A Demon's Sight ~ (Secrets | Car'mael) [PG13]

[Secrets]

PG13 for some possible cussing and kissing. 8I

***

Katrina rubbed the top of her temples with two slender fingers, sighing angrily as she did so. Her mother cast her a worried glance from the driver's seat, but Katrina could only feel her mother's gaze. The black spots were dancing across her vision again; multicolored circles spun around the distorted images before her. Everything that was in reality was blocked and she was exasperated with the doctors for not realizing what it is. She hoped the surgery would work, hoped anything would work, but she could feel the worry coming off of her mother in waves.

Her eyes stung with unshed tears. No, she'd cried too many times these past few weeks, and she was determined not to stoop that low again. Her mother's hand patted Katrina's knee, but the blonde-haired girl drew away and rested her head against the window. She wished she could see if it were trees flying by the glass, or if the bare dawn sky was showing. She knew sunlight was streaming down onto; it wasn't totally dark on her pupils.

"Almost there." Her mother's voice was tight, and thick with emotion. Katrina's hearing had never been so concise until her eyesight had begun to bother her. It was like she could hear every miniscule detail of emotion in people's voices, and the noises in the landscape around her. She'd trade it all in for her eyes again.

She didn't respond and to that, her mother hiccuped in an attempt to hold back a few more tears. As the car came to a stop, Katrina opened up the door to the car and stood, though had to wait to feel her mother's arm around her waist so she could be led inside. She'd never felt this weak or vulnerable in her life, so Katrina chose to think about what it was like to be up in the air again, with her glider. The thought soothed her and she was jolted from the memories as her mother gingerly pushed her down into a seat.

The cushion was itchy on her bare arms so she crossed them over her chest. Her honey blonde hair drifted down into her eyes and she halfheartedly pushed it off of her face. Deciding not to listen to her mom talk hurriedly to the nurse for Katri to get into the emergency room as soon as possible, she sat in her uncomfortable chair and waited in silence.

[Car'mael]

Auriel wandered down the hallway, coat fluttering behind him, moving like some large and dark menacing shadow amid the sterile white of the hospital walls and floors. People swept past and around him, not noticing his presence, only a few special inhabitants of this place aware of his existence or even able to see him.

Most residents were human, rushing about as they took care of the sick and injured or sick or injured themselves and being rushed about. A rare few humans could see him, and most of those were considered crazy or demented by the rest. The rest simply detected enough not to be in his way or step through his ghostly presence lest they feel chilled. When he wished to, he could be heard by others--and so he often conducted his bargaining. On rarer occassion, he made himself a more solid presence.

Smiling to himself, Auriel recalled the time he tagged along a group of ghost-hunters and scratched a few of them, just to remind them to leave such as he be. It had been kind of fun, actually, the way they shrieked yet wanted more such signs. You almost had to pity their stupidity. Auriel had simply oblidged. The lot went home a bit more terrified than they had expected to be...

Striding past a room with a 5 year old child in the bed, he paused to arch a brow at those standing within. He could see the girl's guardian angel standing beside the bed, looking sad and forlorn, helpless, as the doctor tried to instill some hope to the parents anxiously hovering at the foot of the bed. But the angel was shaking her head negatively... she knew there was no hope here, and it was breaking her heart.

Uttering a grunt, Auriel moved on. Foolishness. Humans had more than any other creature in Creation, yet they always wanted more. And Guardian Angels--did any creature in Creation have a less thankful or frustrating job?!? You tried to keep your fool human from getting killed too soon, and yet all the rules were against you while you tried... and sometimes your fool human's instincts (or lack thereof), too. Either have the allowance to act on their behalf, or don't be assigned such silliness. Foolishness, all of it. He couldn't comprehend why any angel bothered with that job.

Another room, but there a young teen lay dying of gunshot wounds despite efforts to save him. A dark shadow hovered beside him, pitch black with scarlet eyes that flicked up to meet Auriel's in passing--a full demon. Well, that prey had been claimed. From the way the teen's eyes rolled toward the dark and twisted creature, it seemed he could feel it, too... and was realizing just what kind of bargain he'd struck.

Too late.

Uttering another snort, Auriel moved on, frowning. He'd hoped to find himself someone to collect for himself. Well, for now, the waiting room would do. Eventually someone else would be brought in, after all. They always came... It was a hospital, after all.

Poking about the magazines, he started to catch up on the latest in Hollywood's idiocities, bored out of his mind, until he heard new people arrive--a woman with her daughter in tow. Looking up, he arched a brow as the girl was pushed into a chair while the mom began to talk to the nurse.

The fallen angel smirked wryly. "You'd think in an ER, they'd naturally assume you've a reason to be here and just start taking the damn vital signs from the get-go, but no... Only if you're bleeding buckets visibly from five places or missing whole chunks do they just automatically dive in," he whispered to the girl in sardonic amusement.

[Secrets]

Fiddling with the zipper on her turquoise coloured jacket, Katrina tried to push away the anxiety that was gnawing at her stomach. She heard a laugh from her mother by the counter and her gaze flickered upward toward the noise, but she was unaware that she was actually staring at a poster on the wall and not her mother. It was a nervous laugh that had escaped her mother's lips Katrina realized. She leaned back in her chair and her lids began to close before a low voice startled her from behind.

She stiffened at his words, after making sure he really had been talking to her. Though the way he formed the sentence made her scalp prick with fear, she wouldn't allow it to show. Like she really needed some low-life loser to push her around a bit while she was already feeling hopeless. Crossing her arms over her chest, she leaned back against the seat of her chair and stared straight ahead, though the multi-coloured swirls still spun in incoherent shapes around her view.

"I'd rather they take those who have a chance of dying instead of ignoring someone like that just to fix me up," she said coolly, though that wasn't entirely the truth. Katrina bit at the inside of her cheek and wondered if the whole 'fix me up' part of her sentence was as easy as it sounded. Probably not. She picked at her jeans so she could do something with her fingers, something to distract her.

[Car'mael]

Auriel smiled to himself at her uncertainty, and flipped his magazine closed. To anyone else, they'd have assumed a breeze did that, as nothing sat in his chair in the waiting room--not to the naked eye. Someone nearby who could see would've been startled to feel icy cold by the magazine when nothing was there, and for nothing else to be disturbed by any breeze at the time. But nobody else in the room was paying attention other than this girl.

Maybe he found his someone for tonight.

The girl was clearly blind, staring at nothing, eyes unfocused on anything ahead of her. She was clearly afraid, too, from her nervous and uncerttain movements. And she was clearly the on ein trouble, if her mother's anxiety was to be believed, as well as the semi-hopeless feeling washing off her. A prime target. A kind of sad one, actually, almost pitiable, but then, such had surprised him with their selfishness before. This one... maybe she was sincere. Interesting to try, all the same.

"If they're dying, they're dying. They may as well focus on someone more likely to live, like yourself..." he lured, amused, interested to see her reaction to those words because he knew plenty of others certainly thought it often enough. "But that's neither here nor there--I know the doctor in charge is free because I know he can't do anything for the two dying right now. So, what do you need 'fixing' for?"

Smirking, he added, "Don't get creeped out... I work here."

It was true enough.

[Secrets]

The more the man spoke, the more Katrina wanted to whirl around and tell him off. All those children, even adults, had lives and people they loved and he was talking about that as if it were nothing. Instead of taking the dramatic approach, she linked her fingers together and settled the fisted hands onto her lap. Her voice was cool as she spoke, though hinted at her edginess.

"So I take it you don't believe in miracles," she said sarcastically. She chewed on her tongue and sighed. Her blonde hair fell into her face as she hung her head dejectedly. "Actually, I don't think I do either." The words were a murmur, more to herself than to him, but she felt as if she'd spilled all her secrets to the people around her. Her fisted hands loosened and she rubbed her palms into her eyes, gritting her teeth as she did so. She refused to cry in front of this stranger and then she instantly felt bad; if what Auriel was saying was true, there were worse cases than her in the hospital.

"I lost my sight. The doctors don't know what's wrong with me. It's not affecting my brain at all and they can't find anything wrong except there's a possible chance a nerve was damaged in my brain. There's no probable cause for it either," she stated.

"Who are you talking to?" Katrina paused as she heard her mother approach. She almost pointed out the man that was sitting behind her, but she figured her mom would realize it. Though realize it she did not as she sat next to Katrina and took her hand. "Katri, don't get too worked up over this. The doctors'll fix you right up," she said and brushed a lock of Katrina's hair from her eyes.

Katrina sighed and leaned back, then tilted her head toward where she thought the voice had been coming from earlier. "If you work here, shouldn't you be doing more than irritating the patients?" she snapped.

"Katrina Envy, don't talk to me like that, and for goodness sake, you know I don't work here." Katrina turned toward her mother and frowned. What was her mother talking about?

