Angels With Demons

At some point in the nighttime, Kenna woke up in a cold sweat; The memories of her unrequited love, the pain that kept burning at her throat because she wasn't able to say those three words:

I love you.

She couldn't see herself saying that to Mirabelle... Even now that her body was six feet under.

A week... To be honest, more than a week had passed by since that one night, when she plummeted off of the building by accident.

It should have been Kenna...

"Why... Why you and not me..?", she whispered to herself. "Send me a message... Show me that you are in a better place, Mira... I love you...", she breathed, as tears streamed down her flustered cheeks.

A week and two days gone by... She wasn't feeling particularly pleased with herself other than the fact that her audition went off without a hitch.

She would be working with Zachary Burchard within the week.

-
Mirabelle.... She thought she'd never hear anyone call her that again. That she was resigned to the unfamiliar name 'Kristen', for the rest of her existence.

She didn't really understand how something like this was possible; That her body and spirit were separated, and that she woke up on this peaceful plane that they call... What was the name of it again... Leviant? She couldn't remember the name.

Today was day eight.. or was it nine..? Since she had passed on. The first day was nothing more than seeing everything in the village. It wasn't really what you would consider a village, there were no homes. The blonde had discerned that even though the guardians didn't have a need for sleep, some of the higher ranking ones posessed properties and homes, slept as recreation, and there were a few that... Had somehow managed to fall in love with each other.

"Abel!", she heard someone call out; It was Hannah. Mirabelle had noticed that the two were almost inseparable, though both seemed to be irritated with the other at times. She wondered very much if they might also be in love.

"Not right now, Hannah, I'm trying to teach Kristen something important.", Abel replied with his nose still stuck in the gold-plated book entitled, 'The All You Need To Know Handbook For Beginner Guardians'.

Mirabelle thought that the title itself looked like one of those 'so-and-so for dummies' books that she would pass by in the bookstore that she had worked before.

She wondered if anyone noticed that she was gone, if someone else had already taken her place.

"You can do that later, I have something to teach her also!", Hannah replied.

"Will you two stop fighting for one second??", the blonde spat out. Both looked at her in bewilderment, quickly becoming enragement on Hannah's count.

"I am taking time from the Earthly plane to teach her something important! What happens if something happened to my watch?", she spoke clearly and quickly.

"Nothing is going to happen. Just as my watch's side of the world is nighttime, so is yours.", Abel stated, burying his flat nose back into the book once more.

"You're infuriating, you know that?", Hannah spoke lowly. Abel waved the girl off as she took the hint and left, fuming and muttering to herself.

"Are you two.... lovers?", the blonde asked. Abel shook his head.

"Not anymore.", he replied. "Not for a few years.", was his only reply. His eyes darted over to the blonde girl in query. An odd question for anyone to ask so suddenly.

"Why do you ask something like that?"

The girl looked off suddenly, away from his piercing gaze. "I was just curious. You act like an old married couple.", she tried not to giggle, but it was useless to stifle it.

"You had someone that you loved on the Earthly plane?", he asked. The girl looked over at him again.

"Why are you asking that?", she questioned. He smiled slightly.

"Because I was just curious. You seem distant sometimes.", he replied, turning his attentions back to the book in his hands.

"I may have loved someone more than I thought... I saved their life, but accidentally sacrificed my own...", the blonde said with an embarassed look about her face.

"It sounds to me like the red string.", Abel commented, furrowing his brow.

"The red string?", she repeated, questioningly.

"The red string of fate bonds two people together throughout their lives. It can be tangled, twisted, and even tied in knots, but it will never break between them.", he spoke slowly, giving thought to his words.

"Sounds like soulmates.", she replied. Noticing that the young man's gaze shifted slightly toward herself, she figeted uncomfortably.

"Mirabelle.", he spoke. Her eyes widened.

"You said that we aren't supposed to use our real names, I mean.. Our Earthly names...", the blonde said quietly.

"Not on the Earthly surface, we are not supposed to. Here, it is acceptable.", he stated. "Now on to our lesson...", the man stated, turning the page.

"Forgive me, but I can't even remember your name...", she said, apologetically. 'I probably can't pronounce it, either..', she thought to herself.

"Just call me Aki, if that's fine with you.", he said, hiding a smile with the handbook.

"Aki... Then just call me Mira.", she said with a nervous smile.

