Henry collected himself then rose up to follow. He took his time. The angel could not get far in her condition. Charlene would not disappoint him again. “Just a minor setback,” He said lightly before unleashing a seemingly warm and friendly smile.

Cerene was having a hard time trying to run through the darkness of the forest. Her wings would occasionally snag on a vine or bramble. She was barefoot as well. While her feet were far tougher than those of a mere human, that fact did not save them from taking numerous cuts and scratches from the occasional thorn or other unseen danger.

She staggered out of the dense wood and into an open clearing between the trees. The moon, full and bright, was revealed in the opening of the forest canopy above. Light streamed down to illuminate the area far more than the rest of the dark and foreboding wood.

The angel staggered through the grass. She was exhausted from the constant flight through the woods and the wounds that she had received. Despite her exhaustion she was nearly to the other side of the clearing before she heard two words that made her want to cry out fearfully.

“Burst Sphere!”

The angel saw the sphere of burning energy pass by in a narrow miss. Instinctively, she threw her arms over her face to cover her eyes. The explosion that rocked the area sent dirt, debris, and Cerene flying. She screamed as she flew and landed with a loud cry of pain that coincided with a sickening snapping sound. Her left wing now rested at an odd angle beneath her, broken in the fall.

“Close enough, I suppose,” said Charlene confidently. She placed her hands on her waist then cocked her hip to the side provocatively. The witch tilted her hat down slightly then smirked before she started forward to claim her master’s new prize.

Charlene was greatly surprised when she saw her prey begin to move. The angel rolled over and started to claw feebly at the ground in an attempt to drag herself away. The witch’s smile grew wide at the sight. This night just got better and better. “Oh, and where do you think you’re going?”

“Please,” said Cerene. She struggled to move forward. She felt as though she had nothing left. It was all that she could do at the moment just to keep moving forward. “Someone!”

The witch tilted her head to the side then snorted. “Begging won’t help, you know.”

“Someone please.” whimpered Cerene.

“No. Let her beg. She should get used to it,” said Henry as he strolled into the clearing.

“Of course, master.” said Charlene, a pretty smile on her lips.

Charlene and Henry watched idly as Cerene crawled toward the edge of the clearing. Each movement forward seemed to take longer. She moved in fits and starts amid feeble cries and pleas for help.

Henry walked over and whispered something into Charlene’s ear. The witch laughed softly then nodded.

Just as Cerene reached the edge of the clearing, Charlene moved swiftly over and grasped her by the ankles.

The angel cried out in horror and clawed feebly at the ground as the witch dragged her back to the center of the area. Charlene quickly moved away and left Cerene to lie not far from where she had started.”

Cerene started to sob even as she tried to get away again. “Please…” she whimpered.

“She’s begging again. This is just pathetic,” said Charlene.

“Now, now. No need to be cruel. Let her practice begging now so that she’ll be better at it later,” said Henry.

Around Cerene’s neck a small pendant began to shine intermittently. No one noticed it due to how she crawled upon the ground. With every whimpered plea for help it unleashed another quick burst of illumination. “Please, someone.”

“No one’s going to hear you out here,” said Charlene. “No one would give a damn about a stray even if they did.”

They watched as Cerene struggled to reach the edge of the clearing once more. When she came close, Henry nodded. Charlene ran forward and dragged the girl back to the center again.

Cerene screamed out in despair. There was nothing that she could do. Cursed against using her wings to fly or even to fight directly against her tormentor, she was in a hopeless situation. All she could do was cry out for help and hope for a miracle.

“Someone help me! Please,” she cried desperately.

Charlene grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. “Just stop. No one gives a damn about a slut like you.”

“I said it was fine, Charlene,” said Henry. “Let her cry. The sound is soothing to my injured manhood.”

Cerene tried to push Charlene away, but the moment she did so she was assaulted by crackling energy and pain lanced through her body. She screamed in agony once more and collapsed.

The witch laughed warmly then made a circle with her left index finger. “We keep going round and round on this. You can’t fight, can’t get away, and no one is going to help you. Just give up.”

“No…” whispered Cerene. “No.”

Charlene snorted loudly then turned to look back at her master. Henry made a gesture and motes of light began to form in front of him. Those motes of light coalesced into a thick black collar with a gleaming platinum ring that hung down at the front.

