Meh, I'll edit tomorrow. I'm sleepy.

Chapter 5: An Angel in My Closet and Daddy Issues

Yugi watched as the ground sunk beneath him with the sensation that he had left all his organs behind. The bat-winged and bat-shit crazy guy leapt after them and Yugi felt his nails nick the heel of his shoe before he fell back down with an awful, inhuman screech.

Angie was making small, sad noises of pain, but her face was red with effort as she frantically flapped those huge, silver grey feathers around them. Once above the buildings she fought her way back towards the lit street and the blinking neon lights of Copperback.

He shook himself from watching the blood stain his sleeve when he realized what she was doing. "You can do it, Angie! Yami's right over there! We can get away in his car!"

She clenched her teeth and dug into the air, letting the air fill her wings and allowing them to glide across the building tops, across the street, and down towards the grey honda. Yami, who had caught sight of them from an alleyway, ran frantically under them towards the car, head back and eyes wide. He crashed into it just as they did. Feathers engulfed them and Yugi rolled off the roof with a clang and onto the sidewalk with a rush of air. They groaned.

"That was-"

A blood-chilling shriek cut Yami off and sent them scrambling for the doors. Yami jumped into the driver seat and tugged Angie from the broken door she had been pulling on. Her wings seemed to fill the entire cabin.

A black, winged figure appeared in the alleyway and came at them with great, leaping strides.

The honda burst into life.

"Shut the door!" shouted Yami.

Angie dug through her wings. Yugi screamed. The bat guy jumped at them, fangs bared like some sort of animal.

She reached the door and slammed it just in time.

"Gogogogogogo!"

But Yami had already slammed on the gas, whirling the car around with a squeal of tires. The bat guy flopped off onto the street with awkward flops of wings and limbs.

"What about Joey?!" cried Yugi.

"He's a big boy!" growled Yami, yanking the steering wheel and missing a fire hydrant by a hair.

Angie gave a cry as she was thrown against the side that sent Yugi's hair on end. When he turned to check on her she had gone limp and her eyes had closed. Blood leaked down her arm and splattered across her clothes, and he couldn't tell if it was his or hers. His shoulder throbbed.

"There's no way we can go back and check, we're just going to have to hope it gets distracted and follows us." Yami was saying.

"Yami! She's hurt!"

"You are too, if you haven't noticed." he checked the rearview mirror. "It's gone. I'm going to the hospital."

"Are you insane, Yami? She has wings!"

"I'm aware of that!"

"But they might-they might-"

Yami swerved onto an onramp, tipping Angie over onto her wing and Yugi and smothering him in a bunch of feathers. He spat some out of his mouth.

"Take us home!"

"What?!"

"We have to take care of her!"

"But that thing could have rabies or who knows what!"

"Then take her home first, let me help you get her inside, and then I'll go."

"But mom and Jim-"

Yugi cursed loudly. He looked down at Angie's pale, quiet face, clean from make up and framed with white, almost gleaming hair. There was no other way to describe her now other than then looked back up at the feathers filling the cabin. This had to be a dream. But then his shoulder gave a twinge as Yami switched lanes and he hissed. Nope. This was reality.

Yami took the exit to the hospital. Before Yugi could protest, Yami spoke up.

"I want you to go in there and pay attention to what the doctors do. If they give you a shot of whatever, see if you can swipe some of it for her."

"Are you mad? You want me to steal from a hospital?"

"You were a kleptomaniac once."

"That was in first grade! They made me sit with cops, if you don't remember!"

"Oh, poor Yugi if he gets caught. Has to sit with cops while his girlfriend dies from a crazy's bite."

"This is serious, Yami!"

"Right back at you. Also they'll call mom and Jim to come pick you up, which will give me a chance to sneak Angie in."

Yugi grit his teeth. "Fine."

Yami sped down the street, barely missing a red light. Yugi said nothing. Despite his recklessness, his brother was an excellent driver.

He pulled in just outside of the lights of the emergency room. Yugi rolled down the window to the broken door and slipped out, careful to not use his injured shoulder, which smarted at him anyways. Yami rolled down his window and stuck his hand out.

"Good luck."

Yugi slapped the hand and Yami was off. He didn't bother to watch the car go, but jogged inside, just in case the bat-guy could fly like Angie. He held his arm to the side. Once flooded by the white sterilized lights of the emergency room, the adrenaline started to fade and his head grew light. The floor tipped and he stumbled forward, wondering where his strength had gone.

