Sandra woke up in a cold sweat. She knew this because she felt very very cold, and after a second or two, she felt the sheets sizzling underneath her hands. She grunted in frustration, swung her legs off the bed, and stood up, her hooves clunking loudly on the hardwood floor. Some parts of being a demon were tolerable, she thought. The acidic bodily fluid was bearable, as were the horns, the third eye, the sharp, elongated fingers, the black and white skin. The tail was actually quite fun. But one thing that Sandra never got used to, was the nightmares. She wondered briefly if other demons had such nightmares. She stretched and donned her shirt and jeans, as the bed stopped hissing and steaming. Dissolving her sheets every night was getting rather tiresome, but there was nothing she could do at present. Her pillows too, if they weren't dissolved by her tears or sweat, they were torn apart by her horns as she tossed and turned. Sandra stopped that train of thought before it could continue and depress her again, and made her way downstairs. As she passed Crystal's room, she glimpsed Crystal asleep in her bed through the barely closed door, and the snoring from Jack's room meant he was either sleeping, or meditating AND sleeping. Sandra was tempted to set him on fire again, to wake him up, but thought better of it. It was too early to listen to Jack screaming. Once downstairs, she started making coffee. She didn't bother with food for breakfast anymore. She didn't bother with food at all actually. Since she'd been turned into a demon, she hadn't eaten at all. Nothing had any flavour. Except coffee. Admittedly the lack of food had done wonders for her figure, but it was a relatively small consolation. After going through the awkward motions to make the coffee, for she still hadn't quite gotten used to her long fingers, she sat down at the table, and drank deeply. Mmmmmmmm, good coffee.
"I think, for the sake of my sanity, we should get some carpeting done on the stairs. Your trotting around wakes me up every damn time."
Sandra turned, it was Sam. He had emerged from the living room, where he slept on the couch. His eyes were bleary his fur ruffled, and his long fluffy ears were at odd angles. He'd obviously just woken up, and very reluctantly by the look of things.
"Morning, Sam." Sandra muttered over her coffee cup, she had long ago given up on engaging him in conversation just after he'd woken up. He just grunted and helped himself to some leftover coffee from Sandra's batch. Sandra looked at him. Even today, whenever she looked at him, she still saw Sam Sprinkles, the character from her favourite childhood cartoon show, cheerful, happy-go-lucky, enthusiastic. But that image of him faded every day. Most of the time right after he spoke.
Sandra mused as she sipped her coffee. Sitting opposite her was a creature from another dimension, a large talking rabbit. They were connected by their soul. They way Sandra understood from how Jack explained it, if Sandra had been born in Sam's dimension, she would have BEEN Sam, just as Sam would have been Sandra had he been born in her dimension. But that's not the only connection they shared. Neither of them could leave the house on account of how they looked. They were sequestered in their own home. Well, there was that time when Sam went to the bar for a couple of drinks, completely disregarding the fact he was a giant talking rabbit in a world of humans, and everyone around him convinced themselves that he didn't exist. He couldn't exist. Whenever Sandra went out in public in her custom made overcoat, people still stared, muttering things about 'fashion rejects' and 'that goth chick'. It really got on her nerves.
That thought seemed to spark another in her mind, and she got up to get her overcoat. Sam didn't look up as she put it on, but said,
"Venturing forth into the world once again?" Sandra finished putting on the coat and paused, thinking about what to say. The truth was that she just wanted buy something to read, she'd read everything else in the house out of sheer boredom. She even risked a look at one of Jack's subscription magazines when she got really desperate, and afterwards vowed never to be that desperate again. But it wasn't as easy as just going out to buy a book. It was never as easy as that. When she was outside, while people stared, glanced nervously, and whispered behind her back, it was the closest she could get to other people. She couldn't say she could block out the burning desire to be normal again, the frustration, the sorrow. Instead, she indulged in it, secretly knowing that it was those emotions that let her know that she was still human on the inside, rather than just a demon. And no demon could ever feel anything. Demons didn't have souls. In that small way, going outside made her feel better about her situation. However, all she said was,
"Just going out to buy something to read." She had opened the door and was already heading outside when she heard him say,
"Be careful." She looked at him then. He was twisted around in his chair to face her, is arm resting on the back of the chair. Seeing his face, she could see he meant what he said. There were very few times when Sam said something that wasn't pessimistic, moody, or sarcastic. And in those few times, he looked like the old Sam Sprinkles again, the one she'd grown up with, and had always loved.
"Thanks. I will." She left.
In the street around the newspaper stand, people went about their daily lives. Gordo stood behind the counter of the stand, leaning on it with one hand, the other hand in his back pocket to keep warm. He stood idly, watching everyone pass by through his misted breath. He didn't really care if anyone bought anything from him or not, all he could think about is the warm bed he left behind. He stood for a while longer, then switched hands, when the other got too cold. Then, after a while, he changed tactics. He stood up with both his hands in his back pockets. He was just about to help himself to a magazine to pass the time, when a shadow crept over him. He looked up, and groaned. It was that weird girl in that oversized raincoat he'd seen now and again loitering by the stand. Gordo would be the first to admit that business was never very good this early in the morning, but when she was hanging around, NO ONE ever bought anything. This time the girl did something unexpected. She pointed to a magazine, with her sleeves so long that they were covering her hands, and said in a voice that made Gordo's spine tingle,
"One of those please."
Gordo was stunned. She was actually buying something. Maybe, Gordo thought to himself hopefully, once she buys the magazine, she'll go away! He picked out the one she'd pointed to, and showed it to her, keeping it well out of her reach.
"$9.95." he said simply. The girl held out her hand and from the sleeve a crumpled $10 note fell onto the counter. Gordo picked it up, and dutifully placed a nickel on the counter in its place. The girl just stared at it for a moment.
"Keep the change." she said hurriedly and snatched the magazine from his hand. Gordo recoiled, nursing his hand as he watched her leave. Then he looked down at his hand, there was a long cut across the back of it. Thinking back on what had just happened, Gordo was pretty sure that the weird girl hadn't meant to cut him like that. And, after thinking a little more, he just assumed it was from a piercing she must've had on her hand. Those damn goth kids'll skewer themselves anywhere.
The sound of Sandra's hooves on the pavement were drowned by the din of the people around her, so she felt comfortable going at a steady jog. Or trot, as the case may be she thought to herself bitterly. That slimeball at the newspaper stand didn't have to look at her like that. All she wanted was to get home as soon as possible, and read the damned magazine, for what it was worth. She stopped running at the cafe nearby, and sat down to catch her breath. She looked up to see if she was attracting any attention, when she saw him. There, sitting at a table at the cafe, was the only man other that Jack and Sam that she'd actually talked to since she became a demon. Mike. She'd thought about him a lot since halloween. She'd even dreamed about him once or twice. Ever since he found out the truth about Sandra, she'd been thinking about him, wondering about her feelings towards him. Was she in love with him? Or did she just badly want someone else to talk to, that she didn't have to hide from. Many a night she would imagine Mike confessing to her that he was really a demon too. Or sometimes she would imagine Jack finding a way to turn her back and her running to tell Mike. She scolded herself then, sitting at the cafe, for entertaining such a notion. Thinking of such things would only make her more miserable, she reasoned.
She looked up again, and saw that Mike was talking to someone. Not the usual band of friends that he usually talked with. This was someone new. A man, with blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail. He wore a black overcoat, similar to hers, but without a hood, that reached down to his ankles. Sandra was immediately suspicious of him. In her experiences with her coat, she learned that no one ever wore them because they wanted to. Therefor this guy had something to hide, just like her. At once she scolded herself mentally again. What was she saying? This man was a demon? Of course not, he wasn't even hiding his face. No Sandra, she told herself, you're just being paranoid.
She got up and left before they had a chance to look over and spot her, and was about to head home when she heard something that made her stop. Something that Mike suddenly yelled at the blonde guy.
"I'm telling you she transformed! Right before my eyes!!"
That was all she heard before the other guy shushed him. Mike was talking about her? Why? Why would he think anyone would believe him? Sandra remembered at Halloween when she was able to assume human form for one night. She'd run into Mike, dressed up as a demon, and they'd talked through the night. Sandra had tried, rather tactlessly when she thought about it, to find out if Mike liked her at all for her mind, as opposed to the novelty of her being a demon. However, before she could find out, Mike had guessed who she really was, and Sandra, in her frustration, transformed back into a demon and flew away. She hadn't seen or spoken with him since then. Until now. Now the first time she sees him he's talking to someone about the last time they met!
She moved as close as she dared, taking care to keep behind Mike, so that he wouldn't see her, and sat down at a table to listen.
Mike realized he was starting to talk too loudly, and unconsciously hunched lower and spoke in hushed tones,
"Look, Abe, I know you believe me, but I wish you'd just take this more seriously."
The blonde haired man's expression didn't change as Mike said this, in fact there was no hesitation as he answered,
"What makes you think I'm not taking this seriously?"
"Because, I don't know, you should be excited or something. Or angry, afraid. Something, ANYTHING, other than just sitting there and taking it all in."
At that Abe looked a little hurt.
"You want me to get excited, to jump to conclusions, to act rashly on something as delicate as this?"
Abe's blue eyes turned cold, drilling into Mike's so hard that he flinched.
"Ok, I'm sorry. It's just that I really want her to let me in, instead of just pretending I never existed."
Abe cut him off by holding up his finger.
"Before you continue, I have some questions for you. Why didn't you tell me of this earlier?"
Mike was obviously on edge. He kept running his hands through his dark hair, looking this way and that. He continued like this for a while before answering.
"Don't think that it's because I didn't think you'd believe me. That's not it, I knew you'd believe me, I mean, how could you not? It's just, when I first found out, after we'd been talking for a little while, I could've told everyone else the truth. I could've tried to convince them about what she really was, not that I would've had to try all that hard, they were all too ready to believe she was some alien or nutcase or something."