[Car'mael]

Auriel had silently glided aside when the girl's mother approached, careful not to stir too many magazines in his passing, and slid around and past the pair to stand by a nearby wall, out of the way of rushing hospital staff. It was amusing to play with the girl's senses, just as it was to pretend to be a ghost at times in this place. He knew he freaked out the Director of Admissions at times by pestering her with odd occurrences. Why not one more? On the other hand, it was kind of nice to have someone to talk to, other than the occassional demon, angel, or fallen angel like himself... or victim. The first three were boring, and the last never lasted long as a conversationalist.

Listening to her answer him--yet her mother get confused and upset--Auriel chuckled darkly, knowing the girl could hear him across the room now. Oh, this was fun to watch. Of course, he wasn't about to help. That'd take the fun out of it.

So, blindness without a known cause. A gift that had worn away early. He frowned a bit, his jaded amusement fading. This girl really didn't seem so self-centered as most he'd targeted, but realistic. And from what he could tell, she was right--this condition was simply that of nerves too frayed to work right, pure bad luck to have this problem, and lucky it gave her any vision at all even this long, nothing cureable by modern medicine. That she was sad, not angry or desperate, was actually kind of commendable, in his book.

Ah, here came the nurses and orderlies with a wheelchair for her, and all the equipment to take her vital signs as he mentioned they should have done before. About time.

Smiling wryly, Auriel folded his arms across his chest, intrigued. Would they think her hallucinating, hearing him? Or would the mother try to hide that? He made no effort to add to that by speaking further and lending credence to the chance that they think the girl was losing her mind--she was nice enough that he wouldn't be that mean.

[Secrets]

Katrina heard a chuckle from the other side of the room, but she kept an impassive face, not really wanting to get her mother worked up. Vision loss and now I'm possibly hearing voices? She questioned herself. Her mother rested a comforting hand on her leg again and Katrina's chin snapped up as she heard a few people approaching. She couldn't be sure, but it was either one or two nurses, or one male. She decided on the female when she heard the click of high heels against the linoleum floors.

"Alright, Katri. I'm Doctor Martinez and I'm going to fix you right up." Katrina instantly disliked her; Doctor Martinez's voice was sugar sweet and the sound of lies was thick in her dialect. The blonde decided to visualize Martinez with greasy black hair, yellowed teeth, and a slouch in her stature. Smiling at her own image she'd created, Martinez took this as a response and tapped the wheelchair impatiently.

"Oh, I'll help her." With a flustered shake of her hands, Katrina's mother waved Martinez off and helped Katrina into the wheelchair. Feeling more vulnerable than ever, especially when she realized Martinez was going to push her around the place, the young girl frowned. A clammy hand was placed on Katri's shoulders and the girl shivered and recoiled from the touch. She then added alabaster skin (though more similar to a skinned codfish) to Martinez's image.

"Why did you call me Katri?" No one called her that except for a few close friends and her mother. It made her uncomfortable to be called as such by a stranger.

"I thought it would make you feel more comfortable in my hands." Yeah, right. "Your mother told me you preferred it." The chair was being pushed as the talked and Katrina's hands gripped the edge of the chair, knuckles turning white from the amount of force she was putting on it. She rolled her tongue against her cheeks anxiously and felt her muscles begin to ache from being clenched. She just couldn't relax.

"Well, I prefer Katrina actually. Maybe you can ask next time you want to give someone a nickname," she said curtly and Doctor Martinez withheld a reply.

Katri had no idea what happened to the voice from earlier, but she wasn't about to call for whomever it was with Martinez right behind her. She didn't want the woman to think she was insane. She had a feeling that she wasn't hearing things, but that didn't creep her out any less. The wheelchair came to an abrupt stop and Katrina almost feel out from the thing; she was thankful she'd held on so tight. Martinez grabbed for her hand and pulled her up, then rested her on a hospital bed. The familiar crinkle of the reusable "sheets" from the doctors' office reached Katrina's ears and she laid down on her back under Martinez's command.

"I'm just going to put a wet cloth over your eyes, Katri." The younger girl gritted her teeth at the sound of her nickname again. She flinched when a damp towel was placed over her eyes. "I'll be back in a few," Martinez promised and Katrina heard a door close, more than likely the door to her room.

"Um...voice? Are you still here?" she asked tentatively. In all honesty, she still hoped he was there with her; she didn't want to face this alone and her mother was probably outside consulting the doctors.

[Car'mael]

The sleezy female doctor (Auriel had never thought a female could fit that description before, but was mildly amused to note that it suited this time amazingly well) rubbed the fallen angel's wings the wrong way. That fake smile and oily demeanor was enough that you kind of wanted to scrape her off with a razor, then wash yourself in quicklime after to get rid of her taint. She made demons smile, he was sure. In fact, he was certain the demon in the next room knew her well, because that one's shadow taint was something he could scent in her wake.

Great. Little Miss Muppet here had Misses Spider coming to drain what fun was left in her. Fun. Another soul to become just useless mush, dispirited and selfish because nothing of value remained in it.

"Seriously, Bezelug, does keeping her around get you off or something?" he called quietly, a grumble towards the demon in question.

Bezelug, who had been quietly gloating over the teenage soul he was about to get, simply sent a puff of sulferous smoke. "Well duh!"

Auriel made a face. Demons... Trust them to keep the disgusting pets alive longer for entertainment purposes. "Forget I asked."

"I wish he would finally allow her to meet justice..." came the wistful murmur of the Guardian Angel at the other room.

Uttering a disgruntled grunt, Auriel pushed off the wall and followed the slick doctor and his chosen target to one of the emergency beds. Her reassurrances didn't hold any more water with him than it did with the blind girl he was watching. Well, she was sensible, as he'd noted before. The other people were buying it, though, hook line and sinker. It disgusted him to watch.

"You'd be better off if you just got up and left this place," he told Katri instead of replying to her inquery. "Your 'medical miracle worker' there is all cardboard and paste. How she kept a license at all is easy--she's banging half the board of directors and bribing the other half. Just be glad you're not one of her hot young male patients, or you'd be dreading being put under for anything... Why are you putting up with all this silly fuss if you know what's going on? Why let this idiot fiddle around with you and make this worse?"

[Secrets]

At the sound of the voice again, Katrina breathed an inaudible sigh. At least she hadn't been abandoned. As she listened to Auriel talk about Martinez, she couldn't help but laugh. At the seriousness of his escape plan, she smiled and lifted a finger to touch the cloth over her eyes. She sure as hell hoped the doctor had really put water on it and not God knows what else.

After gingerly pressing her fingertips on the cloth, she moved her hand back down and rapped her knuckles against the bed. "An escape plan wouldn't work. If you haven't noticed, I'm sort of blind and would probably end up running into a wall trying to get out of here. And even if I did make it out, there's nowhere to go. I'd just get dragged back here and probably get put on pills." She yawned. "If worse comes to worse, they'll just manage to make everything go black. It would save me the killer headaches from all these colors," she said and sighed. At least she could still play her guitar, but hang-gliding, her passion, that was different. The thought of never being in the air again made her huff in frustration.

[Car'mael]

Well, the girl's logic had merit, Auriel had to admit. He paced beside her bed a bit, arms folded across his chest, thinking it over. The sleazy doctor wouldn't let the girl go, he agreed. She loved having her power-trip over others far too much to let anyone go. Of course, if things didn't get better, she'd just whine that she did what she could and propose more expensive and useless stuff. And they'd put the girl on meds for talking at nothing and trying to run away, aka "nerves" and "anxiety" and "hallucinations". She'd be a drooling zombie, staring into space...

Uttering a grunt, the fallen angel shook his head. He intended to seriously mess with Dr. Martinez's head after this, and hurry the demon's claim on her up a bit. Time for fresh meat in the hospital staff.

"What would you give to have it back--your vision, sharper than ever?" he asked, arching a brow at the girl and stopping at the foot of her bed. "Despite how Doctor Slickstockings is certain to gloat and claim the success, I can do it. But the price... is very very high. And I don't take cash."

Auriel smirked.

[Secrets]

"What would you give to have it back--your vision, sharper than ever?" Katrina heard the voice say and she moved to slide the cloth off of her eyes. The fragmented vision spun before her gaze and the constantly swirling colours gave her a headache. She closed her eyes and swung her head toward where she thought the voice was coming from.

"If this is some type of joke..." she began and her jaw tightened. "If you work here and you can fix me, why aren't you working on my case? Why not you instead of that devil woman?" But she felt obliged to answer his question. His next statement made the hair on the back of her neck rise, though, and she mulled it over for a bit.

"I'd like to know the price before I agree to anything," she said softly. Her mind spun with the characters in movies who sell their soul for life's pleasantries, and she shivered. Seeing wouldn't be worth that, but how could she explain that to the voice without sounding like the was insane?