A nurse behind the counter jumped up.

"Gracious! What happened?"

"Got bit," said Yugi, trying to shake off the encroaching black. He had to stay conscious for Angie. It was just a bite.

But then, for the first time, he really looked at his shoulder and nearly fainted from the sight. He could see a bit of white poking out from a the mess of shredded flesh that he swore was a bone. The torn muscle reminded him of rib-eye.

The nurse caught him in time as he tipped, stomach churning. She called for a wheelchair.

"What's your name?'

"Yugi. Yugi Motou."

"Can you tell me your parents number so we can get a hold of them, Yugi?"

As he rattled off numbers, he tried to focus on them. He had to stay awake. He had to stay awake. Angie needed him.

! #$%&^*O*$%#

Yami wasn't sure what made him think that leaving Yugi at the hospital to possibly steal vaccines, or even if they'd work on someone who was clearly not human, was a good idea. However, parked in his car in the abandoned house's driveway across from home, he waited until he saw mom and Jim leave before he drove in and went to get Angie out. He winced at the blood that had stained everywhere. His car looked like trash enough. It was easier than he thought to sling her over his back, wings and all. Arms under her legs, he went inside, hoping the moonlight would make it look like she had a blanket over her back rather than wings for anyone who happened to see them.

Inside he pulled her into his room, which had a bigger closet compared to Yugi's. He tore down clothes, covered them with a quilt, and set her in the makeshift bed. Her eyelids fluttered as he did this. He smiled at her.

"Stay here, Angie. I'm just going to get some stuff for your arm, kay?"

He didn't wait for her to answer, but ran to the bathroom.

"Hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, anything-ah!" grabbing the rubbing alcohol and old, but still sealed bandages, he went to the kitchen, filled a bowl full of hot water, grabbed a rag, and hurried back to his room, leaving the door opened behind him in his hurry.

"Okay, Angie, you still there?"

"Yes." said a tiny voice.

He peered in to find her huddled into the darkest corner, wings limp and head bowed. Her long white hair poured down her shoulders to her hips like a veil of silver, and he found his mind wiped clean as he stared. Covered in dye and make up he had seen hints of it, for sure, but now…

She was beautiful.

He shook himself. He couldn't think things like this. He eased forward and crouched in the clothing-blanket bed, careful to not spill any water. His hands were shaking as he dipped the rag into the water and asked for her arm. She didn't move.

"Angie?"

She said nothing. Her wings twitched upward, but she hissed with pain.

"Angie, what hurts?"

"What are you doing?" she suddenly snapped. He flinched.

"Helping you?"

"Why? I'm a freak. I'm...I'm not like you-aren't you afraid?" she sounded both frightened and angry.

"You saved my brother," he said, "why would I be afraid of you? Besides…"

She hugged her uninjured arm around her legs tightly. "But-but…"

She suddenly reminded him of a cornered animal and he felt his heart twist with sympathy."Just show me your arm. I promise, I won't hurt you. I...I just want to help."

"I-I shouldn't be here."

"We can take you home after I bandage you. Are you, uh, allergic to alcohol?" that was the closest he could get to asking if having wings made you reacted to rubbing alcohol like the wicked witch of the west to water.

"No. I've used it before."

Slowly, she proffered her arm, caked with blood. He bit his lip at the sight and went to work tenderly wiping it off. At one point he felt her watching him and looked up to meet the greenest eyes he had ever seen, framed by silver eyelashes, even in the faint light of his cheap bedroom lamp. He felt himself grow warm and start to sweat. He quickly looked back at her arm before he did anything stupid. This was Yugi's girl, winged or not. He couldn't be thinking like this.

"So...I take it this is why you stopped talking to us."

"...yeah."

He nodded, as though this was a good enough reason for any girl to stop talking to someone. When her arm was clean he noticed a bit of blood on her chin from her arm and, without thinking, went to wipe it off. She flinched and he drew back with a quiet 'sorry,' and unscrewed the alcohol lid.

"Prepare yourself." he said as he soaked up cotton balls.

As he dabbed the bite mark, she made a small noise of pain that made him uncomfortable. He put her in the closet because he figured it would be the easiest to make a quick hide if someone were to barge in. Now he was starting to reconsider his choice. This was just way too...yeah.

"Are you almost done?"

