My husband is reading again! Edits should be better. I convinced him it got better and that it wasn't all blood sucking parental abuse and that it actually had romance in it and now he's up for it!

And I'm hungry.

Read, review, tell me what you think, and pika y'all.

Chapter 6: Blood Price and Freaks

"Yugi, where's your brother?"

Yugi smiled uneasily. He hated lying. Besides the fact that he was bad at it, it just felt wrong, no matter how good of a cause it was.

Despite that, he had his story ready.

"He went to go get me some ice. I've already gone through it all and my shoulder is hurting like a beast."

His mother frowned, running a hand through her scraggly dirty blond hair. "Didn't you take some ibuprofen?"

"Mom, my shoulder got torn up by a rabid dog, I'm going to need a lot more than ibuprofen."

"Didn't the hospital give you some painkillers?"

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't feel anything. Besides, the doctor said to keep it under ice, didn't he?"

She pursed her lips, still stained with leftover pink lipstick. "I suppose."

"And you know how Yami is."

"Fine. I'm going back to bed then. Tell Yami he's not suppose to take that car of his anywhere else for the rest of the day. I don't want to have to explain myself to Jim for letting him off."

Yugi didn't say anything to this and let his mom go. Only in his house was a good act punished nonetheless. Sighing, he picked up his phone and texted his brother.

Better bring back some ice with you.

He shut his door and went back to his cold bed. Yami and he hadn't slept in the same bed since middle school, but last night had been an exception. There had been no way he was going to leave his brother alone in a room with a beautiful girl, even if he did trust him not to do anything stupid. A smaller, more truthful voice told him it was because he knew he wouldn't have been able to sleep away from her knowing she was hurt, but that was stupid and he shook it off.

What he was more worried about was anyone realizing he had stolen those shots. He still couldn't believe he had done it, let alone how easy it was.

His phone vibrated and he pulled it out from beneath him, pulling his blankets up to his chin with his uninjured arm.

I didn't bring any money.

Yugi rolled his eyes and texted back.

Its freaking ice. Just walk into a gas station and ask for a cup of ice from the machine. Say your brother got attacked by a doberman.

One weird looking doberman. Texted Yami.

Yugi put his phone underneath his pillow and sighed. He must have lost his mind. If Angie hadn't been there when he woke up, silvery and winged, he would've thought it was all a dream, or rather, a wild nightmare.

And he still couldn't believe that he had school today still. Shouldn't the world have shut down on the occasion you should be attacked by some creature out of Dante's inferno? But no, there were people out there, going on with their everyday lives without a clue what had been hiding in the alleyway by Copperback dance club. Not even Joey, who they hadn't had the courage to tell. The twins knew they sounded crazy. Heck, even they thought they were crazy.

Yugi was just on the edge of falling back to sleep (the painkillers they had given him seemed to do their trick by making you want to sleep all the time), when he jerked awake to the sound of the front door closing. He waited, listening to Yami open and close drawers in the kitchen before he knocked on Yugi's door. Yugi called him in and Yami shut the door behind him, a plastic 32oz cup in his hand filled with ice and some ziplock bags.

"Your ice, your majesty."

"Is she okay?" asked Yugi.

"Your girlfriend is fine, as far as I can tell. I gave her my number in case she needs us."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Yet."

"Oh, shut up Yami, you don't know anything. Besides, maybe she can only fall for somebody else with wings, you know?"

They fell into an awkward quiet. Yami preoccupied himself with filling baggies full of ice and wrapping it into the pack that would sit on Yugi's shoulder.

"So, um, that math final is today." Yugi said weakly.

"What?" Yami cursed loudly.

"Yep, I thought so."

"How can there be a math test today of all days? I mean, honestly! I couldn't concentrate even if I wanted to!"

"Because God is mad at us."

"We saved an angel, maybe He'll make the teacher sick today and give us a break."

"How do you know she's an angel?" asked Yugi.

"Well, those things that eat people are called daemons, which is essentially a fancy word for a demon, so add a dab of logic and, presto! We got angels."