-

"Run that by me again, please?", Zachary commanded of the sound technician.

"Sir, I'm sorry, deeply sorry, but it's not possible to have something like that up and running within the hour. You're asking for something that takes at least an hour's worth of planning out, but three to five hours to set up.", the lanky man explained.

"Have it up in two hours or you and everyone else under your command are fired!", he yelled. The sound technician ran out of the room as fast as he could, yelling out 'Yes, sir!', with what little breath he had left.

Zachary sat back in his leather chair and rubbed his temples. 'Maybe I really should have just stuck with music..'

"Mr. Zachary... Burchard..?", a woman's voice squeaked. Zachary looked up to see the stunning figure of the redhead that was at the audition before; His little fiery redhead that spoke with such enthusiasm during the audition, and could cry at the drop of a hat.

"Please, just call me Zach.", he said with a charming smile. "Miss Malone, wasn't it? Kenna?"

"Yes...", she responded. Kenna couldn't believe that he would use her first hame. His shades concealed his eyes for a moment more before he took them off. A winning smile, sparkling blue eyes... The tousled dark brown hair... Now she remembered why he had been her favorite singer.

-

"Aki... .. hika..? Wasn't that his full name? Kikumi? Oh, come on, Mira.. You should know this already!", the girl spoke quietly to herself. She couldn't get the other guardian out of her head by that time. He was just so nice, though a bit on the cold side sometimes.

She also wondered what happened between him and Hannah before.

Nothing seemed to phase Hannah; She went on with her daily rituals almost like clockwork.

Religiously was a term to take literally on this plane.

"Kristen!", a voice echoed, breaking through the woman's innermost thoughts. "Are you ready to meet your watch?"

It had to be Hannah.

"I suppose I am...", the blonde said with deep consideration. She had almost forgotten her 'new' name. Kristen didn't seem like it was the best name for her, so ... bland...

"Abel said that you were ready, you're a full day ahead of schedule!", Hannah spoke with a smile across her face. A full day was about three in the real world. Well, the Earthly plane.

"Somehow this place reminds me of a book called 'Brave New World',", the bubbly blonde said with a laugh. Mirabelle loved that book.. Somehow she identified with Bernard Marx more than any other literary character. Hannah tilted her head in confusion and furrowed her brow.

"I don't know that book...", she stated quietly. "I don't think anyone here has read it.."

"It's a little old, written in the 1940's,", she stated.

"Kristen.. I died way before then."

-

Kenna was contemplating a few things in the living room of her mother's home. The audition was great, Zachary was nice enough, and the work that they were doing on the set was brilliant and they were getting each scene wrapped up quite easily.

She had a new admiration for the man.

"Kenna Hailey Malone, what did I tell you about putting your feet on the couch?", he mother asked. She was exasperated, yet again.

"Mom, does it matter to you that I'm going to be a big-name actress soon enough?", she spoke with clenched teeth. Her mother laughed as Kenna scowled.

"Get your feet off the couch right now, Kenna Hailey Malone.", she warned, still laughing at her daughter's disregard to how hard someone would have to work to get somewhere in her line of 'work'.

"God, doesn't she realize what hard work I'm doing?", Kenna complained to herself. The memory of Mirabelle Johannsen was still fresh in her mind and even when they drove by her parent's house, she somehow assumed that Mirabelle would be outside, on the front porch swing with her nose buried in a book.

What was her favorite book again... 'Brave'.. 'New'...?

The sound of Franz Ferdinand's 'Do Ya Wanna', echoed in the living room just then, and Kenna dove to answer her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Kenna, I need to talk to you. It's important..", a male voice spoke on the other line. A familiar voice... It was Henry, Mirabelle's boyfriend at the time of her death. The man that held a grudge against Kenna for a long time before that fateful night.

"What do you need to talk to me for?", she asked quickly. Her brow furrowed with her words; She just wanted the conversation to be over with so she could get back to work on the script that was in her hands.

You know, even though she wasn't worried about the script before Henry had called.

Henry Edward Rollins. A prestigious name for a prestigious man. Mirabelle had met him whilst in her first year of University. Semantics class, if Kenna wasn't mistaken. The two hit it off well and Kenna became more and more like a third wheel. Sometimes she felt like Mirabelle would have considered skipping out on their routines in order to be with Henry instead.

