There was nothing more to do now. I found myself out of options as I looked for more souls this night, in the disarray of the woods, how exactly was I going to last much longer? As if someone was listening to me, I found myself in the presence of Cassie once more. I had no clue what she was doing here again, but who was I to let a defenseless Angel live?

I got up, her dumbfounded expression as very apparent as she looked around helplessly in the heep of the woods. My coming up behind her must have been a shock as she gasped and nearly broke her neck trying to face me. Luckily she caught herself, but her mouth seemed a bit on the baffled side as she stood there unable to speak or even make a gesture. So I beat her to the punch.

“You seem oddly surprised, seeing me twice in one day.”

“N-no, I’m simply shocked to still see you here!” She seemed… happy as she spoke?

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to give you these!” Out from her palm was a neatly folded napkin, she removed the knot and I couldn't believe it!

“Souls?” Her face was beaming.

“When you mentioned we had stolen your food, I thought that was a bit evil of us, and I know we’re taught to think Demons like yourself are vile creatures, but you're still a creation of our savior. Therefore we should treat you as if you're the same, then decide if we don't like you!” While I couldn’t believe it, I wondered if Ren knew about this.

“I bet Ren was pissed to know you’re thinking like that.” Surprisingly, she shook her head.

“We all think that way, at least in my family. Ren just doesn't like you very much.” It hurt more hearing her say it, I chuckled.

“Then why give me the souls? Seems like this won't be giving any points for you.”

“Why does that matter?” She said.

“Why won't it matter? You two are probably really close. He protected you full front, no questions asked and that’s not something he does normally.” Her cheeks tinted red in contrast to her tan skin.

“We get that a lot, being twins and all. We try and differ, but we always wind up doing things very similarly-”

“Wait, twins? As in siblings?” She nodded.

“What else did you think we were?” I couldn't look her in the face any longer.

“Well, never mind that.” I looked back to the cloth that was still in her palm, “You’re really giving me those?” There were two souls in her hand, she nodded and wrapped them back up.

“I hope they will be put to good use! I don’t want to regret giving these to you.” I took them from her.

“What else could I use them for?” I took the lighter of the two and let it fall into my mouth, it’s cool and smooth texture was easy as it went down my throat finding its way contently in my stomach. I looked back to her as she had been staring at me the whole time, she seemed to be trying to keep herself occupied, messing with the hem of her skirt and darting her eyes anywhere she could.

“Isn’t Heaven awaiting you?” She looked up.

“Uh, not really… but Ren will get worried if I don’t come back soon, one time he even went out looking when I left for five minutes.” Even I found that oppressive, but I couldn’t really blame Ren or any of those Angels. On Earth, man were pretty much all perverts, only interested in only a few things, and one of those things was right in front of me. I stepped closer to her.

“Then why stay here? Ren will come looking for you and you’ll bat those pretty eyes and say you got lost trying to get home. He’ll believe anything that comes out such an… innocent mouth.” I glanced down to her lips while saying that, her cheeks went red like I was planning. It was like she couldn’t resist the temptation in my words. Her eyes averted mine, she was about to cave when she suddenly shook her head.

“I-I know that…” She paused, “I-I should get going then, goodbye.” I stopped her.

“No, no now that you’re here, and obviously aren’t really worried about what Ren will do, stay with me awhile.” Her eyes went wide.

“No, I can’t, I-I have to return home!”

“What for? There really isn’t anything there right?” She tried breaking from my grasp now frustrated.

“No, I have my family!” She somewhat yelled.

“That doesn’t seem too concerned about you.” I said back.

“W-why would you say that?” She seemed hurt.

“Because two souls are just taken from their house and none of them have noticed? I know you guys keep the souls of Humans like some kind of trophy, and those who like trophies would never want them gone.”

“If you think you know so much then go and see for yourself. These are mine. I keep my own personal collection and so far these are the only few I’ve got!”

“Really?” I didn’t think she took the only ones she had to give to me, I knew her family must care for her, but saying that must have pulled a nerve. “Still, it’s a nice night out.” I tried to offer. She shook her head to my advances. “What do I have to do to get you to stay with me?” She seemed to want to answer the question by her lip twitching.

