I was on the floor, stretching out and testing my newly regained flexibility. All the bandages were off and I was once again able to move about normally, though admittedly, I did still have a few aches. Still, those would fade soon enough.

Lisa sat back and watched me while sipping on a cup of tea. She didn’t say a word as I stretched out to touch my toes and then did the splits, however, I could see her smile. She was just as eager for me to get back to top shape as I was.

“I think you’re about ready,” Lisa finally said.

I nodded at that and muttered, “It took long enough.”

Of course, it may have felt like it took me a long time to get healed up, but it hadn’t really been much more than a week. The fact was, if I hadn’t been an angel, my injuries would probably have killed me, and if they hadn’t, I never would have been able to make a full recovery.

Even my hair had recovered…sort of. My hair had all grown back, but it had grown back the same way it had been after I’d first changed. I’d have to trim it and have the tips frosted again to return to my trademarked style.

Then I sat up straight and watched Lisa for a moment, marveling at just how at home she seemed to be. This was the Harkon Research Facility, or at least what was left of it, and it was the one place I would have thought she’d never be able to relax. But as I’d learned, this was one of the main places where she’d been hiding out over the last couple years. It made sense in an odd way. After all, the place had been locked down and abandoned with no one wanting to come near the facility, so she had all the privacy she needed. And of course, the main labs had all been completely destroyed, but there was still a store room full of lab equipment for her to use for her research.

It did seem a little odd that Lisa had been to this place multiple times over the last couple years and hadn’t known anything about the demons in Hell Town, just a couple miles away. When I’d asked her about it, she’d told me that it had been hard enough facing the memories in this facility and that she hadn’t been able to bring herself to face the ones there as well so had completely avoided the area.

Lisa set down her cup of tea and just stared at the opposite wall with a worried look. I knew that she was concerned about our sisters and the situation they were currently in, just as I was.

“I should have done something about Senator Dolenz,” she said quietly. “I had contingency plans, but I’d never used them.”

“And don’t forget General Lawrence,” I reminded her. “He’s the one in charge of the three demon suppression units.”

“I haven’t forgotten about him,” Lisa told me with a grim look. “Or any of the others. But the truth is, Lawrence is little more than a puppet. Dolenz is the one who makes most of the decisions.”

“You’ve got a vaccine,” I said, still a little stunned by the fact that my supposedly dead sister had been working on a way to stop the demon threat for good in defiance of the international ban. “If you went public with that, they wouldn’t have an excuse to hold the others…”

“It wouldn’t do any good,” Lisa responded. “They’d just find another excuse, perhaps claiming that this merely means they don’t need the angels to fight the demons anymore. Lawrence has been drooling over the idea of having an army augmented soldiers since…well, since before the Harkon Project.”

“And Dolenz?” I asked curiously.

Lisa gave me a wry smile before answering, “I’m sure he wants an army of super soldiers too, but personally, I’ve always believed that his real goals are a little more…personal.” At my questioning look, she explained, “I think he was pushing us to unleash the full potential of the virus because he didn’t just want augmented humans…he wanted virtual gods. Specifically, I suspect he intended to use this on himself once perfected. Who wouldn’t want youth, their ideal body, an extended lifespan, and all the abilities the virus can give?”

“But instead of gods, we get demons,” I said with a shake of my head.

“I thought I’d finally created the means to get rid of the demons for good,” Lisa told me grimly. “But if demons are starting to breed without having to infect humans…” She shook her head and admitted, “If other demons are doing this too and not just the queen…”

“Worry about that later,” I told her firmly. “For now, we need to focus on how we can help our sisters.”

“Of course,” Lisa agreed, adjusting her glasses and giving me a thoughtful look. “I’ve been considering our options since I found out. Fortunately, I know where they’re being held.”

Lisa didn’t say any more about that, but that wasn’t surprising. She may have revealed some of her secrets but she was still keeping some things to herself. I supposed that after faking her own death, hiding from even those she cared about for two years, and completely ignoring international laws, she was used to being paranoid and playing things close to the vest.

After this, Lisa began cleaning up and removing signs that we’d been here. She put away the lab equipment and packed up the meager things that she’d actually brought with her. I didn’t have any packing to do since I didn’t have a single thing I owned with me. Even the clothes I was currently wearing had been provided by Lisa.

While we were getting ready to leave, I got Lisa to talk about our sisters again. “After we first changed,” she told me with a chuckle, “we were kind of freaking out. I mean, Nicole, Dani, and I all kind of blamed Rebecca and she felt really guilty about it. Of course, we finally accepted that it wasn’t her fault and that the only one we could blame was that demon, but we all had a hard time adjusting.”