[Car'mael]

Auriel laughed quietly, a rich echoing sound fit to make most people shiver, like a bell of doom. "Would you like to take her place? I think not! I answer to nobody, and I'm obligated to nobody. However, that means anything I do is something they shouldn't know about... and the price is high."

Cold fingers brushed her bandage lightly, tugging it back down over her eyes. He could tell she felt worse with that out of place, and some urge made him put a stop to her misery. He acted without thinking, and felt an odd thrill of surprise to find himself doing so. Why did he want to be involved in this?

Ah, yes... soul... Hers, in particular, to help his own by proving his point to Heaven.

"The price... is you. You're mine, afterwards. All of you." He chuckled with a dark sort of amusement, an ironic and sarcastic note to it, though that same irony and sarcasm wasn't aimed at her so much as at this proposal he was offering. "I told you... pretty steep, eh? Risk everything with a stranger. But I can guarantee you'll be able to see, maybe better than you ever dreamed. Still, you'd have my sight, so I think it's only fair you give something valuable in return--like your freedom. I don't have a dog handy, after all, on such short notice."

[Secrets]

The rolling knot in her stomach tightened the more she listened to him. Somewhere in her gut she knew he was telling the truth; instinct told her. When the cloth was pushed back down against her eyes, he had unknowingly proven herself real to her. But the deal that she would be his, she had no idea what that meant. Seeing again, though. Being able to see the colours she so missed; able to see her mother's caring face looking down at her; able to have a chance at a normal life again. She wanted it.

At that moment, the door opened again and Martinez waltzed over to Katrina to rest a clammy hand on her arm. "We're all ready to put you through the surgery, Katri. I'm going to have to put you under first," she said and alarm shot through the girl. Before she knew what was happening, the breath mask was being placed over her face and Katrina was swallowing bitter air.

"I'll do it," she said desperately. The words were slightly muffled by the mask, but she'd said them clearly enough. "Just don't let her hurt...me..." she said as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

___

When the girl was unconscious, Martinez rolled the hospital bed out into the hallway. She turned around a few doors and pushed the bed into the surgery room. After getting a couple of other doctors, male doctors, to help her move Katrina to the other bed, she pushed the rolling one out into the hallway. Martinez sent the doctors away so she could get Katri ready her way.

Martinez busied herself with setting up the patient, carelessly setting up the headgear around the girl's cranium. The lasers were to be aligned with her eyes and she roughly pulled the cloth off of her face before pressing the lukewarm metal against her cheeks. She strapped the gear on a bit tighter than what was necessary; no doubt Katrina would be sore the next day. The thought made the doctor grin.

"Okay, Katri. You're all ready for your surgery," she said with a toothy smile aimed at the girl. Martinez patted her side, pinched her cheek, and left the room.

[Car'mael]

Auriel grimaced, looking at all the equipment, the doctor's negligence... and lack of attention to detail, even cruel demeanor. Well, time to haunt the hospital again.

Spreading his wings, he slapped aside one machine, and yanked the plug on another to disable the lazer. Then he loosened and tossed aside the headgear carelessly. Pushing the machines around her aside a safe distance, he then proceeded to take them to task, using his energy to mess with the electronics, fry them, melt parts...

With a dark chuckle, he then plugged them back in, and watched as they shorted out the electric socket.

Then he stood over his new charge... his new victim... looking thoughtfully down at the girl. She was really pretty, so it was kind of sad to see such a nice creation go to waste. But she had accepted. Perhaps it would be amusing to tag along in her life while she enjoyed her side of the bargain.

Resting a hand over her eyes, Auriel closed his own, and gave her his own sight, in its entirety.

When he opened his own eyes again, he made a face. <Yeah, this sucks,> he grumbled at the whirling odd colors, using his memory of the hospital and his other special senses such as telepathy to guide himself back out of the room and towards the waiting room again. <I'll wait for you outside,> he chuckled, slightly regretting giving his sight up so soon...

Too bad. The doctor was certain to have a fit worthy of his watching as soon as she entered to take her patient "off" the machinery... only to find her already off, the machines destroyed, and when her patient woke, cured without her.

[Secrets]

Katrina groaned as she woke. Her fingers flew to her temples and she was shocked to hear no one talking to her. Dread washed through her and she realized that the voice must have been something she'd heard when she was asleep, or down under. She cracked open her eyes and winced at the lighting, but then shot straight up. The wall came into focus and she breathed out a cry. Relief quenched the dread that had been skulking around in her gut and she laughed. Tears welled from her eyes. Then she looked to her left.

"What?" The room was a mess. The machinery was destroyed, some of the parts scattered and what looked to be melted around her. What she supposed was her headgear had been flung away from the bed and some of it looked broken. "What the hell?" she said, obviously bewildered. A knock on the door and she was back lying down, breathing slow and steady.

A shriek met her ears and she winced, though blinked open one eye and slouched to her side as Doctor Martinez came into view. "Whoa," she said and leaned back. Sticky black shadows were sticking to Martinez, curling around her legs, and wrapping around her body. It was constantly moving and made Katri blink.

"I--you fixed me," she said and Martinez's mouth opened into an o.

"No, no, no. What? We didn't even do the surgery! It wasn't supposed to work. What did you do?!" she hissed and Katrina's hands balled into fists. She slipped off of the bed and rubbed her temples.

"I'll find my mother. If you didn't do this, there's no need for us to stay," she said curtly and left the room while Doctor Martinez ran in to check the machinery. Shouts of her calling her lawyer made Katrina frown, though someone wrapped their arms around her in a hug that choked the air from her.

"Oh, you're safe. Miracles, Katri. Miracles," her mother said through tears as she brushed Katrina's hair out of her eyes. Katrina could only nod as her mother led her into the reception area, though someone near the doors stopped her. It was him. She didn't know how she knew, but it was the one the voice belonged to.

"You! You did this," she said and her breath stopped when she really looked at him. She could barely see a bit of haze that settled around him. They made the shape of horns and wings that were hidden beneath his clothes. "No, turn it off," she said and the haze disappeared, though she could still see Auriel as clear as day. Her mother had been stopped by nurses and Katrina hesitantly made her way toward the man.

"I can see now. You did this," she repeated. "You're the voice. What are you? Martinez. What were those things stuck to her?"

[Car'mael]

<Ah, so you have found me after all. I suspected you might on your way through here. Mind you, pretend you don't see me, or they'll lock you up for losing your mind. I'm sure Matrinez would happily substantiate that claim if she could,> he told her, smirking as he leaned against the wall.

Auriel kept his eyes shut. He had no need to see her, when he could picture her clearly and sense her mood and actions via his telepathy. Besides, it kept those damn colors at bay. He could see how it had been so frustrating for her.

<As for what I am... well, you can see for yourself, eh? Not a demon, no, but hardly a true angel anymore. Somewhere between, you could say. I "work" here--I recruit for myself, however. What you saw on her, though, are the marks of her own bargain with another. You can guess hers is a darker choice, right? By the way, her buddy Bezelug's over that way,> he offered with a gesture of his hand towards one of the nearby patients' rooms, <but I don't recommend looking him up first. He's a bit of a nasty shocker when you've never seen a full demon before. I'm not the only one who "works" here, ya see. All kinds of us wander around, with your kind being oblivious to us unless we start whispering in your ears...>

With a push of wings, he moved away from the wall to lean close to her ear, smiling mischievously--and he set a hand on her shoulder, invisible to others yet easily felt as a weight and firm grip.

<Speaking of whispering... that reminds me. You get to show me around your life. After all, you agreed. It's all mine, now, as are you.>

Auriel had a feeling that might unnerve her, but hey, any reaction to that information was always amusing.

[Secrets]

"Speaking of whispering... that reminds me. You get to show me around your life. After all, you agreed. It's all mine, now, as are you." His words made her face pale. She had no way to understand what he meant by owning her, but the wings on his back and the horns on his head only proved that Katrina had made a deal with something inhuman. But there was no way she was going to let herself be overcome by fear; then the deal would mean nothing and it would make none of it worth it.

"You never told me your name," she said weakly, though she cleared her throat and attempted to make her voice sound stronger. "Whatever deal I made, you gave me my sight back." She hesitated. Every logical thought in her brain was telling her to get away from the person who apparently owned her now, but she fought the instinct. "Just...thank you," she murmured.

Her mother's touch made her jump slightly, but her mother barely noticed. She ushered Katrina out of the doors and pushed her into the car. "I'll settle all of this after I get you home. You couldn't have destroyed all that machinery. You were put to sleep!" she said angrily against the wheel. Katrina rested her head against the window and looked at the person that had given back her sight. She knew he wouldn't leave, of course, but that unsettling thought also gave her some comfort.

She closed her eyes and rested her head against the glass window.

---

After Katrina had made it home, her mother had ran inside and picked up the phone to call the insurance company and the hospital. No doubt her father was still at work and was ultimately unreachable during the situation. She hoped he would hear the news of her sight soon enough; he'd been worrying about his daughter for weeks on end.

