A small glow lighted the room. A small candle shined.

Cecilia sighed while she twirled a feather in her hand. Her eyes were fixed on it intently, with interest. She leaned onto her table, and then dropped the feather, feeling exasperated.

She felt useless. She had known where it had been. She knew. But the angel ended up fleeing. Ayako told them it was moving more. God only knew where; she was finding less and less feathers.

She could have inspected those wings. She could have seen why they seemed to glow golden. They were more efficient; when mixed with herbs, it produced the best medicine she had seen in years. She could have had more if those three had succeeded, If only Ayako stopped messing around and found it.

But it is just so… evasive.

To make matters worse, it was almost impossible for two angels to appear in the same area, not at the same time. They would be stuck like this forever. She would not be able to write about the new properties those wings had.

How am I going to be able to help without analyzing-?

She blinked and shielded her eyes with her tunic’s sleeve, because a strong breeze suddenly flowed into the room. She gasped, left in darkness, the candle’s fire now dead.

She lowered her hand slowly and tried to adjust to the now dark room. She frowned and stood from her chair, to then lean a little and glance towards her corridor. Her house now was… cold. The wind was flowing in, along the wooden walls and floors.

Did I…?

No, she did not think she forgot to close a window. She always closed them all as soon as the moon rose, because the nights were cold. She was not good at lighting her fireplace.

Cecilia brushed the matter away; she walked through the corridor and opened the door that led to her small living room. There was more light in there, the moonlight peeked from a window. A window which, indeed, was wide open. The strong nocturnal breeze was making the drapes flow wildly.

She stepped closer with annoyance, and then shut the window with a huff. As she did, the room was left dark again, because the moon was hidden once more. She raised a finger to her chin slowly, slightly confused.

“Is the window broken?”

She nudged the lock, because she noticed something. Her eyes narrowed, trying to see in the dark.

Am I seeing…? Are those marks on the window?

She could not see clearly. So she walked towards a small cabinet and fumbled clumsily to try to find a match.

Cecilia was beginning to worry that someone had messed with her window. Maybe it was a burglar who wanted to make way, to come back another night. There was no one in the room, so it had to be that, or the strong wind.

Either way, she had to fix the lock, because it looked broken.

She did not look up when she finally found some matches. She just looked at one, and lighted it with a relieved sigh. After lighting and grabbing a candle, she turned again to face the window with a determined expression.

Her firmness quickly faltered. Her eyes stared with confusion and shock, at what she could see now. She stared at the claw marks on the lock. She was shocked, ignorant of the two big wings behind her, which were lowering slowly from the ceiling. They began to cast huge shadows over her and on the floor, thanks to the light of the candle in her hand. She froze when she noticed them at her feet.

The shadows were intimidating. But the true danger was right over her.

The candle’s light did not last for long.

Cecilia screamed when a claw grabbed one of her feet. The shadow pulled at her brutally, and turned her upside down in the air, with one single move. Her eyes opened wide, seeing herself hanging. She felt a shiver, when a clawed hand lowered itself from the ceiling, until it loomed in front of her face. The blackness of the hand twisted, and a bloody eye opened on its palm, which seemed to narrow and smile at her with malice.

The bat was holding her easily from her foot with a single claw, not seeming to be bothered in the slightness by her weight. Its voice was feral and human at the same time.

“We have unfinished business, child…”

Those red glowing eyes gave the only light that allowed her to discern him in the dark. Its black fur was perfect to hide in the night.

“Y-you!”

He raised her a little higher and closer, to let her stare at his fanged smile, instead of his claw and eye. There were no eyes there to glance at her; he had none on his head. She was not sure what was worse while she dangled on his grip.

“Me, indeed!” The demon seemed to scold her, with feigned disappointment. “We had a deal; you should not be surprised of my presence here, even if it has been a while…”

Cecilia was not someone who thought much upon danger, or paid mind to possible consequences. She glared right at his maws, causing the bat to frown for her lack of common sense.

“A deal?! I did not even get the angel myself! I don’t owe you any-”

She could not end the sentence. She let out a pained gasp when she hit the ground, because the bat hauled her down with an annoyed growl. She rolled along the wooden floor, until she collided with a wall. Meanwhile, the bat let himself drop from the ceiling. He landed gracefully, unlike her.

The girl held her head with a hand, and then noticed the nice new bruise on her forehead. The demon felt glee when he saw how her hood had fallen and exposed her face, which was finally showing fear. He stood and towered over her darkly, and then he shook his wings, to show he had not much patience left. His voice dragged along with arrogance, and hate.

“I own you, if I so wish.” His tone stopped having hints of a growl. “I gave you something, information. I gave you my aid, but you gave me nothing in return. You are a failure; you failed to use my words wisely, you stupid girl. And so, I am here to receive my payment. I want something from you, and you owe it, you accept it or not.”

Cecilia began to move subtly one of her hands; she slowly reached below her tunic. The bat was not fooled, he saw miles away the glint of a knife.

Try.

