2 [Bonus chapter] A bad habit

"Aaahhh!" Celeste suddenly screamed in pain. Tears streamed from her eyes as she twisted and squirmed in Kole's muscular arms. She could feel it; she could feel the pain of that green-haired vampire cutting off her wing all over again, over and over and over.

And the salt in the ocean water soaking her wound wasn't making the pain any more bearable, as a matter of fact, it was making it worse!

Celeste was foreign to pain and agony; she was foreign to this feeling of wanting to die so it wouldn't hurt anymore. She was losing blood, more and more by the second.

She wasn't healing.

'Why isn't she healing?' Kole thought, his eyes wide with fear and panic. 'The blood of an angel can heal,' he continued to think. 'So why isn't she healing?!'

A drop of Celeste's blood fell on a scratch wound he had on his arm from when Morticia grabbed him, and it healed almost immediately. 'So, that's it,' he thought. 'Angels can heal everyone else but themselves.'

Angels only knew to be loving, compassionate, and selfless; others' lives were always put before their own. It was a trait they were born with which was always somewhat like a bad habit.

"I need you to be strong, Celeste."

The crying angel clenched her closed eyes tighter as she shook her head, her voice trembling as she spoke, "I-It hurts so much."

"I know, but you have to be strong." He looked around before saying, "I need you to hold your breath for a minute or two." His blue eyes fell on her face, "Can you do that?"

Celeste opened her teary eyes to look at him. Her hands formed tight fists on her chest as she inhaled deeply before nodding.

Kole dove into the water, dodging broken tree limbs, objects, and winged devils rapidly spiraling toward him with the rough tide as he swam as fast as he could to the village infirmary.

The small building made of wood was somewhat still intact, the winged devils must've not gotten to it. He surfaced at the wooden door and Celeste coughed whilst harshly gasping for air. Her chest was burning and her head was spinning; it was painful holding her breath for so long.

"Are you okay?" Kole worriedly questioned.

Celeste only nodded in response as she closed her eyes again; she was starting to feel sleepy. "Keep your eyes open!" Kole shouted as he banged his fist against the wooden door of the infirmary.

The angel's eyes only briefly shot open before they started to close again. She was drowsy and felt so weak.

"Shit," Kole cursed under his breath before banging his fist so hard against the door he cracked a hole into it. He peeked through the hole he made and found, Bonnie, the mermaid who ran the infirmary hiding behind one of the shelves that were nailed to the ground.

"Open the door, Bonnie!" he yelled at the frightened mermaid.

Bonnie flinched at his voice. She adjusted her cracked glasses, blinking numerously before her eyes finally focused on the familiar face. "Kole," she muttered with wide eyes before swimming to the door.

Just like the rest of the island, the infirmary was also flooded. The island was almost fully submerged underwater.

Bonnie opened the door and quickly locked it behind Kole. "What are you doing?" the purple-haired young woman questioned. Her green eyes widened at the sight of the little girl in his arms.

Her skin was sickly pale and the burden on her body was visibly too much for her small size.

"Put her on that table over there," Bonnie commanded, referring to a table that was nailed to the wall. She rummaged through the drawers attached to the shelves and grabbed jars that were floating about. She was looking for something.

"You're going to be okay," Kole comforted Celeste. He glanced back at Bonnie who was still swimming from shelf to shelf checking jars and drawers. He slicked back Celeste's hair as he promised, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Kole looked at Bonnie again who was still busy searching for something. "Could you hurry up?!"

Bonnie's eyes widened at the sight of the jar she was looking for. "Samphire," she muttered as she took the jar in her hands before rushing over to Celeste and Kole.

She opened the jar and took a small piece of the green plant inside it. "What's that?" Kole questioned.

"It's samphire," Bonnie told him as she pushed the sea herb into Celeste's mouth. "It'll help with the pain." She patted Celeste's head, "Please swallow, my dear. It'll help you feel better."

Celeste did as the mermaid said and swallowed. All the tension and agony left her body almost immediately. Her breathing calmed; her chest slowly heaved up and down as she fell asleep.

Bonnie's green eyes followed the blood that stained Celeste's dress. "What is all this blood?" she questioned.

Kole jumped on the table beside Celeste and sat her on his lap. He showed Bonnie the gaping, bloody wound on the left of her back. "We were attacked by vampires."

"My goodness!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Even vampires are here! Who did we offend so much that they sent winged devils and vampires after us?" She looked at Kole expectantly, "Do you know why this is happening to us?"

Only a select few knew about Celeste and her origin. She was meant to be kept a secret. Kole trusted Bonnie wholeheartedly with his life, but not Celeste's.

What if she blames Celeste for everything that was happening and refuses to help her? He couldn't let that happen.

"I'll tell you everything later," Kole told the frightened and confused mermaid. "Please help her first."

Bonnie adjusted her glasses as she looked carefully at the wound. "What a strange wound," she thought out loud. "It looks as if something was brutally cut from her body."

The wound wasn't deep enough to be considered a stab wound and was too ghastly to be dubbed a very bad scrape. 'What could this little girl have experienced?'