Ezra pressed the ice pack to his skull, numbing the ache, but intensifying the sting. He scrunched his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to be more bearable.

"What happened to you?" Melonisa asked again. "Who did this to you?"

Ezra opened his eyes, falling into her familiar ones. "When I was first turned into a demon, I was taken in by others who I shouldn't have trusted. I returned last night to talk about what the angels are up to. They weren't happy to see me."

"Your past is yours, but Ezrakhell, you look crushed by the weight of your punishment. I see it in your eyes that you are innocent, but being a demon has been too tough on your angelic soul. You will break if you have to endure another century of this."

Ezra stared at her demon mark, one that she had always shown with pride. "Othrowan will be lifting my punishments next week."

Melonisa raised her brows, deepening the wrinkles on her forehead. "Why?"

Ezra struggled to find where to begin. Instead, he pointed to a black and white photograph behind her head. "I've missed the park."

Melonisa nodded slowly, knowingly. "I have missed you." Nimbly, she got to her feet and shuffled over to join him on the sofa. She held his hand and stared deeply into his eyes. "Everything is done for a reason. If Othrowan is lifting your punishment, be wary of his sudden kindness. You have been wronged by someone you would have trusted with your life. Don't be a fool now and think he has grown sympathy."

Ezra looked away, nodding weakly. "Like you said, I can't go on living this way much longer. He has given me the opportunity to be my true self. I'm not wasting it."

She reached up and rested a hand to his hair. "Please be careful. I have spent far too many years worrying about you."

"I'm sorry," Ezra whispered. His chest ached, wondering why he was so adamant to punish himself further by pushing those away who could help.

"Just promise me that you'll visit frequently again. It hurts to see you this way, but it's so good to see you."

Ezra nodded and leaned down to kiss her soft cheek. "I promise." He left her home with a mixture of heavy emotions circling his head and his heart. She was old, and he had wasted too many years convincing himself that he deserved to be hated.

He breathed in the fresh air and thought about wandering down the path towards the park. He would rather get home to Tom than venturing down memory lane. Though he still had one more stop, and this was the furthest one yet.

Ezra travelled to the east coast. Getting there hurt, so he paused on his favourite beach where only those on boats or climbers of the cliffs could venture. On a stormy day like this one, he was the only living soul around for miles. He scanned the cliffs to double check, and he only saw outlines of climbing routes, and seagull nests snuggly in manmade dips.

The icy wind whipped at his cheeks and made his eyes water. The waves crashed by the shore, roaring again and again, engulfing the wet pebbles beneath. The greying clouds swirled the area, on the verge of soaking the land below.

Ezra tucked himself into a small alcove against the white cliff face. He rested until his body was numbed by the harsh earthly elements. He waited until his head stopped thumping, and his fingers were cold and stiff, and he could breathe a little easier.

He knew where to go to find his old demon community. He wasn't sure what their reaction would be to his return. Ezra hadn't been liked. He certainly wasn't accepted among the angels, he wasn't accepted among the humans, and he was a disgusting parasite among the demons. He didn't belong anywhere, until he had met Thomas O'Connell.

He thought of Tom's bright blue eyes, and his gorgeous smile. Ezra found himself smiling at the thought of his cute chuckle that would burst from him as if it was always at the back of his throat. He thought of the many times he had caught him staring, especially when they were strangers, and Ezra could stare back from beneath the comfort of his hood.

Go to the group, and you can be back with Tom before nightfall. Ezra calmed himself and thought of a remote cliff face a few miles from the beach. He landed and ground his teeth to stop him from reacting to the pain in his ribs.

He had landed in the middle of a group of fifteen tents, all pointing to a large firepit that he had missed landing in by a few inches.

Ezra looked around, connecting the gazes of a few unfamiliar faces, and then a very familiar face. "Theo," he said to the group leader, the one who had once refused Ezra a tent in the circle and made him pitch one almost a quarter of a mile from the others.

Theo stopped separating thin branches from thick ones and stood tall. He matched Ezra's height and size, but lacked a full head of hair, and a few teeth from years of neglect. "What are you doing back, soul stripper?"

Ezra looked around, recognising more faces who had either been unkind to him, or ignored others who had treated him harshly. "I have something important to discuss," Ezra said bluntly.

Someone to his left scoffed. "We thought you'd finally got the hint and moved on."

Ezra's tongue ran over a cut on the inside of his lip. Stay calm. "I'm not staying. I'm here to talk with Theo."

Theo rolled eyes and bent back down to sort the wood. "Make it quick," he muttered.

Ezra awkwardly approached him, not enjoying talking to the back of his bald head. "The angels are up to something," he said, waiting for more sneers. When they came, he continued. "I have a reason to think they are to blame for the rise in violence towards demons. Have you noticed any-"

"Why do you care? You're not one of us," Theo interrupted.

Ezra swallowed his anger. "Have you heard any singing from the angels? Have you heard about humans having-"

"You travelled all this way to talk about an angel choir?" Theo interrupted, glancing at the way Ezra's hands curl to fists.

"The angel choir could be targeting-"

"Doubt it," he said, looking up and smirking at the darkness growing in Ezra's eyes. Theo rubbed the dirt from his hands and raised a brow. "What? Did you think I would make you a cup of tea and chat happily about angels? We celebrated when you left. You were purposefully stubborn and refused to leave here for years. Didn't it bother you that after so long, we still didn't want you?"

"You've always been a bully," Ezra muttered. "I lived here peacefully for years, and you still didn't accept me. That says more about you than it does me."

"A bully?" Theo scoffed. "We just didn't want some false demon among us. You're condemned to be one of us, like our existence is one huge punishment. It's insulting just looking at you."

Ezra kept trying to think of Tom to calm down. But each time his face came to mind, a memory of the way he was treated in the camp replaced it. "I'm here because I believe the angels are using their singing to target demons. I'm here to help you. I want-"

"We don't give a shit what you want." Theo flicked his hand in the air, wavering him away. There had always been something too twisting about his body language that sickened Ezra. Theo grated on him the most out of anyone he had ever met. His arrogance, and the undeserving confidence left a foul taste in his mouth and a burning rage behind his eyes. "Leave before you're forced to leave."

When Theo turned to walk away, Ezra grabbed his arm. Theo spun viciously and punched Ezra in his stomach. He collapsed to his knees. Wet grass dampened his jeans. Ezra was quickly outnumbered. Demons swarmed him, waiting for him to retaliate. They had been watching, and many were aimless followers of Theo and would throw themselves off the cliffs if he commanded it.

The pain in his already sore ribs brought stinging tears to the corners of his eyes. "Please," Ezra begged as a last resort. "Just listen to me. We could all be in danger. Something's going on, you have to investigate."

"We?" Theo said as if he wretched the words up. "Go, or you will be forced to leave," he said again, grabbing a scruff of Ezra's black hair to force their eyes to meet.

"No," Ezra said stubbornly, trying to breathe. "This is important."

"Not important enough." Theo pushed his head back down. He stormed to his stack of sticks and rummaged until he found one heavy enough. With one menacing grin, the last thing Ezra saw was him flinging a large stick towards his face at a speed that would break bones.