Chapter Nine

I remained in my seat after the class had been dismissed, waiting for the crowd to subside before I joined the halls. I had spotted Farren with Uriel and Raph , I definitely wanted to go hang out with them but I couldn't exactly trust any of them at the moment. A shadow darkened my table as I lazily arranged my scripts. My heart did that usual lurch as I glanced up to find Castiel towering over me , a glower marring his seemingly perfect features.

"What?" I snapped, irritation from earlier still flowing through me. He glared even harder at my tone. I rolled my eyes and stood, stuffing my things into my tote bag.

"If you're not going to speak and stand there like a damn fool then be my guest, but I'm not going to waste any more time being stared at" I moved to walk past him. My breath caught in my throat when I felt his hand grip my arm, dragging me back with no effort. This was the first time he had touched me so deliberately, his touch was everything I expected it to be...scalding and electrifying. I met his eyes, squaring my shoulders so he wouldn't notice just how heady his touch made me feel.

"Get your hand off me" I repeated the same words he had told me just a matter of hours ago, with twice as much venom. His flinch was so minimal I wouldn't have caught it if I wasn't watching him so closely. Good. He recovered within a second, slamming up those his impenetrable walls once more.

"Don't walk away from me" His voice was calm with a cold edge to it. They say the most dangerous warnings are quiet. Well time to find out.

"And what if I do" I stepped into his space, daring. What was supposed to be a threat turned against me as his scent spread through my body like wildfire. Damnit.

The lights above us flickered once.

"I'll be more than willing to show you the consequences of your idiocy" He damn near growled, his hand tightening on my arm just a fraction.

"Empty words" I scoffed.

The lights flickered once more, this time going off and leaving the enter hall in darkness except for the faint glow of sunshine that filtered in through the ceiling to floor windows.

I heard Castiel breathe in deeply. "Stop trying to do that , it won't end well"

"Do what?" My voice was softer than I wanted it to be , temporarily distracted from my anger by how he looked under that poor lighting. The shadows seemed to dance around him, almost complementing him in the most dangerous way possible, his amber eyes also seemed to glow against the darkness taking my breath away for seconds.

"Aggravate me" His gravely voice lowered an octave, sending goosebumps spiraling down my flesh.

"What could you possibly do about it?" I breathed out, internally cringing at how breathless I sounded.

His eyes glazed over for a second before focusing on me once more, his jaw clenching and unclenching. My chest rose and fell in tandem to his, heat filling every crack and crevice in my body. It felt like I was going to fucking explode from the tension that wound itself deep in my belly. The only sound that resonated through out the classroom was the sound of harsh breaths that I soon realize didn't belong to only me but him too.

"What are you going to do about that Cassy?" My voice was a mere I whisper between us, taunting him. Poking at his control. I half expected him to lash out at me. To do something. To say something.

He closed his eyes for a brief while, sucking in a rugged breath through his parted pillowy lips that looked more than inviting right now. That sound almost undid me , my core clenching without my control. Really Ellie? you're really going to come from hearing him breathe? . When he lifted his lashes his eyes were of darkened molten lava, threatening to consume me whole.

The lights flickered on and off again.

"You are not going on a date with that boy" He spat the word 'date' and 'boy' with so much harshness that I flinched. I blinked , snapping out of the daze I was trapped in.

"And who do you think you are to tell me what to do?" I hissed, pulling my arm from his grip and severing our connection. But I couldn't give a fuck at this point.

"You're not going and that is final" His voice was even as he regarded me.

I short laugh burst out of my lips from his audacity. "You're fucking sick in your empty head if you think you have an ounce of authority over my life, Castiel"

Anger swiftly replaced all forms of arousal that I felt seconds earlier.

"What is it Cassy?" I taunted once more. "Jealous?"

His jaw twitched. "As much as you wish I would fight that excuse of a boy over your pathetic self, I apologize darling because that's only bound to happen in your wildest of dreams. Since you seem to have a low remembrance quota, surprisingly lower than your IQ level which is also at rock bottom , I will remind you that we happen to have practical sessions every evening and I shall not tolerate any form of sloppiness"

I bristled, hating the fact that what he said at the latter part was true. I grit my teeth as even more anger made it's way into my veins. Why did I even think Castiel would get jealous over me...maybe he sounded like he was ,but all he was trying to do was deliver a performance that matched his reputation. And he wouldn't let me get in the way.

"Alright" I kept my voice even and walked away from him, internally grateful that he didn't stop me this time. I absentmindedly noticed that we were the only ones left in the hall as the lights snapped back on. I was more than grateful of the hallway air as I slammed the door behind me , any air that didn't smell like him would be a fucking bliss at the moment.

