Bats, Cats, and Broken Wings

Ryan

  I was walking to one of the safest and calmest places for me.
  A steady gravel road led to a small graveyard. In all, there were twenty three graves for twenty three deceased loved ones. One was my mother.
  She died 25 years ago tonight. On my birthday. It was tradition for me to visit her ever since I ran away from that jerk who called himself my dad. That's beside the point.
  I laid two roses down. One from Sasha that was as red as... I won't finish that statement. And a black one from me. I wish I could hear her voice, to say I've met her or that I remember her. But I don't. But I still love her. I love her more than Sasha, and she knows that. "I love you mom." I felt like I could hear her whisper back, happy birthday. But, it was just a figment of my imagination.
  And then, sobs broke the peacefulness. You know how I said there was twenty three graves? There were now twenty four. What I had mistaken for a shadow was a girl. She couldn't have been more than 16.
  She was beautiful, but in a sad way. Her hair ran down to her butt in black curls. She wore a simple black dress that just barley hit her knees. Oh, and she had ghostly bat wings.
  The more I stared, the more her eyes unsettled me. From the look of it, her iris' were black. She clearly had makeup on, but it wasn't smudging. Either her makeup was THAT good, or it was real.
  Another thing about her eyes, they were the only thing that made me question her age. They looked a thousand years old. So much sadness was built up.
  I did the most logical thing in the presence of a demon. I approached her.
  Her gaze was so focused on the headstone, that she didn't notice me until I spoke.
"Do you want some company?"
She spun around, wings fully extended. In her hand was now a dagger with rubies on it. Her face and arms was littered with scars and she was covered in grime. In her eyes, you could see was just a scared child. She was being pursued. By what, I had no clue. But I decided to take the friendlier approach. The dagger looked sharp and there didn't need to be any more blood on it.
I raised my hands in a surrendering gesture. "Friend, not foe!" She seemed to ease a bit.
"Prove it." Her voice was delicate, but at the same time, broken.
"Well, for starters, I have no weapons."
She looked me up and down and didn't seem confident with my answer.
I pointed to my teeth. "I have these, but I don't use them on a regular basis. I'm also mourning a loved one."
A tear rolled down her cheek. She looked back at the headstone.
"Guessing by her age, she was your sister?"
The girl sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Yeah. She was the only thing I had left."
"I understand." And I truly did. I looked over at my mother's grave.
  "I believe you. You have a sadness in you eyes. Who did you lose?"
  "It was... my mother. She died 25 years ago." She didn't say anything. We just shared silence. Giving what the other needed. Someone to just be there.
  "Was... was she a..."
  "Mortal. What about her?"
  "We had the same mother. Harper and our mom were seers. We weren't full blood, but we only had each other."
  "Hey, family is family. Blood isn't what makes someone your family."
  "Well, would you want to be my family?"
  "Hmm." I gave her a smirk. "We monsters do have to stick together."
  "That, is true."
  "If your willing, I've got someone who you should meet. Sasha's gonna love you."