Grey's back pressed against the bathroom wall, the cold stucco resembling ice. Her legs were gelatin, arms cast around her nose and mouth like a breathing mask. Gasping for breath, she prayed that she was silent, that the nightstalker didn't hear the sharp intake of breath she stole before plunging back to cover.
She'd never heard a noise like the one that reverberated through the living room. Like splintering wood, like popping joints and knuckles. A ghastly crackle and pop that came in series or in agonizingly slow ticks.
Spreading wings of bone likely extending and retracting.
The unholy sight of them were burned on the backs of her eyelids when she blinked. Ivory arches the color of rust and ash and sickly yellow branching into separate, jagged points. Similar to a bat's wings, but lacking all of the lively support.
Not only that, but Amelia's body. Discarded and crumpled in a heap stained crimson by the open gash on her shoulder that was so close to her neck. Grey had never seen that much blood. Never pictured it flowing freely from someone she cared so much for.
And at the sight of it, fury boiled in her heart and overflowed. She saw red.
Still, an irkan was poised to kill her best friend in the entire world and she could only think rapidly as the adrenaline flowing through her veins catered to the fantasies of her survival, images of different outcomes, and what might happen after it grew bored of looming over her leaking shell.
First, she needed to find a weapon.
Surprising herself, she detached from the wall and scanned the bathroom countertop. There was a toothbrush, an impressive array of perfume, a few stray pieces of jewelry and lip gloss. Grey crouched and sifted through the bathroom cabinets to find shampoo bottles, exfoliators, shaving cream. Nothing effective. Nothing helpful.
If she could cover it's face with one of the yellow towels dangling from the rack, then maybe she could tackle it to the floor.
As though her survival instincts were a separate entity, she mentally eliminated the plan.
It'd tear the thing to shreds in seconds. If I take it down, that wouldn't be getting rid of it, only slowing it down and pissing it off.
She eyed the porcelain top of the toilet.
Don't. It's too heavy and if you aren't careful enough, it would hear the scraping.
Anxiously, Grey turned in circles around the small space, analyzing anything in sight. A clock on the wall, a soap dispenser, bottles of nail polish.
Then, she found the drawers above the cabinet. She held her breath and pulled the first one open. Floss, nail clippers... scissors.
Delicately, Grey wiggled her fingers through the scissor loops, embracing the cool metal on her fingertips. When they were unable to make any more noise, she held the loops in a fist and tested the point with her free hand. With her palms to the sharp end, there wasn't a pinch. But there could be if she added enough force.
Kill it, Grey. You'll only have one chance.
She sidestepped towards the door, poking her head into the bedroom. The demon was on all fours, Amelia laid out beneath him. Grey didn't need to see them to know those bottomless eyes were transfixed on the young woman. When she stepped into it's peripheral, it didn't flinch. Instead, it cocked its swollen head to the side, a predator sniffing a meal it wasn't sure about consuming.
Grey tightened her grip on the scissors, bile rising in her throat.
The beast lowered it's lips, deep purple snake tongue flicking towards Amelia's wounds.
Oh hell no.
Grey's slippers were silent on the wooden floors as she charged, raising the scissors above her head. She was five feet away when the creature detected her, swiveled its ugly head to the side to bare its black gums and hiss. Bone wings shot to the sides of the room, preparing for flight, preparing to skewer Grey with one flap.
It was fast, but she was faster.
With a grunt, Grey stabbed the scissors clean through the center of the nightstalker's neck. Hot, raven black blood spilled over Amelia, splashed Grey's face and pajamas. The girl grit her teeth as she kicked at its thin stomach and sent it onto the couch. Dead fingernails clawed at the twin blades, rushed fervor to get the scissors out decreasing steadily as it gurgled and choked and slowed down from the effort.
When it didn't stop moving quickly enough, Grey snatched the flower vase from the center of the coffee table. "Eat this!"
