An Angel's Wings.

Ch. 35 Mirage.

Before I knew it, Angel and I were racing through the woods. There wasn't a planned destination, but I didn't need one. Our feet fell into a rhythm, his hand warm around mine. Sweat plastered our faces and our breaths were strained but despite the racing pulses and unknown location, a smile found it's way to my lips. Angel looked ecstatic, a big grin that he only showed when he was truly happy plastered to his face. I'd only seen that smile a few other times, but it was stunningly beautiful. His smile always was, honestly just seeing him happy made me happy.

His hand was wrapped tightly around mine, and I'm not sure how long we ran, but we reached the end of the hidden island. Angel grinned at me, "Come on, let's go." Before I could ask how we'd leave, he wrapped his arms around me, and huge silky black wings erupted from his back. Noticing a flash of pain cross his otherwise ecstatic features, I recalled when I had wings temporarily, and the blinding pain it took for them to exit my skin. Still it was as if Angel detected the upcoming questions, because we took off before they could escape my lips.

My yelp of surprise turned into stunned but excited laughter. Twisting in his arms, the moon light dripped onto the water, reflecting back. Our silhouettes contrasting darkly to the milky white. "This is beautiful." I stated breathless. Angel's breath was ragged and warm as it pressed against my neck, and I looked up to see the star splattered sky. Part of me was terrified I'd fall, but it turned into delight, when I felt something familiar in my back. An outward pressure, something wanted to escape the skin, and I knew what it was. "Angel," I said, he looked at me, I smiled at him, "Drop me," he widened his eyes, "Why would I do that?" He asked.

"You've got to trust me." I urged, he wasn't letting go anytime soon.

So I did what I had to.

Grabbing his face, I pressed my lips against his. Then the tether of his arms around me loosened, and I rolled from his grip. He yelled for me, but wings erupted from my back. The pain was minute as the golden wings unfurled and I leveled out. Twirling, I laughed at Angel's surprise. "You startled me." He stated, we still kept pace. Grinning at him, I swooped down, skimming my finger tips along the water. Angel's wings had been measured so there were openings in his outer shirt where they could be released, my wings only had shown once before this so they guessed. We both wore thin undershirts so the openings on the outer layer didn't expose skin. The thin shirts rode upwards when the wings were exposed.

"That was the point. It's nice seeing you spooked every once and a while." I teased, he grinned. "Well I hope you can keep up." He started flying at a rapidly increasing pace, and I did my best to keep up. Angel smiled, offering a hand. Smiling back, I accepted it, and he pulled me closer to him, and after a few minutes of twirling around each other and messing around, we reached land. Still, I had a sloppy landing. Angel almost caught me with laughter as I went stumble into his arms. But, thanks to my smooth adept walking skills, I tripped over a stone. And the unexpected collision sent us tumbling. Angel landed on top of me and I thanked god that my back hit the sand of the beach, and not the sharp stones about one centimeter away.

Looking up, I realized how close Angel's face was, and my eyes widened. So did his, we were both blushing profusely, and we just scrambled up. Good job Twelve, you made things awkward. Curse you miscellaneous stones! Somehow I managed to retract my wings back under the skin, but it was almost as painful as taking them out. Feeling my back, the two incisions left from them were already healing and I pushed my under shirt back down. Angel, after making sure my back was okay, retracted his wings seamlessly. "How do you do it?" I asked quietly as he took my hand in his and we started walking.

"How do I what?"

"Take out, and retract your wings?"

He smiled a small smile, "Well it's always painful but it's something you become accustomed to. Unlike you, I've been practicing with my wings for a long, long while. The skin on my back is even thinner where the wings protrude from. I guess after all these years I just got used to it." He explained, I looked at him, and he stared ahead. His eyes were their usual neon yellow. "You have fangs too?" I asked. He grinned, and his teeth were extremely sharp. Before I could stop myself, I commented, "Nursing for you must've been hell." Before I realized Angel's mom was never around, and also reverted back into being a homicidal demon.