Angel.

Mathew and his father were still on the dusty wooden barn stairs when a thud sounded from the floor above, echoing slightly throughout the barn. After a slight silent pause Mathew bolted up the stairs, his father close on his heels.

Their eyes were instantly drawn to the graceful creature upon her hands on knees on the wooden barn floor, a dark liquid gracing her glowing skin.

As the hazel eyed man strode away out of sight she felt uncomfortable in her unfamiliar surroundings, shadows lurked in the corners and she was aware that one of those below could be preying upon her, their ghastly features hidden in the darkness. She could no longer sense auroras of the living, leaving her to guess what may be hidden around her.

Slowly she slid from the coarse golden material she was perched upon, first of all her toes then her heels touched the rough ground, dust coating the soles of her dainty feet. Letting all of her weight balance upon them, she released her hold on the straw, eager to follow behind kind man with the hazel eyes.

However, her body was not yet ready for such activities as walking, just as it was not yet ready for her voice and her legs buckled, sending her sprawling to the wooden floor.
Angels, as they are cast to earth to live as Homo sapiens, go through a short period where they are physically weak, for their newly acquired immune system cannot protect effectively against the unknown. Their Primary defences cannot deter any infections and bacteria as effectively as a human’s for a short while and their secondary defences are helpless without any stored memory cells.

It was as the Angel recalled this distant memory of her past that it didn’t surprise her when her weakened skin which was torn against the impact of the wooden floor started to ooze a dark liquid; blood, which was still undergoing a change to make it more human, for it was still a dark purple, almost black in colour and was somewhat more viscous than the blood of the organisms in this world.

That was how hazel eyes and dog master found her, only seconds later.

Mathew worked out what had happened almost immediately after he saw the scene before him. The strange blood colour interested and confused him, as did a lot of things about this unnamed being, but he did not question it, instead he crouched down beside the girl and helped her into a sitting position on the ground. Her wings folded into her back with more grace than he had ever seen, they almost seemed to mould into her back, like an untraceable seam being closed over.

Draping blankets over the creature, Mathew prepared to carry her out of the barn and back into the quaint old building he called his home.

John O’Brian dared not to interrupt or offer to help his son, he reconised the protective streak in his eyes, it was not so different to the look his dog’s eyes, or the look he wore himself when he first found this miracle in his field. This look told him that no matter where his son’s loyalties usually were, he would protect the marble-skinned girl, no matter what the cost.

This creature...this Angel brought out this feeling in people, this knowledge, knowing what she could do to both humans and animals alike, without meaning to, worried John O’Brian immensely.

Mathew meant to give up his room for the creature, naturally, but first he wanted to be certain her cuts were clean, for the risk of infection was high on a farm. His brother, Christophe was midway through training for becoming a village medic, often Mathew thought his brother only trained for the attention of the ladies and girls in the village, after all Christophe wasn’t one to be empathetic or in any way helpful about injuries that often occurred around the farm.

Mathew often had to mentally scold himself when these thoughts materialized into his head, for it was not all true. If he was being honest with himself he may admit that he was slightly bitter about being the son to inherit the farm, for he had always dreamed of becoming a doctor or a lawyer, he certainly had the mind for it. Yet it was his younger brother, who didn’t fully appreciate the freedom he had in his choice of occupation, who obtained this privilege.

It was this that often picked away in Mathews mind, for his brother regularly complained about the knowledge he had to learn and the complexity of the drugs and the side effects they may have on certain people, never thinking that Mathew would happily trade his brother’s life for his own.

He did, however have a strong attachment to the farm he would one day own, and when he dreamed about the success he may have gained if he were in his brother’s shoes, he often had a pang of sadness or guilt thinking about living without the farm that had run in his family for generations.

It wasn’t considered unusual for Mathew to sneak into his brother’s room and take one of his medical books to read. In earlier years Mathew would read them, hoping to be able to teach himself to be a doctor, but of course, medicine wasn’t like that. He could only read the theory and never see the practical side of it. Doing so now, he took the book with the basic information in it, this book wasn’t designed for people training to become doctors or surgeons, it was a book any person who may have benefitted from knowing what to do in an emergency or how to do simple dressings so as not to bother their local doctor.

The way professionals prevented infection was by dousing the wound in an iodine solution, but Mathew obviously couldn’t use this for the creature’s wound as they had none. Instead he fetched some Anti-bacterial wipes that were inside the first-aid box in the cupboard. He also grabbed a few dressings whilst he was there, he knew that covering her wounds with a bandage was going a little over the top, but he wanted to be certain nothing got infected, and if going overboard with precautions would do that, then that is what he would do.