The Fine Line of Heaven and Hell

Update: This chapter as well, has been beta'd by Gaia.

A/N: I really don’t have much to say at this point. ^.^ Oh, I got 300 hits, and that made me really happy. I know 300 people haven’t actually read my story, but that means it has been up on someone’s browser 300 times. That’s what makes me happy. *smile*

This was a review so beyond great, I had to post it for everyone to see. *grin*

You know, I can really see this turning into a threesome... or maybe that's just my view of things. Leon certainly is interesting, as he doesn't see Shuey as an outcast. Although from her prespective one would think that ramming a knife into someone's arm was considered the proper way to handle those kinds of situations. I like how she thinks so little of Jerrick and Leon, and all things considerings it's easy to see why. I think Shuey should come with her own warning label, like so:

Warning: user may experience death if-
1. You ask stupid, pointless, or annoying questions
2. You bluntly label her as an Angel
3. You bluntly label her as a Demon
4. You show too much interest in her
5. You pick a fight with her
6. On impulse, she decides you are too worthless for her time yet continue to be within a 10 foot radius of her personal space.
Thank you for purchasing your Demon/Angel Hybrid female. We are not responsible for defects and/or accidental death, when you clearly should have read the warning label first before purchasing you dumb***.

All in all, very nice. Keep it up.

