It was too late; the man whirled in one quick motion. His eyes were as black as the night and a dark aura radiated from him. He lunged for Tess and she scrambled back, screaming.

"Don't touch her!" Tess's father yelled, jumping on the man with an unsheathed pocketknife.

"Tess, run!" Her father screamed. Tess tried to turn, but slipped and fell. She scrambled off the floor, quickly throwing open the front door when she reached it. There was a loud scream of pain and Tess turned to see the man running straight for her. Tess took off down the porch steps, willing her legs to power her forward. She could hear the sound of loud footsteps behind her.

Don't look! Her conscious screamed. She could feel his breath running down her neck as he began to bore down on her. Blindly running, Tess looked around for anywhere to go. Suddenly the footsteps halted and then they sounded as if they were retreating. Tess risked a glance, but slammed to a halt. Her body hit human flesh and hands wrapped around her arms, holding her in place.

"Let go of me!" Tess screamed.

"Calm down." A voice said steadily.

"I said, let go!" Tess yelled loudly, pounding her fists against the stranger's chest.

"Calm down." The voice repeated. Tess looked up at the person holding her. His golden eyes held a calm assertiveness to them. Tess let out a long breath and collapsed against this mysterious man, sobbing hard.

"Help me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silas looked down at Tess. She sobbed loudly into his chest, gripping him tightly.

"What's going on?" Silas asked. He had seen the man chasing her, but he couldn't give any indication that he had been watching her. He had switched to human form, knowing that the man, who was actually a demon, would retreat from his presence. Demons knew an angel when they saw one, even when the angels were in human form. Silas noticed the man had wheeled around, heading straight for Tess's house and potentialy, her father.

"A man," Tess choked between sobs, "he wants to kill me." She gasped; Silas could see she was trying to compose herself.

"Stay here." Silas told her as she retreated from his protective embrace. Tess gulped.

"O-okay." She sniffed. He noticed her state of shock made her thinking subdued. Silas turned and ran toward her house, making his speed just fast enough to look like a human. He made his sword visible as his feet touched Tess's porch. He drew out the celestial bronze sword, it gleamed in the glowing light of the sunset. Silas crept along the hallway towards the kitchen. The sound of fighting was apparent, even from the doorstep where he had been. He listened as Tess's father struggled against the demon. It sounded like Christian was losing. Silas knew he needed to reveal himself, but it would risk his identity to Tess's father. He decided the effects of the latter would be minimal and ran into the kitchen. Tess's father was on the floor, struggling against the demon that held a dagger to his throat. Silas grabbed the man and threw him off Tess's dad. The demon hissed, recoiling from his touch. Silas placed himself in front of Tess's faqther protectively. Christian looked in confusion from the demon to Silas.

"You're interfering where you shouldn't be boy." The demon within the man talked. His voice was a low growl and his eyes were as deathly black as his soul. Silas adjusted the sword in his grip.

"Leave this man and his family alone." Silas commanded. The man grinned.

"He broke his agreement angel, which makes him punishable by me." The demon looked at Tess's dad with a sly grin. Silas knew he was right, but if he could get the demon angry enough to attack him, then he could easily claim self defense. Demon's weren't that hard to anger.

"And could that agreement have possibly be made under threat of death? Because it seems that's how your kind like to work." Silas retorted back. That was all it took. The demon growled at him and lunged. Silas thrust his sword into the man's chest, a shining light reflecting out of the wound. The demon shrunk down onto the floor with a wretched howl. Silas drew his sword out of the man's body and held it at ready. The demon growled and gasped.

"Tess will pay dearly, with someone close to her." He hissed.

"What did you say?!" Silas demanded, putting the sword to the man's throat, but it was too late for the demon to answer, the man fell lifelessly to the floor. Silas glared at the dead body, willing it to give him answers. He heard scrabbling on the floor and turned to see Tess's father cowering against the fridge. His face was pale.

"Who are you?" He croaked. Silas sheathed his sword and looked at Tess's dad.

"I'm your daughter's angel."

"Her what?" Tess's dad asked.

"Here, maybe this will help." Silas said. He brought his fingers to the tip of Christian's forehead and made a downward motion. Tess's father instantly collapsed into his arms in a coma-like stage. Silas laid him on the floor gently and began making weaving motions with his hands. Silas whispered ancient Latin, changing the memories inside the man's head. He finished by touching his fingers back to Christian's forehead. Christian's eyes flashed open.

"What's going on? Who are you?!" He demanded, standing up. Silas pretended to be confused.

"Sir, I saw this man attacking you." He pointed to the dead demon.

"I dragged him off of you, but he fought against me and unfortunately I had to kill him." Silas faked a shudder and looked at the body. The stab wound in the man's chest looked like it had been a knife to the human eye, but to an angel, they could see the giant gash made by the celestial weapon.

"You must have passed out or something." Silas finished. Tess's dad gave a slightly confused look. Silas had left the memory of it being a person who had attacked Tess's father, but he had taken any memories that revealed he was an angel and removed them.

"Umm yes," Tess's dad said glancing at the dead body, "thank you." He said gruffly.

"I saw your daughter running down the street and I told her to stay put while I came to help. Would you like me to go get her?" Silas asked. Honestly he was worried about how Tess was doing.

"Please do." Tess's dad said as he bent down to examine the dead man's body, mumbling something. Silas nodded and walked out the door. After Tess's dad couldn't see him, Silas took off down the street, anxious to find Tess.

He found her curled up on the sidewalk, her legs pulled up to her chest, staring into the distance.

"Hey." Silas said, quickly walking over to her. Tess jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. She looked up at him and stood up.

"Is he gone?" She asked, anxiety was written all over her face.

"Yes, but you should probably head home. Your father seemed worried." Silas said. For a second anxiety turned into amusement on Tess's face. Apparently her intial shock was wearing off.

"Yeah right, my father, worried? That will be the day."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so hard on him." Silas suggested. Tess's eyes narrowed and Silas groaned inwardly.

"Just because you helped my family tonight doesn't mean your opinion on my father counts. You don't know me or my family." Tess spun swiftly on her heels and began marching toward her house. Silas sighed and turned himself invisible, following after her. Tess entered the house and walked to the kitchen slowly. Silas could see she had her arms wrapped around her midsection in an awful attempt to comfort herself.

"Dad?" She asked, peeking into the kitchen. Tess's dad sat at the table and patted a chair beside him.

"Tess, we need to talk for a bit." He said. Silas looked around the kitchen. The man's body was nowhere to be found. That seemed off to him.

"Dad, why are you being weird?" Tess asked, easing herself into the seat beside him. Silas noticed she sat on the far edge, keeping her distance. Tess's dad looked her in the eyes.

"Tess, the man who broke into our house tonight wasn't just an ordinary human...He was a demon." Silas could see Tess's facial expressions changing into an odd anger.

"Dad you and I both know-"Tess tried to say, but her dad held up a hand.

"Let me finish." He said. Silas detected a hint of pleading in his voice. Tess swallowed down her questions and nodded.

"He was here because I made a bad choice to try to protect you." Tess stood up from her seat.

"Dad, you're not making any sense." She said. Her father sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You see Tess; he was here because...you're a Seer."