"Something you wanna talk about?" He teased, grinning at me, his old humorous spark back in his eyes. I smiled.
"Nah, just thinking about stuff. Did you see that new movie?" I deftly changed the subject. I could tell Roger noticed, but he didn't push the matter. A few hours later, around 6ish, just as it was getting dark, he dropped my off a few blocks from my house so I could walk home. I'd asked him to drop me off farther from home than usual, I wanted to walk and breathe in the night air and think. As I walked, I thought I felt someone watching me, but when I turned and looked behind me, there was no one there. My thoughts turned back to Makkail, and how I couldn't wait to see him again. Because of my errant thoughts, I was walking more slowly than usual, and I wasn't even halfway home yet. I passed the bakery on the corner, and once again thought I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, this time in the reflection of the large glass window on the bakery. When I concentrated, nothing was there once more, and I chalked it up to my imagination and my lack of sleep the previous night, which was already beginning to take a small toll on me. Makkail had said he'd come a little early that night and stay a little longer, and I couldn't wait. I had about an hour before he'd said he'd come, so I hurried my steps a little. I thought if I got home quick enough I'd be able to catch an hour of sleep so I'd be more awake when he got there. I couldn't help but get another goofy smile on my face when I thought about Makkail, and for the thousandth time that day I let out a dreamy sigh. In my lovesick state, I wasn't quite expecting the had that curved around my mouth or the arm that wrapped around my waist and yanked me into the shadows of the tiny alley in between the bakery and the coffee shop. I screamed. Although my vocal cords were talented in the art of screaming quite loudly, the hand over my mouth muffled most of the sounds that otherwise would have echoed through the dismally empty street. The condition of the street... empty... was not a calming thought, and I kept screaming, however unproductive it was. A thousand thoughts raced through my head as the unseen figure continued dragging me backwards into the alley while I struggled... Would I make it back in time to see Makkail? How idiotic, I should be concerned with my life at the moment, but all I could think about was that if I wasn't there waiting for him, he might never come back. And I'd never feel those silken lips against mine again... that startling thought gave me a new burst of energy and with a wrench of strength I didn't know I possessed, I tore my mouth free of his hand long enough to scream piercingly loud before the hand clapped over my mouth again with such force I could taste blood flow onto my tongue. The before now silent figure hissed "Quiet!" We were almost all the way back into the alley, and I quickly tried to think of something else to do, all the while kicking and flailing as much as I could. I told myself I needed to calm down and think about the facts. Quickly. Okay, he wasn't much taller than I was, but surprisingly strong. He had a pretty good hold on me, and I didn't' think I could break it. His hand smelled slightly of coffee, and thats when it hit me... the blond from the coffee shop. Shit. Just then, he finished dragging me to what he thought was far enough back into the shadows, and I felt myself flung violently to the ground. My head spun with the impact, and I tried to rise to crawl away, but arms pinned me down and a heavy body landed on top of mine.
"..Not interested? You fucking BITCH!" The coffee-shop man slapped my face violently, adding to the blood I could already taste in my mouth. I coughed slightly and managed to rasp out
"...Please... please let me go..." He laughed.