"Yeah, just one second...there." he reached for the gauze. "So, um, what's your story?"

She looked to the side. "I'm not suppose to tell."

"But the secrets out, right? Might as well." he pressed the gauze on, letting his fingers graze the bottom of her arm. He didn't know skin could be so soft.

She shrugged, then groaned. "I can't believe this is happening. I'm so humiliated."

"Why?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she said, as though it were obvious. Then she hissed as she moved her wings again. "Man, my back hurts so bad!"

"Does it do that every time you fly?" he asked with more than his share of the surreal.

"That was the first time." then she blinked and in a flash her expression changed from ashamed to elated. "Oh my gosh, I FLEW!"

"Hey!" he said, as her arm slipped out of his grasp, gauze clinging for dear life, so she could press her knuckles to her jaw in a squeal.

"I flew, I FLEW!"

"Uh, yeah, you did."

"And I was actually in the air! I was above the buildings and I even carried Yugi with me! If I try without him-but that hurt."

Yami grimaced and took her arm back for bandages. "I imagine if you've never flown before, your back is going to hurt. Not like I know everything there is to winged people, having never met any." he held her soft wrist tight as he wrapped the bandages around the gauze to hold it in place. "I take it there's more of you?"

Her elation melted away and she once more hid her face beneath her hair. He waited, but she didn't answer. The buzz of the refrigerator in the kitchen and the water heater filled the silence. Cutting the gauze with his teeth, he tucked the end in and let go of her arm.

"There. Did he get you anywhere else?"

She shook her head, sending ripples of light down her hair like water. The strongest urge to touch it rose in his chest and he squeezed his hands between his knees to stop himself.

"You're...the only one?"

"Cain said I was like him. That I was a daemon, but Mai and that guy who attacked us, they called me a 'birdie,' and he even laughed at me when I said I was a daemon too. Told me to stop joking."

"Oh, well that wasn't-wait, Cain, are you saying he's like that bat guy?"

"Daemon, yeah."

"And isn't that your godfather?" his blood ran cold. Any fuzzy sensation of attraction flipped over to horror. "You live with one of those maneaters?"

"He's not a maneater, he's a...a…" she sniffed, wrinkled her nose, and looked down at her shirt which was wet with blood. She grabbed it and stuffed it to her face, breathing in, then gagged. Before Yami could stop her she tore it off her head, popping the buttons that had been holding it around her wings. He yelped and dropped whatever he was holding to slap his eyes over his face.

There was an angel stripping in his closet.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"It smells! It smells like them! It smells like the steak!"

"What steak?"

"Cain's! Cain's!" he felt a breeze as the shirt flew over his head. "What's that red stuff on it? That can't be all the daemon's!"

"Well, Yugi's shoulder was pretty bad, and you did carry him with you, now will you please cover yourself?"

"With what?"

"Oh, I don't know, you're only sitting on a pile of clothes and a blanket!"

He fell out of the closet as she dug beneath the blanket. After a few minutes of stillness and silence, he dared to peek over his eyes to see Angie sitting sullenly with one of his button up shirts on backwards, tag sticking up underneath her chin. She looked ill.

"Um, Angie…"

"Please," she breathed, "please get that shirt out of here. It's making me…"

She slapped a hand to her mouth. Before he could stop her she leapt past him, out his room, and across the hall into the bathroom. Her wings slammed the door over the sound of her throwing up. He grimaced as he picked up the blood soaked shirt and, gingerly, sniffed it. All he smelt was blood. Not pleasant, but not enough to make you puke, especially since it was already partially dried.

By the time she slunk out of the bathroom, pale and sweaty, he had thrown the shirt away outside and cleaned up.

"You okay?"

"Yami," she was shaking. "Yami, do...do you have any blood on you?"

"What? No, I didn't, wait," he looked down at his hand where there was a light scrape from throwing his shotgun being hit from his hands. It wasn't profusely bleeding, but it had bled enough to make a light scab. He showed it to her, about to ask what was going on, but she grabbed it and sniffed it. He yanked it back as she made another gagging noise.

"What the hell!"

"Human." her eyes were wide, her skin deathly pale. "Those steaks, the daemons, the blood-that smell-"

She began to shake violently. "Cain's eating-deamons eat-and I, I cooked-"

He began to panic as she sank onto the floor, knuckles white against her head. Her wings melted against the hall walls.

"But I can't stand it, it makes me sick, that means I'm not one." she let out a dry, insane laugh. "Then what the hell am I?"

