Chapter 35

Although Purgatory was still as lifeless as ever when Amara woke up, it was hard to shake her renewed sense of vigor. Her inner fire was roaring, and she’d slept fantastically, all because she’d finally fed yesterday. Twice, in fact. After so long without sex, suffering in silence as her body slowly withered away, she finally felt like herself again.

Thinking back, however, it was hard to ignore the sharp sense of guilt in her stomach. In her desperation, she’d tried to force herself on Vee, and she still felt sick when she thought back to what had happened.

Vee seemed okay with everything, and the feeding had happened on her terms, but Amara still felt like she’d forced her friend’s hand.

Perhaps most surprising was Vee’s reaction immediately after. Not only had she tried to talk to Amara, but she’d helped her through her panic attack. Vee had cradled her hair, rubbed her back, and reassured her that nothing had gone wrong during the feeding. Had it really only been a few days since they’d started mending their friendship? Amara was shocked at how quickly they’d fallen back on old habits, rediscovered the friends they’d been before Amara’s transformation had ruined everything.

Although, even back then, they’d never cuddled quite like this.

In their sleep, Amara had become the little spoon again, with Vee hugging her tightly around her waist while their legs wrapped around each other. Unlike last time, however, Amara was no longer starved for sex, and she was able to appreciate the friendly affection. Even though it had happened unconsciously, it still felt meaningful.

With her body no longer revolting against her, Amara happily settled in to enjoy the moment while it lasted. Everything in Vee’s bed was incredibly soft and comfortable: the pillows, the blankets, and especially the angel.

She closed her eyes, just for a moment. When they opened, Vee was suddenly standing in front of the closet, pulling on a new shirt.

“Vee? Shoot, how long have you been up? Why didn’t you wake me?” Amara grumbled. She sat up slowly, her body protesting the sudden movement, and a series of pops and cracks traveled down her back.

“Are you kidding? Why would I disrupt the first real sleep you’ve gotten in days?” Now fully dressed, Vee moved to sit on the foot of the bed.

“Well, ‘cuz ... alright, I’ll give you that one. Honestly, I feel amazing, I’m so happy I was able to feed on Nick yesterday. I can tell I’m not quite full to bursting, but it’s way better.” Amara slowly stretched out her tail, then quietly spoke up again. “Look, about yesterday, I--”

“You already apologized, Amara. And even if you hadn’t, I think your panic attack made it more than obvious.”

“Okay, yeah, but--”

“Hey,” Vee said, her words soft but commanding. “Don’t forget, we were friends for more than a year before ... you know. Yes, a lot has changed, but I still see the person you were back then. Which means I know that you’re going to spend weeks constantly apologizing, even though it’s already water under the bridge. It happened, we worked it out, and now it’s done. I’m happy I was able to help, and no one got hurt. End of story.”

Amara didn’t know what to say. Everything Vee said made perfect sense, even if it was weird to think about. It was strange to remember that Vee knew her so well when they’d spent the last few months growing further and further apart. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way. Tessa looks at me and sees a completely different person, even though I feel like I’ve just been slowly revealing the me that’s been there the whole time. It’s weird to think that, after everything we’ve been through, things might actually go back to normal. I think a part of me had given up on that ever happening.”

“How about we make each other a promise,” Vee said, inching closer. “We both stop lingering on past mistakes. It’s us against the future, whatever it throws against us.”

Amara giggled. “I like that. Us against the future.”

Both girls leaned in for a hug, sinking into it perhaps more than was necessary. When they pulled back, Vee took a deep breath, then spoke up again. “Although, for that to happen, there’s something I need to say.”

A knot suddenly grew in Amara’s stomach. Was something wrong? Had feeding on Vee somehow hurt her? “U-um, is everything okay?”

Vee turned to face Amara directly, crossing her legs underneath her as she pivoted. She reached out, grabbed Amara’s hands, and held them tight before looking into her eyes. When she spoke, her words were strangely formal, as if she’d practiced them before. “Ever since we met last year, I’ve considered you my best friend. I didn’t hesitate for a second to run to you after Derek reported me, and I almost told you everything. About being an angel, about there being a demon on campus, all of it.”

Amara squeezed Vee’s hands tight. “I had no idea. What stopped you?”