She never did, in fact, there were times that Henry was told that Kenna's time was a bit more special to Mirabelle. Kenna loved to hear that fact. She was more important than just some random guy.

Even if said guy had been in Mirabelle's life for two years....

"Kenna, I don't know what to do, I loved Mirabelle so much.. I had planned on...", he trailed off.

"Planned on..?"

"I had planned on proposing this summer...", he stated, as his voice started to break. Kenna's eyes widened. Considerably, she should have been happy for her friend if she had ever made it to living long enough to see the proposal. Right now, she felt relieved that she wouldn't hear it. That he would hever take Mirabelle away from her.

She felt like a complete heel for thinking that way...

"Listen, Kenna... Please, I need some advice before I decide to do the same thing..", he whispered. His voice sounded desperate over the phone. Like he was at the end of his rope.

"Don't do it. It's not worth it.", she spoke solemnly into the receiver. "Leaving this for the unknown isn't an option.. It's not the right one, at least.", she read from the script.

"But I really don't see why--", he started to say. She cut him off again.

"You feel like you're troubled now, let a few days go by and see what happens. Her spirit is all around us, I accept that. I loved her just as you do.. Most likely, even more than you, but I am accepting the fact that she's not here anymore.", she finshed, placing the script down. Those words were straight from her heart.

"Kenna.. Can I see you face to face? Please...", he asked of the redhead. She shook her head, concisively.

"We'll meet at the cafe downtown.", she whispered, finally hanging up the phone.

-

"Aki! Do you really think I'm ready for this?", Kristen asked. It was her first watch, after all. Abel, or Aki, as she was permitted to call him, wasn't as old as Hannah, as far as she knew. He knew of the book that she talked about, and even tried to explain it further when Hannah asked questions about it.

"Aki! Did you hear me?", she asked, rather frustratedly. Aki had a bad habit of getting lost in his own little world sometimes, she had noticed. This might have been why he and Hannah had not remained lovers, but only friends.

"Sorry, I just found this entry extremely interesting.", he stated. His nose was buried in another book, this time a diary from one of the very first guardians. It had been published also as a handbook of sorts; His trials and tribulations from when he himself had been first assigned.

"I would have thought that you had read that before.", Mirabelle stated. She smiled as he went on to read the entry aloud:

"I thought that there was nothing I could do, that I was a failure as the first guardian. Reasonably, I felt more like a human than I had since my passing. The girl tried to take her life because I didn't have the patience to teach her the correct path in her life."

"I hadn't mapped it out accordingly, her existence would be somewhat futile if I didn't do something soon."

"It sounds like he went through quite a bit, this first guardian.", Mirabelle spoke with careful thought. "I don't think I could deal with someone that might decide to take their life like that, not again."

"You did well in the first place. That's why you are now a guardian.", the man stated. He placed the book down and looked up at the blonde woman. "Not everyone gets that chance."

"What happens to the ones that don't get that chance, then?", she inquired. The thought of heaven not really being heaven was somewhat troubling to Mirabelle. She didn't know anything more about this 'middle plane' other than what was told was expected of guardians. She knew that she wasn't exactly an angel because an angel would have wings... Mirabelle wondered if there was a such thing as a true angel in the first place.

"The ones that don't get that chance go elsewhere.", he finished as he got up from the minimalistic chair he was sitting on.

"Elsewhere?", she asked.

"I don't know where they go. I don't know if it's better or worse.", he confirmed, looking down at the floor. Embarassment for the unknown...

"Then.. You can't really tell me either way. I'd have to talk to someone that has been here longer, wouldn't I?", the blonde asked once more. He nodded in agreement.

"Someone like Hannah might know, but you might want to check around with someone else.. Like Christopher."

-

"Zachary Burchard, is it?", a woman's voice purred. Zachary had taken time from his daily moping since he finally found his costar for a few drinks at a city bar. He was sitting in the VIP box when a tall brunette woman had walked over, looking quite attractive in her slinky, black dress. stiletto heels set it off just right, and made her already amazing legs much more breathtaking. Her hair was curled slightly, and a small rosebud of a barette was on either side, right above her ears. More than anything, Zach loved taller women for the fact of long legs. He was definitely a leg man.

"It depends on who I'm speaking with.", he said, cooly. The woman flashed a radiant smile in his direction and sat down next to him.

