Fee's Writings
An Angel's Touch: Chapter Ten
Warnings: None
Ring... Ring...
"Hello?"
"Nats! Guess who?"
A grin. She knew that voice. "Danny! Hi!"
"Hey, sis!"
There was a chorus of yells of 'hi Nat!' and 'Auntie Natalie!' from the background, and Natalie tucked the phone under her chin as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink.
"Where are you all?"
"Oh, we're on our way to see you," Daniel said off-handedly. "It's half term for the kids so I thought we could come for a visit."
Natalie laughed. Daniel was always doing this, so it was no surprise. It was likely he'd told his wife Chloe that he'd told her they were coming, when in fact he had completely forgotten and wasn't really listening to her question anyway.
"Sure, that's no problem. How far away are you?"
"Oh, we'll be another three or four hours yet. The traffic is atrocious."
"Oh, alright then." That gave her some time to clean the house...
"Hello?"
"Nats! Guess who?"
A grin. She knew that voice. "Danny! Hi!"
"Hey, sis!"
There was a chorus of yells of 'hi Nat!' and 'Auntie Natalie!' from the background, and Natalie tucked the phone under her chin as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink.
"Where are you all?"
"Oh, we're on our way to see you," Daniel said off-handedly. "It's half term for the kids so I thought we could come for a visit."
Natalie laughed. Daniel was always doing this, so it was no surprise. It was likely he'd told his wife Chloe that he'd told her they were coming, when in fact he had completely forgotten and wasn't really listening to her question anyway.
"Sure, that's no problem. How far away are you?"
"Oh, we'll be another three or four hours yet. The traffic is atrocious."
"Oh, alright then." That gave her some time to clean the house...
* * *
It was two hours before Daniel finally arrived, which gave Natalie plenty of time to hurriedly tidy the house and fuss over how her brother would react to Ameron, and even to brush Suzie (who complained, wriggled and then ran off to sulk under Natalie's bed).
Ameron watched her go about this with a politely bemused expression, quietly sipping the cup of lemon tea that he'd got up the nerve to go and make himself. Walking past him, Natalie pulled up short and looked at him a moment, then down at the tea.
"You made that?"
He nodded slightly, and Natalie shrugged in a 'fair enough' gesture, and continued. The doorbell rang, and she squealed, making the male flinch. He might have been comfortable around her but loud noises still startled him.
"He's here!" She shot across the living room and through the porch door. Ameron smiled a little in response to her obvious enthusiasm, and tilted his head as he listened to the male voice that spoke as she opened the door. He couldn't make out what they were saying since they were speaking far too quickly for him to properly make sense of the words, but he could tell that both of them were very excited.
"Come in, come in." Natalie pushed the door open and Ameron bit his lip briefly. God knew his nerves were shot already with the events of the past few weeks, and more recently becoming closer to Natalie had shaken him slightly. "I want you to meet someone."
"Someone? Have you been seeing someone and not told your little brother?"
"No! He's just living with me."
She stepped in, followed by a young man a few inches taller than her but not quite reaching to Ameron's six feet. He had floppy chestnut hair - the kind that falls all over the place without a gust of wind touching it, giving a constant just-got-out-of-bed look. His eyes were hazel, and almost seeming to sparkle with a mischievous light. He briefly looked Ameron up and down, raised an eyebrow, and looked back over his shoulder.
"Hey, Chloe! Come on in and meet Nat's new friend."
Two small giggling voices carried over the sound of Chloe's reply, and in front of Daniel, a boy of around three, and a girl of four appeared, followed by a woman with light auburn hair, tied back in a high ponytail with the odd wisp of a curl falling over her face. She met Ameron's eyes and smiled a little, and he nodded slightly in acknowledgement, remembering his manners if nothing else.
Daniel was silent a moment, then nudged his sister. "Oi, are you going to introduce us?" he asked, that eyebrow raising again.
"Oh!" Natalie laughed and grabbed Ameron's hand, feeling him tense a little but come forwards. "Daniel, this is Ameron. Ameron, this is my brother Daniel."
