An Angel's Wings.

Ch. 20 Never Abandon You.

Twelve's Blood.

Blood.

Her blood.

It was all I was thinking about. It was racing through my mind. Finding her tattered boot on the side of the road. Tracking and finding traces of her scattered through the forest. Broken twigs, hair strands, her smell.

Her blood.

Smeared all over a tree, in dark liquid droplets on the ground. The corpse of her perpetrator, his lips burned. He bit her left side, but that wasn't what killed him. A gun shot. More blood. The place reeked of it, and knowing Twelve was injured made me want to find her even more. And when I found the warehouse she was being kept at, results were unexpected. E and I managed to bulldoze into the building, and the incubus was ready. He had a small army of demons waiting.

They were easy to fight but I wasn't seeing Twelve. I shouted her name in an effort to get her to come out. At first I'd thought it was in vain but it wasn't. When she emerged from a hallway she was in oddly nice clothes, and her face held terror. But I didn't see blood. As long as I didn't see blood.

Then she did something I'd never expect her to do. Vaguely I heard her shout, but when I smelled her blood it made me look up. Her eyes were glowing pure white, gigantic golden wings had erupted from her back. They glistened with a red tint on them because her blood covered them. I recognized what she was immediately and it wasn't any ordinary Halfling. She effortlessly destroyed our enemies, and I stood trembling in pain. I knew she most likely wouldn't remember who I was if she was who I suspected. She walked towards me, and when her fingertips brushed against my skin, the pain all vanished at once. The wounds were healed, and her glowing white eyes met mine.

I'd never felt guiltier in my life as I pleaded for her to come back.

Now she was laid out on her bed, E had done something so no one would remember what happened with Twelve. She slept peacefully. E had also bandaged her, there were two huge bloody gashes on her back from where her wings were and where they retracted, her hands were also bandaged. I watched over her. Twelve was in danger.

Slowly her eyes opened and guilt raced through me as she looked at me. "Angel?" She asked, her voice soft with sleep. Twelve was always a beautiful girl to me, but something happened to her when that incubus had her in his grasp, she became more beautiful somehow. I didn't think it was possible for her to be anymore beautiful but apparently it was. Her physical beauty had nothing to do with my attraction to her. It was how flustered she got whenever I was around, her clumsy words and smile, how she understood me even though I can't talk easy. "Yes?" I asked, she blinked and winced as she sat up. "Where am I?" She asked. "We're in your room." I'd flown us here, and changed into my clothes.

Twelve looked at me with her beautiful dark eyes, "What's wrong?" She asked, I paused in silent surprise for a few seconds. I thought my expression was like it always was. "Nothing," I answered slowly, she looked unconvinced but didn't push it. "Angel, what was Nix?" She asked quietly, her voice seemed kind of scared. Like he'd done something to her. Anger rose in me but I kept my facial expression indifferent. "An incubus or succubus. Incubuses are the male form of the female, succubus. But desire demons have no preference. He has no sex, he becomes what ever his target desires." Her expression morphed into something of horror and curiousity. "What happens if you kiss a incubus?" She asked, "If you kiss an incubus willingly, they suck out your soul through your lips and you essentially become their mindless slave. If it's unwilling all they can do is mind control." I explained, watching her expression carefully. But her eyes just roamed my face.

Sometimes I cursed myself because I wasn't like her. I wasn't able to read expressions. It's pathetic. "Seriously Angel what's bothering you?" She asked, her voice drowned in concern. I knew I couldn't lie to her, and I also knew if I spoke about it I'd most likely cry. Looking at her, I knew I would tell her. Twelve accepted me for me, not accepting me as the pitiful goth or exotic halfling. She took me in as Angel. As me. "In the battle with the incubus, Nix, and his whatevers, remember when you transformed?" I asked, suddenly her whole expression glazed over for a few seconds, "Yeah, I remember everything being bright -" She cut herself off by sucking in a pained breath. I leaned forward slightly in concern, ready to catch her if she fell. Then she just nodded. "Yeah, now I remember." She finished.

"Well, there's a prophecy, it talks about a halfling who's not Angel and demon. But Angel and something else, something unknown, that makes them powerful, more powerful than anything. And righteous. The prophecy says that this halfling will end the demon reign over other Halflings, there will be no more Halfling slavery. They'll also have a never before seen mark, and golden wings." I explained, prophecies were important in the demon world. Every single prophecy ever written came true. I left out some things though. Like how this powerful Halfling is so powerful because they'll only have the capacity to serve justice and have righteous judgement, not to fall in love, not to have family. They'd be alone and content with no earthly ties to distract them. "Angel, you're not telling me something," Twelve stated, I looked up at her since my gaze wandered away, and she was all business. "It says this person would have no earthly ties, they can't fall in love, they wouldn't remember anything that tied them down. I think that Halfling is you." She matched the description. Making her basically royalty to all Halflings. Which is why I bowed.

"So what's bothering you?" She asked, I looked at her, and already felt a tear fall silently. "In that moment, when your wings expanded, and your eyes glowed, where you became more. In that moment the prophecy could have been fulfilled. You could've ascended upwards and freed, liberated all the Halflings, abandoned your human ties and became more." My voice was something barely above a whisper. "There could have been peace, but when you started healing my wounds," I sucked in a breath, and looked her in the eyes, "I couldn't let you. I couldn't let you go." I heard Twelve's heart rate pick up slightly at my words and couldn't tell if she was flustered or surprised. Perhaps both. "I'm so selfish, you could've saved every Halfling ever, but I couldn't let you go. I couldn't let the person who cared about me, who knew who I truly was go. I couldn't. I couldn't let someone I cared about so much about go." I almost slipped up and said the little word that starts with an L.

I waited, I waited for her to tell me how selfish I was but she said something else.

"Angel," She whispered my name but it called my complete attention. Both our hearts were beating fast. "I never forgot you, when I transformed I wanted to just leave, ascend. But you were the only thing that kept me grounded. I knew I needed to heal you because it's the whole reason I changed in the first place. Because I wanted to protect you, because I cared about you." She said her words like they couldn't get out of her mouth fast enough, and I couldn't keep the surprise from my face or the blush, but her next words truly rocked me.

"I'd never abandon you."

I could see the truth in her face, in her body, and her heart was thrumming. Her gaze was inescapable. "Twelve," I breathed, her delicate lips suddenly formed a sheepish smile as she looked off.

"Sorry that seems a little dramatic." She mumbled, but before she could look back and I leaned forward, and right when she looked forward, my lips pressed against her's.