He let his hands fall into his lap and balled them into fists as he said this. He kept them clenched for a while longer, then let forced them to relax. "But I didn't tell you because I thought you'd assume she was evil, and..." his voice trailed off. Abe's eyes softened, as he looked at Mike looking down at his hands, as if in shame. He put a hand on Mike's shoulder,
"How many times have I told you about using the word 'evil'?" he said. Mike laughed a nervous kind of laugh, the kind that sounded like it had tears in it, but Mike's eyes were dry. "Ok, now my second question. Did she actually transform in front of you? Did she stand in front of you and completely transform?" Mike shook his head and looked up.
"Not really. As she stood in front of me, she only sprouted wings from her back, but they were enormous wings, Abe. They couldn't possibly have been strapped to her back and folded up. She flew away then, and I saw her transform in the air." Mike stopped short, and looked behind him. He thought he'd heard something, like a horse walking on the street or something. But there was nothing there. Strange, he thought, as though for an instant he thought there should have been something there. He turned back. Abe appeared not to have noticed, and was taking a sip of his coffee. He put it down and turned back to Mike, waiting for him to finish.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "I'm just sorry that on both times I was with her, that I didn't get a chance to tell her that she didn't have to feel so alone. That there other people, similar to herself."
There were tears in Sandra's eyes as she ran home. She dared not wipe her eyes until she had something disposable to wipe them with, she had enough holes in the sleeves of her coat as it was. People looked at her and whispered to themselves a lot more than usual as she ran past. They paid particular attention to the noise her hooves were making on the pavement. But she didn't care, she just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Hearing about how much Mike cared about her was bad enough, but reliving what happened on Halloween was unbearable, especially when she heard it from someone else. In her own mind she was able to rationalize what she'd done, to justify her actions. But hearing it from the lips of someone other than herself, she heard it for what it really was. It was an act of cowardice, the path of least resistance.
By now Jack and Crystal were up. Crystal was watching TV with Sam, and Jack was sitting at the kitchen table with Tomie, Jack's supposedly intelligent book of magic, hovering open in front of him over the table. Everyone jumped when the front door slammed, and watched as Sandra rushed past them and upstairs to her room, and jumped again when they heard her bedroom door slam. Jack immediately got up, raising his hand to Tomie as he did so, the magic book obediently closing and placing itself in Jack's hand. As he made his way to the stairs, he was intercepted by Crystal. She stood between him and the stairs, her arms spread wide.
"Wait, Jack, I don't want you going up those stairs."
"Why not?" he asked impatiently. Crystal looked away. Whenever Sandra got upset, no matter what it was about, she would go to her room, and sob into her pillow, and blame whatever was wrong on her being a demon. And of course the reason for her being a demon was because of Jack. So every time she got upset, the same thing happened. Crystal looked back at Jack.
"Because I don't want you ruining the carpet."
Jack was opening his mouth to question her, when it happened. It wasn't really a sound, more of a sensation. But if a sound had to be put to it, it'd be 'woof'. Jack went 'woof'. Suddenly he burst into flames, from head to toe he was engulfed, and screaming like a 10 year old girl. He ran outside, singeing the floor with black footprints as he went, to get the hose. Crystal shook her head and went to get some towels and Jack's burn ointment.
Sandra was Pyrokinetic. In laymen's terms it meant 'to create fire by thinking hard about it.' Strangely though, the only time she was ever able to summon fire, was when she was particularly angry at Jack, and suddenly he'd be engulfed in flames. It had happened in the first couple of minutes of her being a demon. He was adamantly saying that it wasn't his fault, and Sandra reared herself up as tall as she could, and was about to throw a barrage of venomous insults at him, when he burst into flames. Sandra had never laughed so hard in her life. It had happened quite frequently since then, and Jack, now being a warlock (or so he claims, Crystal thought, rolling her eyes), had developed a high tolerance for pain, and he healed up in a couple of minutes anyway, with hardly any scarring.
The screams subsided, and Crystal placed a towel on the floor in front of the front door. Jack entered, still black, and dripping, and stood on the towel. Crystal wordlessly handed him his ointment, and he wordlessly took it, and started rubbing it into the exceptionally painful parts. Sam, meanwhile, hadn't taken his eyes off the TV. When no one said anything, he broke the silence.
"I think she's upset."
Jack said nothing, but continued rubbing in his ointment with a wooden expression, albeit a char-grilled wooden expression. Crystal was already heading upstairs. As she passed the cupboard, she took out a pillow and continued to Sandra's room. She opened the door to find what she expected to find, Sandra curled up into a ball, clutching her torn pillow with her razor sharp talons, sobbing into it. The room was dominated by a chemical smell and in the background Crystal could hear the pillow sizzling softly. Crystal sat down on the edge of the bed in front of Sandra, and placed the pillow near Sandra's feet.
"This is for when that one gets too small." she said, and she heard Sandra giggle. Crystal started to stroke Sandra's soft purple hair. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked. Crystal liked to stroke Sandra's hair. It was silky soft and smooth, but when she took her hand away, it just sprang right back to the way it was before. In that way Crystal was jealous, to have hair like that meant never having to brush it. However she would never ever tell Sandra that. She knew how Sandra hated being a demon.
"I saw Mike today." Sandra said from behind the pillow. Immediately Crystal understood. You didn't need to be a genius to figure out the rest. "He was talking to someone about Halloween, and I only realized I was crying when I heard the table I was sitting at hissing."
Sandra sat up now and leaned back against the headboard of the bed.
"Well, why did you go out in the first place?"
"Didn't Sam tell you?"
"Pfh! We're talking about Sam here, since when has he volunteered any information? We thought you were still in bed, and Jack didn't want to wake you because he thought you might set him on fire again." Sandra laughed bitterly.
"Hmm, look where that got him." she muttered. She stared into space for a while, looking at nothing. "I wanted something to read, so I went out and bought a magazine. I saw him sitting at the cafe on the way back, talking with some guy."
"Talking about Halloween?"
This surprised Crystal, it seemed strange from what she'd heard of Mike, that he would tell anyone what happened. After all, the first time he saw Sandra's face, he told his friends that she was just horribly scarred, like she was always telling everyone. There's not much I can say, Crystal thought, all she really needs is to have a soak in the bathtub and a nap, that always makes me feel better.
"Maybe I just need take a bath and take a nap." Sandra muttered. Crystal grinned.
"You read my mind."
The hot water poured into the bath in a loud torrent, while Sandra got undressed. She'd already poured in some bubble mix for a bubble bath, and the bubbles crept higher with the level of the water. She was about to step into the tub when she saw her reflection out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to the mirror. She hadn't had much of a chance to examine her naked body since the first time when Jack rushed in, and she didn't really have a huge desire to either. But looking now she was impressed with the pattern of the black and white stripes on her chest and torso. The only colour there was to see below her neck in the mirror was her nipple ring, glittering gold against the starch white and jet black. She stared at the ring in the mirror, to this day she did not know why she ever got it in the first place. When the tub was full, she turned off the water, stepped in, and sank gratefully back, until the bubbles reached her chin. Yes, she thought, nothing is more relaxing than a nice hot bath. She lay idly for a while, toying with the bubbles with her finger, listening to the rhythms of her body, and the quiet watery sounds of the bath. But not much time passed before she fell asleep.
Crystal came back down the stairs to find Sam hadn't moved, and Jack was sitting back down at the table with Tomie open in front of him again. He'd completely healed now, every time he was set on fire he healed faster and faster. He hadn't bothered changing though, his plaid shirt was undamaged, but his 'PERV' T-shirt and jeans were ruined.
"Aren't you gonna change?" Crystal asked, Jack didn't even turn to face her.
"It's too early in the morning. Chances are she'll find another some other reason to get mad at me later on anyway."
He sounded a little miffed, but Crystal knew that he wasn't nearly as angry as he sounded. He knew Sandra better than that. After Crystal had sat back down with Sam, Jack gave a sigh and got up, heading for the stairs. "I'm gonna go and meditate for a while, try and see what else there is to see." Sam and Crystal had long ago given up trying to understand what he meant by that, the only explanation they ever got was 'perception is different in the spectral plane.' So Crystal just said,
"Have fun!" she said to his retreating back. Sam said nothing. When Jack had disappeared up the stairs, Crystal turned to Sam. "You're very quite today." Sam glanced at her, then turned back to the TV, there was some sitcom playing.
"It's not like anything out of the ordinary has happened so far." he said. Crystal had to agree. She watched the show for a while, but got bored.
"Well, I'm gonna go upstairs and read or something. Sure you're not gonna be bored?"
Sam chuckled
"More bored than I already am? Not much chance."
Satisfied, Crystal went upstairs, leaving Sam on his own.
Sam waited for a while, then looked around to make doubly sure that he was alone. Then he picked up the remote and pressed play. He'd found the tape while doing some exploring around the house, whenever he'd had the chance. It was in a box in Crystal's room. He wasn't actually going through her things, but he had looked in her room to see if she was there, the cupboard door was ajar, and he happened to see the label of the tape in the box. He wasn't exactly sure why he liked watching it. Maybe he was just homesick. He sighed and smiled sadly as he watched Ed Elephant, Tawny Tiger and an all too familiar talking rabbit in another episode of 'Meet Sam Sprinkles.'