“I’ve never been fond of my heritage. I was scared to say it before, but here, in Purgatory, with you ... I’ve always felt trapped. I’ve never felt like I mattered outside of my divine bloodline. But that wasn’t the case with you, Amara. You didn’t know about my heritage, yet you always made me feel good about myself. I didn’t tell you because I was scared I would lose that. I didn’t want my heritage to eclipse what we had. But then, when it mattered most, I’m the one that threw our friendship away. I’m the one that refused to look past your heritage, I’m the one that refused to listen when you tried to talk me down. I was a hypocrite, Amara, and the thought of what I almost did sickens me.”

“Vee, I ... we both messed up that night, and--”

“Bullshit!” Vee said, cutting Amara off. “What did you do other than defend yourself? No matter which way I look at this, I refuse to believe that I’m not the one at fault. Which is why I need to apologize; properly, this time. From the bottom of my heart, Amara, I’m sorry. For everything. I’m sorry for being a shitty friend, and for giving up on you when you needed it most. I understand now how much I hurt you, and I want to make this better. What I want now, more than anything, is for you to stop blaming yourself for what happened. I certainly don’t.”

“Vee, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I forgive you, Amara.”

Amara gasped, her eyes welling up instantly. She pulled Vee in for another hug, this time using her wings and her tail to completely envelop her friend. “I forgive you too, Vee. We were both doing our best, and you had every right to think I needed to be stopped.” For a brief moment, Amara felt Vee shake, and wondered if she was also crying.

They held each other close, squeezing tight while they vented all their emotions from the last week. After a few minutes had passed, Amara felt comfortable releasing Vee from her nest of demonic limbs, and the girls smiled at each other.

“Us against the future,” Vee said, sealing the promise.

“Us against the future.” After a brief pause, Amara spoke up again. “There’s no way this ends once we’re home. I mean, best friends? An angel and a demon? There’s no way the universe lets that slide.”

“Ugh, that almost feels too big to think about. How about we focus on getting home today?” Vee slid herself off the bed, stretching her arms out behind her.

Amara followed suit, jumping off the bed before grabbing a snack from the dwindling pile of food in the corner of the room. “Actually, before we do, I’ve got an idea.”

“Should I be worried?”

“It’s just, we know the reapers are gathering in the quad, and we saw a glowing circle there too. You wondered earlier if they might be planning something, so shouldn’t we check while we’re still here? Now that I’m juiced up again, this might be the best chance we’ve got.”

“You know what? You’re absolutely right. We’re the only ones that know about the Gate, and it’s our job to keep the campus safe. Let’s do it!” Vee grabbed a snack as well, smirking as she slipped her shoes on.

Once they were ready, both girls left the apartment and started heading for the quad. The campus was as dull as ever, but it no longer intimidated Amara. With Vee at her side, and her energy back, she felt confident they could hold their own. As they walked, they swapped ideas about what might be happening on the quad, but also brainstormed ideas for fighting the reapers more efficiently. While the two girls had fought side by side a few times, they’d never fully committed to perfectly synergizing their abilities.

Every few minutes, Amara caught herself looking over at Vee, amazed at how far they’d come. Something about Vee seemed different, but it was hard to pin down exactly how. She almost seemed more relaxed, even compared to when they’d been friends before everything fell apart. Was it freeing for her to be open about her angelic heritage? Amara had always regretted hiding her identity from her friends, and she’d only known about it for a few months. Vee had been hiding for almost her entire life, the Church even telling her to do everything in her power to keep others in the dark.

Their conversation was forced to stop as the quad came into view. They did their best to hug corners and stay out of sight, as they still didn’t understand why the reapers had attacked them earlier in the week. Or, for that matter, why they’d seemingly stopped.

Multiple reapers were still hovering nearby, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything. Some idly circled in the sky, others were simply laying down in the grass. While their behavior might be normal for a living animal, Amara had always assumed these weren’t normal creatures, and the thought of them resting seemed odd. Unfortunately, it was hard to pick out any further details through the heavy fog that had recently appeared.

Wait, fog? That doesn’t make any sense, there’s no weather in Purgatory.

“Vee, did you notice--”

“The fog? Yeah, and I don’t like it,” Vee said quietly. “C’mon, let’s try to get closer, maybe we can get a better look at the weird glow.”

Amara nodded, and the two started creeping closer. She folded her wings tightly behind her, then remembered just how big they actually were. Instead, with a flurry of hellfire, she hid them away entirely so they could keep a low profile.

