Outlaw Blues: Daemonophobia

Dim streetlights cast dark shadows onto the walls of the buildings as Reuel walked down the street. The sun had long since set, and now, most of the people he had watched over tonight had gone to their homes. Twice, he had struggled to elude the attentions of demons. After the incident in the club, they had begun seeking him out.

A cold wind whipped around the corner of a brick building cutting though the thin material of his tee-shirt and tossing loose strands of his white blonde hair into his face. Patiently tucking the errant locks behind his ear, the fallen angel came to a stop under a streetlight at the intersection. Two of the three streets he had already stalked this night.

Movement flashed in the corner of his eye, and he whirled to the right, his eyes searching the shadows and attempting to penetrate the depths of the pitch black alley thirty feet away. This strange flicker had been haunting him since before the sunset this evening and very nearly got him killed in a fight with one of the demons. To Reuel, the largest annoyance was that he couldn’t return to the Maccrea apartment until he was certain that he wasn’t being followed. After the previous night’s prowling and a restlessness during the day, he was feeling rather exhausted, wanting nothing more than to curl up on his couch and sleep long into the afternoon. Like so many times before this evening, he could find nothing in the darkness, however.

“This is getting ridiculous,” he said as he dug his fingers irritably into his pale blonde hair. He glared around at the empty streets before heading off down an even darker sidewalk.

In the three weeks since the club scene, Reuel had only seen his companions from there briefly as they passed him in the streets. He hadn’t manifested a corporeal form in the darkness unless it was necessary to assist someone. He had spoken with the black haired Michael and learned that the angel of the man who had been seduced by the demon had been relieved of his guardianship position. Guilt had assailed him, for to his mind, had he acted more swiftly, the man wouldn’t have injured the bouncer and would still have his angel.

Michael had sought him out several times during the long nights when Ashantii was safely asleep, and they had spoken at great length about his affections for his ward. Reuel was still amazed that an angel would seek his advice on hiding his feelings when he so obviously had been unable to do so for his own human. His advise was always the same though.

“Don’t deny it if you’re asked.”

“Just loving them is a sin to the council!” Michael had cried during their last discussion.

“Yes, but the consequences are different. Just loving them with have your guardianship revoked,” Reuel had replied with a sad smile. “But there’s no law against loving a human who is not your ward.”

“Only because it’s never happened before…”

“That we know of,” the fallen angel pointed out. “We are restricted in our knowledge of the council rulings and our own histories—”

“Our history?”

Reuel had been unable to explain what he had meant then. There was so much that they didn’t know about themselves. As an angel grew up, they were taught the rules of guarding humans and the laws of the heavens, but the teachers would severely chastise any angel who asked difficult questions. If an angel asked too many of them, they weren’t always allowed to even become guardians, but sent to serve the council as soldiers or other more menial positions.

In the distance, a car blasted it’s horn into the night setting up an avalanche of dogs barking snapping Reuel out of his thoughts. He glanced around realizing that he now stood in the small park a few blocks away from the Maccrea household. The thought of his bed being so close to him caused his exhaustion to slam into his consciousness. Groaning loudly, he turned his feet away from the inviting apartment and retreated into the branches of a tall oak.

A dozen feet above the ground, he settled with his back to the rough tree trunk. From here he could see the surrounding area and from what he could tell, it was peaceful out once again. Something was strange about the shadow following him. During his time as a wanderer, he had imagined the ghost of Kaida following him and watching his movements as he had once watched hers. These pain-induced illusions had remained the only companionship he would accept for nearly five months. By the time he met the Maccreas, he hadn’t seen them in two weeks.

Perhaps he would have mourned the loss of that presence if he hadn’t found people with which to live, but now, this haunting was beginning to irritate him. His mouth tightened into a tight line and his eyes narrowed in slits as he stared up at the waning crescent moon setting over the buildings in the west. His agitation lasted only until he yawned, and he rubbed the back of his hand wearily over his eyes with a heavy sigh. Groaning softly, he crossed his arms over his chest and drew his jean-clad legs up close.

He just wanted to sleep now. Opening one grey-purple eye and looking around, he dropped his head back against the tree trunk. Rolling his shoulders, he began to weigh his options. He could spend the night out here—he had done it before—or he could return to the apartment. The nice warm apartment with its soft pillow and comfortable couch that seemed to beckon him with merciless glee. It would be a simple matter to brush off the strange shadow as a reoccurrence of his Kaida delusions and go to bed. Something intrinsic was telling him that it was something more than that, but weariness had a way of convincing one’s mind.

As another yawn cracked his jaw, Reuel looked around the still park. If it was anything more than his own overactive imagination, surely something would have happened by now. He would have been attacked or something. As his mind worked desperately to convince himself that he should go to bed, he slid down from the tree to search the shadows of around him with his eyes.

Nothing moved in the still air, and his jaw tightened as he mentally chewed over his remaining options. He glanced once more around the park before shaking his head and giving in without much of a fight. Turing his feet towards his new home, Reuel’s step became a beat lighter at the thought of finally sleeping for the night. A few minutes later, he was back at the Maccrea’s apartment and stripping out of his blue jeans and tee-shirt. His pillow was a welcome sight as he collapsed onto the couch and pulled his blanket over his shoulders.

Sleep came quick and hard. The fallen angel shifted uneasily only a few times settling on his stomach as the moon set fully and left the sky dark and empty with the city lights drowning out the stars. Within this blackness, the shadow materialized outside the apartment.

A lean demon smiled hungrily as he gazed up at the third floor window. His skin seemed to almost glow dimly in the darkness it was so white. Scars marred the perfect form bared to the waist then covered with sleek black leather pants belted with a thick chain. One hand rested on his hip near the whip that wound around his as the other stroked a thing braid of hair that hung over his left ear. The rest of the silken black strands were cropped short and spiked, but the braid hung down to his shoulder and was decorated with a single white feather.

The demon took only moments to pry open the front door of the apartment building and walk stealthily up the staircase. The lock on the Maccrea door was easily thrown, and he slipped into the entry hall with the silent grace of a cat. His golden eyes gleamed eagerly in the darkness as he crept to the living room.

Moving to stand over the sleeping form of the man sleeping on the couch, his smile widened with delight as the false dawn began to brighten the sky from it’s pitch black into a grayish peach color. He let his fingertips trail over one of the long scars trailing from the middle of the shoulder blades to halfway down his back. Reuel stirred as his face crumpled with discomfort. A shiver raced over his spine standing the hairs up on the back of his neck and arms.

As he moved to pull the comforter back over his shoulders, the demon stopped him and raked his claws over the sensitive flesh. Reuel groaned lifted his head off his pillow and looked up half expecting to see Kenneth or Kiaria standing there.

“So you’re a fallen angel, hmmm?” the demon purred with a catlike smirk. Reuel startled violently coming fully awake at the unfamiliar voice and rolled swiftly onto his back to stare up at the demon with wide, scared eyes. The pale hand slid over the fallen angel’s shoulders and up around his neck.

“As you seemed to have guessed, I’m a demon, fallen, and you know what that makes you, don’t you?”

The demon caressed Reuel’s cheek and then held his chin up with one his thumb curled under the angel’s ching. Not allowing him the opportunity to answer, he placed one knee on the couch beside the narrow hips to lean in close to the fallen angel. Reuel’s eyes squeezed tightly closed as Reven moved over him to press his lips closed to the shell of his ear and murmur:

“My prey.”

***
End Chapter Daemonophobia
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