"Then what is Angie doing calling a demon her godfather?"

Yami wrinkled his nose and told Yugi to give him his shoulder so he could wrap the ice around it. "I don't know, that's why I have a bad feeling about letting her go home. Something's not right."

Yugi flinched at the touch of the ice, but otherwise held firm as yami packed the cold around his bandages.

"What if...what if that Cain guy does something bad and she can't call? What if he…" Yugi started to tremble and slid off the bed. Yami followed, protesting as he tightened the last velcro strap.

"You're being paranoid, Yugi."

"Am I?"

Yami didn't answer.

# $%&^%$#

She nervously closed the door behind her, searching the living room and kitchen for signs of Cain. She breathed when it became apparent he wasn't home yet. She went upstairs and did her best to build the illusion she had been home all night. When she took off Yami's shirt she hesitated. Where could she hide this? Cain would probably smell human. She looked around her room, found a duffel bag under her bed, and stuffed it in there. The trash downstairs was too dangerous.

She heard the front door close.

"Angelynn?"

"Coming!" she called, all sorts of icy needles pricking her gut. She couldn't lie to him about everything. She'd have to tell him something.

She came down, squeezing her wings as tightly as possible to her back and ignoring the pain of her protesting muscles. She smiled, trying to look normal.

"Get everything done that you needed to?"

Cain looked her up and down, black eyes unreadable and illusionary coat still on. There was no warmth in his expression.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked.

"I burnt it while cooking dinner, but don't worry, I'll be fine, but I have something to tell you." she bowed her head to give the appearance of meekness.

"You better have."

She drew back at the growl in his voice. "Something happened at school to draw attention to me. I didn't tell you because I thought everyone would eventually forget about it, but they didn't, so I broke my promise. I'll stay home from school, like I said I would."

"Why are your hideous wings out?"

"Um.."

"Are you going to tell me you burnt your shawl as well?"

The venom in his voice was terrifying. She tried to say something, anything, but only a squeak got out before her throat closed up. Her mouth had gone dry as a desert and she couldn't stop trembling.

"I thought not," said Cain, and from a within his coat he pulled out a tattered, but unmistakable, sheer grey shawl.

Her blood ran cold.

Cain didn't smile. His eyes only grew darker till the white was smothered in black. Claws inched into the gossamer fabric. "I went out to find the creature who was killing humans so recklessly in my territory and guess what he told me, Angelynn? He told me that he saw a young female birdie with grey wings and tried to devour her, naturally, as all daemon are inclined to do when we find your kind, but that two little humans that looked remarkably alike came to your rescue. Two twins that seemed to know you."

She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe.

Cain pulled back his purple lips to reveal his gleaming fangs.

"You have been a bad girl, little Angel."

She forced herself to speak. "I'm not a daemon, then. You've lied to me. You've lied to me my whole life!"

"Not my fault you are so gullible." he said, so low it was a rumble. "You should be grateful I lowered myself to caring for you all these years."

"Caring for me? You kept me a prisoner! You never let me outside unless it was in the dead of night and wrapped in disguises! You don't care about me at all, or my safety. Yami and Yugi weren't freaked out by me like you said they would, so what were you hiding me from!"

The purple lips had almost vanished and all she could see of his mouth were teeth. Long, sharp fangs, open and salivating.

"Enough." he hissed.

The coat tore off and wings that could swallow the sun filled the entry hallway and kitchen. Black eyes bore down at her, colder than winter and black with hunger. She tried to scream but his clawed fingers wrapped around her throat. In a weak attempt to defend herself she raised her own, grey feathered wings and beat them weakly, but her back muscles spasmed and gave out.

"You could have been a daughter." he hissed. "But now you will be a prisoner."

He struck, digging his teeth into the curve where her neck and shoulder met. Pain filled her vision, she choked, cried out past his fingers, and begged for mercy.

"I've done everything you've asked!" she choked out.

But the world was spinning. Her heart was racing. Her fingers and feet tingled and grew cold. She felt faintly nauseous.

