That night, the room was dark; the only light came from whatever the moon could through the window and the tightly drawn, lacey-white curtains. A lonely wind rustled through the trees outside and thrummed against the window seeking access into the room but finding none. The child slept fitfully on her side, her face relaxed and calm. Her parents slept in the next room, and the house was still.

                But deep within the shadows, two cloaked figures- invisible to the human eye, watched the girl’s every unconscious turn, every steady breath. One of the shadows was tall, the other noticeably shorter. The taller shadow emanated cold, and fear. The smaller, black form stood stiff, dark, and dangerous in the corner of the room…yet the figure also seemed almost uncertain.

                “Go on, look upon her. That is your prey,” the taller, cold shadow, pointed a thin, bony finger through the drooping cloak’s sleeves, towards the cradle. The smaller figure softly tread over to it, his feet a breathless whisper on the carpeted floor, and peered inside. In the scarce light of the moon, the smaller shadow’s figure took on a more distinguishing shape. His young, face peered nervously and curiously over the edge. He was about five years old in looks, and his long, midnight black hair fell forward getting into his line of vision. He brushed it aside and let his dark eyes roam the sleeping figure…his…prey.

                A soft, barely audible gasp escaped him and his eyes widened slightly as he made out the shape nestled inside. It was a small girl, of course he’d been told about her. But he wasn’t prepared for seeing her for real. In reality, she was so young, fragile-looking, delicate. Beautiful. The thought came unbidden and he blinked in surprise as the thought slowly registered into his brain.

 She’s beautiful and good. Such innocence…

For an instant, upon seeing such goodness, the heart that he had been trained to forget he had, fluttered in his chest shooting small tendrils of warmth through his chest. His eyes gazed at the young, helpless infant and he felt a strange, foreign emotion fleet across his person only to fade away like a fireworks display falling from the sky going cold again.

The cold figure spoke from behind him drawing the boy’s thoughts back to reality with an unpleasant jolt, “So pure…such a disgusting thing. You know what you’ve been trained to do…you will not disappoint us or the Master.”

“But she’s-“ he quickly bit his tongue choking down what he had been about to say. It didn’t matter…not to them. He knew for a fact that none of them could have felt the fireworks that he had just felt. If they knew he’d felt them even if it was only for an instant, it would mean the end. He would be finished before he’d even started. The small flare of emotion…he couldn’t show it to them, he couldn’t show it to anyone, he couldn’t admit it even to himself…or his life would be forfeit.

“The enemy! You will not fail-not against such a pitiful existence as that,” he scoffed at the sleeping baby, “and not against that poor excuse of a Guardian Angel that will be here tomorrow. The only reason we can do nothing now, is the cursed hand of…our enemy. We cannot kill her, we can only lead her astray. You can lead her down the path of destruction. It is your destiny. You cannot begin until the Guardian Angel arrives, of course. But the moment he comes, know what you must do.” The figure turned predatory eyes on the young girl.

In truth, the tall, cold figure was the Keeper of Destruction, a high servant of Lucifer himself. All Shades carried with them the sense of fear and cold, as he did. When Lucifer found out that God had fashioned angels to guard the ‘Princesses’ to heaven, he had decided to retaliate. Hell had created Devils: boys who would work as the opposite of Guardian Angels. They would be the dark voice whispering beguiling words, offering lies and temptations to innocent ears, trapping the Princesses until they fell away from all things holy never able to make it to heaven. It was too bad that other such supernatural things couldn’t target such ‘Princesses’. There was always a balance to the world that couldn’t be broken. If a Guardian Angel was to be given to a Princess, it could only be countered with a Devil, no more, no less.

The Shade gnashed his teeth in frustration. What he wouldn’t give to steal that little soul away this instant…but he could not. Only the boy could do that. Only the boy could lead her down the path of Darkness. He watched as the boy took a deep breath and turned to face him with cold eyes. The eyes of the emotionless, the eyes of the cold-blooded servant.

“I understand what I must do,” he intoned softly.