I bolted upright in bed, gasping for breath and sweating from the nightmare that I’d just woken up from. I took several deep breaths to steady myself while the details from my dream faded. What little I remembered of it was that it had involved demons and that I hadn’t been alone. Of course, that wasn’t much of a surprise since all my sisters were having nightmares after the events of our last mission.

“Damn,” I muttered, climbing out of bed and putting my slippers on. I wasn’t planning on going very far, just to the showers. As I staggered the short distance down the hallway, I muttered, “At least my period is over.” However, the voice in my head added, “Until next month.”

None of my sisters seemed to be up yet so I had the showers all to myself. However, after I climbed under the hot water, I couldn’t help but feeling just a touch lonely. I’d gotten so used to showering with my sisters that it actually felt a little odd to be doing so alone.

While I washed, I ran a hand over the scar that now covered my shoulder and part of my upper back. The injury that the flying demon had given me was worse than I’d first realized, and since I couldn’t very well reach it all in order to treat myself, I’d been forced to go to Doctor Merrit to get stitches. I shuddered at the memory, thinking that his bedside manor had almost been as bad as the demon’s. Fortunately, after a few dozen stitches and a couple days to recover, I was almost back to normal.

“Just another day or so and there won’t be a sign than I was ever hurt,” I mused, thankful for this particular benefit of the harkon virus. In fact, there were a few benefits of the angel strain that I’d grown to appreciate. I ran my hands over my breasts, smiling faintly as I did so.

However, as I touched my scar again, I couldn’t help but remembering how I’d gotten it and just how bad things had turned out. There had been seven demons in the area, what would normally be considered a major outbreak. We’d walked right into it without warning, thinking that we were only going after a single demon…then two of them. The other five had caught us completely by surprise. And then there were the two demon eggs that had been recovered afterwards.

The higher ups were making a huge deal about the number of demons and the fact that they were actually working together in a pack, something that was completely unprecedented. My sisters were definitely shaken by that and I could understand why. Taking down a single demon could often be a very dangerous and difficult task, but if we had to face packs of demons, then we were at a far greater risk of being overwhelmed and slaughtered.

Of course, the demon eggs we’d found were getting a lot of attention as well. The previous egg we’d found had been an anomaly, a one of a kind as far as we knew. But now we knew that this wasn’t an isolated incident…that demons were reproducing without having to infect humans. The ramifications of these demon eggs was something I didn’t even want to think about.

Another thing I didn’t want to think about was the amount of death that had resulted from that last mission. Seven of our own people had been killed by those demons, including Reese and Jimmy. The only good news was that Pete and Mason had both managed to escape infection, which was nearly a miracle considering their exposure.

I scowled as I suddenly wondered what did happen to those who got infected, at least those we caught before they could turn demon. I knew that they were always rushed away into quarantine, but I had no idea if they were euthanized or if they were allowed to turn demon and then killed. I shuddered, knowing there was no happy ending for anyone who’d become infected with the demon strain and I felt guilty to realize that I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know the details.

By the time I was finished with my shower, I felt clean and more awake, but also somewhat depressed. I quickly dried off and got dressed, then went to the kitchen where I found Nicole up and sipping a cup of coffee. She gave me a faint smile and then handed me a cup as well.

Before long, Dani and Rebecca showed up as well, neither of them in a good mood. It was pretty obvious that all of us had been having difficulty sleeping.

It was a quiet morning since none of us felt much like talking, until Rebecca announced she was going to meet up with Hannah for breakfast. After she’d left, the rest of us ended up going to the chow hall to have breakfast together as we usually did, though Julie did join us. None of us talked about that last mission, but it was obviously on everyone’s minds.

As we were leaving the chow hall, I heard someone call out, “Monica…”

I paused to see Gene coming towards me. I blushed faintly at the sight of him, feeling embarrassed for having this reaction in front of my sisters. Nicole and Dani both gave me knowing looks, with Dani smirking faintly.

“We’ll see you back in Heaven,” Nicole told me as she hurried away with Dani and Julie.

