Halo of Scales
The forest was bright and vibrant, spring was just raising its head out and beginning and as such animals were at their happiest. Birds sang, squirrels chattered as they ran up trees chasing each other, and the bees were out full force. Even the snakes were waking up and heading out to get their first meal since they had gone into hibernation. This snake was no different than the others, peeking its head out of the abandoned foxhole it had deemed their own. Its yellow eyes stared around at their surroundings, checking for predators, before it began to slither through the grass.
Its tongue flicked ahead of it a moment before retreating into its mouth, nothing. There was no sign of mice running around nearby. The poor snake was starving too, the dump mice just didn't seem to be out and about. Pity, the snake thought as it continued to move through the tall grass. It felt nice to be out in the sun light again. It heard a couple birds overhead calling each other, he would pause a second, flick his tongue to make sure it wasn't anything dangerous, before slithering again. For a snake that was absolutely starving it was content, maybe he could go into town and get some sushi or sorts. That sounded much more appetizing than a little rodent. It would be breaking practical to change into his other form, something that could be punishable if caught.
The snake looked around only for a moment to make sure there were no humans around before it changed into a human being…or at least that is what it appeared to be. The body was a striking male, black hair, and golden eyes that some would go as far as saying reminded them of fire. His skin was a lovely pale except for his back, down his spine. There, normally hidden under an article of clothing when he was in a more human form they had black scales that ran down his lower neck to his loves spine. It was something that distinguished himself from a human being. Thankfully he had never been asked the question of why he had such an odd thing down his body. He really hadn't come up with a good excuse for it yet either. He dusted the dirt off of his nude body before he stumbled through the woods in silence. It had been years since he had been in this form, walking again would take some getting used to.
Birds had since stopped singing, the forest was deadly silent as if realizing the presence of evil walking among the trees towards an abandoned cabin that was less than a mile away. The cabin had belonged to a Milo Westen, a young man in the 1930s who had taken the demon in when the war had started between angels and demons once again. They had protected them but with a horrible price. The demon had been unable to save Milo from his brethren and in the end he was used as a meat suit for another one of his brothers. Milo's wife and children had been used as food to ration to the troops. Maryann, the wife had begged for him to save them but the demon couldn't voice his opinion without being punished. They were demons after all and demons were evil, there was no room in his body. Or so he had been told. He had to force himself not to fight for them, not to scream and yell as he watched the demons ripping into Maryann's body. He couldn't even raise a wing against them when the children were brought out next but spared. To be used for breeding purposes so they had a supply of food. He had been disgusted, that he had spoken out to them and punished. His voice was taken from them for 90 years. He still had a few years more to go until he would be able to talk again.
His brethren had left him behind, taking the children with them. The demon had been left alone and commanded to remain a snake until he received his voice back. It had been a command he could slip out of every now and then without worrying about being caught; like today. It was the first day of spring and god damn it he was going to have something to eat. He just needed some clothes and transportation to get him into town, that wasn't much of a problem.
The cabin was covered in a thick layer of dust. It covered the windows making it nearly impossible to see through. Graffiti was painted on some of the outside walls but it didn't seem to be damaged any other way. The demon opened the door, flicking their tongue out a moment to make sure there was no danger inside, and moved slowly into the living area. The floor boards creaked under his weight, as he moved the dust flew up an inch before settling down again. All was quiet. There was an old couch that had blood stains all over it, now brown colored from age. A radio sat in a corner on an old coffee table with spider webs stringing down the edges giving the house a bit of a haunted look. It didn't bug the demon much, if it scared the human children then so be it.
He walked slowly through the dusty hallway, into the children's bedroom. The son's name had been Adam. He was 4 years old when the demon's brethren had arrived. The room still had a tiny bed that had been knocked over by his brethren in their fight to get tall the humans who were hiding. But the toys still lay sprawled out around the room as if just waiting for Adam to return and play with them again. They're color was faded, days of being bleached by the sun's rays as they sat in wait. A thick layer of dust laid on them as everything in the house. Other than the dust it seemed that nothing unnatural had been put here, and then Pollution hadn't been around. That pleased the demon a lot.
He moved from that room to the parents' bedroom and went to the closet. He opened the doors and sighed as it creaked in complaint. It had been something he had teased Milo for, telling them that he should really fix it, that it was much too loud and most likely woke the whole forest up. Milo kept telling him he would once he had the time, now he would never get around to it even if he wanted to. He shuffled through the few articles of clothes that hadn't been eaten by moths and finally found one that would work for him. A nice black button up shirt with a low collar that showed off his shoulder blades but as long as it kept his scales hidden he was content with whatever clothing he could find. Next he found some black pants and slipped them on. It was a perfect fit on his lanky frame and he sighed a bit contently. He closed the closet and finally set out towards the car that was in the small garage. As he exited the house and walked towards the smaller building he noticed an empty potato chip bag floating in the wind and get caught on the weeds that had been growing in the drive way.
"Aren't you supposed to be carrying out your punishment?" A white haired man said as he walked out from behind the bushes. He wore a beautiful crown of white, his clothes were white but at the bottom black or the earth and oil began to sink into the fabric. The demon looked at them and gave them a look; they didn't have a side in their war. Pollution most likely didn't see himself getting anything out of telling anyone that the demon was out of the form he had been condemned to be in for 90 years. He would most likely keep it to himself or continue to bug the poor demon about it until his 90 years were up in a couple months. It said nothing, just glared at them, if it had a fan on the back of his head the demon would had had it flared up angrily.