When he pulled away he rubbed his finger over the bite wound as he always had, leaving only white scars behind, and let her topple to the ground. She couldn't move. She shook with intense cold, and the tiles tilted beneath her like the deck of a ship on the ocean. All she could see of Cain was his boots, and she couldn't find the strength to even move her head. Blackness framed her vision.

"I will be back. I must clean up your mess."

The boots disappeared and the door closed. But Angie had managed to keep her left hand closed the entire time, hiding the numbers from the view of the daemon.

! #$%^&%$#

"Orphus-"

"Yeah, I smell him too. We need to leave."

"But what about our sister?"

"Max, you saw that daemon last night. We can't fight him. Father might have been able to go up against a daemon of his caliber, but we can't."

"But what if he finds Angelynn?"

"Calm down, Max."

"But we followed her over here and he's over here too! Jake, Orphus, please, that could have been her-it had to have been her, we have to do something!"

"Max…"

"Why are you looking at me like that? We have to keep going, we have to! We're so close!"

"Max, stop crying like a girl."

"Shut up, Jake! You're such an ass!"

"Will you two shut up for once!"

"..."

"..."

"I think that daemon got a whiff of us when we flew over. He could be coming for us. If that's the case, we can lead him away from here, and possibly away from that other cherubim we saw. Even if he is more powerful than us, we are faster. That's always been the case with daemons. Our blood and the blood of humans weighs down in their bodies like lead, and by the smell of this one, he's drank more than his fair share."

"...is that really all we can do, Orphus?"

"I think so, Max. Don't worry. Angelynn is our sister, with our blood. She's strong."

"Crap, guys, I think I see him!"

"Then that's our queue. Fly, brothers, fly!"

! #$%&^%$# #!$%^

She wavered in and out of consciousness. The cold reached in to her very core and she shook so violently she had already bruised her knees against the ceramic floor.

I have to get to the phone, she thought. It was her only chance now, while Cain was away. But what if he came back and humans were here? There was no chance the twins could defend themselves against Cain.

She clenched her eyes shut, trying to get enough air to stop her head from spinning. But there were so many things she had yet to find out. If she wasn't a daemon, what was she? And if Cain wasn't her godfather, where were her real parents? Where was her real family? Could it be true that no one cared about her in the entire world? That no one cared whether she was alive or not?

But someone did care enough to pen their number onto her hand.

With all the strength she could muster, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself onto her elbows. The black threatened to take her under again. Panting, she pulled herself forward to the side of the counter, where the phone plug stuck into it's outlet.

Once she reached there, she passed out again, just to wake up reaching for the cord as though she never had.

"Come on," she told herself, "almost there."

Her fingers wrapped around the black cord. The home phone and it's base came tumbling down with a racket. She winced as the grabbed the phone, hoping against hope she hadn't broken it. But it was intact and buzzing, waiting for her to enter a number. Trembling, she fell back onto her side, opened her hand, and dialed.

The phone rang against her ear, filled with the sound of the heart that raced to keep what blood it had left circulating through her body.

Her vision blurred again.

The phone clicked. "Hello?"

"Yami," she breathed.

"Angie? Is that you?"

"Help. Help me. Yami." it came out as a sob. She could barely whisper. Where had her voice gone? This weakness terrified her. She felt so cold. So very cold.

"Where are you!?"

"Top...top floor, end of the hall."

"I'll be right there, Angie, just hang on, okay? Damn it."

"Ok."

"I'm getting my keys now. Angie, what did he do to you? Angie?"

But the relief she felt broke her last bit of resilience and the blackness came crashing in.

Cold. So cold.

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

The class, including Yugi, stared as Yami suddenly bolted out of his seat and into the hallway with his vibrating phone in hand. The teacher tried to protest, but seeing the urgency in her student's face, settled back with a frown.

"Goodness, what was that all about? Yugi?"

But Yugi was already out the door with his brother, chest tight, mouth dry.

He came out just in time to hear Yami promising her he'd be there, face pale. He ran down the hall towards his locker and Yugi followed.

