Chapter One
Falling Angel

Rhen made a wild dash through the streets. He'd stayed behind to finish the group of demons, but now his crew were battling the real monster without him. Usually he wouldn't worry about four men against one demon, but things changed after his talk with its minion. He took a sharp left and came to a dead-end. Instead of turning back, he scaled the wall. Attacking from above give him a better advantage, especially if he didn't see her face. He jumped the small gaps between the buildings, but stopped when he heard the screech of a hawk falling. It was close, which meant it was strong, and had already taken down one of his best men. He changed directions slightly and took off again. Soon he reached the last building in the row and looked down into the square. Ari and Maddox were already sprawled on the floor, unconscious, Jinn was treating their wounds and Shank was still trying to fight. He swung his axe towards the demon, but pull out just before contact. Rhen swore under his breath. Shank was enthralled. He'd never get a hit in while she was looking at him. This was why Rhen had rushed here. Their opponent was a succubus. A Goddamn beautiful woman no man could attack once she looks upon him. Rhen was only glad that he hadn't seen her face before getting here.

But why where they called?

The Maidens should've been summoned; they weren't susceptible to the succubus's charms. Rhen shook his head. No time to get distracted. He had a job to finish. His crew was down there, and they had any hope in living, it was him. He backed up to the other end of the roof and took a long knife out of sheath attached to his thigh. He'd have one chance to kill her. He could do this; he was a hunter. He began to run, getting faster and faster, until he flung himself off the building. The marks on his back burned at the sensation of almost flying, but he ignored his body's demands and concentrated on the succubus. She'd notice him straight away if he did. As his body silently approached her, Shank saw him. His eyes lit up, knowing that the mission'll be over soon. Even Jinn stopped his work for a second and nodded in approval to Rhen. Then the succubus noticed Rhen's presence. She turned around to enthrall him, but it was too late. His knife was impaled through her heart. The bones in her face cracked and moved as it tried to revert back to her original form. An old hag, probably. Or an anger ridden teen who met an early death. It didn't matter who she was; all succubi and incubi came from souls wishing to be beautiful. Rhen left the dead demon on the ground and went to help Jinn.

"How are they?" He asked immediately.

"Not bad, they were both in their natural forms when she cut them." Jinn explained. He was so different from his usual cheery self, but Rhen could hardly blame him; two of his best friends were injured.

"We should take them back to the ship." Rhen called Shank over and ordered the eight foot ten, muscled man to carry Ari and Maddox. He picked them up like they weighed nothing, and for a giant like him, it was nothing.

"Go with Jinn to the ship. I'll meet you there after I get rid of the remains." He nodded at Rhen's command and took off with Jinn at his side. Rhen sighed and approached what was left of the succubus. She'd returned to her middle-aged, slightly overweight self. What bugged Rhen the most was that she wasn't ugly. Sure, her head was a little small, nose a little too long and eyes too far apart, but that wasn't as bad as other succubi he'd seen. And the fact that she went bad meant she'd hated her looks beyond measure. She was just vain without having the looks to be vain. Rhen sighed again, it was time to get on with the job. He removed his jacket and peeled off his shirt, revealing the set of wings burnt into his back. Fire began to lick at the edges of the marks before turning into twin infernos, colouring his silver hair orange in their light. They burned for a minute before dying down into exact replica wings on his back. He stretched out his hand and felt the fire spread across his skin until it created an increasingly large flame in his palm. Rhen flipped his hand over and gave the fire more fuel. It jumped out and lit up the succubus's head. He moved his arm slowly to the left and watched as the continual stream of fire burned her body to a crisp.

…

Half an hour later the last flame was snuffed out. Rhen got up from where he was sitting and stretched. Although he knew his fire wouldn't go out without his permission, it was part of his job to see the hunt through to the end. He stifled a yawn and began to make his way through the city. It was one of those rare, peaceful nights he seldom got. Being a hunter meant that he was always on the move and hardly got time off, especially since the 'authentic', credited hunters, The Hand, trusted him as much as you would a wild snake. The only time they ever came in contact was when The Hand had an assignment for Rhen and his team.

"No good bastards." He muttered under his breath with a smile. As much as he tried, he just couldn't bring himself to hate The Hand. They were uptight, annoyingly naïve, and at times, utterly useless, but they were trying to help the world. He shook his head and looked up. The full moon shined its dull light down onto the world, giving everything a dark outline. Rhen knew that within a minute, he could create a light to match the sun's, but he quite enjoyed the dark world at night. Suddenly a shadow passed his line of sight, creating silhouette against the moon. It was the one of a small person wearing a cloak. It flared out behind them as they began to fall. Rhen blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. No, the figure was still falling.

