Different

I stared thoughtfully at my hand, which wasn't even scarred. After Lucifer withdrew his hand, the cut in my hand had magically closed. I concluded that it had to be the blood of the devil. Well, now I could communicate with him in my mind. As practical as it was, it was kind of creepy. That Zayn hadn't been enthusiastic about it was obvious. He still thought it was an ambush by Lucifer. But I knew it wasn't. Lucifer had always helped us so far, I was sure that he did not want to fool us. The devil always had a mysterious twinkle in his eyes when he looked at Zayn and me, but my feeling told me that wasn't a bad thing. I shook my head to banish all thoughts and looked at the castle, which towered in front of me into the night-black sky. Without letting Zayn know, I went to Lucifer to tell him that I would be on my way. Then with a nod he shipped me here. Well, I've been here for an hour now. I had crept around quietly in the hope that Ezekiel would notice me, but nothing had happened so far. 

Nyria.

The voice in my head made me sit up and take notice. It was the devil.

What's up? I replied.

Zayn noticed your disappearance. came his voice again.

I stopped. Oh dear ... Did that go well?

I really hope he doesn't cause you any trouble?

My slightly sarcastic tone made the devil snort in my head.

Believe me, you don't even want to know what's going on here.

His words worried me a little, but I didn't show anything in my answer.

Tell him to pull himself together. I'm good.

"Ezekiel!" I shouted loudly, ending the conversation in my head. After five minutes and three more times that I had called him by name, he stood in front of me. He looked down at me in amazement. 

"I admit, I didn't expect that," he muttered. I gave a sneaky smile. 

"That was clear to me."

I eyed him. He was wearing dark, tattered jeans and a black shirt, which he had not buttoned and thus allowed a clear view of his well-toned upper body. In any case, he was attractive.

"Did I bother you with something?" I rushed out. Laughing, he waved his hand away. 

“Not at all. And now enough of the chats. Why did you call for me? "

I gestured toward the castle we were in front of.

"I have to talk to you and I think it would be better to go in." I said and went ahead. Meanwhile I felt his piercing gaze on my back.

"You came here alone, didn't you?" He suddenly asked.

"Yes." Was all I said.

"And your protector allowed that?" He continued. Showing the hint of a smile, I looked over my shoulder. 

"No. I left without saying anything. At this very moment he is prevented from following me. "

Ezekiel waited to answer until we were inside the castle.

"So you wanted to talk to me alone.", He stated and let himself fall on one of the sofas that were here. I nodded and made myself comfortable too. I got straight to the point.

"I'm by no means stupid, Ezekiel, so why are you trying to get me to be your friend?"

Curious as I was, of course I let her finish. I wasn't sure what to make of her words. No, in fact she was by no means stupid. She was extremely smart and that is exactly what could be dangerous. She seemed to already know what I was up to. And she had noticed my initial game, so it was time to tell the truth. I put on a serious face.

"How much do you know about me, Nyira?"

She seemed to think for a moment, then her face went blank.

“You were left there and built a new life among the people and founded an“ organization ”that is comparable to the Mafia. It is said that you killed in revenge on your brothers. I haven't heard more yet. ", Was her flat answer.

"That's a lot for the fact that you were never interested in the story of your ancestors," I noted, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I became aware of the bloodshed by chance."

I sighed loudly and then looked at her intently.

"Well then, listen carefully, Nyria." I began. “You're right, I was… looking for revenge. And you sure too. We're not all that different, my dear descendant. I happen to know exactly what circumstances you grew up under and to be honest, I regret not having taken you away from home back then. Your father was never useful and that you were raised so heartlessly by your mother was entirely due to him. But no matter how bad the circumstances may have been, it never occurred to you that you would pay your parents back. I wonder why but strictly speaking it doesn't matter now. Then there are my brothers. You have already made the acquaintance of a few of them. I don't even have to ask how you think about her, it's written on your face. I was very respected then, Nyria. They were all jealous, except for your little friend Zayn. I got along with him best. I liked him, even if that wasn't the case on his part. We both had our quirks ... Then came the day when I made a mistake. The smallest mistake and you're written off, Vaher also had to find out later. They wanted to get rid of me, you, I was sure that Vaher would convince the others of a different opinion. Unfortunately, I have hoped in vain for help from him. He betrayed me like the others and that's exactly why he's on my blacklist. " 

A roar escaped me. Once again I had gotten too deep into my memories ... Roaring, I fired heavenly fire at the devil. May and Kev tried in vain to hold and tame me. 