Painted glass shattered over the couch and fake roses showered the cushions as she brought it down on its bald head.
The irkan's head bobbed from the collision, slumping to the side as Grey backed up against the wall.
Her heart beat in her ears, her breathing shredding through the silence that engulfed the living room. She wasn't sure if that was enough to take it out, but it didn't look like it would be pouncing any time soon. After a few seconds of observing it's stillness Grey inched closer to Amelia and knelt by her friend, wincing as her pajama bottoms absorbed the pool of blood. It was like kneeling in thin honey or kneeling in paint.
Pressing two fingers to the top of Amelia's neck, she calmed her thunderous thoughts and waited for a pulse. What was supposed to be a steady beat in the skin felt like little more than a tap. Her complexion continued to pale, and one look at her other shoulder explained why.
Three gashes, deep and long, tore apart muscle and skin. She couldn't tell where they began and where they ended, scarlet bathed the top of her right arm.
Grey whimpered, hot tears welling under her eyelids. "Amelia?"
A gentle finger caressed her friend's cheek, eyes searched her friend's tranquil face. A mixture of black and red blood smeared underneath her cheekbone as Grey pulled away.
She needed medical attention, and she needed it now. She dashed for Amelia's home phone.
"Grey."
She whirled towards the apartment door, shock barely allowing her to register the fact that it was now open. Luca was already down in a defensive stance, scanning the room once more before turning to address her again.
"The ambulance will not come quickly enough. Take Amelia to KSJ."
So many things complicated that simple concept. She wasn't allowed there, Amelia might die on the way, Luca just now decided to show up...
"B-but I can't. She won't, won't make it."
"Listen to me. She must go now! Do not freeze."
Willing motion into her limbs, Grey scurried to Amelia's side. "How do I carry her?"
"Step aside," Luca commanded. Grey jumped back as Amelia's chest lurched upwards, the rest of her body following suit. Her arms and legs dangled as they lifted from the floor, black hair falling from her shoulders and swaying in the invisible hold.
Amelia hovered in midair, a body suspended in time. Grey shook her head, sliding further away from the sleeping girl.
"Get her keys. Can you drive?"
Grey nearly tripped on her way back to the kitchen, fumbling for the granite countertops to keep her on two feet. She snatched Amelia's car keys from the hanger on the wall by the keychain, ignoring the jumbling metal sound that reminded her of how badly she was shaking. Shuffling back to the door, Luca was already through the threshold, glancing back at Amelia's body which followed behind the kitten like it was attached by a tether.
Grey sprinted through the hallways, Luca close behind. The cat shouted, "Take the stairs!"
She shoved through an emergency escape door, holding it open for both the animal and Amelia. And for a second, she gawked at the magic, at the vision of the other girl looking like she was being held up by the ceiling or on puppet strings before letting it close behind her.
When they neared the car, Grey opened the door to the backseat for Luca and climbed into the driver's seat. The engine purred to life as soon as she twisted the key's ignition. Amelia sank into the suede seats, the magic lowering her gently on the side that wasn't scratched. Luca sat on her waist. The door slammed shut on its own, and this time Grey did not inquire. She reversed from Amelia's spot and floored it into the streets of downtown.
Streetlights passed like shooting stars as Grey dodged traffic and swerved between lanes. Since it was the middle of the week, barely anyone roamed the roads and for that, she thanked her luck. Because if anyone were to get in the way at this speed, she feared that she wouldn't be able to stop.
KSJ's parking structure was still open when Grey jerked the steering wheel into the entrance. With the lack of cars, she pressed forward to get a spot close to the elevators, and yelped as a shadowed silhouette appeared in the middle of the lane. Crushing the brakes, the side of the car veered diagonally and screeched to a stop. The smell of burnt rubber overwhelmed her as she scrambled out of the seat, fighting the dizziness that swirled around her temples.
Jungkook glared daggers.
