So Long You Pretty Thing

Clair spent the rest of her evening trying to make her house not look like someone had just gone through it with a sledge hammer.Nothing had been less certain than what had just happened. She knew that she should never talk to Liam again, but the idea made her sad. She had come to think of Liam as a friend, and the thought of losing that made her sigh. Everything that was good in her life was corrupted.

That had been most clear when a hand wrapped around her waist. "Liam, I told you to go..." She turned to find that there was no brunette that was eternally depressed.

"I think you should tell me why Liam was talking to you." These words came from a tall, rather fragile looking man. He had dirty blond hair that had a careless appearance to it. His eyes were brown, and he had a tan skin tone not much unlike hers.

"How did you get in here?" Clair struggled to get out of his grip.

"Don't worry," he took his hands off of her. "I'm not going to hurt you." He had an accent that Clair had never heard before. The only thing she could could compare it to British. Still, it sounded somehow more enriching like the dreamy voice that you always wished that yours sounded like. Even that didn't make up for the fact that he had just broken into her apartment.

"Nice to know now, HOW THE HELL did you get in here?" Clair picked up a chair leg in one hand.

The man sighed and put out his hand sending the weapon from her hand and slamming against the far wall, "The door was unlocked." Clair was now sent into panic mood.

"Who are you?" Clair began to back away.

"More relevant, what am I?" He laughed as all color drained from Clair's face.

"Okay, then what?"

"The stuff of legend," he put emphasis on his words by hold out his hand and slowly pivoting over his palm was a ball of fire.

"No," she tried to form a sentence, but all that came to mind was that word.

"Yes," he came closer to her. Close enough that she could feel his breath against her skin, "Now tell me all that you know about what Liam is doing."

"Nothing, I swear," she was paralyzed in her spot.

"I was having fun creating a normal life as a human. I was going to stay out of this risky apocalypse business, but no. I have to spend my time trying to bring Satan back to power."

"What!?" These words brought Clair back to reality.

"Oh right, I'm not supposed to say that bit," he hit his head with his palm. Luckily for Clair, he had forgotten to extinguish the flames that still hovered over his skin.

Her escape came as the man (well the non-human male figure) cursed as he held his burning flesh. The elevator was broken, so she bulleted down the stairs. She took three at a time until at the third floor walking calmly past a neighbor only to continue running.

When she reached the lobby floor, she looked over her shoulder. No one was following her, but she wasn't taking any chances.

A part of her wished that Liam would be standing even though he had left a bit less than an hour had passed.

"Hello Ms. Wilson," The Doorman smiled at her.

"Hello Andy, soon to be Mrs.," Clair gave the back a less genuine smile and flashed the ring.

"Congratulations," Andy was a medium build man. His parents had come from Egypt, so he got a black skin tone with perfect white teeth. He had a low, melodic voice, which if compared to Adam made Adam sound like a 7 year old.

"Speaking of marriage, how is Alice?"

"Oh, she is pregnant."

"That is great for you," Clair immediately felt better while talking to her friend.

"Going to be my first girl," he smiled like he was proud of his relationship. Clair wished that Adam had this much pride when it came to her. Once, he had a fancy dinner party in their apartment, and he had forced her to speak in broken English so she could pass off as his house keeper. Not a high point on his behalf, but pretty good acting on her behalf. Clair swore she was going to break up with him that night, but it turned out to be a great night in the end after everyone left. Clair tried not to think about to think about this memory in public.

"I am so happy for you, and I wish I could stay and talk, but I'm in a rush," she hugged him before walking to the door.

"Keep yourself safe," he called after her.

"I'll try," she laughed as she walked through the door. Taking a left, she realized that she might have put Andy in danger. The she realized, he could take care of himself.

If you wondering, as soon as Liam had left, Clair had realized that she wasn't going to be getting any sleep so she wasn't in her nightwear. Instead, she was in street clothes consisting of a t-shirt and jeans with Union Bay sneakers.

Her feet began to fall into a steady rhythm as she walked down the sidewalk.

***

Andy was just about to go home when a man appeared. The skin on his face was reddened as though he had just placed it against a burner... a few weeks ago. The skin looked healed over and even as he stood there it began to fade to not being visible.

Clair had left five minutes earlier; he had a fondness for that girl, she seemed to show the best in humanity. Adam, on the other hand, needed to learn to treat other people like living, breathing creatures.

"Hello sir, may I help you?" Andy gave a forced smile as the man walked over to him.

"Do you know where Ms. Wilson went?"

"Out," Andy answered.

"Could you point to me where she went?" He wasn't giving up.

Andy pointed his thumb to the right even though he had clearly seen her turn left. This was not someone who he wanted to be stalking the girl. If Clair got hurt, he was going to blame this one.

"Thank you sir," the man left the room and went the wrong direction.

Andy smiled as he left for home. When he got there, there was no one home, as always. He had made up Alice to keep Clair from being suspicious. I was his job to look after her.

She was going to be very useful in the months to come. It had taken Andy only a few moments to recognize the man who was following her. The fact that he had found her could only mean that everything was moving faster than expected.

Andy was not even his real name, and this was not his real body. They were always a shimmer so humans would not see his true form, but someone might even recognize his human form on him. That would be more than inconvenient.

He removed the shimmer and looked at himself. His short brown hair and icy blue eyes shinned through the darkened frame of his home.

It took him a moment to find the box that he had stuffed into a drawer in his desk, but when he found it, he opened it with no hesitation. Andy Hamen was no longer on Earth. Neither was his true form, which many call:

Michael.