Though with her mom inside, Katrina had absolutely no interest to follow her and listen to the conversations. Instead she made her way into the garage and inhaled the musty smell. Her eyes immediately found the familiar faded navy nylon of her hang glider, which looked abandoned amongst the various gardening tools her mother had shoved around it. She worked on freeing it from the mess and was careful not to poke any holes in the wings.

When she finally got it free, she picked it up by the silver rod that was the handle bar when it was all unfolded, and took it out into the backyard. She sat down lightly on the grass and stroked the worn material, eyes tracing every single thread that had gone into the glider she loved so much. The wind blew her hair into her eyes and she calmly brushed the locks away before allowing herself to fall backward on the grass. She watched the sky and waited for him to show up.

[Car'mael]

Auriel followed, and slipped into the back seat next to the girl for the ride back to her home, smirking slightly as he leaned back and folded his arms behind his head casually.

Odd that she thanked him. Few remembered to, really, in either the excitement of getting what they wanted or just because they felt entitled to receive it anyway. She was quiet after that, and he blindly gazed out his own window for the ride, thinking that this psychidelic swirl was actually a good thing to give Bezelug sometime for his own victims.

She was inside almost as soon as they arrived to her home. Just as well. He prowled around her home and yard like a ghost, exploring with his other senses--telepathy, scent, touch, hearing. It helped him get a layout. Well, after he barked his shins and toes a few times, and stepped on the cat.

Finally he followed her aura out to the garage, and mentally watched her flop onto the grass by her contraption. Wings fluttering, he flopped next to her, smirking. <My name is Auriel,> he stated, amused. <What's yours? Or should I just say 'Mine'? It's as good a name to call you as any now. And why do you play with that old thing?>

[Secrets]

"The name is Katrina," she said curtly and tenderly stroked the hang glider's nylon as she spoke. Her nerves were set on edge whenever he came near her, though she'd developed some kind of strange connection with the man, angel, or whatever he was. When he was gone, she felt a strange sense of detachment; probably because she had this strange new eyesight and had no idea what to do with it. She refused to look at him though, hoping it would upset him in the least, and continued to run her hands along the side of the glider.

"My glider is not just some 'old thing'," she bristled. "And I'm not playing with it, just contentedly stroking it. If you'd like, I could pack it up and we could go flying," she snapped and shifted away from him. "What exactly do you plan to do with me, anyway?"

[Car'mael]

Oddly enough, Auriel felt very comfortable laying here in the grass by her. It felt... nice. Companionable. And yet he never felt like this anywhere else or with anyone else around. Mostly, other people, even supernatural ones, just annoyed him. They didn't even have to do anything, just be nearby, and he found them annoying. But with her, he didn't feel that way. He just felt... content.

<Do with you? Nothing. I'm just tagging along until you give your soul up and I can tuck it away in my pocket,> he chuckled, amused. <Flying is as good a way to spend some of that time until then, though. Only one problem--you have my sight. I can't see now. Which is part of why I intend to tag along for the ride that's your life. On second thought... I can probably ride on your glider. Not like I weigh anything in this world unless I want to.>

[Secrets]

"I didn't know souls were travel-sized," she remarked and stood to brush off her jeans. Picking up the glider with tender hands, she then slung it over her back and looked back down at Auriel. "Mom probably won't want me to be gliding just yet so I suppose I'll just slip in and leave her a note," she said and without any more words, dropped the glider and jogged up to her back porch. Her mother was pacing around in the kitchen and Katrina walked right in, opened the fridge to grab an apple, and walked back out. Though she did manage to snag a pen and notepad paper when her mother had turned her back.

She quickly wrote the message and closed it between the back door where it fluttered in the wind. "You can ride in cars, right?" she asked him as she hefted her glider again and pulled her car keys from her pocket. Knowing he would follow her yet again, she made her way to her car, an old Mazda convertible that broke down every couple of weeks or so. She didn't have the heart to get rid of it. Tossing the glider in the back seat, she rounded to the driver's side, opened the door, and started the engine.

[Car'mael]

Auriel shrugged. <Souls can be expanded and squished as necessary. Just loook at ghosts if you need an example. From orbs to figures and back again on whim.>

She ran off inside, and he peeled himself up from the grass. Yawning, he stretched--arms, legs, sides, wings, in that order. Straightening, he waited for her to emerge again, and took pace beside her when she did. When she entered the car, he simply ghosted through into the passenger side. There he grimaced and shifted to sit sideways, facing her. He really was handsome, a charmer as any angelic beaing was, and this put him at a wonderful profile, for all he was unaware of it. Blindly, he stared through her.

<Damn seats aren't made for wings this size, you know,> he complained wryly. <So, where are we going? And you don't have to talk, just think things my way and I'll hear you. Beats everyone thinking you're crazy and locking you up. That would be a boring next few years for me to tag along with,> he laughed.

[Secrets]

"We're going up to the mountains where we can properly jump off cliffs," she said and swiveled in her seat, right hand grasping the back of his as she looked out into the back of the driveway. Her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders as she pulled out easily, and she failed to notice how close she was to Auriel because he'd shifted to get more comfortable. When she backed out safely, she shifted the car back into drive and set off out of her neighborhood.

"I'll stick to talking normally when we can." Another thought sent a wave of queasiness through her, and her grip on the steering wheel tightened. "So if you wanted, you could read my thoughts? Or do I specifically need to direct the words to you for you to hear me?" She turned onto the main road, the engine on the car thankfully not wheezing like it usually did.

[Car'mael]

As she brushed by his shoulder, rubbing against the soft feathers of a wing, he sniffed and sighed. She had a rather pleasant scent, actually, and he wondered if it was similar to magnolias. He never was much of one for flowers, normally, but it was kind of soothing... a comfortable and intriguing scent. Oddly enough, he wouldn't mind more... even a closer contact with the source of that scent...

Mentally he slapped himself and frowned. What was with him? She was just another soul he would keep to prove how people gave in to greed, unworthy of the gifts given them.

<I can read you when you direct thoughts at me. If I try very hard, I might read you the rest of the time, too, at this range. I don't normally bother with the last--it's like trying to hear a conversation in a crowded room full of a million other conversations, especially when other people are around, and besides... I don't care to hear every little detail out of most people. Usually it's more information than any creature ever wants to know, like about shopping lists and bowel movements,> he grumbled. <Though... jumping off cliffs sounds fun,> he laughed. <Even though usually you're not supposed to follow others in doing that.>

[Secrets]

When Katrina made her way onto the main road and out of the neighborhood, she urged the car a bit faster. The wind made her hair whip the headrest of her seat, and her eyes watered, but she sure wasn't complaining. Being able to drive again was making her jittery and her frown at Auriel's comments tilted upward involuntarily. Rejoicing in the good mood, she fiddled with the radio system--she had gotten a new one installed, thank God--and turned it to one of the CDs she had burned a while ago.

When the first song started playing, she recognized this was her Daughtry, Coldplay, and Snow Patrol mix; in other words, her favourite. She turned the radio up a little bit and brushed a lock of hair from her lips. "Well, hope you like Coldplay because you'll be hearing them for a while if you plan on sticking around. So I'm guessing you've never been hang gliding before," Katrina said as she leaned out her door so she could turn the door mirror toward her just a bit.

Her gaze flickered back to the road and she eased up on the gas so she could turn the car onto a dirt road. It was bumpy being on a dirt road in a convertible, but Katrina didn't jostle too much, her body moved in tune with the familiarity of the route. She sloping road would continue upward, but she stopped the car before it got too steep and turned to look at Auriel. "We've got to hike a little bit from here," she informed him curtly. Turning off the engine, she stuck the keys in her back pocket, hopped over the door of the car, and snagged her glider from the back seat.

"Path is as clear as day. Come on," she said as she pointed to the narrow path that cut into the woods above them.

[Car'mael]

<If I could survive Swing, Disco, and in more recent years, Rap, I suppose I might survive them, too,> Auriel drawled, laughing. <You could have worse taste... like elevator music. Or... what was that brief trend? Scat?> The very name of it was revolting--that is what you call poop, after all...

The bumpy road jostled the fallen angel and made him frown, using the dash and "oh shit" handle above the door to hang on. Having lost his sight to her, he had to admit the thought of facing rough terrain hadn't crossed his mind. But now it seemed a daunting and possibly painful obstacle. After all, he'd be barking his shins on everything, twisting his ankles in any sudden drops, banging his head against tree limbs, and falling through bushes.

Slipping from the car to his feet, he stretched his wings a moment, then turned to grasp her shoulder. <Of course I never hang-glided before. I have these, see?> he chuckled, showing off dark falcon-wings with a couple powerful flaps. <As for the path--it is easy to see beacuse you have my vision. I have yours now, thank you ever so much. So, now, my little want-to-be bird, guide me, as that is part of the trade off here.>

Auriel was in a good mood, amused enough to tease like that. He liked the idea of flying, and thought it rather neat that his current choice of soul enjoyed it herself. Problem was, he had to get off the ground with her, first...

