The air smelled of incense overlapped by cigarette smoke and sweat. In the middle of everything was a bar, raising the question if we were even old enough to be in here. Why hadn’t they carded us at the door?

At the edge of the crowd, swinging from the ceiling, was a giant life-size bird cage. As I pushed my way out of the last of the sweaty bodies, I caught sight of what was inside the cage and came to a slamming halt.  A woman, twirling gracefully around a pole. Her wavy black hair hung all the way down to the bottom of her back. A leather corset dress fitted her body, and thigh high boots laced-up up her legs. A velvet choker wrapped her neck, and snaking up her arm was whip. A pair of striking black-feathered wings sprouted out of her shoulder blades.

She spun around the pole, and then locked her haunting grey eyes on me. I felt my breath catch. My body suddenly felt so warm, like I was melting. My limbs, my muscles, everything centered to her. I knew what I needed to do. I needed to go to her. Right now. It was imperative that I did…A matter of life or death.

My leg lifted up and, like a puppet bound to its strings, stepped down, inching my body closer to the cage.  A silent warning breezed my mind, screaming at me to stop, but my other leg rose up and touched back down to the floor, moving me to her. Another step…I was just about in reach of the lock that bolted the cages door shut. The feather-winged woman watched me with hungry eyes as my arm extended forward, my fingers brushing the cold metal—

Someone grabbed my arm. A zap of electricity hummed through my body.

“Don’t,” I heard Alex say as he guided me swiftly away from the cage.

I blinked dazedly at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked crossly.

“I-I” I stuttered. What had I been doing? Trying to let the woman out. It seemed like such a good idea a few seconds ago, but now…

“If you open that up,” he pointed a finger at the cage, “then you’ll be the one trapped in there with a pair of wings growing out of your back.”

I cringed. “I didn’t mean to…I mean I don’t know why I was going to do it. I just couldn’t…think.” I glanced back at the cage. The woman’s pale blue lips curled into a snarl, and she let out a hiss. I jumped back, slamming my shoulder into Alex’s chest. Big mistake. Caught off-guard, I gasped from the electricity that shot through my body.

“Sor-ry,” I stammered, stumbling away from him.

He pressed his lips together and rolled his shoulders and neck, as if he was trying to shake off my touch.  “Please watch where you’re going.”

“I said I was sorry,” I snapped.

He sighed and turned around, heading off in the direction of a spiral staircase. Aislin and Laylen stood at the top of it, staring down at us.

“So what is she?” I asked, climbing up the stairs after Alex.

He glanced over his shoulder at me. “What?”

“The woman back there.” I gave a nod back at the cage. “She’s obviously not human. So what is she?”

He came to an unexpected halt, and I almost ran into him. Again. “She was probably human once until she did something stupid like opened up the cage for the previous Black Angel that was locked inside.”

“A Black Angel? What like a Fallen Angel or something?”

“Not quite.” He shook his head. “Look Gemma, as much as I’d love to stand here and explain everything to you, I really think we should get going.” And with that, he turned his back at me and trotted up the stairs.

I sighed and grudgingly followed after him.

“How much longer is this going to take?” Alex asked Aislin, pacing impatiently in front of the doorway of the room where the Sword of Immortality was locked inside a display case. Luckily, the room had been empty. We’d been up there for about ten minutes now, but with as anxious as Alex was acting you’d of thought ten hours had passed by.

“Not too much longer,” Aislin replied. “I don’t think.”

I was standing just outside the doorway next to Laylen. He was keeping a lookout for…well, anything basically. A hallway extended out on each side of us. The florescent lighting of the lantern lights was hitting the maroon walls and tinting everything a dark shade of red. It reminded me of blood.

And what part did I play in all of this? Absolutely nothing. I served no more purpose than the vase perched on the table in front of us. It took up space and nothing more, which was about what I was doing. Well that, and making the whole situation even more dangerous, especially if a Death Walker showed up, which Laylen informed me was a possibility. I wasn’t sure if Alex knew this or not, but I wasn’t going to be the one to break it to him.

Laylen and I had both been quiet for the most part. It wasn’t necessarily an awkward silence, though. I think we’d both spent our fair share of time being lonely, and silence wasn’t an unsettling thing.

“So…do you think he’s going to wear a hole in the carpet or what?” Laylen asked, breaking our not unsettling quiet.

I’d been watching the staircase intently, waiting for someone to unexpectedly popup into view and take us by surprise. “Huh? Who?”

“Alex.”

I glanced at Alex. He was still pacing the floor, his eyes fixed like a hawk on Aislin.

“Maybe,” I answered.

Laylen laughed. “I’m almost certain he’s going to.”

I laughed softly, the air tickling at my lungs.

Laylen leaned back against the wall and folded his arms, his muscles flexing and making his skin ripple a little.