"Shit." He rushed forward and dived just in time to catch the person. There was a loud thump as their head hit the ground, but at least Rhen stopped them from breaking their bones. He sat up and brought the person closer to his body. During the fall, their hood had fallen down and revealed a girl's face. She had soft, pale skin in contrast to her bright red lips. Full lips that fit her heart-shaped face and matched her blood-red hair perfectly. Rhen stared the girl, she beyond beautiful. And not like that succubus. Her beauty came naturally and was full of innocence. Suddenly Rhen remember her head. He changed his support to one arm and used the other to check where she'd been struck. Fortunately, there was no damage, meaning she only had a concussion. But it was no time to rejoice. He had to get her back to the ship and get Jinn to take a look at her. For some reason, he didn't want to wait. He wanted to make sure she was okay as soon as possible. Before he knew it, his shirt was ash and his wings had appeared. Without thinking, he pushed downward and took off into the sky.

…

Trollop. That was what she'd called herself. She'd learnt to hate her real name, and instantly hated her new one. She'd heard a man call his woman this earlier, but it was the worst name in the world. The last thing she remembered was running along the roof when she accidentally slipped. She fell off and hit her head against the ground, hard. Hard enough to knock her out, but not before imagining the best-looking man she'd ever seen catch her. Although she couldn't say she'd seen a lot of men before that day, she could defiantly tell this guy was something else. He'd had a lean, muscled body that was just as flexible, noticed when he dived to catch her. She'd seen his glowing silver hair covering his worried golden eyes just as he caught her, and she hit her head. She rolled over and bumped into something hard, yet soft.

What a weird bed.

But she wanted to cuddle up to it so badly.

Why not?

So she did just that. Her arm draped across it, not long enough to reach the other side. Her legs brought to her chest, one wrapped around it. Then she laid her head on her arm and snuggled her face into it. Her arm had reached up and was now touching something silky and soft. It felt so good, she couldn't help but run her fingers through the hair.

Hair?

"Well, I, for one, did not expect to wake up like this."

Her eyes flew open at the masculine voice and she sprang up, to find herself basically straddling the gorgeous man who'd saved her life. "What are you doing here!" Trollop squeaked, glad that she was still wearing her cloak and that the sheets covered most of her from him.

"Hey, this is my bed."

"Why am I in your bed?" She asked before gasping, "Pervert!"

"What? No!" He looked confused. Then surprised as he tried to dodge her onslaught of attacks. "Wait! No! Stop!"

She began kicking him now and he fell out the bed. Trollop hid herself under the covers, just letting her hazel eyes show. She stared at him intensely and waited for him to leave. He seemed to get the message and slowly got to his feet.

"Err... Yeah. I guess I'll see you outside." When she said nothing, he reached up and scratched the back of his neck, " There are some clothes here if you want to change... So, I'll be going now." He nodded firmly and walked out the room. Trollop waited until she was sure he wouldn't come back before climbing out of the bed. She investigated the pile of clothes and saw that they were female clothes. Trollop frowned. That wasn't good. They'd be too tight around her back and show her wings.

Wings.

She'd almost forgotten. But she could never forget, not really. She sighed and removed the only reason why she wore it was to hide the pitch black wings attached to her back. Wings she so utterly despised, and needed. Her wings were meant to the purest of white, like new snow, but now the bone, the muscle and the shaft of the feather all carried blood to the dying, black feathers. The blood flowed out of her body and into her wings, keeping them alive and looking like veins extending from each feather. It was a way of giving them the energy, the life, they needed to live. It slow process, taking a long time to drain her, and consumed more blood the more she used them. Trollop stopped thinking about her wings. She didn't want to think about what she'd have to do to keep them functional. Losing them wasn't optional; they were the only things she had left.

No.

"It's time to stop." She whispered. She needed to stop. Nothing other than burying the memories could help her. She needed to find a distraction. She thought of the silver-haired man. He was waiting for her. That was distraction enough. She hadn't really meant to be mean to him, she just didn't want him to see her wings. Suddenly she remembered falling off the building and hitting her head. She'd been unconscious. Anything could've happened. Anyone could've seen her wings. She began to panic. She threw on the trousers and boots the man had given her to wear, but kept her backless shirt on. Then she covered herself in her cloak and stormed out of the room.

…

Rhen was sulking. He didn't usually sulk, but when he did; it wasn't pretty.