[Secrets]

"So the fact that I've been climbing up this road since I was five doesn't have anything to do with my being able to see the path," she said with a chuckle." Her face had paled slightly at the sight of his wings, not to mention his strong grasp on her shoulder. She could feel the power in this man; it scared the crap out of her. Suppressing a shiver, Katrina reached up to tentatively place her hand over his.

"You'll be fine," she promised as she pried his hand off of her shoulder and held his hand tightly. The glider was slung over her other shoulder and Katrina tugged on Auriel's hand once so she could lead him up through the mountain trail. Wild grass poked out at her Converse shoes and brushed against her ankles. She held off tree branches that might get in the way for Auriel and took care to dodge twisting tree roots.

"The cliff's just up ahead," she said as she spotted a familiar huge break in the trees.

[Car'mael]

Auriel couldn't help but smile as she took his hand in his and led the way. Something about this girl was uplifting, cheering up his jaded soul. She made him forget why he had made this bargain with her, somehow. What was it about her that kept distracting him? He wasn't sure, and it worried him a bit.

<You either see the path or you don't see it. Memory isn't always enough unless you've one like a steel trap,> he teased her slyly. <And yeah, I'll be fine. I'm a fallen angel, not mortal, so if I run into the ground at the base of this cliff, I just leave a mark--I won't die. Though I'd rather not do that, because it kinda hurts when that happens.>

He had, at times, contended with angels and demons for his prey. Those fights had been vicious (the latter, anyway, as the former tended to prefer to use words), and it was how he'd discovered the effects this world had on him in great detail. Auriel could fade through solid objects, but only to a limited extent, and anything he wasn't expecting still could hurt and injure him. So he tended to be careful of things like cliffs. Of course, he could hang onto her glider when she leapt--his own weight, if he chose to make it so, was negligible, and that way he could watch with her as they flew...

The idea actually excited him. It had been ages since anything gave him a bit of a thrill, like this. The fallen angel was, oddly enough, looking forward to trying it out.

[Secrets]

With Auriel looking unscathed from what Katri could tell, she was satisfied by the time they reached the break in the trees. Sunlight draped over them and Katrina shielded her eyes so she could look out over the curved cliff edge. She let go of Auriel's wrist and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling which way her hair blew around her face and where her shirt rippled. When she finished and was sure which was they wind was heading, (outward and away from the cliff) she turned back to Auriel. Eyes cracking open again, she set her folded up glider down beside her.

"So I'm assuming you're going with me and not flying around beside me?" she asked as she busied herself with unfolding the glider and connecting the steel rods within it. When she managed to expand the entire thing, its wingspan was easily twelve feet long. She picked it up and unfolded the airframe, having to connect a few more rods to do so. A couple harnesses were also pulled out from where they'd been folded up within the nylon. She clipped one to the top of the hang point, and after a moment's hesitation, clipped the other one beside it.

"Here, let me strap you in," she said and picked the glider up. While gripping the control bar, the main bar they'd use during flight, she held the harness up in front of him. "I mean, do you mind?" she asked tentatively as she picked up his hand again and pressed his fingertips against the metal and leather harness.

[Car'mael]

Auriel smiled when she took his hand a second time. It felt... somehow it was something that was more pleasant than he expected, like sniffing a rather ugly flower and finding it had a delicate but attractive scent. With the soft touch of the cliff winds flowing about them, he could just imagine her hair fluttering around her face, framing her eyes...

Uttering a cough, he brought himself back to her question, realizing he was keeping her waiting. <No, I need no straps,> he told her, smirking. <I will hang on from above. Just no sudden crashes, okay?>

Stepping back, he reluctantly broke contact with her hand, his fingers slipping from hers slowly, and reached up to run them along the leading edge of the glider. There, he traced along until he found the nose of it, and with a lithe hop, spread his own wings to lay on his belly on top. By keeping his own wings open and held up somewhat, the wind caught him and lifted so that he had to keep his grip on the edge of the glider in order not to be blown up into the sky. It helped that he kept his own weight in the human world negligible, so she wouldn't have to lift him with that of her glider itself.

Much as he'd have liked to keep in more direct contact with her, Auriel thought he might get a better feel for their flight from the wings itself. Besides, his own wings would get in the way with a harness, and vice versa. He didn't wnat to be inadvertantly flopping with his strong wings if they made a sudden turn--and knock her out cold.

[Secrets]

"Have a little faith," Katrina said when Auriel told her not to "suddenly crash" the glider. With something in her eyes that could very well be awe, she watched as Auriel tightened his fingers around the edges of her glider and pushed himself into the air. He looked like he was just floating there above her glider and she couldn't help but laugh at how odd it was. "Okay, hold on," she said as she dropped the harness she would have given him to the ground.

She strapped herself into her own harness, fingers flying up expertly as she buckled herself in and then checked the straps. When she was positive she was secure, she crouched down and tightened her fingers around the steel rod that was the main one. She clipped the harness back onto the hang point and looked up at Auriel's shadow through the nylon. "Okay, here we go," she said and slowly lifted the glider up so it was no longer slanted with the back edges touching the ground.

She took a few hesitant steps forward, unsure if she would jostle Auriel. Why are you so worried about his discomfort, Katri? she thought to herself and frowned. Her Converse shoes found the edge of the cliff and as her stomach flipped with anticipation, she bunched up her knees and jumped clear off of the cliff. Wind filled the glider's wings like sails and brought them up higher; when they made it a meter or so away from the cliff, the glider began to drift down.

"We'll have good enough time up here with these winds," she informed him. Her gaze turned to the trees rolling beneath them, and the sun as it set just over the horizon. Its rays washed everything with tints of orange and yellow, making the land below them seem washed in golden light. "I wish you could see this," she said softly, though wondered if the fallen angel could even hear.

[Car'mael]

Auriel felt her lift the glider, run a few paces, then jump--then, with the glider catching the wind his own wings snapped open wider to do the same!

It felt wonderful to catch the air, feel the rush of it over feathers and skin and through his hair again. It thrilled him to listen to it whistle past his ears, his body so light and free. He hadn't flown in some time, not really. That he'd forgotten the joy of it was actually rather sad and pathetic in his own mind, and he berated himself for not trying this kind of thing sooner.

Well, he hadn't had a human encouraging him to do it then, or showing how much such a simple joy should be apprecaited.

Wasn't that same apathy for their gifts the kind of thing he was proving as a human flaw?


"I wish you could see this," she said softly, though wondered if the fallen angel could even hear.

<But I can, actually... if you let me watch through your eyes,> he told her, just realizing it himself. Was it so different from watching her thoughts?

As they soared through the air, the fallen angel mused to himself for the first time if, maybe, he was wrong about humans... and maybe the other angels had been right... Maybe he had fallen for all the wrong reasons. Maybe... he should stop collecting souls as proof...

[Secrets]

He seemed to phrase it more as a question, adding the if like it were Katri's decision to let him look into her mind. It made her feel a bit better about him, though she reminded herself of what he'd done. The first thing she thought of was that he'd given her back her sight, but then she mentally chided herself for not thinking that he took her soul. She didn't even know what that meant. Before her thoughts could bounce around, she refocused her gaze back on the landscape below her. The wind rushed up to meet her face and the scowl she wore broke into a grin.

Breathing out a sigh, she took in the rolling forest beneath her. The leaves of the trees continued to rustle in the mountain wind and she watched some of them detach from the branches of the trees. All the while, she focused her hardest on sending the thoughts to Auriel. Then she lifted her gaze from the trees and looked out toward the mountain range that bordered the other side of the area; she had forgotten they were in a small valley. The sun dipped lower toward the horizon and the sky had become painted with soft pastel colors of orange, pink, and light violet. The clouds were outlined with gold and silver light, and brought forth a stark brilliance to the atmosphere around her.

"This is why I do this," she thought to Auriel, along with the things she was letting him see.

[Car'mael]

<I've almost forgotten how fun this could be,> Auriel laughed. <So I don't blame you. It's been a while since I fluttered around. Too much to do, I suppose,> he mused.

Well, this girl at least appreciated his gift. That was kind of refreshing, really, considering how most people acted. Or what they wanted. Money. Fame. Sex. Power. Plain old sight wasn't usually on the list, except... well... in cases of those who lost it, like her. But she apprecaited it for what it gave her, certainly, not for simply being something she had lost. The experiences as a whole, not just the visual input.

Life existed for the experiences and the choices involved.

<How often do you get to do this? Before your sight issues, I mean,> he asked.