"You may call me Lana.", she whispered into his ear, causing a slight uncomfortableness from the man. He cleared his throat and tried to think of something witty. "Lana, is it? That must be short for something..", he said with a charming smile. The music in the club wasn't nearly as loud as it was out on the dance floor.

"Delana.", she whispered. Zachary smirked.

"A beautiful name. A flower would be envious not to be named such.", he stated with a wink.

"Zachary. I have some urgent news to speak to you about.", a medium-height man declared, walking over to the VIP box. "It's about your show."

"Can't you see I'm busy right now?", he scowled. The woman had made her way closer to him and was almost in his lap at that moment.

"It can't wait, unless you want the whole thing to unravel by the seams...", the man spoke.

"Mason, once more, can't this wait just a bit longer? Say, in the morning?", he said, stroking the brunette woman's hair lightly. "Or in the afternoon?"

"Do as you like, Zachary.", the man said with a sigh and left quickly. Zachary turned his attentions back to the woman beside himself.

"Now where were we--", he somehow managed to breathe out before the woman took his lips into an intoxicating kiss.

-

"Kenna, are you sure that you didn't say anything that might have pushed her to commit suicide?", Henry asked, distraught with the memory of his girlfriend's death still. Everyone knew what had happened; It was an accident. No one pushed her physically or verbally to her death.

"I'm completely sure. She wouldn't have done that by herself.", she said quickly. Henry was an attractive fellow, but not Kenna's type. She only had one love...

The love that was gone from her life forever.

"I just.. Don't think that she would have... Why was she up there in the first place? What were you two doing there?"

"I wanted to take my own life...", Kenna spoke hesitantly. She didn't know what kind of can of worms that might open, but she went on speaking anyways. "I felt the pressures of being an adult and I wanted a way out.", she spoke with her head down. The corner lamp illuminated her face in a flattering glow, and Henry started to feel sorry for the redhead.

"Kenna..", he spoke, touching her face and tilting her head up toward himself. "It's not your fault, and you shouldn't think that way..", he said with a slight smile. "If it was an accident, then it was..."

Kind words hit Kenna worse than unkind ones...

"I just..!", she sniffled. "I thought Mira and I would be together for the rest of our lives.. We were best friends, you know...", she whispered, wiping the tear streaks off of her face. "I didn't want her to go... I wanted to go, not her.. I don't have the nerve to do it.. I never did in the first place... It was all... An act!!", she began to sob loudly and the man gazed at her in disbelief.

"Why would you pull something like that, Kenna?", he questioned. The redhead couldn't even answer for the tears that were flowing.

"Why would you stage an attempted suicide?", he asked once more. The cogs in his head were surely turning. This woman was the cause of his girlfriend taking her own life accidentally. His face grew more and more angry by the second.

"Why would you set up Mirabelle's death like that?!", he yelled. The redhead winced, but sobbed louder.

"I didn't know that she would! I thought that she would just come to my rescue for once..!", the woman sobbed. Something tightened in her chest as more tears spilled forth. Something else tightened around her neck. Looking up in bewilderment and fear, she found the culprit; Henry had started to strangle the woman with his bare hands.

"Why would you do that? Are you happy because she's gone?!", he screamed. She only looked at him with wide eyes as her breath caught up in her lungs.

Suffocation would be a horrible way to go... She squirmed, trying to get loose from the man's grip, but couldn't find any leverage in order to get away completely. At the last second, she reached behind herself and took the lamp from the table behind herself, shattering it as it made contact with the man's face.

"Dammit! Son of a bitch!", he cursed as blood trickled down his face in uneven areas. Kenna found her chance as he let go of her neck, and coughed trying to gain her correct breathing back. She backed away quickly as he continued cursing, and found herself sprinting out the door of his home. His furious cursing was still heard as she ran down the sidewalk, still in tears.

"I'm glad you aren't here now, Mira... That monster might have decided to kill you instead of me.."

-

Kristen and Abel were right outside of a small swirling vortex at that moment. Three weeks since she had passed. She was now ready for a watch, whoever it would be.

She half wished that her watch would be someone she knew... Then again, that could prove to be completely difficult. If it was Kenna, she would lose her mind.. Wait, it couldn't be Kenna, it couldn't be anyone that she really knew because they would recognize her.

"Mira, are you ready to go?", the man insisting to be called 'Aki' asked of the woman. She nodded and bit her lip. He looked off a little and drew a small book from his pocket, handing it to her.

