“I can’t believe you took him out and got him into a fight.” Lialah said while her sister sat on the bed and lay herself down. The faint glow of white healing light was working very slowly, a result of her ‘Square One’ status, but it was working.

“They ambushed me… him… us.” Raziel retorted while she stretched out. “There were only two choices, take the beating and come home crippled, or fight. I didn’t want to get him hurt while he trusted me with his body, so I fought. I couldn’t exactly ask him for his preference.”

“I guess, but still. You know how he feels.” Lialah replied and put her hand on Albaer’s knee. “Wow, they hit that one pretty hard.”

“No kidding.” Raziel answered, and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s been a long time since I possessed anyone, I don’t know if I’m out of practice or if it’s always been that tiring.”

“It could be both.” Lialah said while she felt the last of the knee injury fade away. She touched the injured spot, her fingers lightly grazing over it to confirm the efficacy of her magic. “I’ve got him good as new, get out of him and let me try.” Lialah asked.

“Huh, that’s interesting.” Raziel said when she felt her sister’s hand on Albaer’s body. His face became quizzical.

“What is?” Lialah asked.

“Albaer’s heart began to race when you touched me… him, I mean, right there. And it felt fantastic, apparently human bodies really, really like to be touched.” Raziel said, then quipped, “Alright, I’m out, you ride him now.”

Lialah pinched the bridge of her little nose and she took a deep, long suffering breath at the smug smile on Albaer’s face. “Please… don’t put it like that. It’s just possession, don’t make it dirty.”

Raziel laughed hard enough that she had to hold his hand against his chest, and spasmed for several seconds before the laughter faded. When it finally did, she began to fade out, and appeared over his body again, stradling it the way she had when taking over in the first place.

Lialah stepped back and Raziel carefully slid off of him. “Is he still sleeping?” Lialah asked in a soft little voice.

Raziel looked over her shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, yeah he is, he looks so peaceful like that, it’s hard to believe, given everything else.”

“Raz, when we’re able to disguise ourselves as humans… know something about human society, enough to get by and have done everything we need to in order to fit in, what next?” Lialah asked, and stepped past her sister, mounting the bed and straddling him as Raziel did before her.

“Jobs, I guess. We have to pay him back for the food and clothing at least, maybe we find a place to live, and just live like normal humans for as long as we can.” Raziel replied with a shrug as she stretched out her arms and wings.

“Ahhh, humans are a good fit, but damn I, what was their saying… ‘feel the burn’ after that.” Raziel cracked her knuckles and watched her sister fade from the physical and rise inside his body.

“Hey, this isn’t half bad.” Lialah remarked, sitting up and moving his hands around.

“His man parts are… ahhh, wow that’s going to chafe.” Lialah said, shifting a little bit before standing up.

“Yeah, they do that. I’ve never possessed a man of any race before, how do they walk around with those things in the way all the time?” Raziel made a face, then after giving a low laugh, “Just go, and run the other way.”

“Okay, Raz, don’t worry, I can handle myself.” She brought Albaer’s arm and bent the forearm to make his bicep bigger. “I’m a tough one, despite my sweet and innocent appearance.”

Raziel shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Just go, ridiculous little toughie.” Another laugh followed behind the angel in the human body, and Lialah left the apartment.

She started to jog, and after the first few minutes realized, ‘Wait… she didn’t tell me what ‘the other way’ was, and I didn’t ask.’

Unwilling to turn around, Lialah kept his body running at a steady constant rate, ‘She probably took him off at a dead sprint for most of it. So impatient, impulsive.’ Lialah thought as she saw the world through Albaer’s eyes.

It really was beautiful, there was no smell of butchered meat, the streets were relatively clean, the sewers were not just open pits that waited for the rain to wash the waste away, and there wasn’t the smell of shit from chamber pots just dumped outside. While she felt a longing for her own home, and a fear for its well-being if another hero wasn’t summoned, ‘This one isn’t bad. Once I get used to the culture and can hide my nature, I might even be happy here.’ She savored a short fantasy as she jogged.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A home in some comfortable place, those marvelous cooking implements manipulated under her skilled hands producing fragrant aromas to delight the taste buds. Her sister yelling at the videogame screen as her character died on the easiest difficulty setting. Albaer’s voice coming from somewhere asking about what to eat. ‘Albaer…’ That caught her off guard, but then she thought about it. ‘Even if we leave, when we leave, I can’t imagine not seeing him again. He has no idea how significant some of his actions are for us at home. It would be nice to keep seeing him.’

She enjoyed the thought and kept up her steady pace until a voice she knew caught her ears.

