Fire and pain were clutching at my insides, clawing at them mercilessly. Through the agony I could hear the screams of my parents, begging me to leave.

Those and similar images plagued me that night more than ever. The same utter helplessness and horror froze my limbs, making me unable to do anything, even scream for help.

Knowing it was just a dream didn't help because one part of me knew that even though it might be a nightmare now, it was once part of my life. It was a memory fighting to resurface, threatening to drown me in heartbreaking horror.

I knew what was coming, and I refused to witness it. The last thing I needed was the image of my mother surrounded by flames screaming for me to leave. Yet, it was what I got again and again. Mixed with it were the empty reassurances of my father that they were okay, that I needed to stay away.

I neither ran away nor went to help them, although I was just a few meters away.

Still a coward, I did everything possible to wake up, refusing to remember once again. It was all just too much to handle.

I wasn't ready. I wasn't sure if I ever could be.

As my eyes finally snapped open, I felt the cold sweat covering every inch of my body as I shook like a leaf in a storm. It was the most terrifying typhoon I thought I had weathered long ago. However, it was back to haunt me.

With my eyes still heavy from sleep, I scanned my surroundings looking for comfort in the familiar, even though the dark distorted most of my things into something strange, something I didn't recognize. Scary even.

For example, one pile of clothing sure didn't look like it. It resembled a small, evil-looking creature staring at me from the depths of the darkness. It was a horrifying sight to wake up to, but I somehow preferred it to the familiar nightmare.

"A nightmare, huh?" a jeering voice asked from the shadows. "Those aren't nearly as painful as having one's bones broken, I'll have you know."

At first, I wasn't sure if I was still trapped in my dream or if it was a hallucination. However, as my brain recalled the previous day's events, I started to think every strange little thing I thought was impossible was not only possible but very likely to happen to me.

"Who are you?" I asked stupidly, even though all I wanted to do was scream for help.

However, my throat was so dry that even that one sentence came out as the softest of whispers.

"I am the one who had to do all the paperwork because someone was too lovey-dovey to let you get hurt," the voice said as the figure gesticulated wildly, its rage almost palpable. "If he had just followed the rules and done his job instead of interfering with mine, everything would have been much better. Well better for us. Not better for you."

"You...caused the accident?" I asked as my heart constricted in my chest.

What kind of evil being would do such a thing? Cause so many people to die, to suffer. No one deserved that.

"Yep, some of my best work," the creature said, and I could hear a proud smile in its voice.

That alone was enough to cause a sudden shift in my demeanor. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and instead of fear drowning my heart, rage became all I felt. It gave color to my cheeks and strength to my voice.

"How dare you!" I exclaimed in righteous anger. "How can you be so proud of causing harm to others? Do you know how many people died? How many families lost their loved ones?"

My voice cracked at the last part as those words hit a bit too close to home, but I knew they needed to be said. The foul creature had to be held accountable for its evil doings.

"Hey, I am just doing my job!" the creature exclaimed angrily. "It's not so different from what your boyfriend does."

The fact that it couldn't tell the difference was infuriating to me, but I was suddenly cut short by how he worded things. He referred to Andromalius as my boyfriend, which made no sense because I was reasonably sure that no creatures could read minds and know that I apparently had a thing for an Angel of Death. So why did he say that? Could it mean...?

I had so many things to say, to explain the difference, to transfer all the anger I had for Andromalius for being mysterious, for the world for not being as simple as I assumed, to this being who had no respect for human life. But a sudden bright light interrupted my train of thought.

"Ahriman, what on earth do you think you are doing?" a gentle voice that sounded like the most beautiful melody spoke from inside the light.

Once my eyes adjusted, I could see the most breathtaking sight that proved to me, without a shadow of a doubt, that what Andromalius was saying was nothing but the truth.

Before my bed stood the most beautiful angel I had ever seen (and the only angel I had ever seen). Her appearance seemed to shimmer while her soft white wings stood open, apparently the source of the blinding light that filled my plain-looking room.

Before I could be embarrassed that something as pure was in my room and I was still lying in my bed like one of the worst hosts, my eyes shifted to the once-obscure figure that could be seen now in the angel's light.

The first thing that caught my attention was the blindingly white and incredibly sharp teeth the creature had, visible in the sneer it gave the angel. Its skin was completely green, and its eyes were dark red, filled with malice and desire for mayhem. Even the clothes it wore made it look scary as it was covered with different animal furs and had a crossbow slung on its shoulder and a spiked mace in its hand.

It looked like the being you never wanted to meet, let alone see standing in your bedroom where you generally feel the safest.

"Evangeline, always there to interfere in other people's business," Ahriman sniggered. "No wonder you and that halfling are friends. But I thought he dumped you for this mere human. Don't you want me to avenge you?"

As I listened to their conversation, frozen in a daze that felt like a hallucination, I found it hard to understand what was happening. Still, I clung to their words, doing my best to remember them for later analysis because it sounded like there were many clues that I was too scared to pick up on.

"First of all, I am always doing what I believe is right, even if it interferes with your business," Evangeline said gently but firmly enough to make it clear she was in charge. "Secondly, just because he is not fully an angel, that doesn't make him less worthy of being my friend. Thirdly, she is anything but a mere human. And finally, he and I were never together, but even if we were, I wouldn't need such a creature who preys on the pain of others to punish him."

The evil smile disappeared from Ahriman's face, replaced by the strangest-looking pout I had ever seen, probably because it was placed on such a menacing face.

"But he was the one who interfered in my work first!" he said, stomping his feet. "I even had to work overtime to make my quota!"

"Even if that's true, the girl has nothing to do with that. You have no right to harass her," Evangeline stated decidedly. "He will be punished if it's determined that he was in the wrong. However, aren't you breaking the rules by showing yourself here right now? Shouldn't you be punished as well? Don't you remember the rules? Isn't lurking in a girl's bedroom breaking them?"

The creature looked at her with such bitterness that I fully expected it to attack, to swear or combine the two, but all it did was disappear in the cloud of thick smoke.

"You are alright now. Go to sleep," Evangeline whispered, focusing her gentle sea-blue eyes on me.

Even though I wanted to ask her so many questions, just the gentleness of her voice made me slowly drift off to sleep, a refreshing one, where all the nightmares were chased away by the gentle light shining in the dreamland.