“Hi,” Gene said, just a little awkwardly. Neither of us had spoken since the day on the obstacle course when Dani had lost her race and won a date.

“Hey,” I responded, just as awkwardly.

“I heard what you did for Mason,” Gene quickly blurted out. “And what you tried doing for Reese…”

I winced at that, feeling guilty over Reese’s death. Intellectually, I knew that it wasn’t my fault and that there was nothing I could have done to stop the demon infection. Reese had known that as well which was why he’d taken matters into his own hands. However, knowing something intellectually and accepting it emotionally are different things.

“I wish I could have done more for Reese,” I started apologetically.

“You did everything you could,” Gene told me. “Pete told me all about it…how you tried helping Reese…and about how you rushed to help Mason even though there was a demon nearby…” He paused for a moment and said, “Your fast action probably kept Mason from getting infected… You probably saved Mason’s life.”

“But not Reese’s,” I said quietly.

“It’s not your fault,” Gene insisted, surprising me by putting a hand on my shoulder. “And Reese wouldn’t be happy with you blaming yourself. The only one to blame was the demon who bit him.”

I smiled faintly at Gene and told him, “Thank you.”

Gene grinned at that, then abruptly said, “You know, you impressed a lot of the guys with what you did. I mean, you probably saved Mason and Pete keeps talking about how you didn’t hesitate to try helping Reese too…”

“I was just doing my job,” I responded self-consciously.

“Maybe,” Gene agreed, his expression going grim. “But most of us know the score when we go out.”

“The score?” I asked.

Gene hesitated a moment before explaining, “When we get hurt by a demon or directly exposed, we don’t expect any immediate medical care. No one wants to risk getting close to someone who just got infected…especially when you know they’re probably going to be turning demon in a few days anyway.” He paused for a moment and added, “Of course, we do have the cleanup crew, but we have to wait until they arrive, and they’re usually more interested in getting us quarantined than patched up.”

I nodded in understanding, giving Gene a thoughtful look. I’d known the angels didn’t get much medical treatment in the field due to fear of the angel strain, but I hadn’t realized that the regular soldiers had similar problems. Of course, it made sense. If people were afraid of catching the angel strain they’d be even more afraid of catching the demon strain.

“It’s nice having someone who will try helping us,” Gene told me seriously. “You can bet that Reese appreciated what you did for him.”

“Thank you,” I told Gene again. “I’m happy to help.”

Gene stood there for a moment with a nervous expression, then abruptly asked, “Would you like to have coffee with me sometime? I mean, just so we can talk?”

I stared at him in surprise, even more surprised to realize just how excited I was by that. “I’d love to,” I responded, suddenly feeling both giddy and self-conscious.

“How about this afternoon?” he asked almost eagerly.

“Sounds good to me,” I said with a broad grin. “I’ll see you then.”

After Gene and I went our separate ways, I realized that we hadn’t actually set a specific time or place to meet. However, I didn’t think it would be much of a problem. If nothing else, he knew where I lived and I knew where the barracks were. In fact, it might even be a fun game to see which of us could find the other first. I decided to tell him about that game once I won it.

When I got back to Heaven, I found Dani sitting by the window, smoking a cigarette and flipping through a fashion magazine. Nicole was watching some kind of soap opera on TV, which didn’t interest me the least. So I decided to settle down with a book on DNA that I’d recently begun reading.

Rebecca returned an hour later with a grim look on her face. “I think we need to go for a run,” she announced, her expression indicating that she wanted to do more than that.

I’d learned that there were some topics that my sisters refused to discuss in Heaven. They’d never found a single bug or listening device, but they were still cautious when it came to talking about specific things.

A short time later, we arrived at the obstacle course and began making our way through it. When we were about halfway through, Rebecca called for a stop.

“What’s this about?” Dani asked, looking worried.

“I just had a talk with Hannah about the demon situation,” Rebecca told us with a grim expression. “And I learned some things.”

