Legends of the other side: Angels and Demons

ANGEL AND THE BEAR

The giant of a man bent down at the cage, peering in at her.

"So Carlos, this is your little killer?" the man growled, then throwing his head back a huge rumbling laughter straight from the belly spilled into the room. Sniffing the air, he remarked, "She doesn't even have the scent of a dog yet, hell this pup still belongs with her parents. I'm a warrior, not a babysitter!"

Angel felt so confused and scared, she was still unsure if these two men here to hurt her, looking towards Sam and Lillyanne she knew they couldn't help. She wasn't one to cry but could feel hot tears threatening to erupt, she blinked furiously, no way she would give these two bastards that satisfaction.

"Steel, I saw her shift with my own eyes, and I saw the damage she caused, this is no ordinary pack wolf, I can assure you of that! I am old and I know this girl is different, stay here, help me train her?" the man named Carlos almost begged.

The giant, who Angel guessed must have been Steel, turned to Carlos and smirked. "Well the full moon is two nights away and there is lots of lovely wilderness to explore here and I'm sure some wild woman about to keep me entertained."  

Opening the cell door, Steel stooped low to enter and stepped into the cage, towering above her.  "What's your name little one?"

Angel had never felt so fearful in all her life.... and yet still confused. "Please, I don't know why I'm here or what's happening, dont hurt me just let me go, I won't cause any trouble" she managed.

Steels booming laugh again.

"No little killer, I would never hurt a child, now tell me your name!"

"Angel," she whispered.

"Little Angel pleased to meet you, my name is Steel and I will stay for the full moon, you will have to trust me do you think you can do that?"

Angel gulped, she didn't have a lot of choice.

 "Yes", she whispered.

"Good, now let's get you out of this cell, Carlos you get to bed before that ball of fire finally catches you old man. Sam, Lillyanne, he bellowed, lets get some food in before I start training this whelp." 

 Out of the cell he marched, Lillyanne came and led Angel up the stairs while Carlos descended to the underground caves.

From the basement dungeon, which was one level underground there were another three stories to this place. The compound they called it. The ground level was mainly a garage, the second level a maze of different rooms. A lift went from the ground to the  top level, which opened into a  huge open plan room. Full length windows that took you onto the balcony. The  full chefs kitchen seemed to be Lillyanne's domain, and a huge wooden table took pride of place in the room. Angel sat at the table as Lillyanne brought piles of food, mostly to Steel who quite frankly consumed a lot. 

He pressed Angel for details of her life so far, her parents how she got here. There wasn't much to tell and quite frankly she couldn't remember all the details, so she told the brief history that she knew of being abandoned outside the church, then the short sunshine period of Pete and Jane, unhappiness, the orphanage, a short time as a street child with her protector Bam who eventually abandoned her, then the foster homes all tinged with a fogginess that hadn't quite lifted yet.

Steel also told a brief history to her, how he had mostly lived a rogue life, and loved it. In the Shadowlands he would often spend time with the giants, or the beautiful nymphs who could make a man believe he had entered heaven, or here in the human world he would involve himself with the underworld, the bikers, enforcing if needed, he never stayed anywhere long always moved on. He liked it that way. 

Angel being a teenager and feeling a little bold asked him if he had ever been in love or found a wife.

"Once, he grunted, or so I thought, just the love, no marriage or cubs."

 Changing the subject quickly he continued "Never mind that little angel of death, you have slept a long time. Lets train. You and me gonna go for a lil run."

"I don't mind that, I love running", Angel said.

"So you should, replied Steel, It's a shifter thing, it's in our blood, lets go now!" he ordered.

The house they were in was three quarters up a mountain, hidden and nestled between six other smaller mountains. The seven brothers the mountains were called and they presided over Riverhead.

"Okay, we are going to run, Angel, how long you think you can last?"

"Longer than an old man like you", she replied cockily, forgetting the fear she had felt not that long ago,"its only morning, I got all day."

Steels raucous laugh once again echoed out through the mountains.

"We'll see about that you scrawny whelp, he laughed, so let's go, keep up."

They set off running together, she could see him heading for the top of the mountain, and she kept pace with him until they reached the top. This was easy for her, pausing to take in the view Steel hurried her along.  "Come on lil Angel of death, lets keep going."

Steel started heading down the mountain, zigzagging between the trees and heading for the next mountain. They ran and ran, Angel kept pace for what must have been a good two and a half hours when suddenly  she lost sight of Steel, he had disappeared ahead of her in the trees.

Faltering and looking around, a deep growling sounded as a great bear came lumbering towards her, Angel froze, not sure what to do. The bear was running straight at her with a wild ferocity, until just as she was sure her time was up, it came and playfully tapped her leg, then ran back, turning to see if she would follow.

Steel? she wondered to herself.

The bear stopped running and turned to look at her growling, as if to say come on we have to go we have running to do. And run they did, not stopping for another hour and a half. A bear and a small whelp of a girl training together. The stopped at the same grove of trees on the way back. Just as before, the bear disappeared and Steel took his place, they kept on running, running home. No words spoken just an exhilarating feeling of being alive.

"How did you do that?" asked Angel once they arrived back at the house.

"Do what?"

"Get that bear to follow me on our run."

"You can do better than that Angel, I don't have time to answer stupid questions, lets just test your sword skills now."

"What sword skills?"

Steel rolled his eyes, "...and Carlos has been telling me you are some great powerful wolf,  the girl can't even sword play. Come on you whelp it's time for more training then, but first let's eat, Im sure those halflings will have us some grub ready! Also lets see what type of swords that old snake Carlos has in his collection." 

Angel looked at Steel, in the sunshine she could see the crinkles at the side of his eyes, a sure sign of laughter and happiness, a life lived well she thought.  From feeling fear only a short time ago, Angel already trusted this rough and ready giant, as terrifying as he could be, he truly was some kind of beautiful man. If she was being truthful with herself, she already felt warmth and the plantings of a strange type of kinship there. Normally she would bury those feelings, but here at the compound she had no choice but to go with it.

Following Steel to the compound, the light hit the giant in just the right way, it almost appeared as if he had a golden glow about him, a golden ribbon of light snaked its way to Angel and she felt as if she too could stand in that glow.

A beautiful almost heavenly moment, shaking her head, everything appeared as normal the glow had faded away. Angel continued following her new mentor inside.