I crouched at the end of the alley and swallowed thoughtfully. The bin in front of me stunk heavily but was crucial to the fact that I needed to hide. I saw the shadow once again appearing at the very end of the alley.

It had followed me from school, all the way to Maisie's house and then to here and had not visibly attacked. I didn't know how to get it to stop.

I suspected it was a human, but that could very well be wrong. It could be one of those creatures which I could see since I'd been thirteen years of age.

As if on cue, one of those creatures disappeared down the wastebin. it flicked it long pink tongue at me, looking like a cross between a salamander and a caterpillar. In short- disgusting.

I managed to get my gaze away from it, and then noticed that the shadow was no longer at the edge of the alley.

By now, I was tired of these games already and wouldn't have minded much if it turned out to be some sort of serial killer. I just hoped no one would be too devastated when they found my mutilated body.

"Lana." I heard a hissed whisper that made me stiffen because it sound like it came from right behind me. I turned around, even though I knew I would find the brick wall at my back.

"You know what you are." The voice hissed again, coming from behind me. I stood with nostrils flared and faced it.

Nothing.

There was nothing there. Only an incoming headache made me aware.

"Who are you? What are you doing to me?" I managed to ask.

The voice came again in form of another hiss, took a shape and then solidified. I turned to a humanoid figure. Pale, dark and drowned in shadows. Black smoke was wisping out of his sides in a controlled form. His eyes were black holes of misery, and his stare was the same.

"You know what you are." He accused. This time, his voice sounded oddly patient and kind. I struggled to figure out what he was talking about.

"Your very soul repels me, yet draws me in." At that, he raised a pale, thin hand and touched my cheek gently. It was like being brushed by ice.

I cringed as something in me responded and pushed him back. I didn't want him touching me. This thing... felt wrong.

"So tasty." He spoke, almost moaning. I again had no idea what he was talking about. "So delicious, you angel."

At that, my eyes widened. Was that what I was? I couldn't believe it but something thrummed in me tht agreed with his definition of me. Yes, I was most likely an angel.

"Helix!" Something snarled, and all of a sudden, the demon form was not in front of me at all. I saw him fighting another of his kind. This one's smoke was grey and almost melancholic.

They fought in a spectacular blur of movement and rose up into the sky. They were flying?

"You won't get away with this." The other demon snarled as he choked him.

Helix, as I'd come to identify him, fought against his grip, but he was too weak ND the other demon crushed his neck with a sound that resonated all the way over here. I could see the moment Helix went limp.

Then his body started to smoke and his body erupted in a puff of black smoke.

The other demon turned to me and then his lips widened, pulled back over his teeth in a menancing way. Then he came to me, grabbed me by the neck in a way I couldn't fight back because I was busy trying to avoid being choked, then suddenly my surrounding changed.

I couldn't feel much of anything as gray smoke surrounded us both. Then suddenly, everything stopped.

I cracked my eyes open and they widened when I realized I was somehow in a different place. A palace, it seemed. Its walls were made of the finest obsidian, it's ceiling and floor was fair marble and felt smooth when I laid down on it. It was the overall size of the stadium back at school and at the far side right in front of me.

Was a throne. And on it was...

The most beautiful man I'd ever seen.