Sandra was flying again in her dreams. The landscape underneath her undulated and changed, transforming into various landscapes of her memories. In the back of her mind, she knew she was asleep, and she was also hoping that Mr. Chalk didn't make another appearance. He'd invaded her dreams a few times now, and each time he did something bad happened, either in her dreams or when she woke up afterwards. The landscape morphed into her school playground, then into the sewers that she walked with Sam in when they were in his dimension. After a few random changes, her memory changed it into the street with the cafe. She landed as gracefully as her clumsy hooves would allow, and looked around. She saw herself, sitting at one of the tables, and her other self was watching people at another table. When Sandra looked, she immediately recognized them, and was hardly surprised. It was Mike and Abe. She wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, she'd already thought about what they'd said too much anyway. No, she was looking at Abe. Everything in her dream was slightly distorted, like she was looking at everything through bendy glass. But Abe, as Mike called him, wasn't distorted at all. Every detail about his was perfect, as if he was really there. Except for his eyes. Sandra couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something wrong with his eyes. They weren't the right colour. Sandra couldn't remember what colour they were, but she knew that the eyes she was looking at now weren't the right colour. They seemed almost blurry, nondescript. Then Abe turned his head, after putting his coffee down, and looked straight at her. Not at her sitting down wearing the hooded coat, but the REAL her, standing watching everything. And suddenly she saw the colour of his eyes. They were turquoise, like the sky just as it starts to turn colour when the sun goes down. They were looking straight at her. She felt her heart miss a beat.
Jack felt his heart miss a beat. He had just relaxed his body, sitting cross-legged in the circle of candles, and was just about to enter the spectral realm, when he felt it. It was very similar to when he'd read Crystal's mind, and when she'd read his, but this was different. Much more powerful. He concentrated, and tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. He gave up shortly, he seemed to be too far away, but it was still there. He concentrated harder. Where it was coming from he had no idea, but where it was going to was very very close by. He let his eyes become the sensors of this strange force, so that whatever it was would represent itself visually. The room melted away before his eyes, to be replaced by empty blackness, his plaid shirt, which seemed normal in the house, grew and was now flowing and moving like ink in water. Then he saw it. It was like a river, rushing from the distant void, and came circling around a point some feet away from him. He drifted closer, to get a better look. He paled at what he saw. It was Sandra, laying back in a large bubble bath, the strange force curved and was enveloping her, swallowing her whole body. She was moving restlessly. Jack thought madly for something he could do. Maybe he could block it.
Abe stood up, and stepped towards Sandra. She took a step back, fearful that he might attack her. He stood almost regally, with is long coat an inch above the ground. The world around him seemed to fade, very slowly, until everything except he and Sandra had changed. Now they stood on a vast field of grass. There were trees in the distance, sporadically placed in all directions, and the faint sound of birdsong could be heard. Sandra took a moment to take in her new surroundings, and the Abe phantom appeared to wait patiently, watching her. When her eyes returned to him, he slowly walked towards her. He was moving with deliberate slowness, which Sandra couldn't help but interpret as like a predator, knowing full well that he'd caught his prey, and was in no hurry. Sandra wanted to run, but her legs wouldn't work. She wanted to fly away, but her wings were gone, and she couldn't bring them back. When he was just inches away from her, he stopped, and stared at her face for the longest time, his expression unreadable. He moved his hand as though to touch her face, and she flinched. He paused, as though confused by her reaction, and made to reach again. Then he, and the green landscape around them, faded to blackness, and she woke up.
With one more effort of will, Jack managed to force his barrier between Sandra and the strange force, and sure enough the force was cut off, and the visage of Sandra disappeared. Jack knew that she'd woken up, and was no longer visible in the spectral realm. He had let out a small cry of triumph, and was about to examine the strange power more closely when it moved. Until that moment, it had been flowing in the same direction, hitting Jack's barrier and flying it all directions, like a torrent of water hitting a spoon. Now it stopped flowing and writhed like a long thin snake, rearing up to face him. The end of the thing was blunt and featureless, but Jack was under the strange impression that it was looking straight at him. With cobra speed it whipped forward and was a hair's breadth away from Jack's face. Jack stayed where he was, eyes wide with shock. The thing moved a little, as though it were some kind of animal, looking at him inquisitively. The tail end of it still stretched away into the darkness, and after what seemed like an eternity to Jack, the thing dissolved right in front of Jack's face. The thing kept dissolving along its entire length, like a really big fuse, burning into oblivion. As it got further away, it dissolved faster, and eventually burned all the way to the point where Jack could no longer see it. It was then that Jack remembered to breath. Then he remembered Sandra.
Once Jack had returned himself to his body, and had put all the candles out, he rushed across the hall to the bathroom. It was obvious to Jack that she hadn't moved much since she'd woken up. She was sitting up, staring into space, with a mixed expression on her face. If Jack had to hazard a guess, he would say that her expression was a mix of disbelief and blind terror. He knelt beside the bath, and touched her gingerly on the arm.
"Are you alright." he said. Sandra didn't react for a while, then she seemed to snap out of whatever reverie she was in, and looked looked at him. Her face was still blank, but then she became aware of the situation. She was naked, in the bath, and Jack was in the room. Her blood boiled, her cheeks flushed purple in anger and her breathing became heavy and labored. Jack realized only too late what he had done. Then he went 'woof', and started to scream. Instantly Sandra cooled down, and after the initial shock, came up with an idea. In one movement, she leapt out of the bath, and grabbed her towel off the rack. She quickly wrapped herself up in it, and holding it up with one hand, used her other hand to grab Jack's arm, and pull him into the bathtub. Jack stopped screaming and was quietly hissing under the water.
Crystal ran into the room, and at a single glance knew what must have happened. There was Sandra, standing with a towel wrapped around her, torn in places where she'd been in a hurry with her sharp fingers, and Jack's tuft of hair sticking out of the mountain of bubbles. She shook her head sadly.
"Jack, you should have known better."
An hour later, everyone was sitting around the dining room table. Jack had explained himself, and had almost completely healed. He explained about the strange force he detected, and what it was doing to Sandra, as well as its behavior after he'd stopped it. Then Sandra described her dream to everyone present.
"But when he looked at me, it's as if he became more real." she said, "Not like a person in my dream but like... " Sandra stopped. She hadn't told anyone about Mr. Chalk. She didn't want to worry them, didn't want them to worry about her. After Mr. Broadshoulders, Tool, and even Lord Incubus, she didn't want to concern them more with this. It wouldn't help anything for them to worry any more.
"Like what?" Jack urged.
"He just became more real. I don't know how else to describe it."
It wasn't exactly lying, but it wasn't exactly honest either. She avoided their eyes.
"Well, what does Abe want?" Crystal mused.
"What makes you think that Abe is responsible?" Jack asked, "Maybe whatever it was simply chose a person she was dreaming about at the time, and exploited that. Using it as a vessel to enter her dreams."
"Regardless of whether or not it really was Abe, we're not going to find out from what we know now." Sam said. Sandra looked at him.
"What makes you say that?" she said.
"I'm just saying that we don't have enough information to go on. It'd be like trying to solve a puzzle with only half the pieces."
Everyone reluctantly agreed.
"Well, whatever it is, what does it want?" Crystal asked again. "I mean, you were there, Sandra. Sort of. Can't you guess what it was after?"
Sandra frowned. It was strange now, when she thought about it, he didn't seem as hostile as she had assumed.
"It's different when I think about it." she said.
"It's like that with all dreams." Jack said. "What did it feel like while you were dreaming?"
"In the field, I felt threatened, like he wanted to hurt me. But when I think back on it, he didn't make any threatening gestures. If anything his actions were... cautious. And when he reached for my face, he seemed curious."
Jack scoffed.
"Well, whatever that thing was, it was not cautious." he said, "Curious perhaps, but not cautious. It came right up to me and looked at me like some sort of bug, as if I was no threat to it whatsoever."
Nobody spoke for a while, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Sandra broke the silence.
"Well, I agree with Sam. We won't be able to figure anything out now, not until we have more information to go on." She sounded like she wasn't the least bit pleased with what she was saying. "There's nothing we can do right now."
Sandra's spirits were at an all time low. When she wasn't being attacked by fearsome monsters and demon hunters, she was being tortured in her dreams by the likes of Mr. Chalk and alien forces. The life of a demon was a hard one, she thought to herself. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and landed on the table with a soft hiss. Everyone pretended not to notice.
Jack was back in his room. He was sitting cross legged on the floor, with Tomie levitating wide open over his open palm. He remained completely still, occasionally making a vague gesture with his other hand, and a page would turn. All this talk about Halloween had made him think, and when he tried to remember the details of that night, a thought struck him. It was so obvious that he wondered why he didn't think of it before. He hadn't told Sandra yet. He didn't want to get her hopes up. After a long silence, he heard Tomie's voice inside his head.
"I'm sorry I didn't bring it up before, but I'd assumed that you'd already thought of it and had dismissed it as a bad idea."
Jack didn't stop reading, but muttered back,
"Don't worry, Tomie, these things happen."
Silence. A few more pages turned.
"You still blame yourself for Sandra's condition don't you?" Tomie asked. This made Jack pause. It was such a random change of subject, almost a non sequitur, that Jack had to stop reading so his mind could catch up with what Tomie had said.
"Of course I do." He said eventually, "It is directly because of me that she is the way she is. If it hadn't been for me, she would still be human."
His voice was calm and quiet, but Tomie could detect the passion and anger behind his words. Jack managed to settle his emotions, and pressed on reading.
"I may not be able to turn her back yet, but at least now there's a hope of giving her the next best thing." he said.
"But she'll still be a demon." Tomie replied.
"Maybe. But at least she'll be able to have some semblance of a life again."
"You're going to WHAT!!??"
Sandra had been sitting up in bed reading her magazine when Jack had knocked on the door and come in. He said that he'd found a way for her to go out in public again. Then he told her.
"You remember on Halloween you were able to assume human form for the night?" he said, trying to elaborate. She nodded. "Well, that was because for that one night, the night of demons, devils and monsters, you were endowed with more power, power that you were able to use to change the way you looked."
"Yes, yes, I remember you telling me." she said, waving him on and hiding her face with her other hand. The memory was still painful.
"Well, if I were to give you more power, not a lot, but the same amount that you were given on Halloween, then you'll be able to assume whatever shape you want, whenever you want... including human."