“Answer my question: why do you want me to stay with you?” I couldn’t answer her honestly, if I did she’d for sure leave that second.

“My reason is…” To screw with you so Ren will get pissed, of course. “Because you seem pretty fun.” I said.

“What?” She seemed shocked by my answer.

“Yeah, you’re a lot more fun than your brother already.” She stared.

“You think I’m more fun than my brother?” Almost as if she were confirming what I said, I nodded answering her question. I moved to grab her wrist.

“What do you say now?” She looked up at me, I chuckled knowing her answer by her expression. I started to pull her and at first it was very easy but as we passed more and more trees it got harder to move her. When I checked back I wasn’t expecting what I saw. Some of her face was covered in ice, the arm I was holding was pulling ice down, it was almost reaching my hand and her feet were completely covered as the ice burrowed in the dirt. I stopped.

“Woah! What’s wrong with you?” Her face, besides the frozen parts, were pale.

“I’m trying to understand how a complete stranger can say something like that and I why I can’t find an answer!” It looked as if she were going to cry, I got closer.

“Why are you this upset? Like you said: we’re strangers.”

“I know that!” She said fustrated. I chuckled a bit.

“Just calm down then… I would have never thought Angels could get this upset.” She nodded.

“We do…” She was calming down now.

“Well how about you tell me about all this?” I gestured to the icy parts on her body, she blinked and touched where the ice was on her arm.

“Oh… I figured you would know. Angels have attributes, it helps us to hunt and kill Demons. I have ice, like my mother, my dad has fire and Ren has light.” She explained.

“Is that why when we get into fights it hurts a lot more than other Angels?” She nods.

“Ice can’t really be used to hurt Demons, just protect against them we're mainly used to helping Humans.”

“Well that’s good to know, so it won’t hurt me… but hear me out, I didn’t mean to make you upset.” I paused, “I just really wanted to get at Ren for screwing with my dinner for the billionth time in our existence." A small smile came to her face. "Though, seeing you now… it’s almost like it’s getting further and further from that reason.” She stared at me confused, her eyes full of something I only saw in Angels: innocence.

“R-really?” Her voice shook as she spoke, but I wasn’t lying.

“Yeah, you're actually are really cool… no pun intended.” She laughed a bit. “And I wasn’t kidding then either, when I said you’re fun?” She stared at me. “Normally I can’t stand even the air around Angels, but for some reason I’m alright around you.” She remained silent. “In fact, you kind of feel like a Demon, I don’t feel stressed and angry when I’m around them.”

“I do? But that’s not much of a compliment to me."

“I know it’s not.” I laughed. “But this means somehow we’re drawn to each other, sorry you had to get stuck with me.” Not that I knew if we were, I just knew she was gullible enough to believe me.

“But Angels have never… interacted with Demons like this before.” She was mumbling that to herself, I decided to join in the conversation.

“Haven't you heard of opposites attract?” She stared even more confused and said nothing, after a small moment she spoke again.

“Do you mean like when two people, one who’s messy and one who likes to clean, are best friends?” Her innocent take on it was laughable, but she was right.

“You’re right, but I mean on a much more intimate level. Something like what your parents probably have.” She went flush with embarrassment. “At least in Hell that’s what I would say. With an Angel it’s likely not even close to that.” Cassie was intriqued by my statemet and went on to ask me lots of things about myself and other Demons hoping to reason witth what I told her. It wasn’t like I had else much to do that night anyways, and finally Cassie had agreed to stay with me for a while longer. We just wandered around my area before getting to the outskirts of the town that neighbored the woods, then I got a bit curious.

“It’s been way more than ten minutes. What does your brother do when he looks for you?” She was walking behind me, kicking up some dirt, ignoring the pristineness of her white flats.

“Ren? He looks all around the places I’m usually at in Heaven first. That’s our backyard, the park, the library, or just walking to see all of the names of the Human’s that were saved by our Captains!” She pauses, “But he always finds me when I’m out for too long.” Her tone dropped with saying that.

“Doesn’t seem like he’s trying any place out here, so I think I’m good at avoiding him for a bit longer.” I laugh to myself, “I can see him now, all pissed off cause he can’t find you. Priceless!” Cassie didn’t seem amused by her brother’s pain. I gave her a certain look that caused her cheeks to turn red. It was easy to make her blush. “Well maybe you can tell me something about Ren.” She hummed to my question.

