Page 141 of Hell’s Weapon

I put the pieces together and realised that the voices were real. That somehow Angels from what must be the Heaven realm were in my head, wanting me to spy. Initially, I passed a few things along willingly, like the names of guards, glimpses of the first task we did. But the more I learnt, the more it soured my stomach to speak to the voices. I stopped being compliant after a few days. Especially after the most enigmatic woman I’d ever seen seemed to continue to show interest in me, started teaching me to sign and didn’t care that I couldn’t talk.

And Wyatt. I’d watched him since he arrived at Darkfield. He didn’t see me and that was fine. I was happy being invisible.

But he got me that notepad. It was the first present I’d received in years. It reminded me of my first laptop, how it was something that was solely mine.

The Angels were always demanding. Always wanting more, nothing I gave was ever good enough and they never thanked me for what I told them. They’d invade my head at random, expect me to drop everything to show them whatever they wanted.

I thought about telling Tacita, I really did. But I scoured the library for any hint of mind magic, for some explanation of what I was experiencing. It wasn’t like I had any proof, and having been disbelieved over so many things in my youth, I didn’t want her to laugh at me, or call me insane. I don’t think she would’ve now but at the time I couldn't trust her.

My final mistake was trying to force the Angels out of my head myself. I thought I could just block them. But they started to find ways around the mental shields I built. They’d come when I was asleep. Access my mind when I wasn’t conscious to stop them. For that I was embarrassed, I should’ve been strong enough.

I also didn’t want to lose the new family I’d found. Because that’s what they both were, Wyatt and Tacita. They were my new family. But it was fragile, and I didn’t want to be the cause of it breaking apart. My secret would be my ticket to being alone once more. I realise that was selfish but falling in love with them gave me something to fight for. They’re the reason I stood harder against the Angels and didn’t cave when they tried to force my mind open.

I understand if I am to be punished now for my actions. But it was worth it. They were worth it. These last few months have been the best of my life, and I will go willingly to wherever is deemed suitable knowing that I have loved and been loved. I realise the risk that I am and know that I would do anything to protect the man and woman that I love. So please, keep them safe, and don’t punish them. They didn’t know.

I know the voices in my head have merely been muted because the Angels have been temporarily weakened. I still feel it, the connection.

I’m grateful for the time I’ve been granted, and I just want you, Tacita and Wyatt, to know that I love you with every ounce of my being, and that being loved by you made it all worthwhile.

I love you, and I will protect you.

Always.

Milo.

Chapter 48

Wyatt

Tacita barely makes it through the last few lines. How she is reading this aloud, I have no idea. My own vision is blurring with tears as I hold Milo against me. I’d pulled him into my arms not long after Tacita had begun reading his letter. The warmth of his back against my chest is the only reason I’m still standing right now. He’s safe, warm in my embrace.

Part of me wants to rip a portal open back to the human world and annihilate all of those that wronged him in his life. Each person who let him down deserves to die in the most painful ways possible.

Other parts of me bleed for all that he’s endured. How is he still breathing after surviving all of that? I want to keep my arms locked around him and never let him go. Never let him go through another second of pain or loss because he’s already suffered too much.

Tacita puts the letter down on the cushion beside her, and stands as she wipes the tears from her eyes. She strides to us and stops in front of Milo, putting her hands on his biceps.

“I love you,” she says, kissing his cheek, before moving to my side and facing the Lord of the Underworld. “Please don’t take him.”

“I wasn’t intending to.” Hades’s face makes his statement seem sincere, but I don’t fully trust him. “And after that speech, his story lines up with our own investigations. That’s the main reason we came today. He is a victim, caught in the vindictive agenda the Angels have against us, against me.”

“Please tell me you know how to rid them from his head, permanently,” Tacita says.

“Yes, we do. But I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say.”

“Say it.” Tacita moves in closer to us, linking her fingers through Milo’s.

Hades addresses my boyfriend. “Milo, there is a reason your mind is hazy over the days where the fire occurred. We have reason to believe that you were burned in the blaze. We found crime scene photographs of your body.”

Milo stiffens in my hold. Garrick also stands and moves closer to us. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Hades, you better be sure of this,” Tacita says through a clenched jaw, her tail swishing.

Hades ignores them both. “It was covered up well, but Milo, you did die that night. The Angels reincarnated you as one of their own.” Milo starts shaking in my arms, my own head is denying what I’m hearing. “Milo, you’re an Angel. At least partially.”

“No,” I say firmly. From all I’ve learned, all I’ve seen of these supernatural realms, I know that the Angels and the Demons do not mix on the same plane. For whatever reasons, they each have their own realms and process souls in their own ways.

Milo’s breathing gets rapidly sharper, until he’s nearly hyperventilating. Tacita jumps in front of him again and places the hand not holding his in a vice-like grip against his cheek.