Phidian

Leticia was startled awake by the sudden 'woosh' of air caused by the Angel flying away and the cloak which he had placed over her to cover her was partially blown off her body and along with it, the debris of broken sticks and dead leaves which littered the forest floor. She laid still and unmoving on the ground for a while, with her eyes open and staring straight to the sky and to the tree tops. What had just happened? Had she seen right? For the first time ever, she had come so very close to a creature which she had only heard of from people and which she had only read in books, she had seen an Angel. She almost could not believe it.

She had seen an Angel!

She sprang up to a sitting position and that was when she noticed the cloak on her, it must have belonged to him, the Angel, she was convinced of this because the stench of alcohol was very strong on it. He must have been drinking the night before and had wandered aimlessly into this forest before passing out here in the open. But why would he have been drinking? She wondered. Do Angels actually drink? Are they supposed to? What kind of Angel was he any way?

In as much as she was thrilled about having seen an Angel for the very first time in her life, she was also some what disappointed. Disappointed because her expectations of what an Angel would actually look like had been way high up and above a lot of standards, it had been way high up and despite what the other humans who had survived the war had told them about Angels being bad now and against the humans, still she had painted a perfect picture in her mind of a powerful creature with majestic shiny wings, adorned in the whitest of linen cloth and yielding a very awesome and magnificent, glittering sword but yet the first Angel she had seen was a drunk, passed out on the forest floor and reeking of alcohol.

But she had to admit that this Angel was stunning. He was definitely a very beautiful creature. She had been able to study his face, those chisel sculpted face, his sharp features, his golden hair which she had really wanted to touch and to feel in her hands, his prefect body. 

Ugh! She groaned.

Should she be thinking like this? She thought about that for a little while and shrugged her shoulders. It was not like she was sinning or anything, she was just simply stating her observations and praising a very well done creation. Were all the Angels this captivating? Was she already liking him?

She laughed inwardly. Of course she had taken a liking to him, he was after all the one creature she had always wanted to see so naturally she would be taken by him even by a single glance, but no, she was not liking him like that. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. She tried to imagine him as she had always imagined any Angel, radiant and daring, with fire burning in their eyes, excellently dressed in shining linen and wielding the most magnificent sword that could cut through any thing very easily. Even though this Angel was not what she had imagined, his wings had been glowing just like she had imagined so, it counted but she had not noticed a sword on him.

Speaking of swords, where had she placed hers? She looked around for it and found it lying beside her, the two pouches half full with coins and the bottle of asphax were still on her but the sandwiches were gone. She frowned when she saw the wrappers she had used to wrap them on the ground and opened, the sandwiches were gone and only a few crumbs were left. She grumbled and stood up, grabbing her sword and the Angel's cloak as she did. She knew who had eaten them.

She would wait for him to return back so she could give him a piece of her mind and advice him against eating the food belonging to strangers. At the least, he would have left her one sandwich, but no, he had to eat up the two, he just had to eat them all up. 

Holding on to the feather, she lifted it up and against the sun's rays to admire the still glowing treasure. Part of her mind still grumbling over her sandwiches and part of her was so mesmerized in the glistering feather she had held up that she did not hear the sound of footsteps slowly approaching her until the person spoke, startling her out of her thoughts.

"What is a female Angel doing alone in this forest and so early?" She spoke. "Are you perhaps with Sheila?"

She spun round, her sword up in her arms and in defense. Leticia studied the woman who had just spoke, only that this was not just a woman, she was not even human. Her long tail hung steadily in the air behind her and her forked tongue slithered in and out at intervals, tasting the air. Leticia noticed that this... creature had no horns so she must have been a demonic spirit resurrected in a human's body. She looked on in awe, some how, it made Leticia cringe and feel pity to think that this creature standing before her was once a human being. And once a beautiful human being too, she could not deny the fact that this demon girl was absolutely stunning in beauty.

Then a thought hit her, the demon girl had called her an Angel, which meant that the Asphax had hidden her human scent pretty well. 

Ha! It worked! 

She was so relieved that she almost jumped up in total happiness.

"How long have you been here?" The demon girl asked Leticia.

For a moment she froze, not exactly knowing what she should reply the demon girl. "Errr....a while now?"

The demon girl cocked her head. "Only a while?"

Leticia sighed. "A long while actually."

"You have been here with Liam?" The demon girl asked again, walking up and getting closer to Leticia whose sword was still up and pointed to her, trying to keep the distance between them. The demon girl smiled, this Angel was cautious of her.

"Who?" Leticia replied. Was she asking after the drunken Angel? And why? How did she even know that he was here?

"Liam...? The Angel that was here?" The demon girl raised an eyebrow and pointed to the cloak Leticia held in her hand, she looked at the cloak. 