"I'm getting my keys now." his brother said, fumbling at the lock. "Angie, what did he do to you? Angie? Angie!?"

Yami stared at his phone, a familiar frightening expression on his face. Usually it was in defense of his brother, and seeing it for someone else gave Yugi a peculiar suspicion.

His twin cursed as he jammed his phone into his pocket and yanked open the locker.

"What happened?" Yugi asked.

"Angie. Somethings happened."

"I'm coming with you."

Yami just nodded, slammed the locker door shut, and ran with Yugi at his heels.

The fuzzy Chewbacca hanging from the rearview mirror swung as Yami and Yugi threw themselves into the car. Yugi tried to ignore the way his shoulder throbbed and protested at being used.

"We shouldn't have let her go." said Yugi.

"Tell me about it." said Yami as he threw the now rumbling honda into reverse.

"I can't believe this is our life now. Angels and demons."

"Well don't get too excited, I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be."

"Oh gee, I never figured. I only almost got eaten alive."

"Let's hope Angie wasn't."

Yami once more raced through the streets. At the towering Emerald Plaza, Yami spun the honda to a stop, nearly taking up three whole parking spaces, and leapt out of the car running for the elevator. Yugi held his arm in the sling close to him as he ran, sliding in besides Yami as he jammed the top floor button over and over.

"Pushing it multiple times isn't going to make it faster."

Yami ignored him and stared up at the floor numbers over the doors, which closed with a hiss. Slow saxaphone elevator music played.

"Mom's going to kill us when she hears we ran out of school." said Yugi faintly.

"And we're going to miss our math test." said Yami.

"Huh."

The elevator seemed to take an eternity. Yugi kept shaking off images of Angie bloody and dead in a corner, as well as a shrill voice that kept screaming in anxiety. Why did they have to be right? Why hadn't they fought harder to keep Angie with them?

At last, the elevator dinged and Yami and Yugi fell out in a dead sprint.

"Last door in the hall," Yami gasped.

The hall went straight down, doors peppering the walls, until it lead to one at the very end facing them. Yami skidded to a halt and twisted the doorknob. He cursed.

"Locked?" said Yugi incredulously.

"Damn it! Where's Joey when you need him!"

"Back in second period." Yugi groaned.

Yami tackled the door with a grunt of pain, but he kept at it. Yugi tore at his hair, frantically thinking of ideas.

The elevator dinged at the end of the hallway.

"Hold on, Yami."

Yugi ran back down a hall to where a little old lady with pink hair pinned to the back of her head walked out. She did plenty of staring as Yugi ran to her side, looking frantic.

"Please, ma'am, do you have an hairpin? My brother and I locked ourselves out of our apartment and our school project is in there! We're going to fail!" He surprised himself with how easy the lie came out. Today was the day of lies for him. God forgive him.

"Calm down," said the old lady, lipstick lips pursed, "I didn't know you lived up here."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "We've lived up here forever, I've introduced myself several times already."

"Oh," she said, blinking, "I guess my memory isn't what it used to be. Now let me see."

She fiddled with the pink bun on the back of her head until she plucked out a long, silver hair pin. She handed it to him with a crinkled smile.

"I didn't know anyone still knew how to pick locks." she said.

"Thank you so much!" And he ran back to Yami.

"Here." he said, stuffing the pin into Yami's hand.

His brother stared at it. "What am I suppose to do with this?"

"Pick the lock, of course!"

"Do I look like Joey to you?"

"It can't be that hard, they do it all the time in the movies."

"If it was that easy, Yugi, I doubt they would have kept building locks the same." But with no better idea Yami jammed the hairpin into the lock and jiggled it around. After a few minutes of frustrating, sweaty fumbling, Yami cursed and threw the pin to the floor.

"It's not working!"

"Need help?"

The twins looked around to meet the wrinkled smile of the pink haired old lady.

'What?"

"Do you need help getting in?"

"Yeah?" said Yami uncertainly.

Still smiling the little old lady picked up the hairpin from off the floor and straightened with a groan.

