The only sound that rang through the deathly silent forest was the sound of fallen leaves crunching beneath feet. Lucien Maddox, a lean eighteen year old boy walked through the forest in silence, his friends all back at his large house nice and warm while he was shivering violently from the cold. It was midnight, and the boy couldn’t even see a tree until he was about to hit it, but that wasn’t what he was paying attention to. There was a cliff nearby with a lake beneath that by now would be frozen and if he didn’t die from impact of the ice then he would die from the cold of water. Yes, Lucien was ready to kill himself. He had a perfect life, both of his parents, filthy rich business people who love their only son to death, had given him everything he could have asked for and more but what Lucien wanted, was a normal life. What Lucien couldn’t have, was just that. When Lucien turned sixteen he discovered just how abnormal he was, able to cause others harm with just a simple thought and even change the weather with his emotions. If anyone were to find out about how strange Lucien was or what he could do he would be cast to the side, called a freak, a memory is all that would be left of the popular high school soccer player.

Lucien could see the trees beginning to thin, knowing exactly what that would mean, his own life was beginning to thin as well. It wasn’t long before he could see the cliff, his eyes naturally drifting up to look at the stars, they were so bright tonight. He was going to miss that, the bright stars. He kept walking, not even looking down, he knew how close he was and when he felt his weight go off balance and nothing but air beneath his feet he knew his time was up. Lucien slowly closed his eyes and counted; one...two...three...four...five. The pain in his back as he hit the ice was sharp, like he fell off the roof of a building. He gasped for air as it all rushed out of him, the sound of his body hitting the ice seemed to echo forever but the ice didn’t give way...and neither did his life. Lucien laid in pain on the ice, tears in his eyes as he stared at the stars.
“Why?! Why can’t you just let me die?!” He yelled out but his voice was weak. He wanted his voice to reach the stars but it didn’t even seem to reach the trees above on the cliff. With each sob that racked his body he cringed in pain, watching the stars until finally his body quit, passing out from the pain. His last image of the sky was blurred by what looked to be a young girl standing over him, he could barely make out the beautiful blonde hair that seemed silver in the moonlight but he couldn’t see her eyes in time but he could see her mouth move, though he couldn’t make out what she was saying, but it sounded gentle, like bells almost.

All she could do was watch as the beautiful boy she had followed for two years fell. She had always been told not to interfere with their disgusting lives but when she saw him walking to the cliff she knew what he wanted to do but she couldn’t let that happen. The boy she had always watched was falling and would never notice if his fall was slowed ever so slightly at the last second to stop him from dying. Before his body hit the ice she blew out a slow and gentle breathe that carried the wind against his back and slowed him down enough to still hit the ice hard but not hard enough just like she hoped. The sound of pain in his voice made her cringe, she never wanted him to hurt again. Slowly and carefully as his eyes began to flutter shut she walked over to the boy and placed a hand to her chest in sorrow.
“I’m sorry Lucien, it’s not time yet, please don’t give up hope.” Her whisper was soft enough for him to not hear the words but for him to hear her voice enough to remember. When his eyes were shut all the way she placed her hands to his toned, cold chest and breathed out again, sending her own warmth into him before standing up and walking away.

The next day Lucien awoke in his bed with a start, his forehead dotted with sweat as he panted frantically from the dream, for the last two months he had been having the same dream over and over and every time he didn’t get to see the girl’s face, the girl who saved him. Lucien leaned down and placed his head in his hands for a moment before getting out of bed and dressing in his usual attire, a button down shirt with dark jeans and vans. His morning routine was the same thing every time for school, get dressed, eat, then drive his three younger sisters who were triplets to school but this time they were all sick so for once he got a silent car ride there. As he sat in the school parking lot he stared at the car beside his own black Hummer, it was a beautiful brand new shiny red Camaro and he had never seen it in town before. Their town was small, a car that beautiful and fancy was easy to see and hard to forget. He climbed out of his car and headed into the big building called prison, though others called it school and went right to class, not feeling the desire to talk to any of his friends. For once he just wanted to get in class. Lucien always sat in the front seat in class and in his first period which just so happened to be his worst subject, Trigonometry, he was the only one failing but he was passing with flying colors in all his other classes. The morning seemed to be in fast forward to Lucien, almost as soon as he walked in the bell rang which was unusual for him, he was never close to being late. Setting his things on his desk he took his seat in silence before setting his head down, he was exhausted, the dream was beginning to wear him out. But when there was a knock at the door and the teacher seemed to be expecting whoever it was he couldn’t help but look up with interest.