Sandra considered it. It did make sense, if she thought about it, but there were still some doubts in her mind.
"Wouldn't that make me more dangerous that I already am?" she asked, "If you made me more powerful, then the next time I set you on fire it could kill you!"
That thought had already crossed Jack's mind, but he'd thought about it long and hard, and he was sure he'd found a solution.
"It won't make you THAT strong, just enough to let you change the way you look. That's all there is to it, I promise you."
Jack could see that she was still hesitant. He sat down on the edge of the bed, holding her gaze for a while.
"If this works," he said, "then you won't have to hide anymore. You'll be able to go out and talk to people again. Be able to have a life again."
For the longest time Sandra didn't say anything. She just sat there, clenching and unclenching her hands, staring at them. Jack sat there, watching her, and let her be. He knew that ultimately it was up to her, and he would abide by her decision.
"Alright." she said eventually, "Let's do it."
Everyone's reaction to Jack's suggestion was similar to Sandra's. First they were shocked, then incredulous, thoughtful, and finally enthusiastic. Crystal, naturally seemed more excited than Sam, who didn't seem excited at all, he was just smiling. But to everyone who knew him the mere fact that he was smiling told them he was as excited as he'd ever been. Soon everyone was eager to start. Jack gave them all instructions, which they carried out while he got prepared. Sam and Sandra cleared all of the furniture in the living room to the walls, leaving a wide space in the middle of the room, while Crystal locked the door, drew the curtains and left the phone off the hook. Soon enough Jack came down from his room carrying his candles that he used for meditating, and a blanket, with Tomie floating in front of him diligently. He set the candles up in a circle in the centre of the room, instructed Sandra to stand in the middle of them, and got the others to turn off all the lights when he'd lit the candles. Sam and Crystal were standing in the corners, as far away as they could, as per Jack's instructions, out of the light of the candles. Sandra stood in the centre of the candles, fully illuminated, and Jack stood just outside the circle, the ghostly under-lighting giving his face an eerie look, the blanket folded on the floor by his feet. His hand was open palm upwards in front of him, with Tomie levitating open just above it. It struck Sandra that he looked quite majestic and dignified.
"Alright," he said, once everything was ready, "is everyone ready?" Sam and Crystal replied positive from the darkness, Sandra nodded. Jack looked down at Tomie's open pages, and took several deep breaths. As he did this, his plaid shirt began to move, as though it were being toyed with by a gentle breeze, despite the fact there was no breeze. Then it began to grow, and billow around him, while still remaining relentlessly plaid. After the ninth or tenth breath, he began to chant. His voice became very deep, and he was chanting in a strange tongue that none had heard before. It was quite harsh and guttural, laying heavy emphasis on the back of the throat. After several minutes of this, Jack started to slowly pace around the circle, his shirt growing longer and trailing behind him like the tail of a kite, and he started chanting something else. As he did this, everyone present could now hear TWO voices, one still chanting in the first language, seeming to come from where Jack was first standing, and Jack's new chant, which was more melodic, and seemed to be made entirely of vowels. It was a different rhythm to the first chant, but they still seemed to blend together into one chant. Once Jack had made a complete circuit of the circle, he started on a new chant, this one all one note, and seemed a continuous stream of what sounded like latin. The three chants all mixed together to create a throbbing sensation of sound. Jack was now walking in the wake of his own shirt, which surrounded the circle of candles, and Sandra, turning to watch Jack as he continued to pace steadily around her. The chanting was slowly building in intensity, and the candles started to burn brighter. Jack, who's eyes hadn't left the book since he'd started, was almost shouting now, alternating from one chant to another, keeping it going. Finally the chanting was so loud that the walls were shaking with the intensity of it, and the flames from the candles leaped up to the ceiling, roaring like a furnace. Sandra suddenly stiffened, not out of fear of the candles, but from something she felt. It was as if she were on fire on the inside, burning with a heat she'd never felt before. She looked at her arm, where her skin was white, she was glowing white hot, where she was black, she glowed a very, very deep red. Then her shirt caught on fire. If she hadn't seen it, she wouldn't have known, she couldn't feel it. Her pants too were in flames, but she didn't care, the heat was unbearable.
An eternity later, the chant finished the last beat so intensely that it was like a drumbeat, and suddenly every flame winked out, and the room was cast into darkness. There was a faint rustling noise, and then the lights came on. Jack stood by the lightswitch, looking at Sandra. She was laying in a crumpled heap on the floor, covered over with the blanket to hide her naked body. When he'd stirred the others out of their trance, he told them to take Sandra to her room to rest, seeming unflustered with what just happened. When they were gone, and he could hear muffled grunts, footsteps and words, he knew that for now he was alone. He slumped to one knee, trembling violently. He tried to get up again, but after a few attempts he collapsed altogether and passed out.
Sam hammered on the door again, and yelled at it.
"Dammit Sandra, get the hell out of the bathroom!" A pained look crossed his face, "I really really need to use it!"
Sandra, as soon as she'd come around, had rushed straight to the bathroom and locked herself in. Crystal suggested that it was probably so she could see herself in human form. Jack's idea had supposedly worked, because they hadn't heard any sounds of disappointment or frustration. They hadn't heard anything, in fact. She'd kept herself in the bathroom for several hours, and Sam was beginning to show signs of the strain.
"Open up! Please... "
Sandra, meanwhile, was ignoring the racket he was making. She was staring transfixed in the mirror. She ran her pink, blunt fingers through her dark hair. She lightly touched her forehead where her third eye used to be. She relished in simple mundane things like picking up the soap WITHOUT turning it into something that looked like swiss cheese. But most of all she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed flexing her toes. She hadn't been aware how much she'd missed them. Sure, hooves looked kinda cool, but they were numb, she hadn't been able to enjoy walking barefoot in the grass on a hot summer day. Running through the mud in the rain. Standing on tip-toe. All of the things that people don't even notice, she'd missed them all, and she didn't even know that she had until now. She could almost fool herself that she was fully human again, or that her being a demon never happened, but unfortunately she had her shadow to remind her.
Her shadow was the only thing that she couldn't change about her form. She could look like anyone she liked, she'd been experimenting for the past couple of hours. She'd turned into Crystal, Jack, and then Sam. It seemed like a cool and nifty super power for two seconds, but Sandra just couldn't see the point. What would she do with it? No, she only had one purpose in mind for her new shape-shifting powers, and that was looking like her old self again. But no matter who she looked like on the outside, her shadow always remained the same. The shadow of a horned demon with long fingers, her true form, she thought sadly. But that didn't really matter did it? I mean, when does anyone really notice anyone's shadow? And even if someone saw her shadow with horns, they wouldn't believe it. Just a trick of the light kind of thing.
Her train of thought continued on like this for a while, before the noise of Sam banging on the bathroom door slowly bled into her conscious thoughts. She rolled her eyes, unlocked the door, and quickly got out of the way. Sam, without saying a word, rushed passed her, and slammed the door to the toilet after him. What followed was what Sandra could only describe as a contented silence. She made her way downstairs, and the others stopped talking to turn to look at her. They stared open jawed at her pink skin, dark hair, and the overall humanesque quality of her. She drank it all in. For the first time in a long, long time, she was proud to have people staring at her.
Crystal suddenly rushed up out of her seat and over to Sandra, and wrapped her arms around her in a fierce and relentless hug. Sandra gladly hugged her back, but was surprised to hear Crystal quietly sobbing over her shoulder.
"I'm... s-so... so glad." Crystal said softly, so that only Sandra could hear, and Sandra suddenly realized how hard it must have been for her. Sure Sandra had been turned into a demon and had her life turned upside down, but Crystal had always kept her from sinking into a pit of depression by being constantly cheerful and loving. Sandra couldn't imagine how hard that would have been to constantly keep that up, to always be the cheerful one, always be everyone's anchor on sanity. Even in the most dark and depressing circumstances, Crystal was always there with a cheerful comment, a loving hug, and every now and again, a friendly word of advice. Suddenly Crystal became a stronger person in Sandra's eyes. They drew apart, and Sandra looked at her. Only two tears marred her glowing face, the only telltale sign that she was anything less than purely ecstatic. Sandra took her friend's face in her hands and wiped the tears away.
"Thank you, Crystal. For everything." she whispered. Crystal smiled and giggled, and took Sandra's face in her hands too, still admiring the human beauty of it.
Finally Sandra turned to Jack, who had risen from his seat, but stayed where he was. Sandra slowly made her was towards him. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't have her high-heeled legs anymore, but he seemed taller than she remembered when she was human. She stopped in front of him, and looked him in the eye. He did likewise.
"I don't have the words to express the way I feel." she said, "You turned me into a demon, and now you've given me back the life that that took away."
"Don't thank me yet." he said, "I still haven't turned you human again, and I fully intend to. This is just a temporary fix."
"Regardless, you gave me back my life. Thank you, Jack."
Jack opened his mouth to say something else, but gave up and ended up just blushing. Crystal, who had been watching, came rushing up behind them, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Hey! Let's go out to dinner to celebrate! Now that you're human looking again we can all go!"
"Yea, that's a great idea!" Sandra said, but then frowned as a thought crossed her mind. "But what about Sam?"
Crystal stopped jumping up and down, and the smile vanished from her face. They both turned to Jack, who just looked back and shrugged apologetically.
"There's nothing I can do. He comes from another universe, with a set of physical laws different from ours. I can't just change the way he looks like I did with you." he said, nodding to Crystal, referring to the 'costume' that he'd arranged for her, the fox woman. They were all silent, thinking about what to do.
The restaurant was filled with the sounds of people talking, knives and forks on plates, and background music. It wasn't a very fancy restaurant, but very big. There were a lot of people who were paying to be fed, and therefor there had to be a lot of waiters. Two of these waiters were making their way to behind the bar. Once there, they started talking, safe in the knowledge that no one could hear them.
