Leo
"No way I'm taking martial art classes", Jade yells at me. "I mean", her voice suddenly turns into a whisper, "you said it yourself Leo, I am a powerful witch, sure I could take down a demon if I needed to". I look at her. She's only 18, just two years younger than I was when I died 20-something years ago, but with her tanned skin, curly black hair and stone-cold eyes she looks a lot wiser than her years. And she is. "You are powerful", I whisper back to her, "but you have a gift to heal people, that doesn't really help with fighting demons, and there could be a powerful one around here". "I could heal him to death", she says shrugging, then flashes a smile at me. I smile back at her. "Tomorrow, 8 pm, don't forget it", I say standing up. "I won't", she groans.
I leave the restaurant, looking for a place to orb out from. This was a draining conversation and I am so looking forward to some rest. Jade is really a great Witch but it can suck being her Whitelighter sometimes. She can be so stubborn sometimes and that really makes things harder. They said that there was a powerful demon wandering down the streets of San Francisco last few weeks. Many witches have already been killed, some of them wiser and more powerful than Jade.
I walk around thinking about this demon and about Jade when I crush into someone. It takes me a moment to get up from the ground and another one to figure out what just happened. The other guy stands up too and our eyes lock. His are green like mine, only they have some gray mixed in. "I'm so sorry", I say reaching for his shoulder with my arm, "is everything fine". "Yeah, everything is good, only", he says looking down at his coffee cup that is now squeezed. "Let me get you another one", I say immediately, "it's the least I could do". "Alright, I'll take it", he says and I can't help but notice how raspy his voice is.
We walk to the coffee shop down the street together. He doesn't look much older than me, maybe 21. I mean, I've been alive for like 40 years now but I'm dead. Well, technically. I died at 20 and became a Whitelighter. Since then 20 or more years have passed but I haven't aged. Maybe just a little, but Whitelighters don't age or die.
When we get to the coffee shop he orders his coffee and I pay for it. He goes to sit at one of the tables for two. I come close with no intention of sitting down but just saying goodbye. "You waiting for someone?", I ask just to be nice. "No, I'm alone", he responds not looking at me. I notice the way his shoulder drop when he says that, how he lets a breath out like it hurts him to say so. "I could stay with you and keep you company", I say without thinking. "You really don't have to", he says finally looking up at me, but I sit down across from him before he even gets to finish that sentence. "By the way", I say lightly smiling at him, "my name is Leo". "Cole", he says locking his eyes with mine and twitching his lips into a barely visible smile.