"Why doesn't she like me?" He whined, "Everyone likes me."

"Shut up, Captain." Ari growled. He was grumpy because, although he was the smartest of the group, and the one who always sorted Rhen out, he was currently stuck on cleaning duty and Maddox was steering the ship. "She woke up in a bed with a man she doesn't know, what do you expect her to think?"

"But she called me a pervert."

"I'll repeat; she woke up in a bed with a man she doesn't know. What aren't you getting?"

Rhen looked up with a pout. "But I'm beautiful."

Ari sighed, rolled his eyes and waited for Jinn to come to rescue.

"It's okay, Captain!" Jinn cried right on time, appearing from God knows where, "I think you're beautiful!" Jinn attached himself to Rhen's side and began muttering something about beauty and moonlight.

"Captain, perhaps apologising might give her a better view of you." Maddox, their esteemed operator and love expert, said quietly. Even though he was fiddling with something and wasn't really paying attention. Ari scowled, annoyed at him for giving better advice, and snuck up behind him.

"You're right!" Rhen jumped up, leaving Jinn crying on the ground, and began walking over to the ship's chambers.

"Not now!" Everyone yelled. Suddenly Shank appeared and picked up Rhen.

"Sorry, Captain, but I gotta agree with the guys."

"But why?" He complained.

"Because she's getting changed!" They all yelled again.

"Oh." He blushed, "You can-"

Bang!

"What happened while I was asleep?" A female voice demanded. They all turned around to see the pissed off red-haired girl standing in the doorway leading to the rooms. She took one look at the group- Jinn sobbing on the floor, Ari pouring dirty water all over Maddox and Rhen being held by Shank- and burst out giggling. Jinn stopped crying and stood up, Maddox and Ari looked over and Rhen began to laugh nervously.

"Hi." He said with a nervous grin, "I just wanted to apologise for sleeping with you." He stopped smiling. "Wait, no! I didn't sleep with you, well, I did, but didn't sleep with you. I just slept in the same bed as you."

"Just shut your mouth, Captain, before you scare her away." Ari laughed.

"Okay." Rhen hung his head in defeat, but the girl just laughed.

"I'm not quite sure what's going on, but you guys are confusing the hell out of me."

"Then why are you laughing?" Shank asked.

She stopped. "Because I don't know how else to deal with it." Her eyes zeroed in on Rhen, "I also need to talk to you."

"Umm... private or public?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Private."

"Very well." His voice turned business, "Shank, put me down."

"Yes, Captain." Shank said as he dropped the man.

"Ari, clean up the mess you made and finish your chores," Ari nodded. "Maddox, clean yourself up," Maddox replied formally and left for the showers. "and Jinn," Jinn stared at Rhen, tears in eyes, "just get up."

Suddenly everyone had something to do and Rhen and the girl could talk.

"I can see why they call you Captain." She whispered.

"Yep!" Rhen grinned and led her below the deck, "So what's up?"

The girl's eyes suddenly harden. "I want to know what happened after I was knocked out."

"Oh, that's easy. I brought you back and had Jinn examine you." Her body froze, "Is there something wrong?"

"How much of me did you... examine?" She asked quietly.

"Just your head." He said, worried about her, "Jinn wanted a full body examination, but I thought you might get uncomfortable..." Lie. The truth was that Rhen just hadn't wanted Jinn looking at her body.

"Thank you." She whispered before remembering something, "What about the bed? Why were you in bed with me?"

Rhen began blushing. "That was an accident. I was tired from flying and crashed as soon as I put you in there."

She visibly relaxed. "That's good." Suddenly her eyes flew open, "Did you just say you flew?"

"Yeah! Pretty amazing, huh?" He grinned again, "It's because-" Rhen was cut off by the girl tackling him, "Hey!"

She began to move her hands around him until they were feeling his back.

"I don't understand." She muttered, "You must be lying!"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are, only angels can fly." She insisted, "And you have no wings."

"Yes I do." He removed her hands and turned around, "Look." He lifted his shirt high enough to show his wings.

"But those are just burn marks." She pointed out.

"Just wait." He felt the heat on his back as he released his wings and smiled when he heard her squeak of surprise.

"What are they?" She asked quietly when he turned around.

"They're my wings."

"H-how?"

"They're phoenix wings, and they belong to a phoenix."

Hey guys! I just wanna say that this my first story here, and I hope you like it. Unfortunately, I'm not too good with editing, so if you see any mistakes (or just like the story) please send me a review!