Reaching for Eve it upset him that she pulled back. It was
the first time that he had ever really felt lonely. He stopped still,
reassessing what he was doing. What did he want from her? He needed to move
forward, he needed to get back to what he did. He was death. He didn’t know how
to be anything else. Dropping his hand he tilted his head to one side and
regarded her with thinly veiled interest.
“Do you know what you are?”
She couldn’t help but laugh quietly. “We went through this
last night. My name is Eve.”
“That is who you are. I want to know what you are.”
“I am an angel.”
“But what else are you?”
His question stumped her for a moment. They both knew that
she was more, but what exactly, neither of them was sure. There was stillness
about the room as the question hung in the air.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“No. I have never had to work it out before.” She hated
admitting that especially since he was trying to kill her, but she was beyond
caring about death. He was a thorn in her side, one she wanted to rip out and
throw away.
“Will you help me work it out?”
“No! You would only use the information to kill me and I told
you already, it is not my time. It never will be.” Outrage rang in her voice.
“I promise that I won’t hurt you.” He hated lying, but the
alternative for him was to live the rest of his life in purgatory. He couldn’t
do that.
“I am sorry that I just don’t believe you.” Her voice was
gentle and slightly tired. So much for getting sleep tonight. The clock beside
her bed glowed in the corner adding to the limited amount of light in the room.
Her eyes were now accustomed to the darkness, but still she sat weary of him.
They didn’t call him death for nothing. “Are you going to leave me alone yet?”
“No.”
“Surely there are others that need to die?” As much as it
pained her to think of others dying, it was better them than her.
“Not by my hand, not tonight. I am here and needed nowhere
else.”
She sighed, they could go around and round in circles all
night, but she needed to rest. Another day of feeling desolate would bring her
closer to where he wanted her. “Can I at least sleep?”
“You can do what you like. I am happy to wait for you.”
“Go away and leave me alone then. I will still be here in the
morning.” She said dismissing him.
“And so will I” he countered.
No longer caring what he did, the need for sleep outweighed
the need for death to leave. She lay back down in the bed and even as he
remained sitting there watching her, she drifted off into a deep sleep. A sleep
where her dreams were more like dark nightmares. An imaginary version of hell.
Pain and torture ripped her apart from within, but no matter how they tried to
hurt and kill her she still survived. She was reliving death and everything
that he had given her.
As Death watched her sleep the peaceful look on her face
changed. He couldn’t help but wonder what had her looking so terrified. He had
never seen her look that way before. Not even when he tried to kill her.
Touching her while she slept, he wondered if he could kill her in her sleep.
Many before her had been killed in just that way. Pushing himself from within
he gave her a jolt of power that was strictly designed to be a quick and
effective way of departing from this world. His power however was met with an
unknown force that pushed back at him harder, almost pushing him off of the
bed. Her face never changed and she never woke. Getting up off the bed his legs
were shaking. What was it about her that made him feel so weak? Leaving her
room, he wandered the house, searching for someplace to recover and think away
from her. He was not ready to leave her totally, no matter how much he wished
to. The woman was a temptress and he had to create distance between them, no
matter how small it was. The couch where it all started the night before came
into view and he lay down there, hoping that with a new day a new idea would
come to him so that he could fix the problem that he was having killing her.
She had felt his power working its way through her body while
she slept. Riding the wave of sensation that he created momentarily before pushing
him away. Her mind separated from her body and while she had the appearance of
someone sleeping, she was preparing for whatever battle death thought that he
could wage while she was not awake. It disappointed her that he gave up so
quickly. Hearing him walk out of the room and wander through her house her mind
rejoined her body and began to rest once more. Something telling her that this
battle was far from over.
When the sun shone through her bedroom window and woke her,
Eve gingerly got out of bed. Her body was nowhere near as tired as it had been
and was healing more and more each day. Death was nowhere to be seen and it
pleased her that she had some time alone. She was not a morning person and
anyone who dared to invade her personal space before she had a chance to have
numerous cups of coffee had a death wish themselves. Showering away the last of
the fatigue she felt she dressed and returned to her room. Nothing was out of
place except for their laying on her bed was a black rose. Death had been here
again. His scent lingered in the air no so much as pungent like she had
expected, but a subtle smell. It was
unique and that was how she knew that it was not something that she had
created. Picking up the rose from the bed it looked half dead, however as she
held it in her hand it magically seemed to come back to life. Dropping it back
down in shock she couldn’t believe what she had seen. It was impossible to
think that she could do that. Angels couldn’t do things like that. Her mother
certainly couldn’t.
Mum. Emotion filled her as tears formed in her eyes. She
missed her mother so much. There had been so many times that she could wished
that she could take back the harsh words that she had said in anger. Her mother
had loved her unconditionally and it wasn’t until she was gone that Eve had
begun to understand that. Coming home from school that day Eve had seen her mum
laying on the ground outside in the back yard. Her back was bloodied and her
clothes torn to shreds. Her beautiful wings that she had taken so much care
with were a pile of feather across the floor. Some of the feathers were stuck
in the blood and those that weren’t, were gently lifting away with the breeze.
Pain etched into her face showing the last possible thing that she felt. There were
so many things that she never got the chance to learn from her mother and one
of them was her wings. She knew that she had them, the pain when they were
created made her aware for the first time of her existence as an angel, but she
had never seen them before. Even now after all of these years had passed it was
something that she wished that she had had the chance to find out more about.
They might as well not even exist if she was not able to see and use them.
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