Crossing the outer sidewalk, they stepped onto the grass and quickly hid behind a tree. It didn’t seem like the reapers had noticed them yet, which emboldened Amara to move closer, her footsteps quiet on the otherworldly grass. They eventually stopped behind a large oak roughly thirty feet away from the nearest reaper, who was laying on the ground. The thick foliage of the tree hid them from the sky, and Amara felt safe enough to peek around the corner and look at the strange, glowing circle.

The first thing she noticed was how familiar the circle looked. It wasn’t just a strange phenomenon that happened to be circular, it appeared to be purposeful. Thick lines had been drawn in the ground, and a series of runes added, all to create something that looked eerily similar to the magic circles back on campus.

Unfortunately, Amara knew nothing about magic runes, and didn’t even bother to try memorizing the ones she saw. The most notable thing, in her opinion, was how sloppy they looked. The glow of the circle made the lines easily visible, even amongst the thick fog, and the erratic nature of the lines was obvious against the vibrant green grass of the quad.

Something was wrong here. Amara focused on the grass, then turned to look behind her, and confirmed her theory. The grass, much like everything else in Purgatory, was usually a pallid imitation of what they had on Earth. The grass in the circle, however, was vibrant and healthy.

She was about to turn to Vee, to silently ask her opinion, when something froze her in her tracks: a noise from behind her.

“I see you managed to survive, Pet.”

No.

The voice was harsh and chilling, but it also wasn’t alone. It was a discordant chorus, a collection of ghastly moans and whispers that approximated human speech without fully understanding it. In the center of this chaos, however, one voice stood out more than the rest.

And Amara recognized it.

She spun around, her heart racing as she looked for the source. She desperately wanted to be wrong, to find that she’d misheard something. What she saw, however, only confirmed her fears.

He wasn’t standing on the grass; he was instead floating several feet above it. His skin was just as pale as the bones of the reapers, his clothes in tatters as they hovered around his body. His hair, slightly longer now, was disheveled and hanging in front of his face. Underneath were two, pulsing lights where his eyes should have been. He had no pupils, no irises, only a horrid dull glow that nonetheless seemed to be staring directly at Amara.

He raised his arms, gesturing at the space around him, and an insufferable smirk appeared on his face. Amara, however, was much more focused on his hands. Specifically, the fact that one was missing.

In its place was a ghastly, almost skeletal recreation. A series of bones that cast off a sickly green glow, intertwined with a collection of similarly colored translucent chains. Several different lengths seemed to be wrapped around what had previously been his wrist, and they floated off before fading into nothingness after a foot or so. Despite his extraordinarily horrid countenance, it was obvious who this was.

Brandon.

“Purgatory should have killed you. Both of you,” he snarled.

An overwhelming rage flooded Amara, and she immediately leapt off the ground to try and attack him. Her chitinous gauntlets appeared, their claws eager for blood, as she closed the distance. Before she could land a hit, Brandon raised his ethereal hand and pointed it at Amara.

The chains rooted around his wrist now appeared around Amara, completely stopping her momentum and suspending her in midair.

Brandon shook his head, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “Typical Amara. You never were much of a talker, were you? Not unless you’re filling your lips with poison, lying through your teeth to get what you want.”

“I’M the liar? Excuse me for trying to avoid being enslaved to an insufferable prick like you!”

“SHUT UP!” Brandon screamed. His body seized, and his eyes closed as his head shook momentarily. The myriad other voices that spoke with him screeched and wailed, and ghostly afterimages echoed his erratic movements. “I’m done listening to you!”

Although Amara couldn’t move her head, she heard Vee summon a weapon and step closer. “Let her go, Brandon. You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Vee’s advance was immediately stopped when a reaper leapt in front of her, standing just beside Brandon. Amara looked over at the creature and saw that the same ghostly chains holding her captive also surrounded the beast’s neck. They didn’t seem to be restricting its movement, though. Was Brandon able to control them?

She didn’t have time to dwell on those thoughts, as when she noticed the chain on the reaper’s neck, she felt Brandon’s hold on her give slightly.

“I know exactly what I’m doing, angel,” Brandon hissed. “I’m done with your bullshit, both of you! No more chasing you down, no more games. I’m done pretending you matter, like you’ve ever mattered! You have all this power, and for what? You waste it by holding back those of us with real potential!”

