He sucked in a hissing breath as the snow blew around him, slapping on his skin in a hundred pinpoints of pain.

There was no sign of life other than his own heartbeat on the mountaintop. He folded his wings around his shoulders and shuddered again.

Nick shakily looked up to the sky, watching the white swirl over the stars in a curtain of frost.

Something rustled behind him; he twisted and fumbled to his feet, "Hello? Is someone there?"

Again it rustled, the wind howled harder, shoving him toward the noise. There was a heap of white and blue half burried in a snow drift. Silk rustled in the wind over a limp, slender fingered hand that flopped against a snow covered rock.

He staggered over, checking for a pulse and lifting the small form against him. "Hey? Are you okay?"

The angel pressed herself against his chest and shivered violently, pressing blue tipped fingers to his shoulder. He jerked at the cold contact, but tightened his grip resolutely, "It's okay, you're going to be fine."

Tawny white feathers, speckled with chocolate flecks drug stiffly over the snow, struggling to wrap around the frozen body they belonged to.

Nick reached out and took hold of the wing, tucking it gently to the angel's side, "Let's get out of here."

He stood, hissing as the wind scraped at his back nearly knocking him back to his knees. The angel made a soft noise and burrowed deeper into his arms.

Nick made a point of not looking at her face; he already knew exactly who she was. If he looked he wouldn't be able to get through the storm in one piece.

He lurched toward a hole, where he knew there would be a cave. Using his tail for balance he slid gingerly inside, careful to not jostle the angel too much. The inside of the cave was dark and damp, but it was out of the wind and slightly warmer. He sat down heavily, his breath coming out in great clouds of vapor.

The ange's thin fingers slid from his shoulders to clasp in front of her heart. He rubbed her pale shoulder absently, "It's okay, we'll be fine now."

Her only response was to curl her legs up toward her stomach.

"I would have thought you would have had better sense than to be out in this storm Nicodemus."

Nick froze faster than the ice around him, cursing the sudden opulent voiced chuckle.

"Aww, and you brought your little birdie along. How sweet."

An orange demon with blue hair and inch long horns at her hairline was laughing in the corner.

In only leggings, a tank top and mini skirt, she looked perfectly comfortable, even drawing a smile in the ground with the heel of her scuffed army boot.

Nick hissed, tugging the quivering angel closer to his chest, "What are you doing here?"

"Not catching hypothermia, unlike your birdie there."

She rolled up onto her hands and knees, cooing at the angel like it was a kitten, "Oooooh, she is a pretty little thing Nicodemus."

His wings coiled forward, partially blocking the angel from the other demon's view, "What do you want?"

"Now now, manners Brother. Has your year away from the Legion made you so uncivilized already?"

Nick hissed again, too cold to form a complete roar, "Shut up Jezebel, I'm not in the mood."

"You're never in the mood Nicodemus dear."

She was sitting beside him now, tracing intricate patterns on his bicep, "You do know that you can't fight it Nicodemus, you can't beat what you don't want to."

"What on earth are you goig on about?" he spat, jerking his arm away with a huff.

"You're fighting it, but you can't beat it Nicodemus. Even a demon's heart isn't that strong."

"Can't beat what?"

Despite himself he was starting to get interested. That had always been Jezebel's greatest asset. Even the Jezebel his mind conjured up in his nightmares was ridiculously compelling.

"You're falling in love with that pretty birdie, and like the noble demon you always have been, you've decided she's better off with that Gabriel of hers."

Jezebel broke off to examine her claws, "Not that I blame her, I wouldn't mind having one of those myself...."

"Your point is?"

She grinned and slowly rolled to her feet. "You know that our kind does not like to lose. It's not in our nature. In the end, do you honsetly think you'll be able to overcome instinct, heart, and nature combined?"

Nick snarled, "I've done it before. I left the Legion in one piece didn't I?"

"Yes, but your heart wasn't on the line then. Think about it Nicodemus."

She reached up and punched through the thin layer of snow insulating their cave.

"Are yo usure you can keep the dark at bay when you have such a fragile hold on the light?"

The angel in his arms shuddered more violently than ever as an arctic gust surged into the cave. Nick looked down helplessly, he couldn't do anything to help....

He sat bolt upright with a gasp, only the sweat glistining like frost on his shoulders and wings betrayed that the nightmare had ever even existed.