“Mercy Athen Mercy!” Akefia couldn’t deny that the girl had talent. He smirked as he watched Joey and Mark being tortured by the angel. Although he would never admit it to anyone, Athen had wormed her way into his tiny demon heart just like she had with everyone else’s.

“I don’t know the meaning of the word.” The girl spoke teasingly, even as she was lowering the duo down from their floating position.

“I thought Angels were all about mercy, and good deeds!” Mark called massaging his aching tail. Being hung by a limb for five minutes didn’t feel too great. In fact the fox-boy was surprised his tail was still attached at all.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Athen shrugged, looking as innocent as possible. Which even for her, an angel willing living in hell was, was extremely innocent.

“Have you learned your lesson yet?” Zack asked, his cute kitty voice traveling across the vast spawn of the ballroom.

“Yes.” The two mumbled. “No messing up Athen’s room.” They continued to sulk and cater to their nearly severed appendages.

“Hey, what’s going on outside?” Athen asked, her attention drawn to the curious nature of the palace servants. Since she had been pretty much locked up since her arrival, most of Athen’s days were spent watching the daily struggles of the servants and lower demons that looked after the grounds. Sometimes she even gave them a helping lift from the solidarity of her tower suite. “Are you guys listening?” The girl turned around when her question was met with silence.

“Oh, I don’t think anything special.” Mark answered. Athen narrowed her eyes, looking at each of the demons. Her eyes landed on Zack, she knew for a fact that the little demon would usually have bounded over to look outside with her.

“Guys, tell me.” She had gotten extremely good at whining. When you spend your whole day only seeing the same five demons, four of which caused much more trouble than they were worth, you found a lot to whine about.

“They look like their struggling that’s what is happening.” Akefia was the best liar, but he was not deceiving the inquisitive angel. At least not today.

“They wouldn’t be struggling if they weren’t trying to carry that obscenely large statue!” The girl jabbed the window in anger. She was sick of not getting any answers. “Guys.” She tried again. “Tell me.”

The four demons stayed silent. Their eyes watching Athen’s wings ripple with frustration. They took slow steps away while the girl was faced the other way.

“Don’t think about running away!” The girl yelled spinning around. The four demons turned and high tailed it out of her vicinity.

“Oof.” The four of them were stopped by an invisible wall, the group collapsing on the floor in defeat.

“Why does it always have to be force fields?” Joey mumbled and Athen decided she found her target.

“Say Mark,” The girl had a serene smile on her face. The boy clawed at the ground as he was levitated against his will closer to the pissed off girl. “What aren’t you guys telling me?” She was slowly turning him upside down. Mark whimpered at the feel of his tail being pulled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The demon chuckled nervously.

“No?” Athen flipped him completely upside down now. “Well then I’ll have to ask someone else.” She lowered the boy down, and he instantly collapsed to the floor. Never had he feared anyone quite so much. “Zack, come here please.” The cat demon decided it would be easier to just walk over to the girl instead of being dragged.

“Yes Athen?” he purred as the angel bent down to scratch his ear.

“What are you guys hiding from me?” Zack was the right choice; he was without a doubt the easiest nut to crack.

“Nothing, Ford just didn’t want us to tell you about the…uh-oh.” The cat lowered his head, he was in trouble now. Ford was going to murder him! Athen smiled brightly.

“So, here’s the deal guys,” Athen stopped petting Zack’s head. “I go to Ford and tell him that you all told me he was keeping secrets. Or you tell me, and I leave you out of it.”

“Either way don’t we get the short end of the stick?” Akefia murmured and the other three demons nodded in agreement. He sighed and gave in. An angry demon prince was a lot easier to deal with then a manipulative pissed off Athen.

“The solstice festival is tonight, and Ford is being over-protective and doesn’t want you to go.” Athen frowned, she’d definitely had a bone, or horn to pick with her love.

“And this in turn means that you all are not able to go because he has assigned you as my bodyguards. Am I right?” Akefia just shook his head as his comrades fell right into the angel’s trap. “Great, then it’s only fair that you all can go. And if that means taking me with you then so be it!” Joey looked from Athen to the rest of his friends with a smile on his face. Somehow the short end of the stick wasn’t so bad

“I’m so bored!” Athen whined loud enough so that Ford from inside his bedroom could hear her coming. The angel was on a mission of epic proportions. She was going to leave this palace if it was the last thing she did. She knocked on the closed door and waited for a reply.

“Come in.” She heard the deep warm voice of the demon prince and blinked through the door. An interesting thing about blinking was, if you knew the exact make up of a room you could blink into it with no problem what so ever. Athen had been in the palace so long she could blink almost everywhere above the first three floors without a problem. The same would be said for the bottom three floors if Ford hadn’t all but locked her in the tower.

“Hey, are you still working on those papers?”

“Yeah, my dad always wasn’t one for paperwork. But I’m almost done, last page.” He shook the paper lightly and set to read it. On his nose sat a pair of reading glasses. Athen shook her head at the hard working man.

“I can wait.” The girl hopped onto Ford’s bed and snuggled into the blankets. She inhaled deeply and thanked everything she could that the sense of smell wasn’t lost in hell. The chocolate scent comforted her and she gave a sigh. Even though they saw each other frequently throughout the day, it wasn’t the same as it was on earth. They had spent every waking hour together and over her last month there every sleeping hour as well. Now she was lucky for even an hour of his time.

