VIII
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" the devil  has no sympathy.
he simply does not care. "
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I SHOULD'VE SCREAMED, run after him, tried to catch him before he fell, but I didn't. I was frozen to the spot, completely and utterly petrified. That did not just happen. He had just-

I swallowed the lump stuck in my throat, and edged closer to the drop, only to take a few steps back in fear. I was hyperventilating, on the brink of tears.

No. What the fuck? This could not be happening.

I took in another sharp breath when all of a sudden the rushing of wind, echoing like a flock of birds  rung out across my eardrums. The flapping of wings invaded my senses, and I screamed as the largest bird I had ever seen shot up from the side of the cliff, straight up into the gloomy sky.

My brown locks scattered across my face from the movement of air, and for a moment I was blinded. But as my hair fell back into place, one thing was for certain: that was not a bird. 

It was Zane.

I cried out in astonishment, adrenaline hurtling through my body. The boy paid me no attention as he glided through the air with a bit of a struggle, his flight looking hap-hazardous. His wings were an array of the most beautiful ebony feathers I had set eyes on, glimmering an oily teal and purple like that of a crow's. Except something was wrong - his left wing looked scrawny, with the feathers out of place, and even some missing. And his tattoo was nowhere to be seen.

Zane did a sharp turn before coming towards me at a hurtling pace. I was too awestruck to move back as he came straight at me, before using his damaged wings to glide to a halt in mid-air and land uncomfortably beside me. His face showed a hint of exhaustion, but he covered it up thinking that I hadn't noticed.

I couldn't help but admit - despite how scared I was of him, and the darkness that shrouded him like a cloud - that he was completely and utterly beautiful. With the lack of sunlight, his skin looked even more tanned, and was so perfectly smooth without a single blemish it seemingly glowed. His chest was well sculpted; it was nothing too extravagant in terms of muscle mass, but his body was still lean and entrancing. The hint of his cheekbones cast a shadow on his chiselled jaw, dark hair fluttering in the breeze. He was smirking, nose ring topping off his effortless beauty. His eyes appeared to have a storm raging inside of them, and he took the advantage of my stillness to move closer until I could feel his breath on my face.

I kept my eyes on his, unable to breathe. His six-foot frame towered over me, and his wings encircled me like a cage. And that's exactly how I felt - trapped. Because I had been brought into a world that I couldn't escape from.

Zane's smirk widened. He stood there, arms at his side and unmoving.

There was a certain mystery that had always lulled me in when I was around Zane and his group. Like an angler fish, I had been drawn to his light. And yet, there was nothing light about this. A sudden overwhelming presence of darkness took control of my nerves, and I began to shiver. He was cold. Everything about him felt cold. 

I reached out and felt his wings with my hands to make sure they were real. My fingers touched the black plumage tentatively, and my eyes widened when they were surprisingly soft. They were so delicate it felt as though they would break with a snap of my fingers. I moved my hand away and then back, running my fingertips down the length of his wing just to clasp the truth.

I wasn't hallucinating.

Zane had fucking wings. Wings.

The boy suddenly moved his hand under my chin and stroked the skin. I shuddered, jumping out of my trance. "What's going on in that head of yours, bambino?"

"I-" I shook my head. What was going through my head? He certainly was not human. "You're-" I paused.

"An angel," Zane finished. My mouth fell open and the boy chucked at my shocked reaction. "Well, half-angel."

"Half?" Was the only thing I could manage to say.

"My mother was mortal, my father is an angel."

His mother was mortal. Which meant... "How old are you?"

"One-thousand-nine-hundred-and-seventy-two."

What in the fuck? Ew? He was how much older than me, and still as immature as my twelve-year-old-sister? Didn't that make him a sugar daddy?

"Ok," I stated, bringing my hands towards my head and running them through my sweating scalp. "Ok, ok, so, um. What the fuck? Angels exist? Like god, heaven, all that shit?"

Zane nodded with an amused smile. "You humans are cute."

I whacked Zane's wing. "I'm not fucking cute, Zane."

"It's Azaziel, actually." The man had the audacity to bow. "Pleasure to meet you."

I rolled my eyes. "We almost died in a car crash, you have fucking wings, and you're joking with me right now?"

Zane stepped closer until our chests were almost touching, his hand delicately sliding down to my waist. "Maybe I am, bambi."

For a moment I was lost in his eyes and the electricity of his light touch, but my anger grew. I pushed him away with all the strength I could muster and crossed my arms.

"I want you to tell me everything. Please."

Zane nodded, finally serious. "Ok. Three nights ago, you remember the car crash?"

I sent him my best death glare.

"That was no car, that light, the thing that attacked us. That was an angel."

I pursed my lips open and creased my brows. "Aren't angels supposed to be good?"

Zane chuckled. "If you want angels to be the good guys, you're on the wrong side." He paused waiting for my reaction. "You see, bambi, me and the others, we're from hell. We lived there for centuries, served the devil, and other fallen angels. But we, alike so many others, were kicked out of hell for upsetting Lucifer because he thought a group of us were scheming to steal his wings."

"His wings?"

The half-angel nodded. "Without his wings, Lucifer is powerless - he can't fly out of hell. And anyone in possession of the wings, who knows how to use them, can destroy the Inbetween, and Heaven as we know it."

"The Inbetween?"

"Earth."

"And you stole his wings?"

"No- no. We were too loyal, but it was tempting. Being accused of it was the worst day of our lives. We were chucked out of hell with nothing but the wings on our back, which we learned to disguise as tattoos." So that made sense why his tattoo had disappeared - they were his wings. "Once you're banished from hell, you can't go back, nor can you go to heaven without the angels killing you. We were stuck.

