Leticia

To see a human outside in the open was not something one would see every now and then as the humans had long gone into hiding and they hid perfectly well, so well that no other creature knew of their hiding place. But they did not always stay in their hiding place, they could not always stay. Surviving meant staying alive, and staying alive meant eating, to eat you need to have food, and to have food you will need to hunt, hunting always brought them out of hiding but not all of the humans came out during the hunting time.

They had scouts, they had groups, made of the finest and well trained fighters that they had, the quietest and stealthiest of them because coming out meant you were in danger of being spotted by the scavenging demons which roamed the forest and flew above the empty lands, their very sharp eye sight could easily spot any thing moving down below and that could easily put the hiding place of the humans in danger of being discovered. Night time was the only time these scouts came out, once in every two weeks, to hunt, but coming out was not the dangerous part, it was the hunting itself.

Between the human's hideout and the forest was a vast land of nothingness, dry and bare and empty, void of all life forms even of plants and trees and shrubs, stretching out so wide that it would take a full ten minutes to sprint across from the mountains to the edge of the forest on the other side. Ten minutes was more than enough needed time for any thing moving across the empty land to be spotted by a demon flying over head. 

There was a lot o cases of that happening, so the men who risked their lives to come out already knew that they may not be returning back. They knew this and they acknowledged it as it was part of life now. This was the new way of living 

Sprinting arcoss the vast and empty land alone and on your own was quite easy, much more easier than sprinting back, holding on to and trying to drag a dead animal with you. Not only did it take longer but it was riskier too. And although some of the men made it across the board land, back and forth, others were not so lucky. 

This time around it was not the time to hunt but a human had left the hideout and she had done so against the knowledge of the others. If she were to be caught or found out by the humans, her punishment would be just - she had reasoned that many times over - but now, she had something far more important on her mind which she had to do at all cost and that was to find her brother who had suddenly gone missing. Besides, being caught and taken back to the fortress was a rather much more appealing situation to happen than to be caught by a demon.

Leticia tugged on through the rough terrain, up ahead she could see the vast forest that served as a border between the two worlds - of demons and a few loose Angels and where she was, the vast wasteland of nothingness where the war had been fought. The blood spilled and shed on that day had soaked right into the ground, turning the once fruitful land into emptiness where nothing could survive, nothing could grow here anymore and it was now a toxic place but creatures still flew above the place so a "thing" like her, covered entirely in the huge black cloak she had on would be an easy pick for them. 

The black cloak she had on stood out sharply in contrast to the brown and empty land, from up in the sky, she would easily be seen, like a black dog racing across this brown land, that was the least of things she wanted to happen, reasons why she only moved at night when it was dark. At this pace, she would get to the edge of the forest before the first light of dawn. 

She had left the hideout much later than she has wanted to, that was because she wanted every where to be dark and quiet before she moved and then the stupid guard had been patrolling quite dutifully and without much of a wink of sleep in his eyes, or tiredness in his body. She had waited for almost an hour before she found the opportunity to sneak past him and that was only when he had gone for a quick bathroom break. By that time it was already morning but the atmosphere was still very dark. She chose not to abort instead.

She travelled light, beneath the cloak were two pouches, one half full of gold coins and the other with silver coins. Spending gold coins, she knew, would attract a lot of unwanted attention which was something she couldn't afford to deal with right now. She was a lone human deliberately treading in the world of demons and Angels and spending gold coins? She would not last as long as she had hoped she would if the attention got to her. With Angels, she had a sure chance of being useful and kept alive, with demons she would also be useful but more useful dead. Human blood was like gold to them and they mined a lot of it whenever it was possible.

She should not be out in the open, she should be cowered in the hidden fortress where the rest of the living human population hid; somewhere underneath the mountains. Their total number could not be counted in billions, neither could they also be counted in millions, they were in thousands, less than five thousand people to be precise, living just below the mountains. Reproduction was monitored, food was scarce and so was space but then three years after the great war and they still had managed to remain hidden and alive. Well, the most of them.

