Descent

Chapter 1

Miriam

I may be the only one in England hoping it doesn't snow tomorrow.

The cold annoyed me, the wet irritated me and its colour was gross and pure. Each flake was like a tiny piece of angel falling from the sky. I despised the smiles it brought to children's faces and the way they threw balls of it at each other. No wait, I enjoyed that bit, violence was one of my few joys these days.

But one thing that made me despise snow more than any other was the season: Winter. And winter meant Christmas, and Christmas meant goodwill and peace and all that our kind tried to prevent. If there were peace, then Hell on Earth would be impossible. Demons walked the Earth, but so did Angels. We never crossed paths if possible, as that meeting left dire effects for both sides of the good versus evil war.

The petty little humans had no idea that the vile people that starred in their news were none other than my brothers and sisters. Father of all Hell would sometimes walk the Earth too, but only on occasions of pure evil. He possessed Hitler to kill the Jews, caused the world wars and was now working overtime now that humankind was inching towards world peace. Nobody I personally knew had ever seen him, but rumour had it that his appearance was the stuff of nightmares. How delicious.

I shuddered, the angels were winning. This could be one of the first of many heavenly, pure snowfalls that fell to a "perfect" peaceful world. Only when the humans and angels were enslaved would we stop fighting. To be perfectly honest, probably not even then. We fed off misery, and enjoyed every second of sorrow. Think of it as us using a cosmic straw to suck the juicy feelings from their souls. I assume humans don’t understand the laws of pseudo science. Angels had this power, but they barely used it anymore. Their numbers had dwindled over the years, for reasons that seem absurd to me.

Rumour was that some angels were starting to fall for humans and giving up their wings and halos. Complete idiots, I chuckled. I hadn't seen one before but I knew Angels were powerful, and they were giving up their source of supremacy for...humans? I had once had a pet one, adopted a young man and made his heart break repeatedly. Dumping, getting together, making him jealous, all that we stood for. Unfortunately, he had met a daughter of an angel and she had taken him, my little play thing was gone forever. I had felt no remorse, nothing at all, but it was a shame I had to waste time finding a new one. So far, those I’d strung along didn’t have the stamina to fall for me.

Chuckling as I passed excessively decorated houses, I decided to indulge myself in a cheap thrill at the expense of others. It was Christmas after all. After treading softly to the window of a house I nearly passed, I peeked through a window. I saw the dining room which had been decorated by a couple of small children that were now sitting patiently at the table. Their little innocent faces were too good to ruin, so I did just that. First, I made the mother figure burn herself removing the food from the oven. Simple enough. The oven dish shattered on the floor, causing hot fat to spread on the floor and to burn everything in range. Including the family pet. Naturally, this made the beast howl in pain and thus caused the children to bawl. Merry Christmas.

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I slipped away from the window. This was child’s play; it wouldn’t boost my ranking within the pits. But it was fun nonetheless.

Suddenly, I heard singing. Grumbling, stupid Christmas carollers, I turned round. And there I saw him.

His golden locks effortlessly fell to his shoulders, like a shining halo. His deep blue eyes could search the soul of anyone, even a demon. Even me. I just knew that he could reduce a human girl to a trembling mess with one look as his gaze already shook me. His was head to toe in white, pure white. A white shirt, unbuttoned just enough to see his perfectly formed chest, white trousers that flowing but fitting to his legs so flawlessly I couldn't help but stare at him. His was completely barefoot and left no footprints in the snow. What made me tremble was his halo, not just around his head, but also around his whole body. It was golden and glowing and divine. Despite not having wings, there was no mistaking what he was. I knew what he was, yet my eyes would not look away.

I shivered, trying to move my eyes from his holy and beautiful body, but I couldn't. My eyes were stuck to him; I was frozen in my spot. I couldn't move. I didn't want to move. I was in love. I had felt lust, envy, desire, but I had never felt unconditional love, yet this guy practically oozed it. I could not escape it. I was in love.

I was in love with a fucking angel.

 

Jonah 

The snow literally melted with each step she took towards me. Her breath condensed into misty clouds of icy paradise swirling around her head. I could feel her heat oozing towards me; it was something I had never experienced. And her expression. Her expression was something I had never seen on such an obvious devil before. Pure wonder. I touch of familiar distaste. But wonder and... love? Her look of love made her face almost childlike. Sleek, delicious curves perfectly defined by her equally sleek black coat. Glossy black hair fell to her back in a mysterious waterfall, it was beautiful. She was so beautiful, I felt a pain in my gut I’d never felt before.

Again, I had never seen such beauty of a demon. Occasionally, a demon created a human looking body to encourage lust and jealousy between human males. But this one had a certain beauty that made me doubt if she was at all demonic like her sisters. Perhaps she was human... No, her aura was monstrous. But that body... It was flawed, her eyes were too large, and her skin was uneven. But at the same time it was perfect. It took my whole will to stop myself from wrapping my arms around her, embracing her and never letting go. How could her delicious, sexy body provoke such a protective side of me? How could a demon incite a soft, caring feeling deep within my soul?

Perhaps my confusion was shown on my face; she had suddenly stopped, jerkily, and her face showed pure terror now. This confused me even more; I had never before seen a look of terror directed at me. I knew I was an angel sent down by Him, both humans and demons could tell I was too holy for this sin-filled world. I had been in wars, to save innocent lives of course, but their fear was only directed at the uniform I was forced to wear. If only I were an archangel, I could read her aura more clearly and trust my instincts of what she is.

I studied her again. Flowing midnight hair, pale luminous skin and plump blood-red lips could be seen beneath her hood. And her eyes, her eyes were extremely abnormal, devil or human. Her eyes were a deep orange that blended into blood red at the edges. A demon had coal black eyes; a human had cool, coloured eyes. Those eyes would haunt me into the night, waking me as I shiver and sweat against the vision of her familiar flames.

Subconsciously, I was still gliding towards her. As I drew closer, her trembling became more apparent and my worry grew. What was wrong? What had I done? Eventually, my footsteps slowed to a stop, as we stood barely a metre away from each other. Our breath lingered and mixed, I could taste the subtle sweetness of her evil aura, and it was likely she could sense my fresh aura that practically drifted from my skin like a glorious perfume. Again, I grew confused. We wore this scent to repel the down-worldly beings, not to attract them to us, where only dangerous collisions happen. I wondered why my aroma charmed her so much; I wondered how she was different from every demon I had ever known...