"What the freak are you going on about?" he asked, keeping his hand behind him in case she got the inclination to sniff it again.

"Daemons eat humans, and I cooked human for him, and then he drank my blood!" she shouted, bubbling with that insane laughter. "They smell like blood! You, Yugi, Joey, they eat you!" her giggling stopped abruptly as she tipped over in a dead faint.

For a good five minutes Yami stared at her, heart pounding and beyond disturbed. What just happened?

He heard the sound of an engine and car wheels roll onto the driveway and flinched.

"Aw, damn," he muttered.

Arms hooked underneath her shoulders, he dragged her back into his room and into the closet, then ran to the bathroom to make sure she had at least flushed the toilet. She had.

"Yami? You home?"

"Hey mom!"

"Come here, your brother's been hurt."

"Just a second."

He ran back into his room, made sure Angie was tucked away, and closed his closet door as well as his bedroom's. His unusually sweaty hands slipped on the doorknob.

His life had just gotten seriously ff'd up.

#$^%*&(^%$# #$%&^

"You saw that, right? Please tell me that wasn't just me."

"Relax, Max, I saw it too. Jake?"

"What the…"

"I take that as you did too. Either that's a huge swan with a short head or-"

"It's Angelynn! I just know it!"

"Hold on to your horses, Max, it could be anyone-"

"Oh come on, Orphus, how many of us are there? Six? Five if you don't count Uncle Moe."

"Didn't he die last summer?"

"Nope. Still flying."

"Ugh, that means another midsummer pickle surprise mom will make us eat-"

"Oy! Focus! We're suppose to be finding Angelynn! Come on-"

"There's people down there!"

"Oh hell, Jake, your priorities are so screwed up."

"He has a point, Max."

"Whatever! I don't need you guys, I'll find her myself."

"Woa!"

"Wait, Max! There's a daemon down there!"

"He's gone. Can't believe you even tried, Orphus. Wait...do you smell that?"

"Aw hell…"

"There's two of them."

"Stupid bastard's going to get us all killed."

#$%^%$# $%

When she woke up again, weak grey light showed the faint outline of four walls closer in to her than she remembered. She blinked, groaned at the pain in her back, and sat up, rubbing a part in her arm where there was a band aid above some bandages. She cringed as she touched it, then stared in horror at it.

It hadn't been a dream.

An old patchwork quilt was wrapped around her and she kicked out of it, releasing her wings. A few feathers had fallen out around her.

Panic rising in her chest, she scrambled out of the closet to find herself in a room she barely recognized as Yami's. Band posters of One Republic and Nickleback hung on the walls and two guitars, an acoustic and a dark red electric, sat in the corner with a speaker. Besides having the smell of boy, the room was meticulously tidy and she recognized a familiar, spikey head poking out of some blankets on the bed.

She searched for a clock and crawled over to see the red numbers on his digital clock.

5:30

"Oh no," she put her hands to her face, cold tingling horror all along her arms. "Oh no oh no oh no."

"Mmm, wha?" said the lump. Another familiar spikey head appeared at the foot of the bed and the face of the smaller twin appeared, blinking sleepily.

"Angie?"

"I got to go home!" she leapt to her feet, wings flapping in panic. Posters fluttered and music sheets flew up from it's neat pile on the desk.

"Woa! Watch it!" cried Yami as he rolled out of bed.

"Where's Emerald Plaza from here?" she said, yanking up the blinds to see the street. "Where are you guys? I need to go home now! Cain's going to be home any minute!"

"Cain?" asked Yugi, rubbing his eyes.

Yami froze on the floor, hand over his face.

"Yes! And he's going to kill me! I'm not suppose to be out of the apartment without his permission!"

She held down her wings and fluttered to the door. Yami got to his feet and in two strides caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

"No."

She looked back at him, startled. "No what?"

"You aren't going back home, you can't."

Yugi frowned at his twin. "What are you talking about, Yami?"

"Last night you said that man drinks your blood...how can you even think of going back?"

Angie flinched and stared. So did Yugi.

"Did you just say...drink blood? Like a vampire?" asked Yugi, smiling as though ready to find the joke.

"If your godfather is anything like that-that nightmare that almost killed us last night, you can't go."

Angie just looked at him, momentarily speechless. She had never felt the touch of a boy before. His hand was so warm, so soft, so unlike Cains. Then what he was saying to her came through and she felt her face grow hot with anger.