I stared at the tattoo tracing up his forearm. The black, hieroglyphic shapes were the same as what stitched the lanterns shades.

“What does that mean?” I asked, pointing at his tattoo.

He raised his arm “What this?”

I nodded. “I noticed you put it up to the door outside so we could get in. And it’s also on the lanterns that are all over this place, so I was just wondering what it is?”

He pressed a grin back “A tattoo.”

I rolled my eyes. “I got that, but does the tattoo mean anything?”

He traced his finger across the tattoo that sketched his smooth, pale skin. “It’s actually the mark of immortality.”

“Then it’s not a tattoo?”

“Not exactly. It appeared on my skin when I turned into a vampire.” He paused, his Adams apple noticeably bobbing up and down as he swallowed hard.  “It happens to everyone that turns immortal.”

“So why did you have to show it to the man at the door? Is this like an all exclusive club for immortals or something?”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess you could put it that way.”

“So…” I snuck a peek at Alex, making sure he wasn’t listening. He was still pacing the floor and cussing at Aislin to hurry-up. Aislin was hissing at him to shut up, her hand pressed to the display case, where the sword was locked inside, the jagged silver blade and dragonhead handle glistening in the light. Neither of them were paying any attention to Laylen and me, which was a good thing since I had a feeling that Alex wouldn’t like what I was about to ask Laylen. I leaned closer to Laylen and kept my voice low. “What’s a Black Angel?”

Laylen cocked an eyebrow at me, seeming surprised by my question. “Where’d that question come from?”

I shrugged. “There was one downstairs in a cage and I asked Alex what it was, but he said he didn’t have time to explain it to me.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” He backed up a few steps so that he was out of view from Alex and Aislin and gestured at me to do the same. “The thing with Alex,” he began as I moved closer, “is that he has it in his head that everything is a secret.”

“So there’s nothing important about a Black Angel.”

“Only the fact that they’re angels from hell and not heaven.”

“Wha—” I started to exclaim, but Laylen stopped me with a quick shake of his head. I glanced over my shoulder to check if my loudness had brought any attention to us. Both sides of the hallway still remained vacant. I turned back to Laylen and dropped my voice down a notch. “Sorry, but an angel from hell. Are you kidding me? The two, like, completely contradict each other.”

“In this world,” he motioned around us, “a lot of things do. Take me for instances. A Keeper turned vampire. A complete contradiction. One stands for evil, the other for good.”

I eyed him over. His beautiful blue eyes, his warm smile. He sure didn’t seem evil to me. “I highly doubt you’re evil.”

He forced a small smile. “Depends on who you’re asking.”

I felt bad for him. He seemed so…in pain. I barely knew him and everything, yet he’d been nicer to me than anyone had in my entire life. “I don’t think you’re—”

“Are you two enjoying yourselves?” Alex’s voice interrupted over mine.

Laylen rolled his eyes, and I let out a tired sigh as I turned around. Alex held his classic irritated expression as he leaned against the doorway, watching us. How long had he been standing there, I wondered.

“At any moment during your guy’s little huddle up, someone have could strolled up, and I’m pretty sure neither one of you would’ve notice,” Alex said.

“Yeah, we would’ve,” I protested. “Both of us have a clear view of each side of the hall.”

“And it sure looked like you were keeping a close eye on them, all cuddled up with one another, talking about God knows what,” he said scathingly.

“Alex, just relax.” Laylen voice was calm, but firm. “We weren’t cuddled up, and we weren’t talking about anything important.” Laylen slid me a sideways glance that I hoped Alex didn’t notice. “Jesus Christ. You can be so uptight sometimes.”

Alex strolled up to us very cat-on-the-prowl like and pointed a finger at Laylen’s chest. “I think your forgetting why I’m uptight. She’s not supposed to be getting close to anyone.”

“Hey,” I fumed.”That’s not—”

Alex held a hand up, cutting me off. “This doesn’t concern you.”

I breathed heavily, placing my hands on my hips. “If it’s about me, then it concerns me. You can’t control me just because you want to.”

A lethal stare down broke out between us. I fixed him with my best glare, trying to summon up as much fire in it as I could. Of course, Alex looked unbothered, his face set in a tolerant expression.

“You know what,” Laylen said to Alex. “I really think that your being up tight has nothing to do with me at all.”

I looked at Laylen funnily. What was that supposed to mean?

“What exactly is it you’re trying to get at?” Alex asked sharply.

“Oh, I think you know what it is I’m getting at,” Laylen said. “This isn’t about me talking to Gemma, or Gemma getting close to anyone. It about you wanting what you can’t have.”

Alex’s expression faltered. Laylen had obviously nailed whatever was bothering him.  But what a gorgeous, self-confident—and yes, extremely cocky—guy like Alex would want, but couldn’t have was beyond me.