She cursed the world under her breath as the car puttered to a stop at the side of an empty winding road. She was on her way to an important meeting in the city and the boss was going to have her ass if she wasn't there on time. She sighed a deep sigh and unbuckled her seat belt.

Before she looked under the hood of the car with a flashlight, she pulled her long silver hair back into a pony tail. She wasn't old. Actually she was only twenty four. Ever since she was born, her hair was as silver as moon beams the graced the earth with their presence. That's what gave her the name Anika, meaning grace.

The twelve horse power engine looked fine, but it looked like the radiator was over heated and the fan belt was broken. This wouldn't be a hard fix if she had water and an extra fan belt to put into place. She sighed again and leaned against the car. After a few of thought, she decided to wait to see if anyone would come down the old road, in the middle of the night, with tools,to help her.

She waited there for about fifteen minutes. Anika was not a person who could wait for very long without getting antsy. It didn't help that the weather wasn't starting to look so great. She walked around the car to grab out her winter jacket. She cursed herself now that she was a traditional chick and never invested in a cell phone. She also cursed herself for putting the jacket in the back seat. She bent over in her high heels and stuck out her rear end to try to reach the damn thing.

Just as she got a hold of the jacket, she noticed car lights. She stood up straight and waved her arms to slow down the car. The car was already stopped and a man was already getting out.

"Is there a problem here miss?" He asked. The car still had its brights on, so Anika couldn't see the man who owned the voice. She explained to the unseen man that her car had broken down and she didn't have a cell phone. She also threw in there that her husband was waiting for her. She didn't want this guy getting any ideas about trying to kidnap her.

"Mind if I take a look under the hood?" He asked stepping into the light. Anika waited a few seconds before answering the man. This guy was extremely good looking. He had black hair and piercing green eyes. She watched as the man took a close look at the engine. "Good news and bad news. Good news is that I can fix your fan belt for free. The bad news is that you have a hole in your radiator and I cant fix that here." He explained. The man straightened his back and went to the back of, what now Anika could see, was a four door black truck. "More good news. I can take you to your husband."

"Thank you for your help." She said as she held the flashlight and watched him fix the fan belt. "Who are you, by the way?" Anika wondered.

"Just a friendly mechanic passing on a dark road finding a beautiful woman on the side of it, but you can call me Makoto." Anika laughed a bit. She wasn't blind, but she wasn't vain either. She figured that her looks got her a lot of attention from guys but she never liked to flaunt her looks.

"Well, the girl on the side of the road would like to say you for your help, and that her name is Anika." He smiled while still looking down at the car.

"Nice to meet you." He said finishing up his work. "Where you headed? I can give you a ride." Anika got into Makoto's truck feeling like she could trust this guy. They talked the entire way to the meeting that Anika was headed to. She had plenty of time to make it there. These two talked like they were old friends catching up on each other's lives even though they had never met. They talked about Makoto's job and Anika's 'husband'.

Finally, the two made it to the city. It had gotten colder as the two talked as they were stuck in traffic. Anika started to feel guilty for a while and soon decided to tell Makoto the truth. "I haven't been completely honest with you." She started to say. Makoto only smiled at her.

"Your not married, right? You just said that with the early assumption that I could be a creeper right?" He asked. She nodded.

"How did you know?" She asked. He shrugged.

"You described a man that didn't fit your personality at all back there." He said referring to the talk that they had earlier. "You described a man that was settled down and, to put it straight, boring. You are not boring and wouldn't fall for a guy like that." Makoto reasoned.

"Ha ha, I guess you are right about that." She just noticed that the truck had stopped and that they were outside of the conference building. She only had five minutes to get inside. "Shit! I have to go. Thanks for everything. I'll catch a taxi after work."

"Will you be ok with getting a cab?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Hell, I'm a big girl. I'll be fine. See you Makoto." Ankia wrote down her number on a slip of paper and handed it to him. "Call this number when the car is fixed." And with that, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and she was gone headed to the meeting. Makoto sighed as he sat in the drivers seat.

"That girl is amazing." He said aloud to no one. He rubbed his rough fingers on his cheek where she had kissed him. He could still feel the soft touch of her lips. "What am I going to do now?"


'The meeting went over well.' Anika thought to herself. She walked out the doors half thinking about how hard it was going to be to get a cab and half thinking of Makoto. She wished that she would have gotten his number or something. He was an pretty cool guy. She stopped when she felt a cold gust hit her as soon as she stepped outside. Snow had started falling and it was pretty much freezing outside.

"Great..." She said aloud. "Well, I better get my ass in gear and start hailing taxis." She went to the curb and tried to start waving down a car. Just then, a gust of wind hit her again, this time in the face. This made her eyes dry out and she rubbed them to get the water back in them.

When she opened her eyes she saw a black, four door truck without the driver inside. She looked from the left and to the right. That had to be Makoto's truck. He had to be around here somewhere.

"I forgot something from earlier." Anika smiled as she heard Makoto's voice from behind her. She stared straight ahead with the attempts of trying not to seem too desperate to see him.

"What would that be?" She asked in a slightly flirtatious voice.

"This." Makoto gently grabbed her shoulders spun her around and kissed her right on the lips. After a few seconds he let go of her. Anika blinked several times and Makoto got an apologetic look on his face. He was about to start apologizing for what he had done when she put her hand up to stop him.