"Ameron?" Daniel took the other male's hand and shook it. "That's an unusual name."
As her brother shoved his hands into his pockets, Natalie gave a slightly nervous laugh and nodded, running one hand through her hair. "Yeah, he's not from around here."
"Oh, aye...?" Daniel's eyebrow went up for the third time in as many minutes. He'd known right away that Ameron couldn't possibly be English. He was far too pretty to be English.
Ameron shifted a little uncomfortably under Daniel's scrutinising gaze, and Natalie cleared her throat. "Hey, Ameron... you don't want to listen to us chatting. Why don't you take Suzie out for a walk?"
The gist of the request was understood and Ameron glanced around as Suzie came skidding into the room, the word 'walk' acting like a magnet.
"Come on, Suzie." The blonde male said quietly, picking up her leash from a table near the porch door and crouching a moment to clip it to her collar before slipping past Chloe and the children and out of the front door, closing it behind him and allowing Suzie to lead him along what was already (to her) a well known route.
He had barely reached the dirt path that led over the fields near to Natalie's house before he was struck with the intense feeling that something was following him. Looking back over his shoulder nervously, he found the path behind him completely empty, and he turned his head back, instantly yelping and jumping back, one hand to his chest as his heart pounded.
The woman stood in front of him was slim and would be viewed by most mortals to be of Chinese origin. She flicked her long, black hair back over her shoulder and grinned slightly as Ameron gasped for breath and attempted to calm down.
"Yirisa!" He managed to choke out. Seeing that she had in fact frightened him rather badly, Yirisa's expression turned to one of concern and she went to him, helping him to stand up properly.
"My Lord, sorry, Ameron. I didn't realise you were so jumpy." she said quietly in the angelic tongue.
He just shook his head, and smiled a little. "It's alright. My nerves have been a little off since... well..." he trailed off, sighing softly and shaking his head.
His companion nodded understandingly. "That's quite alright. I understand how something like that would be bound to affect you that way."
Suzie woofed, attracting Yirisa's attention, and she clapped her hands together like a child, scooping the animal up and rubbing behind her ears. Ameron watched her with a soft smile on his face, until she looked up and noticed him doing so, grinning bashfully and gently placing the young dog back on the path. Completely unfazed, Suzie sniffed at a tuft of grass, and proceeded to try to eat it.
"So, to what do I owe the honour?" Ameron asked with a half-smile. Yirisa crossed her arms and seemed to think a moment.
"I was told to come and see how you are. You know, how you're coping and that."
The male pushed his hands into his pockets, and began walking again, Yirisa taking the silent invitation to join him and falling into step beside him.
"I really couldn't say..." he said, his eyes following a bird hopping along the path before he flicked his gaze up to Yirisa. "It's difficult... but Natalie is very patient." He exhaled softly. "That night... Sari came just before I passed out... She told me that I would most likely die there, and that all humans were the same - selfish beings only out for themselves... I'm beginning to see that she was wrong. Perhaps if there were more people like Nat in the world...-"
"'Nat'?" Yirisa's expression was critical - she knew Ameron, and he rarely (if ever) used people's nicknames, unless it was in the case of many of the demons they regularly came into contact with, where their full names were unknown or simply unpronounceable.
A light blush darkened Ameron's cheeks as he realised what he'd said, and he attempted to shake it off, simply continuing with what he had been saying before. "What I mean is, maybe some part of the human race is turning out right... We weren't to know, not for sure. How long has it been since one of us has come down here?"
The dark haired woman looked to Ameron with a questioning expression. "Ameron, you could hardly call this little 'trip' a scheduled one."
"No, I know..." He lowered his gaze a little. "I suppose I've just had a lot of time to think..."
* * *
Back at the house, the children were methodically dismantling and reconstructing a tower of Lego blocks, and Daniel was staring at Natalie with a look of abject disbelief. "You found him where?"
"Daniel, you heard her." Chloe said, prodding him with her toe from her spot on a chair opposite them.