"Pretty busy tonight, Ren" said one.
"Yea it is." said Ren. "Mind you, everyone came at once, and ordered all at once too, which is why it's so busy right now. Give it another hour, and there'll be nothing for us to do." He started to work the espresso machine.
"Not if table 5 keeps going the way they're going." said the first. "I mean, ordering a coffee to start isn't that bad, but she just keeps ordering it, again and again. She hasn't EATEN anything yet, and everyone else is on the main course!" He realized that he was starting to talk too loudly, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Besides, there's something about the way she looks at me whenever she orders a black coffee."
Ren looked at him,
"Are you saying that you think it's because you're black, Morris?"
Morris' face clearly showed that he'd missed the sarcasm.
"It's the only logical explanation!"
Ren shook his head as he finished making the coffee.
"I swear, each day I think you can't get any more weird. Go take care of table 10, while I go give this to table 5."
Sandra sat with her elbows on the table, holding her coffee in both hands. She was having a great time, not only with simply chatting with everyone, but with being able to hold a coffee cup without chipping it. She was enjoying every little thing that regular people didn't notice. The only problem so far is that once or twice she'd started to dissolve the coffee cup with her saliva. She had gotten out of the potentially awkward situation by 'accidentally' dropping and breaking the cup and getting a new one. After that she'd been careful not to do it again.
"This is great!" Jack said between mouthfuls, and was met with similar sounds of appreciation from Crystal. She swallowed and said,
"I can't believe that in the whole time we've all known each other, this is the first time we've gone out together."
"Yeah," said Jack, "I think this is just what everyone needed. What do you think Sam?"
They all looked at Sam, who was staring moodily at his dinner from the shrouded darkness of Sandra's hooded coat.
"I hate you." he muttered. "I hate you all, very very much."
"Aw c'mon," said Crystal through a mouthful of mashed potato, "The coat isn't that bad."
"I don't think that's it." said Sandra from behind her cup. "I think it has more to do with the fact that they only let him in dressed like that because we told them that he was mentally handicapped and was still refusing to take off his evil bunny halloween costume."
Sam groaned and put his head in his hands.
Soon everyone, including Sam, finished eating, and simply talked. They didn't talk about anything in particular, just little things that didn't require much effort to talk about. Sandra said something here and there, but mostly just sipped her coffee and listened to the others. It was good to see them relaxed, and for lack of a better word, normal. She'd missed it. She'd missed a lot of things, the list just went on. After a while, even Sam seemed to be enjoying himself.
The four of them were in the car, with Jack at the wheel. Sam and Crystal were in the back seat, she had fallen asleep on Sam's shoulder, and Sam had fallen asleep with his head against her head. Sandra thought it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. She was staring out of the window, watching all of the houses and streetlights go by. Jack glanced at her.
"You OK? you're a little quiet." Sandra looked at him, and smiled.
"I'm fine, just basking in the afterglow of a wonderful evening."
"I know what you mean. I think tonight was good for everyone, to just not have to worry about anything. Now that you can go out in public again, we can do this more often." He looked at her, and his smile faded when he saw her expression. "Uh oh, what did I say?"
She shook her head and looked out of the window again.
"It's OK Jack, you didn't say anything wrong." she sighed. "It's just, tonight I was thinking about all these things I can do now. Thinking 'Now that I'm human'. But I'm not. I'm not human yet, and I shouldn't be thinking that I am. If I keep thinking like that, then I'll forget that I'm still a demon, and something will happen. Something terrible." She closed her eyes, blocking the tears. She'd been ashamed to discover that she'd been picturing a life with Mike. Maybe it was love she felt, or perhaps it was her grasping at the only hope of a relationship she had at the moment. But she'd been imagining being with Mike. It'd been a beautiful life. She would go with him to the movies, to the cafe, to all sorts of places. They could hold each other, and they would kiss. And his mouth would burn and dissolve as it came in contact with her saliva. That thought abruptly woke her out of her reverie, and nearly made her drop her coffee at dinner. Even though she looked human now, she'd realized, she was still a demon, no matter what. She opened her eyes when she heard a hissing sound. Her tears had fallen on the seat-belt and were making it hiss. She hated that sound.
"You were right, Jack." She said, in almost a whisper. "You haven't turned me human yet."
Jack kept looking at the road, and said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Jack unlocked the front door and everyone tumbled inside. They were all very tired, and were going through the motions of settling home on automatic. Jack put the keys on the table while taking off his jacket. Sam hung Sandra's coat up on the front door where it normally stayed. Crystal simply made her way drowsily up the stairs to bed. Sandra, who was nowhere near tired after all that coffee, settled down on the couch to watch some TV. She flopped down the soft cushions and put her human feet on the table in front of her as Jack and Sam followed Crystal's lead and went upstairs. As she reached for the remote, she noticed a video sitting on top of the VCR. She could read the label from the couch: 'Meet Sam Sprinkles.' Sandra was a little surprised, Crystal only ever watched that show anymore when she was sad and wanted to cheer herself up. Maybe I should talk to her to find out what's wrong, Sandra thought to herself.
The instant she started to flip the channels, she realized that she was still thirsty. After all that coffee, she thought ruefully, it must be my body's only source of fuel. She pushed herself off the couch, and walked lazily over to the kitchen. When she rounded the corner she stopped dead, and gasped. There was a man standing there, leaning casually against the counter with his arms folded across his chest, looking for all the world like it was his kitchen. A thought crossed Sandra's mind: He's still wearing the same clothes as when I last saw him! When she thought back later, she realized that it was a fairly strange thing to think at the time. He stood there, watching her, not making a move. Finally Sandra caught her breath.
"What the hell are you doing here??" she demanded. He took his weight off the counter to stand up straight, his blonde ponytail falling off his shoulders to hang behind his back. His long coat barely reached his ankles, and he was quite tall. All this, and the way he stood, made him look like some divine being. A trace of a grin was resting on his face, giving Sandra a knowing look that said 'I know a secret, I am superior.' He spoke, his voice smooth and deep.
"I was curious. I didn't get a chance to examine you properly last time, so I came for a closer look."
Instantly Sandra remembered the dream she'd had when she fell asleep in the bath. The colour of his eyes, the pure turquoise blue that had pierced through her soul in her dream were doing the same thing now. Suddenly she realized that she was in danger, and opened her mouth wide at him in a catlike hiss of rage, then leapt at him. As she flew through the air, she wasn't human anymore, she became Sandra the demon, in all her furious glory. Her talons sliced at his neck, but he dodged at the last moment, sending her tumbling into the side of the counter, and he thrust his palm into her back, forcing her face into the countertop. With a strength that came naturally, she heaved herself away from the counter and twisted around to claw at his face. Her anger grew and grew as each time she swiped at his face, he dodged again and again, moving at the waist to avoid her claws. He did it with his grin still in place, moving with such ease and speed that infuriated Sandra. Her blood began to boil. In an attempt to wipe the grin from his face, Sandra placed her hand on the edge of the counter behind her and jumped, supporting her weight with it, then kicked with both of her hooves at his smug face. He moved to the side, and caught both her feet with his hands, and before Sandra could think, swung her around, through the doorway of the kitchen and against the opposite wall. Sandra hit the wall with her back, and landed in a heap on the floor. When she struggled to her feet, she saw red. Her teeth were clenched and her breath labored, and her purple irises were now glowing. Abe burst into flames. Sandra grinned in carnal satisfaction, watching the flames consume him. Her smile faded however, when she noticed that he wasn't screaming. Unlike Jack, who always ran around when he was set on fire, Abe just stood there, completely silent. Sandra squinted to see past the flames, and saw that he was still grinning. The elastic holding back his hair had been incinerated though, although his clothes still remained intact, and his hair was being toyed with by the flames, without actually being burnt. What disturbed her the most was the fact that he was just standing there, as though he wasn't on fire at all. He looked as though she'd done nothing more than throw a feather at him.
"My my my," He said, in the same deep voice. "You are indeed powerful. I can see that Mike wasn't exaggerating when he described your demonic beauty."
Sandra staggered backwards and gasped, shocked. Several thoughts ran through her mind: 'Fire doesn't hurt him, he must be a demon too.'; 'What does he want with me?'. But deep down, in the innermost private part of her mind, she thought: 'Mike thinks I'm beautiful.'
Abe made a vague hand gesture, as though to wave away a fly buzzing by his head, and the flames vanished. He slowly started to walk towards her, not taking his eyes off her. Sandra just stood there, all will to fight drained from her, leaving her paralyzed with stark terror in the face of this being. He came closer. Suddenly she remembered her dream, and how similar these two scenarios were. Soon he was just a few feet away from her, and she could make no move to back away.
There was a sound. One would be hard pressed to describe what it sounded like, but the nearest description would be the sound of a large, thick piece of cardboard being shaken once. Suddenly everything in front of Sandra became slightly out of focus, and strangely blue. Abe seemed to stop, a look of bewilderment crossing his face. Then there was a voice.
"Stay away from her, or you'll find out what it's like to be turned inside out." Both Abe and Sandra turned to see Jack standing at the bottom of the stairs, his plaid shirt moving and merging with itself like oil on the surface of water, and his arm outstretched in front of him. He'd clearly just gotten out of bed when he'd heard the noise, his hair was ruffled and his face bore the crease marks of the wrinkles from the pillow. It was then that Sandra saw the wall of fuzzy blue pigment for what it was. Jack had created a shield to protect her. Abe didn't seem that impressed with it though. He just smiled as he looked at Jack.
"Ah, I remember you. You're the one that tried to stop me from looking at her in her dreams." Jack's face clouded for a moment, struggling to work out what he'd meant. Then his expression cleared.
