Chapter 1

The church looked far too eerie to have once been considered a house of God and, yet in its younger years, that was what it had been…no more, though. The once well-kept visage of the church had been attacked by the cruel vines that desired nothing more than to grow and devour the stone structure; the small cemetery behind the church held scattered clumps of overgrown weeds that threatened to hide the crumbling grave markers. Though it could have easily been repaired, the people who now inhabited it were prohibited from attempting to save their new abode.

If the church was repaired, people would return. If people returned, that would create unwanted problems for the man and woman that called the church ‘home’.

The aforementioned woman silently strode through the graveyard, occasionally glancing at the tombstones and semi-pausing as though she knew person who now lay buried beneath her delicate steps; upon reaching the door, she rapped once, paused, then rapped twice. The door opened slightly, allowing a thin sliver of light to illuminate her pale features; a man’s face appeared.

“I see you’re returning fairly early from your nightly hunt tonight, Kaiya,” he said as he stood aside to allow her entrance. “Nothing good to eat out there? Or do you just prefer my dining company?”

“Bite me, Zeke,” she snarled slightly, showing her elongated fangs. “I’ve had a bad night…again.”

The man sighed. “Again? That’s the third night this week…is it because of your dreams?”

“Of course, it’s because of my dreams,” she snapped. “Why else would I find myself fainting when I should be hunting and suffering from insomnia when I should be sleeping? That’s the third time this week I have fainted and let my prey get away; if this keeps up, work will be a killer and you’ll have to handle it.” She tossed her raven hair over her shoulder and took off her jacket. “I’m taking a shower.”

After entering the bathroom, Kaiya removed her usual outfit made of nice silver material and turned on the water; she waited a few moments for the temperature to adjust before stepping inside. The hot water scalded her shaking body at first, but she adapted fairly quickly; she leaned against the shower wall.

“You know, you could try telling him what your dreams are about,” a cold voice said from just outside the shower. “I’m sure he’d understand…maybe. Then again, humans understand nothing of your world, do they, vampire?”

“How long have you been there, Azrael?”

“Don’t worry; I didn’t watch you get undressed nor did I have a desire to. I’m merely here because,” he sighed a little, “it’s in my job description as an angel to be here when people need me…even if I am an angel of death and bring little comfort to humans.”

“Then what do you want?”

“The dreams mean something, you know,” he said with a slightly annoyed tone. Of course, he was always annoyed when he had to visit Kaiya so this was nothing new, though he usually didn’t stop by when she was in the shower. “The visions of someone running and being hunted…the visions of the same person being captured and tortured…the memories of your past sins…they are all interconnected.”

Kaiya turned off the water. “Towel,” she said as she stuck her arm out and grabbed for it; he sighed and handed it to her. She wrapped it around her before stepping out of the shower. “What does it all mean, then?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you.”

“You’re allowed to tell me that they mean something, but not what they mean?”

“Yeah, I know the policy is flawed, but it isn’t my policy. If it were up to me, you wouldn’t know anything and you’d probably be dead by now, but that’s not my decision.”

“What can you tell me?”

He stood up and stretched, his black wings spreading and taking up most of the small bathroom. “Not much…I am allowed to tell you that the person being hunted is human, you will be asked to find him, and you’re not going to like the person who hires you.” His eyes narrowed and his tone became suddenly colder. “I am also allowed to tell you to stop trying to find redemption because it’s pointless. Humans are the only creatures allowed to ask for forgiveness and be given redemption…you haven’t been human for quite some time and therefore fall out of that category.”

Kaiya began towel drying her hair as though she hadn’t heard him, but Azrael knew she had; she had tensed and something in her eyes flickered betraying a hint of emotion. He walked over to where she stood in front of the mirror and stood behind her. “Why do you seek something that is impossible to obtain because of what you are?”

She stopped drying her hair and stared into the mirror; one gold eye and one red eye stared back at her. “If even angels—beings supposed to be good and closest to God—can fall from grace, isn’t it possible that something as damned as me can fall into grace?”

Azrael sighed; Kaiya fixed her bangs so that they covered her red eye before she turned to face him. He noticed that she looked paler than usual and her gold eye seemed to have flecks of red scattered throughout; it was clear that she was suffering from the lack of blood, but would never say anything to Ezekiel about it. He shook his head and rolled up his sleeve. “You need blood, Kaiya...and don’t tell me that you’ll get it from Ezekiel later because you won’t because you know the kind of trash he puts in his system.”

She looked at his arm for a second before turning away. “No; you’re an angel…I can’t drink your blood.”

“You can if I order you to and I am ordering you to drink my blood now.”

Kaiya refused to look at him. “I’m not going to bite you, Azrael. I can’t…you know how I feel about feeding…”

Azrael took out his favorite knife and made a small cut on his lower arm. “Just drink my blood before you faint. You have been denying yourself blood for the past three months and you know you need it.”

“No,” she said, moving away from him. “I don’t like feeding and I refuse to feed from you. You’re an angel…you shouldn’t be giving me blood.”

“Yeah, well, I am because I’m in a giving mood so be grateful.” Before Kaiya could do anything, Azrael put his arm against her mouth. “Drink; I’m not letting you leave until you do.”

Finally after a few moments that she spent glaring at him, she began drinking; she moaned softly as his warm blood flowed into her mouth. Even though it had been months since she had last fed, she tried to control her blood intake so that he wouldn’t lose too much; she felt Azrael tense as she sunk her fangs a little deeper into his arm. She pulled away from him after she had drank her fill; he rolled his sleeve down to cover the wound.

“Thanks,” she said as she wiped her mouth off with the towel.

“No problem,” Azrael said, looking away from her. “Don’t mention it to anyone. Seriously. Do you know how much trouble I could get in if someone were to find out that I gave you blood?”

“More or less than if I told someone about your love for ditching work just to spend time sitting in a café drinking coffee and watching people?” She asked as she walked over to and opened the door; she stepped out of the bathroom.

He glared at her; when had he told her about his guilty pleasure? “More, and how do you know about that?”

She smiled. “I have my sources.” She turned off the light, leaving Azrael in complete darkness with a slightly bemused look on his face.