudge out from the cage. I rushed over immediately and helped drag her down the hall to one of the bathrooms. Laying her in the tub, I ran the arctic cold water as Fang muttered something beneath his breath and fled.

On and on Nudge wailed; my hands itched to clamp down over my ears, however I resisted, opting to restrain her flailing arms instead. The tub was nearly full of the chilling water, but it wasn't acting as a serum like it had for me. Mind spinning, I attempted pouring water over her head, trying to figure out why it wasn't working.

Just as I thought I would surely go mad from all the incessant screams and thrashes, Fang burst inside grasping at a vile of shimmering violet liquid. It was poured carefully into the rising water, swirling about until disappearing along with the string of cries spouting from Nudge. Sighing with relief, I sagged into the bathmat and watched her expectantly.

"She's okay now," Fang assured me, a hand massaging my shoulder absently.

"What was that purple stuff you poured in there?" I asked.

"Something that I concocted to subdue the pain of Blooming. It took forever to perfect, but it's been a blessing ever since."

"Huh." I inspected the water for signs of the purple substance. "What's it made out of? It completely disappeared in the water."

Fang shook his head, a wisp of hair falling over his eyes. "Not in the water, in her pores. Your body absorbs it, then it seeks out your bloodstream."

I blanched. "It has a mind?"

"No, no," he chuckled. "It's merely attracted to blood. If you had a cut and spilled this stuff, it would have slithered inside you before you could blink."

Speechless, I sat with my mind wandering as I processed such a substance. It appeared the Archangels were changing our usual classic ways; at least, Fang was. Based on my memories, we usually stuck to rituals and ignored the humans' advances with technologies. Now apparently Fang had surpassed even that technology. Though Our Lady may have not preferred this new method, I was beginning to consider the fact that technology could aid us in the battle that was to ensue within the coming days.

"Come on, let's give Nudge some time to finish up." Fang rose from his crouch and walked from the bathroom. After a pause to glance at Nudge's blank face, I trailed him, shutting the door quietly behind me.

"She's remembering now, right?" I asked softly.

Fang nodded. "Shouldn't be too long before everything comes back to her. Ten, twenty minutes maybe?"

"What then? What do we do after everyone here has Bloomed? I mean, Michael could be anywhere in the world."

"Trust me when I say he'll be in the area," he responded, eyes completely serious. "Demons have a sixth sense that allows them to sense when Archangels Bloom. By the time everyone's done Blooming here, he'll be able to pinpoint exactly where the house is."

My eyes snapped wide, heart stuttering a beat. "What? But that means we're in danger! We'll have to move, go to another town until—"

"Shh," he cooed. His arms went around me in a comforting gesture that made me swallow my fear-if only for a second. "He'll know where we are, but he won't come; you know that."

Expelling a breathy gust of air, I sifted through my memories and discovered he was right. Michael always waited until we were most vulnerable before he struck. Cooped up in this house with almost everyone an Archangel, we were at one of our strongest points. Certainly Michael would not be as insolent as to throw himself into a pack of Archangels.

I opened my mouth to agree with Fang, but all that came out was the creak of a door. Whirling, I saw Nudge dripping globs of water in the doorway. Despite the fact that I literally just saw her, she had completely transformed. Her skin became flawless milk chocolate poured into a mold of a curvaceous body that definitely did not belong to a freshman girl, and her stature became one of authority. Her full mouth bloomed into a beaming grin as Fang and I proudly joined hands.

"So this is what you guys have been holding out on us," she remarked. Fang and I released a bundle of nerves through a gusty laugh, and I rushed her into my arms. One Archangel down, four more to go.

"It's almost hard to believe it all," she continued as we pulled apart. "But it's there, right in my head." She tapped a finger to her head as she said it.

"It'll sink in eventually," mended Fang.

A moment of awkward silence passed over us, no one knowing quite what to say. Figuring she'd have to find out sometime, I opened my mouth to explain to Nudge the detrimental war about to take place in the upcoming days, but for the second time that night I was cut off by a scream. Nudge cringed, but Fang launched into straight action, bounding down the hall and into Iggy's room in the blink of an eye. Grinning at Nudge, I asked: "Want to see how it's done?"

With a flighty laugh, she bobbed her head, and together we followed Fang. Watching Iggy slam repeatedly into the denting steel bars, I couldn't help but think with a sort of exhilarated exhaustion: Here we go again.

Grunting out a huff of air, I sank down into the welcoming comfort of Fang's mattress. It was noon the next day now, and Ella had been the last to Bloom about an hour or so ago. After chatting, smoothing out confusions, and gawky—yet lovely—reunions between the other soulmates, we all decided to head off through the house and find a spot to get some shut-eye. I was currently blundering against my weighted lids that wanted to succumb to the darkness created by the wonderful black-out curtains provided. However when Fang entered the room after having just gotten back from passing blankets and pillows out to the others, I forced myself to prop up on my elbows.

"How's Angel doing?" I asked, brows furrowing with concern. Ever since getting her memories back, Angel had been despairing over the soulmate of hers that had turned into a demonic sociopath. Though she tried to hide them, we all saw the tears dripping down her cheeks; it was then that I realized just how hard it would be for her to not only watch, but participate in the termination of Michael. Poor tiny, fragile Uriel.

"Soldiering on," Fang replied as he padded over and crawled into bed beside me. His arms circled around my waist, tugging me securely into his chest. Rhythmic and peaceful, his heart started dragging me down into the sweet embrace of sleep's shadows.

"We have a big mess ahead of us, don't we?" I muttered, struggling to repress the allure of sleep.

He yawned, hands burning soothing circles into the sliver of bare skin exposed at the small of my back. "Yeah, well, story of our lives."

The End.

Of this book will be shocking and amazing. I thought of it a chapter or two ago, wasn't sure if I was going to use it, then decided I would. Because I like to be mean.

Can't wait for ya'll to read it(;

*Shiver*