"Help. Her. Now," Grey said, almost ripping the back door off its hinges as she showed unconscious Amelia and a glaring Luca. Jungkook's teeth clenched, but he did not back down.
"What happened to her?"
Grey stomped her foot. "We don't have time for this! She'll die!"
So many emotions warred in his expression, and Grey could not find it in her heart of hearts to care. After another second, the young prince nodded once and ducked into the back of the car to collect the body.
Luca hopped to the ground. "I'll go with him."
Grey nodded, spinning on her heel to storm towards the elevator.
"Floor 41. He's there," Jungkook called. Amelia's head tucked delicately under the crook of his neck. Grey ignored him, pressing the call button. When she was safely inside, she ascended.
The sombre greeting hall was just as ominous and majestic as she remembered. Padding over the carpet, she noticed cold wind blowing underneath her clothes, past her hair. White clouds escaped her lips as she breathed evenly. This place was too big to explore alone, and the adrenaline had begun to fade.
Jin could be anywhere in these winding, serpentine corridors. In any one of the rooms. Except, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she reached the opposite end near the fireplace. In fact, the entire atmosphere shifted. If she thought it was cold before, the frosted draft blowing through the great hall now made her teeth chatter. Even more, the sensation of eyes pinned to her back stopped her dead in her tracks.
"I told you not to return."
Jin's booming voice caused her to face him. He leaned onto the bannister of an ornate stone staircase laden with white roses that coiled at both ends to the floor of the hall. Though his legs were crossed and his relaxed arms were casual, she was little more than a pest to him and she could see it in the disdain that disfigured his beauty.
For the first time, Grey realized it now, she regarded a prince of shadows. And she trespassed in his palace.
"I didn't want to," she said. "But I need your help."
Without taking his eyes off her he peeled himself from his perch and sauntered down one side of the steps. "I told you we would not help you."
"You told me a lot of things," she countered. "But you never told me the truth."
Jin raised an eyebrow and clasped his hands behind his back. Every regal stride he took closer in her direction was slower, cautious. When he was close enough that Grey could make out his dark eyes and white blouse, she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Sovereign of the skies or not, she would not cower.
She said, "I know what you are. But a few things don't add up."
"What am I, Grey?" Jin's long arms extended at his sides, palms facing upwards in a curious gesture. She noticed the height difference from this distance, how she had to tilt her chin higher and pretend as though his presence--this arsenal of power--did not unnerve her very core. "Where are you right now? Why are you here when I instructed you not to be?"
"You're an angel."
She couldn't read his expression, but his towering gaze paralyzed her, saw right through her outer layers to the vulnerable skin underneath. He halted a foot away, the columns and high ceilings of the hall seeming to fill with emptiness and space as he focused solely on her frame.
"I think you know more than that."
"You're Anaphiel. One of them."
He remained blank as she continued. "Except, you couldn't be. Because you're here and not up there. Angels can't exist on Earth unless they've--,"
He glared then, her hair blowing back as bitter wind whipped around them. "You know nothing about my people."
"You're right. I don't. I am way out of my league."
The corner of his lip twitched. A sign that her honesty was disarming.
"What I've taken, I've stolen from books and I know that angels cannot exist on Earth unless they've..."
"Fallen?" Jin's earring swayed and shimmered as he cocked his head to the side.
She nodded imperceptibly, the motion enough to make the angel halfheartedly shrug.
"Even the mightiest hit the ground eventually." His words dripped with cynicism and when she finally understood the depth of pain lingering between the lines, the negativity in the room became stiflingly apparent. "If anything, we should have anticipated this."
By we, Grey assumed he meant himself and Jungkook. Two individuals that had their own lives, their own stories completely different from hers and Amelia's. Their destinies were not meant to intertwine, and now that they had, she found herself being pulled further in his direction than pushed back into her own. Unsure of how to speak to Jin while he was being obscure, she stopped wasting her time.
