Forbidden Part 3

Anita stumbled forward into the empty apartment. Dagon stood behind her his face passive as if he did this all the time. Maybe he did.

Her knee shook and throbbed with pain, but she managed to hold herself upright. It would take more than bruising to take her down. But in her current situation, she knew she could be at the edge of her limits.

Dagon closed the doors, shutting out the gentle night breeze. She glanced back at him. He was strange. Indifferent one moment, but then gentle the next. Now he seemed to have closed himself off from her. He leaned against the wall with his I-don’t-care manly attitude.

He may be bored, but her heart had never beat so hard before. She’d never felt more alive than she did in this moment. Maybe that’s the way everyone felt right before they died.
She had no illusions of making it out of this alive.

“So, what are we waiting for?” Her voice echoed off the empty walls. There were no doors save the ones they’d come in.

Dagon stood with his arm crossed and said nothing. She was sick of men who thought they were better than her. Who thought to control her. Damn it. She was over this attitude.

She spun on her heel and stalked up to him. She poked him in the center of his chest. “Tell me what’s happening. I’m done being scared.”

“That’s good.” A man’s voice came from behind her. The tone was welcoming, but his voice made her want to curl into the fetal position and hide.

She looked up into Dagon’s eyes, searching for something to hold onto, searching for an ally. He wouldn’t meet her gaze. Her insides clenched. She was alone.

Slowly, she turned and backed closer to Dagon. Better the evil you know...well, kind of know.
In the center of the room stood a man. His long dark hair fell down his back. Eyes the color of emeralds shimmered with a knowledge of everything. His gaze penetrated her soul and knew every secret she had.

“Don’t look in his eyes,” Dagon’s voice resonated in her head. She glanced back but he hadn’t moved. He didn’t meet her questioning gaze.

“They call me Sammuel.” His voice had a distinct accent though she couldn’t place it.

Beautiful did not begin to describe the man before her. It was almost painful to look at him as if an artist had achieved perfection and brought it to life.

“Do you not have a voice, Anita?” Sammuel said.

Anita backed up again. The heat of Dagon made her feel safe. She couldn’t think about how odd that thought was now. The man in front of her required all her attention.

Anita drew from the strength behind her. “Why am I here?”

“Why are any of us here?” Sammuel held his hands wide and smiled as if they were talking over tea.

“I wasn’t being philosophical. I don’t understand what any of this has to do with me.”

Sammuel turned. She caught a glimpse of wings before they vanished. More angels, great.

“Did you tell her?” Sammuel’s attention was on Dagon.

“No, sir.” Dagon sounded like a soldier.

“Well, Anita. Why don’t we have a seat?” Sammuel smiled charmingly at her.

She narrowed her eyes. “There’s no where—”

Two large, wing-backed chairs blinked into existence. She glanced over her shoulder at Dagon. He nodded once. She hadn’t even realized she’d been looking for his permission. Old habits died hard. It upset her that even in her final hours she turned to a man to decide for her. Especially the angel that might kill her.

She sat in the offered chair. Why were they being so nice to her if they were going to kill her? Why not just end her life? Unless they got some sort of perverse pleasure in making women suffer. She wiped her damp palms over her dirty pants.

Sammuel sat and crossed his ankle over his leg as he leaned back.

“Do you know what we are?”

“Angels?”

“Close.” Sammuel’s lips curved into a mysterious smile. “We are the Fallen. Daemons.”

“So does that make you the devil?”

His smile disappeared. “I am simply a servant. You are a Witness, a human who is able to see angels. Most Witnesses still cannot see past our glamours, the image we present the world. But you are special, Anita.”

“I’ve never been special in my life. I think you have me mistaken with someone else.” She stood. “I’d like to go home now.”

She turned and before she could breathe, Sammuel had a hand around her throat, squeezing painfully. His other arm banded her arms to her side.

“Look at the angel that brought you here.”

Anita met Dagon’s grey eyes. His posture hadn’t changed but his eyes blazed with anger. At her? Or at Sammuel?

“What do you see?”

She kept her mouth shut, refusing to be bullied.

“What do you see?” He squeezed harder making it difficult to breathe.

Dagon’s eyes shone with murderous intent. She still wasn’t sure who the anger was directed to, her or Sammuel. Not willing to find out and not willing to pass out with these angels... Fallen or not...

“I see dark wings, grey eyes, black hair.” The pressure on her neck eased.

Sammuel whispered in her ear. “Dagon is glamoured. Humans see him as an average man with brown hair and brown eyes. They only see what we want them to.”

He released her abruptly, and as she stepped forward, her knee gave out. She fell forward expecting to hit the floor she shoved her hands out to catch herself.

Instead she found herself swept up into Dagon’s arms.

“Enough talk,” Dagon said.

Anita’s stomach dropped. Time’s up.

He spoke to Sammuel. “Do what you need to do?”

Read the Competition Across the Veil