Page 10 of Good Intentions

Bray reared back. “Uh, I don’t think that was Nora.”

The woman in question cleared her throat. “Uh no. Ruhan decided to grace us with his presence once more.” Her tone was stinging, but I could hear the hurt beneath it. I froze the rest of the humans in the room. And then I set my wings free.

Nora’s gasp this time was so loud, it echoed off my chest like a bullet. “My name is Archangel Raphael. And you are right. I should have done better. I should have kissed you back.” I pointed to the unconscious patient on the table. “I should have prevented this. But I cannot.” I cleared my throat. “I cannot prevent the wars. Human nature is not something I can subvert. But the kissing, I can do. Aiding down here, I can do. And I will do more. Because I cannot believe that my role in this world is to stand by and watch humanity suffer. To stand by and suffer myself.”

I lifted Bray’s hands to my wings, and he stroked his hands down my feathers. And it felt good. It felt so fucking good.

“Nora?” he said softly.

“Yes, Bray?” she croaked out.

“Do you think that the plumpy’nut mixture might have gone moldy? Am I having a hallucination right now? Though you think I’d be able to see if I was hallucinating, right? But it still makes more sense than an archangel kissing me and then letting me stroke his wings.”

Nora made a choked noise. “I don’t think it was the paste, Bray. He kissed me too.”

“Did you also like it a little more than was probably appropriate?” Bray asked, and Nora laughed.

“Yes.” She turned to me. “I have a lot of questions.”

I smiled at her. I knew she would. “I am willing to give you answers. I’ve made my decision.” I licked my dry lower lip. “It was not an easy decision to make.”

Finally, her face softened. “I understand.”

“I’m glad one of us understands, because I’m standing here with an inappropriate boner over a man I’ve never even seen. Who has wings? And is kind of biblical. Fuck, I’m going to Hell, aren’t I?”

My lips twitched. “Probably, but I know the guy in charge down there and he’s not as bad as we make him out to be. Besides, I’ll be right there with you.”

I sat on top of the building, high above the debris.The reconstruction of the city was starting. Aid organizations were moving back in and contractors were there shifting the rubble off the streets so rebuilding could begin. Refugees were returning. It was time for me to leave.

Well, time for us to leave. Nora and Bray had stayed with me for months before the ceasefire. We tended the wounded. The sick. The injured. When a treaty agreement signed by old men who’d never set foot on a battlefield was finally forged, I breathed a sigh of relief. They played their politics; watched the bloodshed and thought it was an acceptable loss.

When Bray’s eyes had healed, I’d suggested they go home. But they’d stubbornly stayed with me. Now, they’ll move on with me too. As my companions. Maybe one day something more. I wasn’t ready for that yet, but I wasn’t against the idea either. People had waged war and created art in the name of fornication, so perhaps I’d try it one day. With Nora. Or Bray. Or both. We were taking it as it came.

I'd decided that perhaps they both needed to heal from conflict zones, so we would head to somewhere where they still needed doctors, but there were less bombs. Just for now. There would always be more wars but they were irreplaceable to me.

A displacement of air told me there was another angel behind me, and the swell of angelic presence told me exactly whom.

My heart thudded in my chest, but I didn’t panic. If this was the end, then so be it. I had no regrets.

Instead of running me through with his sword, the Archangel Michael sat beside me on my wall. The people below us couldn’t see, and for that I was glad. Michael’s presence could be overwhelming for fragile minds.

I turned to him. “Hello, old friend. If you have come to end me, I would request you make it quick.”

Michael sighed heavily. “I’m not here to end you, Raphael.”

I tensed at his words. “If you’re here to end them, then I’m afraid that our friendship will meet a bloody conclusion anyway.”

Michael tilted his head at me. “You would fight me for their lives? Me? Your brother for time immemorial?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation. I would fight for them both. For who they were, if not for what they gave me. Love. Affection. Acceptance. Joy.

Silence settled over us both, and Michael sighed once more. “I’m not here to end anyone, Raphael. It isn’t a task I enjoy, despite the prevailing opinion of angelkind.”

I relaxed, but only a little. “No offense intended, Michael, then why are you here?”

His wings flared out behind him, soaking in the sun's rays. Perfect, snowy white wings. The way mine used to look.

I liked them the way they were now too.