Seven months later…

Naturally, the very first thing I did was back the car lightly into a pole. I groaned loudly, then glared at Hadraniel before he said anything. Of course, glaring didn’t stop him at all, because he immediately said, “Do you even know what you’re doing, you bloody tart?!”

I just sat there, continuing to glare at him. He didn’t seem to understand why, however, so I decided to ask him a question: “And just how many times have you driven a car?”

In the back seat, Thandie was snickering to herself. She was busy tapping away at her phone, probably texting either her boyfriend or her girlfriend. I wasn't sure which one she was more into, but I'd probably havta say the girlfriend. I kinda thought the boyfriend was just there for sex purposes.

In the other back seat was Mom, who reached forward to pat me on the shoulder. I'd asked her to be in the passenger's seat, but she said it would probably be safer with the angel up front, and I honestly couldn't disagree with that. Six attempts so far, and parallel parking was a goddamn nightmare.

I grabbed a hair tie out of the console and pulled my hair into a ponytail. The only part of my hair that was still pink, for the time being, was the ends. Now that it had grown out past my shoulders, it was mostly brown again. Kevin was after me to dye it all pink, but I just told him No and gave him a kiss and that ended the conversation.

"Can we just sodding get on with this?" Hadraniel asked in a disgusted tone.

I shot him another look of annoyance, and once again pulled the car a few inches forward, then a few inches back. If it weren’t for the burnt orange Kia in front of me, this wouldn’t be so damned hard. I’d asked Mom why I couldn’t just try this in a row of empty spaces first, then work my way up to parking in a space between two objects, but she’d been adamant that I get the hard part out of the way first. I don’t know what idiot decided curbside parking spaces like this needed to exist, but hopefully he was taking a trip around Hell’s parking lot and realizing the error of his ways.

After backing into that stupid pole four more times (one of which I’m positive dented the bumper), I finally managed to make it into the spot correctly. Just enough room for me to back up slightly and then pull out, just enough for the car ahead of me to do the same without hitting me. I breathed a sigh of relief that only faded when I remembered I’d need to do this again and again until I got it right for my driver’s test.

Sonuvabitch…

"Okay, sweetheart, you're getting the hang of it," Mom said, a reassuring tone to her voice.

"Just keep telling me that," I whimpered out, still positive I was doing this all wrong.

"Yes," Hadraniel decided to throw in, "keep telling her that. Just a little bollocks to… Oh, what the fuck is he doing here?"

"Who?" I asked.

"That bloody twat!" He followed that up by getting out of the car.

"Does he know what that means here?" Thandie asked.

"I've told him more than once," I answered.

Mom got out next. "You two get after him, then. I'll come pick you up later."

I grabbed my bag, untied my hair and eagerly jumped out of the driver's seat. I did not feel like I was ready to drive, but I also knew that I would probably need to eventually. I just wasn't sure when I'd feel comfortable behind the wheel.

Thandie and I followed Hadraniel's path to whoever the hell it was he'd seen. He didn't really get this way unless he saw somebody he really, really didn't like, which usually meant one of two people: Ziminair or Samael. Zimmy never came to Earth unless he was on business, and that business was rare as hell.

I was proven right a moment later when we caught up to Hadraniel shoving Samael against a wall in the alley behind the Dominoes on fifth avenue. Great, now I knew the who, so it was time to find out what the why was.

Shortly after I was suspended from my Reaper gig, I learned exactly why Hadraniel and Samael didn't seem to like one another, and that's because they're brothers. Brothers who fell for the same girl, another angel the two of them had grown up with. When I'd found all of that out, I nearly fell on the floor laughing.

The sight of Hadraniel holding his brother against the wall by his shirt collar was nothing new in the slightest. I saw it pretty much every single time the two of them were in the same place. I just shrugged it off and kept on my merry way like nothing was out of the ordinary. Someone who saw my perceived callousness would likely scoff at the situation.

"Let him go, Ronny," Thandie said in her best reproduction of her dad's authoritative voice. I still hadn't met him, but I knew when she was trying to be serious. As to why she called him Ronny, that was just because she liked calling him that. My guess is it was because he hated it something awful.

