Chapter 3

3

Iris landed softly on the ground keeping her wings open to their fullest length. The area around her made her gasp. There was no light anywhere, except for the blood red sky lit up by fires. She was able to take in all of the details of the Earth, thanks to her angel eyes, and training. Astonishment reached her as she saw the broken memories and despair surrounding her. Trees were dead, plants burnt black as night, everything was engulfed in darkness and death.

“What the hell?” A man’s voice reached her from behind. Her eyes widened as she turned to face him. She had blown her cover, no one was supposed to know she was an angel, yet here was a man looking right at her with her giant, white wings spread out. She ruined everything within the first minutes of landing. She tensed, ready to threaten this human in order to keep her mission. His mouth gaped open, astonished by what he saw.

“This can’t be real. An angel, I have to be dead. Angel’s only exist in stories and legends. I must be dead.” He was whispering to himself, but she heard every word as it left his mouth. Her eyes watched him intently, not wanting to scare him. His weapon fell from his hand as he walked right up to her. He appeared to be in his twenties, but she could tell stress, worry, starvation, and fear had aged his body more. The lines on his face, and purple bags under his eyes confirmed what she thought.

“No way.” He reached out towards her wings and she flared them back by instinct. He jumped a little at the movement of the giant wings.

“I’m sorry.” Iris’s voice chimed. To him it sounded like crystal bells singing. His mouth dropped again as he came to the conclusion he wasn’t dreaming.

“You’re really an angel.”

“That’s what I’ve always been told.” She smiled trying to ease the tension. “However…Uh.” She looked at him searching for his name.

“Oh! Michael, my name is Michael.”

“However Michael, you are the only human to know what I am, and if I believe you are going to share that secret with anyone I will have to kill you. Do not underestimate me, I am here on a mission and will stop at nothing to make sure that I fulfill that mission.” He swallowed hard as she continued speaking to him with the authority of a greater being, “ I am here to aid the human resistance, but I must do it from my other form, the one with no wings. I am to appear a demon hunter like the rest of you. Do you understand?” Her voice was silky, but strong. He paused a moment before answering,

“I believe I do. What is your name?”

“My name is Iris; I was the guardian angel of the Princess.”

“Interesting.” He stepped a little closer again, reaching his hand out towards her wings. They flared in reaction, but he continued reaching until he pressed his hand against the wing. He smoothed down the feathers. She could feel the roughness of his hands on her gentle feathers.

“Amazing.” He whispered, bending his face down to look into her eyes. His eyes squinted as if he was trying to contemplate what he was looking at.

“Amazing, absolutely amazing, however, what your eyes are so.” He searched for the right word to use, “different.” She continued to look at him as he studied her. There have been legends of a half angel, half demon, savior, who would descend to earth and unite the three realms, have you hear of this?” She looked back into his eyes, longing for hope. This poor man had suffered, been through so much pain, and she would change that, for him and everyone else on Earth. She made a silent oath to not fail these people.

“Yes, I have heard the legends, but so have the demons so I must change before anyone else spots me like this.” He nodded his head and stepped back. Her wings expanded even farther than normal and began to glow a bright golden color as they began to retract into her back. The pain was excruciating, having only experienced it once in training, she closed her eyes and looked up to the sky and they went into her back completely. She stepped towards Michael, wingless this time.

“Now I need you to take me to your leader.”

“Are you prepared to become a hunter of the night?” He grinned widely at her. She nodded her head once and sighed.

“I’m ready.”