Zeev POV
'Harlee' I said in my head to the girl quietly. 'This is a battle I cannot win.  We can flee, but he will follow.  Harlee...  I'm afraid this may be the end.'  She looked at me dead in the eyes.  The first time she'd held my gaze so resolutely while I was in my True Form since that first night.

"No.  I don't accept that."  The answer was almost a growl.  "Use me Zeev.  Use our Bond.  Use my soul.  Whatever power I can lend.  Use it."  She said forcefully.  Sensing my hesitance, she picked up on what I had been holding from her all this time.  Yes, she could order me around all she wanted and I would do as she wished, but I could not disobey her if she invoked our Bond.  Touching the Mark on her face she looked me straight in the eyes again.  "As your Master, I invoke our Bond.  I order you to use whatever resource you need within my body to destroy or evade this threat."  Her voice rang with authority and a bolt of energy shot from her to me along the threads of our Bond, making me jolt.  I felt my body begin to obey, despite my mind's objections, as I turned to shadows and swallowed her whole.

Absorbing Harlee into myself like this was..painful.  As her flesh fell away and her bones broke, her soul fragment collided with mine in a fiery explosion.  My Demon Heart suddenly burst open and the Grace I had been lacking for so long spilled out, reignited by her soul.  My body was wracked with pain as my True Form shifted and cracked and settled closer to the Angelic Form, then our minds...we've forgotten where one of us ends and the other begins as we stared at the Arch Angel in front of us.  Flames and Shadow danced around our Form, there are now two new marks upon this body-Harlee's constellation along our jaw, and Zeev's wolf upon our neck-lest we forget the Bond forged between us.

"Well, now I understand why they sent me."  Said the Angel in a bored voice.

"We do not wish to fight.  Our only wish is that the human girl Harlee and her Bonded Demon Zeev be allowed to continue to exist."  We spoke.

"I can't allow that."  Remarked the Arch Angel, flicking a stone to the ground.

"Harlee has done no wrong."  We replied.

"But her soul is bound to that of a Demon's Heart and she is in possession of said Demon's Heart through a Binding, is she not?  She is far from innocent.  She's made her Contract, let her deal with the consequences."  As he spoke a sudden electrical shock ran through our body.  Ah, but he was mistaken, our Bond was made of this electricity.  We dropped to one knee, allowing him to believe the electricity pained us as he stepped forward.  "What even are you?"  He asked curiously.  "All these millennia, I've never seen anything like it."  He pulled our head back and we grinned wickedly.

"We think you lost something."  We said, letting loose the electrical charge into his hand, plus more of our own.  He jerked back, stunned, shaking his hand.

"You have power, I'll admit that."  He told us with a wry smile.  "But it's not going to save you."  He drew a dagger and plunged it towards our neck.

"Nuh-uh-uh."  We responded, letting the scorpion's tail swing forth from the Demon Zeev had absorbed earlier.  It struck solidly, pinning the Angel's arm in place, injecting poison that stained the Angel's arm black.  It shrieked and yanked free.

"Nice trick."  The Arch Angel stated, wiping the black goo from his arm.  He used Zeev's True Name to try to invoke a response.  "When did you learn that?  I thought your Form was mostly bird and beast-not insect."  He said with disgust.

"We are not called that-you are speaking of a being that does not currently exist.  It is but one half of a whole.  Further, scorpions are not insects."  We struck again, missing this time as our tail sailed passed the Arch Angel's head.

"You know you cannot beat me."  The Arch Angel spoke.

"We know the one Harlee refers to as Zeev could not defeat you.  You have never gone up against us."  We replied cockily.  The Arch Angel's expression turned sour.  Good, angry beings made mistakes.  He rushed us and we noticed with satisfaction that his right arm was limp.  We backed away and used our wings to lift us off the ground.  "You are slow, brother."  We taunted.  The Arch Angel gritted his teeth, also rising upwards, he threw his dagger, aiming at one of our wings and drew a sword.  We tucked the wing, falling into a tight spiral that we easily recovered from and barely dodged the blow from the sword.  It grazed along our neck.

