Prologue: Guardian Angel

"Mom!"

The man pulls Gabriel outside of his small house. The door slams shut and a piece of wood slips down to lock it from the outside before his mom can rescue him. Gabriel fights back - kicking his legs vigorously against the man, arms throwing messy punches against him in a panic. It does nothing to stop the man from dragging his twelve year old little body through the falling snow.

Gabriel screams in horror, his eyes tightly shut; someone has to hear him. was he thinking? It's Christmas Eve, everyone is no doubt out of town or visiting relatives in the city. Besides, this neighborhood was probably the least friendly of all the places and households his mom had dragged him to in the past couple of years.

Next thing Gabriel knows he's being shoved down into the snow. His glasses go flying into the air with the impact and he faintly hears them land softly somewhere near him. He stares wide-eyed up at his kidnapper, whom he notices soon after is yelling at someone to his left. He turns his head slowly to see who.

Though the image is blurry without his glasses, he can make out a small figure in front of him, possibly smaller than himself. "Do it!" he man yells at it, "Take his ability!" "But-" the figure protests quietly. Like it's image, the voice is small and high, making it obvious it was a young girl. She plays with something on her chest, a necklace. "Do you want to make me proud?" the man asks her, matching her quiet tone, only there's a slight mocking to it.

The girl rocks on her feet slightly, looking indecisive. The small glisteningpendant on the end of the gold chain twirls between her small fingers, "Iguess..."

The man notices her infatuation with the necklace and frowns. He stands therefor a moment watching her before tearing the pendant from her hands, ripping thechain off with it. She yips at the action and immediately starts to grab fori t, whining. He hangs it in front of her face mockingly then throws it to the ground. She almost dives to get it, by he stops her. He roughly spins her around to face Gabriel and pushes her toward the child, "Do it!"

Gabriel feels his body freezing, and he knows he can't take much more of this. He can hear pounding on his front door coming from the inside, fighting to get out. His mother screams for him, but he's too shocked and cold to reply. "I want to make you proud, Daddy," the little girl tells her dad, "but he's just a boy. I don't wanna kill him." Gabriel's lungs freeze up with the icy word. 'Kill'.

Gabriel manages to mumble a plea, "Please don't kill me, please." The female stares down at him and though she's still blurry, he can tell she's sympathetic. The man suddenly grabs her upper arm and pulls her toward him again, the girl yelping a bit. "Kill him." he commands through clenched teeth, his patience running dry, "Kill him, or you'll be paying for your disobedience." The girl let's out a little whimper as he tightens his grip on her arm before shoving her toward Gabriel, "Do it. Before someone comes."

She sighs. Gabriel can feel the tears creeping into his eyes as she steps forward. Kneeling down, he finally sees her face: and is it angelic. Her skin is as white as the snow, her lips and cheeks glowing red from the cold. And the most beautiful blue eyes. She smiles sadly, staring straight into his eyes as she takes his hand in hers. "I'm sorry." All Gabriel can do is whimper.

Her eyes suddenly change, the sadness leaving slightly to make room for something else, something dark. In a single swift movement she spins around and clamps her hand around the man's wrist. A death grip. Gabriel stares up at the sight, eyes wide and scared. The man yells and screams and begs for her to stop. Gabriel notices her hand getting brighter, glowing. It reminds him of the sun. After several long moments the man drops to his knees, then falls face first into the snow. And he's notmoving. She let's go finally, her small body kneeling next to his. Her hand strokes his head, "I'm sorry, Daddy. I had to do it."

And everything's silent. Everything. The mans terrified screams echo in Gabriels ears. And everything's silent. There's a distant thump on his front door; Gabriel can barely hear it.

He finally finds his voice. With a gulp to moisten his mouth he calls to the girl, "Are you okay?" She doesn't say anything, simply turns around slowly to look at him. "Are you okay?" he asks again, thinking maybe she hadn't gotten it the first time. "I think." she finally replies. Her voice is still as quiet as before.

"Is he okay?" Gabriel's voice wavers. The image is once again blurry, but he thinks he sees her shake her head. He doesn't know what to say anymore. After another few moments (or minutes, maybe; possibly an hour or so) passes by before she gets to her feet. She's a bit wobbly, Gabriel notices. He watches her shuffle through the thick snow on the ground to him. "Are you okay?" she asks. He nods his head, breathless. He makes out a small smile on her face.

She slowly pushes through the snow closer to him and bends down to pick something up from the ground. She holds it out the him. As the hand nears his face he realizes it's his glasses. He wants to take them, but his body won't move. She once again smiles.

Opening up the frames she carefully places them on his face, using her index finger to push them higher up on the bridge of his nose. Now that he can see her clearly, he can definitely tell she's younger than himself, possibly by a few years. Her warm breath swipes against his cheeks as she pushes his hair out of his face.

She scans his body, "You must be freezing." He is. Gabriel's clad in nothing but a small jacket and pajamas, which are both damp from the snow. He still doesn't think he can move. The girl proves him wrong. She goes behind him and with her help, he manages to get up off of the ground, his legs aching from lack of movement and warmth. Gabriel notices that, in spite of the fact his back is curved, she's still shorter than him by several inches, displaying the age difference once more.

They limp back to Gabriel's front door, his mom's calls becoming clear again. The girl removes barricades keeping it closed and the door immediately comes flying open to reveal the woman. "Gabriel!" she yells into the sky as she scoops him up into a hug. "Thank you Lord for keeping him safe!" she sobs into his shoulder.

Gabriel holds her tightly until his mother sets him down, and even then he keeps a good grip on her cardigan. "We should get you warmed up." she tells him after drying her tears, pushing him inside, "You must be freezing, my poor little boy." He complies for a moment, but he stops when he remembers something.

Gabriel spins around rapidly to look out the door again, just in time to see the girl - his savior - beginning to waddle away in the snow. "Wait!" he stops her, taking her arm in his hand. Her skin is cold, but there seems to be a suspicious warmth to it, as if a flame is hiding inside. "Who are you?" he asks staring into her eyes. Her deep blue ones. They seem so...old. Wise. Experienced. The eyes of a twenty year old woman on a little girl.

She smiles that same sad, sweet smile. "I guess I'm your guardian angel." And she walks off, into the falling snow on Christmas Eve, her dark hair and snow white skin disappearing completely.

Gabriel can't help, but smile contently and murmur lovingly to himself,

"Yeah, my guardian angel."