“Albaer! Please! Please wait!” A woman’s voice.

Lisa’s voice.

“Albaer you haven’t been in school! You haven’t come to work! Please just wait and talk to me!” She was shouting, a deep catch of pain in her voice.

Lialah turned and looked, and frankly Lisa looked far, far worse for wear. While she was dressed well enough, blue shorts, a white t-shirt that hung loose, the long fiery red hair hadn’t been brushed in days at least. Her cheeks were flushed, one green eye was puffy, and another was swollen shut.

“I did it! I told the truth like I said I would! Just talk to me, okay?!” Lisa said as she jogged over to where Lialah stood.

Lialah closed her eyes, “Is that why your eye is swollen shut?” She asked.

Lisa gave a tiny nod and touched the swollen part. “I told my grandfather everything too… he’s not talking to me now. He-He fired me. Now my parents aren’t talking to him, and they’re mad at me too. I told the truth at school, to-to Sarah. I got to her before she could start any nasty rumors about you! Her boyfriend smacked me… now they’re not talking to me either…”

Lisa reached out to grasp at Albaer’s hand, and Lialah stepped away reflexively.

“Please… I’m sorry for what I did! I like you, I like you a lot… I know what I did was bad, but I told the truth! Doesn’t that count for something?!” She stamped her foot and angry tears began to run down her good eye.

“Why do they care if you lied about Albaer, that’s strange, isn’t it?” Lialah asked, a tiny bit intrigued at least by the odd turn of events.

“Because no matter who somebody is, you don’t toy with relationships, that’s a rule. A fake love confession is like cheating on someone… but… wait… why’d you say it like that…?” Lisa asked and stepped closer, her pitch rising as something felt off.

Lialah froze, ‘Damn, I referred to Albaer in the third person, didn’t I?’ Lialah realized her mistake almost immediately.

“I’ve got to go, w-we can talk later.” Lialah stammered, and Lisa stepped away.

“Okay… if we can talk later, that’s better than not at all, but… I have something for you, please take it.” Lisa said, and reached into her pocket.

Lialah opened her eyes to look at the closed hand, and heard a gasp.

“Albaer has brown eyes… yours are blue… you’re not Albaer, are you…?” Lisa asked, and then shook her head, bouncing her red hair around.

“Ah, you’ve heard of contacts, I was trying something new.” Lialah grasped for the excuse, grateful for the internet advertisements for random nonsense.

“Then take them out. Prove it.” Lisa demanded, but took another step away.

‘Damn it… a smart one.’ Lialah cursed.

“Who are you… really?” Lisa demanded, her voice quaking and her feet taking steps back. “Did you do something with the real Albaer… I-I’ll call the police!”

Lialah was never one to swear the way her sister sometimes did, but at that moment she cursed inside her own head as never before. ‘The police, no, I can’t have that. Who knows what kind of trouble that would cause for him, even ‘if’ we’re not found.’

She raised her hands and held them out toward Lisa placatingly. “Calm down… calm down, I can explain everything. Ah… but not here. Come…” Lialah said, but then tried to think of something else, ‘There is nowhere else…’ She clenched Albaer’s jaw for a moment, “Go to Albaer’s home… this weekend, you’ll get an answer then, I promise… it’s far, far too complicated otherwise.”

Lisa looked Albaer over, every bit of him was the same, even the musk she knew from him hovering over her shoulder and helping her work, the voice was perfect. But she knew his eyes so well that she could never mistake them for anyone else’s ever, and those were not his, even if the color alone had changed, they weren’t his.

“Alright… Okay, I’ll- I’ll do that… Saturday. But if I don’t get answers, I’m calling the police.” Lisa said, then backed away, and ran.

Lialah watched her go, ‘I really screwed up… Raz will never let me hear the end of this one, I got onto her about a measly little fight.’ She cursed her misfortune again, and resumed her run, paying far closer attention to the streets as she went, than she had before.

The angel’s focus never wavered, not even a little, not until she returned to the apartment of her host and laid his body down and exited from it.

Albaer remained asleep, but as soon as Lialah emerged, Raziel knew something was wrong.

“Lialah, what happened?” She asked and put her hand on the angel’s soft pale shoulder. Red eyes full of concern, she stepped in close and put a hand on Lialah’s cheek to turn up her sister’s face so that they could look at one another directly.

“I messed up. Bad. Really bad. My first time out and… look we need to wake Albaer, I need to tell him, we need to tell him what happened, both of us, and let him decide what to do.” Lialah said, and they reached down to shake him awake together.