"That was you?!" The image of the large snake shape of power he'd seen in the spectral realm leapt at him in his mind. He recalled how it had been doing something to Sandra, before he'd stopped it. Now it seemed they'd found the source of both the strange force and Sandra's frightening dream. It was the man before them, the one who's name Sandra had said was Abe.
Abe simply stayed where he was, looking at Jack. Jack remained where he was with his arm outstretched, looking right back at him. Finally Abe spoke.
"You needn't worry about me hurting her, I was only curious. After all, it was her that attacked me." When neither of them moved or said anything, he sighed and rolled his eyes. "It seems to me that we've all gotten off on the wrong foot. Let's just start this again properly. My name is Abryl, and I merely wanted to get a closer look at your demonic friend here." He gestured to Sandra as he said this, but otherwise made no move. Abryl smiled knowingly. "You have doubts, questions. I can see that you do. I want you to know that I wish no bad blood between us, so ask, and I will answer."
Jack was silent for a while, then he simply asked,
"Who are you?" The shield between Sandra and Abryl disappeared with the same sound of shaken cardboard, but he didn't lower his arm, letting Abryl know that he was still ready to use magic if he stepped out of line. Abryl chuckled, and took a step back from Sandra, to show his goodwill.
"There are many answers to that question, but I believe I know what you mean." He then held his arms out as if to say 'Ta-Da'. "I am an angel."
Once again, everyone found themselves gathered around the table. Crystal was yawning and rubbing her eyes, despite the avid curiosity she felt towards their new guest. Sam, however was his usual surly self.
"Why am I always the last to know about anything?" he complained in the world in general. No one paid him particular attention. Jack was still wary of Abryl, and always kept Tomie clutched in his hand like he was a medallion of protection. Sandra, once she had recovered from the ordeal, couldn't take her eyes off of the blonde man. Mostly Abryl was asked questions about the dream that Sandra had, where he admitted that it was indeed him that had been the cause of it.
"It's called telepathy, the process of reading a person's thoughts. Of course it's not as simple as that, there's far more to it. Seeing what a person is thinking is more difficult than people realize. People think at such high speeds and on so many things at once it's a wonder that anyone knows what they're thinking half the time."
The questions carried on along this vein for a while, until Sandra could no longer hold back the one question she'd been dying to ask.
"What are you doing here? Did God send you to me?" Abryl merely chuckled, as he did so often.
"I'm sorry to say that I may have mislead you on that subject. I've lived a long time, and I've never met God, nor heard anything from him. I only used the word 'Angel' because it is the most fitting word to describe me, just as you have chosen the word 'Demon' to describe you, Sandra." Sandra's brow creased in mild frustration at this, and she asked her next question before anyone else could beat her to it.
"Well, if you aren't an angel, what are you?"
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Abryl seemed to consider this for a while. Then he seemed to come to a decision.
"I am like you, I've become what I am through magic. Although in your case it was a randomized burst of magic. As for me, I guess you could say that I only have myself to blame."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, asking his first question. Abryl shrugged.
"I sought power, I found it. Now here I am."
"That's pretty vague." Jack said
"Well it was a very personal question." Abryl replied, with a touch of hurt in his voice.
"Well, at least tell us what you're doing here, bothering us." Said Sam. Abryl chuckled again.
"Am I bothering you?" His question was only met by silence. He carried on. "When I sensed the power emissions of your pyrokenesis, I thought to myself, 'Interesting, someone like me to talk to'. However, because for most of the time you weren't using your powers, I couldn't find you. I'd pick up another burst of pyrokenesis every now and again, but it was always very brief and only gave me a general direction of where it was coming from. It was only by sheer fortune that my dear friend Michael decided to confide in me his secret about his demon crush."
Sandra's face turned bright purple. It was a human reaction, but the demon equivalent. She was blushing. Demon crush? Did Mike actually say that? Or was Abryl just putting a label on everything that Mike said? She noticed that everyone was starting to stare at her, so she forced her face into a neutral expression and asked another question.
"But you still haven't answered the question of why you're here." Abryl looked at her and a wide smile spread across his face.
"Indeed I haven't. Very good. I came to find you because, quite simply, I was lonely. I wanted another supernatural being to talk to. I tried sending you telepathic messages once or twice, but you seemed to be ignoring them."
Sandra blinked.
"What makes you think I could receive telepathic messages?"
"Sandra, anyone, human or otherwise, can receive telepathic messages. I was only commenting that you weren't responding to my messages."
"But what makes you think that I'm capable of doing anything like that?"
Now it was Abryl's turn to blink.
"Why, because you're a demon. All demons and angels alike are telepathic." Sandra merely gaped, and Abryl had a look of confusion on his face as he leaned towards her.
"You mean you didn't KNOW?"
"Know what?" Jack asked suspiciously. Sandra was still gaping at Abryl, completely shocked at the revelation. Abryl ignored him.
"What other powers have you discovered about yourself besides pyrokenesis?"
Sandra shut her mouth and pulled herself together. At last she could answer this question.
"I can climb up walls, and I can fly." She grinned smugly, glad that she'd shown him that she wasn't completely ignorant. But Abryl just looked incredulous.
"And nothing else?"
Sandra's grin faded. There was more? Abryl reached over the table and grabbed Sandra's hand urgently.
"Sandra, you... " He never finished what he was going to say. Jack saw him grab Sandra, and didn't think beyond that, he only saw a potentially aggressive gesture. With a single word of a simple but powerful incantation, Abryl was hurled with tremendous force in the direction of the door. Before he got there, he twisted in the air, until he landed on his feet while he was still moving, and skidded backwards, and stopped just in the doorway. Abryl looked up at Jack, his face a picture of rage.
"That wasn't very nice." he said simply. "Let's see how you like it."
Unlike Jack, Abryl didn't speak any incantations, but simply thrust his arm in the direction of Jack, and he was thrown back and against the back wall with the same force that he'd used on Abryl.
"I'm impressed, Jack." He told him as he walked over to him. "It normally takes a lot longer for me to take a dislike to someone."
Sam tried to run at Abryl to stop him, but Crystal grabbed his arm and held him back. Abryl was nearly upon Jack with an arm raised back as if to shove him, when Sandra stood between them, her arms out, blocking him. She didn't wait for Abryl to act or speak before telling him.
"I want you to teach me."
Abryl stopped and stared at her, clearly unprepared for the either the interruption or the comment. He lowered his arm.
"And what is it that you want me to teach you?"
"About my powers that you say I have. I want you to teach me how to use them."
"But what about your friend? You want me to help you discover your powers after I've just tried to hurt your friend?"
"He deserved it." Sandra replied coldly. Jack groaned. Abryl just continued to stared at her, before lowering his arm.
"And why do you want me to do this?"
That was a very good question, and the truth was, Sandra didn't know why. It just seemed very very important that she actually do something to learn about herself. Also, judging by her past history, chances were that some freak, weirdo or monster would come trying to kill her again, and she wanted to be prepared. After a long pause she settle for a half truth.
"I've been attacked by some very powerful things intent on killing me. I want to be prepared for when it happens again."
Abryl looked at Sandra for a while. Then he looked at Sam, standing up and ready to rush at him at the least provocation. He saw Crystal still holding onto Sam's arm and whispering to him, trying to calm him down. He looked at Jack, sitting up against the wall on the floor, looking up at him with hate in his eyes. Then he looked back at Sandra, looking back at him with steely gaze. His weighed his options while looking, then came to a decision.
"Alright. I'll do it."
The next day was a beautiful sunny day, so Abryl suggested that he and Sandra go out for a walk while they discuss the task ahead of them. Sandra happily donned her human guise and eventually dug up her shoes, which she hadn't needed for quite some time. It was fun tying laces again. As she came back down the stairs, Abryl was waiting by the front door, still wearing his solid boots and large coat. She wondered why he never seemed to take it off. She didn't bother with a coat and walked past him out the door. He followed, shutting the door after him.
Once they'd gone, Sam moved to the front window, and watched them through a crack in the curtains as they ambled down the path and across the road. When he could no longer see them, he let out an audible sigh of relief. Crystal, who had been preparing breakfast, looked over to him.
"What's the matter, Sam?" she said as she walked over to him and gave him a bowl of cereal. He took it and idly stirred the cereal with the spoon. He looked down at it, and smiled wryly when he saw it. It was a brand of cereal that he'd once sponsored, back home.
"It's him." he said, "I don't like him."
"Aw c'mon, he seems nice enough. I'm sure we can trust him." she said. She led him down to the couch, and sat him down, then went to the TV to turn it on.
"I never said I didn't trust him." said Sam defensively, "I'm sure we can trust him to keep his word and behave. I only said I didn't like him. He's too arrogant, thinks he's better than everyone else. If there's one thing I hate about people, it's arrogance."
Crystal didn't know what to say, so she settled for saying nothing. She pressed eject on the VCR, and took out the tape that was in there. As she put it on top of the VCR, she noticed the label. 'Meet Sam Sprinkles'. Crystal frowned. She didn't remember bringing this down here.
"Are you OK Sam?" she asked over her shoulder. Sam had gone into a sudden coughing fit.
"No I'm *cough* fine. Just *hack hack* something went down the *gak* wrong way." he managed, eyeing the tape that Crystal was looking at. He seemed to relax though when she shrugged and carried on with putting in a new tape.
Jack came rushing down the stairs and twisted his head this way and that as though he were looking for something. He didn't seem to find it, and looked to Crystal.
"Where are they?" he demanded. Crystal turned to look at him, and uncertainty clouded her face.
"They just left, to take a walk."
Jack cursed and raced to the door, Tomie in hand, and rushed through it without bothering to close it. Crystal could only look from the doorway in surprise and confusion, before quietly closing the door.
