Human In The Forest

The wind blowing in though the windows whistled lightly, the curtains swayed gently in the soft breeze and all seemed calm and peaceful and cold and quiet. It was much too quiet to be normal, he reasoned, even the crickets remained quiet. True that every other night had been like this, it had always been like this during the past nights but he did not know why he was feeling so uneasy this night, it was a rather strange feeling which he did not welcome and he wanted it to go away. If his instincts were right, something unpleasant was being cooked up and he was sure it would be happening very soon, and very close by too. He straightened up from his leaning position against the door and sharpened up his senses, his instincts were always never wrong.

The room in which he stood in was small - for him, that is - but it was just the right size of cute for the human child whom he was watching over as she slept calmly and peacefully in her princess modelled pink bed. Pasted all around the room where stickers of Disney's princesses and even the wall paper used in the room was a princess theme wallpaper. He smiled when he remembered how super excited the human girl had been when this room had been redesigned for her. He remembered the feeling he had felt with her because of the bond they shared and he chuckled.

His human was a rather simple child and she took utmost pleasures in the simplest of things, plus she was easy to please. He enjoyed her company greatly even though she was not able to see him as he was not human and he did not show himself physically. He was her guardian Angel and it was his duty to keep her safe and protect her at all times, most especially from forces she could not see with her physical eyes. He took his duty to heart and successfully kept her safe.

Now he watched the girl child breathe softly and calmly in her sleep. Liam loved to watch her, seeing her calm face brought him so much joy, and peace radiated in him. The moon light casted a soft bright light on her sleeping figure through the half opened windows and for a moment he was calm, for a moment, he relaxed. Then almost immediately again, the uneasy feeling he had been feeling before returned to him. He frowned, but then realized that this was not just a feeling any more, because he could see them now, he could see them through the window, slithering in the shadows and heading straight for the house. 

He buckled and gritted his teeth in annoyance, he walked forward away from the door and went for the still sleeping girl, he lifted her from the bed and placed her calmly and slowly into her closet, she stirred a little in her sleep but still did not wake up, he smiled and shut the doors quietly. By the time he turned round, the first slithering shadow was already in the room. He unsheathed his sword and he went for the shadow. Slithering shadows were difficult to get because they could easily blend in and hide away in the shadow of another object around them but for Liam, it was not a difficult task. 

He sliced the first one quickly as another came in. And then another. And then another. They pooled in quickly and he took them down just as fast but they were just pouring in and the danger was beginning to build up, it frustrated him. He kept at it with a fast pace, equalling their numbers with each slice of his sword until he heard the closet door creak open. He made to turn, to find his human and be assured of her safety but he was unable to turn around no matter how much he tried.

"Liam?" He heard his human whisper his name softly and in a question before he felt a powerful sting behind him and then a wicked laugh erupted. It started slowly from a cute giggle and then it evolved into a monstrous and sinister laugh. 

Slowly, very slowly he blacked out.

Liam was pulled out of his dream state and awoken from his sleep when he felt a powerful sting shoot from his wings to his spine and throughout his entire body but he did not react but rather remained perfectly still like he had not felt a thing and he immediately knew that one of his feathers had been plucked. But who would be so bold, so courageous and so daring to pluck the feathers off of a sleeping Angel? 

When he opened his eyes to take a look, he had expected to see an animal or a demon or maybe if possibly, another Angel, renegade or not, but what he had not expected was to see her, he narrowed his eyes as he watched her watch him with so much admiration in her own eyes. She was quite small and looked very fragile and she had crouched down really close to him and was stroking his fine white feathers which aligned his wings. She was close enough for him to catch a whiff of her scent. The female was small and her scent was mixed, he could smell both Angel and human. It confused him a little.

A human and Angel scent from her? Was she an Angel hunting for humans in the forest to sell off for a few pieces of gold?  If so, then she was not a renegade like him and he hated such Angels because they practiced such inhumane sport of hunting humans, he hated such things with an extreme amount of passion and he frowned deeply. He just might have to teach this small looking Angel a lesson or two on humanity. 

