The Life of the Nephilim

Aerie

   "Oh my God. This isn't real. You - you can't be an angel. No." Dakota said frantically. "Not with all the pain you've caused me."

"What pain have I caused you? I'm saving you from the pain you are causing yourself." Sumaria replied, sitting beside her, his wings closed tightly against his back.

"You took away the thing I've lived off of for nearly a year! Do you even know what it's like to live with this pain?" Dakota snapped.

"Yes. I've had thousands of years' worth of pain like this. I know very well what you're going through. But, I've gotten past them and lived on. My own brothers have died. Many of them. More than five, more than ten, more than a hundred. Many of them I was close to but, you learn to accept it." He said quietly.

He looked at her steadily, his purple eyes slightly unnerving to Dakota especially, when they were locked on her like she was the most important person in the world to him. Maybe I am the most important person in the world to him if he's my Guardian Angel, Dakota thought.

"That's you. You have all the time in the world to heal from the loss." Dakota whispered, prying her eyes away from his and down to her shredded hand.

He took her hand and her fingers glowed with a soft gold light. The light spread up her thin arm and gentle warmth spread through her. She watched with unmasked awe as the cuts in her fingers closed. The blood dissolved back into her skin and her sleeve detached from her arm. It was as if none of the cutting had happened despite the silver scars on her fingers. He let go of her hand.

She didn't look at him, purely amazed at what he'd just done. She looked over her hand and pulled off her jacket to see that there really was no dried blood left on her arm or hand, no real evidence at all. You just had to squint to see the tiny scars from the gashes. She at least still had the scars covering her arms from past times of cutting.

"Maybe now's your time to heal." Sumaria whispered in her ear.

"What?" Dakota looked at him just as he gently pushed her down on the bed and the calming sense washed over her. His foreign whispers began again and her eyes drifted shut.

Sumaria watched Dakota sleeping for a while. He loved watching her sleep. It was the only time she was really at peace. Her face wasn't contorted by pain or stained with tears. She wasn't drawing blood from her tormented body. She was simply at peace.

He noticed the shimmering immediately and rolled his eyes. He knew who it was before he saw the black wings and the wings parted like the red sea to show the feathery mohawk of red and black hair.

"What do you want?" Sumaria growled. "Can't you see I'm working?"

"You're not doing a good job. Do you know how much more difficult it will be to protect her now that she knows about us?" the angel folded his arms across his chest.

Sumaria pressed his lips into a thin line and sighed inwardly. "Yes, I know, Kassiel." he replied quietly.

"Then, why would you do that to yourself? To her?" Kassiel looked at him.

"She already knew what I am. She knew it was me stopping her from cutting." Sumaria replied. "She heard me, she could feel me when I touched her or looked at her."

He turned his purple-eyed gaze to Kassiel. Kassiel knew what he was thinking.

"She's one of the rarities." Sumaria whispered.

Kassiel looked at Dakota for a moment, his muscles tensed, veins standing out on his arms and neck. "You're sure?" he mumbled.

"Yes." Sumaria replied.