Summary In a world where angels are rare and wage a hefty price on the market, a young hunter captures and illegally keeps a dark winged angel to himself.

Published July 23rd, 2013.

Predicted Length Four chapters or less; at this point, possibly five.

Updates Spastic but should be finished by December/November.

Warnings/Notes Yet again, many religious references. Blasphemy! Lol. I kind of just wanted to say that...

Disclaimer I don't own Total Drama Island, I know. It's a fact that wounds me deeper with each passing day.


IT IS

TO BE

CERTAIN

OF THAT

WHICH

ONE

CANNOT SEE


"What an excellent day for an exorcism."

The Exorcist


SECOND


DUNCAN ANSWERS THE door with a smile. "Geoff, buddy!" They do their old hand shake and Duncan looks around behind Geoff to see who's with him. "And this is...?"

Geoff smirks. "A rarity, right there. This is my date, Bridgette." The blonde girl comes up to Duncan with a strong handshake, making Duncan arch a brow. She's pretty headstrong. "Bridgette is a hunter."

"Oh yeah?" Duncan says quietly, eying her with a suspicious smile. "What's your specialty?"

"Mostly shifters," She says with a spark in her eye. "But the occasional skin walker."

Duncan laughs heartily, liking her already. "Oh, well then you're gonna love Trent." Again, another whimper, and again, Duncan not caring.

"Geoff tells me you're a hunter too, and a damn good one at that," Bridgette comments as they sit down at the dinner table and Gwen brings their plates over.

"Best in the state, if ya ask me," Geoff says around a forkful of Salmon. "Duncan has captured more demons than I care to count."

"Demons?" Bridgette says quietly, looking at Duncan with curiosity. "Not many people go after them."

"I have my own personal reasons," Duncan chirps, his tone effectively ending that conversation.

Bridgette, however, doesn't catch the hint. "And what reasons might those be?"

Duncan's eye twitches. "As I said before. The personal kind." This time he glares and the conversation really does end there.

"Well, Duncan has caught a lot more than just demons," Geoff says as a way to clear the air. "Trent here is a skin walker," he says, referring to the dog who is currently salivating at their feet, "And he's had that fairy for what? Two years now?"

"Gwen has been around for about three years," Duncan says, noticing Gwen's annoyed look from the counter for being referred to as 'that fairy'. "Not the most compliant but she's special." This earns a happy spark of light from the fluttering wings nearby and Duncan almost chuckles.

"I've gotta say, you live with magic beings pretty well. My dad could never keep our old werewolf under control." Bridgette comments quietly.

"I just give them a home in exchange for a little help." He says, trying to downplay the whole thing. A lot of hunters don't exactly approve of the whole keeping-magical-creatures-as-pets type thing and are more on the omg-a-monster-kill-it-with-fire side of the fence.

Geoff sighs contentedly as he finishes his plate. "Damn, that was nice. Ok Duncan, let's go see that angel."

Duncan rolls his eyes as he picks up their plates and puts them in the sink, leaving Gwen to start on loading the dish washer. "Ya know, for a celestial being, angels aren't exactly graceful."

"Simply because they aren't in their true form," Bridgette says with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "The true form of an angel is said to heal the sick and strengthen the weak."

"Yeah, well," he mumbles, not quite wanting to argue with the female hunter. She has a bit of an attitude, and while Duncan doesn't mind her, he isn't exactly starting to fall in love with her either.

"Bridgette is an expert on angels," Geoff says once they've gotten up the stairs and are opening the door.

"I've never actually seen one," she says humbly. "My major was angelic studies and culture in college." Duncan gives her a look of admiration at that. Rarely any hunters have much beyond a high school education, if that.

He opens the door and tries not to smash his head in the door purposefully when he sees she is, yet again, watching that wretched reality show. Her head whips toward them as she stands up from the bed, and then Duncan feels his mouth drop a bit.

Courtney's shirt fits her in all the right places, showing off the curve of her bosom. He is really amazed with the jeans, however. He has seen her naked plenty, but seeing the angel in jeans really provokes a feeling in him that he does not want to think too hard about.

