Wings of Broken Glass

Of The Light

He wolfed down the pizza in two seconds flat as I stared. He must have been starving. He seemed to physically be around my age, but that said nothing, as I was 72 years old, but physically looked maybe 19. As he finished, he glanced up. I did a double take. There were strange flecks of gold in those glacier eyes of gunmetal and diamonds. Breathtaking. Kaleidoscope eyes. How rare. I mentally backhanded myself. Oni, you cannot afford to be distracted by simple looks. He could be an enemy, no matter if he is one of your kind. No attachments. The code. Stick to the code. Tavali code says no attachments. You're going to leave him behind anyway. I considered that for a moment. Could I truly leave him behind if he was like me? I should. He was male, which I couldn't tolerate anyway. He was dumb and obsessed with sex and smelly and gross, as all males are.

I contemplated him as he stared back at me. I would take him only if he had information, and if he didn't, he'd be left choking on the dust I left behind. "Name," I grunted at him. He cocked a brow, and a smirk started to form on his lips. I scowled at him. The fucking nerve, had he any idea who I was? I could gut him in a second and he sits there and acts as if he could take me. Good frigging luck bro. Better men than you have tried. He mumbled something I didn't quite catch, lost in half-hearted indignant outrage as I was.

"What was that, I couln't quite hear you over the silence," I said as I examined my nails.

"Xavier," he muttered. Fitting. Even now, he was radiant.

"What the fuck are you?" I asked without any preamble. That's just the way I am. I speed through life in a P.O.S ride, eyes closed, brake gone, and no control over fucking anything. I have more secrets than probably anyone, ever, except for maybe the man in front of me.

He smirked at me. The smug bastard had the nerve to just it there and smirk at me. "What am I? Darling, there's only two of us on this entire earth, and I know as much as you do if you're asking me," he chuckled.

I casually reached behind me for one of the books that littered every available surface and chucked it at him. I couldn't help it. He was just so smug and snarky and I honestly just hate men.

He ducked, catlike, and looked right into my eyes and... laughed. This infuriating man in my cramped little kitchen just sat there and laughed. I just threw something at him and he laughed. It wouldn't be so unfathomable except, I have deadly aim and I've rarely ever missed a target, and never one sitting not even five feet away from me. Who does he think he is? I gaped at him and I swear he started laughing harder, like he hadn't a care in the world. He reached over and chucked me under the chin. "Pick your jaw up Darling, shocked isn't the best look for you," he somehow managed to choke out. I glared at him and pulled my gun out. I held it steady, straight at his face and he was silent instantly. He didn't know whether or not I'd actually shoot him, but if he was anything like me, he didn't have anything to worry about, because a bullet to the face wouldn't kill him. It'd be fun to see what damage it would do, however.

"You aren't really going to shoot me, and we both know it. You want answers," he told me. I just looked at him, finger on the trigger, waiting for him to make a move. The tension was such that you could cut it with a knife and the small apartment was silent. Yoru leaped onto the table, right next to his face, and put his teeth right to Xavier's cheek.  I could do nothing but stare as Yoru offered Xavier his friendship, and therefore, his loyalty.

Yoru, he's an enemy! We can play nice, but we're not taking him anywhere. You cannot befriend him. We don't even know who he is, or where he came from! We can't afford for him to know our secrets, our anything!

He's our friend. He means no harm, and I can sense his mind, which I have only ever been able to do with you, and he's pure as the sunset colors of his wings. He's beautiful Oni, and we'd be fools no to take him. I give him my loyalty, and trust, just as I have given you, and to deny that, would be to deny me, and you would never do that, so we keep him.

Yoru, so help me, you will pay for this. We both knew he wouldn't, because I loved and needed him too much, and I don't love or need anything.  If Yoru could sense this man, that meant he was tied to us. I could never allow Yoru to bond him, or I'd surely be stuck with him forever.

I lowered the gun, and watched as his eyes followed it into my jacket. I got up and viciously kicked my stool away. I stalked away from the kitchen and went to my bedroom. "Yoru! Come!" I yelled. As soon as I heard him enter, I slammed the door, and left Xavier to do what he would with the rest of my apartment, knowing that he would know not to touch anything. I lay flat on my back in my bed and fumed for a couple second over Yoru's nerve. Of course the shit like this always happens to me. Only I could be stuck with a male who would only drag me down, hold me back, and get me killed. What about him made Yoru trust him? It had to be something not so obvious, something I was missing. I pulled a pillow over my head and screamed. I threw the pillow across the room and stretched my arms above my head. Tears pricked at my eyes and a strange tingling sensation ran through my body. I bolted straight up off the bed. Now? I couldn't be changing now! With this stranger in my home, I couldn't allow it to happen. I scrambled to the bathroom across the hall from  my bedroom and locked the door behind me. I sank my nails into the sink. No, claws, I corrected as my eyes grew wide. I raised my eyes to the mirror and glared at my reflection. The strange markings and symbols of a language not of this world imprinted themselves all across my neck and body, forming together to make symbols of tragedy and destruction. I closed my eyes as tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn't ever let someone see me like this.

Yoru, I cried in my mind. I'm ch-changing. Keep Xavier in the den, and don't let him move from that room untl I get back. I shuddered as the change swept through me. My skin was washed away by the dark, smoky fur that covered my body. I stumbled into the bathroom door as agony lashed at every part of my body. I could feel my eyes growing larger, my ears elongating, and my hair growing longer. I shot through the door and across the hall like a bullet. I dove out of the fifteen story window and felt gravity drag me down. I screamed my pain at the skies as I felt my wings tear through my back with a sickening ssccrrrittch. Riding the wind currents, I climbed through the sky, higher and higher, until I was engulfed in the clouds. The pain had nearly subsided. I swept through storm clouds, the lightning leaving me untouched. I closed my eyes as I felt the water pelt my face and body. My wings flapped one, sweeping me upwards, above the storm clouds. I evaporated into the shadowy mist that was my essence under the sun that blazed here.