Hedgesville, West Virginia
Caspian Residence
Thursday, August 22, 1996
7:23 PM

The sun was fading and the skies were turning different shades of red and purple. Jennie sat at her window, staring off past the top of the forest line. Her eyes were murky, filled with a hate for life. Leaning back her head, she sighed.
"Mom," she whispered softly into the air. "What were you thinking when you placed me under Nick's care? Couldn't you have left me with Erin's parents? Or Amanda’s or even Megs’? Or was that too hard?" She hung her head low as she thought about it.
"Couldn‘t I have gone with you?" she said as she fiddled with the ring on her finger. The diamond jewel glistened in the fading light as a light breeze flowed into the room, making her hair dance around her face. "Maybe I could…"
She looked up, staring out the window. Her eyes were dark.
"I could jump. Fall to my death. Would two stories kill me?"
Jennie leaned forward, staring down at the ground below. A look of apprehension came over her face.
"I doubt it would kill me," she murmured. "Just break a few bones."
Even a few broken bones sounded better than going back to the high school, to a place where people wished her dead. People who wanted to kill her the first chance they got. Leaning a little further out the window, she closed her eyes.
"One inch," she said as she swallowed the forming lump in her throat. "And I can quit that stupid school.
“And if I'm suppose to go, then I'll survive this with no broken bones or scraps or bruises." It wasn't hard for her to slip off the windowsill.
Falling to the ground, she felt the weightless for a brief second, but the ground never came. Confusion set it.
"What?!"
Looking up abruptly, Jennie found herself staring into dark red eyes that seemed to shimmer with humor. Followed with a perfect smile.
"Trying to kill yourself?" a deep voice asked as she blinked, taking in the man who caught her. Red hair fluttered pleasantly around a pale face while lips of a pleasant pink smirked. "I wouldn't want to see the Seraph get hurt."
"Rowen?" Jennie questioned, staring into the face that did resemble Rowen Aramaki.
"Don't say that name anywhere near me, child," the man stated as if appalled by the mere thought of being confused for the other.
Are we hovering?
It was then that Jennie looked past the man to the pair of red wings that protruded out his back. They filled the air behind him and seemed to be endless.
"An angel!" Jennie shouted as she began squirming to free herself from the man.
"Now, now, child, no need to get fidgety on me," the man said with a chuckle. "I don't kill humans. Just demons." He lifted her up and placed her in the window of her room. "You ought to be more careful."
Taking a seat in the tree outside her window, the man smiled while eyeing her with careful eyes. Jennie found the man to be lithely elegant with a body that could almost pass as a woman's if it weren't for the flat chest and muscular tone of his body.
"Like what you see, child?" he asked.
"Quit calling me child!" she stated flatly with a growl.
"To me, you are just a child," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I am two hundred and twenty years old. I've seen more than you ever will."
"I don't care," she replied hastily. "I have a name."
"Yes, a fine name," the man remarked with a smug expression. "And I am Nilm."
"Nilm? What kind of name is that?" she questioned.
"A divine one indeed, fit for the angels," he replied with a laugh. He looked down at his chest and began playing with an object that hung around his neck. "I suppose you are wondering why I am here?"
"Yeah," she said curtly as Nilm let out a laugh.
"Quite straightforward, aren't you?" Nilm replied. "Must have gotten that from your mother." He shook his head and laughed against to himself.
"I am always interested in the Seraphs that are born to kill the demon king. But alas all have failed."
"Alas my ass!" Jennie shouted. "I bet you like watching them die!"
"Hardly, child," Nilm replied. "I hate demons, not humans. Humans are beautiful creatures. Full of hope and determination. With all their weaknesses, they are so bold and reckless. It brings a tear to my eye."
"You're saying you came because you're interested in me?" she asked abruptly.
"Of course," the angel remarked with a smile. "And I'm coming close to my age of reckoning. That is when I can have children of my own. Five more years and I will be granted a wife." His smile sickened Jennie as she had an idea at what he was thinking.
"I'm not marrying you," she said flatly.
"No? Oh poo." Nilm stated as his bottom lip pouted slightly. "That's okay. Angels aren't allowed to marry outside their race, anyway. I would be disowned from my family much like that ridiculous Tempera."
"Who?" Jennie asked.
"Rowen never spoke of his father, did he?" Nilm asked with annoyance. "Tempera was my uncle. A very formidable angel who was loved by all, but when he came to the day of his reckoning, he took a demon for a wife. A stupid hawk demon. He was cast out of Airlye with no second thoughts. I heard he died by Rowen's hands. How amusing that he would die from the abomination he created."
"It's not amusing," Jennie snapped. "It's sick. That bastard killed his parents and then mine."