At the sight of the newcomers, Courtney's wings tower over her head and she hisses a chant under her breath. "Hey hey," Duncan says quietly, walking toward her and rolling his eyes as she hisses even louder at him. "I swear, they're cool. No one's gonna hurt ya."

She continues mumbling in a foreign language but it's under her breath. She flinches when he touches her shoulder and looks at her with tired blue eyes. "I promise to ya they won't touch ya or any deal like that, jus' gonna look at ya. Ain't that right, guys?" Duncan turns to the two blondes in the room.

Bridgette raises a brow. "I really would have liked to examine the wings, and-" Courtney absolutely seethes at that, shaking her head in contempt.

"No touching." Duncan says, surprising the angel, who sends him a look of suspicion. He steps back from her, realizing how close they had been.

"We can do that." Geoff says with a smile. "We can do that, can't we, Bridge?" The smaller blonde frowns but nods, walking toward Courtney but staying a close enough distance as to not make the angel skitter.

Bridgette looks all over Courtney, who is actually much calmer than Duncan anticipated. She obviously doesn't feel the embarrassment that should come with being inspected so thoroughly. 'Angels are rather emotionless', Duncan thinks, but then again, that's the way it's always been foretold. Angels are, or rather were, the warriors of heaven. They were soldiers, nothing more. Courtney shouldn't be embarrassed, or fearful, or any of the like. She isn't human, or fairy, or even Trent and his melodramatic self. She is simply a soldier who is no longer needed for battle.

Bridgette suddenly stands up and looks at Duncan. "Can I talk to you for a bit?" His eyebrows raise, but he nods, following her out of the room with Geoff. The two men turn to face the smaller girl, who has a very intrigued look set upon her face. "I've gotta say, I have never seen wings like that before, ever."

"Ever?" Duncan says skeptically. "Not even in textbooks or journals? I thought she was possibly a fallen angel, but..."

She shakes her head. "A fallen angel simply loses its feathers over time... Most angels have the customary white wings. Some have been described as silver and sometimes blue if their a high level angel, but pitch black?" She grins. "Nu-uh. Nothing like that has ever been spotted."

Geoff's eyes widen. "That's rare as hell! You could make a fortune offa her, Duncan!"

Duncan falters, trying to find out how to word the fact that he doesn't want to sell her until he records all the information he can, but Bridgette helps him out. "No, no! Don't do that!" She turns to face Duncan with a hopeful look. "Listen, I really meant what I said when I told you about my major in college. I'm really interested in angels. Just let me research everything I've examined and let me get back to you okay? I don't need to take her or anything, I'm just ridiculously curious. A black winged angel sounds like the next huge discovery, so don't sell her off for less than she's worth just yet."

The dark haired man sighs but smirks, and agrees to Bridgette's terms, as though he was going to sell Courtney anytime soon anyways. "Oh thanks you so much! I'll be back to you soon with more information!"


Bridgette and Geoff couldn't have left soon enough, but Duncan tried to be kind and wave at them as they drove away. "Well, that was exasperating." Gwen says from behind him. He doesn't respond and instead flings himself onto the couch, worn out beyond belief. "I can't believe he had the audacity to refer to me as 'that fairy'. He knows my name, that idiot."

"Yeah, well, he was probably doing an act for Malibu Barbie. Yanno, trying to act like he's not all in with the crazy crew we got going here." Duncan muttered from behind his arm, which he had lain over his eyes.

Gwen huffs, and he smirks, removing his arm and allowing her to sit in his open hand. "So... black winged angels are a rare breed, huh?"

"More than rare, I bet." He mutters, almost to himself. "I've never even heard of them, and there ain't shit about 'em in dad's journal at all..." Which is odd in itself. Possibly Courtney is just discolored, but it feels like something... bigger.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Gwen says quietly. "I bet you'd get more answers that way that waiting on the so-called 'angel expert'."

"You didn't like her?" Duncan teases.

Gwen crosses her arms and gives him a disbelieving look. It's actually hilarious, coming from a fairy who is currently sitting in the palm of his hand. "She just didn't seem very trustworthy to me."