"I said please too, and you said you 'weren't interested.' Well I'm not interested in letting you go!" His hands began scrabbling at my shirt, trying to pull it up. I had almost given up at this point, my strength was almost out, my head was ringing, and my mouth hurt like hell. Tears began to fall from my eyes as I silently pleaded towards the heavens for someone to save me. His hands had almost managed to get my shirt off at this point, and it was to my surprise that suddenly his weight left me, about the same time I heard an animalistic roar. I struggled with my lids of stone and managed to open my eyes. The blond was dangling in the air at least two feet off the ground, and had a very shocked look on his face. The single blue arm holding him aloft in the air dropped him and he went crashing to the pavement in a heap. Standing above him, not looking very happy, was Makkail. He leaned down and picked up the miscreant blond and slammed him against the brick wall, with enough force to make the entire structure shake slightly. The blond cried out as Makkail dropped him again, then stilled as he passed out, either from fear or pain. I didn't care which. My eyes closed again and tears flowed from them once more, but this time tears of relief. I felt strong arms lift me and crush me against his chest, and his lips descended into my hair, brushing soft kisses across my forehead and murmuring soothing nothings into my ears. After a few moments I managed to tilt my head back and look up at him, and those deep blue eyes of his. He lifted a finger and brushed the tendrils of hair from my face lovingly, his fingertips stroking across my cheek. When he'd cleared the hair from my face, he saw the quickly darkening bruise on my cheek and his eyes narrowed again and the same murderous look appeared again. I shook my head and then burst into tears, wrapping my arms around his neck. His arms tightened around me and his muscles tightened. I felt his entire body tense and then we seemed to hurtle upwards at an alarming rate. I opened my eyes again and gasped. We were flying through the air towards my house, skimming along the rooftops. I tightened my arms around his neck, and he looked down and smiled slightly, his first one that night.
"Its alright little one, I have you." A few moments later, he lighted on my windowsill, as graceful as a cat.
*******************************************
He had dreamt about her again, of course. Her hair, her eyes... just her. He doubted he'd dream about anything else but her for the rest of his life. He'd woken about an hour before sunset and just lain there, day-dreaming about her, about somehow finding a way to break this horrible curse and having a life with her. He'd left as soon as it was dark, he couldn't wait to see her. Even his flying was slightly erratic, he'd start daydreaming and forget to find a good air current. As he flew close to her house he tried to imagine what his first witty comment would be. He almost fell out of the sky when a scream ripped through the night nearby. The sound of a very frightened woman. Usually, he would have just kept flying, but something made him turn towards it, however reluctantly... he wanted to see Aria. It was probably her influence that made him check on whatever had uttered the cry. He listened carefully with his enhanced hearing, and honed in on a nearby alley where the sounds of a struggle could faintly be heard. He very faintly heard a female voice asking someone to not do something... the voice sounded familiar, slightly so... a thought occurred to him, but he quickly dismissed it. It couldn't be her, she was home safe... or was she? He quickened his pace, and landed at the entrance to the alley. The sight before him sickened him. Aria lay in the alley, tears streaming down her face, her arms weakly trying to push the man on top of her away. The man on top of her was in the process of trying to remove her shirt. Makkail saw all this in a matter of seconds, and a flood of anger that he'd never known before swept through him. A roar tore from his lungs and he sprang forward, grabbing the boy with one hand and sweeping him up and off of Aria and into the air. His eyes, usually a calm and sad blue, were burning with a red fire, and he bared his teeth at the terrified young man. He wanted to rip his throat open, let free the sheathed claws that trembled and cried out for blood, to tear his heart out and leave it dripping on the sidewalk, but his eyes turned to Aria. Her eyes had just opened, and as his red eyes fixed on her sea colored ones, he couldn't. He growled and slammed the boy into the wall, leaving him a whimpering heap on the ground, then headed for Aria, scooping her off the filthy ground and into his arms. She whimpered slightly as she pressed against him, and he lowered his lips to her hair, closing his eyes and thanking anyone listening for letting her be alright. He whispered sweet things into her ears, and she finally tilted her head back to look at him. He used finger to clear the hair from her face, easily supporting her with one. When her hair was gone from her face, he saw a rather large bruise darkening the otherwise perfect pale skin of her face. The anger began to build in him again, and another roar began to rumble in his depths. He half turned back towards the crumpled figure on the ground, but Aria burst into tears and buried her head in the crook of his neck, nuzzling against him. That settled it, his anger disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and he gathered his muscles and leaped into the air, holding her tightly. She gasped and clung to him and he looked down at her and managed a smile for her benefit.
