Elias

The next morning, despite his lack of sleep the previous day, Elias was wide awake at eight. He glanced at the notifications that had built up on his phone overnight and climbed off the couch. He checked on Abigail, but she seemed to still be asleep. Elias carefully closed the door to her room and mentally prepared himself for his patient.

Ramiel clambered up to a sitting position when he saw Elias. The angel's face was ashen — a horrid contrast to his dark curls. Elias had no idea what he would see were he to tear off the bandages and the cling wrap, but from the way the angel moved, he knew Ramiel was still in pain.

Elias picked one of the sturdier boxes, pushed it next to the bed and sat down on it. "How are you doing?"

"Poorly. I have tried to contact Heaven thrice more and was unsuccessful."

"And your injuries?" Elias pressed. Receiving Ramiel's dark glare in lieu of a reply, Elias massaged his temple. "I should take you to a hospital. These burns are serious."

Ramiel played with the edge of the dressing on his left arm. "What will they do? Infection is the primary concern for humans, is it not? It is no threat to an angel."

Further discussion on this was no use, Ramiel's tone made that clear. All Elias could do was to check the wound on Ramiel's side hadn't re-opened.

"Do you know if opiates work on angels?" he asked. They had tried the standard over-the-counter medication the previous day and concluded it was useless. "As in poppy seed pods."

"I do not know. Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity. Anyway, I'll leave you in peace."

Elias was at the door when Ramiel spoke again. "Will you help me? I must set up a ward around the house. We ought to do this as soon as possible."

"Are you even capable of that right now?"

Ramiel shook his head. "It must be done. In fact, I should have erected the ward upon arrival. I am, above all else, an angel. The Creator bid us to protect your kind."

Each move laborious, Ramiel got to his feet and crossed the room. He threw Elias a scathing gaze as he moved past him. Elias sighed and said nothing, instead, he helped Ramiel into his jacket. With Ramiel taller than Elias, his jacket sat oddly on the angel, but it was better than him wandering about in front of the neighbours while looking like an escaped ICU patient. The neighbours already had enough reason to gossip about the Fitzpatrick family.

By the time Ramiel reached the front yard, he swayed and Elias had to steady him. The angel, unable to bend down, gracelessly flopped onto his knees at the edge of the front yard.

"This ward is the basis for Sariel's protection around your world. Today we will use the most basic form. Having seen Sariel's work, you can appreciate how complex the ward can become when modified," said Ramiel. "Three anchor points are the minimum, there is no maximum. We will use four; this best correlates with the shape of the properly."

Using his fingers, Ramiel drew three concentric circles in the dirt of the flower bed, then added two sigils, one above and one below the circles. "This needs to be repeated at the other three corners of this property to mark the edges of the ward."

Elias took a picture of Ramiel's design with his phone and set out on replicating it. He had never been much of an artist, but he thought he did a decent job in copying the photograph. He was finishing the fourth anchor when his phone vibrated. It was a message from Sam.

Got a call from the real estate guy. What's the story with the front door? Are you ok??? Call me!

Elias shoved the phone into the back pocket of his jeans. One problem at a time. Besides, he wanted to learn more about warding. It seemed like a subject that could be helpful in the future. Elias returned to the spot where he had left Ramiel and found the angel scooping out a small hole in the middle of the concentric circles.

"We will use strands of hair," said Ramiel. He pulled a handful from the middle of his head. "Blood is more customary, but I have lost blood enough of late."

Elias too pulled out a little of his hair and dropped half a dozen strands into the hole, which Ramiel filled.

"If you will permit me, I will rely on your strength to complete the ward. It may feel uncomfortable."

Elias' throat went dry. The last time Ramiel had used him for this sort of angelic voodoo, he had come out worse for wear.

"Is that necessary?" he asked.

Ramiel's expression twisted into a self-loathing grimace. "I will fail on my own. I do not know if Najran and his family survived, but I suspect they did. The demon Ashoga now knows you too. They may pursue you here."

"Both twins were alive then?"

"Last I saw. The chamber was becoming unstable, but if I escaped it, I fear Najran will have too. He would not leave his daughters behind. They are useful to him."

An unnerving mix of relief and terror swept over Elias. He had wondered if he had done something terrible to Kiara. At the same time, if she were alive, she was one more person who could be coming after them.

"Let's do this then." Elias offered his hand to the angel.

Ramiel grasped Elias' hand with his right and rested the fingers of his left hand over the centre of the concentric circles. He began speaking in the same strange language he had used when speaking with Najran. Warmth coursed through Elias' body and into the palms of his hands, but he couldn't contain it. The energy passed through his burning skin to Ramiel, leaving behind a grey void. Yet as energy left him, it pulsed around him until it solidified into a formidable barrier around the house.

Ramiel finished his chant with a string of half-sung words and slumped to his side. Elias caught him before he hit the ground.

"It's done, right?" he asked.

Ramiel closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes."

Elias muttered several blasphemous words of gratitude under his breath. He didn't know what he would have done had Ramiel failed. The angel was in no state to do anything more than recuperate in bed and Elias didn't exactly have a manual on angelic magic that he could work from on his own.

After a couple of minutes, Ramiel seemed to recover enough to be able to move as far as the front steps. He sat down there, his gaze following the raucous battle between a flock of Indian Minors and a Magpie that was underway amid the trees on the other side of the road. Elias let him be.

Deciding this was as good a moment as any, he rang Sam.

"Hey," Sam answered curtly. "What happened at the apartment? I was told the door had been ripped off and the neighbours heard shouts. The hell?"

Elias tapped his nails across the back of his phone and grinned as inspiration struck. "Look, don't spread this about," he said. "My dad owned some money to some shady people. They came to collect. We're going to lay low for a while, perhaps head over to some extended family in South Australia."

"You're kidding me. Was he caught up with the mafia or something?"

"Or something."

"That's bloody... wow."

Elias fought the urge to roll his eyes at Sam's over-excited tone — the guy liked thrillers and action movies far too much for his own good. "I'm sorry to dump my family crap on you, Sam, but I think you should consider moving too. I don't want you caught up in this."

"It might be time anyway," Sam replied after a long pause. "Kieran has been talking about moving in together for a while."

After that, the conversation turned to details of what they would have to negotiate with the real estate agency and polite enquiries about each other's families. By the time Sam hung up, Elias was doubly glad he had picked a roommate from an internet ad, not a uni classmate. Sam and Elias got along, but Sam was a tradie — they had different social circles. If all went well, Sam would never have cause to question the story Elias had sold him.