Pollution just laughed softly and shook their head before heading away from the house after a couple failed attempts to get passed the demon and into the home. He sighed and walked into the forest towards the nearest stream to ruin. The demon watched until they disappeared into the trees before heading towards town, deciding taking the car would be much to noticeable. It took him half an hour to get to the road railing, keeping the cars out of the woods and disturbing the wildlife. He walked silently through the town, looking into the windows quietly trying to find himself something that seemed interesting to eat, only having enough money due to Milo's wallet snug in his pocket.
He found a new bookstore opened and noted to look into it once he finished with his meal. For now his stomach grumbled loudly, complaining that it was hungry and needed food NOW. The demon looked down at their stomach with a tiny hint of a smile before heading towards the sushi restaurant. The bell wrapped around the door rang loudly and the heavy air inside settled in around him and in his lungs. The walls were decorated with Japanese symbols, red strings from one wall to the other. Some were connected to little dolls fingers showing the red string myth Japanese humans were so very into. There were pictures on the walls of customers earing contently together, most with wide smiles on their faces. The demon looked at them before finding him a table near the back in case another demon came in and he needed to run off.
He ordered and waited for his food silently, a menu over his face. He was paranoid every time he entered the town; after all there were demons as well as angels now sitting back and waiting for the other to make a move. The war had settled slightly but even in a town like Soho there was tension in the air, war starting up again even on Holiday was hanging by a spider thread. The demon slowly put down his menu when he noticed someone walk in with a smile on his face.
The new man was wearing a colorful jumper, they wore glasses over his beautiful blue eyes, and his hair was a beautiful curly dirty blonde. He walked in with a smile on his face, greeting the cooks with a smile. They called him Mr. Fell, someone who must be a regular customer. The demon thought that was odd considering he didn't see any picture of him on the wall, they thought that he would remember that face in the crowd of pictures.
Mr. Fell sat a table away from the demon, looking into their own menu and ordering his 'usual' whatever that was. There was something not quite human of the other man, he seemed angelic but he didn't have the overpowering grace most angels did who had come down from heaven to earth recently. Surely no human man was that wonderful looking-
"Wonderful afternoon isn't it dear?" he heard Mr. Fell say and the demon looked up to see who they were speaking to. Instead his yellow eyes met the gorgeous blue ones. Mr. Fell seemed surprised but didn't stop smiling softly at them. The demon slowly nodded and looked around a second trying to find a piece of paper and pen to communicate with. He got up and grabbed a small stack of blank papers and a pen. Mr. Fell looked confused for a moment before his eyes saddened as they realized that the other being couldn't speak.
"We will keep this between us dear…" he said after they spoke for a while and he sat down on the other side of the demon's table. Putting a hand to the demon's neck and for a moment the demon couldn't breathe. He coughed and cleared his throat "O-ow…" the demon whispered before blinking, he could finally speak again? So Mr. Fell was an angel after all "You really should give someone warning before pulling that Mr. Fell." the demon whispered, Mr. Fell smiled slightly.
"Please dear, call me Aziraphale."
The demon walked back quickly towards the trees of the forest. It was safer there than that town anymore. Now he had his voice back, his curse had been lifted to a degree. But at the same time the miracle etched into his essence burning him still from their over powering grace that had come to life when the angel touched him. It continued to burn at him ever so slightly, a gift and a curse at the same time and for a moment the demon wondered if it also left a bit of itself sinking into the demons grace and if the angelic being had even noticed the darkness touching their grace. They had both unintentionally marked each other without truly meaning too; because the angel wanted to heal a handicap of one of its enemies without realizing that they were sitting next to a soldier on the opposite line.
He was close to an old camp ground that would open in a couple days. It was fairly empty; the children whose parents worked at the park to clean it were running back and forth, chasing each other. The demon watched a moment from his fox hole, stuffing his clothes into it to keep him warm as well as be there when he turned back into his more human looking form again. He turned into the snake form again and slithered into his home again. He curled up in the black shirt, getting warmth from it, dozing off a bit when he heard it; something running passed his hole and stopping over it.
"What do ya think is down there? Buried treasure?" he heard a child say excitedly, it sounded like a little boy. The demon panicked a second, cornered in a fox hole with a possibility of children trying to get in and look around. He saw a little head peak in and look around in the dark before they moved, light appeared in the hole once again when their head no longer blocked the entrance completely. "There's clothes in here." He said before looking back in and grabbed the shirt and pulled it out into the open, taking the demon out with it. The kids looked down at the snake excitedly, their dirty hands reaching for him.
The demon wasn't about to go without a fight, it started to slither away and one of the children managed to catch up, holding his head down so he couldn't bite and picked up his squirming body in their hands. Bollocks. They all pet him and he held perfectly still hoping they would just get bored and let him go, hopefully near his fox hole again and forget the whole event. But alas, the go- Satan wasn't looking up at him. The children ran to their parents, a dizzying event for the poor serpent as his vision blurred every step the children took. The one who caught him asked if they could keep him.
Normally the demon was content with parents, after all they said no to them 90 percent of the time. But this sadly was not one of those times and he found himself in a small cage waiting to be taken home with the child he had learned was named Adam. Until then he sat down on a small log in his new cage under a lamp to keep him warm. He would have made his escape already but there was a small dog that Adam had named after its species, nothing really very creative about the boy sadly, it was too bad.
Dog on the other hand was looking up at the cage with great interest, it's tail wagging a bit as it tried to determine if it should try to find a way into the cage to eat the poor demon or wait until it made its escape. The poor creature didn't have time to decide because as soon as it started to bark at the demon Adam came back. "Time to go see your new home, Scales.
Scales? Really? What a terrible name for himself. He nearly wanted to turn into his more human form and lecture the child for giving his pets the most embarrassing names. He refrained because the cage was picked up and taken to the car. The car rumbled around them and they began their journey to the demon's new home.