“What do you wanna know?” She resumed kicking the dirt.

“Well, you said he’s light right? So how does that work exactly?”

“You’ll have to ask more than that, it’s kind of vague otherwise.” I asked again.

“I mean like how does it hurt more than any other Angel?”

“Oh! Well I’ll explain the powers to you, not like you couldn’t find this out on your own, so I’m not exactly giving you any special information…” She paused, “Ice, Fire and Light are elements us Angels are given at birth. Having parents with a specific type doesn’t influence or change it so no selective breeding can ever happen. Ice protects ourselves and heals others, fire destroys completely and purifies, and light traps as well as weakens, we do have a kind of caste system though…” She went slient, I looked back at her.

“What wrong?” I said. She came back and shook her head to me.

“Nothing, but that’s how things work." She finally got out, "In my family we’re very rare to have each type at least once.” I chuckled.

“So there’s no way to counter him?” She looked at me.

“Even if there was, I wouldn’t tell you. I don’t intend on having my brother hurt because of something I told you. If you want to hurt him, do it on your own time and with your own brain.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“Another random question then. If your mom is ice and your dad is fire, how do they get along? Are type differences a thing?” She giggled.

“What’d you say, opposites attract?” I laughed, well that made perfect sense.

From there, we talked for a while longer, she eventually said she should get going and I had no objections this time.

…

Since that day, Cassie had come by every so often. I had nothing to do normally and I couldn’t do most things with her anyways, so we just remained around my territory whenever we were together. With her I found some places even I didn’t know about, and while we were going from section to section, I noticed something strange. It was… fun to have her around. Having her scream or jump at every little thing was amusing, especially bugs, which she was particularly afraid of. Angels didn’t typically give me an amused feeling, I stated this to her one time, but it didn’t change her personality one bit, she didn't even seem to care much about that. I took note of how calmly she acted around me, regardless of what I said to her. Maybe it was just her being naive, but whatever it was, it was fun like hell to mess with it!

Tonight we had planned to meet up once more, we ran out of time yesterday so we figured to make it up tonight. I don’t know why I thought things were going to be normal, nothing ever works out for me. So of course I was super late. Normally she is too, but this time she was early and had been out there for a while alone. I didn’t worry too much, if she was really related to Ren, she’d be well to take care of herself. Who I was concerned over was the Demons who sometimes wandered into my territory. It was harmless enough, but not with an Angel who trusted even someone like me. I hadn't been expecting anyone as of late, but of course there were Demons here and they were hungry.

“What’s a cute one like you doing here?” I watched as her back hit the tree, she didn’t seem as if she were edging on a fight. She looked ready to run.

“N-none of your business… I’m meeting with someone soon!” Her stutter wasn’t adding any more intimidation, more like vulnerability.

“Well how about we take care of you?” One spoke.

“You know, just until whoever you’re waiting for shows up.” They got closer nearly enough to touch her face now.

“We’ll be gentle okay?” I didn’t care whether that was violating or killing her, treading on my territory was not something you did. Going over to her, I grabbed her arm. I had hit her against the tree, but that was much better than whatever those Demons were planning. Having her by my side now, the demons looked at me with sly grins.

“Out of ours and into worse." They said with a heckling laugh, "Her luck just isn’t so great tonight!” They laughed at each other. I looked at them.

“What are you doing in my territory?” I asked, they smiled at me.

“Just passing through.”

“A nice stroll in the woods, you know?” I knew they were lying, it’s not like I could get a Demon to speak truthfully to me. “But, we did find her, so that means she is ours.” I looked at them, I felt Cassie trembling in my arms. Damn, she was scared and I couldn’t do a thing about it. I wanted to help her… for one reason or another, but mainly I wanted to calm her down more than anything. So I looked to her.

“Give me your wrist.” She blinked, in the same moment she wasn’t listening to me they stepped forward.

“You know how the rules work!” One of them yelled, they were about to attack us, I took a small lunge away from them dragging Cassie behind me.

