Adoni and Avarielle were cornered, swinging desperately at the demons who surrounded them. Despite their being outnumbered, they'd already taken down a few of them.

“Ave! These ones aren't as good as the ones we fought on the roof.” Adoni shouted, slashing down at a demon's incoming fist. Avarielle nodded, concentrating on staying alive instead of Adoni's words.

“Tell me later." she shouted back, dropping a few more demons. “Shit.”

Her clip for her second concealed gun had ran out. She pulled the trigger again, and heard the familiar clicking noise. Disgusted, she threw her gun down and slipped on her brass knuckles, raising her fists. Beside her, Adoni had killed a second demon, and smiled.

“Come get some, you sons of bitches!”

The demons paused, then dove into combat with shrill screams. Surging forward, the two angels forced their way through the formation, the demons falling under a hailstorm of fists and the twirls of Adoni's blade. Dropping to her hands, Avarielle swung her feet low to trip one incoming demon, Adoni's blade catching it across the throat a split-second later as she fell.

As she continued her spin, Avarielle's face blanched as she saw the new demons charging in.

“Adoni- watch out! They're behind us!” she cried out, surprised at the ploy she had fallen for. The group quickly forced Adoni and Avarielle into the center of the room, where there would be more room for the demons to fight.
Like earlier, Adoni was pressed up against Avarielle's back, turning from side to side in a desperate attempt to stop the demons he was facing. He managed to impale one overeager demon, but the next second, the sword was kicked out of his hand, numbing it instantly.

“Son of a...” he muttered angrily, swinging at his assailant. The demon danced out of range easily as his cohort rushed in. Mirroring his cousin's trick Adoni dropped to the floor with a sweep kick, knocking him down on top of the overturned table. He turned back to his original opponent, who had stepped in again and threw a wild haymaker. It connected, and the demon staggered back.

A sneer flickered across Adoni's face as the demon advanced, aimed a right hook at Adoni's face. Adoni quickly blocked it and peppered the demon's face with a lightning-quick series of jabs. The next second, he cried out in pain- his other opponent had gotten up and kicked him in the tailbone.

“Damnit...” he gritted, trying to ignore the pain rushing through his spine. With his teeth bared and sweat starting to run, he turned and drove his elbow in the demon's face, breaking his nose into a fountain of blood as the demon tripped over the rug. The other demon leapt through the air and tried to kick Adoni, who caught the leg and slammed his opponent directly through the table.

He turned back to his other opponent in time to get kicked firmly in the shoulder, feeling a slight grinding sensation as the joint dislocated itself. The demon grinned and rushed in again before Avarielle's fist clipped him under the jaw, grounding him.

In the meantime, Avarielle had been dominating - one powerful blow to a demon shattered his skull, killing him quite efficiently, and the demons facing her were growing steadily more bloody and bruised. Smirking slightly, she dropped her stance and flipped off her two opponents, one of whom rushed and got thrown through the window as a reward. The other one was more careful, and the two circled each other. Avarielle noticed herself losing ground and swung at the demon, who speed-dodged like he had the bullets Her fist impacted with the wall, breaking through it and shattering the wooden plank concealed behind it.

“Hot damn!” the demon exclaimed, eyeing Avarielle in a shocked manner. "Never would have seen that coming from an angel!" Avarielle grinned, and kicked the demon rather firmly in the groin. He collapsed on the ground with a moan, holding himself.

“You didn't see that coming either?” Avarielle taunted him, watching his face contorted in agony. She tilted her head. “Pity.”

Turning to her other opponent, who'd came back in the front door, Avarielle laughed.

“Just quit now, and I'll let you off with a warning.” she grinned, gesturing to the demon lying on the ground. “Or, you can take your chances like your buddy here.”

The demon paused for a second to look, and Avarielle took this opportunity to swing up with her foot, connecting with his sternum.

“You tricked me!” the demon exclaimed indignantly, wincing.

