She was...quite impressive.<br/><br/>Adrian was going against his word â€“ shocker â€“ with the defense of<span style="font-style: italic">â€he was merely observing the angel for future reference.â€</span>From his rooftop perch across the street he watched the girlâ€™s manic cackling turn into bloodthirsty rage.<span style="font-style: italic">Thatâ€™s not very angelic,</span>he mused.<br/><br/>Some not-so-nice words were exchanged along with some â€“ ahem â€“<span style="font-style: italic">flirting</span>, then finally; the fight began. It was amusing, watching the first one go down without much time for a proper reaction. After watching the angel dispatch one after the other, even going as far to throw the body of one into another, the corner of his mouth twitched.<br/><br/>The battle whirled about the alley, a flurry of limbs and blood and glittering metal. One demon grabbed the angel by her wing and yanked her back with a fistful of black hair. Adrian, from his perch, frowned slightly, his hand clenching into a fist without his realizing it. His hellhound emerged from his shadow, sniffing the air curiously. Pravus eyed his master and sat down beside him, watching the fight down below with animalistic indifference.<br/><br/>The angel broke the scumâ€™s hold on her and killed him with a slice to the throat after a good slash to the thigh. Adrian watched the black demon blood spatter her face with a grimace. That stuff was gross.<br/><br/>One by one the low class demons dropped, dead as doornails. Ichor spilled all over the pavement, painting the sidewalk black. Still the angel fought, taking a knife to the shoulder and still pulling through.<span style="font-style: italic">Damn thingâ€™s got determination,</span>Adrian mused.<span style="font-style: italic">Determination to live, anyways.</span><br/><br/>Finally it seemed all the pests were dead, and yet Adrian lingered. The fun was over, so why stay? Even Pravus was eyeing him questioningly. The half demon just sat on the roof, now settled in a lazy criss-cross-apple-sauce position while he leaned back and stroked Pravusâ€™ ear with one hand. With half-assed interest, he loitered, watching as the angel lit the bodies aflame and took inventory of her injuries.<br/><br/>The fight was over. Why was he here exactly?<br/><br/>The angel girl turned her back on the bodies and started out of the alley, satisfied with her work.<br/><br/>When suddenly, a shadow loomed from the building directly above her.<br/><br/>Oh. Thatâ€™s why.<br/><br/>Adrian leapt to his feet in a blur, and with speed invisible to the human eye, jumped from his rooftop to a lower one across the street. Nothing more than a haze of black, he bounded onto the rooftop the last sneaky demon hid. His left forearm pulsed and glowed as his demon blade grew from it, just a smear of electric blue in the shadow with eyes.<br/><br/>He cleared the edge of the roof just as the demon dropped down with a hiss, its target the angel below. Adrian bared his teeth, a gleam of white in the black, and rushed to the edge of the roof. Without hesitation, he threw his hand out and his dark aura shot towards the unsuspecting demon.<br/><br/>The inky black energy sharpened into a guillotine-like blade, and with a short choke of shock, the demonâ€™s head was sliced clean off.<br/><br/>The young man leapt back, away from the edge of the roof, just in time to hear two wet<span style="font-style: italic">thwunk</span>s, as the body and detached head hit the pavement below.<br/><br/>Why...had he just done that exactly?<br/><br/>He didnâ€™t wait. With the retraction of his demonic blade, he leapt across the alley to the next building, and then to the next building after that. He<span style="font-style: italic">wasnâ€™t</span>running away. He was doing what he said he would. Going home, and putting that angel out of his mind forever.<br/><br/>He just got a late start, that was all.<br/><br/>Adrian alternatively ran over rooftops and bounded off buildings, putting as much distance between that angel and him. At some point, Pravus caught up to him. The hound looked annoyed with him, but Adrian didnâ€™t want to put up with the moody demon dog now, so he made the hellhound faze into his shadow again.<br/><br/>Honestly, what had gotten into him? How stupid was he? Had he finally lost his sense? Or was it just his sense of pride and integrity that heâ€™d lost? Adrian didnâ€™t<span style="font-style: italic">save</span>people. Certainly not<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">angels.</span></span><br/><br/>And then he remembered something. Something that heâ€™d failed to notice before, in the alleyway. When Adrianâ€™s blade had cut the angelâ€™s throat, and when that blade pierced her shoulder, the blood heâ€™d seen was not the color of gold. It had been red.<br/><br/>That angel was part human.<br/><br/>His flight across the city stopped mid-rooftop. Surrounded by buildings, entirely enclosed, yet above it all he stood. Wind danced around him like he was stone, the only life seemed to come from the clothes rippling around his form and the hair that flickered around his eyes. Life continued along, but it was stories below him. That didnâ€™t mean the noise and hell from beneath him didnâ€™t reach his ears.<br/><br/>It made sense. It explained how strange she was; the angel. Black wings simply did not occur in real angels; it was impure and they couldnâ€™t stand that. Light touched half of his face, the hair over his eyes concealing the other in shadow. The corner of his mouth quirked in a sardonic smile. Loathing filled him, wondering how he could possibly be so stupid. He let out a bitter laugh.<br/><br/>Another half breed, like himself.<br/><br/>Was that angel girl just as unwanted as he was?<br/><br/>More bitter laughter, louder now. It resounded off the nearby buildings, echoing back to him and surrounding himself in the peals of his own self hatred. What a joke! How utterly ridiculous!<br/><br/>Why did it matter anyway? He was never going to think of the half-angel girl anyway.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">In fact, I think Iâ€™ll start now.</span><br/><br/>Still chuckling to himself, Adrian allowed himself to fall back from the buildingâ€™s edge, his arms outspread as he dropped story after story, meter after meter closer to the pavement, just feeling the air rip past him. The wind clutched at his clothes, as if trying to stop him from falling to his demise.<br/><br/>But five stories before he would have smashed into the ground, he went up in smoke and vanished.