“Students if I may have your attention please, we have a new student today.” The older lady said excitedly, standing beside her was a small girl who drew Lucien’s eye almost instantly. He didn’t listen to a word the teacher said as he stared at the girl in awe, her blonde hair fell to the middle of her ribs in perfect ringlets, compared to the teacher who was 5’10 in heels the girl had to have been around 5’6 but she was slim, fragile looking. Her skin was a perfect porcelain color that was free of any blemishes or make up and her eyes; Lucien nearly stopped breathing, her eyes were a chocolate brown but he had been staring so intently to be able to see the tint of red in them. Was she wearing contacts? That was the only explanation for that he guessed. The girls eyes suddenly moved to Lucien as if she could feel him staring, though the whole class was really. The girls red lips slowly spread into a warm and gentle smile as she looked at him, her eyes naturally squinting ever so slightly making her look absolutely adorable. Lucien frowned and dropped his eyes quickly, he didn’t think of girls as adorable, he was the star soccer player, he didn’t notice girls, they noticed him. But he couldn’t help but look again, this time she wasn’t looking at him, one thing he noticed though, her eyes didn’t have the red tint...had he imagined it?
“My name is Amaya Talias, I just transferred from New York, I’m seventeen.” Her voice was soft and gentle, as if she was afraid to speak too loudly but the look in her eyes showed she wasn’t afraid or nervous at all, in fact she looked rather comfortable with being the center of attention.
“Well Amaya, what a rare name, it’s a pleasure to have you joining our class but I hope you know I won’t go easy on you just because you’re new here.” The teacher said teasingly  before motioning to the seat beside Lucien, the only empty seat in the room.
“Amaya this is Lucien Maddox, he will be showing you around the school for the day and make sure you get to all your classes safely for the week.” She said without asking for Luciens permission, though he would have agreed to anyways and she knew that. The tension in the room became heavy, most of the girls in the class had a thing for Lucien but he wasn’t the kind of guy to go after the needy girls like them. Someone like Amaya though, he could get used to being around her. Before Lucien could even say anything to the beautiful girl sitting beside him she tilted her head ever so slightly, her hair falling around her face framing it perfectly as she stared at him, her eyes shining with interest.
“You have beautiful blue eyes Lucien, they remind me of the sky.” She murmured with a little grin as if she knew something he didn’t. His eyes widened ever so slightly, thrown off by the sudden compliment and for a moment he was speechless, causing a giggle to rise from the girl. He could feel his cheeks heat up at the sound, it was adorable and sounded almost like bells. Lucien slowly leaned back in his chair, not daring to take his eyes off the girl as he found his voice again.
“So, uh Amaya right? Why’d you move here from New York?”
“It was always so cold there and I get sick so easily...my father thought it would be better to move me where it was warmer hoping I wouldn’t miss school as often.” The answer seemed innocent enough but the look in her eyes when she mentioned her getting sick changed, the look in her eyes had been a gentle and playful one but now it was more distant and maybe...a little bit of regret? Lucien almost felt bad for asking when he saw that but he didn’t get to look long as the girl turned away to focus on the class, her being sick often explained why she seemed to look so fragile. After the announcement of a new student class went by faster since the teacher actually didn’t torture them with more work for once, and the news spread through the school faster than Lucien would have expected though someone as vibrant as Amaya would be hard to miss. She walked through the halls beside the much taller 6’3 eighteen year old with a big smile. He could hear the whispers from other girls though; Why does she look so smug? Does she really think Lucien would choose to stay around her after this week? Does she not know he’s only doing this because he has too? Someone as small as her would never get Lucien’s real attention. She looks like a complete idiot beside him, thinking she belongs at his side. The people in school made Lucien sick, especially other girls. As the whispers became more frequent his anger continued to boil, and soon the sound of thunder outside the building was much louder than anyone talking which was strange since it had been such a beautiful day earlier. Lucien jumped when he felt a sudden hand on his elbow and looked down slightly to see Amaya looking up at him, her eyes almost relaxing him instantly. That one clap of thunder was all there was.