Her brother had gone missing few days ago, it was easy to know because they were not that many in the fortress. She had been the first to find out that he was missing and she had informed the elders, they had spent a day searching for him within the fortress and after they had turned up without him, Leticia was already convinced that he was not in the fortress but outside in the world. But the question every one asked was how? And why?

She had asked to be granted the permission to go out and search for her brother. 

"Leticia Moore! You are forbidden to go on this volatile quest in search of your brother!"

She remembered the elders warning clearly, they would not give her any form of permission, neither would they give her support. But then she did not entirely need their support, just what they had in supply, so she had stolen into the storage facility, where they had kept their supply of weapons and taken exactly just what she needed to leave. 

Asphax, the Angel disguise was one thing she needed. It was a liquid in a bottle, a scent of some sort to cover the human smell as demons and Angels could smell a human when one came a little close, Asphax on her would hide that. She would have that unique Angel scent. They had more than one bottle any way, they probably would not notice this missing one, or would they?

The sword she had taken was beneath the cloak, it was the only sword known to have pierced through the skin of an Angel during the great war so it was a priceless gem to the elders, plus it was they only one that they had, if they found it missing and her missing it would not take long to put two and two together, she would eventually be termed a traitor or worse. She would not mind that title, she would face the consequences after returning with her brother and she would only return when she had her brother.

She paused when she heard screeching from above and she looked up. Demons, they had come to hunt. Scavengers was what they called them, scavenging for human to pick. She laid on the ground in a ball and covered herself with the cloak, blending into the rocks, she was not ready to face a demon. They had all been trained in the fine art of war, all the able humans, male and female alike, right from a very tender age, her sixteen year old brother was a warrior himself but none of them had fought an actual demon. She had faith in her skills but just was not ready to prove it yet. She laid there a while until the screeching was over.

By the time she got to the edge of the forest, the sun was just coming up, she sighed out of relief that she had not been spotted and picked out by a demon yet, luck was definitely on her side, now it was time to face the forest, she knew this would be much more tasking than just crossing the empty land. She poured a little of the Asphax from it's container onto her palm and applied it to her skin, it burned a little but she endured it, it would be well worth it.

She unsheathed her sword and held it gingerly in her right hand as she proceeded into the forest. She heard more screeching and fear registered in her body at first, she could not believe she was outside the fortress and in the forest already! She placed a hand on the bottle of Asphax which was tied to her waist, contemplating whether to apply more to her skin or not but she shook her head. It would be best to use only as little as she could, it lasts on the body for only forty eight hours and she could not afford to waste it without knowing how long she would be out here. She continued into the forest.

She had only walked a little distance when she saw something glistering deeper in the forest. It was huge and seemed to be moving. She approached it carefully and only when she had gotten close enough did she realize what it was. Here, in the midst of the forest was a sleeping Angel and he was huge. 

Leticia thought on what to do; she should run, she should hide, she should try to kill him, the sword in her possession was known to have pierced through Angel's skin, she could try that out. She stepped closer to his face and got down, he reeked of alcohol. Drunk? Angels drink? She had not known this. Reaching out, she moved his hair away from his face, my God he was beautiful, but then all Angels were beautiful but she had never seen one up so close before. She decided to take her time in admiring this excellent heavenly creature.

She watched him sleep, his wings brightening and dimming with each breath he took. She brushed her hand over the feathers and marveled at them, she giggled, momentarily lost, then she thought to pluck a feather. Why? She did not know but she did pluck one, with one powerful yank and it came off. She froze when she felt him stop breathing, then he resumed. 

The feather in her hand was huge and still shone, her eyes widened at the treasure, mesmerised in it for a while then she looked back at his face and her heart seized to beat when she saw his eyes watching her with his brows furrowed. His golden brown eyes burned through hers and she swallowed hard, now she was definitely in trouble and she had not even spent up to an hour in this forest. When he shifted to sit up, she felt her head spin and darkness clouded her vision, her head tilted back and she fainted.