Liam? So that was his name. 

"Where is he now?" She questioned again after not getting an answer. "Where has he gone to so early?"

Leticia faced the demon and decided to play along.

"Err.... He went away, not quite long ago, he left before I woke up."

The demon girl cocked her head at Leticia with a frown on her face. "Before you woke up? You also slept here?"

With him? The demon girl thought.

"Yes I did, we were together." Leticia answered without thinking, she lowered her sword slowly but still kept a distance from her. 

"And you have been here with him also though out the night?"

Leticia raised an eye brow at the demon girl who was asking just to many questions. What exactly does she have to do with the Angel? She decided to ask.

"Why are you looking for him?" Leticia replied her with her own question.

"I brought him here." The demon girl leaned against a tree and eyed Leticia. She could not get the thought of Liam being with her throughout the night out of her head. It annoyed her but she managed to keep a cool head.

"Ohh..." Leticia muttered while nodding her head. "I actually thought he might have just wandered in here on his own during the night, seeing that he was drunk and reeked of alcohol. He almost startled me."

"Drunk? He was not drunk, Angels do not get drunk on alcohol. You are an Angel and you do not you know that?" The demon girl fired at her.

Leticia's eyes widened, Angels do not get drunk on alcohol? No, she did not know that but now that she did... "I know that." She composed herself and defended. "I am an angel afterall." That almost made her laugh but she held herself. Well she did smell like an Angel so she was not exactly far from being one. She smirked.

The demon girl scoffed. "If you know that then why did you say that he was drunk?"

"Because he looked to be, but I never said that he was drunk on alcohol, or did I?" Leticia tried to twist around it.

"Do not try to play smart with me." The demon girl frowned.

"I do not try to play what I already am." Leticia did not know why but she found it amusing to her that she was pissing this demon girl off.

The demon girl moved from her position of leaning on the tree and took an offensive stance against Leticia. "What did you do here with him any way and how did you end up with his cloak?" 

It was getting obvious that the demon girl really did not like Leticia and frankly, Leticia knew that she did not like her too. Her questions were becoming a little bit too much.

Leticia perceived that this demon was getting jealous of her by just thinking that she had spent the night with the Angel but why? Because of the Angel, Liam? She thought they had been together? Does she perhaps have a crush on him? She almost laughed out but instead she chuckled.

"Do you have something going on with Liam? Because you are making it way too obvious." Leticia decided to pick on her.

"And what if I do? What is it to you?" The demon girl half smiled.

Leticia laughed lightly. "Nothing actually, but I can understand why you are behaving like I just stole your boyfriend."

"What?!" The demon girl sparked. "Liam is not..." She paused.

 Leticia smirked and hugged the cloak closer to herself and inhaled the scent with her eyes briefly closed, she tried hard not to choke on the alcoholic stretch. The demon girl hissed. 

"He gave this cloak to me." Leticia spoke but seeing the jealousy evident on the demon girl's face, she decided to take it up a notch. "And as for what we did, I think it is best I do not tell. You know, it was pretty cold last night out here in the forest for me to remember anything." 

Ok, maybe she took it too up.

The demon girl rolled her eyes at Leticia, her anger was beginning to build and it was rising fast. "And how come you two ended up together then?"

Leticia thought on that for a short while and replied. "Ohhh... hunting. I was out hunting."

"Hunting? Human hunting? You are an Angel and yet you are hunting humans?" The demon girl laughed out loud. "You do not look like the type of Angel to do that."

"Why?" Leticia questioned. "You do not think that I can? Do you think of me as small and unable?"

"I do not think any thing of you." The demon girl spat. "And besides, if at all you do hunt humans in this forest, then you would  not stand a chance with Liam. He hates such sport as he calls it as being inhumane."

Oh does he now, so he's against human hunting, Leticia thought and smiled to herself. He might be a keeper.

"I do not stand a chance with him?" It was her turn to laugh. "I am not in need of a chance with him but if I do not stand a chance with him then you do?" Leticia scoffed, it riled the demon and Leticia was enjoying every bit of it.

"That is because you hunt. You hunt humans and then sell them off for money, isn't that what you have tied to your waist?" The demon girl said, her eyes on the pouches tied to Leticia's waist.

"Yes, it is money but not money from hunting and selling humans. When I said hunting..." Leticia continued and put down the cloak before fixing her eyes on the demon girl. "...I mean demon hunting. I hunt demons for sport. Demons like you."

"I would love to see you try!"

"You would not sell much in the market because you are a bit skinny but I am in need of a runner. You will be my errand demon."

The demon girl snapped and charged at her. Leticia brought her sword up and smiled, adrenaline burned through out her veins and she knew for sure she was going to love this exercise. She knew she needed it and she was ready.