Time did not slow down. Birds kept singing and the last of yesterday's storm clouds dissolved, allowing the sun to shine. And below, people were waking up and getting on with their lives, unaware of another missing soul.

Astrid opened her eyes. Everything was too bright, too jarring. And even though the men's mouths were moving, all she heard was ringing.

He's not dead, he's not dead. She repeated it over and over again, hoping that it would somehow make it true, despite the lake of crimson.

Lucifer tumbled head over heels, flapping his wings to right himself. With each powerful downstroke, he climbed higher until he hung above them all. A split second passed and he plummeted; mere moments before crashing, he flung his wings back. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran towards the crumpled body.

"Get back, get back!" someone screamed, and they scrambled away like ants. Lucifer fell to his knees, spreading out his wings to shield the body. His head turned up, and following his line of sight, Astrid gasped.

A white blur was hurtling towards the roof, adjusting its course as the men ran. The one with wings leaped off, falling out of view, and split seconds later, the object struck one of his comrades.

"Get him out of here!"

Astrid choked and started coughing. That voice! I know that voice! Where did I...

The projectile untangled itself from its target, sitting back on its--no, her--haunches. White wings shot out, wispy hair blowing in the breeze.

It's her!

The girl grabbed the man by the back of his jacket and straightened. In one fluid motion, she flung him to the side and whirled, heading for Lucifer. He stood with the boy cradled in his arms, frantically scanning the buildings around him.

"I said go!" she screamed and pulled her wings in, which folded origami-style into slender white lines tight against her back. The two men who were still standing started closing in again. "Lucifer! Get him out of here!"

He took one last look around before tucking his wings in close, sliding past the girl to the left. The guy in the air hung back, waiting until Lucifer had dropped over the edge before spiral diving, the blood-smeared blades hidden among the feathers glinting. They would slice just as easily through Lucifer as they had through Tommy. Astrid didn't want to look, but she couldn't pull her eyes away; and no matter how hard she dug her nails into her arm, she couldn't wake up.

A yell pulled her attention to the girl as she ducked under one blade and stumbled back to avoid another. The attacker brought his blade back, preparing to repeat his assault, but she kicked out, foot slamming into his chest. The second one charged in while she was distracted, but her wings unfurled, too slow to cause any damage, but fast enough to block him. Even though the whole scene seemed to take an eternity to unfold, it was probably more like seconds.

Yet Lucifer was struggling to gain altitude, and there was no way he was going to make it.

"Drop! Drop now!" the girl yelled, batting the last man away as he swung his blades. A handful of feathers fell to the ground as she tucked her wings in close.

Lucifer's wings stopped beating the air and he dropped like a stone. The girl leaped into the air above him at the exact moment that the other winged figure plunged past; there was a flash of white and red as their wings tangled and they tumbled down, a cloud of white feathers floating after.

Astrid leaned farther forward. Lucifer's wings were moving again and he caught a rising draft that pushed him higher. The other two had separated and the man was quickly ascending as if nothing at even happened; but the girl was spiraling out of control, her wings in tatters. People on the streets had finally noticed and were pointing and staring.

Just forty more yards before Lucifer reached the building Astrid stood on. He looked up again and their eyes met, just for the briefest of seconds, and his face crumpled.

"Lucifer!" she shouted. He hadn't recognized her and that was the only way she could think of to tell him that she wouldn't hurt him. Though she didn't know whether he even heard her.

He didn't falter, gradually picking up speed. But his enemy was faster, quickly burning up the space between them.

Less than thirty yards remained...twenty...ten...

Astrid was frozen as Lucifer glided over the wall. Something caught on the wall, perhaps his feet, and he landed in a twisted heap.

But there was no time to think about him--the last attacker was mere wing strokes away.

I'm powerless to stop him! She frantically felt for something, anything to use as a weapon, but there was nothing.

He landed gracefully, wings sweeping forward to help him keep his balance. They brushed against Astrid's arm, passing right through the sleeve of her jacket as though it wasn't even there. There was no pain.

His back was still to her, and as his wings came back, she stepped back. She couldn't breathe as they passed her on their way forward again and she hurtled forward.

It doesn't hurt like I thought it would, she mused as she rammed into his back. The air left her lungs in a rush, a cracking similar to tree branches snapping, only crisper, ringing in her ears.

The acrid smell of sweat and smoke filled her nose and burned her eyes. The edges of his feathers sliced her palms as she shoved herself into a sitting position. Black crowded the edges of her vision and her heart hammered in her ears as she started hitting and punching him wherever she could, praying that this...this monster stayed down. He moaned once but didn't move, didn't struggle.

I killed him, I killed him! She jumped to her feet and stumbled backward, her only thought of getting away.

Tripping over his spread legs, she fell. Agony ripped through her shoulder as she caught herself. Gasping for breath, she half-crawled, half-ran away. There was still no sound of movement. She turned around, bleeding hands covering her eyes. Her lungs burned and her stomach rolled at the heavy stench of death.

Astrid's hands dropped away and at first, the sight before her made no sense. There was an ever-widening pool of blood seeping from under the mangle of feathers. He hadn't been able to bring his wings back when Astrid had pushed him forward, and now the bones stuck out at impossible angles.

Cold seeped from her fingertips up to shoulders, twisting around her torso and squeezing tighter and tighter until she couldn't inhale. Everything was a blur, and she'd never wished for unconsciousness more than she ever wished in her whole life.

"Who are you?" Lucifer hissed. He was crouched over Tommy's body, orange eyes burning holes into hers.

She just stood, staring at the blood coating her hands.

Time did not slow down. The birds kept singing and the sun shown even brighter.