"Well I wonder what he's so agitated about." she said to herself. She heard a rustling noise, and turned towards the TV to face it. It stopped just as she turned, nothing was moving. She frowned, but carried on towards the TV to turn it on. When she was putting in the tape she wanted to watch, she glanced up at the top of the VCR. It was bare. Strange, she thought to herself, I could have sworn that I left that other tape there. She heard the rustling noise again, this time coming from behind her. She whirled around, and saw Sam sitting on the couch, eating his cereal as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Crystal noticed that there was a definite scruffy look to him that hadn't been there before.
She shook her head as she realized that this train of thought was going nowhere. I must be crazy, she thought. She turned back to the TV, while Sam finished his cereal, placed the bowl on the table in front of him, and folded his arms to hide the bulge in his shirt that the tape was making.
"I can't say that I'm surprised that Pyrokinesis was the first of your powers to surface." Abryl commented to Sandra as the two of them walked along the sidewalk. "Fire is a highly volatile element, and as powerful and uncontrollable as a person's anger. Anyone can see that the two concepts: Anger and Fire, are a metaphor for each other."
Sandra nodded. It made sense, though the subject brought up a question that she should've thought of before.
"Why didn't you burn when I set you on fire?" she asked.
"Simple: I am also Pyrokinetic. I can control the element of Fire, and therefore fire doesn't hurt me. It works the other way too, I can withstand extreme cold too. I could pick up boiling eggs right from the pot with my bare hands without hurting myself. I could also take a bath in liquid oxygen without being turned into a popsicle. You'll be pleased to know that it's the same with you. If I had set YOU on fire, then you wouldn't have burned. You'd have been on fire, and you'd have felt the change in temperature, but you wouldn't have been burned."
Sandra listened in awe. It was strange hearing such incredible things about yourself from someone else whom you barely know. Another question arose in her mind.
"Pyrokinesis isn't the only think I can do?"
Abryl chuckled, as he often did.
"No. In order for Life to exist in any form, it needs certain elements. Four such elements are Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Life needs each of these elements in some way, and cannot exist without any of them. Each of these elements I can manipulate with my mind, as can you."
"Manipulate?" Sandra asked, looking at him.
"Yes. For example, there is more to Pyrokinesis than just setting people on fire." Abryl demonstrated his point by holding his hand in front of him, palm up. Before Sandra's eyes a flame burst into existence, nestled in the palm of his hand. Sandra stared wide eyed at it. It looked like a soap bubble on fire. Abryl quickly closed his hand and the flame winked out, replaced by a puff of smoke.
"Fire is the easiest element to invoke, all you need is focus, and something to focus on. Take for instance, your friend Jack. Whenever he makes you angry, you think things like 'Jack did this on purpose! I can't believe he did that! Jack's such a jerk! Jack! Jack! Jack!!' Your attention is focused completely on Jack. Now, as I said before, Fire is symbolically linked to Anger, and the anger became your focus. So you had the focus, and something to focus on. You invoked fire. It's as simple as that."
They walked on through the busy shops, past all of the rushing people. Sandra barely even noticed, she was too wrapped up in what she was hearing.
"However," Abryl continued, "These elements are a rather complex form of mental power, and not all demons possess them. At least not all of them."
At that Sandra felt a small twinge of panic. Did that mean that she couldn't do all those things? She didn't know how anyone could manipulate Earth with their mind, or any of those other ones, but she would have liked to know how. Abryl continued with his lecture, completely ignoring the bustling people around them.
"There are two powers of the mind that all demons that I've come across have possessed however. From what I've learned through my life I've discovered that these two are the most basic of mental powers. I'm sure you'll know of them, books have been written about them, movies have been made about them. They are: Telepathy and Telekinesis. I'm fairly certain that you know what they are." He looked at her with another smile on his face. Not the same superior smile as last time, this one was more like he was saying 'I know you know the answer, but I want you to tell me anyway'.
"Well, Telekinesis is moving things with your mind." She was certain about that one, she'd learned if from the movie 'Matilda'. Abryl nodded. "And Telepathy is reading people's minds."
"Not quite." he said, holding up a finger. "Hearing and seeing a person's thoughts is only one part of it. There are many other things that can be seen and done with the human mind. You can see what they're feeling, examine their memories. Not only that, but the really powerful telepaths can CHANGE what a person feeling, and alter their memories. Of course demons I've met that could do this used it to their own advantage. I used to do it. Quite a lot in fact, but... I don't anymore." Something in his voice made Sandra look at him. His eyes were downcast, looking at the pavement. He was clearly lost in some memory of long ago. Sandra wondered what had happened to him to make him sound so sad.
Nothing was said for a while, so Sandra decided to break the silence with another question.
"So does that mean I can do all those things?"
Abryl, startled out of his reverie, looked at her.
"Absolutely. Although you may have used your telepathy before, without realizing it. Sometimes a person can feel a single emotion really strongly, so strongly that it radiates off them like heat, and a nearby telepath can feel what that person is feeling without even trying. Sometimes it happens with conscious thoughts too, but very rarely. For that to happen a person must be totally focused on that one thought."
Sandra considered this. She supposed that maybe sometimes she'd been able to tell that Crystal wasn't feeling too happy sometimes, even though you couldn't tell to look at her. But she'd just put that down to being her best friend. Who knows if I even was reading her mind, she thought.
"Come, Sandra, let's see if you can hear the thoughts of the people around you. Believe me, once you get the hang of it, you'll hardly have to try." Abryl led the hesitant Sandra by the arm to a bench by the park, and sat down, motioning for her to sit down next to him. Sandra sat down quite rigidly, with her hands in her lap, whereas Abryl was quite relaxed, with one arm resting on the back of the bench, his legs straight out in front of him, one foot crossed over the other. Sandra turned to him, waiting for him to continue, but Abryl just looked back at her expectantly, and eventually gestured with his free hand towards the busy people.
Sandra gulped, and looked at all of the people. She wouldn't know where to start. Abryl certainly wasn't about to volunteer any more advice, so she supposed he must think that she ought to be able to figure it out on her own. Sandra picked out one guy in the crowd, and stared at him, tensing up and holding her breath, as though she were trying to find a muscle in her brain to pull to make her see what he was thinking. She eventually let out her breath, and relaxed. All that did was give her a headache. She looked again at Abryl, but he was just looking at her, clearly waiting for her to carry on. It kind of made her uncomfortable to have him watching her like that, but there wasn't anything that she could do about it. So she picked out another person, this time a woman, and this time she tried to guess what she was thinking by the way she was walking. Hmm, she thought, she's walking quite fast, stiffly, and keeping her eyes down. She's definitely in a hurry, but why? She was late for work maybe? No, not quite. Today's her day off and she's been called into work at the last minute. Yea, she'd had plans to spend the day with her boyfriend, but that asshole boss called her up just as she was getting ready to leave and said to get to work immediately. I mean, who does he think he is? He got plenty of time to get someone else to work today. It's not like he's short on staff or anything. Huh, he's doing this on purpose, I know it. Maybe I should quit! Yea, I've always hated this job anyway, I'll just walk right into his office and tell him. I'll lean over that desk, grab him by the necktie, pull him up, and tell him right to his face that he's a nothing but a fu...
Sandra gasped and the thoughts stopped. She realized that she'd been seeing images that she couldn't remember seeing anywhere else. Images of a short, sweaty man in a suit, sitting behind a large desk, looking at her like Sandra's old boss had once done. Sandra realized that these images were memories. Not hers, but those of the woman she'd picked out. Sandra looked to Abryl in amazement, to see that he was smiling. Clearly he'd been able to tell what had happened. He spoke, but his voice seemed to come from all around her.
"Very good. Again."
Sandra noticed that his lips weren't moving. Somehow she got an enormous thrill, realizing that he had communicated telepathically, and that she was also actually capable of all the things he'd been talking about. Her skin began to tingle in childish excitement, as though she'd been given new toys on Christmas to play with.
She turned again to the crowd, this time picking out a young man. He was all hunched in on himself, with his hands in his pockets, and his collar up so that Sandra couldn't see his face properly. The way he was walking wasn't giving anything away about what he was thinking or feeling, so she was at a bit of a loss as to what he might be thinking. She tried anyway, the same way as before, by guessing. His girlfriend perhaps? Probably. A young woman with long, straight blonde hair most likely. Sandra frowned as an image came into her head. No, not blonde, black. Her hair was as black as hair can be. She was Japanese, with hair down past her shoulders, framing her narrow face. She was a little taller than him, Sandra knew this because she could see through his eyes in a memory of looking into her eyes. Those big brown eyes. Her name was Judy. She held him close and whispered in his ear.
"I've got a surprise for you when you get home tonight. Don't get anything to eat on your way home, I don't want you spoiling your surprise with cheap takeaway food."
Sandra blinked, the memory faded, and the man walked away. A shiver ran through her body, and it wasn't from the cold. She felt, excited, electrified! Suddenly she felt so powerful, like she could do whatever she wanted.
"Careful." Abryl said suddenly. Sandra jerked her head in his direction, her train of thought crashing to a halt. "The thoughts you are thinking now are the same thoughts that came to me when I first discovered my telepathy. I can tell you now that acting on those impulses will only add to your suffering, not relieve it."
Briefly, before memory could react, Sandra wondered how he knew. Abryl saw the thought flit through her mind, and leaned close to her.
"Remember," he said, "You may have only just become a telepath, but I've had a lifetime of experience. You will never be able to fully hide your thoughts from me."
Sandra didn't have any reason to believe him, yet somehow she did. Something told her that Abryl was being completely honest when he said he had a lifetime of experience. Maybe it was his eyes that told her, or maybe his voice. Whatever it was, she didn't doubt it for a second. She gulped.
Abryl leaned back again, looking out to the crowd.
"OK, this time try to see through another person's eyes, to see what they see."
Sandra felt as though she'd just been taught an important lesson from Abryl. The message was loud and clear: Don't mess with me. She shivered. If Abryl noticed he made no indication that he did.