Avarielle grinned and knocked the Keeran over with an uppercut.

"All's fair in love and war." she quoted.

Adoni, thinking one of his opponents was out of commission, was focused on the other. He was starting to gain the upper hand with his machete when he received a blow to the kidney. He fell to the ground, face contorted in pain.

“Adoni!” Avarielle shouted, running towards him. Behind her, the broken-jawed demon grabbed her arms, crossed them behind her back, and forced her to her knees.. She winced in pain as her arms were slowly being wrenched out of their sockets. The now groin-impaired demon stood up and looked her in the face.

“I'll enjoy watching you die.” he whispered. “But first, for your...lover-boy here.”

Avarielle spat into his face.

“He's my cousin, you dumbass.”

She groaned in pain as the other demon's foot pressed between her shoulder blades. The first demon grinned and turned to Adoni.

“Silence is a virtue you'll have to learn before you die.” he told Avarielle over his shoulder.

Adoni had gotten up, but was swaying drunkenly. The two demons he was facing laughed, and one hit him on the side of the head. Adoni saw stars as his head rocked back and forth. He lost his balance, but was caught by the other demon, who pinned his arms in a similar manner to Avarielle. The first demon drew closer, and hit him in the face. Adoni's vision faded in the eye that had been hit. Out of his other eye, he saw the demon laughing.

“An eye for an eye-” He kneed Adoni in the mouth. "And a tooth for a tooth." Blood spilled out of Adoni's mouth. The demon grinned, and started using Adoni's midsection as a punching bag. Adoni felt his ribs shattering one by one. The pain was unbearable. Finally, the demon put all of his power into a punch, snapping off a bone to lodge into the angel's heart – barely.

“You'll live long enough to watch your cousin die as well.” the demon laughed. “Have a nice life.” The two demons turned to watch the groin-impaired demon begin to work on Avarielle, treating her in the same manner that Adoni had fallen victim to. His vision was fading rapidly, and objects were turning in to blurs of color. He heard Avarielle crying out in pain, but could see nothing.

This can't be happening. he thought to himself, trying to wake up. No. It is happening, and I'm not going to let it get any further.

He dug deep inside of him for anything he could find to get him up again. His mind reached a wall. Despairing, his thoughts began to fade away. Another cry from Avarielle brought him back to reality.

For you, Ave. he thought, and pushed with everything he had left against the mental barrier. It seemed to collapse, and suddenly he felt more alive than he ever had. He looked down, amazed to find the bottom of his feet several inches off of the ground. Glancing at his skin, he could see it had a vivid bluish-white glow to it – the machete in his hands was glowing with the same intensity. Smirking, he walked up to the demon holding Avarielle, and sliced downwards. The two halves of the demon's head fell to the ground as Avarielle collapsed.

“What the hell...?” the demon who was closest to Avarielle asked incredulously, sliding into a cross to strike the angel. With a leap into the air, the angel brought his machete down as his leg kicked up, cleaving the demon's face off. Landing next to Avarielle, his eyes glowed purple with power as he glared at the demons, who cowered from the light.

“Avarielle.” Adoni murmured, taking her hand. “Get up.”

Avarielle's skin started to let off a vivid red-white glow as her eyes opened, and she stood up and began to hover above the ground at the same height as Adoni. Behind her, Adoni could see a set of red and gold wings flapping slowly.

“Adoni?” she asked. “When did you grow wings?” Adoni looked back, shocked. Surely enough, he had grown wings like Avarielle, except that his were blue and silver instead. He glanced at the demons, who turned and openly ran for their lives.

“We'll discuss this later.” he answered grimly. “For now, let's deal with these.” The two angels flew at the door, crashing through the frame as if it were made of tissue paper. They found the demons in seconds, and killed them faster. There was no sign of Ezonot, nor the first demon they'd seen.

“Is now a good time to answer that question, Adoni?” Avarielle asked. Adoni glanced up, seeing a skylight, which revealed a dark and cloudy day.

