Title: My Defending Angel
Author: Terion
Disclaimer: Not. Mine.
Rating: We have fire and crispy-critters!
Book or TV verse: Book verse...roughly. Possibly somewhere after White Night but with nothing of that in it b/c I doan have no copy yet. cry
Summary: Harry and Murphy get cornered by vamps. Things proceed to get set on fire - as usual - and Harry has to get some sense slapped into him by Murph. Just business as usual...

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There she blazed, an avenging angel with her sword at the ready and blue eyes aflame as she faced the vampires. Scarred but still standing with her head high and protecting those around her. Protecting me.

Someone had gotten a hold of the recipe for ThreeEye and had brewed a batch of it. Then they had started going after witches and wizards, shooting them with darts filled with that wicked concoction. There had been three suicides already and five others were dead from a firefight that had broken out between them in reaction to their Sight overloading on them.

Most had gone into hiding, trying to solve the problem from there. Morgan – good old dour Morgan who still hates my guts – even told me to keep my head down.

I've never been too good at listening to people. And that's what got me shot. The Black Court vampires attacking us currently gave me a big clue to who was behind it too.

Problem with taking out the boss was the fact that we might not get out of our current situation alive.

"Harry?"

Murphy's voice quavered slightly as she spoke my name and I looked at her. The angel's bright face turned towards me and those blue flames of eyes were filled with worry and fear. All of it for me.

Made me feel like a real heel to make her worry so much.

"I'm fine, Murph," I insisted as I shifted back a step. Her back pressed against mine then and she stiffened before leaning against me. "Focus on the gnats."

She nodded at that and I looked at the vampires that were closing in around us. I really wish I hadn't. Under the Sight they were twisted mockeries of human beings, even worse looking than the Red's underneath their flesh masks.

Red's at least had proportions of some sort.

Black's under the Sight didn't get the courtesy.

One particularly twisted vampire lurched forward and I lifted my blasting rod reflexively, funneling power into it. As the tip of the length of wood began to glow red, the creature hissed at me and I smiled at it.

I could help you, you know, whispered a little voice in my mind then.

Shut up, I snarled back before shouting, "FUEGO!" The fireball roared out of the end of the blasting rod and slammed into four vampires before they could get out of the way, burning them…well, not alive but y'know. Another got his entire arm lopped off and came rushing towards me in anger, eyes blazing with a red fire.

Murphy's bullets caught him in the heart and the head. He crumpled with a little snarl and the blazing angel at my back snorted.

The whole mass suddenly tried us and I shook out my shield bracelet, bringing it up around the two of us as hard and fast as I could. Most smashed against it and staggered back; a few kept trying it. One vampire slunk away crying because its hand had gotten caught in the shield as it went up and was sliced off.

Aw, I made a monster cry again. Boo hoo.

"We won't last like this for long."

"Yeah," I said, frowning at the vampires. "I know, Murph.

She turned her head to look at me as she asked, "Any chance for reinforcements?"

My silence was her answer and she nodded solemnly.

"Thought so."

I bit my lip then said, "I'll get us out of this, Murph. Trust me."

She wasn't looking at me now but I could almost sense her smile.

"I know, Harry."

Then she cocked her gun and asked, "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," I replied, switching my blasting rod for my staff with one hand. I thumped the tall length of wood against the ground and pushed a small amount of power into it. The runes carved into it began to smoke and I smiled.

I wasn't about to take the help of the fallen angel stuck in my head. But I wasn't going to waste the advantage I'd gotten from her being there.

"One," I said slowly.

Murphy tensed against my back and I swore I felt a phantom rustle of wings.

"Two."

The vampires tensed around us, the twisted limbs in my Sight writhing hideously.

"Three…FUEGO!"

I dropped the shield and thrust my staff out at a pack of the vampires in the same moment. Hellfire blazed to life in the runes and lashed out to consume whatever it touched in a blazing orb. Vampires screamed and died, fighting with each other as they sought to escape the blaze.

A vampire leapt at us then, moving down towards us too quick for me to get off another blast. So I turned and punched it, releasing everything built up in my ring as I did so.

It surprised me when the vampire's torso practically exploded. Ring hadn't gotten a lot of use of late but having that much power built up in it? Wow.

Murphy's gun suddenly clicked empty and the sound was far louder than it should have been with the roar of vampires and fire around us. I stepped up beside her as a vampire rushed her whilst she was going for another clip and thrust my staff into his face. There was a good bit of fury and anger behind it and he staggered back, bits missing from his rotted face.

Blue eyes blazed next to me and the angel lifted her sword, ready again. She smiled at me before she went after the vampires again with a snarl on her face.

As I shifted so we were back to back again and smashed my staff into another vampire's face, I realized something.

We were going to survive.

The Hellfire caught most of the vampires and burned them, hungrily eating them as well as the building around us. So…um…yeah, this building being set on fire actually was my fault.

The rest of the vampires? Well, I think Murphy took out more of them than me if you discount the Hellfire. The woman can kick some supernatural butt when she goes at it.

As we limped out of the building, something flashed out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and stared right into a mirror with my Sight wide open. The fire at my back and Murphy screaming at me got me moving again quickly enough despite the shock though.

We watched the old warehouse go down from a safe distance away, keeping out of sight of the newly arrived fire department. There was a long moment of silence then Murphy asked, "What did you see?"

I blinked, wondering how she'd known. Then I sighed and replied, "You don't want to know." I tried to move away from her but her hands gripped firmly on my arm and pulled me back. So I closed my eyes so as not to look at her.

Her hands, small and grimy, touched my face and I couldn't help it. I opened my eyes and look down at that blazing angel that had saved my worthless ass so many times.

"What did you see, Harry?" she asked again.

"Nothing like you," I breathed. "Nothing so beautiful."

"What. Did. You. See?"

"Monster."

Murphy blinked. Then she shook her head and stepped close to me, wrapping her arms tightly around me with her face pressed against my chest. I felt a little shudder run through her and reflexively wrapped my arms around her.

"Murph…"

"You're not a monster," she breathed.

I frowned at that and said, "The Sight shows the truth…"

"SIGHT BE DAMNED!"

Her shout staggered me and the tears that were in her eyes when she looked up at me with a vicious gaze did so even more. She reached up and grabbed my face with both hands, blue eyes ablaze with so many emotions that I couldn't comprehend them all.

Her voice was soft when she spoke again.

"I love you. Therefore you can't be a monster."

"Murph…"

She sighed and gently brushed her fingers across my face and through my sweaty hair.

"You can be such an idiot, Harry," she murmured, those fiery eyes soft. "I know you better than anyone and I know that you are no monster." Her fingers brushed across my lips, feather-light, and I closed my eyes as I kissed them. "I trusted you. Now you trust me."

Opening my eyes, I looked down at her and nodded.

"Okay."

She smiled and it lit up everything, reaching to the darkest parts of me than I hid from even myself.

Like I've said before, Murphy is good people.

My defending angel.