He rolled his eyes, because he stopped easily the stab she tried to give him. No matter how fast she stood and lunged, a demon always could be faster. Cecilia began to struggle, while he held her wrist without effort. His claw was not budging, no matter how she pulled. He was holding her arm up, preventing her from lowering the knife on him, or from moving away. She had to stay still when he stole the knife from her hand and moved it close to his head, to stare at it with feigned interest.

Cecilia trembled when he opened his jaws and bit down onto the knife. He tore the metal in two, like if it was only a toothpick. Then, he seemed to fake a baffled stance, dropping the broken weapon to the floor with a gasp. He laid a claw onto his chest and lamented in an exaggerated manner, still looming over her.

“Oh my… I hope you did not need it. I’m sorry, but I think I had something stuck between my teeth, maybe part of the bear I shredded yesterday, and well, I just…” His snout leaned down, to grin darkly, right at her face. “…could not help myself.”

He was mocking her, snorting at her vain attempt at killing him.

He pushed her to the ground again, with a yawn. He crossed his wings at her, while she could only cower onto the wall, because the way to the door was blocked, by him. He waved a hand, dismissing her hopeful glance at the exit.

“Don’t even think about it. You would not even be able to scream for help before I took flight.” He crouched; his clawed feet twisted like an animal. He looked her all over, and then pointed a nail at her. “Now that we made clear that you can’t scam me, we might address the matter at hand, my compensation.”

She snarled. She was holding her side, where she had landed against the ground. She snarled at him; with fear, anger and realization mixed in her voice.

“W-what could you want?! Y-you wanted-”

“The angel, yes.” She shivered when he licked his fangs slowly. “Nothing compares to its blood and flesh. Not even the blood of young humans. It’s been long time since I cornered such a… foolish whelp.”

The demon laughed and stepped away a little, amused by her now pale face.

“But that can’t be compared!” He tapped his chin and brushed his most sharp fang while he pondered. “No. I think you would not do justice to the angel’s blood, not in the slightest. You are like a mouse for me; you are too small for even a bite…”

Cecilia breathed out. The demon was only looming in front of her in the shadows; he was only looking down at her, with those sharp eyes in his claws.

“What do you want then? I have nothing that you might-”

“You have two things, pup. One…” His faint growled laughter, combined with that glint in his eyes, was enough to make his thoughts clear. “Or… Two, a book.”

She blinked, baffled.

“A… book?”

“Yes, a book.” The demon let out a growled snort, as he waved his claw at his side. “Do humans have devolved while I was in my domain? Have I been fooled, and all this time, I have only seen you write gibberish? I thought you were the assistant of that typhlotic boss of yours!”

Cecilia stood with a wheeze, still holding her side. Her glare never faltered, she only had hate now for this beast.

She indeed had a lot of books. She had a room full of them, most given by Godric, for her to keep safe. She as well had a lot of notes and archives of her investigations.

“Why would you…? What kind of book?”

The bat’s ears rose fully. He gave her a dark smile, with his head bowed

He could just kill this human, and take one of those books himself. It would be easy. But as much fun as it would be, it would raise too many questions in that icy eyed hunter’s empty head. And that could ruin his plans in the long run.

“You must have at least one book talking about angels, for sure. I can’t seem to forget about them, you see? I may want to let myself… remember somehow. Not much, but it’s better than preying a mite.”

He could only tremble with glee when she nodded with doubt.

She might be useful after all…

The bat waited patiently for her to move, because Cecilia seemed to debate her options. She soon understood that giving away a book was the most rational one. She began to limp reluctantly towards another room, knowing he was close behind, never stopping watching her. Her hands roamed over to her bookshelves, and she began to look for the biggest book she had.

She turned around with it in her hands, and was not surprised to see the devil standing right there, looking down with an expecting grin.

“This one is the best I have.”

She felt cold when one of his claws brushed her, when he took the book.

The demon inspected the book attentively; then, he opened it with a claw, while he raised his free one over the pages. His eye narrowed and looked at every word, at every illustration. It was a huge compendium about angelic culture and their traditions. It spoke of how powerful their spells could be, from the point of view of a human. It theorized how they casted their most useful enchantments, and talked of the diverse color of their wings. It showed their armors, weapons and clothes. All what was known about them; all that could be known without being in their plane of existence. The words only told what the human world knew of angels.

It did not have all the truth. Humans had small brains compared to other beings.

Cecilia winced a little when he closed the book shut and wiped his head up. She thought he would lash at her, until he turned for the door without looking at her, sharply. He shook his black wings behind him like a cloak, almost with disdain. He moved like an elegant shadow towards the living room.

The bat was fast to open the window again. He sat on it, and halted for a moment to feel the breeze against his fur and ears. Cecilia shivered, because he whispered without looking back. He gave her some last words, calmly and surely.

“I am sure no one will know that you… lost a book.” It would be a shame that a stubborn hunter knew about their talks. “You may take our little secret to the grave, child.”

With that, he jumped into the darkness outside.

Cecilia laid a hand on her chest and sighed to steady her breath, still able to discern two sharp wings in the black sky outside. She stopped seeing them soon enough, like if they had never been there at all.