Daniel spluttered slightly, and almost spilled his coffee. "I know I did." He turned his attention more seriously to his sister. "Nats, I know that finding a naked man in a ditch is every woman's secret fantasy, but you don't know anything about him - not even what country he's from."
Natalie had debated with herself for several agonising minutes over whether or not to tell her brother and her sister-in-law about the real reason that Ameron was staying with her, and she had decided that it would be a good idea. Chloe had taken it surprisingly well, and was on Natalie's side as Daniel tried to persuade her to 'do the right thing'.
"You have to call the police." he told her.
She sighed. "I know I should," she began. "But every time I pick up the phone to dial, something stops me. At first it was because he wasn't well, but now I don't know."
"Oh, God..." Daniel rubbed his temples and sank down into the corner of the couch. "You're falling for him. He barely speaks English, and you have a crush on him."
"Daniel!" Chloe's sharp tone momentarily silenced the entire room and even distracted the children from playing. She lowered her voice, but her tone was furious. "How can you be that shallow?"
Defensively, Daniel raised his hands against the sensed oncoming verbal onslaught. "Oh, come on... he's a foreigner!"
Wrong answer. Chloe backhanded him across the head and scowled, leaving Natalie to bite her lip and hold back giggles at the look of indignation on his face. She knew that neither of them meant it, but Daniel did have a point... she could get into a lot of trouble...
"I don't care." She heard herself say. "I like having him around."
Daniel sniffed slightly, shaking his head. "I think you're being damned stupid, Natalie."
Perhaps if she told him more, about Sae, and Maz, and Sirae, then he'd understand... but no, she couldnt' risk drawing her brother into this too. He'd just have to think she was crazy and since she knew he already thought that, there'd be no great change. All she had to do was make sure that Daniel didn't try to question Ameron, because for all she knew that would freak him out and that was the last thing she wanted.
"I know, Dan, but that's my lookout, okay? I told you all this because I know I can trust you..."
The man winced, running the fingers of one hand into his hair. "Ouch... emotional blackmail," he stated, then rubbed his temples and dropped his hands back to his lap. "Okay, Nats. I'll trust you, too. I hope you know what you're doing."
So do I... she thought, nodding a little. So do I...
* * *
"You know he's after you, don't you Ameron?"
On a park bench that had been conveniently placed along the path in memory of someone called Christopher Morris, Ameron sighed and fidgeted, closing his eyes in thought. "Mm. I don't know why... Why would I be of any interest to him?"
Yirisa smiled a little, placing one hand over his. "Because you survived. No one has ever survived this before - Pyriel, Janethe, Xariel... none of them, just you." She shook her hair out of her face. "When he was amongst us, he was well known for being zealous... he's not going to let up."
"Sae is helping."
The angel's expression grew soft, and she smiled again, this time softly. "I thought he might... He's been looking for a chance to redeem himself for a long time now." She looked up. "Maz won't be happy."
Ameron chuckled. "No, I don't imagine that he will..."
Ameron watched her go about this with a politely bemused expression, quietly sipping the cup of lemon tea that he'd got up the nerve to go and make himself. Walking past him, Natalie pulled up short and looked at him a moment, then down at the tea.
"You made that?"
He nodded slightly, and Natalie shrugged in a 'fair enough' gesture, and continued. The doorbell rang, and she squealed, making the male flinch. He might have been comfortable around her but loud noises still startled him.
"He's here!" She shot across the living room and through the porch door. Ameron smiled a little in response to her obvious enthusiasm, and tilted his head as he listened to the male voice that spoke as she opened the door. He couldn't make out what they were saying since they were speaking far too quickly for him to properly make sense of the words, but he could tell that both of them were very excited.
"Come in, come in." Natalie pushed the door open and Ameron bit his lip briefly. God knew his nerves were shot already with the events of the past few weeks, and more recently becoming closer to Natalie had shaken him slightly. "I want you to meet someone."
"Someone? Have you been seeing someone and not told your little brother?"
"No! He's just living with me."