Athen giggled as she was tackled further into the soft cushions. She struggled fruitlessly to escape the grasp of her attacker. Not that she really wanted to escape.

“Stop tickling me!” Her cry was muffled by the pillows as warm fingers assaulted her side. Her wings twitched as Ford refused to give up. With a flick of the feather appendages Ford was sent to the other side of the bed. Both of them laughing joyously, it was times like these that they missed the most.

“Have I ever told you, I like this form the best?” Athen sat up running her hands through Ford’s hair.

“I was just about to say the same thing.” Ford stared up at the angel. “You know your hair is almost white right, just like on earth. It’s long though.” Ford’s tanned hand touched a strand of her hair. From where she sat her hair made a curtain around the two of their faces.

Athen nodded, though her hair had been near pitch black when she was sent to earth she accepted the change. Hair colour, wardrobe and wing shape all changed when you got your rank. Athen had eliminated a lot of possibilities of her ranking but she didn’t like to think about it. It reminded her that eventually she would have to go back and leave hell.

“And your eyes are a gorgeous purple.” Athen smiled at the man, if her eyes were gorgeous what word was left to explain his.

“You know what I like most about that form.” Athen said their noses almost touching now. “It’s sharper.” She leaned in to give him a small kiss and then sat back up. “Your horns, your fangs,” She giggled at the man’s blush. “And you still blush.” The blush only intensified and Athen laughed.

“Well, personally besides your hair, and your eyes, I love your outfit.” Athen blushed. She had never seen what she was wearing. For some reason the whole castle was void of any mirrored surface but the others had commented quite a few times that her outfit was ‘something lily might wear.’ That comment alone made Athen blush bright red. Lily was never known for modesty.

Athen hit the man’s shoulder playfully the energy that always danced along Ford’s skin moving to accommodate. The crackling of energy that was given off by the man, might have warned others not to touch him. But it didn’t hurt Athen when she touched him, it did however make Ford very warm to the touch. The angel locked eyes with the man and found her resolve. She was on a mission after all.

“Hey Ford?” She whispered.

“Yeah?” The man’s eyes were closed and he looked extremely tranquil.

“That large statue they were carrying today was for the solstice festival right?” When Ford’s eyes flew open Athen knew she needed to start skirting around the truth.

“Who told you that?”

“So I was right!” The girl feigned triumph. “I was just taking a guess since Lily told me stories about it on that day we were at the library.”

“Of course, Lily is never one to keep quiet about that sort of thing.” The man closed his eyes again. Athen narrowed hers, if he thought that the conversation was over, he was sadly mistaken.

“So, can I go?” She asked and was already prepared for the answer.

“No, I’m not going to blatantly risk your life like that.”

“But, everyone is going to be in costumes anyways!” The girl pouted. “I could just dress up as a bird demon or something. No one would know, and I have Joey, Zack, Mark and Akefia to protect me. I’ll be just as safe as I am stuck in this stupid tower.” Athen’s voice turned bitter near the end.

“Look. I know you’re upset about the situation, but there’s no way I’d risk your life like that. Just wait until my dad gets back and we’ll make a decision from there.”

“But the festival is tonight! There’s no way he’s going to be back by then.” Athen pouted as cutely as she could.

“Come on don’t frown.” Ford said apologetically sitting up, but why couldn’t Athen see that putting herself in danger wasn’t worth it? He put a hand on her head and kissed her forehead.

“This is ridiculous. I’m sick of playing the damsel in distress locked in this stupid stone prison.” Athen argued pouting further.

“Okay, okay. I’ll think about it.” Ford said, at least this way it would get the angel off of his back.

“Thank you!” Athen said, knowing that was the reaction Ford expected. But if the brunet demon thought that was the end of the conversation he was in for a surprise. He just made his bed, and Athen was going to make sure he lay in it.

Athen pulled the man in for an enthusiastic kiss. The kiss lasted longer and was far more passionate then the previous one. Ford sighed, screw the play fighting and fun, he missed this so much more.

“So,” She kissed him again. “Why can’t I go again?” The girl asked when they separated for air.

“T-too dangerous.” Athen placed her hands flat on Ford’s chest and pushed him down.

“The guys are war heroes right?” She only got a mumble in reply. “So they should be really good at protecting if anything happens.” In one motion Athen removed the man’s tight black shirt. Though it was a lot easier to just will things to happen, it was hard to do that to other people.

“Y-yeah.” Ford nodded his breathing had increased rapidly.

“And, they should be rewarded for bringing me back to life.” Athen’s lips moved towards the demon’s ear. “Don’t you think?” She prodded when she was met with silence.

“Mmm,” Was the only intelligible reply.

“Then there should be no problem with them wanting to take me to the festival as a reward.” Her lips moved as she spoke against the sensitive skin on Ford’s neck. All of his rational thinking had gone out of the window long ago.

“Yeah, no problem.” He answered. Athen’s hands moved along his torso. She looked down at the lust-filled eyes of her love. She had gotten what she wanted, but there was no reason not to continue what she had started. Now to get into Ford’s irritating leather pants.