“This is my next class, thank you Lucien, I’ll see you afterwards.” She said brightly before slowly taking her hand away and going into the room, Lucien almost felt sad to see her go and stood there for a moment longer before walking away, the classes he didn’t have with Amaya seemed to drag on but he strangely was looking forward to seeing her afterwards. He couldn’t figure out why he was so drawn to her, or why she seemed so familiar but after school when he walked with her to his car and they said goodbye he watched in shock as she climbed into the Camaro and he knew he wasn’t the only one surprised to see her get in it but then again it made sense that someone of her looks would have a car like that.

When Lucien returned home he found that he was alone, his sisters were gone as well as their parents so the boy simply went to his room, having nothing better to do and not really in the mood for homework. It didn’t take long for Lucien to  become so bored that he fell asleep, and once again had the same dream but this time his eyes stayed open long enough to see the girl, it was Amaya standing over him. He recognized the red tint in her eyes instantly  but it was more vibrant this time, but something different happened, he didn’t faint at that part like usual, he heard what she said; I’m sorry Lucien, It’s not time yet, please don’t give up hope. How had she known his name? Then again this was a dream and anything could have happened in a dream. Lucien’s head turned and behind the small girl was another girl, no...the same girl but her eyes were just brown, no red at all.
“Don’t fall for her tricks Lucien, she will take your life away for her own pleasure. Stay away from Amaya.” Lucien frowned slowly, what did she mean? The girl telling him to stay away was Amaya, but Lucien couldn’t ask, he could feel himself waking up. Before they disappeared he could see the one standing over him grin, but it wasn’t that beautiful grin he had grown used to in a day, it was different, darker. The red in her eyes took over the brown completely before everything faded, the only thing remaining was the faint glow of red eyes. Lucien woke up and stared at his ceiling for the longest time before looking out his window.
“What the hell was that?”
Even though it was just a dream Lucien was naturally much more cautious around Amaya though he couldn’t keep his distance at the same time. With every day Lucien felt more and more drawn to her, almost to the point that he didn’t want to be away from her any longer and every night that stranger dream kept recurring and he did notice her eyes were red much more often and it almost seemed as if she had two personalities that came with the color of her eyes, she was pretty flirty when her eyes were redder but when there was no red at all she seemed to be pretty shy. He liked both sides of her but was drawn to the side with red eyes for some reason. Weeks went by faster and faster the closer he got with Amaya and the colder it got outside the more frequent his dreams were, as if it would really happen. He decided to have Amaya come over one saturday when he knew everyone would be gone so they could talk without people around. When she came over her eyes were pure red, there was no brown at all and for a second it scared him, just what was Amaya exactly? As the sun began to set Lucien began to grow bolder and decided to finally ask about the dreams, almost feeling certain that she would know what he was talking about.
“Amaya...I have to be honest with you, before we met I ha-”
“Had a dream about me stopping you from killing yourself? I know it’s because that is your future, you trying to kill yourself, but this annoying girl Cameron won’t let you die so in your dream she actually found a way to tap into my powers and save you.” Amaya was almost doubled over with laughter.
“Pitiful isn’t it? That stupid girl actually thinks she can save you but your fate has already been decided! I, Amaya Talias, am here to take your soul.” She said, placing her hand to her chest and bowing formally as if that would lighten up the news. Lucien simply stared at her for a moment before Amaya sighed and crossed her arms over her chest and began to explain.
“You see Cameron here is an angel, believe it or not, I am a demon and while I would usually be here on my own I figured why not use a corrupt angel instead? I mean an angel that fell in love with the human they were meant to protect? What’s better than that?!” Amaya had to wipe her tears of laughter away but before she could continue Lucien finally spoke.
“The dreams were...Cameron’s way of warning me?”
“Exactly but you see Lucien I wouldn’t dare hurt you and that’s what she doesn’t understand, she thinks I’m here to take you away early when in reality in five days you are going to kill yourself and I will be the one to have your soul.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone before standing from her seat in the chair and walked over to Lucien and leaning in close.
