The Real Story of Heaven and Hell

I didn’t like leaving our angels behind. Something inside of me, the part that was mostly Sera, told me that we don’t leave our friends behind. I kept my thoughts to myself and stared out the window, my mom’s toe shoes on my lap. I knew her cross had been destroyed by the demons, and how much that hurt Sera.
If I could, I would hunt down those creatures and kill them slowly. They destroyed every link we had to the past.
A memory, a melody, just one picture. That’s all we had left.
And my mother’s toe shoes. I wore them whenever I was performing. I felt like they gave me luck, like she was onstage with me in spirit. I had always believed in heaven and God and Hell.
I just never thought my sister and I came from them. I laced my fingers through Sera’s and let my tension flow out.
“You okay Ser?” I whispered. Matt and Brian could probably hear me anyway.
“Yeah.” She murmured. Matt parked smoothly and I stepped out of the car. I felt drained, even though I’d just had a grande sized coffee. I stuck close to Matt. I couldn’t shake this feeling of being watched.
Having a bounty on your head will do that to you.
“Miss me?” I nearly screamed when Jimmy popped up behind me.
“Don’t do that, stupid fuck.” I clutched my chest.
“Sorry.” He shrugged. I nearly took him out right there. It couldn’t be that hard to aim a fireball.
“Where to first?” I asked Matt. He was the only one who didn’t piss me off so far.
“Lead the way.” He gestured in front of me. I glanced at Sera.
“Victoria’s Secret.” We said at the same time.
Let me tell you one thing, taking two demons and two angels underwear shopping was not easy. Or pleasant. You could tell both Brian and Zacky wanted to watch Sera try on bras. If one of them asked if they could get her another bra one more time, I was gonna scream.
“Are you done yet?” Jimmy sounded bored out of his mind. I took a deep breath and poked my head over to Sera’s stall.
“Found enough yet?” I asked.
“Nearly.” She had her back to me, and I zeroed in on the mark on her back.
“That wasn’t there before.” I examined the marking. It looked like a halo over a crown. “Sera, you have a birthmark on your back.” She turned to look in the mirror.
“Whoa.” She touched it. “I’ve never had a mark there before.” I turned to examine my own mark.
“Holy motherfucking shit!” I screeched. Mine was a pair of horns over a crown.
“Lil?” Now Jimmy was in guardian mode. “Everything okay?” I yanked on the sweatpants I’d been wearing and opened the curtain. Matt was the first one to see the mark.
“The mark of the Nephilim. It’s okay. They just showed up now because you just reached the point where you can use your powers.” Matt assured me. I took a deep breath and nodded.
“I’m done. Are you ready Ser?” I asked, gathering up my purchases. She nodded and we paid for the underwear.
--
“Will I burn if I touch that?” I asked Matt quietly. He was the closest one to me, keeping an eye on Sera from a distance. I was pointing at a cross hanging on a display.
“Nah. If it was a legit cross, with a blessing on it, you’d get a burn.” He pulled down the edge of his shirt and showed me a burn scar on his neck. I pulled my hand away from the cross and rummaged through a clothing rack. After this, I was pretty much done.
“I’m getting this for Sera.” I held up a “Jesus is my homeboy” shirt to show Matt. Everyone turned and stared at him when he laughed. Even his laughter sounded dangerous. Maybe because I was a demon too, it didn’t seem that scary to me. The angels freaked me out more for some reason.
Maybe because the image I associated with angels was a blonde kid with a halo and fluffy white wings.
And Zacky and Jimmy were definitely not a little blonde girl with fluffy wings and a halo.
“Ready Lil?” Sera asked.
“I’m buying this for you.” I showed her the shirt. She laughed and held up a black shirt with “Go to hell” written on it in red letters. I hugged my sister and we paid for it.
My good mood went right down the drain when we stepped outside and saw Jimmy chatting up some fake-boobed blonde with too much tanner on. I tapped him on the shoulder and waited patiently.
“Yeah?” I was gonna kill him. He was gonna be lucky if I didn’t explode right here.
“We’re done shopping.” I ground out each word from between my teeth. The way he was looking down at me, the way his Barbie friend was glaring at me was sending me over the edge.
“So here’s my number.” Barbie said. I swear I didn’t mean to, but I growled at her. The way an animal would growl at something infringing on their territory.
“Is there a problem?” Don’t snap her head off. Don’t do something that’ll fuck everything up.
“Lil, come on.” Matt tugged on my hand and pulled me away from them. “Chill out. People are starting to notice.”
“Notice what?” I was still in the clutches of my rage.
“When you start to let the rage take over you, your eyes start glowing.” He slid a pair of sunglasses over my eyes. “Come on. You’ll calm down when you get nearer to Sera.” His arm around my waist, we looked like a normal pair of teenagers.
Not two demons, one of whom was on the verge of homicide.
“What the fuck was that all about?” Jimmy yelled when we were in the car. I bit down on my lip and Sera squeezed my hand. My eyes had stopped glowing pretty soon after I’d gotten close to her.
“If you don’t want your head jammed up your ass, I suggest you shut up.” I ground out. I still had a lot of the rage boiling in my chest and I had to close my eyes so I wouldn’t see his damn face.
“You-” Matt cut him off.
“Jimmy. Shut the hell up.” He said, not even taking his eyes off the road. I heard Jimmy huff, but the car was quiet the rest of the drive.
“How’d it go?” Johnny asked when we came inside.
“We went shopping, Lil nearly went supernova, and we came home.” Matt shrugged. I took off down the hall and curled up into a tight ball on Matt’s bed, trying to pretend I hadn’t just flipped out like that.
“Lil.” Sera lay down next to me.
“I can’t believe I flipped out like that. It was like Jimmy was my territory or something and she was messing with it.” I muttered.
“It’s done. You’re calm, you’re not gonna kill him, and I’ll help you stay that way.” I love my sister. She’s the only friend I’ve ever wanted since we were kids. Our school counselor tried to have us sent to a psychiatrist for being anti-social. Gramps laughed at her and sent us on our way.
Gramps. I miss him. I wish he hadn’t gotten into the crosshairs that are pointed at me and Sera.
“I have an enormous sweet tooth right now.” I whispered.
“Come on. I think I saw some cookies in the kitchen.” We tiptoed out of the room and down the hallway.
“…You just don’t get it do you?” Johnny sounded really pissed. I stopped and gestured for Sera to be quiet.
“Look, I said I was sorry already.” Jimmy drawled.
“If things got as bad as Matt said, then you were way out of line. First avenging angels show up, and then you set Lilith off? Jimmy, you need to think.”
“I didn’t mean to set her off. It’s not my fault she’s sensitive.” I nearly broke down the door right then. Sensitive? I am not sensitive. At least, I’ve never been until this whole demon rage thing came up.
“She can’t control the demon rage. Matt said her eyes were glowing like fireworks and you were flirting with some bimbo.” I’m totally on Johnny’s team right now. Go Shorty, go!
“Whatever. I’ll try and keep Hell Girl happy.” He sounded so disinterested. Why did that bother me so much?
I heard footsteps coming down the hall and I pushed Sera into the living room. We just nearly got caught eavesdropping by the two charter members of the We Want to Get in Sera’s Pants Club.
That was one close call, even for the events of the last few days. Had it really only been three days since our birthday?
Time flies when you’re having fun I guess.