Duncan shrugs. "She seemed fine to me. Kind of a brat, but most women are." Gwen beats her wings against his face, and he splutters. "Jesus, woman!"

"Technically," Gwen quips as she flutters off to the kitchen, "I am a young girl. I'm only seventy two years old."

"Fuckin' hag," Duncan spits, heading upstairs. He walks into the guest room, where Courtney is petting Trent. He does a double take.

Courtney, an angel of the Lord, is sitting on her bed, petting a very happy Trent. His tail wags slightly and he makes little pleased noises as she scratches behind his ears. But it's not just that odd.

She's also singing.

It's quiet and in a much different language, but Duncan recognizes it.

"Ave Maria... Gratia plena,

Maria, gratia plena

Maria, gratia plena..."

Duncan felt his breath slow, his mind numbing. It had always been written that an angels true voice was enticing and soul sucking, but he'd never imagined it would be like this. Her voice was... soft, so soft you almost couldn't catch it, yet once you did... it was like an echo, a memory, your best memory, captured in the form of a song.

The song abruptly ended and a soft, "Duncan?" was heard. The dark haired man opened his eyes, looking to see both Trent and Courtney looking over at him.

He cleared his throat and stood up straight, wiping the goofy smile that had somehow befallen his face. "Alright, bud, I'm not gonna need you for next week's hunt." Trent howled softly in question. "I'm taking Courtney with me."

"What?" The angel questioned. "Why?" She asked again as she dragged another hand through Trent's soft fur.

Duncan could feel his canines sink into is lower lip as he grins. "Because we're going demon hunting, sweetheart."


Duncan spent the next few days trying to prepare Courtney for a hunt. It wasn't going very well, however. She was pretty adverse to the entire hunting deal, but Duncan knew high-class hunters who used angels to hunt. "Now we'll just have to buy some charm to hide your wings..."

"No reason for that." Courtney says, sitting on the couch munching on a piece of bacon. She claims she doesn't actually have to eat, but it is pleasurable. It's good that she doesn't, since Duncan is sure a bacon-exclusive diet isn't exactly healthy.

Gwen raises a brow at her from her seat atop of Trent's big furry head. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't need a charm to hide my wings." Courtney closes her eyes and her towering wings start to quiver. She cringes in pain as, slowly but surely, the wings start to retract into her body, sucking into her back until they are out of sight.

Duncan's eyes widen. "Um, doesn't that hurt?"

Courtney shrugs. "I'm just putting them back into my true form. It is uncomfortable, but not unbearable."

"What does that look like, exactly?" Gwen asks, and Trent looks at her with curiosity as well. "I've heard it's like, seven feet tall and has three heads and is really scary."

"More like the size of this house." Courtney says quietly, and the other occupants of the room blink in shock. "I would show it to you, but it would burn your eyes from your sockets and rip your souls from your bodies."

"Alrighty then, we don't need to see it." Duncan says, albeit disappointedly. Admittedly, he did kind of want to see the form, if only to record about it. He had also read about the true form of angels before, but in order for a human to see one, they had to rip out the grace from an angel, and basically rip it's power out. The true form would appear then, as well as the vessel of the human the angel had been possessing, but no angel had ever survived humanization. Ripping out it's grace was too much. In fact, that made him think. "Just whose meat suit are you using, exactly?"

Courtney lowered her gaze. "My vessel's name was Ahuiliztli. She was an Aztec widow who tried to take her own life when her significant other died in battle. I came to her and told her I would provide her redemption, as well as redeem the soul of her lover who had spilled so much blood, if she were to allow me to possess her. Many angels change vessels every twenty years or so, but I preferred this vessel. She was loving and determined, and had a pure soul."

Duncan frowned. "So are you telling me angels possess people on the regular, or something? I thought they wanted to protect humans."