"She says she is fine," growled Lucifer, looking at the fluffy sleeve of his shirt. It wasn't really my intention to calm down, making you such a fuss wouldn't help me either. I had to trust my girl, there was no other way. Nevertheless, fear and worry overwhelmed me when I thought about what my brother could do with her. Of course she was strong enough to defend herself, but she knew nothing about how a Heavenly One could fight. Lucifer seemed to have great faith in her for just letting her go.

"If there are problems, you can go to her immediately.", The devil tore me from my thoughts.

"What you can count on!" I growled.

"Apparently, she found him," he said then, which made me sit up and take notice.

Yes, I had to trust her. Which wasn’t that easy anymore, because she had just run away without saying anything. She probably just wanted to prevent me from trying to stop her from leaving. Well, I could understand her. I was too excited, but it wasn't always like that. May put a comforting hand on my shoulder. 

"Don't worry, she'll be fine."

I saw the pain on his face and realized that I had mixed feelings about all of this. I could now understand why Ezekiel felt hurt. He claimed to have made a mistake, but it must have been at least as big as Zayn's, otherwise they wouldn't have banned him. I got up, sat down next to Ezekiel and put my hand on his shoulder.

"I can understand your pain, Ezekiel." I began matter-of-factly. “But Zayn also made mistakes. He was different back then than he is now, just like you. He didn't care about others back then and he was the most important thing to himself, so he didn't defend you and protect you. It was precisely this pride that was his undoing at the time. "

His look showed how amazed and confused he was about my words, but I did not respond and continued to speak.

“Nereus was probably responsible for your sacking back then, because the way I see it, he holds most of the strings in his hand. I'm pretty averse to him, that's probably because he wants to kill me. I don't know much about the hierarchy of the archangels, but it should be abolished. Nereus is my enemy, so I'll fight him! I am happy to help you with your revenge, but I have conditions. " 

His eyes widened, but his pupils contracted.

“You impress me, Nyria. You want to set conditions? ”He growled.

I eyed him with a scornful snort.

"Are you looking for my help or not?"

He growled.

"I hear."

The corners of my mouth twitched, but I refrained from grinning.

“First, Ty, Nereu's right-hand man, and Fare are not involved. You are on our side. ”I announced. An unexpected look came in Ezekiel's eyes.

“Ah, Fare, my sister. She was always the loveliest of us. Why did she agree to the others? ”He muttered.

"Second:" I tore him out of his thoughts. I got a bit quieter. “Zayn is also still full of vindictiveness. I want you to band together and retaliate together! "

Immediately his eyes were clear again.

"Should I spare him?" He breathed. I nodded. 

"Yes. If he hadn't been so in love with himself back then, he would surely have helped you. Also, you should know that you have a strong ally in him. And with my abilities, the three of us should be a lot superior to the archangels. "

Ezekiel apparently let my words go through his head.

"I didn't know Vaher was out for revenge," he muttered thoughtfully. I looked at him, smiling weakly. 

"I think he doesn't know that I know, but he still hasn't forgiven Nereus and the others."

We just stared at each other for several minutes.

"I can't believe you're willing to work with me," he muttered.

I smiled.

"I didn't take revenge on my parents because revenge isn't really a solution for me, but Nereus wants to kill me and I don't always want to have to hide."

Towards the end the smile was gone again.

"All right," said Ezekiel resolutely and stood up. “I will work with Vaher. Come here with him tomorrow, then we'll discuss everything else. "

I nodded, but stayed where I was. It seemed to me that he wanted to say something else.

"But I still have one question.", It came then.

I bowed my head questioningly.

"Since your father and their predecessors had almost no strength at all, I would like to know how things are with you."

I rose too, smiling mysteriously.

"Just this much: I am more powerful than it seems."

I was confused. What was that just now? Should I work with Nyria and Vaher? Originally, it was my plan to take revenge on my brothers and then snatch Nyria's powers under the nail. But somehow it was going in a completely different direction now. Side by side with my brother? Against our other brothers? What should I think of that? I admitted that Vaher was incredibly good at killing and that his cunning was admirable, but was it worth it to me? I didn't have an answer yet, but tomorrow I would find out. As for Nyria ... she still had my fullest respect!