Angel's Arrow

Strange New World.

Amy Snapped a picture of a fluffy little grey and white dog chasing after a tennis ball. She smiled at the happy little beast as it snatched up the ball and returned it happily to it's master. The chubby man with the long yellow dreadlocks threw the ball again and off ran the little dog. She watched it chase the ball over and over again until it was panting with exhaustion. Deciding to give them both a break the guy with the dreadlocks sat down and pulled a sandwich from his bag. He split the food with the dog and it devoured the gift in three snaps of his tiny jaws. Then it had the nerve to sit staring at his master, waging his curly tail as if waiting for another piece. Amy laughed. She'd only ever seen things like this on TV. Having grown up underground, there were no sunny parks for little dogs to play. The closest they had were hell hounds and they weren't the wait patently to be feed type. They were the eat you and then your sandwich type. They were much uglier too. “Having fun?” A familiar voice asked over her shoulder. Amy turned to beam at her older sister Lexi.

“Oh yes!” She enthused showing her sister some of the photos she had taken with the little pink camera their brother Damon had given her. “I love this place. The park is gorgeous, and its next to a beach with a lighthouse. I could walk around for hours and still not see all of it.”

“That's because you keep stopping to take pictures. And stare at little dogs.” Lexi teased. When she smiled her blue eyes crinkled up and she flashed a mouth full of straight white teeth. Lexi was stunning even without an ounce of make-up. It was no wonder every human male who saw her fell instantly in love. Amy had been jealous of her oldest sister for years. She was adored by men but whenever a human had seen Amy's natural face, they had wrinkled their noses in disgust. That's why she'd avoided the human world until recently when she'd finally found a really good concealer. It covered the marks on her face that she had inherited from her father. Humans always mistook the grey marks for strange tattoos. Apparently little girls with tattoos on their faces were cause to become applauded in the human world. She wasn't the only one of her brothers and sisters to have Ree demon markings. But Sadie was the only other one to have them on her face. Sadie didn't really mind though. Since her skin was the same dark grey as their father's the marks were the least of her problems in the human world. Then there was Paige who had no markings at all. At least Amy didn't have the tiny horns she needed to keep hidden like Lexi did. Amy could wear her hair however she liked without worrying that they would poke out.

The girls decided to grab lunch in the mall a few streets over before Lexi needed to head back to work. Amy was expecting a large building filled with hundreds of shops like she'd seen on TV but this particular place was a street mall. It was a narrow one-way road that cars barely ever drove down. It was packed with people walking in and out of the shops on either side of them. The women made their way to a popular coffee shop. Amy was disappointed by how busy it was but Lexi wasn’t worried. Naturally all she had to do was flash her brilliant smile and an elderly man shoved the rest of his muffin into his mouth so he could give them his table. Amy felt another prang of jealousy. “This place has the best custard tarts.” Lexi informed her little sister. “And they do Turkish melts with pineapple too.”

“What's a Turkish melt?” Amy asked tilting her head in that adorable curious way her sister loved.

“It's a thick slice of bread with meat and salads, or pretty much whatever you want really. Then they put cheese on it and heat it up until it's all melty and delicious.”

“Oh! I love cheese, I'll try one of those.”

“Ham or Chicken?”

“Umm, chicken I think.” An image of a feathery bird popped into Amy’s head. She really hoped the feather’s wouldn’t be included. “On second thought, maybe I’ll have the ham.”

“Cool, I'll be right back.” Lexi jumped up from her seat and made her way to the counter to order. Eyes glued themselves to her as she went. Amy snapped a picture, it was kind of a funny thing to see. She started snapping pictures of everything. The view through the window, the salt and pepper shakers, sugar packets, people's food and of course people in general. Lexi came back carrying a stick with a number on top. “They'll bring us the food when it's ready.” She explained. “I ordered you a strawberry milkshake, hope that's okay.”

“Strawberry milk's good.” Amy told her taking a few more pictures.

