Avery trudged down the sidewalk towards school, her bag slung over her shoulder. Her cheeks and nose were flushed a soft pink from the cold breeze brushing against her face and she rubbed her hands together in an attempt to keep them warm. The school bus had just began to pull away from the curb as she exited her house, and although she had waved her arms at the driver, she did not stop to let Avery on.

“I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be cold” Azrael’s voice commented, startling Avery into letting out a gasp. Her heart began to race as she turned to the demon. Azrael simply gave the blonde a lopsided grin as she stared at him, knowing very well that his entrance would startle her. “Can you stop doing that?” She grumbled before turning away from him, taking a deep breath as she began to continue on her way. The request made the dark-haired demon grin, “But your reaction is always so amusing” He mused, slowing to walk a few feet behind the blonde.

Azrael’s eyes glanced at the Avery, watching the back of her head as she kept her eyes in front of her, his grin relaxing into a smile. It had been a long time since he had done something as mundane as walking to school, the chilled breeze against his skin felt like freedom to a demon trapped in chains. How Ironic, he thought.

“Did you decide?” Azrael began, interrupting the silence between the two. Avery slowed for a moment, having forgotten about the choice that Azrael had given her before she had to rush to get ready. As much as she didn’t want to draw attention to herself, she wasn’t going to waste her life for protection when she could get it for free.

There were a few obstacles though. The first was how people would react when some stranger with red eyes waltzed into the school grounds, that would surely bring unwanted attention to her.

“If I did go with option two… would they… I mean, would other people be able to see your eyes?”.

Azrael smiled, “No. Only you and other demons can see my red eyes. To other mortals, they will likely just look brown or something else equally boring”.

“Oh” was all Avery could say, relieved that the first obstacle was so easy to overcome. “And how about ‘a story’. What did your other… humans, use to say?”

Azrael’s smile faded at her question, he didn’t particularly want to talk about his past clients. It felt akin to talking to someone about his past relationships, likely to do nothing but stir up trouble.

“Nothing that would work for a high school student” Azrael responded after a moment of silence, “Most had no problem selling their lives for my powers anyway, but you’re different”.

You’re different. Those words always sent a tendril of warmth through Avery, even when the cool breeze stung her hands and cheeks. In this case she was sure, different was better. Avery had a lot to think about, she needed to come up with some kind of story for Azrael, something that would make sense and that would cause the least impact or attention. That wasn’t as easy as it seemed though.

With a critical eye, Azrael looked over the mortals taste in clothing. The plain coloured shirt and jacket mixed with her minimal effort to do her hair or put any makeup on. Granted, Avery didn’t need makeup, but Azrael could only wonder how just a little mascara and eyeliner could make those light blue eyes stand out.

Azrael sighed dramatically, gaining the attention of the girl walking in front of him. Avery glanced back at him for a moment but promptly turned back to watch where she was walking.

“You know, I understand the whole birds nest style, but you could probably put more effort into your hair” The words rolled from Azrael's lips in a mocking tone as he grinned. Avery stopped in her tracks, turning to face the boy who had just made a rude comment, “Excuse me?”.

Azrael smiled as he reached out to catch a blonde strand of hair that hung beside her face, “I mean, if I’m going to be seen with you in public, I’d at least like some effort”. This statement earned a smack to Azrael’s arm. “Well, don’t expect any” Avery grumbled in response, giving the demon a glare before she turned on her heel to continue on her way.

Azrael couldn’t help but let a chuckle escape. Her reaction to his comments were amusing and he enjoyed seeing her get a little mad with him. It had been a long time since he was able to get away with making fun of a client. He hoped that she would never realise that a simple demand could make him stop altogether.

“What I really mean is...” Azrael started, letting the amused grin turn into a sincere smile, “This is your first day of happiness, shouldn’t your look match that?”. Avery didn’t stop walking as she contemplated his words, It doesn't matter because I didn’t have time to get ready this morning…

Azrael’s eyes softened at the mortal’s thought, and almost instantaneously Avery’s hair tie snapped, her hair falling in golden waves over her shoulders and down her spine. Avery’s eyes widened as she stopped, reaching up to her head to touch the smooth blonde locks that felt like silk against her fingertips.

“There, now you look presentable” Azrael murmured in a soft voice as the mortal turned to give him a confused expression. "What did you do?" Avery's hands brushed through the waves, finding no knots or tangles.

"I fixed that mess for you, I even put some makeup on your sad face so you can match the way that your day will be" Azrael explained as the blonde's eyes widened. She quickly swung her bag to her side and unzipped the front pocket to take out her phone.

Opening the camera, she took in her appearance. Aside from the perfect waves of gold falling over her shoulders, she was now wearing mascara and a thin line of eyeliner, winging her eye. Her lips had been painted a subtle shade of glossy pink and her cheeks a rosy pink.

The person in the reflection was not the same Avery that had shown up to school the last month. The colour was returned to her cheeks, the sparkle returned to her eye. She looked beautiful.

"I…" she gasped, her words getting caught in her throat as her eyes began to get glassy.

"Don't cry" Azrael soothed, placing a hand on the blondes shoulder, "This one's on me but next time it'll cost you". A gentle smile graces the demon's features as Avery sniffed, blinking away the water in her eyes.

"Thank you" she muttered, not having realised that the change would suddenly make her feel so much stronger, more confident. She suddenly felt as though the day ahead of her couldn't be ruined by anything and for the first time in a month she was excited to go to school.

_____

Avery sent Azrael away with the promise of thinking up a story for him during the day. Since the second period had already started when Avery arrived, she was greeted with empty hallways. She had taken much longer to walk to school than she expected; her demon acting as a distraction. Without too much rush she picked out her books for History before heading to the classroom.

