Jev felt uncomfortable when he woke up the next morning. He was starting to feel all the effects of letting himself become overwhelmed by human emotions and vices for so long. His body seemed to be struggling against the effects of alcohol.
How stupid he’d been to act that way.
Jev felt the need to see his boys and talk to them. He needed to apologize and show them that he was really sorry for having put them through this ordeal.
To what extent would they be contaminated?
“Thinking?” Lilith turned around and caressed his back.
“I can’t stop thinking about the boys and the hard time they must have had during these weeks. I need to talk to them, apologize, and return to my life, Lilith.”
Lilith sighed.
Jev turned around to see her face.
He kissed her lips sweetly. “That doesn’t mean that I’m going to leave you out of the life I want to return to.”
Lilith smiled.
“You understand that I’m not going to return with you, right? My place is here and I don't want to leave it to be your woman.”
He took her hand and kissed it on the back.
“I know and I like the fact that you think that way because I wasn’t planning to ask you to come with me either. I have known you for more than two days, honey.”
They both smiled.
Jev got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.
When he came out, he found a table full of fruits, cereals, milk, and coffee.
It smelled heavenly and he knew that he needed to eat urgently when his stomach growled noisily. This thing of getting infected by human emotions and needs was very difficult to control.
Lilith smiled and extended her hand to him.
“Come on. Let’s eat. Then we’ll see if you can dematerialize and go to Evelyn’s house. Otherwise, we’ll have to take a commercial flight.”
“Who’s Evelyn?” he asked, curious, while he did as he was told.
“Uryan’s girl. It’s a very long story.” Lilith smiled. “Not as long as our story but maybe much more intense.”
“That’s saying a lot, honey.”
Lilith started to tell him everything that had happened between Evelyn and Uryan.
“There’s something else about them that you’ll get to know when the time comes. It’s something that is going to clear up any doubts that you have in regards to your boys having a relationship with humans. Or about you becoming a couple with me.”
Jev felt a deep curiosity.
“Before we leave I’d like to talk to them, alone.”
“That won’t be possible, honey. I sent them to Evelyn’s house to rest and hang out with their women. They are waiting for us there.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Lilith took a strawberry and bit it. She sipped her coffee and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“See you later.” She kissed Jev. “I’m going to the hotel gym and in a couple of hours I’ll be back for you so we can go to Chicago.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” Meth said as he walked into the room. “Good morning.”
“You’re not. I’ll leave you two alone. We’ll see each other on another occasion, Meth.”
The fallen angel nodded his head and waited for Lilith to leave the room.
“Do you want to partake of this feast?”
“No, Jev. Thanks. I just came to say goodbye. Because I know we are not going to see each other again just for the sake of security.”
Jev bowed his head. His stomach dropped and he felt nauseous. He didn’t like going through human discomfort. He pitied humans at those times.
“Listen...” Meth tried to downplay his words. “Don’t worry. My boys and I will continue to be fine in the city. It has been an honor for us to have you here, and for me, it has been a second chance to have you under my care. I understand that everything must go back to normal.”
“Nothing will be normal from now on, Methraton.”
“Oh, no! You’ve already changed again. When you start using my full name I start to get nervous. You were more fun when you were drunk and partying with my girls.
Jev looked at him with pity.
“I’m happy like this, Jev. What I have is enough for me.”
“Wouldn’t you like to have love?”
Meth shook his head.
“Hell, which humans talk so much about, is the suffering caused by loving someone deeply.”
The fallen angel looked directly into Jev’s eyes.
“Come to Chicago with us.”
“No way. So that Mike acts like a hysterical woman and rubs it in my face that I’m a damn traitor. No, Jev. I’ll stay here. This is my place. It’s the city where all the ones like me come and I’m not planning to leave it in order to join you. Besides, there is no way to recover my wings and stay here. So...” Meth put his hands on his hip.
“I’ll come to visit you.”
“You will be welcome. All the times you want.”
Jev nodded and stood up.
He placed his hands on Meth’s shoulders.
“You were always one of my best angels.” Meth smiled sadly. “And I regretted very much having lost you, not because you left our side. No, now I understand that I regretted it because I was such a selfish idiot that I didn’t allow you to stay in the place you wanted. Now, I understand that sometimes we belong to other places rather than the one we have been assigned to. Thanks for giving me that lesson, boy.”
Meth got a lump in his throat. He wasn’t expecting those words from the man he considered his father.
Jev hugged him and patted him on the back a couple of times.
Then he snapped his fingers, and a few seconds later, Meth fell to the floor on his knees.
“Jev, this...” Tears poured from Meth’s eyes.
“We all deserve a second chance. This will be yours.”
Meth’s jacket started to tear on his back and he began to writhe in pain.
A few seconds later, when Meth thought that he was about to die from the stabbing pain in his back, the pain gave way to the most sublime sensation that any angel could experience. The flapping of his wings.
Meth felt the breeze caused by his wings and smiled. They were there again.
He flapped them again and grimaced in pain.
“In a couple of hours the wound will be healed and you’ll have total control of your wings.” Jev smiled in delight. “You deserve it.”
Jev helped Meth to stand up.
And without hesitation, he hugged him.
“This is the best gift that has been given to me in thousands of years. Thank you.”