"A demon almost tore my best friend apart and I was told to come here. I don't care about your requests, I don't care about your position, I don't care about the way you feel. I have to make sure she survives the night."
Jin blinked once. She shivered again, crossing her arms around her chest and rubbing through her sleeves as cold air fluttered beneath her pajamas. Not a single window cracked open. The fireplace raged silently behind, flames muted. Even so, the foyer swirled with the beginnings of a storm and she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
"You may be an angel," she said through chattering teeth, "but you act nothing like it, and I need you to understand that your opposition will not stop me from getting help for my friend. Jungkook already took her."
His voice was not his own. It was clipped, grave. Resonant. It filled every ounce of empty space and filled her head. "Why are you here, Grey?"
Plumes of black smoke unfurled from checkered tile, manifesting from air to swallow the walls, waft over the red carpet, hide the only escape she knew: the elevator. The purple light from the ceiling dimmed and faded, the red glow of the mantle being the only remnant of life and warmth against a torrent of shadows.
This was his power. In a supposed council of judgment, he was responsible for turning the night sky into a gas devoid of stars, a sort of twisting and contorting essence of darkness.
She'd seen it that night in the office. But this...
Hanging onto the tinge of warmth on her back, she reminisced on Amelia; the friend that held her heart in the palm of her hands.
"I want you to assure her protection!" Grey squinted her eyes shut as a tornado of air whirled around them both, howling to the windows above.
When she looked at Jin again, his own smoke rose to his chest, concealing the rest of his broad frame. Tendrils of shadow winnowed through his hair, over his shoulders. As though it controlled him.
"I should kill you for trespassing," he declared.
Over the screaming wind, she rose her voice. "Kill me! If it means that she lives."
Though the shadows fanned around her feet, they stopped reaching for her toes as Jin said, "You would lay down your life for her?"
"I would do anything for the people I love! I fear nothing when it comes to keeping them safe. Not even you. She is a piece of me and living without her is not living at all. "
The darkness shrank back from the sides of his face, his clothes. "You would risk everything?"
"Take my life in exchange for hers. Protect her."
Grey extended her palm into the space between her and Jin. An offer if he'd only accept it.
"Take my hand, and it's yours."
Where she expected him to snatch her by the arm, she was taken aback as something in that hardened exterior of his cracked as he surveyed her hand. If she would have blinked, she would have missed it--his scowl softening, a childlike curiosity replacing it for a brief second before it grew stern.
"Put your hand down," the angel replied. The wind calmed. Tentacles of ghastly smoke dissipated from the walls, the floor, the staircase. Heat from the fireplace gushed onto her back. Goosebumps erupted from her skin at the temperature change and the sight of the shadows returning to his palms as an animal would return to its den. "I don't want your life."
"Then help me." Grey stepped forward, laying her hand on his shoulder instead. "Promise me Amelia will be safe."
He eyed her fingers which were speckled with black blood from the nighstalker, then locked eyes with her once more. "Did you tell her about anything you discovered in the last few hours?"
The girl shook her head, ironically grateful that she didn't leave that bathroom. Still, she was confused. If she shared nothing, then the demon shouldn't have found her the way that it did.
"You will stay here while Jungkook and I look into the matter."
Her hand fell back to her side. "What?"
"You will stay here temporarily. We'll handle Amelia."
"Let me see her--,"
"You will see her tomorrow. Find a room and wash up. You're covered in blood."
Jin was already striding towards the elevator as she looked down at herself. By the time she looked up for him again, he was gone. Uncertain as to whether to call herself a prisoner or a hero, she surveyed the cathedral-like architecture and hoped she'd made the right choice.
:::
(A/N) Sweet reader,
Chapter 10 comes in on 6/9 (June 9th).
Thank you for the read! Don't forget to share your thoughts (I'm always dying to hear them).
School is kicking my butt right now, so if I respond slow or something please cut me some slack!
With love,
M