When Avery opened the door to the small classroom she was welcomed by confused stares. Murmurs and whispers filled the room as she quickly tiptoed to take her seat. 'Is that Avery Hughes?' 'She looks so different!' 'What happened to her? She looks hot!'

Avery slid into the desk and stared at the wooden table top, feeling the warmth of a blush spread through her cheeks. These whispers were far different than what she was used to hearing and it was a welcomed change.

Avery spent most of the lesson wondering what kind of story she could use to cover Azrael's presence. At first she thought about him being a brother or relative, but she was sure that her sister Gwen would be asked about him. Her sister had stayed blissfully unaware of her circumstances for the last month and she wanted it to stay that way.

Her second thought was having him pose as a teacher. An issue with that was that being seen with a teacher hanging around her would surely cause the rumours to take an even worse turn.

By the end of the lesson she still hadn't come up with a good cover story, at least one that would make sense, not cause rumours and stay out of ear shot from her sister.

As Avery began her walk to her usual destination on the grass by the basketball court she was still immersed in ideas for her demon's secret identity that she failed to notice the pale freckled arm that reached out of an open door, grabbing her bag and pulling her backwards roughly.

Avery stumbled into an empty classroom, falling to the ground with a loud thud as the door shut behind her. She let out a hitched shriek of pain as she landed, quickly bringing one of her wrists into the palm of her free hand. As she fell she had put her hand out to cushion the fall but the force had bent her wrist in an odd direction, a thrum of pain shooting through her.

“Aww, did you hurt yourself?” Paige mocked as she walked up to stand at Avery’s feet, arms crossed and a menacing expression across her face, “That’s a real shame”. Her tone was cold and cynical, there wasn’t any part of her that felt remorse for the harm she had brought to the blonde below her.

Avery wasn’t sure why she had been pulled into the classroom and away from the bustling halls of the school, but by the look of the ginger standing behind Paige guarding the door, she knew it couldn’t be for any good reason.

“Have you heard the rumours…?” Paige began and Avery’s attention turned from the ginger back to the brunette as she towered over her. It was when Avery noticed the unwavering frown set on Paige’s face that she realised that this encounter was going to be more than just a chance to bully her - there was a reason behind it.

“I mean Aiden Phillips? That’s disgusting” Paige cringed as she unfolded her arms, placing her hands on her hips. “How desperate can you be?” Addison chimed in, huffing at the very thought. She was right, anyone who wanted Aiden would have to be desperate. The guy was a creep, after what he had tried to do to Avery she couldn’t even stand to hear his name. But she had never done anything with him - not willingly.

“Nothing happened” Avery protested, clenching her fists as she slowly moved into a sitting position. She didn’t know what had come over her, before today she would have never stood up to the brunette and bodyguard like this. Today she felt like a different person, whether it was the newly found confidence, or knowing that she had a demon on her shoulder, she wasn't sure why. I’m not dealing with this anymore.

“Oh, really?” Paige said and let a short laugh escape through her lips, “You can’t seriously think that anyone would believe that?”. As Avery slowly brought herself to her feet, brushing herself off as she did she turned to lock eye contact with the brunette. Avery’s expression set itself into a frown as she glared at her tormentor, a rush of adrenaline causing her heart to pump faster. Paige simply glared back at the blonde, looking her up and down as she stood before her.

“I don’t care what they think of me” Avery stated, her hands balling into fists at her sides as she summoned all of her courage to say the next sentence;

“But you will care when they see your true nature”.

Paige’s expression quickly flared into rage as her eyes pierced through the blonde, “What did you fucking say, bitch?”. Paige raised her hand as she stepped towards the blonde, swinging her hand violently towards Avery’s face. Instinctively, Avery closed her eyes and raised her arms in defense.

“That’s enough”.

Silence fell in the room. Paige’s hand had been stopped, a strong hand squeezing her wrist in place. As Avery opened her eyes slowly, her heart skipped a beat staring up at her bully and the demon behind her.

Paige’s eyes were huge in her shock as she looked over her shoulder at the handsome dark-haired boy who held her in place with such unrelenting force. Azrael glared at the brunette, his eyes were dark and angry and they caused Paige’s expression to shift from anger into fear in a matter of seconds.

It wasn’t until the ginger sat up from her position on the floor that Avery realised that Azrael had shoved the door and Addison to the side in order to enter the room. Avery smiled in relief as she looked over at Azrael who held Paige’s wrist in an iron grip despite her attempts to struggle. He really did protect me.

Azrael brought the brunette’s wrist down before turning her and pushing her towards the door of the room, standing between Avery and the one person who had caused her so much pain. Avery looked up at the back of his head as he created a wall between her and everything bad in her life. If she wasn’t sure about this decision before, she was now. This was worth it.

Paige quickly took her wrist in her hand, rubbing at the skin that Azrael had held. “Who are you?!”. Her expression was priceless, a mixture of confusion, fear and panic. Addison hadn’t moved from her position on the floor, she looked as though she had been overwhelmed with shock. Her mouth hung open and her eyes wide.

“I’m the person you’ll have to go through if you want to touch Avery” Azrael answered, his eyes glaring through Paige, “If you touch her again, I will ruin you”. At this Paige took a step back. Avery could only imagine the look in Azrael’s eye as he said those words, and she imagined the pressure that she had felt when first meeting him. I wonder if they feel it too.

Paige looked lost for words. As though she had never been in a situation where she wasn’t the most feared person in the room. As though she had never once been stood up to before.

"We’ll see about that” She managed as she attempted to clear the fear from her eyes, replacing it with intimidation. With those final words she turned and stormed out of the room. Addison quickly scrambled to her feet to follow her.