"Why did you stop?" Anika asked. This time, Makoto blinked confusingly.

"Huh?" Makoto asked.

"This." Anika mocked as she wrapped her arms around Makoto's neck and kissed him again. Makoto wrapped his arms around her waist and held her closer as the kiss lasted. The two didn't even seem to care that the snow started coming down harder. They just stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, in the snow, just as the full moon decided to shine down on them from a parting in the clouds.

~Six months later~

"Just tell me why." Makoto said. He kept getting the same answer to his question but never got reasoning for it. Anika wanted to say yes but she worried how Makoto would react if he found out her secret.

"I am just not ready." She answered. The two were standing outside of a restaurant that they had just gotten done eating at. He gently held her hand.

"I just want to know why you wont move in with me. It's not like you never stayed the night." She shushed him quickly. "What?" She rolled her eyes at him. This man was so goofy sometimes she didn't know what to do with him.

"Babe, I know." She said. "I just...I want to wait." Makoto sighed. Then smiled his cute half smile.

"I wouldn't wait for anyone else but you baby." Anika smiled as her heart fluttered. These two had met at the beginning of winter and now it is the beginning of summer. Makoto felt like they were ready to move in together and, even though Anika wont admit it to Makoto, she felt the same way.

The restaurant wasn't far away from Makoto's house so they walked and left the truck at home. It was dark out now and stars were starting to show. The only way to get to Makoto's was to go through an alley. Anika started to wonder if leaving the truck at the house was a smart idea. Her thoughts were not unanswered for long.

"What's up baby?"

"Shit." Anika cursed aloud. Makoto and Anika both turned around to see four men standing at the end of the alley way. "Makoto..." He wasn't listening to her. He was glaring at the man that was trying to hit on his girl.

"What do you guys want?" Makoto asked the four reeling men. Even from about eight feet away, Anika could smell the alcohol on them. Anika grabbed Makoto's arm and head for the house but Makoto didn't move at all.

"We want that girl." Anika gasped when she saw that one of the guys had a hand that looked like a claw. Could that be...?

"I noticed it too, honey." Makoto whispered. Believe it or not, humans knew of demons inhabiting the world. They usually didn't cause trouble so there was no need to worry...most of the time. "Do you think that just because you are demons, I am going to give in to you?" He spat at the drunken men.

"Even if you don't we have more strength then you do." One of the men shot back.

"And more speed." Another one said. To the human eye, it would have looked like he disappeared, but what actually happened was that he ran at Makoto with lightening speed. Blood filled the air as a gash appeared on Makoto's arm.

"Damn!" He yelled. Anika couldn't hide anymore. She stood in front of Makoto. "Anika! Stay back!"

"I can handle myself, I am a big girl." She said not looking at him.

"Wow boys, looks like she is going to hurt us." One of the demon men laughed.

"Damn straight!" Anika yelled. Then, suddenly, out of her shoulder blades shot out two red dragon-like wings. The wings stretched out wider than her arms length. The tip top of the wings towered over her head and the bottom were under her knee caps.

"Holy shit! She is a demon too!" One of the guys said.

"Looks like she is ready for a fight too." This guy, the guy who had just slurred the words, looked like he was the leader of the group. She wanted a fight alright. She wasn't going to let them get away with hurting Makoto...Even if that meant that Makoto would see her secret. She couldn't even look back at him with the fear of seeing his reaction.

"Your move." Anika said calmly. The main guy shrugged and got down on all fours. Claws started to replace what his hands used to look like.

Suddenly, he pounced at Anika. She gave one flap of her wings and was air born. While she was, she connected a foot in the middle of the earthbound demon and sent him flying backwards into some trash cans.

"That all he had?" She asked. The 'leader' of this pathetic drunk lot was out cold from one blow. That just meant that the others would be easy to beat as well. She was wrong. One at a time would have been easy but the last three attacked at once.

All of them were earthbound which gave Anika the advantage. One of the men came at her with claws reaching for her throat. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back. A painful shout came from the man as she pulled his arm higher.

She wasn't aware that was open to the attack that had come from her backside. Another guy had jammed his claws into her shoulder. The pain ran through her entire right side of her body. She brought her elbow down the man's head that she was holding and let him drop.

Anika spun around in the air and round-house kicked the man in the gut. He was out like a light. The last guy just decided to take off. She landed back on the ground and went back into complete human form as her wings receded into her shoulder blades.

The first thought in her mind was him. She had to do something that she didn't want to do and turned around to Makoto.

"Anika? Are you alright?" Makoto asked running to her. Her eyes filled with tears. Not because of the pain in her shoulder, but the fact that Makoto was still there. Not only was he still there, but he was worried for her.

"Makoto!" She yelled throwing her good arm around him. "I didn't want to move in with you because I didn't know how you would react to me being a demon."

"Anika..." He wrapped his good arm around her as well. "I love you, forever and always. No matter what." She smiled with tears threatening to pour from her eyes.

"The answer is yes. I will move in with you." She said while nuzzling into him.

"I was hoping..." Makoto let go of Anika. He reached into his pocket, and got down on one knee.

"Makoto? What are you doing?" She asked nervously.

"I had hoped that maybe I could get another yes from you." Makoto opened the box that he had reached for and a diamond engagement ring shown brightly. Anika shot her hands over her mouth. More happy tears came as she gave him her answer. He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her passionately.