"Its alright little one, I have you." Carrying her was hardly a burden at all for him, his powerful wings beat the air steadily, and he soon landed on her windowsill with his usual grace. He opened the latch and stepped inside. He laid her down on the bed gently, making sure her head went down slowly, so as not to jar it, and he turned and closed the window. He crossed the room, locked the door from the inside, then moved back over towards the bed and sat down next to her. She opened her eyes and smiled at him slightly.
"I'm Okay hon." She said softly, then reached for his hand. "Thank you for saving me."
"Little one, my only regret is that I wasn't there sooner. When I think of what might have happened if I wasn't..." His breath caught and he leaned down, kissing her forehead. She smiled.
"But you were, and I'm Okay. I'm going to go clean up, I'll be right back." She rose and left the room. It seemed like hours, but minutes later she came back in, her face clean, her hair brushed, and she'd changed her shirt into a much cuter one, a rather form fitting black tank top. The sight of her made his heart beat faster, and the sight of her chest in the shirt made the blood rush to... certain areas. She smiled and came straight for him, her arms twining around his neck, and she plopped down in his lap. Not the wisest thing to do with the effect the tank top was having on him. She didn't seem to notice though, and she leaned close to him, her breath warm on his face. He eagerly shortened the remaining distance between them and pressed his lips gently against hers, his eyes closing happily. Her lips moved across his teasingly, she kissed the sides of his mouth, his chin, and his nose before he finally took her face between his hands and pressed his lips against hers. She made a small noise and gave in, melting against his chest, her lips parting for his eager tongue. After several moments of gentle kisses and caresses, his problem was not any easier. He shifted slightly, and froze when he realized his hardness was pressing directly against her jean-clad ass. She pulled back slightly, and smiled at him, then kissed him once more gently, running her hand down the side of his face. She then rose, kissing his cheek on the way up, and walked over to her computer.
"I need to check something, hold on sweetie." He breathed a sigh of relief. She was discreetly giving him a few moments. She leaned over her computer and typed in a password on the first screen, then brought up a web page, and finally clicked the news button.
"Wow, lotta people dying out there." He rose and came to stand behind her, his hands resting on her hips, his mouth nibbling gently on the side of her neck. She squealed and turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pecking his lips gently. Makkail smiled, but his eye caught something on the computer screen behind Aria, and he let her go and moved around her to look at it more closely. The Headline on the screen read "Head of Golden Gate bank goes missing." Aria turned.
"Whats wrong Makkail?" She looked at the computer screen and back at Makkail. He was staring at the headline and the picture of the man with a strange look on his face. "Honey?" She said, gently tugging on his arm. His hand came up and rested on top of hers.
"I know what happened to him." He said quietly. Aria's eyes widened.
"How?"
"When I lived here, on earth, as a regular person, he was one of my clients."
"Clients?"
"I was a lawyer."
"Oh." Aria chewed on her bottom lip, something that normally would have made Makkail want to cover her with kisses from head to toe. Now, he just kept looking terribly serious and somewhat reminiscently sad.
"So... what happened to him?" Aria asked, her hand on his arm gently stroking up and down.
"When I defended him, it was against the allegations of a rather nasty character named Mike Wallace. This Mike Wallace wasn't very reputable, but he did have large sums of money. Everyone knew he had ties to the mob, but no one could pin a thing on him. My client, Jim Hendrix, is the head of the bank where Wallace stored most of his money in an attempt to look legitimate to the public. Jim decided to help himself to a bit of Wallace's money, thinking he could get away with it because no one would care since Mike was such a low-life. However, Wallace isn't as dumb as Jim thought, and he figured it out, and sued Jim. I defended Jim, and he won. I always won my cases." At this point, Aria looked up at Makkail questioningly, it wasn't like him to be boastful, but there was no pride on his face, just grim acceptance. She suddenly realized it was hard for him to tell her all this, and she said nothing, just continued stroking his arm gently. Makkail took a deep breath, and continued.