[Secrets]

Katrina tilted slightly to her side so she could turn the nose of the glider to her right and lead them back to an open patch of grass where she usually landed. She thought about Auriel's question and decided he'd actually been interested in hearing her answer. The trees continued to roll beneath them, the wind rushing up to lift Katrina's feet behind her and really give her the sense of being in flight. Of course Auriel could hear her if she spoke aloud, but she liked the silence around them and, even though she hated to admit it to herself, found it thrilling to be able to talk with Auriel with her mind. It was something only read about in books or seen in movies.

Realizing she still hadn't answered Auriel's question, she smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "Really depends on the winds, but I try to go out at least two, three times a week," she thought to him. "Will you ever be able to, you know, fly on your own again?" she asked, slightly concerned that him giving her sight would strip him of something that seemed to be a huge part to the angel. Fallen angel, she corrected herself, though shielded the thought from Auriel.

[Car'mael]

Auriel's wings tilted and shifted instinctively to the tugging under his fingers and the movements of the wind around him, adjusting to their changes in direction with the natural ease of a bird in flight. Watching through her eyes, he had to smile as he felt them coming closer to the ground in preparation to land. Now this was certain to be different from his own landings, as gliders had no ability to backflap to slow their speed and draw to a halt. He prepared to flap as needed not to lose his grip, however--easy enough when you didn't weigh much in this world.

<Oh, definitely. Once you're done with my sight, it returns to me,> he told Katrina quietly. <So I can fly on my own again then. I've made a few of these bargains before... Not so much with my abilities, though, as things like power, money, and so on...>

[Secrets]

"Oh, of course," Katrina answered. Why hadn't she known that she would eventually die and Auriel would collect his sight again? Because up until today, you didn't really know any of this was possible, she thought to herself and blew out a sigh. The fact that he was talking about his "bargains", from what Katrina concluded was the whole taking someone's soul business, should have made Katrina think he was a vile creature and something she should just endure for the rest of her life. Yet here he was, up in the air with her, asking for the images Katrina could send to him and she felt like she owed it to him. "God, this is confusing," she muttered to herself, though was unsure if Auriel had caught her words.

"We're almost to the ground," Katrina said louder and tightened her grip on the rod of her glider. Her finger slipped and the metal squeaked; it happened every single ride and Katrina smiled in spite of the headache that had formed from the endless thoughts on Auriel that ran through her head. She shook her head, pushing a few strands of blonde hair away from her eyes, and worked to angle the glider down near the empty patch of grass. The ground seemed to rush up to them and Katrina stumbled as she hit the ground, but gained her footing and took a few lurching steps forward as she worked to stop the glider.

She pushed the rod up and forced the back of the glider down so the wind wouldn't lift it up from the back. "You can get down from there, right?" she asked as she craned her head up through the nylon.

[Car'mael]

Auriel could sense her confusion and discomfort with his mention of how bargains tended to work and his previous ones, and smiled wryly to himself.

<I make these bargains to prove a point, really,> he admitted ruefully, even as he backwinged to keep his position on her glider as she set them down. She didn't do too badly for someone without wings directly attached to their body, really. <People tend to be greedy and not appreciate what they have. Think of me as... well, kind of like a lawyer, collecting proof for showing that's predominately the case. I don't know where you fall into the case I've been building, though. You aren't exactly greedy, and you kinda appreciate things around you, so... well, I'll figure it out eventually.>

Swinging down as lightly as a bird bouncing to a new branch, he folded his wings to his back and smirked in answer to her query about him getting down. Their flight had been a lot more fun than he'd expected, though he thought he might be able to give her a few pointers on details of banking and stalling in a landing so as to set down on your feet. Well, maybe next time. Or maybe sometime he could carry her and show her that way how real flying went...

Somehow, he wasn't so interested in his arguement with Heaven anymore, not compared to spending time with Katrina. It just didn't feel as important as it used to be.

<That was fun! Are we going to go back and do it again?> he asked, grinning eagerly.

[Secrets]

Katrina worked on folding up her glider again, half of an amused smile making way to her lips at Auriel's eagerness. His attitude had gone from mocking to somewhat blissful, and Katrina figured it was just from the adrenaline rush or the feeling of his being able to fly again. "Not today, we're not. Mom is probably as worried as heck right now. We should get going and besides, it's getting dark." As if to prove her point, the natural golden rays of the sun turned orange and washed over the both of them, warning them that it only had a bit longer before they were stuck in the woods without light.

"Come on. There's a trail leading back to the car," Katrina said and halfheartedly reached out to lightly press her fingers against Auriel's so she could guide him up the trail. Being up there, with her head clear and the miracle of her sight fading a bit, Katrina had mulled it over and figured the less she negotiated with the fallen angel, the less of a chance he'd end up doing something with her soul. The thought that he owned it already made her feel strange, though her human mind was incapable of comprehending just exactly what his owning her meant, so the hurt and worry stung only a bit.

Katrina navigated through the path easily, making sure to steer clear of gnarled roots or dangling tree branches that threatened to snag on Auriel's clothing, or her own. When she reached her car, she immediately let go of Auriel's hand and opened up her driver's side door, though her hasty intent was just to reach for her phone. Seven missed calls from her mother. Great. Suppressing a sigh, Katrina plopped down into her seat and drummed her fingers against the steering wheel while waiting for Auriel to climb in.

[Car'mael]

Auriel felt a bit of a happy jolt through his body as she took his hand and led him carefully back towards the car. She didn't have to avoid the rough patches and tree branches and roots that he might bump into--it wasn't like it'd do him ay serious harm, though it still wasn't comfortable to hit stuff.

It was a bit disappointing not to fly again yet, but hey, he could wait. After all, Auriel hadn't done so in a few years, so it was his own damn fault he hadn't enjoyed it while he could. And, well, she liked it a lot, so they were certain to return now.

It felt odd, being dependant on a human for his mobility, his freedom, even just little things like not tripping on a rock.

Once at the car, he slid through the other door and into the other front seat. <Something bothering you?> he asked. <I'm sure she's worried--you just got out of surgery not long ago with miraculous recovery of your vision and ran off to fly with a glider where nobody can find you... well, also with a fallen angel who barters for souls. There's a few good reasons for your guardian angel to go into spastic fits of apoplexy, if I ever heard one... Speaking of her, I can feel her glaring at me from afar right now. Just because I claimed you doesn't mean she's given up on you yet,> he told Katrina with a cheerful smile.

[Secrets]

"Guardian angel," Katrina repeated. Though she'd meant to say it as a question, it came more as an acknowledged statement. She opened her mouth to question Auriel, but figured she ought to save herself the headache and instead flipped her phone open. Odd that there weren't any voice-mails; it was probably her mother trying not to scream at her daughter through the phone. "I hope she saw the note," Katrina said with a frown and speed-dialed her mom's number. The phone was picked up on the first ring and her mother's hysterics burst through the tiny speakers on the cell. Katrina winced.

"Katrina Envy, you went hang-gliding when you just got your sight back?! By yourself?" her mother nearly screamed into the phone. Of course; her mother had no way of knowing that Auriel was with her, and that her sight returning was not just a temporary thing. "I want you home right now. Do you know how frantic I've been the past two hours? I called Alexander to see if he would climb up there and find you, but he was busy. So you have to call him too and tell him you're okay." Katrina thought her mother's rant would never end, but after a few audible lungfuls of breath on the other end and Katrina knew that her scolding was over with. "Just come home. I'm glad you're okay." With that, her mom hung up.

"I'll call Xander when I get home," Katrina decided aloud and tossed the phone into the back seat. She glanced sideways at Auriel, sighed, and turned the keys in the ignition. The car ride down was a bit bumpier than before, seeing as Katrina was pushing the convertible faster than it ought to go down an off-road path. Rocks kicked up behind her and made tinging noises beneath them that made Katrina wince. "Almost to the main road," she promised Auriel, noting how he might not like being jostled around with those wings of his. Katri pulled out onto the main road and settled her back against the seat, slowing down the car as she did so.

"Do you sleep?" she asked suddenly.

[Car'mael]

Auriel shrugged his wings in his seat. He had a feeling Katrina's own guardian angel was going to come by and ream into him at some point, though so far she seemed to be hanging back and just watching the situation. He wondered if Katrina might actually be able to see the other angel. It was possible, as she had his sight, after all.

At the mention of someone possibly coming to find Katrina, he felt a twinge of discomfort, an irritation. She was safe with him, after all... though they didn't know that.

<So, who is this "Alexander" guy?> he asked, trying to keep his annoyance out of his mental voice. A little voice murmured he might actually be jealous, but he squashed it, answering himself that he was only protecting what was his.