"My brothers and sisters never liked humans. They hated them for stealing the love of God." She said it quietly, as though she was leaving something else unspoken. She hesitated, but then spoke, even softer than before, turning her gaze toward the window. "There was a time when I found humans beautiful, however." She turns to Duncan. "Even those with imperfections..." Duncan watched her for a few moments before turning away, walking back upstairs. He felt his jaw clench as he traced the scar on his face.


It has been recorded that angels could always sense demons, near or far. They can sense the small, inner demons inside of humans if they look hard enough, the devilish thoughts which plague them. So it's really no surprise to Duncan when Courtney picks at the seat of his car and looks over to him solemnly. "I know," she proclaims.

"I know ya do." He says quietly, a small smile on his face. "Ya knew when ya looked at me yesterday."

"Does anyone else know?"

He shook his head, taking another drag from his cigarette. "Not even my dad."

She narrows her eyes. "Why do you hunt your own kind?" She pauses, and then speaks again. "While you are mostly human, they are still related to you in a sense-"

Duncan clicks his tongue. "See, I don't consider them my own kind. At all."

Courtney's eyes widened. "Really?"

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Kinda wanna hang onto my humanity, sweetheart. Just because I'm half demon doesn't mean I'm evil." Which was a harsh way of putting it, but, well...

"Your mother was a demon." She says matter-of-factly. "Your father didn't know, since she was possessing a human and hiding her true form... and when she went to kill him he simply thought she had been recently possessed, and he killed her in turn. You have demon blood inside of you, which offers you a sixth sense toward demons especially. You use this to hunt, which is why you are considered one of the best."

He winks at her. "Don't forget the emotionally unstable father who handed me a gun at age seven."

"You have no demonic powers?" She questions.

"No," he says, honestly. Duncan has always been able to sense demons but as for anything past that, he's just a normal dude. He can pass the Holy Water test and doesn't get caught in demon traps. "Only physical evidence of anything out of the ordinary is that I was born with this." He points toward the scar lining his cheek. "I used to have nightmares as a kid, yanno, when I would accidentally tune into Satan radio and hear the sounds of hell."

"What does it sound like?" Courtney asks, genuinely curious. "Heaven was quiet, I remember, always like a lullaby."

Duncan snorts. "Hell sounds like... it sounds like sadness. Not burning, not pain, just... frozen. Emotionless. Empty." He thinks for a moment. "How long has it been since you were in heaven?"

She frowns. "Two hundred years ago. The last angel to see heaven claims it was back in the late 1800's." She shakes her head, yellow eyes determinedly frustrated. "Father has not let in a single one since."

"Why?" Duncan asks, honestly curious. Courtney doesn't respond and he doesn't push it. It's late at night, and their already stopping the car by the edge of the forest.

"Alright," Duncan says, grabbing his rifle and jacket. "I'm not gonna bring any Holy Water 'cause I figure there's no need for testing if you can sense them immediately."

Courtney nods, following him into the forest with wide eyes. "Why do you trust me not to run off? This is my home." She speaks quietly.

His eyes flick toward her, and he smirks. "A lot of reasons. One, I've got a gun. Two, you couldn't survive on your own for shit with that collar on. And three- 'cause I just know you're sweet on me, wouldn't leave me for all the moon flowers in the world-"

"Be silent." He supposes that is Courtney's angelic version of 'shut the fuck up' so he chuckles and pleases her, finishing his cigarette and stomping it on the ground.

"Come on," he says, and they enter the shrouded darkness of the trees.


Courtney spots a demon quickly. "His aura is very blue... I suspect he is a new demon. They aren't as hateful as the older ones."

Duncan grunts, gesturing for her to follow him the direction she had pointed in. "Demon's a demon."

"They were once people." She speaks softly, her yellow eyes glinting from the underbrush of the trees.

He turns his gaze on her own, and feels his breath catch. They are pretty goddamned close to each other, but Courtney doesn't seem to mind that he can pretty much feel her breath hitting his shoulder. "...'Once' being the key word." He says, pushing past her and continuing on.

She doesn't say anything more, but he can almost feel her gaze on the back of his neck, burning softly into his throat.

"There." She says minutes later, "In that tree." Duncan looks up to where her thin finger is pointing, seeing what looks to be a man sleeping in the crook of the trunk. "I was correct, he is fairly new."