“Give me your wrist!” Yelling now, I grabbed her arm and stuck my finger near her wrist. She made a sound of pain and soon I saw blood. I took this chance to lick the cut clean. Then I stopped moving. For a moment, the Demons were about to try and attack us again, but they stopped in the same second and cowered now. I took a small breath licking whatever blood was left on my lips, I looked to Cassie. “Sorry about that… I had to do it.” It didn’t seem like she was registering much of anything, but I kept her beside me as the Demons shook their heads. “Get out.” I simply said and they shrunk under my voice before disappearing as soon as they could leaving me and Cassie alone.

…

I took a small breath before facing Cassie, she could stand on her own and was resting against a tree as she caught her breath.

“... What did you do?” I didn’t know how to answer, but I smiled anyways.

“I marked you.” She blinked and made a face like she was lost.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Well, the best way I can explain it is like when a dog marks a tree, other dogs know not to go near that area… or maybe what I did physically can be explained like a mosquito bite… maybe. In this case, other Demons now know you belong to me, as if I’m waiting to kill you or something.” She blinked as if she wanted to know more, I sighed and explained further. “Demons ‘mark’ their victims by tasting their blood, in any way. So cuts, scrapes, injuries or otherwise, as long as blood is present, it’s fair game. How the mosquito aspect works is because I transferred a bit of my blood into you at the same time. This way I can find you you matter where you are. Even in Heaven.” She stared at me for a while, I couldn’t tell just what she was thinking, but I sighed and turned my back to her. “It doesn’t matter. This just means other Demons probably won’t mess with you now. If they feel my presence on you, they’ll probably run away like pussies.”

“Does this mean… we’re connected now?” She took that, out of all things. I turned back to her.

“Well, if you consider consummation between Humans a connection.” I saw the embarrassment on her face, “Then yes. We have a connection now.” Cassie looked to the wound on her wrist, touching it with her finger she brought it to her lips. She kissed it. When her eyes opened, she spoke.

“I’m not exactly sure if this is a good thing in the long run but… I want to cherish it.” She paused, “You’re nearly my first… everything and now we share something sacred I was taught only means the highest of connections. So I wanna keep this, if there is a way to get rid of it… don’t.”

“You do get that stronger Demons will feel, think you’re all friendly and find you way more often now?”

“What about Angels?” She asked.

“No, they can’t feel Demons unless we’re doing something to Humans.” She moved away from the tree and shrugged.

“Oh well then I guess.” She said.

“What? You really want that on you for life?” She nodded with no hesitation.

“What’s so bad about having someone you care about close to you?” I stared at her. She cared about me? I hadn't even the faintest thought of caring about her, so hearing she did was a shock. She smiled, “I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t have a lot of friends, if any at all. Talking to you makes me comfortable. So I consider anyone I’m comfortable with to be my friend. Trust me, that’s very special.” I stared at her, her smile didn’t fade one bit. She was really considering us friends and was… happy at the forced connection we now had. I didn’t know what to say.

“Do you know what you sound like?” She shook her head to me, “You sound like you’re happy we started dating.” Her cheeks flushed.

“I-I wasn’t thinking that!”

“You sure sounded like it." Her flustered expression only made me smile, she then spoke.

“... My family does this all the time.” I looked to her face, sullen as it was, she kept speaking. “You’re doing the same. I had no intention of it being like that.” I looked to her. “... Honestly, I think since you’re saying that it must mean… you want something like that.” I stared at her, assuming that meany sex, I was painfully aware she was right and I hated it, was I that transparent? I closed my eyes and put up a smirk.

“Would it be bad?” When she didn’t get what I was saying, I kept talking. “If we were to be together in that way?” She stared at me then suddenly averted my eyes.

“I don’t want a relationship that’s not… romantic." She began, "Purely intimate or unreal isn’t something I believe in and would most certainly not want to be apart of!” She seemed angry now.

“Will you calm down? No need to get so expressive." She looked back to me now, "I really wasn’t expecting you to agree anyways… I was kind of just teasing you.” She didn't seem to want to say anymore, but I was, I was thinking about having something a bit more with her now.

When I asked her to stay with me before, it was just to screw around with Ren and now… well I’d have to figure out what now would be.