"Now, before I help you," she said, "what's the real reason you boys are trying to break into Mr. Cain's apartment?"

Yugi gaped and Yami scowled. Busted.

Rock in his throat and eyes starting to burn, Yugi bowed his head.

"Our friend's in trouble." he muttered. "She's really hurt, maybe worse, and she's in there."

The little old lady frowned. "You're friends of Angelynn?"

"You know her?" Yami leapt on it. "Please, yes, we promise we're not here for anything else."

The little old lady peered over her shoulder, smile melting to a frown. "Then we better hurry. I don't know how long he's going to be away. Move over."

She crouched in front of the door, snakeskin purse thumping against her thigh, and carefully stuck her hairpin into the lock.

"Um, ma'am, how do you know how to pick locks?" asked Yugi.

"And why are you helping us?" asked Yami. "I mean, we could be vagrants or robbers or anything."

"Then if you are, good riddance," she muttered, "use to work for the mafia in my day and my father bootlegged when he was younger. Had to open plenty of locks. Working with criminals gives you an eye for them, and that Cain, whew, never seen such wicked eyes in my life. That poor girl. Only talked to her once or twice, but she seemed so sweet."

There was a satisfying click and the door creaked open. Yami flew inside, Yugi behind him.

Angie lay on her side on the floor in a white nightgown, wings and hair spilt about her and pale as death. The phone still lay in her hand.

Yugi felt his heart break. More than ever she looked like a fallen angel, grey with death.

Yami fell at her side and put his fingers to her neck.

"Angie," he said, voice shaking, "Angie, can you hear me?"

Her lashes fluttered. Yugi felt light headed as he remembered to breathe then.

"Oh my,"

He turned to see the little ex-mafia grandma staring down at Angie with wide eyes. Yugi tensed. She looked from Yugi to Yami as Angie gave a little moan and closed her eyes once more.

"Cold." she whispered. "Please, cold."

"Yugi, find her a blanket."

Yugi bit his lip as he met the old lady's eyes and ran about the fine modern living room. When he found nothing, he headed up the stairs.

On the second floor he found two rooms. One was locked, but the other opened up to what could be none other than Angie's room. Every thought was wiped from his mind as he looked around at her painted walls, jaw dropped. Galaxies and clouds of every color spread across her ceiling, a silver moon in a window on the wall shining out with a sun on the other. And everywhere there were birds: fish birds, beautiful birds, ugly birds, short birds, tall birds, colorful birds, black birds, white birds, even birds that looked more like dragons than anything else. The only thing they held in common where the feathery wings lifting them about her room.

"Yugi!"

He came to earth with a jolt and grabbed the quilt off her bed. Downstairs Yami waited for him impatiently with a the curious woman hovering over Angie.

"Poor dear, what happened? And could those be real…?"

As Yami sat Angie up, who slumped onto his shoulder, Yugi went around and tried to fold her wings in to wrap up, to no avail. Growing more flustered by the minute, Yugi pulled out his belt and folded up a wing just to find Angie's neighbor folding up the other one with him. Meeting her eye, he nodded then wrapped his belt around Angie while she held Angie's wings up. Once he belted her wings closed, he wrapped the blanket over her and got at her side to help Yami support her.

Her legs did nothing beneath her and they found themselves dragging her to the door.

"I'll give Cain an excuse for you." said the little lady. "Don't worry about him."

"Thank you so much. You don't know how much you're helping."

She smiled. "I can imagine."

She followed them down the hall and opened the elevator for them.

"How can we repay you?" asked Yami. "You've saved her."

"By keeping that poor thing safe," she said softly, "I don't know why she has wings or why she's been hurt, but I can tell who's good and bad here. It's my specialty. Besides," she smirked, "that man has delicious steaks. Can't find anything like them anywhere."

Yami and Yugi didn't know what she was talking about, but waved her off as they entered the elevator and rode back down to the parking garage level. Yugi kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to see bat wings and blood thirsty eyes whenever he did, but no one followed them.

They laid Angie on the back seat and drove away with fear ringing in their ears.