I nodded at that, knowing that Hannah often filled Rebecca in on base gossip as well as more important information. And from what Rebecca had hinted at on a few occasions, it also seemed that Colonel Roberts sometimes used Hannah to pass on things that he couldn’t brief us on officially.

“As you know,” Rebecca said, looking at each of us in turn. “The demon situation is getting worse. We’ve slowly been seeing more and more demon outbreaks.”

“No shit,” Dani responded. “No matter how many we take down, more people keep getting infected.”

“And then there are the ones that we don’t know about,” Nicole added. “I mean, they hide out in the woods or sewers, slowing growing stronger and tougher until they’re really difficult to stop.”

“It’s even worse than we thought,” Rebecca told us, making the rest of us stare at her. “I just found out that Australia had an outbreak two months ago. China had one almost three weeks ago, and this morning there was one in France.”

“Holy shit,” Dani blurted out. “They’re spreading…”

I gulped at that and whispered, “We’re not just dealing with a demon epidemic. This is about to turn into a pandemic.”

“Exactly,” Rebecca agreed. “And as we’ve seen on the last mission, it’s not just more demons that we’re facing. Those ones were working as a pack. Who knows how long before more demons start doing the same thing.”

“If that happens,” Nicole whispered with a nervous look, “then we are in deep trouble.”

“A single demon can be tough enough,” Rebecca continued, “but if we have to face groups of them…” She paused to shake her head. “You saw what they did to our backup. Pete and Mason were lucky they survived without infection.”

“But others didn’t survive at all,” Nicole added with a grimace. “Too many died…”

“Agreed,” Rebecca said. “The only reason we survived is because we’re faster, immune to the demon strain, and can heal from our injuries. Our backup won’t stand a chance against this kind of thing and even we won’t be able to last long. We’re already being pushed to our limits and everyone who helps us faces increasing risks of death and infection.”

“So we’re all up shit creek,” Dani spat out bitterly.

“According to Hannah, the politicians are getting more serious about lifting the ban,” Rebecca told us with a weak smile.

“Yeah,” Dani added with a snort. “Now that their countries are in danger from demons too…”

“But even if they lift the ban today,” Rebecca explained, “It will be too little too late. It would still take years to find any kind of vaccine and the demons would only continue to increase during that time.“

“Shit,” Dani spat out.

Nicole scowled and gave Rebecca a thoughtful look. “You wouldn’t bring us out here just to tell us that.”

“You’re right,” Rebecca admitted with a sigh. “I never thought I’d say this, but if the demon situation gets any worse, we might need to consider…” She paused at that, looking guilty before quietly finishing, “Creating new angels.”

“WHAT?” Nicole and Dani blurted out at once.

Rebecca’s suggestion was enough to make me suddenly grow angry at her. Though I now cared for my sisters a great deal and was coming to appreciate my new body, there was no way I could accept forcing this on someone else. To intentionally take away some else’s identity was just wrong.

“So,” Dani asked in a deceptively calm voice. “You want to turn everyone in the unit into angels?”

“Hell no,” Rebecca blurted out, looking as though she was the one who’d been offended. “What I meant is that things might get bad enough that we have no choice but to create new angels. IF it comes to that…” She put emphasis on the ‘IF’. “If it comes to that, I refuse to let some bureaucrats or generals be the ones deciding on who gets to be our sisters. If it comes to that point, we need to be the ones in control of this. We need to make sure that the only people who join us are ones we trust.”

We were all silent for a moment before Nicole quietly said, “That makes sense. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Me too,” Rebecca agreed. “But with the demon situation getting worse, I thought we needed to at least talk about this. We need to make contingency plans for the future…just in case.”

The four of us stood there for a minute, looking back and forth at each other before we each nodded agreement. Even though we had done nothing more than agree to discuss the possibility, we each knew that we were going into dangerous territory. Intentionally infecting anyone with the angel strain would be a game changer, and one that could have very dangerous consequences. However, we also realized that the game was already changing and this might be the only way to survive it.