A Needle in a Haystack

Amara had been sitting on the floor, unmoving in her room for the past few hours. Her breathing remained steady and not even her wings dared to ruffle a sound, as she focused only on stretching out the consciousness of her mind.

This was an easy skill for her that she had no issues with executing properly. Depending on how strong she concentrated, she could penetrate deep into the thoughts of another person. Right now, every thought of every person currently residing within the church walls, were available to her with ease.

But this was not what she was trying to do. She didn't need to look deep into a person's thoughts, she only needed to skim the surface thoughts. This would have been perceived to be an easy task, if her target that she was reaching out to wasn't everyone in the entire city. Usually this was a simple task to do when it only involved a few people. However, stretching her mind so thin to search the entire city for a single thought was proving to be more troublesome than she expected.

Despite what many may believe, it was very difficult for an angel to sense the divine energy of a demon, especially when they didn't want to be found. This was especially true for her brother. He was very skilled at masking his energy from her. So trying to sense his energy would be next to impossible.

Also, she knew that her brother was excellent at bending light around him to hide and make himself invisible. However, she also knew how taxing it was for him to maintain, and he couldn't possibly keep something like this up for long. Even despite the spell that the girl had performed, she knew his powers here on Earth would still be weakened. Surely he would have to come out of hiding at some point sooner or later, and someone would eventually spot him.

This was why skimming only the surface thoughts of each person was all that she felt was necessary. Certainly as soon as someone spotted a red skinned demon with wings, their thoughts would be screaming from fright, and she would finally be able to locate where he was hiding. She just never expected that this search would take this long, with no results to show for it as of yet.

If only she could locate the girl that he had grabbed. But even her thoughts were being shrouded from her. This could be due to an interference from her brother, or it could mean that she was unconscious, or even dead.

Then again, if he had possessed another body again, it could explain how he was hiding himself so well. And with the information that the priest had given her, she knew that the girl would have been too damaged for him to risk possessing her again, so he would need to find another host body if he were to do that. But it would be highly unlikely that he would luck into finding another human whose body could contain his divine energy.

Although she had told the priest that how each person reacted to possession varied from person to person; finding someone like this was very rare indeed. Most humans simply could not contain the divine energy that made up their being.

She had hoped to speak with this girl once she had rested, and evaluate her further. She definitely didn't notice anything unique about her while she had been possessed. But still her meddlesome brother continued to find a way to interfere.

She took a deep breath as she continued to skim the surface thoughts of each person in the city, when a knock at her door broke her concentration.

Outraged, she glared daggers at the door. 'Who dares to interrupt me?' Amara thought to herself. 'I thought I told these humans not to disturb me while I am in here?'

Amara stood up gracefully, and as she opened the door, she had the most pleasant and welcoming smile on her face. "How may I help you?" she asked gently, while giving off a sense of warmth and love as she spoke.

A woman in her twenties stood at her door, holding a newborn baby in her hands. She smiled at Amara, grateful that she had answered the door, despite how busy she knew she must be!

"Thank you so much Miss Amara! I-"

Amara held up her hand and spoke softly. "Please, just call me Amara. What can I do for you?"

The lady blushed. "Amara," she repeated, with a nod. "My name is Kathryn, and my daughter here is very ill. The doctors say there is nothing they can do for her and that she won't survive past a few more days. I beg of you, if there is anything you can do to save my daughter, I will be eternally grateful!"

Amara smiled in understanding and held the door open wider and stepped aside to allow the young mother to step inside. "Of course, my dear! Please come inside."

Kathryn stepped inside Amara's room. Scattered all over the floor were maps marked with circles and "x" markings for areas that were crossed out. "I do apologize if I caught you at a bad time!"

"Nonsense!" Amara declared, as she placed her delicate hand over the back of Kathryn's hand, which rested on top of her baby. She could taste the delicious energy that flowed into her from the physical contact of their touch. "Saving a life is always precious, and time should always be spared to make this possible!"

A sigh of relief escaped from Kathryn. She had been so worried that Amara would be angry at disturbing her. "The doctors say that she has a very rare disease that they have never seen before. They have tried everything, and nothing has helped her. They told me that I should prepare for her death, as there was nothing that they could do. You are my last hope at saving her life! If there is anything that you can do? Please!"

Amara removed her hand off of the mother's hand as she brushed the delicate strands of hair away from the baby's face. "Of course I can help!"

She pushed with her mind into the infant's mind, searching for the source of the illness. Once she found the root cause of the illness, she gingerly touched the tip of her index finger to the crown of the baby's head. Her white feathered wings rose up, as she embraced the mother and child with her wings.

Using the energy that she had absorbed from the mother, she proceeded to send that energy mixed with her own divine energy, into the infant. This was done to dilute the divine energy so it would not be such a shock to the system. She maneuvered the energy through the child, working to repair the damage that was affecting the body.

As she finished, she withdrew the energy back inside her body, leaving a very small trace of her divine energy inside the child. Smiling and unfolding her wings, she looked back at Kathryn. "You do not need to fear any longer. She is now healed!"

Kathryn was trying so hard to hold back her tears, as she held her daughter close and kissed her lovingly on her forehead. "Thank you! I cannot repay you enough for what you have done!" But one thing still worried her mind, as she was not used to the healing capabilities of an angel. "What should I do if it didn't work?"

Amara smiled softly at the question. "There is no need to fear! Your daughter is fully healed and will be fine! She will grow up and be blessed with a happy life. I can promise you!"

"What can I do to thank you for what you have done?" Kathryn insisted on paying her in some way.

Amara shook her head. "I do not need any physical payment. Your love and appreciation is all that I require."

Kathryn nodded and thanked Amara once more, before exiting the room.

Amara licked her lips, as she thought about the woman's energy that she felt. 'Her energy was tasty. I haven't fed since I touched the priest's cheek the other day, and it was so short of a duration before my brother had reappeared. I will need to find a way to feed more often soon.'

"Now to finish searching again for my brother!" she said aloud as she sat back down on the floor and proceeded to continue searching through the surface thoughts of every human in the city.

~*~*~*~*~

Trinity opened her eyes slowly. Her whole body was in pain, as she recalled what had just happened. She had been beaten almost to the verge of death, only to be rescued by the demon. She passed out shortly after and didn't remember what happened after that, but she was shocked to learn that she was still alive.

She could feel several points of pressure along her arms and legs where her body had been splinted where her bones must have broken. All of her injuries had been wrapped and secured to allow her bones to heal properly.

She looked around her, but all she could tell was she was in a cave. Her body laid elevated off the ground, in a bit of stone that seemed to have been carved from the walls.

She tried to sit up, but it hurt too much to move. What she did notice however, were two incredibly soft black feathered wings that covered her body like a blanket, while the boy that they were attached to rested his arms and head on the stone base that she was laying on. She gasped at the sight.

Feeling the movement and the sharp intake of breath, the demon lifted his head and met Trinity's eyes as she stared at him. "Ah! You're awake!" he exclaimed with a grin, as he withdrew his wings from her body.

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Books I am currently writing:

- The Forbidden Luna

- Divine Banishment