For the next half hour, Abryl taught Sandra learned to 'see' through the eyes of the people around her. She looked through people's memories to find out their names, how old they were, and relationships they had with other people. It wasn't just seeing and hearing their memories, she noticed. It was something more, like she could feel what the person could remember feeling. All the while, Abryl simply sat back, watching over what Sandra was doing. Soon, as she was moving from one person's mind to another, she came to one person's eyes that were focused on a park bench, with two people, man and woman, sitting on it. It took Sandra several seconds for Sandra to realize that she was looking at herself. Someone was watching her. With her mind she listened to the person's thoughts. Sandra had discovered that it was almost impossible to hear what a person was thinking. There are so many voices chattering constantly at any given time, talking about all sorts of different things at once. It seemed remarkable to Sandra that anyone could know what they're thinking at all. Abryl taught her that sometimes one can glean some information from a person's thoughts, but it's their emotions and intentions that give the most information. The mind behind the eyes looking at her was full of suspicion, and driven by the single intention: Protect Sandra. After glimpsing at some memories, Sandra discovered something, although not unpredictable, quite surprising. It was Jack. Jack was watching over her.
"He really cares about you, doesn't he?"
Sandra gave a start, then struggled to bring her mind back to her own head. Then she looked up at Abryl. He was looking at her, and it vexed her that he was able to see what she was doing with her mind. After a moment she let her eyes drop.
"He feels responsible for what I am, and he feels an obligation to change me back."
"If you can change back." Abryl said suddenly. Sandra looked up at him again, open-mouthed. She tried to say something once or twice, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, but Abryl kept talking before she could start.
"Sandra, there is only one solid, irrevocable rule of the universe, and that is 'Everything Changes'. You see it all the time, seeds turn to trees; caterpillars turn to butterflies; babies turn into adults. These you know. What you can't see but you can recognize, are the way a relationship changes; the way a person changes. Things change. They change constantly. But you need to remember, Sandra." He leaned in close to her, "The things that change can never change back." He paused, letting the comment sink in, while Sandra's heart sank. "It works the same with magic. I've used magic to change something from one thing into another, but no matter how hard I try, I've never been able to change it back to what it was."
Abryl's expression grim, but Sandra could see a softness in his eyes that told her that he wasn't completely without sympathy. But she still had to say what was on her mind.
"B... but there's still hope. Hope can help a person accomplish impossible tasks."
Abryl shrugged.
"True, Hope can carry people through the impossible. But so can resolution."
Sandra couldn't think of anything else to say. She hung her head, her hands laying limp in her lap. She felt like she wanted to cry. She felt Abryl rest his hand on her shoulder.
"I know it's not the most comforting thing to learn, but for what it's worth, I felt the same way when I learned it. The only difference between you and me is that I had to learn it on my own, the hard way."
Sandra smiled, and was able to hold back the tears. Abryl stood up, and held his hand out for her.
"Come on, let's go home. You've learned enough for today."
Sandra wiped her eyes, and took his hand.
Life for Sandra in the following weeks was busier and more hectic than she'd grown used to, but she couldn't honestly say that it was for the worse. Life as a demon was, bluntly put, boring. She'd never been able to go out anywhere without the hooded coat that Crystal had made for her. Now she could not only go out, but she was kept busy with Abryl teaching her all sorts of things that she'd never thought possible. After learning about Telepathy they'd focused on Telekinesis, which had turned out to be a source of boundless amusement for both Crystal and Sandra, first by making Crystal's teddy bear dance in the air, and then by allowing Crystal to 'fly' through the air around the living room. With the curtains drawn of course.
When Sandra appeared to have mastered that, Abryl moved on to Pyrokinesis, much to Sandra's foreboding horror. It didn't turn out nearly as bad as she had feared. Abryl had taken her to the back yard, sat down in the grass with her, and gave her some twigs to hold and concentrate on until they caught fire. The simple exercise empowered Sandra, not just over the Pyrokinesis itself, but over the fear of it that she'd been harboring since she realized that Jack was in danger of getting killed each time she set him on fire. Soon she was able to hold a flame in her hand, like Abryl had shown her the first day of their lessons.
By far it was an easier time for everyone. It was easier for Sandra because she was keeping her mind and body busy with learning and practicing. It was easier on Crystal and Sam, who didn't have to fret as much about Sandra's well being. The only person who seemed ill at ease was Jack. He'd made it clear that he still didn't trust Abryl, and would watch them as they sat on the grass talking and practicing. He was looking out the window at them one day when Sam approached him.
"Hey, Jack."
Jack turned, waiting for Sam to continue, but he seemed a little hesitant. Eventually Jack got impatient.
"Yes, what is it?"
"I was just wondering if you'd made any progress with finding a way back to my dimension."
Jack was at a loss for words. The question was out of the blue, and didn't quite make sense, coming from Sam. Jack studied Sam's face, to see if he was serious. He looked a little apprehensive, and something else that Jack couldn't quite guess, but he was definitely serious.
"No, I'm afraid not, Sam." Jack said at length. "It's a lot harder than it sounds, because with magic you can't do something that big the same way twice. Besides, doing something like that takes up a lot of power, and I'm still recovering from giving Sandra more power to make her appear human."
Sam just nodded, and walked away.
Jack thought a little about what just happened, but noticed that Abryl and Sandra were still outside, and he turned back to the window. Soon his conversation with Sam was forgotten.
The sun was hot and not a single cloud interfered as it shone mercilessly onto the the world. Abryl had suggested a break in their lessons as Sandra had been doing so well. They sat down on the grass, next to the large pile of burnt twigs. Sandra lay down, and covered her eyes with her arm. Abryl just leaned back against his hands with his legs crossed out in front of him. For a long time neither of them spoke, but soon Sandra asked a question that had been foremost in her mind for a long time.
"How do you know Mike?" She asked simply. The question didn't unexpected, so Abryl didn't hesitate very long before answering.
"I met him in the course of my work and we soon became friends."
"Were you two friends before he met me?"
Abryl nodded.
"Then why didn't he tell me about you?"
"Well, according to what he told me about you, you didn't give him much of a chance. He told me that when you first revealed that you were a demon, he barely had time to think at all let alone about telling you about me. And last Halloween he didn't know it was you he was talking to all night until the last second, when you flew away without another word."
Sandra was silent, her guilt making her heart swell up into her throat, and tears tickle behind her eyes. If Abryl noticed he didn't show it. Sandra decided to change the subject.
"Where do you work?"
"What makes you think I work anywhere?" he asked, Sandra frowned.
"You said that you met Mike through work. What do you do?"
"I don't work, as you call it, it's more like something that I need to do."
"What is it?"
"I can't tell you." He wouldn't say anything more about it, no matter how much Sandra pressed, so she just gave up.
"Well, should we keep going?" she asked.
"No, I think we've done enough for one day, besides, I think you've mastered Fire now."
"Really?!"
"Yes. But don't get too excited, you have after all had a lot of practice with it."
Sandra punched him in the shoulder. Abryl smiled. Soon they both went back inside.
The sun had just set, the colour started to fade from the western sky. Sandra morphed to her human form. She liked to remain in demon form in the house, partly because looking human took a little bit of effort, but mainly so that she didn't forget that she wasn't human yet. She put her shoes on and made her way downstairs to the front door. She was just putting on her jacket when she heard a sound coming from the stairs. She turned to see Abryl, looking almost ordinary without his long coat, halfway down the stairs, watching her.
"Going out?" He asked. Sandra sighed. She had hoped to leave without having to explain herself, the explanation seemed silly even to herself. But somehow she felt that Abryl would sympathize.
"It's been a while, but I miss flying." she said, getting straight to the point. "For me flying makes me feel free and relaxed, and I haven't had a chance to fly for a long time. I don't expect you to fully understand... "
"Oh no, I understand. I understand entirely." Abryl said, coming to the bottom of the stairs. Sandra looked incredulous.
"You do?"
"Oh yes. In fact, I think I might join you." He walked to the front door as he spoke, and donned his long coat before opening the door.
"Actually I prefer to be alone, I don't like it when... "
"I insist." Abryl said quietly. It didn't need to be loud, it had an authority and power to it that left no room for discussion. Sandra pulled on her jacket and stomped out the door.
Sandra parked the car and got out, slamming the door. Abryl got out of the passenger side and calmly closed his door. They were at a large remote hill next to the forrest near town. To the west they saw the town, far away, the sky just above it showing the last hint of the receding day. Sandra stormed up the hill, and threw her jacket onto the grass. She glowered at Abryl, making his way calmly up the hill.
"I seriously don't need to be supervised. Just because you're more powerful than I am doesn't mean that you need to be with me all the time."
Abryl reached the top of the hill, and was standing next to her.
"I didn't come here to supervise you." he said simply.
"Then what the hell are you doing here!?"
Abryl didn't reply, but just took off his coat, and placed it next to Sandra's jacket. Then he took a few steps backwards towards Sandra.
"What are you... ?" before she could finish, Abryl started running. He was very fast, and reached the other edge of the hill in a matter of seconds. When he reached the edge he leaped into the air, higher than was humanly possible. Sandra's eyes followed him, and she gasped at what she saw. When he'd reached the height of his jump, the back of Abryl's shirt tore, and a pair of wings erupted from his back. Sandra stared at them, they were nothing like her own wings. Sandra's wings conformed to the demonic bat motif, whereas Abryl's wings seemed to be those of a true angel. They were covered in pure white feathers, that seemed to glow in the starlight. Their span was great, Sandra couldn't be sure if they were as wide as hers or not. As she watched Abryl flapped his wings once and soared up, he tilted slightly and glided around in a wide circle. Once he'd gone in a complete circuit he folded his wings and he plummeted back down towards the hill. When it seemed he was about to hit the hill, he spread his wings wide, and flapped them once as hard as he could. He stopped falling instantly a few inches from the grass, the resulting gust of wind from his wings almost sending Sandra falling |
