Chapter Four

Despite her hope that she would be quick enough to start an attack before the demon noticed her, he spun and put an obstacle in her path. A quick flicker of annoyance creased Gabriela's features before it was smoothed into determination. She continued her charge without letting up, and rather than waste time going around the sputtering, confused human man the demon put in her path, she simply shouldered the man aside, unconcerned as he ended up sprawled in the street nearby.

The commotion her actions caused brought a group of onlookers that Gabriela hardly noticed, as they seemed wise enough to remain some distance away from the umbrella-wielding girl and the boy she attacked.

"Come back later?" Gabriela questioned with a scoff as she pressed her attack. "I don't think so."

She gave up on attempting to trip him now that she'd lost the element of surprise, guessing he'd just jump back or put something else in her way and instead launched a series of offensive attacks against him that felt awkward with the unconventional weapon she worked with. What she lacked in grace she more than made up for in ferocity though.

———

He watched as the umbrella wielding witch angel shoved his human victim aside, but chose to ignore the man's babbling and didn't even mind that he began to scramble away. Human souls were plenty; angel souls were a pretty rare occurrence, especially ones as weak feeling as this.

After the expected response came, he observed her as she jabbed and swiped at him, and he could tell that she wasn't nearly as weak as her aura would have others believe. At first he dodged carefully, sometimes only escaping just by a hair, on several occasions even feeling the tip of the umbrella graze him. However, as he watched her, he began to understand how she moved. She was skilled, naturally so, and likely had spent a lot of time learning and practicing. It was ingrained into her, but she was also fierce and impulsive.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait? I really needed that guy to help me out," he asked her one last time, dodging more quickly and expertly now as he began to feel the rhythm of this one-sided fight. He was slowly taking steps backward, so slowly he knew that the people behind him wouldn't notice until they were in the line of fire. He just hoped the angel didn't notice either.

He didn't wait for her to though, since as soon as he was close enough, he bolted towards the gathering crowd. He had no intention of running away, only to use them to his advantage. He was not the tallest, his physical appearance probably no older than 21 and no younger than 17, so he could be somewhat obscured by their bodies, and create panic among the onlookers enough to hopefully distract her, just for a split second.

He pulled the belt from around his waist through the loops and ducked low as people attempted to move out of the way, and pushing into a slightly more dense crowd, he popped out, hoping to catch the angel's umbrella-weapon and tug it out of her hands.