"It was alright at first. It started out as twelve of us, wandering, and never settling for centuries. You see, being on earth as a half-angel and previous minion of the devil puts a target on your back. We've been hunted for years, and we've lost people. The four of us, we're all that remains."

I gave myself a few seconds to process all of the information, making sure that I was asking the right questions. "So what are you doing now? Why did that angel try to kill me?"

"We've been trying to get back to hell for centuries, Nadia. Not to serve Lucifer, but to save ourselves. In hell, the angels can't reach us. When we were cast out, we were thrown into the middle of nowhere, we didn't know how to get back. As the years went on, it emerged that there was an entrance to hell located somewhere on earth. But the cruel thing was, we couldn't find it. We needed a mortal with the gift to aid us. We found one once, but he bloody died on us, the fucking moron. We did narrow down the search to Edinburgh, however. 

"And that's where you come in. You can see our tattoos, and yet you have no angel blood pure enough in your veins. Which means you can see things we can't, read languages and symbols no one else can. You can get us back home. Which the angels don't want, mainly because they think we'll start armageddon."

"Armageddon?" I question, knowing I was uneducated.

"You know, boom, the end of the world. The underworld rises. All that shit. Which obviously we don't want. We may not have a heart, or emotions, but we don't want the Inbetween destroyed. It's been our home for years."

I bowed my head and released a shaky breath. It all sounded like something that had been made up and written in a children's fable book. But if Zane having huge black wings attached to his back and the ability to fly was real, then anything could be.

"So, I'm, what?"

"Invaluable. We need you. In all of our five-hundred years of searching, we've only found two of you," Zane explained. "You're what we call an Echo. Because you've previously visited heaven or hell and come back to the living. It happens occasionally where someone dies and comes back to life, but many of these people do not become an Echo."

My heart froze and I cast my eyes down at my feet, moving my big toes nervously. Of all the things, I did not want to be reminded of that day back when I was twelve. It still haunted me.

Zane's fingers moved back to my chin and gently pushed it up so that my eyes were on his. "Which brings me to my next question." This time, his voice wasn't harsh and rough, but soft and deep like the rolling tide. "How did you die?"

A tear escaped from my eyes remembering my past trauma and I tried to push Zane away once more, but he caught my hand. He didn't look too concerned, but the flash of an emotion was there.

I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it."

I expected Zane to smirk and force me to tell him more, but instead he stroked my cheek with his thumb gently and nodded. "Ok. But you need to know if they know what you are, they won't stop coming after us. You're not safe, and we don't really want you dead otherwise we can't get home."

And he was back. "Oh thanks so much for caring about me dying because you won't be able to get home, not because I'm an actual human being."

Zane sighed. "Nadia, we don't care about anyone. You should know that by now."

My heart plummeted as though I had fallen backwards off the cliff, too. I did know that. I didn't mind his dark and alluring persona, but he really did not care about me. "Yeah, I know that."

Zane stroked my chin harder and snaked his arm around my waist, bringing us closer together slowly. I allowed it to happen, and I started shaking from the proximity. I knew that Zane was dangerous, and whatever abilities he had being a half-angel, I should've been petrified of, but I was entranced. I felt like I had been wired up to an electric cable, energy buzzing through my blood.

He lowered his lips close to mine, and then whispered. "The effect we have on each other, it's dangerous." The words sent a chill down my spine, the hairs on my arms rising. I wanted him. I knew that much. Fuck, I wanted him, just to feel his skin against mine. "But don't mistake it as me caring, bambi. I'll protect you until I get what I need."

Evie was right, I loved a bad boy. But Zane wasn't a bad boy. He was half-Devil. He was something much more sinister.

I didn't want to be stuck with him.

"How do I get out of this?"

"You don't," He whispered in my ear and pulled away, glancing at my lips with a devilish smile. "I killed one of the angels that tried to kill us, but the heavens know when an angel is slain. They'll be coming to investigate. None of us are safe. And I'm not letting you out of my sight until you do your job." The man continued. "We have a spare room at our house, you can stay there."

It wasn't a question, but a demand. 

I shook my head in astonishment. My first year of university had been cut short, and I had no choice but to comply. How could I explain to special considerations that I was being hunted down by angelic creatures that only existed in religious tales? And my friends?

I nodded tentatively. "As long as I can see my friends, live the most normal life I can until this all blows over."

Zane shook his head. "We can arrange that. But I doubt this will blow over, bambi."

"I'm not putting my life on hold for you, Zane," I glared up at him.

All my attempted fierce look did was make him smirk. He leaned in close to me once more, smile widening. He knew the exact effect he had on me. He moved his lips close to mine, and I stayed frozen to the spot. Just as he was about to brush his lips against mine he moved away and I let out a huge breath I had been holding in.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, bambino," He stated and turned away from me in a flurry of black feathers. I watched in awe as the limbs snapped with a sickening sound, and shrunk down, the brown veins of the feathers forming ink, sinking into Zane's back and out of existence.

"Your left wing - when you got attacked that first night, they ruined it, didn't they?"

Zane paused and then slid on his shirt gracefully. 

"A half-angel stole five of my feathers. Without them, I'm weaker. I can barely fly."

The man spun on his heel and locked eyes with mine. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry," I muttered.

Zane shrugged his shoulders. "We'll get them back. There's an auction for them tomorrow night."

I raised a brow. "And you're going?"

Zane picked his hoodie up from the dusty floor and threw it at me without hesitation, noticing I has started to shiver. "We're going."

thank you for being patient again but here's another update!! i really hope it all makes sense now,  but if you're still confused please let me know and i'll edit this chapter so it's more obvious <333

ooh finally some action ;)

what do you think of the weird attraction between zane and nadia?

thank you so so much for reading, and please don't forget to comment and vote if you're enjoying. lots of love, lotte xx