“Unless you would much rather have a painless death and let me take your soul now, either way you will die, there is nothing you can do about it.” Amaya whispered but Lucien remained silent which was a good enough answer for her. Her nose wrinkled in disgust before she stood up straight and backed away. This wasn’t the answer she wanted.
“Suicide is a sin, this is why I have been sent to get you, guess I’ll see you in five days Lucien, sweet dreams.” She growled before turning on her heels and walking away, the boy could practically feel the anger radiating off of her.

That night Lucien didn’t sleep at all. His mind was filled to maximum capacity and he still couldn’t fully grasp the fact that an angel fell in love with him so a demon took her over to take his soul. Sure Lucien wasn’t afraid to admit that he had thought of killing himself before but he never thought it would actually happen. He figured out that when Amaya had told him she gets sick easily it was Cameron fighting back for her body. He literally began to count down the days until it came to when Amaya said he would kill himself though he felt as if with this knowledge he wouldn’t do it. The night of his supposed death Lucien stayed home alone, his sisters out at friends houses and his parents at work. He made sure to do the opposite of his dream, have no one over at all but when the clock struck twelve he couldn’t help but stare out the window wondering if it would still happen. As he watched he could just barely make out the shape of a small person approaching his house, which of course was Amaya though he wasn’t very surprised to see her. He opened up the back door and wrapped his arms around himself as the cold hit him though she seemed absolutely unphased by it. Slowly she began to clap, her voice laced with nothing but sarcasm
“Oh congrats Lucien, you took every precaution to avoid death but you should know, there is no such thing as escaping death, maybe delaying it but not escaping.”
The leaves beneath Amaya’s feet crunched loudly, the sound reminding Lucien all too vividly of his dreams
“I am not dying any time soon, you’re wasting your breath Amaya.” The small girl snorted at the humans attempt to be brave. She continued to walk to him until she was an arms length away and had to tilt her head back to look up at him.
“I never waste my breath Lucien, I told you I could take your life and that you would die tonight and I was right, just not the way you expect it to happen.” She said simply and reached up, grabbing ahold of the collar of his button down shirt and pulling him down in his moment of shock, connecting their lips for a long second before pulling away and letting him go. When she did Lucien collapsed at her feet, his body shaking violently as she tilted her head with a sad but cruel smile.
“The kiss of a demon is poison to mortals.” She said simply and watched as the boy wriggled on the ground in pain before shivering, slowly his body stopped moving, slowly his chested stopped rising and falling rapidly, and then his breathing stopped completely and his sky blue eyes closed for the final time.

As Amaya stood over the boy she noticed her own cheeks getting colder, raising a hand to her cheek she found herself crying; You killed him, you told him you wouldn’t harm him! Cameron’s voice rang through the demons head loudly making her cringe.
“You should know a demon never tells the truth, after all I promised you I could make you mortal did I not?” She sneered before turning her back on the mortal and beginning to walk away but it wasn’t her walking, it was Cameron.
“Give me back control of the body!” Amaya yelled furiously, the angel inside remained silent for the longest time until Amaya began to recognize where it was they were heading too.
“You fool, you think killing yourself will bring you to your precious human?!” She laughed as she allowed the angel to walk her towards the cliff. No...nothing will bring me back to my beautiful Lucien but even if I can no longer return to my own realm for killing myself I will be able to rest easy knowing that you can not either. Amaya looked around frantically, her red eyes wide with confusion and fright.
“You witch! What do you mean I can’t return?!” Don’t you know? When a Demon takes an Angel’s body, you can never leave no matter what happens. Amaya let out a piercing scream as Cameron forced them over the edge, Amaya looked to the sky, the stars were bright tonight. For just a moment she wished that she could have been born mortal, to be able to look up and see the stars whenever she wanted too and to her astonishment, she could feel Cameron wishing the same thing. Tears welled up in the demons eyes, but they weren’t just Cameron’s, they were her own as well. As their body hit the ice the sound echoed through the trees, reaching all the way back to Lucien’s house where his body still lay outside in the cold and as if he somehow was still alive and knew what they had done, a single tear trailed down the boy’s cheek and fell into the grass. When his parents returned home that night they found his body, now every spring a flower would bloom where the single tear fell.