Snidne, out!
-I laughed ridiculously hard; I even almost cried. ^.^

Chapter 9-Winged Beauty
===================
A crisp breeze swayed Shuey’s hair as she waited for her ‘trainers’ to catch up. The small
city’s lights were slowly starting to dim; she found the view rather pretty. A serene,
drowsy feeling wafted over her as she gazed out over the scenery. Her wings shifted,
disrupting her focus on the fading glimmers, stretching slightly into the wind as it blew
across the bony flesh of her leathery demon wing. She ran a hand along her left wing, the
feathers rustling lightly as the cool zephyr died down slightly.
“-ey.” She blinked for a moment, slowly turning to face Jerrick. “Shuey?” She nodded at
him quietly, knowing beforehand that he had probably said her name two or three times
before she noticed. “You lost a lot of blood,” he murmured, glancing down at the floor of
the rooftop where spatters of the red liquid splotched it.
Leon had been standing idly behind him, staring directly at her, half smiling, half serious.
What was with the mood all of a sudden? “What is it?” They were looking at her
strangely, and she didn’t understand the expression on either face. The demon frowned at
her, making her arch a brow in question.
“Why not fly?” he asked solemnly, moving a few black strands that tickled his brow.
“You’ll be at more of a disadvantage if you don’t learn, right?” This irritated her, mostly
because she could see his point. She’d never used her wings before. Ever.
“I don’t know how,” she murmured after a few moments, frowning when Leon only
laughed at Jerrick’s wide grey eyes. Considering the lack of reaction, she presumed that
they had assumed this already. Honestly, she was slightly apprehensive about flying, but
of course that shouldn’t stop her from learning a skill that she deemed useful. “So teach
me.”
Leon smirked in her direction, shoving at Jerrick’s shoulder to force him forward. “Does
this mean I get the rest of the day off?” His wing was still plainly in sight, and what
remained of the other was hidden behind him. It was strange, looking at this man with
one wing. It was as if he were flaunting the fact that he was lacking a wing, but still alive
and breathing. Seeing him standing there as if he had no worries, Shuey almost felt
envious of his arrogance… then, she remembered how annoying it was.
Jerrick shook his head, hitting the redhead behind him after he’d been pushed. “No,
you’re going to watch from below in case something happens.” As the angel rolled his
eyes, the ebony-haired demon stepped closer to his touchy student, knowing that she
didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. “Relax your wings slightly, spread them
full-span, then pull them close to your body a few times.”
Shuey was completely lost; relax her wings? She’d never thought about her wings, except
when she found them inconvenient. How did she relax her wings; how could she do as he
asked? Her brain told her wings to stretch, but they didn’t move. What was the trick to
getting them to work? The arrogant prick of an observer only laughed a bit, barely
quieting when he received a nasty glare.
“You remind me of an angel just beginning to wing. They concentrate so hard on making
their wings move the moment they retract. Don’t focus on commanding them…. Envision
them stretching out before you take off. When you fly, you have to think about flying, not
moving your wings.” As if to demonstrate, his wing flared slightly before receding.
Usually running on instinct, Shuey was unsure. Just as her shoulders relaxed, a cold pair
of hands adorned them, slightly lengthened nails scraping lightly across her skin. Her
wings stiffened as she rammed her elbow backwards, the movement automatic upon
being touched by an unseen person. No sooner has she hit him, Jerrick’s hands moved
away, redirected to his chest as he heaved for a brief period of time. She didn’t know why
he had felt the need to put his hands on her, but it had obviously been a bad idea. Given
her usual behavior, she would have thought he’d known better. “Sorry, I forgot,” he
muttered quietly before stretching out his own wings. His wings were much bigger than
they appeared at first glance. The span was about the same as his height twice.
“Moving on,” Leon muttered, wondering why he was telling her what to do while Jerrick
gawked and tried to feel her up or whatever he may or may not have been attempting.
“For the majority, just think about what you want to do… you don’t think about hitting
people, right? Just do it that way, only with your wings instead of your fist,” he said
adding, “or whatever else you decide to injure us with,” under his breath so he didn’t piss
her off.
Trying to follow the instructions, she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to imagine
what it would feel like to fly. She felt her wings stir somewhat, which made her jump for
a moment before she tried to refocus. Usually when she attacked something, it was out of
base instinct; her body acted as she wanted it to of it’s own accord. Idly, she wondered if
her wings would work the same way. Could she really do this? Her wings extended fully,
earning her a gasp from the demon behind her.
She jerked forward when a hand touched her feathered wing, stroking individual feathers
as his hand reached them, sending a foreign tingle throughout her. Without thought, her
wing snapped back, causing the grey-eyed man to leap backwards to prevent himself
from falling flat on his ass. “Don’t worry, he touches me in funny ways sometimes, too,”
Leon teased, laughing as Shuey’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Don’t touch me,” she said flatly, pointing a maroon colored fingernail at him. Her russet
hair blew in the direction of the wind, showing off both eyes as she scowled at him. Even
Leon felt a little uncomfortable seeing her that way. He scanned her body, looking for the
dagger, but not really finding it. He knew where she hid it, but didn’t see it there.
As if to save him, the day clerked cleared his throat nervously at the doorway to the roof.
“Mr. Cordon, you have a visitor in your office.” Glowering at the man, who shrunk back
into the inn when glared at, he straightened up his clothes as if they’d been rumpled.
“Excuse me then. I’ll be back in a few moments.” Once Jerrick had left, Leon only rose
his brow and waited for Shuey to continue trying. That idiot really had to learn a few