He didn't respond to that with words, simply letting Samael go and stepping back from him. "You talk to this tosser," he said, with a great deal of venom in his voice. He walked to the opposite end of the alley and stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

Samael readjusted his nice suit and held out his hand for a handshake from Thandie. "Samael, angel "

She shook his hand. "Thandie, Greek personification of Death."

"Oh, the one the Boss told me about. He said you were a whackjob."

She nodded. "Bi-polar, yeah. Good times, bad times, can never keep my mind straight for more than five minutes unless I'm around someone I trust."

"Oh, nice." He turned to me. "How've you been, Dani?"

I brushed my bangs away from my face. "Good."

"Still dating… Keith? Cooper?"

"Kevin, and yes. You've got a long way to go before I'm available, buster."

"Buster? Damn, humans still say that?"

"What are you doing here?"

He jerked his thumb at Hadraniel. "Other than paying a visit to Mr. Friendly over there, just checking up on you and trolling for girls."

Thandie rolled her eyes. "Isn't there a less pervy thing you can do here?"

He shook his head. "Nope. You up for a quickie, by the way? I've always wanted to see what it's like to bone a Greek god."

She smirked. "I hope you're fine with waiting a while longer."

He sighed. "I try."

"So," I started, "how's things up there?"

"Good," he answered, "the Boss misses you. He says you're making good progress, but we still can't figure out what happened exactly to let you access the Angel of Death form."

I scratched at my arm. "What happens if you never figure it out?"

He shrugged. "At the end of the year, the power returns to you. Death is, in a way, a little like a puppy. It knows when it's being put in a kennel and wants to be back with its owner."

I raised an eyebrow. "Weird way of putting that, but anyway, don't rush. I'm enjoying myself."

He eyed me from head to toe, naturally stopping his gaze at my chest for a short period of time. I suddenly wished I hadn't worn a V-neck top. "I can see that. Well, I'm off to a karaoke bar to meet some drunk girls who can't for one moment sing in tune while sober. I intend to have a full evening."

Thandie glanced at her phone and said, "It's four-thirty."

He smirked. "Exactly. I'll get to the bar before they do and make sure to order them plenty of drinks." He stepped past me. "Toodles, ladies. Enjoy your day." When he got to Hadraniel, he simply patted him on the head. "See you next time, Cuddlepuss."

Hadraniel scowled. "Sod off, wanker."

Samael smiled. "It's amazing that you kiss our mother with that mouth."

---

I dropped my bag by my desk and crashed in my chair. I grabbed my notebook and wrote Parallel Parking and underlined it three or four times. I didn't see much point in it, but I needed to practice it a lot if I was gonna pass that stupid test. The only upside to this would be watching Hadraniel go through this crap. Hearing him shout British obscenities at people for cutting him off in traffic would be hilarious.

I reached down and pulled my tennis shoes off. My bare feet looked back at me, with unpolished toenails despite Thandie's insistence at trying to make me get a pedicure. I wondered if she made her girlfriend go through that. Hell, I wondered if she made her boyfriend go through that. The one time I'd met him, he was wearing black polish on his fingernails. Thandie was a weird but good friend.

Just as I was about to pull my shirt off and get changed into my Lounge-Around-The-House tanktop, paul walked in and said, "Please don't do that in front of me again."

I sighed. "You look at boobs online all day long, you should be able to handle your sister's."

"That's… Yeah, no. Look, Mom said you need to drive me to my interview."

I glared at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "Mom's orders."

"Mom does know I only have a learner's permit and I can't parallel park worth a damn, right?" This was, of course, a rhetorical question, though Paul had no way of knowing that Mom was with me during my last driving practice.

From out in the living room, Mom shouted, "Drive your brother to his interview, young lady!"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine!"

Paul made a sorry gesture. "If it's any consolation, it's just at the GameStop over on Tenth."

I sighed. "At least they have a parking lot…"

---

The GameStop parking lot was naturally full when we got there, so I had to park the car a full block away at the city lot that was a good nine-tenths full. It took me a bit to remember there was this city event going on downtown and people were likely using up all the parking around town since downtown parking was closed off. I couldn't even remember what it was. Some city anniversary or something.

"Don't forget where we parked," I told Paul.

He gave a shitty look. "Seriously? What are you gonna be doing?"

I shrugged. "I dunno." I didn't exactly want to do much of any damn thing. I wanted to be at home in my tanktop and pajama bottoms that constituted a sleep/lounging outfit. “That’s not really the point. Go on, get to your interview. Text me when you’re done.”