“Yeah. Let's fly, I guess.” he replied. He raised his arm and crashed through the roof with a powerful sweep of his wings. Beside him, Avarielle did the same. The two quickly flew above the clouds, into the sunlight.

“I have no idea, Avarielle.” Adoni explained, looking around the sky in awe. “One second, I was almost dead. And then, suddenly, I felt more alive than I ever had.”

Avarielle nodded.

“Same here.” she agreed. “God, it's beautiful up here.”

Adoni smiled and started laughing, thrilled to be alive.

“It's rather tranquil, although one might have to watch out for passing airplanes.”

“Yeah... think we should find Keanas and tell him that we succeed?”

Adoni shuddered and veered slightly to his side in a barrel roll before coming back to fly beside his cousin.

“Sadly, yeah. Maybe he has some answers, though, so it's probably worth the inconvenience.” Adoni reasoned. “Let's go.”

The two flew down below the clouds. Beneath them, people were marveling at the streaks of blue and red crossing through the sky, a few people pointing up into the sky.

“Where is he?” Adoni asked, a bit puzzled.

“Think about it, Adoni.” Avarielle replied. “If you were a lonely jackass with plenty of money, where would you go?” She pointed down at a rather garishly lit club beneath her.

“A bar?” Adoni asked, then paused. “Sad, but probably true. Let's land and check it out.”

Avarielle glanced at him, and burst out laughing.

“Why? Do you want a lap dance from a gold-digger too?” she asked. Adoni rolled his eyes.

“You know I'm in love with Anitra.” he replied, exasperated.

“Yeah, and she barely knows your name. You've got to stop falling so easily, fucker.” Avarielle replied. The two landed outside the bar in time to find Keanas walking out with his arm around a woman's waist. A lucky guess indeed.

“The Zedeks? Alive? In angelic form?” Keanas spluttered. "Hold on, love." he told the woman, who smiled and walked away with a knowing look on her face.

“Keanas Morathi? With a human?” Adoni asked with a grin. “Looks like you have a bit of explaining to do yourself, Mister Morathi.”

Keanas sighed and followed the woman, taking her aside.

“Erin, honey, I'll see you later tonight at home, ok? I have to talk with my co-workers here.”

“Explain.” Avarielle told him. Keanas sighed again, and crossed his arms behind his back.

“I had a wife when I was a human. When I ascended, I had to see her again. She may look young, but she's older than you, Adoni.” he explained. “I act like such a prick about the rules because I don't want to lose Erin again. The front of being obsessive about the rules removes suspicion from me. Tonight is actually our two hundred and fifteenth anniversary.”

Adoni and Avarielle were shocked.

“I had no idea. I'm sorry for mistreating you earlier, Keanas." Adoni stuttered. "Can you explain the wings, and the glowing... and the fact that we're alive?”

Keanas nodded.

“Apology accepted, Adoni. Yes, I can explain. All angels have other forms, not just human. Only a few have the talent or the willpower to do it, though. Those who do can decide who they want to bring back to the Earth to join the Reapers. You've earned that privilege. Take a week off, though- you two have earned it.” Keanas told them. “By the way, you can turn back to human forms by choice or you can wait an hour. It's your choice. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a wife and children I need to get home to.”

He turned and walked down the street, shined shoes clicking on the pavement.

“I had no idea...” Avarielle started, but shook her head. “I had no idea that he was the type to be married... what the fuck, dude?”

“We both know how love feels, Avarielle. You had Vashon, and he has Erin." he said. "Now, I'm tired and I want to sleep my injuries off. I'm also pretty sure this other form will knock me out after I shift, so... see you at home.”

Lifting off the ground, he rose a few feet before falling down to his knees, Avarielle joining him as her aura faded.

“Or not. Where'd we park again?” Adoni asked ruefully, panting for air.

“...fuck!”