Shards of Black Glass (A Ghost Adventures Story)

You Are My Angel

Saira's POV

Orion gleams back at me from the inky black sky. Cars bustle below me, horns honk, and people yell, but it's quiet up on the roof of the hotel, gazing at the stars.

I don't turn as I hear the squeaky door open and close, my eyes fixated on the shining silver balls above me. I hear Zak's footsteps, but don't look at him as I hear him stop a few feet from me.

Wind whips by above me, ripping my hair from under my head and back and tossing it around my face. The cold, bitter gale scrapes at my bare arms, which are folded behind my head so I have a resting place for my cranium. The brick below my back is still warm from the sun, though not as much as in summer and spring.

"Aren't they beautiful?" I ask out loud, not waiting for an answer. "I think they are. Orion the Hunter. Scorpio the Scorpion. Virgo the Virgin. Pegasus. Cancer the Crab. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. All borne unto the stars, all everlasting. How many things do you think they've seen, up there in the night sky?"

I look over at Zak, finally, and see him watching me instead of the brilliant silver artistry above us. He walks over and sits by my legs, body facing towards the rest of the flat roof. His eyes lock onto mine, but I can still see his visible tension with being so close to the edge of the building.

I sit up and swing my legs around so that I face the street below. Zak tenses, and I smile at his concern for me. "Acrophobic, I'm guessing? Afraid of heights?" Zak nods, his face a little pale as he looks over the edge to the bustling street over thirty feet below. I laugh at his large eyes, and he glares at me, though a playful smile curls his lips as well.

"So. Why have you called me up here, in the middle of the night, when we all should be sleeping?" Zak asks, his dark hazel eyes glittering with curiosity. I laugh, and say,"You didn't have to come up here, Zak. I simply invited you to come look at the stars with me. If you're tired, you can go downstairs and sleep; I'll stay up here until the sun chases me back to my bed." Zak smiles and says jokingly,"Sounds backwards. Normally the moon chases people back to their slumber, and the sun calls them awake." I smile wider, and say,"Not if you're us. If you're us, then you're a night owl. A night owl that has to be a robin when morning comes."

Zak laughs, and I join in. My scars don't ache for once as I laugh along with my friend, my head doesn't pound from seeing blue wisps of vapor and dark tendrils of energy, and my heart doesn't pound so loudly in fear of seeing another person die in front of me. We stop laughing after a while, and simply gaze upward at the stars in silence. Well, I stare at the stars; I'm pretty sure Zak is staring at me.

I hear him move closer to me on the narrow brick wall, but don't look away from forming patterns in the sky with my eyes. I feel his breath on the side of my neck, his fingers touching mine, but still don't look down from the stunning portrait before me. Then, when Zak speaks, I finally look down from my glimmering friends to stare into his dark, dark, dark eyes.

"Why are we like this, Saira? What draws us two together?" I shrug, but don't move away as Zak inches closer to me. "You must have some guesses, at least. I mean, being a writer means having imagination. So, what's one of your guesses?" I blink at him, and say slowly,"Lucifer is afraid of you." Zak, surprisingly, doesn't flinch away from the true name of the Devil, like others I've spoken the name to. Instead, he edges closer to me, as if waiting to hear more.

"Lucifer is afraid of you," I repeat, looking Zak straight in the eye. "He fears you, and your power. You may not think so, with all the damage and fear that encountering and banishing demons has brought you, but in the fire-lands of Hell, your name evokes fear and discord among the demons. They're afraid of you, just as they are of me. We both have the power to banish them, to anger them, to control them. You may not believe so, but I've seen the demons attached to you. They latched onto you the moment you tried to banish them; dark spirits too. All of them give you horrible nightmares and vivid dreams so as to coax you away from the paranormal. Instead, it draws you closer."