Beginning

If you've never seen an accident up close, you should try, if simply out of morbid curiosity. It's so gross that you can't tear your eyes away from what's in front of you. It's so hard to stop looking. A piece of you wants to study the damage, see what's been done, while another part of you wants to watch the wreckage from a far to see what happens next.

And I've gone with the former.

Just a few feet ahead of me is some poor woman half engulfed by a car. It looks like its eating her, metal hungry for flesh. The woman's legs are hidden underneath, presumably, her overturned car. I dip my head to peek inside a shattered window and see her things scattered about. A coffee cup, some pens, receipts, a purse, and even some extra clothes. Perhaps she was going somewhere? Whatever the case, she's not moving and won't be arriving anywhere. In the back of the car are the normal things people keep with them- things that help them in times of accidents. None of them would help in this situation.

Moving back to the side of the car, I shake my head and let out a steady breath. How did the vehicle end up like this? The accident is in the middle of the road, a smooth road at that, and there's absolutely nothing that would have caused the woman to swerve or crash. Did she collide with another vehicle? One that wasn't as badly damaged in the crash and simply drove off? If that's what happened, someone is going to have very bad karma for years to come. They could have at least called an ambulance.

Squatting low, I look at the part of the woman's body that's peeking out from the car, and grimace. I think she was pretty before the accident. I think. Blood is collecting around her head and there are glass shards embedded in her face. Her arms and torso don't appear to be in better shape.

I should probably help her... Or maybe not. My caretaker, Mariam, wouldn't want me to get involved with civilians that I'm not killing. It's not that I'm uncaring, I just really don't want to get in trouble. Then again, this woman is in way more trouble than I would be if I helped. I can't just let her die. Well, I could, but I'd probably feel bad about it in the morning. I suppose this woman is innocent and deserves to be saved. But what if she's not? She could have been drunk or under the influence of drugs...

You know what? Mariam can shove it. It's not like I've listened to anything else she's said. This woman has the right to live just as much as anyone else. Alright then. It's settled.

I look around the dark, empty street to make sure there are no prying eyes, squinting at every shadow. My night vision is impeccable, and I kbiw no one is in sight. I don't hear anything either. Thanks to the government, my senses have vastly improved to near superhuman. These are the times I'm glad I ended up a guinea pig.

Focusing back on the wreckage in front of me, I lift the car off the woman and roll it to a safe distance from her body. The sound is much too loud for my liking, but no one comes to investigate. That's good for me but bad for anyone else who might have an accident out here.

I go back to investigate the woman and see that her legs aren't too badly damaged. It looks like one of them is broken, but that's it. She must have an angel watching out for her. My own angel, though, is looking out for my well being, too. The poor woman was knocked out cold. Bad for her, yes, but good for me. She wont be able to identify me or claim that I'm able to do miraculous things.

So, now what? She's no longer being held captive by her car and seems well enough, aside from being unconscious. She's breathing, that has to count for something. I would call the police to the scene but I don't have a phone, nor change to use a payphone. I'm not even sure that I want my voice on a 911 dispatchers recording anyway.

Then that leaves me two options. I could either take the woman to a hospital myself or leave her in the middle of the road to hopefully be seen by someone later. The latter is a long shot, though. The woman could die by the time someone finds her. But I really don't want to carry her to the nearest hospital. The cameras might catch my face and if they do, even if it's just a sliver of my profile, i'll be in deep shit. Mariam will blow a fuse. But I can't just leave this woman here. I've already promised that I'd help her.

Grumbling to myself, I decide to take my chances with the cameras. I pull up my hood from my jacket to cover my face then bend down and gently lift the unconscious woman from the ground. She weighs almost nothing to me. Blood soaks my hands, arms, and chest, and I frown. This was my favorite jacket.

Ignoring the copper smell leaking off the woman's body, I start to move. I run a normal pace, not wanting to use my full speed and possibly hurt the woman more. The nearest hospital is about five miles from my current location- I know because I've studied maps of the area often enough. Running at this pace, though, it'll take me over a half hour to reach it.

Well, I've come this far.

Breaking another rule Mariam strictly told me never to break, I run faster than humanly possible through the streets. I bring the woman's body closer to mine, preventing her from flailing all over the place and hurting herself. Hopefully there are no creepers out tonight that'll spot me, or at least the blur that their eyes will interpret as me, sprinting through the night. Even if they do, who will believe them?

I reach the hospital in less than three minutes and I'm not even sweating. I stop across the street, not wanting the hospital staff to see me. I gather my courage and, slowly, make my way to the emergency room entrance doors, my head down the whole way there. When I reach them, I gently place the woman on the floor, making sure she's laid out politely, then turn and leave. I make sure to keep my face down and away from cameras. My hood never strays above my eyes.

As I'm walking away, my head still lowered, I accidentally crash into a nightshift nurse. I look up into his face in surprise then quickly look back down. My stomach clenches and I hope he didn't get a good look at my face. He shouldn't have, he only saw me for a split second.

Flustered, he apologizes to me, but I don't say anything back, not yet. I grab his shoulder roughly, still not looking at his face, and throw him in the direction of the emergency room doors. He yelps in surprise and lands in his ass, just a few feet from the woman.