“I’d imagine,” I responded, knowing that I’d been having a hard enough time with it and I actually had three understanding sisters to help me adjust.

“It was weird,” Lisa told me with a self-conscious smile. “I actually became taller, prettier and…” She cupped her breasts at that and grinned. “As soon as I had a chance, I snuck away to show my girlfriend. She liked the way I looked, but to my surprise, she didn’t do anything for me anymore. Nothing. And then I found myself drooling over some guys on TV and I realized that I’d turned straight. It was quite disconcerting.”

I nodded at that, blushing as I did so and muttering, “I think I know how you felt.”

“I’d imagine you do,” Lisa responded, giving me a sympathetic look.

“Of course, Dani had it the hardest of us,” Lisa continued. “She was in complete denial and kept talking about how it was only a matter of time before it wore off or before someone found a cure.” She paused at that, shaking her head before quietly saying, “I think…I think she was really considering suicide for a little while.”

My eyes widened at that since it didn’t fit with the confident Dani that I knew. “What happened?”

“We were just starting to get really close at that time and we could see how miserable she was,” Lisa told me. “We tried comforting her and it helped, though it took a bit longer before she fully accepted it.” Then Lisa paused and giggled. At my odd look, she said, “Then one night, she literally said the hell with it, downed a whole bottle of tequila, then went out and got laid. After that, everything was different.”

I nodded at that, appreciating this new perspective on my sisters. “I’d imagine Nicole probably adjusted the easiest then…”

Lisa snorted at that, then told me, “She was freaking out because none of her old clothes would fit her anymore. And her shoe collection…” She rolled her eyes at that and then added in an almost conspiratorial tone, “Nicole was a bit of a ditz before she changed. Thankfully she grew out of it.”

“And what about you?” I asked. “What were you like before you changed?”

Lisa paused at that, suddenly looking self-conscious. “Well,” she responded after a few seconds. “I was pretty plain looking, shy, and a bit nerdy. I’m a lot more confident than I used to be, but I guess fighting demons for a living will do that for you.”

“I’d imagine so,” I responded wryly.

I looked over the items that Lisa was packing and picked up the bundled up gray outfit that I’d seen her wearing when she first found me. “Combination body armor and biohazard suit,” she explained. “I originally started developing it for the soldiers in our unit, but left before finishing it.” She gave me a faint smile and added, “I didn’t know what I’d find out there when I went looking for you so I came prepared.”

“This might help keep more of them alive and uninfected,” I commented, feeling sad as I thought about all those who’d died while trying to back the angels up. Not only did we need better weapons, they needed better protection.

“That was the intention,” she agreed. Then Lisa pulled out a very familiar looking case containing a syringe and some vials of liquid. She gave herself a shot and then handed it to me. “Since we’re going out in public, we’ll need to be up on our shots.”

“Joy,” I muttered sarcastically. “I so missed my daily shots.”

“This is the new and improved version,” she told me with a grin. “You only need a shot every other day.” Then she paused before abruptly saying, “There’s one more thing I have to get. Stay here.”

With that, Lisa hurried down the hall, towards the other side of the building, the side that we’d both avoided completely since I first woke up here. That was the side of the building where first demon outbreak had occurred and all those people had died. It was the side of the building that contained a lot of bad memories for Lisa, so I couldn’t imagine what would make her go back there.

When Lisa came back a short time later, she had a grim look on her face but wouldn’t tell me what this was about. All she said was, “Let’s get going.”

Lisa and I packed what few belongings we were taking with us into the back of an old SUV that she had parked out behind the building. Then we took off, driving down some old security road that went in the opposite direction off Hell Town. I let out a sigh of relief as I realized that I wouldn’t have to see those burnt out ruins again. The very thought of them and what had happened there was enough to send chills down my spine.

“We’ll get to a small airport in about an hour,” Lisa finally told me. “I have a private plane there that can take us where we need to go.”

“A private plane?” I asked in surprise, giving Lisa another look and wondering just how much money she had.

Lisa gave me a wry grin and said, “I wish it was what you thought. It’s actually a small Cessna I’ve been using to move around. Unfortunately, I might know where our sisters are being held, but we couldn’t get past the security. That means going through a more indirect route.”

“So where are we going then?” I asked her, watching her expression carefully.

There was a long pause before Lisa finally answered. “We’re going home.”