"That sword is not mean for use with one hand, brother."  We reproached, wiping at the blood.  "Perhaps that is why you missed?"  The Angel roared and dove straight at us, sword pointed at our chest.  We used our scorpion tail to deflect the sword, but it nicked a wing in the process, and as we both fell to earth, we used the Angel's limp arm against him, yanking it backwards with force and determination, letting our talons and sharp teeth out, we ripped the arm free of the Angel and chewed it with a loud crunch.  Our body created a crater as it landed, and we were momentarily out of breath, but the Grace we had consumed via the Angel's arm immediately went to work healing us and provided a much needed boost. We gripped the Angel around the throat before he could recover from the fall and sudden loss of his limb, grinning with our sharp teeth.

"Tell Heaven-oh never mind, you won't be around to do so."  We squeezed tighter, but there was a sudden sharp pain in our side as the Angel plunged the sword in.  We gasped and let loose with our electricity to fry the Angel alive.  He seized and then vanished.

"Cowardly Angel!"  We shrieked, and then pulled the sword from our side.  We used the rest of the Grace we had consumed from him to heal ourselves and then...

Harlee POV
I woke up huddled next to Zeev in a hole in the ground.  My body, mind, soul, all of it was screaming.  I began to cry uncontrollably.  Zeev was unconscious still and I couldn't move.  The last thing I remembered was his shadow swallowing me up.

"Zeev...Zeev are you ok?"  I touched his Mark lightly and he shivered.  The wolf now had teeth bared, saliva dripping from its fangs.  I shivered myself at the image.  He gripped me tightly and pulled me to him.

"Harlee, I'm sorry."  He murmured, eyes still closed.

"I made you, don't be."  I felt my body start trembling.  I was naked after all, after..   "Did we win?"  I asked softly.  Zeev sat up and pulled his shirt off, revealing his model's chest and abdomen.

"Yes and no."  He responded, pulling me upright and tugging the shirt over my head.

"Hey!  How come you get to keep your clothes and I don't!?"  I whined.

"I'm a Demon."  He shrugged.  "Besides-look at us, we're both covered in remains.  It's not like I'll be holding on to these anyway."  He said with disgust.  Ugh, he was right.  My stomach clenched looking at the blood and tissues around us.

"I think I'm gonna-"  I heaved and then remembered something and truly did vomit.  "Did we eat that Angel's arm?"  I asked in horror, looking at the contents of my stomach mixing with the filth in the hole.

"Yes."  Zeev replied tonelessly, poking at my vomit.  "But I didn't expect bits of him to end up in you."  He looked at me curiously and I vomited some more.

Zeev POV
I scooped Harlee up in my arms and stepped us straight into her shower.  Not bothering with formalities, I turned the water on and let the blood and tissue swirl down the drain.  I pulled my clothes from my body and tried to decide what to do with them while Harlee shivered on the floor of the tub.  I would just burn them later or something.  I stepped to the kitchen, still wet, grabbed a bag, and was back in the shower shoving clothes in it before Harlee noticed.

"Harlee-I'll need the shirt too."  I said softly

"I'm cold.  And they'll just mold."  She replied.

"Come here then."  I answered her, pulling her into my arms and tugging the shirt back over her head, I let my body temperature rise until the bathroom was steamy and sank to the floor of the tub under the water, Harlee in my lap.  She clung to me.  Her skin and hair smelled of blood.  I grabbed the shampoo from the side of the tub.  "Keep your eyes closed Harlee."  I instructed and lathered her hair.  I felt her muscles relax a little.  I began to wash her body off as the water stream rinsed the shampoo from her hair.

"Zeev..that um..is a little personal-don't you think?"  She looked at me and her eyes were shy, but also blazing with something I'd never seen in them before-lust.  I held up my hands.

"I apologize if I trespassed Mistress."  I said, eyes averted.  To my surprise, she laughed.

"Way to spoil a mood Zeev."  She teased.  "And here I thought Demons were the horny ones."  She stood up and finished rinsing off, ignoring me.