things before he could garner such a moody woman. Her wings moved unsteadily, and it
took a few minutes of watching her try to move her wings to wonder why they had
moved so suddenly when the demon had touched her. Nearly slapping his own forehead,
he remembered that this girl ran on instinct. With an exasperated sigh, he stepped up
behind her, placed a hand on the small of her back, and shoved her off the side of the
building.
It wouldn’t kill her, but it’d hurt like hell if she landed on the ground. He was pretty sure,
sort of, that she’d fly to protect herself. Her eyes widened as she dove over the edge of
the building, not really realizing it when her wings moved, flapping to raise her in the air.
As she rose over the rim of the building, she saw the smirking face of the angel. The
longer she glared at him, the more his smirk began to fade. Sure, she was still in the air,
but she could feel her energy waning. It had to be the loss of blood from earlier.
“What are you going to do, hmm?” he goaded, watching the expression on her face
change, even as her light skin paled even more than before. He could only hope she’d
move over the inn before she collapsed from weariness. He barely had time to move as
she swooshed down at him, dagger glinting in the light as she aimed it at his throat. He
shouldn’t bite off more than he could chew, is what that look said. He ducked at the last
moment, letting her move fly towards the door. She could stab it instead of him, for all he
cared.
“Damn you, Leon,” Jerrick muttered, a dagger dug into his shoulder and an armful of
halfling. His arms held her by the waist, her head right under his neck and her knees
slightly bent. Though this was how he’d caught her, it wasn’t a very comfortable
positions, especially considering the blade buried in his skin. “You’re going to kill me
someday.” He pulled the girl up a bit, on her feet and let her go, knowing he’d earn
himself another stab if he didn’t, and pulled the knife out from his shoulder. Handing it
back to her, he glared at the cherry-haired angel. “What did you do?”
“Pushed her off the roof.” That was it? He didn’t sound sorry, or even smug. Had he
seriously shoved her off the building? “Seriously, I did. But she flew, so it’s alright.”
This earned him two glares, one belonging to his old friend Jerrick, the other a woman
gripping a dangerous little trinket that had already met his skin more times than he’d like
to admit. “What? It worked, didn’t it? She flew.”
“Idiot! What were you thinking! You could’ve killed her! I said I’d protect her, and then
you go and throw her off the roof!” He was very irritated, grey eyes slightly darkened and
wings twitching every few moments. His rant would’ve had more effect if it hadn’t been
for the feather that floated down past his face. When he turned to look at Shuey, the door
slammed behind him, alerting him to her exit. Blue eyes widened at him when he
snatched the feather from the air.
“But she flew…. Or are you mad that you didn’t get to see? You really missed out, too.
She’s was really hot up there, even if she was pissed off.” Taking the fist to his chest,
Leon chuckled at his sulking friend. “At least you have a memento.” He choked back a
laugh when he saw Jerrick nearly pout like a child. “She’s really mad, maybe you should
go apologize.”
“Apologize! I’m not the one who tried to kill her,” he spat in a way that reminded him of
Shuey a little. Grey eyes were narrowed, but not focused on him at all. They were staring
at the door that a certain feisty little mixed-blood had stalked off, only leaving a feather
from her wing behind. He himself couldn’t fly, but losing a feather hurt like a bitch, he
knew. Then again, she could be going through a molt, but that was rare before the age of
twenty-three.
“Yeah, but if I got to apologize, she’ll try to kill me to return the favor. And we can’t
have that, now can we?” Jerrick made a low, nearly feral growl as he brushed passed the
angel in a small wind of wings and black hair. He could faintly hear curses streaming
from the demon’s mouth as he jerked open the door and followed the girl inside without
closing it in return. With a chuckle, the redhead watched the scene as his own wing
shifted, slowly retracting into his flesh. While they were pretty and often somewhat
useful, even though one was torn off, wings were a nuisance at work, and his shift was
coming up.
Shuey frowned as her wings stood out from her back, unmoving. Her mind wrapped
around the words that idiotic demon had sputtered. He’d protect her? What the hell did he
think he was, her knight in shining armor? Like she needed his damn protection! A knock
on her door made her jump, then glare daggers at the intruder before seeing his face. If it
was the angel, she would introduce him to her closest friend yet again. If it was the
demon, she’d slam the door in his face.
“Shuey,” came the call from the door, and she decided not to answer it at all. She’d save
herself the trouble of getting up and opening the door because she already knew she
didn’t want to associate with the man behind it. There was a heavy sigh from the other
side of the door. “He was only trying to help you, you know. He had enough confidence
in you to be sure enough that you’d fly. He wouldn’t have done it if he thought there was
a chance you wouldn’t be safe. I know he wouldn’t.” After the words were said, heavy
footsteps sounded under the door, slowly becoming fainter as he walked away.
Just thinking about her wings retracting made them twitch, and she began to wonder if
the angel had been right in the first place. She could see herself, or at least what she was
fairly sure she looked like, with outspread wings slowly pulling back towards her body.
Shuddering as the process began, she also scowled at the ceiling because the bastard had
been right.
Leon and Jerrick were just two more reasons to dislike her heritage.

A/N: Now, this is a really short one, but I just wanted to finish the training session with it. *stretch* And I’m feeling kinda sleepy, so I don’t think I should add anymore. *smile* Sorry it's not great, but I wanted this one finished shortly after the training. What better way to end the day with a ticked off Shuey? *unsure*

Thanks again to my reviewers, who make me grin when I read their posts. I’m also still looking for that enthusiasm to start digging around for a beta. O.o I can’t find it anywhere. ^.^