"Do I sense resentment in your voice?" Nilm asked with slight pleasure.
"I hate that bastard," she said quietly as she looked to her lap. "One of these days I plan on killing him."
"That would make this old man smile," Nilm said as he smirked brashly. "I could make you a proposition." He leaned forward slightly, staring Jennie straight in the eyes.
The redness of his own eyes were alluring and very strong with emotion. "I could rid you of this annoyance."
"Kill Rowen?" she asked.
"Yes," Nilm hissed. "If you allow me to marry you."
"But you said that angels didn't marry outside their race," Jennie stated firmly as she sat up straight and stared at the angel with the beautiful face and wings.
"I did, didn't I?" he replied as he cocked his head to the side. "But if I could have a prize such as the Seraph, the elders shouldn't mind…too much. How about it, child? I kill Rowen Aramaki for you…and you marry me in five years time."
It’s a tempting offer.
Jennie could feel the air around her thicken as she felt small bumps of flesh form on her arms. Saying yes could create more trouble than it was worth. And where would be the fun of killing the man who slain her parents if someone else did it for her.
"No thanks," she mumbled. "By my hands only."
"By your hands only?" Nilm asked as he exhaled. "Child, I don't think you understand what you're dealing with!" Hatred filled his voice.
"That man is a nuisance. To me, and to all angels everywhere. He was created out of a forbidden love and should be killed! But the elders decreed that Tempera's child to live. To be a reminder to the rest of us that demons aren't to be made bedfellows."
"Why do you want to kill him so much?" Jennie asked abruptly.
"He makes me want to vomit," Nilm replied coarsely. "That boy was never meant to live. He should've died inside his mother's womb."
"I might think about it," she said unexpectedly as she leaned her head back against the windowsill. "You're not going to kill me afterwards, are you?"
"Hardly," Nilm said with a secretive smile. "I wouldn't take the mother from my child."
Pushing off the tree branch in which he sat, he glided toward Jennie and placed his hands on her cheeks. "I would give you everything you could possibly desire."
"Anything?" she asked.
"Yes," he whispered as he leaned his face close to hers. "Anything."
His lips barely touched hers when he looked up and past her to the bedroom door that opened. "Looks like I must cut this short. We'll speak of this more later."
Nilm's image faded in front of her eyes as Jennie's eyes widened in astonishment. His smiling image was still embedded in the back of her mind as she turned to look at what scared him away.
A fuming Rem was standing in the doorway as his hands were clenched into tight fists. Fear rushed through Jennie instantly.
"What?" she asked, staring at Rem as he stormed up to her. She winced when he drew up his hand, but the slap she was expecting didn't happen. Opening one eye then the second, she found him staring down at her with hurt eyes.
"You can't run off with him," Rem said with an hurt voice. He slipped his arms around her body and held her against himself. "You can't."
A hand ran up the back of her neck to her head as she was being held so securely. "I won't let you."
"He said he could get rid of Rowen," Jennie said into his chest.
"Making promises with angels is like dancing with the devil," Rem replied. He pulled her back, staring her in the eyes. "I promise you that we'll kill Rowen. You and I together."
"Thanks," she whispered as she buried her face once more into his chest.
"Hey, want to do something this weekend?" Rem asked as he leaned his head on top of hers. "Just the two of us? Maybe go to the park or mall?"
"A picnic?" Jennie asked as she looked up into his face as he drew back at her sudden movement. "And we could go swimming! War Memorial Park!"
She grinned as Rem gave her an unsure look. "Don't you like swimming?"
"Yeah," he said as his lips formed a smile. "It's just good to see you look happy."
"I deal with my pain in different ways," she said calmly then stretched her arms into the air as she pulled away from Rem. "When are they going to put your bed in here?"
"Probably sometime this weekend," Rem replied. "Although I don't see why Riley can't just zap the damn thing in here. Or Dad."
"Can they ‘zap' things from one place to another real easily?" Jennie asked as Rem nodded.
"It's simple telekinesis," Rem replied with a shrug.
Reaching out her hand, Jennie touched the lobe of his ear when she noticed he had a second earring. "When did you get this?" she asked, realizing she hadn't noticed.
"Just before I walked in here," Rem stated as he reached up to touch it, but bumped his hand into hers. They both stared at each other as she blinked and his mouth dropped open.
Without much thought to it, he matched her with placing his hand to her ear. "You wear earrings?"
"Occasionally," Jennie remarked as she laughed carelessly. "I've had my ears pierced since I was four, but I don't normally wear any."
"You'd look good with some," he said softly before turning away from her and heading out of the room. He paused at the door and looked back at her with his eyes staring intently at her.
"Don't let an angel touch you. It could turn your heart cold." With that he left.
"What if my heart is already cold?" she asked.