[ WP ] Demons and Angels when reaching puberty , are assigned a human to torment/protect till their death . This is your first human , however you are hearing rumors from the veterans that this human is on his sixth demon/angel and no one knows what happened to the last five .

It could n't have been a direct attack, demon against angel. That was strictly prohibited by both sides, until The End. And it was n't The End yet. We could only engage in a tug-of-war for the ultimate fate of the humans we were sworn to protect. 
 
 And yet, five of my kind had disappeared while watching over this little girl. Saarafel, the most recent to go missing, had served the longest, nearly a year and a half. Ostensibly, I was to be Lindsey's new guardian. Less important than that were my millennia of experience as a Celestial Investigator, but Bezoakis — the only demon ever assigned to Lindsey — did n't know this. 
 
 ***** 
 
 `` No, dear, you may not have a cookie,'' said Lindsey's mother. `` It's almost dinnertime and I do n't want you to spoil your appetite.'' She turned back to cooking. 
 
 `` Go ahead,'' whispered Bezoakis in Lindsey's ear. `` She wo n't notice.'' Of course, Lindsey could n't see or consciously hear him, but she felt him in her heart all the same. 
 
 `` Your mother loves you. She only wants what's best for you. And if you're good, maybe she'll let you have two cookies after dinner.'' I told Lindsey. Not the most noble of motives, I'll admit, but one that often works on young children. Or so I'd been told. My expertise was investigation; this was my first human assignment. I knew little more than a novice about inspiring moral fortitude in humans. 
 
 Lindsey quietly lifted the lid off the cookie jar and took a cookie, biting into it. 
 
 `` Looks like I win this round,'' Bezoakis told me with an infernal grin. 
 
 `` Looks like it'' I replied. We both knew it was the smallest of victories, not one which would determine her eternal fate. And I had other matters on my mind. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Saarafel and the others had n't been killed. Bezoakis did n't seem like the type to defy his orders from Below and strike directly before the prescribed time. And in any case, if they had been killed, it would have been known, and someone from Vengeance — not Investigations — would have been sent. They were just missing. 
 
 Bezoakis whispered to Lindsey that she should have the raggedy doll that another girl at her day care was playing with. But when Lindsey took it, the other girl began to cry, and I was able to persuade Lindsey to share and play together. Lindsey even apologized to the girl. 
 
 Lindsey did n't seem that difficult of a case. Angels had been known to abandon their posts when their charges proved too difficult, but Lindsey did n't seem to be one of the `` difficult'' ones. And in any case, Saarafel had been one of the best. I had known him in between some of his previous assignments. He had handled far more troubled humans, with both strength and compassion. He was n't the type to give up just because things got tough. 
 
 ***** 
 
 `` Get up.'' Lindsey's mother woke her, late one night. `` I have something to show you.'' 
 
 `` You're tired,'' Bezoakis whispered to Lindsey. `` You do n't want to get up.'' But Lindsey rubbed her eyes groggily and went with her mother without complaint. 
 
 They went outside and looked up. `` A lunar eclipse,'' her mother explained. `` The moon is only bright because of the sunlight that falls on it. Tonight, the earth comes between the moon and the sun and casts its shadow on the moon.'' They watched, her mother holding her close, as the full moon dimmed, then turned blood red. 
 
 `` A lunar eclipse,'' Bezoakis echoed to me. `` When my kind is at our strongest, and yours at your weakest.'' 
 
 `` Human superstition,'' I replied. `` You know that as well as I.'' 
 
 Still, I checked the ephemeris later. I could find no correlation between eclipses, or any other astronomical events, and the times when the others had disappeared. 
 
 ***** 
 
 `` They really are exquisite creatures,'' Bezoakis said casually to me. `` Imagine! Seeing the wonder of creation for the first time, unjaded by the thousands of years we have experienced. Have you noticed how keenly she looks at something as simple as a blade of grass, how intently she listens to the wind, how she jumps in both fear and excitement at a peal of thunder? Have you ever felt something like that?'' 
 
 Lindsey had found a spiderweb across her back porch. She touched it, cautiously. 
 
 `` You're in a contemplative mood today,'' I replied to Bezoakis. `` No temptation for Lindsey? No torment?'' 
 
 `` Never saw much of a point. Oh, it's in the job description, but I've never felt that my'influence,' or yours, made that much of a difference. Compared to the humans' free will, what we whisper in their hearts does n't move their moral compass much. 
 
 `` Besides,'' continued Bezoakis, now turning to look directly at me, `` she was never the one I was interested in corrupting.'' 
 
 I searched Bezoakis's eyes for a long moment. I turned to Lindsey, who was still examining the spiderweb. 
 
 `` Saarafel!'' I called out. 
 
 For the first time, Lindsey turned to look at me. 
 
 `` Hello brother,'' said Saarafel, still speaking with Lindsey's voice. 
 
 I stared at the young girl, speechless. For an angel to... 
 
 `` Oh, no, no, no, nothing like that,'' said Saarafel. `` I have n't been *possessing* her. That's still *their* domain'' — a glance at Bezoakis — `` and even they do it rarely enough. I've merely been... inhabiting. Observing. 
 
 `` And how glorious it is! Trees! Snow! The warmth of the sun! The cool wetness of morning dew! The sweetness of honey! Oh, you think you know these already, but what angels are given is but a poor shadow of what humans experience in them.'' 
 
 `` Still!!'' I sputtered. `` I should take you in right now. Before the Almighty Himself!'' 
 
 `` I could n't stop you if you wanted to,'' admitted Saarafel. `` But...'' 
 
 `` Yes?'' 
 
 `` You could have this too.'' 
 
 `` I do n't...'' 
 
 `` I've learned to manifest a physical form outside of her. Not as solid as humans, but enough to interact with and experience the physical world much as they do. I'm ready to set out on my own, as the others did before me. You could take my place.'' 
 
 `` You've spent millennia serving others,'' added Bezoakis. `` The Almighty. His humans. Now it's time to live for yourself.'' 
 
 I looked at Lindsey/Saarafel. At Bezoakis. At Lindsey/Saarafel, again. At a spiderweb; I had never noticed how indistinct it seemed before. I nodded. 
 
 A brief, strong gust of wind; Saarafel had left. And I saw the exquisite detail of a spiderweb through the eyes of a young girl.
