You would think that Angels and the Devil wouldn’t get along, right? That’s true but not because we’re opposites, we work together. The Devil has his Fire Demons and the fiery pits of Hell and the Angels have, well, the Angels and the goodness of the world stored inside of them. The Devil and the Head Angel made a deal: to find some kind of compromise between the good and the bad. That’s how the Devil came up with the idea of Fire Demons. He released the Creator and made him create a thousand Demons, all with a hard look and thirst for blood. The Head Angel conjured a thousand Angels, all of them female, they provide consciousness for humans and are beautiful beyond measure. Fire Demons act as bodyguards for the Angels when they go down to Earth, both balance out the world with good luck and bad luck so no one is too powerful. Yet, no one knows of Angels or Demons. Just bikers and movie star quality.

Once a Demon has gone through ten years of training he is ready to protect an Angel on their journey. I was in my seventh year when I saw an Angel watching me. I could already feel the tension between us; sometimes Angels could come down to Hell and see the different Fire Demons to maybe choose one early. I straightened my back from my hunching position and looked at her as she stared at me. She had long blazing red hair (I was surprised she was an Angel!) it was glistening from the fire pits of my birthplace. She just sat there with her arms crossed and on a roughly carved catlinite bench.

“Go on,” She said to me flipping her bangs back a little and I nodded.

I had just started learning to fight with a six foot bamboo stick. I was a natural with it; I beat my instructor within 2-5 minutes. I had his throat at the end of my staff when I jumped off him and we both bowed. I turned to my side and saw the Angel talking to a couple other instructors, the ones of defense and education. She looked back at me and we made eye contact. The world suddenly froze for a millisecond then we both turned away. The next time I looked at her, she was leaving up the torch-lit stairs and into the white light. 

By the time my ten years were up I saw that same Angel again, in the Uniting Temple. She did choose me those few years ago. She seemed a little different, not bad just different. Her hair was still down and red, her lips still full and her baby face intact. She seemed more independent unlike back then when she was looking at me; it was like a feeling where if she told me off I would obey her on the spot. She didn’t scare me, but, she seemed like she had a firm grip on her life. “My Angel,” I bowed.

“Demon,” she nodded politely and I raised myself. “Let’s get this started shall we?” she asked and held out her hand. I told you, she was pretty straight forward. I grasped her right wrist in a tight grip and she took mine.

“I swear to protect you, to follow you into the human world, I won’t give up on our partnership and I promise to correct the wrongs we do,” I mumbled and a dark red string circled around both of our wrists.

“I swear to not get into too much trouble, to keep our goals in mind, to never turn my back on you and I promise to correct the wrongs we do,” She said and a white string circled from her side to me around our connected grips. Now was for the interesting part.

Tradition states that if you can handle the pain in your wrists, then every second counts for a year in the future that you and you’re partner will survive in. “Ready?” I asked her.

“I was made ready,” She answered and I couldn’t help to smirk. She had a cocky attitude, I liked that! The pain started and I almost fell down. It was excruciating, it was nothing I ever felt before. Worse than the first three years of training which was constant body building! I held on though trying to keep us both standing. I was told by my instructors before I walked in here that I was different from all the previous students; I was a good kind of different. The best of my generation. We could possibly break the record of seconds if I just held on. I didn’t remember what our time was when we both fell back, no matter what it seemed like all eternity!

“How long was that?” I breathed and looked at my hand.

“Hell yes!” she smiled at me and I chuckled. Etched in our skin was an orange font with a clock timing down at the same rate. A hundred and twenty years with this girl. That was ten years ago, now I can’t wait till I die!