It wasn't long before a guy in his early twenties, rushed over to the table with their order. The poor man stumbled through a flirting attempt as he set down the food. At least the women had the same thing so he couldn't get the order’s muddled up. Amy took a picture before she lifted the yummy looking melt and took a big bite. She was so excited to be tasting new foods. Lexi loved watching her. She and the others were always brining new things home for Amy like food and music. Lexi was pretty sure she had brought her a Turkish melt before but Amy was so overwhelmed by the human world she'd probably forgotten. Still mulling over the taste, Amy poked at the food, curious to see what was in it. To her delight the human world cheese was so much better than the demon goat kind her father always brought. The strawberry milk was something the others brought home from time to time. It had been happening less and less lately as her older siblings started moving out. Lexi had a small apartment nearby overlooking the harbor. She didn't pay much in the way of rent either which meant she could spend more money on clothes and knives. “Stop playing with your food before it goes all cold and rubbery.” Lexi told her having finished hers in the time it took her sister to get a third of the way through.

“I can't help it. This stuff is so amazing. Dad never makes anything this good at home.” Lexi giggled at that. Their dad was ever the demon health food chef.

“Yeah, Dad's bat wing broth is kind of boring.” Their father's voice echoed in their heads telling them it was full of the vitamins growing demons needed. He had told them so many times over the years that it had stuck.

Later that day, a tall stranger stood under a tree in the park with his arms crossed over his chest. His sharp green eyes searching for a soul eater. He could sense an evil soul nearby, but the bastard was hiding. As he watched the people in the park, his gaze was drawn to a woman with dark red hair wearing a white dress and taking an abundance of photographs with a little pink camera. She would take a photo of someone then check the camera screen. Each time she smiled like she had caught something beautiful. She turned the lens to him and the second she saw him watching her she put down the camera and smiled shyly. Kynan was used to women blushing around him but the way she did it looked so sweet and innocent. She was almost angelic in her innocence. She tried to ignore him, taking more pictures but her eyes would always wonder back to him. Kynan smiled as he watched her, amused by her behavior. Until she looked down at her camera screen and frowned. She tilted her head like a curious little puppy and looked up at the photograph's subject. He watched her pull a phone from her bag and call someone. She played with a stray piece of her hair as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone. After a short conversation she hung up the phone and sighed. Kynan watched her put her phone and camera away in her bag and walk over to the woman whos picture she had just taken. When Kynan turned his eyes to the woman sitting on the bench eating her lunch, the sense of evil he felt grew. There was more than one soul in her body.

“Excuse me?” Amy approached the woman on the bench. She had black hair scraped back into a serious bun and sharp dark eyes behind cat like glasses. “Sorry if this is a rude question, but why do you have two souls?”

The business woman’s eyes widened in surprise. “What are you talking about?” She snapped.

“I didn’t mean to pry.” Amy explained. “It’s just that I took your picture and I noticed you had two. Is it difficult being that full? Even though one’s really small?” One of the souls was a tiny yellow light compared to the other much larger deep red one. Amy was simply curious. As far as she knew, Human’s only ever had one soul and, even though she sensed demon, this woman definitely smelled human. Eyes narrowed on her as the Woman stood to her full height, towering over her.

“Back off runt.” Suddenly someone stepped between them. Amy couldn't see his face but she could see that he was tall with sandy blonde hair and his butt looked totally yummy in those jeans. She wanted to snap a picture.

“That’s enough.” Kynan warned. He could sense the evil radiating off the human’s skin. She wasn’t alone in there. The dark haired woman smirked at him and opened her mouth to say something that no doubt came straight from the demon inside. A camera flashed behind him. Did that girl really just take a photo of his back? He glanced over his shoulder at her. He was surprised to realize she’d actually taken it of his butt. Distracted he hadn't noticed the demon slipping out of the business woman until he heard her crumple to the ground. He knelt down beside her and felt for a pulse. Nothing. The demon had finished sucking her soul and left only the empty body behind. Kynan cursed before he heard a tiny cry behind him. He turned to see a teenager with his hand around the camera girl's throat. The sun was setting and the lamps had come on but he could still see every bit of fear in the girl's crystal blue eyes.