Free Blest by Blaise Lucey

trembled as he pulled Claire into his arms, cradling her head in his lap and looking at her. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered to her. “You’re so beautiful, and strong, and warm, and wonderful. I’m right here, Claire.” He ran his hand through her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”
    The night slowly turned to a gray dawn, clouds flicking like passing ghosts above. The wind grew stronger over the water, and the pine trees swayed violently. Jim felt like he was stuck in place, holding Claire, staring at her, watching as she took deep, slow breaths.
    Finally, when the sky was starting to light up with the silver hue of dawn, Claire slowly opened her eyes. “It’s over,” she breathed. She sat up and Jim leaned away from her, excited. What was an angel going to look like? And why hadn’t his wings come in yet? Was that going to go wrong, too?
    Claire took a deep breath as a pair of wings unfurled behind her, spreading at least three feet in each direction. They shadowed her from behind, catching the awakening sunlight. The feathers were crimson, blood-red, glinting in the muted sunlight. Red feathers. Hadn’t Mr. Webb said that angels had white feathers? “What . . . what are you?” he asked cautiously.
    She cocked her head, looking at him. Her wings flapped a little. “What do you mean? I’m a demon, just like you.”
    Jim jumped to his feet. “What!”
    “Jim? What did you think I was?” Claire asked, getting to her feet, but he could tell from her face that she already knew.
    Demons were the things that the angels were supposed to be fighting. Demons were the reason that his dad hadn’t wanted him to become an angel. How could Claire be a demon? And Gunner, too? Didn’t that mean Jim was supposed to hate her?
    “Jim?” Claire repeated, more insistently.
    He opened his mouth, but then the pain hit him in full force, and he fell to the sand, blinded by the sudden agony as it ripped through his back and shoulders. The sand whirled in front of him as the wind grew stronger and louder.
    “Claire, you did it!” A familiar, horrible voice shouted across the wind.
    Blinking back tears of pain, Jim saw Claire turn to face someone. The wind kicked up sand, sending it flying around her. “Shane?” she asked, confusion etched across her face.
    Shane appeared overhead, peering down at Jim. Another shock of pain sliced through Jim’s back and he squirmed in the sand, trying not to scream. Through his blurry vision, he could see that Shane had a pair of red wings, too. He was a demon. How had Jim never noticed the wings before?
    “Looks like the Blest boy decided to grow a pair, too.” Shane nudged Claire with his elbow, chuckling at his own joke. “Get it?”
    She gave him a disgusted look, her arms crossed. Her eyes dropped back to Jim.
    Shane raised an eyebrow. “He’s an angel, you know. Not one of us.” He unsheathed a knife from somewhere, a weapon with a black blade. “If you just give him a little jab in the wings, we won’t have to deal with him later.”
    He offered the knife to Claire.
    She looked down at it. “Why would I do that?”
    “Angels are our enemies , Claire.” He frowned. “Trust me, this will solve a lot of problems. Just a quick prick.”
    “Why don’t you do it?” Claire challenged.
    Shane flushed and rolled his big shoulders. “Well, I—”
    “Hey!” Another voice called. “What are you doing? Shane, you know you can’t break the Pact!”
    “I can do whatever I want!” Shane snarled. Jim closed his eyes, grinding his teeth against the pain and wishing he was somewhere, anywhere else. With Claire. His spine felt like it was twisting out of place, growing like a tree right through his skin. He opened his eyes again and saw Sydney Lumen yelling something at Shane, motioning at the knife. What was Sydney doing here? Was she a demon, too? Shane still had his ugly grin on his face. When Jim looked back at Claire, all he saw was her look of fear and confusion and