Snippet #1985046

The sun slanted across Lilliana's eyes, making her groan quietly as the heat began to emanate around the room. Her head was throbbing again. She sat up slowly, rubbing her temples. Had she really used the Vision that much yesterday? She'd have to work blind more today. Smiling to herself, she pushed off the ground to a standing position. She needed to get used to it anyway, and save the Vision for the times when it was most crucial. She sighed, then stretched her arms up and over her head, leaning back a tiny bit, and was knocked off balance by her wings. "Merda!" she muttered, stumbling backwards a step, then letting her wings unfurl and flapping daintily to keep from falling over. Her smile turned into a grin as she realized that her wings were becoming a much more natural attribute.

Lily stood calm for a moment then, wanting to spread and stretch her wings but having a hard time remembering how big the room she was in was. She remembered climbing in through a large window the night before, exhausted after a long fight with a pack of bloodbirds and covered in blood, Well... that explains that putrid smell she mused to herself, she remembered collapsing to the floor, and then waking up. "Bastardi fastidiosi!" She spat out under her breath, remembering how the swarm had just just kept coming and coming. How many of those things can there be?

Cracking her neck, she braced, then let her body radiate within the room. Feeling outward with her Awareness she could essentially see the room in her mind. It was full of boxes, one quite near her to the right, there were pictures on the walls, one of a handsome man smiling with his arms around a little girl with the same eyes. Dimly she became aware of two doors, one to her front and one to her left. The one before her was closed, the one to the left was more of a doorway that led down a hall. Behind her, the window she'd crawled through, beneath it her coat and ribbons. A couch, a tv, a chair, a man, a... "Wait, what?" She focused hard on the man sitting in the chair. "Cavolo?" she hissed, and cursed herself for not being more careful. Climbing into a random home! Who knew how she had survived the night? She cocked her bow and aimed at the man. Her left arm tingling when her body was aware that she was aiming true. She waited there, bated breath. The man didn't move, he just sat there, staring at her. Or... no, he wasn't staring at her at all. He had no eyes. She let the breath out that she'd been holding and relaxed her bow and arrow down to her side. Focusing once again, she felt out with her mind. He was dead, certainly, and most likely where the putrid smell had come from. Lilliana became aware with a start of his brain matter covering the wall behind him.

"Aiutati che Dio t'aiuta, I guess. May Dio accept you in his kingdom." As Lilliana's short prayer escaped her lips a prickling in her temple, different than the pain in her head, prompted her to turn to her left. Something was not right still. A small black ball lay in the doorway. It hadn't been there before, but she was still getting used to catching the small details of her surroundings with the Awareness. The prickling grew stronger between her eyes and suddenly a strong pulsing was washing over her. "Nope! That means it's time to go!" She backed slowly towards the window and was impressed with her instincts as the ball began to roll towards her. Slowly she replaced her arrow and hooked her bow over her arm, planning to make a run for it. The ball was beginning to roll faster and the pulsing was getting stronger, whatever it was, it was hungry. She turned to make a dash for it. As she let go of all of her Awareness save the pile of her belongings by the window and the window itself, the world around her vanished, leaving behind a straight shot to freedom.

Her body cried out as the ball somehow leaped into the air and she instinctively countered to the left, the ball missing her shoulder by bare inches. Her breath caught, it was much faster than she'd anticipated. The black ball about the size of a basketball lay before her and her escape route, she'd have to fight. "Well, fine then! Determined little bastard, aren't you?" she asked the ball, with a smirk. It began rolling towards her again, and she cocked an arrow, with ease. Aiming as quickly as she was comfortable, she felt the familiar tingle in her left arm telling her she aimed true, and just as the pulsing began to strengthen again, she released the arrow. The pulse ceased immediately but no sound came from the contact of the arrow into the blob. "Are you dead?" she asked the circle with an arrow sticking out of it. Not wanting to find out the hard way, she made her decision quickly and, running past it, grabbed her stuff to jump out of the window. Mourning the loss of the arrow would have to wait for later, she'd never encountered that type of demon before and she was unsure as to it's demise.

Jumping from the window, possessions in hand, she was startled to feel a falling sensation. "Merda!" She hand't remembered that the window she'd crawled into was a few stories up, which must have been why she had felt it safe to collapse onto the floor without first checking the apartment. The ground was coming up fast, so unfurling her wings she soared upward. The wrench of muscles in her back was really starting to ease up the more she flew, and this time it was only a dull crack in her back that told her she wasn't 100% ready to fly yet. She focused her Awareness around her and found an abandoned alleyway to land in. Slowly, gliding, she came to rest in the center of it. She dropped her belongings and cocked an arrow just in case. Holding it relaxed to her side, she breathed in deep, held the breath a second, then set the bow and arrow on the ground, letting her breath go. Today was going to be long, but she was ready for it. Stretching her wings to either side, she leaned her forehead on the cool wall in front of her.

"Time to go!" She stretched one last time, then looped her black ribbons over her wings, pulling them in tight, wincing a tiny bit when she pulled a feather or two. She had yet to get the finesse of bonding them down under control, but she was doing well enough. She tied the quick-release knot her father had taught her with their horses in the front of the ribbons, then shrugged on her long coat. Picking up her weapon, she searched out with Awareness and moved down the alley.