TO HELL AND BACK

CHAPTER 7: BLAME

"What for goodness' sake is the meaning of this?!" Mrs. Sapphire exclaimed as she threw her arms around wildly. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Xavion guiltily looking at the ground, confirming her suspicion that he was the culprit.

"We were practicing our magic in the dormitory and I accidentally set the curtain on fire. It was an accident," Malach swiftly answered for him. It physically pained the angel to lie but it was for Xav's sake so he managed to power through.

Xavion's lips parted as he gave Malach a confused look. He opened his mouth to protest but the angel gripped his forearm, gently squeezing as a sign to keep quiet. The blonde would do the talking himself. He knew Xavion on his own would end up arguing Mrs. Sapphire and get himself in even more trouble.

The woman's brows knitted together tightly. "You set a curtain on fire?" she slowly repeated, baffled when the two of them nodded. "You are very capable of using your hydrokenesis, Malach. Why didn't you just put it out? And since when do angels have pyrokinesis?"

Malach's confidence faltered, only then realizing the fault in his plan. Angels didn't have fire magic. That was a power exclusively demons withheld.

"I um—I pushed him," he told her unsurely. "Not on purpose of course! I would never do that. Again, it was a complete accident."

Mrs. Sapphire gave him an unimpressed look but didn't think the God-to-be would lie. "Is that so?"

Malach nodded but Xavion didn't move a muscle. He didn't want someone else to take the blame for him. He didn't want to owe anyone favors. Especially Malach of all people.

"Xavion?" she called when he didn't give her a proper answer.

The angel squeezed his forearm again with a pleading expression on his face. He was silently begging Xav to go along with the lie, but demons weren't known for their cooperation skills.

"No," he said simply, tugging his arm out of Malach's hold. "My friends pissed me off and it got out of hand. I did it myself."

The blonde facepalmed. Of course things could never be so easy when it came to Xav.

"Malach?" she then said, waiting for an explanation on why he lied about the incident.

He panicked. "It really was my fault! Xavion didn't do anything wrong. I'll take whatever punishment n—"

"Oh here we go again, hero." The demon was mocking his kindness. "Meddling in everybody's goddamn business and trying to fix everything."

Malach inhaled, irritated by Xavion's words. All he wanted was to mend things between them, yet the angry demon never seemed to bat an eye at any of his attempts. Why couldn't he just accept some help?

"I'm not trying to be a hero," he quietly murmured to Xavion, trying to keep his patience.

The brunette snickered as he pointed at Malach, looking at Mrs. Sapphire. "Are you hearing this guy right now? Did he really just say he isn't trying to play the hero act?"

She frowned, confused. "Malach very much is a hero. He's an example you should aspire to follow after, not criticize."

"Forget it," he groaned. "I forgot all of you blind assholes are the same."

"Xavion!" Mrs. Sapphire scolded, utterly appalled by his lack of respect. "Even as an angel my patience with you is wearing thin! If you don't appreciate the kindness others like Malach and I give to you, then you're running out of luck. I'm tired of tolerating your poor behavior without any attempt from you to change it."

"You're the tired one? I'm tired of being treated like some criminal! And I'm especially tired of everyone acting like this fucker is better than me," he viciously spat as he glanced at Malach with his burning gaze. He could feel the need to shift licking at his skin again, but that would only prove what the school thought of him true. He refused to let them be right.