The bright morning light was blinding as my open windows let a cool breeze through my room. It was time to wake up... Unfortunately. Rolling out of bed, I unfolded my wings and spread them to their full length. They were black as night and composed of feathers, like crows wings. The glass I had left on my side table shattered against the floor as they expanded.

"Damn wings", I muttered as I folded them against my back.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd even used them, but I kept them at the ready just in case. Walking through my house - barely a house actually, I think living space would be a stretch even - I looked into my shattered mirror. My fangs were just visible if I opened my mouth far enough. My horns still poked through the very top of my scruffy hair. I poked at one of them, drawing blood from my finger.

"Still sharp I see."

Brushing my fangs was usually a challenge but after living on this god forsaken rock for this long, it was basically second nature. Walking back towards my sleeping area, I trudged through the trash littering the floor. Empty cans and bottles rattling as my bare feet crashed through them. It barely fazed me at this point. I used to keep the area well maintained but I had given up a while ago.

Kneeling down to pick up a t-shirt, I heard a scurrying noise from under the bed. A small mouse ran across the floor, it's small paws clawing through the trash. I stood, watching the small creature as it struggled to run.

"Hmph... you're new."

Outstretching my arm, a surge of heat coursed through it into my hand. I simply pointed at the rodent and it disintegrated into a small pile of ash.

"It appears I've still got it," I said with a smirk.

At that moment, a searing pain erupted in my chest. With a grunt I fell onto my knees.

"Can't be doing that I guess."

I plucked a shirt out of the pile by my bed and slipped it on. The smell was less than decent. It would have to do. The only thing left to do was apply a glamour. It was a necessary illusion if I was to walk amongst humans. It was one of the few spells I could still cast and it was simply to hide my "special" features.

Walking out into the world, a breeze blew past me. It was probably late summer, but I had stopped keeping track. Every day was the same to me. A crowd of people skirted around me as they made their way to their dead end jobs.

I scoffed as a man in a bright blue suit passed by me talking into his phone, completely oblivious to his surroundings. It was easy with people like him. My hand slipped quickly into his pocket pulling his wallet into my grasp as he continued on. I made my way down the street in the opposite direction toward the coffeehouse on the corner.

This man obviously had a good pay, he could afford to buy me a cup of joe. The place was packed though, as usual. One woman behind the counter announced she was taking orders and I made my way over.

After paying way too much for some coffee, I returned to the streets. I still had $20 left over and I didn't really know what to spend it on. 20 bucks wasn't a lot in this world. I strolled down the sidewalk sipping my coffee. Rush hour was over now and the only people that walked the streets were casuals, as I called them. They didn't usually have a lot of money, unless they were thugs.

I had my fair amount of experience with the thugs that roam the streets. They would target the homeless and people like me who appeared to be less than decent. It usually ended with me dropping my glamour long enough for them to get scared off. No one would believe that they found a "horned creature with wings" in an alleyway. It sounded absolutely insane and the thugs weren't too open with the questions that might follow.

So I made my way down the streets, migrating through the city. The humans in this city were sad creatures. Overtaken by desire and a lust for power. Doing whatever they can to grab more and more for themselves. It's a living hell having to walk amongst them. I used to be the one who would oversee their own personal hell after death. Now I'm stuck here living one. I guess there's one upside: the human experience. That's about it though.

Most of my days go like this. Just wake up, apply glamour, make some money. Nothing really changes. At the end of the day, I make my way back to my house and drop my glamour. I didn't need to hide myself in here. This was my only safe space and I would fight to keep it that way. Some nights, I would sit outside in a small plastic lawn chair and watch the stars. It was almost soothing. The city was never quiet enough to fully enjoy the night sky, but you get used to it after a while. Tonight however, I just wanted to sleep.

I stripped my shirt off and tossed it back into the pile by the door. I tossed myself onto my cheap bed and drifted off into the same dream that ensues every night.

It's dark at first, and then the area lightens up, but ever so slightly. It appears to be a large cavern, but I know it as my area of birth: Hell. I stand at my usual post, watching the denizens and sinners pay for their lives of wrongdoings. Some were old, some were younger, but they had all done something wrong in their life. Murderers, thieves, frauds, and many others were the usual suspects. You'd be surprised to find some that lived great lives in public, but abusive and harmful ones in private. My job was to ensure that they didn't try to escape their eternal punishment.

I remember how everything happened though. I had just received a newer subject for punishment and I watched as they entered the area. This one was different from the others, and everyone could tell. The figure was cloaked in black and you couldn't see their face. I could sense their regret and anger at themselves. I had decided to approach them and investigate. After all, standing guard was boring. Maybe this would add some spice to my day. I stood about 2 feet away and called out to them.

They turned and I could see just the lower part of a face.

"What did you do that got you here?," I would ask.

Usually, the responses were the same recycled excuses, used countlessly through the centuries. Their response was the only response in my time that caught me off guard.

"I sacrificed my life to save a murderer's."

I stared. The only thought running through my mind was that they were innocent. This was a false imprisonment. Even if he had saved a murderer, he still gave his life for another selflessly.

I had grabbed his wrist and started pulling him toward an exit when we were caught. I was exiled for disobeying orders and forced to live my pathetic life in the human realm. I had been here close to 100 years now. I never found out what happened to the figure, but I assumed the worst.

Attempting escape was a heavy crime and the price was the cleaving of your soul: to be doomed to have no conscience or mind. I don't regret my decisions, I simply wish I had gone through with them differently.

I woke up in a cold sweat that morning, chilled to the bone. I shivered as I looked out the window to find it was early morning, sunrise to be exact. I started my day just like any other. Get up, brush fangs, get dressed, get money. Except, there was no one outside to take money from, thus introducing a problem.

Instead, I decided to sit outside and watch the sunrise. It was decently quiet this time of the morning, fewer cars and machines operating. People would be just waking up and preparing for their day. It was a process. One that I liked to observe. Some humans were sloppy with their preparations, like me. Others were meticulous and veered for perfection. It was an odd thing to see, but interesting all the same.

As I watched the sunrise, I could just barely make out a silhouette on the roofline of the buildings across the way. It looked to be a person in a chair, except they were facing towards me. What were they doing? If they were trying to watch the sunrise, it was the opposite direction. Utter confusion washed over me.

Humans did the weirdest things sometimes, but this almost seemed intentional. The shadowy figure raised a hand and waved towards me. I waved back cautiously. I didn't know this person or what their agenda was. In my deep thought, they must have went back inside because when I looked up again, they were gone.

I had a strange feeling that today would be different than any other.