The idea of sleeping made him shrug again. <Not really. I just kind of sit around and think or play with someone's TV or video games nearby. But don't start being an insomniac on my account.> He considered that, then made a bit of a face. <Well, so much for the video games, anyway. Not that it's a big deal--they haven't come out with anything I like recently, anyway.>

[Secrets]

"Xander's a friend," Katrina answered as she took another turn off of the main stretch of road that led away from the cliffs. She considered driving to the boy's neighborhood to tell him that she was alright in person. After all, he still hadn't seen her with the return of her sight, or rather, Auriel's sight. But she did not know if Auriel would do something; she still did not trust the fallen angel. And for good reason, she thought to herself. The idea of Auriel being around when she was asleep both made her feel safe and terrified at the same time. Safe because he owned her now and no doubt would want to protect her, unless her soul really was not worth much. Terrified because, well, it was Auriel and what he was.

Katrina ended up driving straight home, deciding she'd stick to her plan of calling her friend when she got back. As she pulled into her neighborhood, and then likewise her driveway, her mother peered out at her from her bedroom window. The look of relief that flashed across her face made Katrina's heart twinge; she had not meant to worry her mother like so. Katri left her glider in the backseat, but reached to snag her phone. She opened the door a crack, then paused and turned back to Auriel. "My room's right up there," she said and leaned over him a bit so she could point up to the second story on her house, a cracked open window indicating her bedroom.

"You can wait for me up there, unless you want to hear my mother go ballistic," she said and pushed open the door to the car.

[Car'mael]

Auriel rode with her in silence, noting what he could of their surroundings. When they returned within the vicinity of her mom and neighbors again, though, he was relieved. He really didn't want her meeting up with this... boy... friend. For some reason, the idea of her having a boyfriend rankled. She was his. He didn't care to share. Not to mention, in his experience, most the male friends he'd listened to were still secretly hoping for something more from the girls they were friends with, even if they didn't reveal that to the girls in question... or else they were gay.

Well, all right, Auriel decided. He might leave this Xandr alone if he turned out to be gay...

Otherwise, he would enjoy messing with the fellow.

<I think I'll probably hear well enough from up there, actually,> he chuckled wryly. <I can feel how upset she is. Oh well, keep in mind--she'll get over it. How upset she is is simply proportional to how much she cares for you, you know.>

With that, Auriel ghosted out of the car and with a leap and flap of his wings, leapt through the wall into Katrina's bedroom. It was easy enough to follow the "feel" of what was her space. And he was getting better with his energy-sensing now that he had no vision--enough so that he had a general gist of which way she'd pointed. That was a gratifying discovery. He didn't like navigating with no sense of his surroundings, or worse, those living within it.

Problem was, it didn't apply so much to objects. Auriel accidentally kicked the corner of the bed and knocked over a few books with a wing when he solidified. Cursing mentally, he sat on her bed, rubbing his foot.

[Secrets]

As soon as she watched Auriel make it upstairs to her room, Katrina faced the house uncertainly. Deciding it was better to get it over with, she stuffed her cell phone into her pocket and made her way to the side door that was next to the garage. She opened up the door as slowly and quietly as she could, but her mother appeared in the hallway and pointed to a chair at the round kitchen table. "Sit," she ordered angrily. Katrina shuffled over to the chair and was about to sit down when her mother grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"What the hell were you thinking, Katrina? Oh, that's right, you weren't thinking. We have no idea if your sight is only temporarily back! What if you had gone blind on the glider? What if you had died, Katrina? Do you even understand what you did?" Her mother fired off each question with growing volume and Katrina's frown deepened with every word. She hadn't been in danger on the glider, but if only her mother could understand that her daughter had sold her soul for her sight. "You're not to leave your room for the rest of the night. I'll bring dinner up," she said. One more hug and she went to work in the kitchen.

Katrina accepted the dismissal and took the stairs two at a time. "And call Alexander!" Katri pulled out her phone again and pushed open her door. She was just about to click Xander's speed dial when she saw some of her books strewn across the floor and more importantly, Auriel sitting propped up on her bed. She saved the questions for after and clicked the call button. As she shut the door to her room again, her gaze flickered to Auriel and she leaned against the wall.

The call was picked up on the second ring. "Katri?" The way Xander said her name, Katrina could only imagine how worried he had been for her. She heard him swallow on the other end of the line, and let out an audible sigh of relief when she comfirmed it was her. "I knew you were okay if you went flying. You have good judgement, but you still scared us. Why didn't you ask me to go like always? I would have wormed my way out of work," he said with a laugh and Katrina looked out her window.

"Just wanted to be alone, I guess," she said and was surprised at how easily the little lie came through her teeth.

"Hey, I'm just glad you got your sight back. Can I come over?" He asked. As much as the thought of her friend coming over to unknowingly lend her moral support when she needed it most, her mother probably wanted her to "reflect" on her decisions by herself. That and Auriel still scared her; he wouldn't hurt her, but she had no idea how he dealt with other people.

"Mom has me on lockdown, but I'll text you when I can, alright?" She asked.

"Alright," he said and Katrina smiled when she realized he'd tried to cover the disappointment in his voice. "Good night, Katri. I'm glad you're feeling better," he said.

"Good night, Xander," she said and hung up.

"You already managed to mess up my room?" Katrina asked as she bent to replace her collection of the classics and some romance novels. She wanted to stretch out on her bed; even sitting on it would have been nice. The only thing that stopped her was Auriel and she settled for sitting down in her computer chair across from him. "Do you have any friends?" She asked and looked down. "You know, other fallen angels, I guess?"

[Car'mael]

Auriel had frowned a bit, listening to the conversation between Katrina and Xander. It was inconclusive about their relationship, but it wasn't exactly reassuring him that they didn't have something going there. Besides, the boy wanted to come by. Well, perhaps he should text the fellow to do so sometime, if he could still manipulate phones like he used to.

Not yet, though. The fallen angel would see if Katrina would let them "meet", or try to hide the fellow. After all, she seemed nervous about him coming over...

Her accusation about the room made him snort. <You try moving around in here, blindly, with wings my size and see if nothing falls over,> he returned wryly. <No, I don't consort with the others who fell. We each fell for our own reasons, and I'm not so much a rebel as just disagreeing on a point about humanity. I'd a few friends who were also angels and still are, but you could say we had... a falling out?>

Auriel couldn't help but smirk at his own joke.

<I still bump into them now and then. But they've their duties, and I've my research, and we don't chat much except about a soul or two in question when we do. It's nicer that way. I have to admit, though, demons can be an interesting encounter on the same topics. For them, it's not so much about getting a soul as keeping everyone else from getting it. Anyway, enough about that. What're your plans for tomorrow?>

[Secrets]

"Sounds lonely," Katrina murmured and glanced away from Auriel when the words came unbidden from her lips. A slight blush touched her cheeks. What did she care whether or not Auriel had been lacking companionship? She chided herself yet again and kept running it through her head that he had her soul and was therefore not to be trusted. It felt like her whole world had changed, but here she was with her mother downstairs whistling something to herself and Katrina had just gotten back from hang-gliding. When Auriel asked his question, she laced her fingers together.

Over all things, Katrina wanted to see Xander. Her friend had been worried sick about her, being with her when he could as her eyesight grew steadily worse. She could still remember how he had made her laugh when she was frustrated the most. But bringing him near Auriel. The thought still terrified her and she shivered once before she could suppress it. Katrina hoped he didn't notice. She swallowed once before speaking. "I've no idea, really. Mom might want to do something, I guess," she said with a shrug.

Katri eyed the bed, exhaustion at the day's turn of events tugging at her tired muscles. She got up from the armchair and scratched at the back of her neck. "Um, Auriel? I'm, um, a little tired," she said softly and hesitantly sat down at the foot of her bed.

[Car'mael]

Auriel actually blushed a bit and got to his feet, leaving the bed. <Oh, yeah... sorry.>

Trading the bed for the chair she'd just occupied, he settled into it with a smile and a sigh. It was still warm from her sitting in it, and somehow that felt really good on an emotional level, too. But if she was going to go to bed, well, that meant he'd have to occupy himself a bit. And what could he do...?

Well, there was watching her TV or listening to her radio or such, but that might disturb her or the other residents of the house. He couldn't play her games, not blind like this. He might listen to her iPod, maybe... Or he could explore the house and become familiar with the layout and everything in it, getting used to using his energy-sight to navigate and figure out where objects were.

The latter appealed to him.

<You go ahead and go to bed. I think I'll "look" around some. Hey, if you have ghosts, I can banish them for you, you know,> Auriel chuckled. <Think of it as a perk of all this. Plus I'm better security than ADT any day. I can literally kick burglar butt. Freaks them out when I do that, too... very funny to watch. But.. ah... you don't have pets, do you? That's always a hit-or-miss reaction. Sometimes they like me, sometimes they don't.>

[Secrets]

When Auriel hopped off of the bed for her, Katrina crawled to her pillow and slipped under the comforter of her bed. She brought the covers up to her chin and tilted her head to the side so she could watch Auriel. She stayed silent as he talked, mostly happy that he had decided he wouldn't be in the same room with her for the night. His silhouette was dark against the chair and Katrina thought back to that moment earlier that day when she'd been able to see the dark tendrils that had clung to Martinez. Just the thought of them made her shiver. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, opening them slowly as she tried to conjure that same heightened sense of sight. When she looked at Auriel, she was insanely relieved to see that none of the sticky black stuff lingered on him.

