Ingrum

"An--an angel?" I stutter. My empty heartbeat is painful in my hollow chest, but it's there, almost. It's all in my mind, of course. Still, the cold inside gets colder, chilling me to the soul. The soul, after all, is basically all that is left of me.

And I'm getting fainter by the minute.

"Yes," she replies quickly. "And we haven't much time left. You have to make your decision, Kieran Montgomery. It is why we've come. We need--"

Come on, kid, Ingrum says. My eyes dart around, but he's really not here. His voice is stuck inside my brain, it won't go away. Please, please listen to me.

I may as well, I think towards him. Okay, I'm listening.

I wasn't always . . . this way. This thing I am, it is what I've become since . . .

Since?

"Kieran?" Illumine asks, peering into my face with a concerned expression. "Are you alright? Stay with me, Kieran, don't wander off in yourself. You might find it's a rather frightening place, indeed."

"You might be right," I mumble. Keep talking, you, I think at Ingrum-Lucifer-whoeverheis.

It's true, Illumine is my sister, he continues. We grew up together. We weren't always rivals. We were a sort of . . . an alliance, I guess you could say, she and I. Our father wasn't a particularly caring man. I mean, oh yeah, he cared a whole lot, just not about us, his real kids. See, he had this obsession with less fortunate kids. He adopted them like crazy, like a lonely old lady taking stray cats in out of the streets. Over half of them ran away right from the start, but you'd be surprised at how many stuck around. Then their friends started coming around, and pretty soon, wouldn't you know it, our dad adopted them too. He didn't forget us, exactly. He just didn't have the time. Or the affection, to be honest. He loved us, in a basic, fatherly level, but we could never compare to the misfortuned little screw-ups he raised from perdition.

I . . . Sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know demons even had fathers.

As soon as I've thought the thought, I realize how stupid it sounds.

Oh . . . you're t-talking about God, aren't you?

Hmph.

Right.

Yeah. Well, you see, I was an angel too. But . . . I wanted free will. I was tempted by it, I lusted after it, I obsessed over it. In the end, I was too weak, and I Fell.

And you're telling me this why . . .?

Because . . .

"Kieran." Illumine takes a step forward, towards me, her wings floating delicately in my direction.

You have to decide: When the end comes, are you going to be on the side of the angels, or the demons?