Night Lurks by Amber Lynn

I knew a way out of here, I would be scurrying over that direction.
    “You have killed many. There is no denying that fact, but do you honestly believe angels never get their hands dirty. We have a class devoted to doing battle against the evils of the world. None of the people you killed made the world a better place. They were murderers and rapists, running around turning the faithful into the faithless. Each one of them was marked by Lucifer. You have always served as one of our warriors even if you didn't know it.”
    As he speaks, the glow around him starts pulsating and gets a little intense. I divert my eyes a little and just briefly, out of the corner of one of them, I see him sitting there with wings even larger than the ones he originally was wearing and the little bit of pulsing he was giving off is nothing compared to the bright light that I see surrounding him.
    “Don't look too closely,” he warns. “You aren't ready to witness one of us in our true form. Your time is coming soon though.”
    “So, when I become this angel you claim, do I have to start hanging around Upstairs with the rest of you? I kind of have a life here and would prefer to stick around.”
    “We are well aware of your situation. Your life is here with Alex and Sebastian, and any other riffraff you happen to collect along the way. We are certain that you will stay on the path of good and straighten out the paranorms that have become corrupt. Many things have been prophesied about you. I choose to only believe about half of them, even if they all will probably come true. Everything I have heard keeps you with your mates. So rest assured, you won't be leaving them anytime soon.”
    If he has been as stalkerish as he seems, he has to know I am not going to like him knowing bits of how my future may turn out and him not sharing. Maybe they don't have kindergarten in angel school.
    “Your sense of humor is great and it will help you greatly during the trials ahead of you. You are preparing to go up against a succubus to retrieve your mate, right?”
    “Correct. An evil not nice word succubus has taken Sebastian.” For some reason it seems wrong to call Candace what I really want to call her while sitting in front of an angel.
    “Don't worry. They are just words. Your emotions are what give them meaning. It isn't like I haven't ever said a curse word. Angels aren't any more perfect than any other being. We just like to pretend the halos make us that way,” he says with a little laugh. I guess that is a good thing to hear because I am far from perfect, and I have the scars to prove it. “As far as your succubus goes, you have been told of the Panoptic blade, or knife I think it was called during your conversation, and you feel it would help you accomplish your task.”
    “Well, yeah. If it can really kill a demon, I think it would be helpful. Candace has made it clear she would love to see me dead. If it is a choice between me and her, I think I will go with me living.”
    “I believe most people would make the same choice. We have already covered that, even if you don't believe it, you are still a pure heart, so I think you can take on the two trials that are required to obtain the knife. These trials aren't to be confused with the ones you go through during your ascension. Depending on their outcome, we may consider giving you a pass on one of the other trials, but that has never happened before.”
    This little side trip to la la land might not have been as bad as I thought it was going to be. First, I found out what my third part is, although the verdict on the answer is still out, and second, I have the opportunity to get my hands on a knife that can kill Candace. I would say that things are looking up. I am only slightly worried what these trials are going to have in store for me.
    “So, for these trials to get the knife, what do I have to do?” I ask Gabe ready to get down to business. I have no idea what is going on in the real