Angels May Cry

Christmas

***Warning***
Chapter may contain strong language, violence, mention of traumatic events including loss of a child, and explicit sexual scenes.

Mature audiences only.

Chapter 11: Christmas

23 December 2014

Noelle

It was quiet in the house. Sage had gone out to finish her last-minute shopping, dragging Nero with her. They had grown close over the last few days. I was genuinely happy for her and Alexis. But had seemed to find something in the young devil hunter and his sire. It was a nice change for them. Alexis had confided in me about her tryst with the stoic and cold half demon. When they had returned after her little coffee escapade, they had ended up falling asleep together on the sofa in the den. Alexis had been upset since they had woken up and Vergil had left shortly after. He still hadn't come back or called.

Currently, Lady had been my guard. Alexis had been slaving away at Christmas cookies and had just gone up for a shower. I sighed as Lady flicked through the channels on TV, stopping on a Christmas movie. She looked over at me with a bored look.

"It'll be nice to celebrate Christmas this year. Most of the time it's just Trish and I." She commented.

"Alexis always tries to make a big deal of it. I'm glad she was able to get everything on my list for me this year." I said softly. "I didn't think you guys really did the whole Christmas thing... Ya' know... with the demons and all..."

"Trish and I do. Not for the religious reasons of course. But for the gifts and gatherings. We try to get everyone something. I thinks its too painful for the guys, so they avoid it, though last year Dante let us throw a Christmas party." Lady said with a grin.

I nodded quietly.

"How's the walking going?" Lady asked.

I shrugged. I wasn't able to do stairs yet, but I had begun to slowly walk from various places. My muscles were weak, but I could manage a dozen or so slow steps. Alexis had said it was progress. She had set up handrails in the basement for me whenever I wanted someone to carry me down there to work on it. Truthfully, I was annoyed with my slow progress and wanted nothing more than to be healed already.

"It's going as good as I could expect I guess. I hate not being able to train or fly or anything. Alex said my stitches are healing and I should be good to have then out after New Years."

"That's progress. You're healing faster than the average human still. You'll be back to normal in no time... Will you be able to fly again?"

"Not right away." I said, shaking my head. "It's gonna take a bit to build up my strength again. But training with my wings out will help."

"Well I hope you can get back to it soon enough." she said softly. "Hopefully everyone is back for your birthday party tomorrow." She said.

"It's all right. You all don't need to feel obligated to be here."

"Girl stop. We love a good reason to celebrate. Besides, you deserve it. You only turn twenty-five once." Lady said with a laugh.

I nodded. I doubted Dante would show up. Things had been friendly between us, but the tension was still there, and the uncertainty. Still, I had made sure to put something on the list for him. The girls and I had decided to get the devil hunters something small and meaningful. Alexis had gotten Vergil a book. Sage had picked up a new hoodie for Nero. And I had gotten Dante a new phone case that had pizza slices on it. We had all gone in on a gift for Lady, Trish, and Nico, getting each of the women travel kits for when they were on missions. We had all made kits for ourselves in the past and we loved them. They included a variety of things that made life easier on the road.