He quickly flashed me a sarcastic thumbs up and started walking toward GameStop. I seriously hoped he got the job. He’d been trying to get one most of the summer, and had only just managed to get an interview when three other potential employees had found better prospects. Sure, he could only do four hours a night after school, but it was better than nothing. Even that would be better than I was doing at the moment. I needed a job, too.

I found myself wandering downtown to see the anniversary celebration that I thought was going on. There were tents and kiosks all up and down Main street, with food and whatever else was sold in each store. Everett’s Antiques had a set up with a bunch of old road signs and an ancient gas pump. Ben’s Pretzels was naturally selling pretzels and soda. Late Hours Hobbies had a kiosk with a selection of model planes and cars. People were everywhere, enjoying themselves and spending far too much money.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone. Nothing from Paul yet, so I assumed he was still in his interview. That gave me a little time to wander about and see everything. Maybe there'd be something worthwhile, even. I was almost tempted to call Kevin and turn this into a date night. Although, I’d need to go pick him up and I still didn’t want to drive more than I needed to. Why couldn’t he learn to drive so I didn’t need to? Wasn’t that the classic boyfriend thing to drive your girlfriend around? Oh, wait, this wasn’t the fifties.

“Hey, McCallum!” someone shouted at me. I turned in the direction of the sound and saw Aiden Hollinger walking up to me, a great big smile on his face. “Looking good!”

I didn’t honestly think a V-neck shirt and a pair of capris was anything to write home about, but this wasn’t the first time Aiden had tried to hit on me. “Not too bad yourself,” I said, mildly flirting back. It wasn’t much of an exaggeration, either. Ever since I sort of figured out my orientation, I’d noticed more things about different guys, and I could kinda understand exactly why Brandy had the hots for Aiden. Speaking of, I didn’t see Brandy anywhere around him, and he was hitting on me. “Where’s your girlfriend?” I asked.

He scoffed. "Bitch is back at home, probably filing her nails or some shit. I dumped her yesterday."

Well that was a unique turn of events. "No shit?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Now, you still tied to Kevin or are you shopping for somebody else?" He flashed me a shit-eating grin worthy of any Great White shark.

I did the same. "Window shopping. Kevin and I are still happy together."

He snapped his fingers. "Shit… I'd have been good for you, y'know."

I'll be honest, I didn't really doubt that. Aiden was shitty to guys he didn't like, but he seemed to be a lot nicer to girls. Hell, hearing him call Brandy a bitch seemed out of character, even though it was 100% true. Still, Kevin was a much better boyfriend, and I was certain I'd say that even if he broke up with me, which I hoped he never would.

I heard my text tone and reached for my phone. Paul's interview was over and he was back at the car waiting on me. I dropped the phone back in the bag and turned back to Aiden, who was staring at some girl's ass. "Sorry to leave you by your lonesome, but my brother's waiting on me. See ya at school."

I'd just started to walk away from him when he asked, "Don't you mean cousin?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Shit! I'd gone seven months without making a slip-up like that, I thought I'd managed to keep my lies in check.

He walked around in front of me and gestured that he didn't mean any harm. "It's okay, Dani, you don't need to lie about it anymore. Well, not to me, that is."

"Lie about what?"

He looked me square in the face. "I've got a cousin who's trans, okay? And I know a little bit about magic shit, even if I'm not supposed to. And don't worry, I never told Brandy."

"Lemme get this straight, you think that I'm just my dead cousin having changed myself magically into a girl?"

He shrugged. "Nah, I pretty much know. Your funeral didn’t exactly have a body, or anything.”

“Danny was run over by a truck. Do you even know what that body would have looked like?”

I could see the little wheels turning in his mind, but he just shrugged it off. “That’s not the only reason I know. Like I said, my cousin is trans, and magic changed her, too. She taught me this way of seeing magic in people.”

“So, you see magic in me? This is one of the cheesiest pickup lines I’ve ever heard, and that is saying something.” you… You're pretty much covered in it."

I wanted this little conversation to end. "Look, Aiden, whoever you think I am, I'm just me, not my cousin or…"

He cut me off, "I'm not an idiot, Dani, and I don't care that you're hiding it from everybody else, I'm just trying to let you know that if you need somebody to talk to that ain't your boyfriend, or that weird chick you hang out with, I'm there, y'know?"