The collar was casually tossed through the air, and the witch caught it easily. “Time to end this, eh?”

The witch began to force the collar around Cerene’s neck, but the angel struggled as hard as she could to prevent it.

“No! Not like this, not this!” cried Cerene as she desperately fended off her tormentor with her remaining strength.

Charlene whipped her hand down to strike Cerene across the face. This was becoming tiresome. “Just stop. The more you fight, the worse it will be for you.”

“Please! Someone help me!” cried out Cerene as the witch finally got a proper hold and snapped the collar around the angel’s neck.

“Master, its ready.” said the witch.

“No, please!” screamed Cerene.

Henry smiled then started toward the fallen girl. As far as he was concerned, the battle was over. “Go ahead, beg. I love it when they beg.”

She cried out in despair once more and the pendant around her neck began to flicker and then to shimmer, soon it gave off a steady light. Unknown to anyone in that clearing, the moon above began to glow with brighter as well.

**

A sigh echoed through the area as Scott turned off his flashlight. “Home, sweet home.”

After he had gotten ahold of himself, he had picked up his pocket treasure and headed home. It was not a common thing, screaming at the moon. Yet, telling it his problems often helped him deal with the crushing loneliness of being surrounded by people but having no one hold any true concern for him in their hearts.

Until the events of the last year had come to pass, he had been more open and friendly toward others, some might have even referenced him as a bit of a goofball. Despite his generally friendly demeanor, he had no real links with this world. He had a few acquaintances but no one that he might call a true friend. He was not even certain what real friendship was, or if it existed outside of television and novels. Even his stint in the military had failed to produce the band of brothers effect that he had hoped to achieve.

For the longest time, he believed that he was the problem. Somehow, he was defective. There had to be something wrong with him, as even the most disgusting of human beings could manage to have friends. At this point he would have even settled for a pet that did not run away from home. Dogs, cats, his hamster named Phil, they had all runaway as soon as they could do so.

In many ways, it was like the world itself had rejected him as something foreign and undesired. Even those who had spent time with him in the past never seemed interested in spending that much time with him.

He heard a rustling sound near the corner of his front porch. Scott went to check on the origin of the sound and smiled at what he found. It was the stray cat that he had been leaving food out for over the last few weeks. They had never met formally, but he had seen her from a distance on occasion.

“Well, hey there.” he said, a friendly smile on his lips.

The cat looked up at him in surprise then relaxed and started to purr. Scott’s smile widened slightly. He well understood what it was like to be alone in the world, no one to care for him. Hopefully he had made this cat’s life a little easier with his kindness.

The warm and much needed interaction ended quickly when the cat tilted her head to the side. She looked at Scott curiously for a moment then her ears flattened back, and she unleashed a hellish noise. She arched her back and slowly moved away from him, like he was some sort of hideous predatory beast come to devour her.

“Kitty?” asked Scott in confusion. What was wrong with it? Was it rabid?

The cat hissed at him then ran away, the food abandoned in the process. She wanted nothing more than to be away from his presence.

“Seriously?” asked Scott. What the hell was that about? Even a homeless half-starved cat did not want anything to do with him. He was not that surprised, most animals shied away from him. Still, he had not needed to be abandoned like that tonight of all nights.

Scott reached into his pocket and idly gripped his treasure. It was the one thing in his life that gave him a sense of peace, of solace in a troubled world that cared nothing for him.

He was lost in thought for a moment, so he did not initially hear the voice that cried out weakly in the darkness. However, upon the second instance of that cry he looked up toward the forest. “What is...?”

“Please,” sobbed a terrified female voice.

Scott immediately turned on his flashlight and pointed it toward the woods. “Who’s out there?!”

“Someone!” called the female voice once more.

“Someone’s out there?” he asked redundantly. His eyebrows pressed toward each other in confusion. Who answers like that?

“Someone, please!” cried the voice loudly.

Scott ran toward the woods as quickly as he could. He did not know what was going on, but he intended to find out.

His flashlight slashed through the darkness and revealed roots that would have tripped him, and brambles that would have torn at his flesh. Even so, it would have been easy to become lost in the woods. Whenever the voice cried out, he reoriented himself and kept going. That was the only way forward, follow the voice.