"No one cares, Princess," he says again, pulling out his rifle and aiming it at the demon.

"What are you-" Courtney jumps when the gun shot rang out, followed by the loud thump of something meeting the ground. "What are you doing?!" She yells, yellow eyes crazed. It is unlike her. She hasn't seemed so animalistic since before she had the angel collar on.

Ignoring her, he walks over to the demon, watching as it shifts in pain and discomfort and fighting the urge to spit at the damn thing. "Stop yer squirmin'. It's a bullet ingrained with holy water, ya won't be going anywhere for at least three days." Up close, it isn't a man- it is a boy, probably only twelve, maybe less. He is just a kid. "Why the fuck would you possess a pre-teen?" Dean asks quietly, binding the hands of the demon with special ties, made out of the same stuff as Courtney's angel collar.

The demon laughs, it's voice distorted, like an echo. All demon's voices are. "He's eleven; old enough to have his first erection, old enough for his first possession, I always say." It hisses, but it blinks and stops moving when it spots Courtney in the corner. It seeths, "Angel..."

It flinches when Courtney comes up to it. She pushes the brown hair on its forehead aside and Duncan growls at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She ignores him, instead placing one finger on the demon's forehead and pushing. Duncan watches as the demon's jaw goes slack, it's red eyes turning gray.

Ten seconds later, she lets go, and the demon is back to its old self, seething at her in anger. "How dare you, you bitch-"

"His name was Cody." She speaks softly.

Both Duncan and the demon shoot her a look. "Excuse me?" Duncan says.

"The name of the boy this demon 'Heather' possessed... his name was Cody." She looks to the sky, staring sadly at it. "He was young, innocent, and very kind even though he was not particularly brave. He has many greats things to come in his future. It is a shame he had to suffer so long."

She snaps her fingers and the bindings on the demon's wrists snap off. Duncan yells in astonishment and anger, "What are you doing?!" But then the demon is shaking, and a black smoke begins to come out from the vessels nostrils. It slowly sinks into the ground, seeping in until it is all gone.

The demon blinks, except now, it's not with bright, red soulless eyes like before, but soft ocean blues. "What in the fuck did you do?" Duncan says, not looking away from what had previously been a demon, his mouth wide open in pure shock.

"I exorcised the demon. I sent it back to hell." She breaths, looking away from the scene.

Duncan turns back on her, shouting in anger and confusion. "What the hell do you mean?! Exorcisms kill the human the demon is possessing, and this kid is clearly alive!" Duncan isn't lying; he'd sat and performed a few with his father, but he rarely enjoyed them like other hunters did. In the end, you always wind up with a dead body.

Her shoulders are shaking as she turns around with tears in her eyes, holding her hand over her heart and breathing very quickly. "It's not easy to do, Duncan! It wounds me each time but that's what I was made for! To help humans, to save them!"

Duncan shakes his head, helping the little boy up. He is nearly unconscious, but he has a steady pulse. "Courtney, you're not normal."

"Not by your standards," she spits. "I'm an angel of the Lord, of course I'm-"

"I mean more than that, stupid!" He grimaces, annoyed with having to spell every damn thing out for her. "You have black wings, and yellow eyes, and you can exorcise demons without killing their host! You're more than an angel, you're not telling me something!"

Courtney looks shocked, but then her look falls to something more somber. "Let's get Cody somewhere safe."

Duncan scoffs, pulling her toward him. Again, getting that close to her stirs something inside him, but he tries to forget it. "Are you just gonna pretend like you didn't hear me?" He growls. "You may be all powerful in your mind, but just remember this; I own you."

Pushing him away, she wipes away her tears, which Duncan realizes are cried from pain. He wonders just how much it has hurt to remove the demon from the kid's body. "It will all be explained at a more appropriate time. We're not going to leave this child in the middle of the woods."

Cody whimpers, and Duncan sighs and lifts him up. "Fine," he agrees reluctantly, heading back out of the woods, watching Courtney with electrified anger the entire way.