The other reapers moved closer, their chilling footsteps all too obvious behind Amara. She fell to the ground as they approached, and Amara looked back to see that the other creatures were being controlled the same way the first was.

“You’re a hack, Brandon. Even now, you need something else to do your work for you!” Amara cloaked her fists in hellfire and stepped closer.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Pet. You see, if I restrain you again, I can’t promise that my minions won’t go berserk and attack your little angel friend.” Brandon floated closer, landing in front of Amara. He traced a finger across her neck, necrotic energy sparking across her skin. “I could make you watch. Hold you still while they rip her to pieces. Is that what you want? Then go ahead, attack me.”

Amara seethed with resentment, but she refused to risk Vee’s life. “Whatever you’re doing here? It won’t work.”

“I don’t care what you think, Pet. Unlike you, I’ve learned from my mistakes. I see that all my failures stemmed from my obsession over you and that witch. I’ve found my true calling; I’ve claimed Purgatory as my own. I’m in control here, and soon I’ll have my revenge on everyone back home that tossed me aside.”

Vee stepped closer to Amara, putting a hand on her shoulder to pull her back. “You pulled us here, didn’t you?”

A horrid cacophony of twisted laughter left Brandon’s mouth. “I see you’re not both idiots. Yes, I pulled you two here so that Purgatory would drain you dry. I don’t know how you’ve managed to survive this long, but it doesn’t matter. You’re stuck here, and there’s nothing left to do but watch.”

Brandon pointed his skeletal hand at one of the reapers, which then turned to walk towards the glowing circle. “You see, I’m finally ready to start.” The other reapers began shifting as well, and Vee pulled Amara out of their way.

Amara let Vee guide her, but her eyes were still locked on Brandon. She was desperately trying to think of a way out, a way to get close and end this once and for all. No matter how she looked at it, though, she couldn’t find the answer. She’d barely held her own against one reaper, but now four stood at Brandon’s side.

“Vee, what do we do?” Amara whispered.

“I-I don’t know, Amara. We can’t fight him like this.”

Brandon’s focus was currently on the reaper in the circle. He raised his arms, and the magic in the runes seemed to react. It sprang to life, glowing brighter as its energy swirled around the creature. The color in the grass that Amara had noticed earlier began to spread, intensifying further with each passing second. With one final burst of magic, a terrifying cascade of energy erupted from the circle, and Amara swore she saw glimpses of sunlight from within.

The blast ultimately forced her to look away, shielding her eyes with her arms. As the sound faded, and the magic receded, she dared to look back at the circle. The intense colors had faded, but worst of all, the reaper was gone.

“No!” Amara gasped.

Vee grabbed Amara’s shoulders, turning to face her directly. “He sent it to Earth, Amara.”

Both girls stared at each other, their faces communicating what they dared not say in front of Brandon. Vee sprinted past Amara, grabbing her hand, and the two began racing to Lysander Hall.

The lights were off in Chloé’s room, and the blinds were shut tight in hopes of blocking out the sun. She’d spent the entire day yesterday in bed, hugging her plushies tight as she alternated between dissociative episodes and bouts of crying.

After seeing the state of Amara’s apartment, her faith in her friends had been shattered.

Despite Naomi’s protests, Chloé had sprinted across campus as fast as possible, eager to escape everything she’d seen. What was Amara doing? How could an apartment get so damaged in such a short period of time? Chloé hadn’t been there in several months, as Amara normally visited her dorm, but the last time Chloé had visited Amara her apartment had been spotless.

Chloé’s thoughts drifted back to the last few months, and she was hyper fixating on every little detail she could remember. When had her friends started acting strange?

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve been to Amara’s place since we all got ready for her first party together. I walked to her apartment on Halloween, but I only waited outside. But ... that was also the night of the fire. Is that related to all the scorch marks in Amara’s apartment?

She shut her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears, but her efforts were unsuccessful. She’d known Amara ever since Freshman year, and she’d never been anything other than kind and encouraging.

Memories continued to cycle as Chloé looked for more hints. She had never been the most observant person, and she had no idea what might be relevant. Amara had been dressing a little differently in recent months, did that mean anything? There was obviously all the tension between her and Vee, but Chloé was under the impression that things were slowly getting back to normal.