She turned her gaze to him suddenly and froze when their eyes locked. He fixed his eyes on hers, those hazel eyes were heavy with so many emotions running wild within them, he could easily tell and asides from evident fear from his sudden gaze, there was also something else in them which he noticed. Was it hurt? He could not exactly place it but he knew that he was close enough, there was definitely more emotions in those heavy, captivating eyes.

He made to sit up and he saw her move, at first he thought she was probably just stumbling backwards out of fright, but when her eyes rolled back into her head and he saw her head fall back, on impulse one of his hands went out behind her head to catch her from falling. He looked at the female lying still in his arms with her eyes closed and he smirked, he must have spooked her into fainting. 

But why would she faint? And why would she faint so easily too? If she was an Angel then she should not have fainted, Angels do not get spooked so easily, most especially not into fainting. He let his other free hand run along the length of her back over the thick cloak she had on, her back was smooth, no wings. One of his brows came up in utter astonishment. She was a human. A human in this forest? What was she doing in here and wandering alone, most especially by this time of the day. It was still early.

He knew that humans usually had to leave the safety of their fortress to come out and hunt for food but they would be sure to return back to their safety before the first crack of dawn, so what was she doing still outside and quite far away too. Was she lost or had she been forgotten by the rest of the group? He sighed, wondering why he was all of a sudden worrying about her but somehow he could not help but to feel worried over her, she was a human after all, he studied her, she was small, quite tiny rather and in her right hand she clutched on to a feather, a feather from him no doubt.

He laid her down comfortably on the forest floor and that was when he noticed the two pouches tied to her waist, he shook them. They jingled and he knew that was the sound of coins, he did not bother to check if they were gold coins or silver coins in them. He also noticed the container tied to her waist too and he opened it, bringing it to his nose and he took a whiff. He knew the smell of Angels and this was it. This was asphax, the Angel disguise, and that was how she was able to partially disguise her scent but she had not disguised the scent of the cloak as well and that had given her away. 

He wondered how she had managed to get her hands on this substance, he knew there was only one method of making asphax and it was not a method that favoured his kind. He continued searching her and found two sandwiches, he decided to help himself to it since he had not eaten anything in a while, he could not even remember when last he had something decent to eat. He would take this as only part payment of losing a feather to her. That single feather was worth more than two sandwiches.

Resting his back on a tree stump, he munched on the sandwiches, savouring the taste of something nice other than just wild fruits in his mouth and very grateful for it while his eyes remained on her. The sword beside her looked very familiar, much too familiar, like the smaller make of his own, then it hit him, he thought about it. Where was his sword? He remembered entering Smokes bar with it strapped to his waist but he could not remember if he ever left with it. Heck, he could not even remember leaving the bar at all but yet somehow, here he was, passed out in the middle of the forest only to be awaken by a human plucking at his feather. 

When he was done eating, he stood up and stretched, his wings grew wide and his arms stretched out and the joints in his elbows and shoulder came loose with a 'pop' sound in the elbows and that was when the stench reached his nose. He reeked of alcohol and needed a desperate shower, and fast too. He glanced at the human still out on the forest floor, should he leave her alone in this forest? Could he actually leave her in the forest sooner like this? Like this she would be an easy pick for demons if they came this way. He was almost sure they would come this way.

He raked his fingers through his long blond hair, weighing his options; fly her to the lake with him or leave her here till he returned. Ugh! The stress! He did not need this so early in the morning, he did not need this ever. He did not ponder long over the matter, grabbing his own coat he laid it over her, covering her whole body with it, he pulled the hood of her cloak over her head so she was mostly covered and laid on the forest floor like a blackened log of wood. 

Satisfied with his quick thinking and with the fact that she was okay this way and somehow safe enough, he took to the skies, beating his very powerful wings to lift his body, heading towards the lake for a quick and hygienic dip. He was not ready to be responsible for a human again. 

He was still hurting, it had been over ten long years since the last time he was bonded to a human to take responsibility for and after that last incident, he really did not feel that confidence to be responsible again, he was not sure if he would ever be ready again, but for now he would rather not take the chances and he would continue to live his life as a free renegade Angel.