She stepped in, followed by a young man a few inches taller than her but not quite reaching to Ameron's six feet. He had floppy chestnut hair - the kind that falls all over the place without a gust of wind touching it, giving a constant just-got-out-of-bed look. His eyes were hazel, and almost seeming to sparkle with a mischievous light. He briefly looked Ameron up and down, raised an eyebrow, and looked back over his shoulder.
"Hey, Chloe! Come on in and meet Nat's new friend."
Two small giggling voices carried over the sound of Chloe's reply, and in front of Daniel, a boy of around three, and a girl of four appeared, followed by a woman with light auburn hair, tied back in a high ponytail with the odd wisp of a curl falling over her face. She met Ameron's eyes and smiled a little, and he nodded slightly in acknowledgement, remembering his manners if nothing else.
Daniel was silent a moment, then nudged his sister. "Oi, are you going to introduce us?" he asked, that eyebrow raising again.
"Oh!" Natalie laughed and grabbed Ameron's hand, feeling him tense a little but come forwards. "Daniel, this is Ameron. Ameron, this is my brother Daniel."
"Ameron?" Daniel took the other male's hand and shook it. "That's an unusual name."
As her brother shoved his hands into his pockets, Natalie gave a slightly nervous laugh and nodded, running one hand through her hair. "Yeah, he's not from around here."
"Oh, aye...?" Daniel's eyebrow went up for the third time in as many minutes. He'd known right away that Ameron couldn't possibly be English. He was far too pretty to be English.
Ameron shifted a little uncomfortably under Daniel's scrutinising gaze, and Natalie cleared her throat. "Hey, Ameron... you don't want to listen to us chatting. Why don't you take Suzie out for a walk?"
The gist of the request was understood and Ameron glanced around as Suzie came skidding into the room, the word 'walk' acting like a magnet.
"Come on, Suzie." The blonde male said quietly, picking up her leash from a table near the porch door and crouching a moment to clip it to her collar before slipping past Chloe and the children and out of the front door, closing it behind him and allowing Suzie to lead him along what was already (to her) a well known route.
He had barely reached the dirt path that led over the fields near to Natalie's house before he was struck with the intense feeling that something was following him. Looking back over his shoulder nervously, he found the path behind him completely empty, and he turned his head back, instantly yelping and jumping back, one hand to his chest as his heart pounded.
The woman stood in front of him was slim and would be viewed by most mortals to be of Chinese origin. She flicked her long, black hair back over her shoulder and grinned slightly as Ameron gasped for breath and attempted to calm down.
"Yirisa!" He managed to choke out. Seeing that she had in fact frightened him rather badly, Yirisa's expression turned to one of concern and she went to him, helping him to stand up properly.
"My Lord, sorry, Ameron. I didn't realise you were so jumpy." she said quietly in the angelic tongue.
He just shook his head, and smiled a little. "It's alright. My nerves have been a little off since... well..." he trailed off, sighing softly and shaking his head.
His companion nodded understandingly. "That's quite alright. I understand how something like that would be bound to affect you that way."
Suzie woofed, attracting Yirisa's attention, and she clapped her hands together like a child, scooping the animal up and rubbing behind her ears. Ameron watched her with a soft smile on his face, until she looked up and noticed him doing so, grinning bashfully and gently placing the young dog back on the path. Completely unfazed, Suzie sniffed at a tuft of grass, and proceeded to try to eat it.
"So, to what do I owe the honour?" Ameron asked with a half-smile. Yirisa crossed her arms and seemed to think a moment.
"I was told to come and see how you are. You know, how you're coping and that."
The male pushed his hands into his pockets, and began walking again, Yirisa taking the silent invitation to join him and falling into step beside him.
"I really couldn't say..." he said, his eyes following a bird hopping along the path before he flicked his gaze up to Yirisa. "It's difficult... but Natalie is very patient." He exhaled softly. "That night... Sari came just before I passed out... She told me that I would most likely die there, and that all humans were the same - selfish beings only out for themselves... I'm beginning to see that she was wrong. Perhaps if there were more people like Nat in the world...-"
"'Nat'?" Yirisa's expression was critical - she knew Ameron, and he rarely (if ever) used people's nicknames, unless it was in the case of many of the demons they regularly came into contact with, where their full names were unknown or simply unpronounceable.
