Snippet #2150398

“I look like a woman?” asked a velvety voice.

Aurora froze, the tingling on her back where her flying birds were growing stronger. She smacked the skin on her back and thought, Great, now my weird birthmark attracts insects. Unknown to her, the birds were beating their wings frantically, racing against her skin as if they wanted the blonde man to stroke their feathers. Placing her hands on her full hips, Aurora turned around to face the man who'd spoken. She wasn't very fond of his voice - it sounded well-practiced, as if every change in tone had been rehearsed a million times. Besides, it was a little too perfect.

"Do I kno-" she stopped abruptly, her eyes staring at a muscled chest with appreciation. The man was nearly a head taller than her and Aurora was not short in the least. Letting her blueish-purple eyes trail up the length of him to rest on his very inviting lips, she made it plainly obvious that she was interested. What did she care what anyone thought? There was no human being alive who could resist her. Modest. Very modest, she mused with a small smile. Aurora searched his face until she found his green eyes. For a few long seconds, Aurora's smile faded from her lips. He looked so familiar and dare she say, otherworldly. It was almost as if he could see into the very depths of her being, into every scar and mistake she'd ever made. Those eyes made her ashamed of everything she'd done wrong. Inwardly smacking herself, she dropped her thick lashes down to study his lips.

"Surprisingly not," she said cooly in response to his original question. Forcing her perpetually 'lost' eyes up to meet the handsome man's, she tilted her red lips into a smirk. "Then again, I haven't seen much of the rest of you."

"Auuurriiieee," an annoying voice whined. Narrowing her eyes to give the scrawny boy a warning glare, she quickly glanced at the tall man, her eyes softening. Honestly, she hated those eyes of hers. No matter how pretty she was or how unusual and lovely her eyes were, they always looked like that of a lost puppy. "Sec," she said before hissing in the boy's ear. "When I die, I will haunt everything you love. Now scram."

"No!" Mike said with an adamant stomp of his foot. He wasn't actually that young - in fact, he was older than Aurora by a good 5 years. She wasn't sure if it was because of the way he was mistreated by his guardians or because of the drugs but he had the mind of a nine year old.

Speaking of guardians, she hated them.

They were all irresponsible, uncaring and downright cruel. She'd had her fair share of 'guardians' under the foster care system and she'd never liked a single one. If she was lucky, she'd end up in the hands of guardians who provided her with food and shelter but never once uttered a word in her direction. The worst guardians she'd ever had were the Australians. The man was perverted. He'd most likely molested a million other children before he got to Aurora. She was still half convinced the monster of a man was a legitimate demon. His unseeing wife wasn't that far off, either.

"I'll buy you food for a month," she said, a finality to her tone. Take it or leave it.

"Okay," the man proclaimed with a nod, his eyes pressed in dark circles. He wore a shirt that was much too small for him, with multiple holes all about. Aurora had offered to buy him clothing countless of times but he'd always refused. The tattered shirt with Transformers on the front meant something more than just a shirt to Mike, obviously.

"Sorry about that. My brother's... Clingy," she said cautiously.

"Oh my god! That's her brother?"
"He looks homeless!"
"This is going to look great on the tabloids. 'Top Model with Hobo Brother'"
"Is he a drug addict? He looks so gross."

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," Aurora gasped in feigned surprise, peeping at them from the side of the blonde stranger's arm to stare at the curious onlookers. "As a friend - we can be friends, right? - I must tell you this quietly. Sell when you can - you're not for all markets, you ignorant Swedish meatballs!" she yelled loudly. The ground rocked beneath their feet as Aurora's fingers sparked with an electric heat. Her hair lifted every so slightly, an invisible wind picking them up.

Aurora was not the most caring person in the world, she didn't even think she was a decent friend. But no one, no one was allowed to mistreat those she called her own. Mike was annoying, admittedly homeless and not all perfect in the head, but he was hers. Mike had lived a terrible life. From what she saw of his scarred body, people had not treated him too kindly and he was not well in the least. None of the Leftovers were. Aurora knew what it was like to be trapped in the hands of drugs and drinking. To lose yourself in the rush of artificial happiness, to destroy yourself because you believed that was what you deserved.

Because it made no difference, you were broken from the start.

No longer aware of the man standing in front of her, Aurora crackled with barely controlled fury. Her body trembled with power that begged to be released and at that moment, she wanted to kill them all. Absolutely every last one of them humans.

You're losing control, Aurora.

With a visible pain, the young woman pulled her fire back in, trapping it within her body as if she were caging a bird. Aurora's eyes watered from the effort of keeping all of her magic restrained for she felt as if at any moment, she would explode with the pressure of her power shoving against her skin and pressing against her skull. Her heated fingernails had scorched four crescent moons into each palm as she struggled to regain control. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, she counted, breathing slowly.

Great first impression.