Draiks and Angels: Rescued

1 - White Wings

It was night, the only safe time for her to be out. The almost-full moon shone down on the buildings of the old part of town, changing their colors to grey and white. It was late, about two in the morning. She soared through the air to her favorite spot to just sit and think. It was an old skyscraper, the only one in this part of town. It was built out of a dark grey, almost black, stone, and had a tall, six-sided copper pyramid in the very center of a flat roof. The building was very old, almost one hundred years, and all the stones were worn and rounded from the elements.

The copper pyramid had rusted to a bright green, though it looked pale in the light from the moon. There was a short wall along the outside edge of the roof, but it was just for decoration, seeing as there was no door to get to the top of the building. There were big stone... somethings... periodically along the wall, carved from the same dark stone as the rest of the building. She thought they were supposed to be gargoyles, considering the period of time the structure was most likely from, but they were worn down where the stone was softest, making them look like black ghosts hunched along the wall. The one that she liked to sit on had been hit by a helicopter many years before and lost most of what was its head and wings, creating a nice seat in the worn stone.

As she neared her skyscraper that towered over the surrounding buildings like an oak tree over a field of rocks, she saw that someone was already on the roof, standing next to her broken gargoyle. It looked like he was waiting for something. Her first thought was that it was impossible to get up there without wings, but then remembered that there were other ways to get to such a high place. She folded her wings a little and dove down below the level of the roof. She banked and glided to the other side of the building. She landed near the pyramid of tarnished copper with no sound whatsoever, and crept around the dark side of the pyramid until she could see the intruder of her nighttime solace.

In the pale light of the moon she saw, much to her surprise, that he indeed had wings! They were not wings like hers: sleek, black, and webbed like a bat's, but feathered like a bird's. He himself was not beautiful, but his wings were glorious like an angel's, even in the pale moonlight. He was facing the moon and had his wings slightly stretched out behind him. They seemed to glow in the light, and it looked like the shadows were afraid to touch such beautiful wings. He looked out of place on the black roof. She crept up behind him, hunched down with her wings half poised for flight, trying to get a better look. Her instincts shouted for her to fly away, but her curiosity at this... Angel... for lack of a better word, drove her on.

As she got closer, she noted that he was wearing a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt that had been cut on the back from the neck down to the bottom of where his wings were on his back so it wouldn't interfere with his flying. He was wearing a pair of sandals that looked like he had twisted the straps out of hemp and attached them to the sole himself.

"What are you doing here?" she asked when she was about ten feet away.

He flipped around at the sound of her voice, and just about took off himself before he saw her.

"I'm looking for the woman with bat wings who comes to this spot every night," he said, looking right in her eyes.

His gaze seemed to pierce her soul, with a cold, authoritative stare. She wanted to look away, but dare not, in case he attacked as soon as she did. Moonlight does funny things to colors, but with the light reflecting off his wings, it looked like he had light brown hair and brown eyes.

"What do you want?" she demanded, not relaxing her pose. She may have thought his wings were beautiful, but she didn't trust him.

"I've come to ask a favor," he said, as if he was calculating what her reaction to his request would be.

"Why should I give a favor to someone I don't even know?" she said, standing a little straighter and taking a step backwards, still expecting a trap.

Just then, the angel seemed to completely change tactics to an almost nonchalant attitude, as if he thought that it would be more effective with her. "What have you got to lose? I've seen you come here night after night and just sit. This will give you something to do."

"That's a poor reason," she replied, a little ruffled that he thought she was the kind of person who would do something for a complete stranger, just for kicks, "Get someone else to do your favor." She turned and stretched her wings to take off, when the Angel called out.

"Wait!" He lost the indifferent attitude, "I know that there are others, others like you who are closer to the secret dealings of the city, but I cannot find them to get their help. I need you to help me. You would have better luck than I in finding the information I need. Please, I need your help."

She paused, then turned to look at him. He must have thought she knew more than she did, because he acted like the fact that there were others like her was well known. The thought that there were people like her filled her with a longing to find them, to belong. She also wondered what information he needed that was close to the "secret dealings" of the city.

"Tell me what you want, and we'll see."

"I need you to find someone for me," he started.

"Who?" she demanded.

"A young female Angel named Sera. She has been kidnapped. We found a ransom note where she was last seen, about three miles south of here."

He held out a piece of paper and she cautiously approached. She took the note and backed up to her original position.

"We don't know where she is, but we believe she is still in the city. We tried to find her ourselves, but it's... difficult to talk to the humans and get information. We don't know who the kidnappers are. If you need to contact me, there is a skyscraper at the north of town with a cross as its steeple. I'll be there any Tuesday," the Angel told her, clearly relieved that she would even consider doing it.

She took a step and flew over to the short wall a good fifteen feet from the Angel. The Angel called out, "Before you go, tell me your name."

She didn't see any danger in telling even this strange Angel, so she said as she leapt off the building,"It's Dracona."