He rumbled a laugh, and said "I know.  You haven't run screaming in the opposite direction yet, talking about armageddon coming."  He dipped his head, and she heard him inhale, scenting her hair.

Victoria began to breath easier, seeming more relaxed. "I've seen Armageddon...or at least the onset of it. And I have to be ever vigilant against it every single day. You, my good friend, are not the cause, and I feel safe with you."

  He said softly "I don't want to see Armageddon.  I know I'm likely to live that long, but I don't have to like Armageddon.  Now, are you ready for a rush?"

Victoria turned to Andy and arced an eyebrow. "What do you mean by...rush?"

  He grinned, and made sure he had his arm around her waist good and firmly, then tipped backwards.  Off the edge.  Tipping them into a tumbling freefall down the side of the building.

Victoria smiled as they began to freefall. Something told her that she should be panicking.....but she wasn't. She somehow felt safe with him.

  He morphed as he held her, and she could feel FAR more of his heat without the insulation of leathers and denim, and forty feet above the ground, his wings SNAPPED open and they SHOT down the street at lightning speed.  Safe, definitely, but still one hell of a rush.  His wings kept stroking too, speeding them and letting him maneuver like a giant, insane bat through the wires and such.  Until he shot the two of them skyward, and told her playfully "Yeah, I play freefall a lot.  Nothing else quite like the rush of freefalling nine thousand six hundred of ten thousand feet."

Victoria turned around to Andy and nodded.

"Yeah..there is nothing else like it."

  He grinned, and even with a mouth full of razored, sharklike fangs, it was boyish and handsome.  "Now YOU know what it feels like too.  Did you like that?"  He settled them once more to a rooftop, adding "One of the few things I learned to very much enjoy in Hell was the ability to outfly even older, wiser, and more experienced Demons.  The wing-spurs helped a lot in combat too."

"But you had to fight so much in there...especially for survival...in that awful place..."

Victoria's demeanor seemed to soften considerably as she contemplated what he must have gone through to survive.

  He shrugged, and said softly, his voice a deep rumble "I had choices, even in Hell, Victoria.  I could lay down, give up, and let hem kill me or do to me whatever they wanted.  Or I could fight it, tooth, nails, and everything else, and hold to my own self.  I chose to fight.  I've been skinned, drawn and quartered, disemboweled,  flogged until my bones shone through the blood, and had my limbs ripped from my body.  I wouldn't give myself up to them for that, wouldn't give up.  And then I learned how to kill them, permanently.  And I learned how to be nastier than they were, when I had no other choice.  But generally, Victoria, I like to be a nice guy.  I like to fly, sketch, and believe it or not, I enjoy working on cars and motorcycles, and ending up covered in engine grease."  He'd been leaning against a concrete wall on the roof, shrouded in shadow, only his eyes visible as he spoke.

Victoria looked away, again towards the skyline.

"No one should have to go through what you just told me about, Andy. There is so much injustice in the world. And yet...there is a greater evil beyond the boundaries of this world. An enemy that Adri and I have been fighting against for years. An enemy....that if left unchecked...would end our existence."

She looked at him intently for a moment, her brown eyes full of understanding.

"You were brought back for a purpose, Andy. Whether it be God, your friends, or whomever, the fact of the matter is...you are back now. I've come to realize..now more than ever, Andy...that you are needed...I need you...both as a Protector...and as my friend and comrade..."

  He stepped closer, and said gently as he looked down, into her eyes "I'll take all the friends I can get, Victoria.  Demons aren't exactly popular people."

Victoria looked down and chuckled for a moment.

"I'll take whatever friends I can get too, Andy. After all, you've seen my wonderful people skills."

  He rumbled again, with a laugh, and lightly picked her up, his hands sliding around her waist to do it.  He felt HOT compared to the air!

Victoria let Andy take a hold of her as they went upward.

  He held her close, so that she could lay her head against his chest, and answered her.    He'd soared up, and out, over the city, his wings powering them effortlessly across the sky, loops and whirls of movement as they went nowhere in particular.

Victoria sighed as she laid her head against Andy's chest as they went up.

<

  He hovered above the center of the city, those wings blurring as they held them up, and brushed his cheek against her head.

Victoria looked around in the air.

  He brushed his cheek over her hair again, and rumbled.

Victoria turned and smiled.

    He just rumbled, and answered

Victoria smiled and looked once again at the skyline. For a city in turmoil, it sure looked beautiful from up here.

  Settling them onto a nice high spot, he leaned against the building, and just held her to him.  His wings wrapping around her so that she was wrapped up, kept warm, and cradled in his embrace.  Held in a Demon's arms, and yet safe as a baby in it's mother's arms.