"Something you might find useful.", he said, clearing his throat. Mira looked down slightly at the man and smiled.

"I will be back later on.", she stated.

"I know that, Mira...", he furrowed his brow. "I just want you to take care while you are on the Earthly surface as you do here."

"What does that mean? It's not like I could die again.", she said with a giggle. The man turned a reddish hue at his cheeks.

"Nevermind that.. Just do what you feel is right.", he spoke quickly. She nodded once more and looked into the vortex.

"So I just.. leap in?", she asked.

"Yes, but first...", he said, looking at the woman. She tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrow.

"First?", she asked, wondering what the man was talking about. He searched about his pockets once more and removed something from it, placing it into Mirabelle's hand. She looked to see a small pin with wings on it.

"Let me guess, these are my wings?", she asked. He shook his head.

"That is how you can get back here.", he replied. "You can't just think your way to the middle plane after all.", Abel said with a smile. Mirabelle felt a warm feeling in her chest and sighed audibly.

"Just come back soon, Mira...", he whispered. His hand was still on the woman's, she didn't even realize it at that moment, but only gazed into his eyes. Warm brown eyes that only showed a hint of color when they were looked at closely. She drew closer, as did he, and their lips met in a sweet kiss.

"That.. I'm sorry...", the man said, bowing his head over and over as he pulled away from the woman. Mirabelle looked on as her mouth gaped open. That action was much more forward than any man she had ever encountered.

"It's... It's fine.. Aki..", she spoke quickly, causing the man to worry about the state of that kiss. Too forward, irrational, unprovoked. He mentally kicked himself for it.

"Just come back when you think you've done well.. Or.. If Christopher calls for you.", he spoke sincerely and turned around to leave. His thoughts were as jumbled as her own as she finally took her flying leap into the void.

5: Voices are heard from all around

"That was amazing, Zachary...", Delana whispered. The man next to her had drifted off to sleep right after their sex acts, and she layed back in content with what had happened, reflecting on all that night had led to.

"You're lucky that you're rich..", she whispered, getting up and getting dressed quickly. The daylight was just then breaking through the skyline in the window of the penthouse apartment owned by Zach. She felt the need to get out while she could, only leaving her number on the night stand next to where his sleeping body layed.

"I'll have to look for you much later..", she purred as she slipped out of the room soundlessly.

-

'I took a leap of faith, I don't know where I'm going, just that Aki said this is where I am supposed to be. For all I know, I'm in some kind of black hole or something. Great, I can't die again, so I'll be stuck in this void in space for all eternity..', Mirabelle thought to herself. Her thoughts were irrationally unprovoked. She knew that she could trust the man, but just didn't want to admit it subconciously.

Since when did she trust a man of all people...?

"Mirabelle, what do you think about getting married?", Henry had asked once before. It was at the end of her sophomoric year of University when she heard him ask that. She cringed on the inside for some reason. She was unsure why.

She lost her virginity to him.. She should have been more willing to be married. There was just something about it that didn't seem right to her. Kenna didn't like him, in fact couldn't stand him, but had been respectful of Mirabelle's wishes while they had their courtship.

Henry was rich, successful, his family had power...

Mirabelle thought back on it a long time before there was a peek of light before her. She must have been in the real world once more. Looking down at her attire, she noticed that she was wearing the same thing that she had died in; The comfortable flannel shirt and straight-legged black jeans that had faded out into an awful-looking greyish hue. Well, there was nothing she could do about that. She was dead, after all...

Once more, that thought haunted Mirabelle's mind; She was indeed dead, but walking around like it was nothing. She had not a pain on her body.

Looking up at the skyline, she realized the exact spot that she had been taken to; the place of her demise.

There was still a stain on the pavement where she had fallen from. Mirabelle cringed to remember the sound she heard as she hit the ground; Yes, she was alive to hear the crunch of her left arm breaking at the point of impact. Her pelvis shattering as well.

"At least I don't have to wait for--", she began, as a person walked through her. Her eyes widened; The mustached man didn't even realize that she was there in spirit form... A bit disheartening of a feeling for poor Mirabelle.

"Well..!", she huffed, turning around to glare at the man. He just kept going as though he didn't see or hear her.

"Being a spirit is going to be much harder than I thought...", she sighed and continued on her way down the sidewalk.