-= fallen =- (Book 0.5 Of Angel Devourers)[WangXian FF]

1

Ariel was walking to her favorite bar after her shift at the hospital was over. She just took a double shift but she didn't even feel tired, since she was ecstatic to be able to help so many people in need. But now she needed her daily alcohol and spicy, greasy wings. And a long good look at the smoking hot bartenders with their long hair.

Those men were the main reason there were a lot of girls, women and everything in between almost every day of the week. They were beautiful beyond belief. And their especially long hair, and their quick smile only added to their charm. Not to mention their equally hot co-workers and waiters. There were at least five hot guys that she could see, and they all were a feast to the eyes.

Wednesdays were the most packed since it's Ladies Nights and anyone with a vagina could drink to their heart's content for free, and swooning after those hot guys. 

A little bit of flirting would never hurt, especially since they always flirted back in a friendly manner. She felt like she was the luckiest girl in the world when one of those hot guys smiled at her. 

Too bad she took a vow of celibacy, otherwise she would definitely jump one of them.

She was already drooling by the time she crossed the last corner–imagining a cold draft beer and a plate of the specialty wings, and of course the hot guys–when she heard the unmistakable gurgling sound of someone's approaching death near the dark alley that she was about to pass. 

She stopped abruptly and looked around her, but she couldn't find anyone else near. She knew that she was not supposed to go into the dark alley alone, especially at night and since the rumor of disappearances of her kind was very often these days. 

Of course she chalked it up to exaggeration, since her kind was not that easy to be kidnapped, or killed. It took a special kind of a weapon to just be able to scratch her skin, and the last she heard, the wielders of those weapons were long gone, without a trace.

Ariel decided to take a closer look at the sound. After all, her mission here on this earth was to take care of the mortals, to ease their pain, and to help heal them. And what would she be if she couldn't help those in need, and instead ran away to save her own skin?

She clutched her bag tighter, and steeled her resolution before she entered the dark alley.

The second she turned into the alley, all of her senses suddenly became dull and yet, she could see that someone was crawling toward the entrance slowly, with the gurgling sound and a hand that was reaching out to her in desperation.

Blood.

Even when her senses were not as they were, she could still smell the blood permeating the air. She quickly took off her bag and took out a small penlight to see the person in front of her.

She usually didn't need the light, since she could see to some degree in the darkness, but this time she didn't even question why she couldn't when she saw the bloody man who clutched his throat and tried to say something to her.

"H-help…" He whispered in the obvious pain of a man who was hanging onto his dear life.

She quickly approached him and saw that there was a huge gash on his throat that practically slashed his neck in half.

Sometimes she wondered why her kind was even bothered to help humans. They seemed to do a great job of destroying themselves and their own kind over something trivial like shiny things, or extra plot of lands, or even their neighbor's women. 

But she had taken a vow to obey and to heal, not to question the higher authority, so she would do her job perfectly just like she was told to.

"Stop talking." She quickly entered the healer mode, and after she made sure that no one was around, she touched the open gash and started to pray.

A few seconds later, her hands were glowing bright and the gash was closing slowly–as if it was sewn by the bright light–and the man calmed down a bit. But he still looked like he was about to cry, and there was something akin to regret in his eyes that she didn't catch until after his wound was fully healed.

She was satisfied with her work, and was about to erase the man's memory when suddenly she felt the sharpness of the blade stinging her skin, split it open. Before she could do anything about it, she felt the tip of the blade had already entered her body, piercing her heart.

She gasped in surprise, but she knew that she would heal in a matter of seconds, until she saw the man she just healed took out a glass container with runes around it, and put it at the back of the blade. The action caused both of them to glow eerily and highlight the runes that were carved into them.

When she saw what happened, she remembered the old saying that the only way to kill an angel was to take away their real essence– the thing that made them special– and they would die pitifully as a human. She just never thought that the essence–her essence–could be extracted this way.

The last thing that she saw before she died was the rune on the container, and she whispered it in disbelief before she closed her eyes forever, as a mere human.

"Vessel…"