"Then where do you suggest a freak like me goes?" she snapped. "A circus? Shall I hide in your closet? Like it or not, but back with Cain is the only home I've got. It's not like I can get a job with wings or…" then she felt the blood drain from her face. "Where's my shawl?"

Yami and Yugi both frowned in confusion.

"You mean that thing that was hiding your wings?" asked Yugi.

"Yes!"

The twins just blinked. Yami didn't let go of her arm, though. His shoulders were tense and his expression conflicted.

"We'll...we'll figure something out."

"Like what?" Angie demanded. "Besides, Cain's been with me most of my life. If he meant to kill me he would have done so by now. Maybe he's different."

"And maybe he's just using you!" Yami cried. "I heard that demon last night, I saw the way it looked at you-you're dinner just as much as Yugi and I am, maybe even more!"

"Oh boy, I can't believe this is real." muttered Yugi on the bed.

Angie yanked her wrist out of his hand. "You're just a human, you wouldn't understand."

"Now there's something I thought I'd never hear." said Yami. "At least tell us where you live, in case something bad happens."

"No."

"Oh, for goodness sake!" cried Yami, "We're going to have to drive you there anyways, aren't we?"

Yugi glanced at the door nervously. "Um, could you guys quiet down? Mom and Jim are still sleeping, and dare they found out we hid a girl in our closet overnight, let alone one with wings..."

Angie and Yami glared at each other, neither one moving. Finally, she sighed in defeat and hung her arms at her side with a wince as she moved her injured one.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt...I'm sorry, it's just, Cain can be really scary."

"Another reason you shouldn't go, but!" Yami raised his hands as she started to protest, "We're going, we're going, throw a blanket over your shoulders, I'll get my keys."

"What do we tell mom if she wakes up and the car's gone?" asked Yugi, eyebrows furrowed. "You know we aren't allowed to take the car out before six."

"That's your problem."

Yugi gaped. "What!? You're leaving me to do clean up duty?"

"Better you than neither of us."

"You suck."

"I know."

She kept her wings tucked in tight as she left into the morning light with Yami to his beat up grey honda. He opened the door for her and she slipped in.

"Now, Yugi and I gave you some shots last night for rabies and tetanus and whatnot."

"You what?!"

"Was that bad?"

"No, it's just-where did you get those?"

He smiled at her as he put an arm on her seat and backed out. "And to think I'm still wondering how I've got some sort of angel in my car and am still sane."

She felt her neck heat up and looked away. "Please don't try to flatter me."

He came to the end of the street and pulled onto the main highway. "Flatter you? How am I doing that?"

"I'm no way near angelic." she bowed her head and put the blanket over it like a hood. "I'm hideous. If anything I'm like some mutated pigeon. I'm surprised you and Yugi haven't screamed and ran."

"Are you serious?"

She didn't say anything. What was there to say? It was the truth. Now that she wasn't caught up in the heated panic of getting back home before Cain and the loss of her shawl, she was baffled that Yami and Yugi hadn't tried to kill her like the daemon, but even helped her. Cain had always said should a human truely see her ugliness they would flee in terror at the sight. But they hadn't even flinched. Done plenty of staring, but not a single scream.

In a way, even if she was hideous, that was enough.

"I take it your godfather has fed you this?"

She was surprised to hear the growl in Yami's voice.

She peered over to see his teeth on end, his eyes narrowed and fingers tight on the wheel.

"I can't believe I'm actually taking you back to this man."

"He's the only family I got, Yami."

"Angie, he's not your family at all."

At the Plaza Yami pulled in up front which was usually reserved for Taxi's and pulled out a pen from the glove compartment.

"Give me your hand." he said, holding the cap between his teeth and testing it out on his own hand before writing down on the inside of hers. "This is my number. If anything happens, call me. Which apartment do you live in?"

"I won't have you appearing on my doorstep, Yami. Even if Cain is different he still eats human."

He gave a huff of exasperation. "Fine! But you will call me?"

She hesitated. "Yes."

"Now go!"

She jumped out, blanket clutched around her like a cloak, then caught the door as a thought hit her.

"Joey!" she gasped.

"He's fine. We text him last night. Didn't even notice a thing. Got ditched by his girlfriend though."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

"Now go before grumpy early birds start asking why you're hugging a quilt around you like some sort of hobo."