A light blush darkened Ameron's cheeks as he realised what he'd said, and he attempted to shake it off, simply continuing with what he had been saying before. "What I mean is, maybe some part of the human race is turning out right... We weren't to know, not for sure. How long has it been since one of us has come down here?"
The dark haired woman looked to Ameron with a questioning expression. "Ameron, you could hardly call this little 'trip' a scheduled one."
"No, I know..." He lowered his gaze a little. "I suppose I've just had a lot of time to think..."
* * *
Back at the house, the children were methodically dismantling and reconstructing a tower of Lego blocks, and Daniel was staring at Natalie with a look of abject disbelief. "You found him where?"
"Daniel, you heard her." Chloe said, prodding him with her toe from her spot on a chair opposite them.
Daniel spluttered slightly, and almost spilled his coffee. "I know I did." He turned his attention more seriously to his sister. "Nats, I know that finding a naked man in a ditch is every woman's secret fantasy, but you don't know anything about him - not even what country he's from."
Natalie had debated with herself for several agonising minutes over whether or not to tell her brother and her sister-in-law about the real reason that Ameron was staying with her, and she had decided that it would be a good idea. Chloe had taken it surprisingly well, and was on Natalie's side as Daniel tried to persuade her to 'do the right thing'.
"You have to call the police." he told her.
She sighed. "I know I should," she began. "But every time I pick up the phone to dial, something stops me. At first it was because he wasn't well, but now I don't know."
"Oh, God..." Daniel rubbed his temples and sank down into the corner of the couch. "You're falling for him. He barely speaks English, and you have a crush on him."
"Daniel!" Chloe's sharp tone momentarily silenced the entire room and even distracted the children from playing. She lowered her voice, but her tone was furious. "How can you be that shallow?"
Defensively, Daniel raised his hands against the sensed oncoming verbal onslaught. "Oh, come on... he's a foreigner!"
Wrong answer. Chloe backhanded him across the head and scowled, leaving Natalie to bite her lip and hold back giggles at the look of indignation on his face. She knew that neither of them meant it, but Daniel did have a point... she could get into a lot of trouble...
"I don't care." She heard herself say. "I like having him around."
Daniel sniffed slightly, shaking his head. "I think you're being damned stupid, Natalie."
Perhaps if she told him more, about Sae, and Maz, and Sirae, then he'd understand... but no, she couldnt' risk drawing her brother into this too. He'd just have to think she was crazy and since she knew he already thought that, there'd be no great change. All she had to do was make sure that Daniel didn't try to question Ameron, because for all she knew that would freak him out and that was the last thing she wanted.
"I know, Dan, but that's my lookout, okay? I told you all this because I know I can trust you..."
The man winced, running the fingers of one hand into his hair. "Ouch... emotional blackmail," he stated, then rubbed his temples and dropped his hands back to his lap. "Okay, Nats. I'll trust you, too. I hope you know what you're doing."
So do I... she thought, nodding a little. So do I...
* * *
"You know he's after you, don't you Ameron?"
On a park bench that had been conveniently placed along the path in memory of someone called Christopher Morris, Ameron sighed and fidgeted, closing his eyes in thought. "Mm. I don't know why... Why would I be of any interest to him?"
Yirisa smiled a little, placing one hand over his. "Because you survived. No one has ever survived this before - Pyriel, Janethe, Xariel... none of them, just you." She shook her hair out of her face. "When he was amongst us, he was well known for being zealous... he's not going to let up."
"Sae is helping."
The angel's expression grew soft, and she smiled again, this time softly. "I thought he might... He's been looking for a chance to redeem himself for a long time now." She looked up. "Maz won't be happy."
Ameron chuckled. "No, I don't imagine that he will..."