The Shadow Hound charged again, faster this ti on its many legs. Arella ducked low, her staff sweeping out in an arch to trip the beast. It stumbled, and in that split second, she had thrust the glowing orb of her staff against its side. There was a loud hum as the runes etched on the staff flared to life, and the hound let out a blood curdling screech.
Holy water encased it, and light poured from its body as it disintegrated into a pile of mush.
Arella stood there for a mont, breathing heavily, and her staff still glowed faintly. The shelter was silent once more, save for her breathing and the faint whistling of the wind outside.
Varziel’s eyes were wide as he looked at Arella, who was still facing away from him. He could not seem to find his voice to thank her. It felt like the blood had rushed to his ears, as all he could hear was the loud thumping of his heart.
At that mont, he did not fear the creatures, and instead, all his attention was drawn to the little girl that had just defeated his biggest nightmare. To protect him.
Because he was weak.
Arella turned back, and gave Varziel a huge smile, "Done. That wasn’t so scary, now was it?"
Varziel finally found his voice, "You... you defeated it," he said, his tone filled with awe.
Arella walked to him, and he noticed that her cheeks were flushed from exertion, but her eyes sparkling with triumph, "Of course I did," she brushed her hair away from her face, "do not tell you doubted . I already told you, I won’t let you get hurt. Did you doubt ?"
Varziel shook his head quickly, "No. I an, yes... I an..." he trailed off, unsure of how to articulate the mixture of admiration and disbelief that he felt. "You were incredible."
Arella’s nose literally flew up to the air, "Aren’t I?" Her deanor softened, "Cassie and father taught well. And besides, there is no way I would let it hurt you, after giving promises."
Varziel stared at her, his heart swelling. Once more, he felt that urge to take her hair in his hands, or even simply to hold her hand. He gazed back down, "Thank you," he said quietly instead of going with what he wanted to do.
Arella gave him a playful nudge with the base of her staff, "You do not have to thank so much. Co now, you will have to help clean up this ss before Castiel returns. Last thing I want is for him to realize how dangerous missions are and to stop bringing to them."
Varziel nodded numbly, still too stunned to argue. He stumbled to his feet, the reality of what had just happened finally sinking in. He took in the splintered doorway, and the remains of the Shadow hound. The shelter had not been cozy before, but now, as the cold wind swept through the broken doorfra, it felt even worse.
Arella tossed her staff up a few inches in the air, clapped twice, and it disappeared with a low hum. She rolled up the sleeves of her huge coat with an exaggerated sigh, "All right," she looked around, surveying the damage that her fight had caused with her hands on her hips. "First, we need to patch up that door sohow. I would not like to freeze to death just yet. Cassie will have another reason to grumble if we leave it be."
Varziel snapped out of his trance when he realized what she had said, "How are we going to fix it? The door, is ... um... gone." He pointed out, gesturing to the mangled wood scattered on the ground.
Arella rolled her eyes, "Oh, thank you, captain obvious." She waved her hand dismissively, "Don’t fret on the details," she bent down and begun to gather the larger splinters, piling them neatly to one side, "We will improvise. Help collect the pieces. We can at the very least block most of the opening for now."
Varziel hesitated for a second, before kneeling beside her. HIs fingers were clumsy as he picked up the wood, but he focused on the task, grateful for sothing to occupy his mind.
Sothing that was not the probable death of his father.
As they worked, Arella kept up a steady stream of chatter.
"You know, that hound was pretty slow compared to what Cassie fights. I reckon he can fight like five of them at a go," she tossed a jagged plank onto the pile, "he told about Ice Wraiths he had fought once before, and if we had encountered one of those, we would have been in real trouble. I think even father has had a hard ti fighting them. They move super fast, and are still super strong." As she spoke, she gestured with her hands, making the story seem much more interesting.
"You did not seem scared of any of them." Varziel pointed out. Then wanted to chastise himself for his words.
"Not really." Arella did not even pause to consider the question, "Nothing is as scary as my mother when she is angry. And I have been training since I was like twenty five. I am pretty sure I can take on a few low level monsters."
"But what if you lose? Or if sothing happens to you."
Although Varziel knew that he was not going to stay with them for very long, he already liked the two siblings, who went out of their way to care for him despite him being a demon and them being angels.
Arella’s gaze at him softened even further, "That is why we train. So that we do not lose, and we can protect each other." She patted his hand.
Varziel’s throat tightened, but he did not reply. He could not shake off the mory of the hounds that had pursued him and his father. The terror of knowing they could not fight back, and the absolute fear of losing each other.
Yet, this angel who was his height had faced one alone, and won.
It felt surreal.
Arella stood up, and looked at their pile of wood, before giving Varziel a smile, "Hehe. With this, you are my partner in cri."
They worked in silence for a while, arranging the planks and splinters into a makeshift barricade. Arella used her holy power to fuse so of the larger pieces together, forming a crude but sturdy panel to block the wind. It was not perfect, but would hold for at least a while.
"Not bad," she said as they stepped back to admire their work, "See? Teamwork makes everything much easier."
Before Varziel could respond, the sound of heavy footsteps crunching through the snow reached their ears. Arella straightened and with two snaps and a hum, her staff was back in her hands once more.
A mont later, Castiel had appeared in the doorway, with two other angels flanking him. His white wings were streaked with blood, and his pristine clothes were sared with sothing akin to ash. The other two angels looked equally battered and their expressions were grim.
Once they set their eyes on Varziel, they imdiately pointed their weapons at him and one of them even hissed, "Demon!"
Arella stepped in front of Varziel, "No! This is my friend. You do not hurt him or I will hurt you." Then, as if deciding otherwise, she changed her words, "I will have Castiel hurt the two of you."
"Stand down," Castiel instructed them.
"But it is a demon," the one with silver hair muttered.
"It is a child." Arella retorted back.
"A child like yourself should have no say in this matter," the one with longer hair pointed out.
Arella let out a huff, "I refuse to be treated like a child. He is under my protection. You shall not do anything to hurt him."
The three older angels exchanged looks, and finally the other two dropped their weapons.
"Fine. Castiel, if sothing goes wrong, this is on you."
Arella tilted her head, and gave Varziel a wide toothed grin. "See, I told you I would protect you, and that Cassie was a good angel."
"You little brat, what have you been saying about ?" Castiel bonked her head.
"Hey!" Arella looked up at him, offended.
Varziel, at that mont, felt his lips pull up, in a wide smile.
"I take it back, Castiel is the..." She did not finish that statent as she had seen Varziel’s smile, and had let out a gasp instead, "Oh my God you are adorable!" she hugged the demon.
It was as if she did not notice that he was dirty and filthy.
Or perhaps that did not matter to her.
It was at that ti, that Varziel made a promise to himself. He would work his hardest to be worthy of standing next to this angel that stood up for him. The next ti he would see this angel, he would show her only the best sides of him, and although she was angel, and was everything that his kind did not like, he would marry her even if it would kill him.
A/N:
In angel years, Arella is fifty here, but in human years, she is around nine or ten. Their growth is completely different. Please keep that in mind.
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