The sight of his other form scared her though; the horns and tail that looked hazy to her. She figured it because he wasn't technically in that form, but hey, she had no idea how his sight worked. Katrina realized then that he had asked her a question. She blinked once and the outline of his ethereal features disappeared. "Uh, no. I don't have any pets. Mom doesn't like them," she said and turned onto her back so she could look up at her ceiling.

"Auriel?" Her voice came out a hoarse whisper. "I don't know exactly what I did, or rather what I've done, but." She hesitated a moment and closed her eyes. "Thank you for letting me see again." The words came out in a sigh and Katrina's breathing evened out with the confession. As confused as she was about what she'd gotten herself into, she knew for one thing that she was grateful to Auriel for gifting her his sight.

[Car'mael]

<You're welcome,> the fallen angel chuckled. <Now go to sleep.>

Once she dozed off, Auriel rose to his feet and carefully picked his way out of the room, deciding to learn the hallways and stairs first. It wasn't so hard matching the energy he sensed to what he carefully felt out with his feet and wings. He still nudged a few picture frames askew, but hey, that was no big deal, right? At least it wasn't like he was falling down the stairs or anything.

You really had to suck at being a ghost if you did that and made a huge racket doing so.

It was a simple layout, really. So he started on the livingroom next, carefully feeling his way around and examining the energies of objects around him, using the one to help identify with the other. Appliances stood out to his mind like heat to a snake, while walls and carpet were duller. Still, once he learned where the "warm" spots were in relation to the rest in the room, it wasn't so hard to find his way around, or enjoy his surroundings. He sat on the couch and grinned.

It'd be fun to play with their TV while company was around. He could so freak people out by pretending to be a ghost.

[Secrets]

Katrina woke to silence. She opened her eyes slowly and half expected to see the mirage of colors dance in her vision again. A smile touched her lips when she could see the wave-like pattern of paint on her ceiling. Stretching out her arms, she yawned and slipped off of her bed. She'd gone to sleep in her clothes yesterday, what with Auriel having been in the room until she'd drifted off. Auriel. The name still made her feel a bit wary and grateful at the same time. Katrina sighed and grabbed a new pair of jeans and a red tank top. She had no idea where Auriel was so she changed in her bathroom, brushed her hair and her teeth.

Another yawn reached her as she opened the door to her room and made her way downstairs. Her mother had already left to run her errands for the day and Katrina dug around in the freezer until she found some french toast sticks. She stuck those in the microwave and poured herself a glass of juice. When she set the glass down, she tapped her fingertips against the table-top. How simple it was for her to do normal stuff like this again. Her mother had had to stay home with her just to make sure Katri could get dressed and eat. It was a miracle she could do this.

She figured Auriel would show up after hearing her ruckus. When the microwave beeped, she took out the french toast sticks and nibbled on one.

[Car'mael]

The thud of something heavy hitting the couch in the family room almost shook the house.

Auriel landed on the couch in a lounging position, one knee bent up, turned a bit to the side to face the TV, levered up on one elbow with his free arm resting on the raised knee. Wings were folded and made to vanish at this time, though he kept his more demonic tail and horns, not ready to hide those from the living world right now in the privacy of Katrina's home. He had deliberately dropped himself there with that kind of solidity to announce his arrival--or, rather, return.

Wandering around outside had been an exercise in interesting. Exploring the street and the neighbors' homes had created a few minor rukuses, set off a few dogs and security alarms, annoyed a few cats, and scared a pot-bellied pig into emptying its bowels on the spot... in great quantity... Yeah, the fallen angel thought it best to return by that point.

It had been very useful in helping him attune to his changed senses. Oddly enough, he wasn't overly handicapped due to being able to sense the energies around him. However, it wasn't like watching the world through a heat-detecting camera. No, it was more almost "feeling" like against his skin where things radiated warmer and colder and different kinds of energy. He hadn't realized how accurately a former angel could sense that, however, and it was as accurate as heat-detecting vision in the end, a welcome revealation. It made it much easier to know his surroundings.

"Honey, I'm home!" he laughingly announced, using a true and vocal voice (a musical and trained tenor at that) for once, easy enough in this solid a state. "So, did you sleep well? What's our plan for today--your friends getting the good news? Gliding? Beach party naked?"

[Secrets]

Katrina jumped at the sound of Auriel landing on her couch in the other room, and then loudly announcing he was there. She managed to choke down the rest of the french toast stick that had gotten caught in her mouth. Coughing, she raised her arm up over her mouth and tried to get her breathing pattern normal again. She decided she didn't want Auriel to think she was dying so she grabbed her plate of food and headed into the living room. "Don't scare me like that," she croaked. Katrina cleared her throat and swept her hair back behind her ear.

"What do you feel like doing?" Katrina asked as she plopped herself down on a chair a little ways away from Auriel's selected couch. "We did gliding yesterday, I mean, and I'm going to ignore the beach party naked suggestion," she said through a yawn.

[Car'mael]

Auriel laughed again, tail flicking against the couch cushions like a cat. "Is there a good way to scare you, then?" he returned mischievously. "I kind of enjoy being solid and hearing my own voice now and then. Not as much opportunity to do it now as back in the day, however. Makes people think they're crazy. And the 'funny farm' is a bit wild, even for me, so I'd rather we don't stick around there."

Not to mention that some of the "crazies" could see him and his kind, and that was probably why they were there to start with before the place drove them over the brink on top of all that. There was nothing like being made to question your own sanity to drive you nuts.

Relaxed on the couch, he drummed fingers on his knee. "Hey, the beach party naked idea is actually nice and valid--not like I can see anything, anyway," he teased. Well, not really see, anyway. "But I'm just following you, kinda tagging along for the ride. You just go do what you wanted to do with your sight back. I'm sure you'd want to tell and show your friends and go do stuff with them. Why not grab a few and go have fun like you normally would? Like... I don't know, hang out at the mall, walk in a park, go to movies, whatever you guys do. I'd like to see what your friends are like anyway."

[Secrets]

As soon as Auriel mentioned that he wanted to see Katrina's friends, Katri's phone started buzzing. She set her plate down on her coffee table and bit her lip as she dug her phone out of her pocket. Frowning at the name that popped up on the screen, she answered the call button and brought the cell to her ear. "Hey Xander." As her friend continued talking through the phone, Katrina glanced sideways at Auriel and sighed. "Actually, I'm feeling really well. Mom's out at work so yeah, we can do something."

While she listened to Alexander relay a list of different things they could do, one of which included hang-gliding, she chewed through two more french toast sticks. "That last one sounds great. I'll swing by in an hour? No, I'll be doing the driving. Well for one, you scare me when you drive. And two, I got my sight back. I'd really like to experience it. See you soon," she said and hung up.

"We're heading out to the lake," Katrina said. She tossed her cell phone onto the coffee table, alongside her empty plate, and stood up. Yawning, she stretched her arms over her head. "Just give me a few minutes and then we'll go," she promised and scampered out of the room. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as she took the stairs two at a time. It wasn't seeing Xander that was making her so anxious. There was no telling what Auriel would do. Yes, the fallen angel had sort of grown on Katrina, what with the whole his bestowing his sight upon her, but still. She had no idea how he would act around Xander and there was no way Katrina wanted her friend to get all caught up with him.

Katrina pulled her shirt over her head and stilled. The thought that Auriel might be in the room without her knowing made her slightly terrified. Then she reminded herself that he was blind and that she would be able to see him anyway, even if he went invisible to everyone else. Still, she reached for his heightened sight and looked around the room for any sign of his ghostly figure. Nope. So she stripped down and then dressed herself back up, this time with a bikini beneath her clothes. "Alright," she yelled down the stairs before sliding down the rail.

"Ready?"

[Car'mael]

"A lake? That sounds fun," Auriel laughed leering mischievously. He hopped neatly onto his feet and patted down his hair a bit, brushing some from his eyes with a hand. "So, smores, weenie-roasts, skinny-dipping... What else is the plan? Not exactly the naked beach party I mentioned, but not far off, either."

The fallen angel waited for Katrina to change in the next room, then slid back into being invisible to the naked eye, his wings reappearing in this form. If she was going to collect this "Xander" friend of hers, Auriel needed a way to ride along. Preferably without getting knocked off by an overpass while they traveled. But he followed her towards the car.

<So, how long are we staying, and where do I get to ride? Just I've no intention to be riding on the bumper, and the luggage rack isn't comfortable if it's mounded with luggage for a weeks stay. I imagine your friend'll want to ride shotgun, right?> He made a face. <Well, I can't sit there, or he'll definitely suspect something odd going on. Other than you miraculously getting your vision back in an instant, I mean,> he laughed.