Chapter 26: Exposed

"Come and stay the night at the farm?" Arthur offered, as the three rounded a corner. They needed to go somewhere where they wouldn't be seen teleporting.

"Are you inviting us for dinner? Or, are you offering yourself up as dessert?" Harry spoke, eyebrows wiggling.

"Pervert," both Tagas and Arthur spoke at the same time.

"Just for dinner and cuddling after," Arthur told them. They finally found a dark alley that looked promising. Tagas looked around, and then saw something from the corner of his eyes. It was a small kitten, one eye glued shut. Looking starved and staying in a box.

"Oh, you poor thing," Tagas went to the kitten, and healed the damage he could. Right now, he couldn't do anything for the hunger, as he didn't have milk on him. But the kitten stared at him with two healthy eyes then. The small animal meowed at him, and Tagas went back to Harry and Arthur.

"Harry, we have a pet now," Tagas declared, without asking for permission.

"Adorable," Harry gushed at the kitten, that began to purr, when he began to pet it.

"Can it come to the farm? Mom would love it," Arthur asked. At the farm, the kitten would have a large place to roam, other cats to keep it company, and Beth would love to have it close by.

"The little fellow is going to be happier on a farm," Harry said. "It is not like we spend much time at the apartment."

"I suppose," Tagas said, as the kitten began to lick his hand. "Hungry, are you?"

The kitten meowed at him again, and Tagas took a hold of Harry. They were before the farm, and Beth was on the front porch. The three stopped like deer caught in the headlights. Beth had seen them.

Walking to the porch, Tagas began to make excuses. He tried to reason with himself that he could have said that they had walked from the town. That they had been in the forest. Anything. But that was something that was not going to fly. Beth was no fool.

They stopped before the old woman, who was staring at them.

"I know I call you both devils, but are you?" Beth asked, not sounding afraid in the slightest. Tagas took this as a good sign.

"I am an angel; Harry is a demon. Arthur is the same Arthur you know," Tagas told her.

"A demon?" Beth took out her cross, and kissed it.

"Come now, old girl. Have I ever done something to make you react like this?" Harry asked, and Beth lowered the cross.

"What is this?" Beth nodded at the kitten, that was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Tagas found it in an alley. We were wondering if you had space in the farm for one more cat," Harry asked, and Tagas handed the kitten to Beth.

"Ginger," she noted, as the kitten began to lick her hand. "And hungry. Let me just get him some milk."

Beth stood, and carried the kitten inside. Soon, she was back out. The kitten on her shoulders, and a bowl with milk in her hands. Beth placed the bowl down, and then took the kitten down as well. The little animal shook when it saw the milk, and began to lap it up as soon as it was lowered to it.

"Now, about the two of you," Beth rounded on them next. She looked at Tagas first. "Show me the proof that you are an angel."

Tagas unfurrow his wings for her. Beth reached out, and touched a feather. Her eyes were wide.

"Apples?" She uttered, and Tagas smiled down at her.

"I have been told I smell of apples in my real form, yes," Tagas told her, and Beth got her hands out of Tagas's wings. Then, she looked to Harry.

"And you? What proof is there that you are a demon?" Harry took off his straw hat, and then showed off his horns. "No tail?"

"No tail, I'm afraid," Harry told her with a grin, and then got his hat back on. "We didn't mean to lie to you."

"No, you just wanted to keep me in the dark," Beth said, and she turned to Arthur. "They are strangers, but you? You'd keep something like that from me? You, who dates these two?"

"I didn't know how you would react," Arthur told her then. "Sorry, mother."

"I have to admit that Harry is a bit too much," Beth said, and Harry withered at that. "But you must have landed in Hell by mistake. I have seen you with the children, I have seen you with the animals. For a demon, you are a good sort."

"Thank you, mom," Harry told her with a grateful expression.

"Don't push it. I am still angry at you for hiding from me," Beth said, and then looked at Tagas. "A lying angel, you are. Shame on you."

"There are people who would want to experiment on me. You have to understand, Beth," Tagas told her, and Beth sighed.

"Yes, not everyone is a good person on Earth," she had to admit. The scenarios that Tagas and Harry could end up in a lab somewhere worried her. "Who else knows?"

"A woman by the name of Linda. I had to heal her mind," Tagas told Beth. "She won't tell."

"She better not," Beth said. Then, she turned to Arthur. "What have you been doing with these two these past two hours? You were in the barn with the animals, and then I couldn't find you anywhere. The car was still here. Do you know how I worried?"

"Sorry mother," Arthur said, and looked down at his hands. "I just wanted to help them on the case. Not that I was doing much, mind you."

"You were plenty of help," Tagas assured him. "You took charge of the questioning today. I find that is the hardest part for me."

"You will tell me everything over dinner," Beth told them. "Although the food is now cold."

"Yes, mother," the three chorused with wide grins. Beth just huffed at them, and waited until the kitten had its fill, to bring it with them inside the house. So, it wouldn't wander off and get lost.