Descent

Chapter 2

Miriam

Breathe. Breathe. You don't need to, but it will calm you.

"Hello there." His voice was deeper than she had imagined, with a melodic quality that drew her even closer. He had stopped with only inches between them. It would have been awkward but the heat that radiated was oddly comforting, more than sexual.  His tone was curious, but teasingly curious. It seemed strange that such a holy creature gave an air of mischief. It was, excuse the pun, devilishly attractive.

She suddenly became aware of her shaking. Damn this cold. Truthfully, her shakes had nothing to do with the temperature, but she didn't want to admit that just yet. 

"Salve. Spero vos non intentio ut hic maneatis." I used as much spite as I could muster, but the chills that had overcome me eliminated the effect. A single snowflake floated onto my shoulder,  a fleck of pureness momentarily settling before sizzling into nothing by the heat of my skin.

"Quid non? Corpus tuum numquid impatientes frigoris." I didn't understand how an Angel could use sarcasm so easily; since when did heavenly being not equate to being a stick in the mud? At least he seemed temporarily startled by the snowflake incident. At least he lost his aura of omnipotence. 

"Stop with the ancient idioms, my Latin is kinda rusty" This guy was starting to get on my nerves. There was only so far good looks could take you when trying to charm a woman. Especially if said woman was a demon from the underworld.

"Yes ma'am. Say, may I know your name?" His eyes seemed bluer then, and so much larger. Long, dark eyelashes framed them and his lips parted in anticipation. Fury welled up inside of me. I was NOT supposed to notice these things about an Angel. I was supposed to flee like a good little imp. We were not cowardly; we just knew when we should run. And just like I was taught, any fury directed at myself you could reflected to others. It was our way.

"Hell no! Now leave me alone you little stalker and get back to the cotton candy cloud where you belong!" I spat out each word. Hoping to show enough venom that he knew I meant it. In truth, he did look hurt. 

With all the strength I could muster, I turned and stepped away from him (how did I get so close?!) ready to descend. 

But then he grabbed me.

I'd felt fire before; it was a given when you lived in the fiery pits of hell. But not this type of fire.This fire felt like, what I imagined to be, a molten lava waterfall, flowing through my veins. My heartbeat raced, sending a flush to my pale cheeks. 

Molten lava pushed through my veins. Heat. So much heat. I could feel my heart threaten to break through my ribs by the speed of its punches. Grateful for my curtain of hair, I shielded my burning cheeks from his gaze.

Panic.

And like us lesser demons had been trained to do, I quickly chose between fighting or fleeing.

Jonah

She burst into flames. I was temporarily blinded, a vision of a glorious demonic-angel reached me. Surrounded by blood red flames, a delicately framed girl with long, white hair clung to my mind. But in her soft, innocent face, black pits stood where her eyes should be. 

Although there was little pain, the heat of her flames struck my face and hands, forcing me to free her. The blaze quickly died leaving embers boring through the snow. 

A whisper sang from the ashes. It hissed like the Devil himself in the Garden of Eden. Before that sound also disappeared, I heard a name in the wind:

"Mirian."