𝐴𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑛𝑒 // 𝐿𝑒𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝒉𝑜

two.

Shit.

A drug deal? Here of all places?

Haneul's mind went completely blank as she spotted a thick wad of cash being carefully exchanged, and the several nondescript packages shoved into an unmarked suitcase. Her blood pounded in her ears as she realized what she was seeing.

     Shit, shit, shit.

     Maybe she could manage leave without being noticed by them. If she could just—

     Clink.

     Her shoe squeaked noisily as it landed on and cracked a stray shard of glass, left from some shattered beer bottles that had been carelessly tossed into the alley.

     The blood drained from Haneul's face as her fingers went numb with fear, her eyes robotically lifting as her heart began thumping wildly with adrenaline.

     All four of the men registered her presence with varying reactions; the man holding the suitcase panicked and fled the scene, two froze with shock etched into their features.

But the fourth man reached into his jacket for what Haneul already knew was a weapon and sprinted straight for her.

     As if in slow motion, she turned on her heel and spun, damp hair flying in a wide arc as she flexed her legs to sprint away. She made it one, two, three steps and—

     Her ears were ringing, and she wasn't sure why until a bullet ricocheted off of the alley wall and sliced her leg open with shrapnel.

     Son of a bitch.

     She was definitely going to die.

     Another three steps had her a finger's length from the mouth of the alley, and her struggling ears heard another shot go off. Her foot caught on an uneven piece of pavement and she collapsed, the air whooshing out of her lungs. Instinctively, her arms outstretched to catch herself as she felt something hot bite into her back.

     Haneul was sure she'd been shot. Her lungs weren't cooperating, her breaths stuttering and shallow in her chest; and she wasn't sure if it was just the rained on pavement, but her shirt was slowly getting soaked through with a damp warmth.

     But the longer she lay there, the more her lungs calmed down and she regained the feeling in her tingling fingers. Arms shuddering, she pushed herself up, rubbing her bruised chin where she'd fallen as she shakily peered over her shoulder.

     All of the men were gone, except the pursuer, who lying motionless next to... who was that?

     Someone was kneeling in front of the fallen man, their hand retracting from his tattered, oozing neck as they stood smoothly. Haneul's trembling jaw dropped as she focused on the obsidian wings sprouting from their shoulder blades.

     Dangerously slow, they faced her, blood dripping from their clawed fingertips as they silently sauntered over. It looked like a man, but his face was shrouded in shadow. Even so, Haneul was familiar with what creatures possessed iridescent red eyes.

     The demon knelt gracefully as he reached her, smearing her chin with the man's blood as he gripped her jaw harshly and leaned in close. His eyes crackled with a hatred so intense and gutteral, Haneul physically flinched when he opened his mouth, breath wreathing her face.

     "Don't ever summon me again."

     And he was gone.

     Her fingers brushed against the remains of a crumpled bullet on the ground as she scrambled away.

-

     Haneul's legs shakily carried her back to her apartment, the fading adrenaline leaving her body weak with fear. Fear from almost being killed, and fear that someone might still be following her.

     The keys in her fingers slipped several times as she attempted to unlock the door, finally sliding in and letting her swing it open, enveloping her in familiar, comforting darkness. She clumsily slammed it closed and bolted the lock into place.

     Trembling, Haneul stayed planted in one spot, her mind going a million miles a minute as she tried to rationalize what had happened to her. To no avail.

     "What the hell just happened?"

     Her knees gave out and Haneul's back slid down against her front door, her hands rubbing her knees over and over in an attempt garner some physical comfort.

     What had happened with the men in the alley had been terrifying, unthinkable. The kind of situation you only read about in fiction, that didn't happen to regular people.

    Not only that, but the demon? She had to worry about a demon?

Humans weren't supposed to see demons; they existed on a spiritual plane alone. They could influence human's lives and possibly possess them, but they couldn't walk around completely visible. Only angels could do that under specific circumstances, because they were the guardians of human souls.

Haneul ran through the events of last hour in her head, trying to pin down a reason why a demon had not only intervened, but saved her life, in a situation that easily could've been lethal.

All of her theorizing led to the same explanation.

The girl's hands darted to cover her eyes, as if she could shut out the awful truth that was dawning on her. Talk about unthinkable.

     Haneul had no guardian angel.

     And a demon was tasked with protecting her mortality.

-

After an eternity of zoning out on the floor, Haneul picked herself up, muscles spasming from exertion. She shuffled to her bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light as she mechanically splashed cold water on her face.

Her frightened reflection stared back at her from the mirror, water dripping from her chin as she gripped the sides of the sink.

It would be okay, she told herself. It wasn't like those men were alive to find her, or like she'd be in a life threatening situation many more times in her life. After all, she'd made it twenty years without any incidents.

So she would go about her life as though nothing had happened. And it would be fine.

Haneul kept repeating that mantra as she went through her bedtime routine in a trance, trying to convince herself that the night had never happened.

When she slept, she dreamt of those massive black wings.

i'm honestly so excited for this