I blinked. "Are you… Are you drunk?"

He shook his head. "Buzzed, but I've been meanin' to talk to you for days. Kicking Brandy outta my life yesterday gave me the boot up my ass to do it."

I blinked again. "Whatever. It was nice talkin' to ya, Aiden. See you at school tomorrow when your hangover kicks in."

He mock-saluted me and disappeared into the crowd. Hopefully nobody around us was paying a whole lot of attention or thought he was drunk. Christ, the idea that Aiden, the bully that used to knock me off the swing in elementary school, was now helping keep my secret just seemed absurd. It was like the goddamned Twilight Zone.

I made my way back to the car, where Paul looked bored out of his skull. He was mindlessly playing Pokemon Go, as if that was catching on again. I just plopped into the driver's seat, slapped in my seatbelt and carefully drove us home. I considered stopping off at Arby's and picking up dinner, but decided I didn't want to run the risk of getting pulled over between now and home, and stopping for food would only increase that risk exponentially.

Once we were home, the very first thing I heard was Hadraniel shouting at Mom for some reason. Clearly, running into Samael earlier had put him in one of his moods. It was gonna take hours to get him back to his usual stiff-assed demeanor. Hopefully he wouldn't skip school again.

"What the hell?" Paul asked as we stepped into the kitchen.

"Oh, don't even start, knobhead," Hadraniel growled.

I sighed. "Can you please get that stick outta your ass and just remember that your brother's not here?"

Paul turned to me. "Did Sam stop by today?"

Hadraniel poked Paul in the chest. "I'd rather not hear that name again for the foreseeable future, than you very bloody much."

Mom said, "You really should calm down, young man."

He spun around to face her. "Calm down?! I am fucking calm! It's a very calm day here, it is. I'm so calm, I may just stay home tomorrow and enjoy all the sodding calmness everywhere 'round me, like I've got so little better to do." He turned to me. "And do you have anything productive to say?"

I folded my arms under my breasts. "As a matter of fact…"

He cut me off, "I didn't think so. Thank you. Go collect your prize, whatever the fuck it is."

“You know, you seriously don’t need to be such a dick.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Toodles!” he said as he walked down the hallway and slammed his door shut. I honestly never felt more pleased that he shut himself up in there before.

Once the room was calmer, Mom asked Paul, “So how did your interview go?”

He shrugged. “I’ll know in a few days, but he seemed optimistic.”

She nodded. “Good.” She turned to me. “And how was your driving?”

I pointed at her. “You know that could’ve been really shitty if I’d been pulled over.”

She smirked. “But you weren’t. Think of it as a blessing.”

I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. “Yeah. Blessing. Well, whatever. It’s time to get ready for bed and call Kevin.”

Paul groaned. “You two aren’t gonna have phone sex again, are you?”

I stuck out my tongue. “What’s it to you, doofus?” He just gave me the finger and disappeared into his bedroom.

I followed suit and went into my room, locking the door behind me. I didn’t want Hadraniel deciding he wanted to scream at me about Samael showing up today, least of all while I was changing my clothes. Once I was done being naked, I unlocked the door and practically threw myself on my bed. I felt comfortable just lying there, not doing a damned thing. It was like all was at peace in the world.

I grabbed my phone off my night stand and was just about to call Kevin when I saw a text from him.

Going to bed early too tired after practice see you tomorrow

I should have expected that. When he tried out for football, I told him he’d probably be sore more often than not. Still, he enjoyed it, and I liked watching him during his games. I swear, though, I was pretty sure the only reason he wanted to even be a football player was because we were dating. He hadn’t asked me to try out for cheerleading yet, though, which I was grateful for because I was not going to consider doing that, not for a second. I loved my boyfriend, but that was a line I was never gonna cross.

I texted him something sappy with a couple heart emojis and set my phone back down on my night stand. Maybe going to bed a little early wouldn’t be a bad idea, honestly. Then I could wake up in the morning and get my damned Government homework done. I only had until third period tomorrow to get it finished, after all.

I tied my hair back to keep it out of my face while I slept and turned off my lamp. In no time at all, I had drifted off into the peaceful state of sleep.