Page 125 of Baking and Angels

“It is currently reported that no lives have been lost at this time, but the incident is still under investigation,” the reporter said, then paused a half second. “And I’m hearing now that we are going to bring you an exclusive interview with Scarlet Kovacs, the CEO of Scarlet Promotions who was running this event.”

The screen changed, and Helena’s boss appeared on the screen standing next to areporter.

“Oh my gosh, she looks fantastic,” Charlie said, but Cindy hushed him harshly.

“Thank you for speaking with me tonight, Ms. Kovacs. Now my understanding from speaking to law enforcement is that in a twist of irony, tonight’s demon attack occurred during an event whose goal was to raise awareness for demonic activities?”

Scarlet nodded. “Yes. Recently, someone very dear to me was lost to a demonic attack similar to what we’re experiencing right now.”

“That is a cruel twist of irony indeed. Can you tell us now what the public can doto help?”

Charlie turned the sound down. “Should we call Helena? She has to have been there,”he asked.

“They said no one was killed,” Cindy said thoughtfully, then got up to fetch hercellphone.

“Hey, we both promised no devices,” Charlie started to say, but Cindy swiped his words away with a hand as she pulled open the cabinet nearby to retrieve it.

“That was locked!” Charlie said, and he came over and ran a finger over the latch. “Okay, so that was a lot less secure that I thought it was.”

Cindy ignored him as she thumbed through her contacts and found Helena’s number. It rang and rang, but no oneanswered.

“Dammit,” she huffed as she hung up. Then stared at her phone screen, trying to decide what to do next. “Quick, what was the name of her boyfriend? Maybe he knows what’sgoing on?”

“Boyfriend? What boyfriend? Does Helena have a boyfriend?” Charlie asked.

“Yes, of course, you know… The chef guy… His name is…” Then she paused.

Helenais single.

“No, she was dating him for the last few months… Rrrr… Raffff… Raphael? Rafff…” But the name wouldn’t come. “Oh dammit, we met him. He was there the night Chris showed up.”

“Let’s not talk about Chris. That’s for me and my therapist,” Charliegrumbled.

“Whatever, but she has a boyfriend. I know I’ve met him.” She stamped her foot. “Why can’t I remember his name?” She stared at her phone, but it wasn’t being any more helpful. Finally, she hit a different number stored there.

“Who are you calling now?” Charlie asked as he fiddled with the remote to get the closed captionson the TV.

“The ER,”she said.

Charlie flinched. “Which ones?”

“All of them. Helena has to be somewhere.”

A white creature chirped once and slipped away out the open back door while Charlie’s little dog barked hishead off.

“Zip! Shut it!” Charlie shouted, but he never went to investigate.

The little white creature hissed at the dog, then pulled the door closed with her tail before flying away.

“Helena? Are you alright?”Éliottsaid softly.

“I don’t know, something is happening,” she murmured. Then Helena seized forward, crying out. Her wings shivered, then disintegrated away, like sand being washed awayby water.

Startled, Éliott’s instincts urged him to reach out for her, but this time it was Honey who stopped him by seizing his arm. “No! Wait,” she ordered.

Helpless, the two angels watched as her horns, wings, and tail swirled away into motes of white, sparkling energy. The sparkles gathered above her into a small, tight ball, leaving Helena’s human form sitting dazed below. Once every mote had been gathered, the ball zipped away, disappearing through the wall, leaving the room darker than it had been before.

“What the…” Éliott breathed. He had never seen anything like that before.“Is she…”

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