Micheal had been in such a hurry to escape from the path of the strange woman that he had not taken notice of the vehicle as he stepped from the curb into the crosswalk. One moment he was on the street, and the next he was in Neviah's arms being cradled as a cacophony of twisting metal and horrified screams rang out around them. He was too stunned to look back at the accident, and even if he had wanted to she had his face held tenderly between her lithe fingers. Her sapphire-like eyes bored into him with tears welling up inside of those deep pools. She begged him to listen, calling out to the holy powers that be and that was enough to catch his attention. His dedication to the church and the memory of his dearest friend Father Matthews made him take heed of her words. Surely no dark force would dare invoke their opposition, even if it meant tricking their prey. She was an angel alright, and he owed her his life yet again. Now it was just a matter of finding out why he was worth saving.<br/><br/>"Okay Neviah," he sighed heavily, "I'll trust you for now, but first we have to see if anyone got hurt. So help me though, if another innocent has suffered because of your interventions..." He didn't bother completing the thought, letting the implications of what he would do fill the space between them as he removed himself from her grasp.<br/><br/>He made his way to the Range Rover that had nearly taken his life and worked his way around to the driver's side door. The front end was wrapped around a lamppost in a devastating embrace with smoke rising from the ruined engine. He could see the deployed airbag through the window and the the woman behind the wheel slowly coming to. Her face was bruised from the explosive impact of the safety device and blood trickled down her forehead, but for the most part she seemed unharmed. In the passenger seat lay the crumpled form of a black Labrador Retriever, its chest rising and falling in hitched breaths. Micheal opened the door with a grunted effort, the creak of the twisted car frame leaving a sickening weight in his stomach. "Ma'am, are you alright," he asked as he laid her head back gently across the seat.<br/><br/>The driver's green eyes fluttered open barely as she looked upon the collared priest who stood before her. "Oh Father! I am so sorry, are you hurt?" She looked over to the passenger seat at the whimpering canine and tears immediately poured down her face. "Ralphie! Oh God, my poor baby!"<br/><br/>She tried to pull away from Micheal to attend to her injured companion which sent a twinge of anger through him for an instant. She had very nearly killed him, and whether he had prayed for release from the mortal coil in the past or not, it pissed him off that a dog garnered more concern than himself at that moment. He held her carefully in place and took a deep breath before saying anything. "Ma'am, your dog will be fine I'm sure. Don't move from this spot, we'll get emergency services here soon to take care of you both."<br/><br/>As he stepped away from the wreckage he saw that a number of onlookers had pulled out their cellular phones to either take pictures for more inane Facebook posts or hopefully to be responsible and dial 911. Either way he needed to get out of there before his stomach betrayed him for even more Internet glorification. He grabbed Neviah's hand in his and his previous nausea was washed away by a warmth that flowed through his entire being. Micheal knew that he was safe so long as he held her close, and that thought both eased and tensed his frayed nerves at once. "If you want me to trust you then we need to talk. Come with me to my rectory and you can finally tell me everything. I believe you owe me that much Neviah..."