In a deep, gravely voice I say, "There's an unconscious woman behind you. Help her." My voice doesn't sound as it usually does and I'm satisfied. I turn away briskly, not bothering to say anything more. I run away, at normal speed, and hope for the best. The woman should be in good hands if that nurse knows what he's doing.

Constantly glancing over my shoulder nervously, I run back to my apartment. No one follows me there and I don't hear sirens. Breathing in relief, I quietly try to enter the apartment, slipping off my shoes before I step inside. The place is dark, quiet. Hopefully Mariam is still asleep and doesn't know I left.

I gently shut the door, my shoes hanging off my fingertips, and walk over to the kitchen. I don't need to tiptoe, my footsteps are always feather light. As I pass the living room, I feel a presence. A familiar presence.

Damn. Mariam is awake.

She knows I know she's there, so I sigh and turn around, dropping my shoes to the floor. The clatter echoes loudly throughout the apartment.

"Where were you?" Mariam asks, when it's quiet again. She turns on a lamp beside her, surrounding herself in a soft yellow light that doesn't quite reach me. How cliche. I roll my eyes at the way she's presented herself. Waiting in the dark until the kid comes back from sneaking out to scold them. That's Mariam for you.

"Well?" she asks impatiently.

I groan and rub my temples. "Mariam, chill. I was just out for a walk." I want to comment on her jammies, but I take the safe road and hold my tongue.

Mariam clenches her teeth. "And how was I supposed to know that?"

I stop rubbing my temples and let my arms fall to my sides. "Relax. We've been living amongst civilians for almost a year now and I haven't tried to run away. I won't run away. I just needed to stretch my legs after the mission earlier today."

Mariam visibly calms down and her face dawns a sympathetic expression. She knows how much I hate to kill uselessly. Today's mission had me kill an innocent man simply because he was trying to reveal the truth about a wealthy business man. That's politics.

"I'm sorry, Cas. I know how you hate to have to do things like that." Mariam gets up from her seat and walks towards me, eyes sad. "It sucks that our services can be easily bought and used for such abhorrent purposes. But we do get the real bad guys sometimes." She gives me a smile then touches my arm and frowns. "Why is your arm wet?"

Crap. I was so close to getting out of this scot-free. Mariam flips the light switch beside me and the room fills with a gentle white light. I close my eyes and prepare for the inevitable yelling that the blood on my jacket is sure to cause.

There's silence, just Mariam's breathing, and I crack open a lid. Maybe I won't get in trouble?

"What the fuck!" Mariam whisper-screams.

And there it is. I always get the whisper-scream when we're in the apartment. Can't have civilians getting curious about us. Top secret mojo and all that nonsense.

"Why the hell are covered in blood?" she continues, lowering her voice when she says 'blood.' "What did you do?"

I open my eyes slowly and see Mariams face has turned a bright shade of red, making her glasses seem darker. I give a weak smile, which only engrages her more. I need to calm her down or else I'm going to be doing far worse than the woman I left at the hospital.

"Well, you see," I start, cautiously, but stop when I see Mariam cross her arms and start to tap the fingers of her right hand on her left upper arm. Oh, no. This is the 'I'm going to call my superior' angry."You are so cute when you're mad, Mariam," I say instead of an excuse. Sometimes flattery works.

"Don't you try to charm you way out of this one, girl," she hisses.

Double damn. She's stopped using my name, and that's never good. Oh God, how am I going to get out of this? "Look, Mariam, I didn't do anything wrong," I say quickly. "there was this woman-"

"What woman?" she asks, cutting me off.

"She was in a car accident and I took her to the hospital," I say. "Her blood got on me, yeah? That's it." I hold out my hands in a defensive position and wait for her reply. She can't get upset with me for being helpful. She can't get too upset, at least.

Mariam taps her socked foot on the hardwood floors and stares at me, eyes narrowed. I wet my lips and think about bringing up her jammies. After a long moment, she sighs and runs her hand through her long blonde locks. "You better hope no one saw you," she mumbles. "I'm glad you helped someone, but you can't just walk around town covered in blood."

"No one saw me," I say reassuringly. Who cares about that nurse? His mind was probably on his patients, not me. "I made sure to keep my head down and my hood up."

Mariam lets her arms fall to her sides, and I know I'm in the clear. She shakes her head at me then goes to turn off the lamp. I turn off the second light myself, covering Mariam and I in darkness. Her jammies look even cuter with my night vision. Little strawberries spot her pants.

"Those are adorable," I joke. "Got ones with oranges?"

Mariam pushes past me and scoffs. "You wish you had these."

I watch her walk to her bedroom, swaying her hips to make her strawberries dance. She knows I can see in the dark and is teasing me. I laugh and roll my eyes, then head into my room so I can get into bed. I strip off my bloody jacket and place it in my laundry basket, crinkling my nose at the smell. I don't bother removing anymore clothing. I'm much too tired.

I crawl into bed and start to drift off into what I know will be a too long nap. I also know that Mariam will wake me up earlier than I want. But that's Mariam for you.