I grabbed a slushy from a nearby food truck as I took the long route to my dorm to clear my clustered brain. The route that bordered the thick woods at the very edge of campus. Castiel's words had a way of weaving itself unto my consciousness even when I tried not to think about it....I wasn't dumb. I knew I wasn't. But every time he called me stupid or dumb I was thrown back to that night in high school where my mom stared at my grades on that stupid piece of paper with tears in her eyes because I had joined bad company that semester. Trying so hard to be one of the cool kids instead of making my mom happy. It was a few years after my dad had left and my mom was struggling to much with finances, trying hard to juggle nursing school and a job. She worked hard to get my fees paid and all I did in return was skip class to smoke pot. Not my proudest moment but whatever.

She wasn't mad, she didn't yell at me. I expected her to yell at me and tell me I was a bad daughter, maybe that would have made me feel better. Maybe then I would have rebelled and told her to fuck off. Instead she held me and cried and told me it was her fault because she failed as a mother because dad left. I really did break that day. So yes , I wasn't dumb. I was smart because it took a fucking lot to be here right now and he had no right to call me that. Fuck him.

A blush crept up my cheeks when my mind formed an image of him doing just that. At this point I was wondering if my brain was for me or against me.

I halted in my steps when I felt goosebumps litter my skin, the feeling of being watched overwhelming. I glanced at the darkness that wafted between the thick forest a few feet from me. An unexplainable force tugged at my chest making a gasp fly out of my lips, my dissolving slushy long forgotten.

I stood transfixed as the feeling intensified , drawing me closer and closer to the thick foliage. We had been warned strictly not to wonder into the woods that bordered the school, during our freshman orientation. But the energy that emanated from it's pitch blackness was the same energy that was floating up from the bloodied sword I found under Abby's bed, it was....alien.

It was a little secret of mine I kept to myself when I was growing up, I could easily sense energies from things, sometimes the energy around people were happy and bright, rubbing off on you in the best way possible....like my mom. And sometimes it was dark and frightening...like Castiel. But what I felt... there's only one thing that matched the energy I was feeling....one person....one monster, and it absolutely terrified the hell out of me, causing my hands to shake on their own accord.

It was Lucius.

The energy I was drunk on during my nightmares was so similar to what I was feeling. They were practically the same. During the nightmares that energy pressed down on me so harshly, practically choking me, especially when that monster touched me...when he whispered into my ear all the torture he was going to do. At those times the energy practically tore me apart and put me together only to do it again.

And right now that same energy called to me through the pitch black I was facing, it sang to me, coaxing me to draw nearer, whispering to me just how much we knew each other in another world. Another world where I bled till death and resurrected every single fucking night just to repeat it all.

Every inch of me screamed at me to leave....to run. And yet my feet propelled me forward , against what my brain begged it not to do. My heart slammed against my ribcage as a crunch hit my ears. I stood rooted to the spot, heart pumping more than it should. I let out a sound of relief when I realized the crunch came from my foot landing on the forest floor littered with dried leaves and twigs. I was standing right in front of the trees , the energy pulsed again, pulling me into the darkness. It was quiet in there...too quiet. There were no chirping of birds in the dense canopy above, no sounds....absolutely nothing. Every stray sound from outside was muted right at the edge.

I swallowed and forced myself forward, the only sound hitting my ears was the study beat of my heart. My head whipped around when I felt that those watchful pair of eyes from earlier hit my back...there was no one. I placed my hand over my chest to check if my heart was still beating and I hadn't died from a freaking cardiac arrest. I breathed deeply through my nose to calm myself and spun back around. If I didn't have the heart attack then I was definitely on the brink of it now....standing in front of me was the towering form of a man. I was caught between bolting and fainting when I recognized him through the darkness. How the hell didn't I hear him....

It was Azzy...and what the hell was he doing here.

"I would advice you to leave immediately" This was the first time he had spoken to me and his voice was crisp and polished.

What was with this family and ordering people around.

"Your advice means nothing to me" I tried side stepping him.

He blocked my path once more, this time I didn't fail to notice the minimal glint of the blade that rested in his hand. My stomach dropped.

"You know, I don't like you. I would be more than pleased to let you wonder off so you meet your demise with that smart mouth of yours . And if Castiel wasn't so fond of you I wouldn't mind ending you myself"

I almost snorted....'Castiel' and 'fond of you' didn't fit in the same sentence. The severity of the situation caught the snort from leaving my mouth...especially his promising threat at the end. He wanted to kill me...and he didn't mind doing it. My mind reeled with endless scenarios , most of them ending with my dead body on this forest floor.

I squared my shoulders , meeting his dark bottomless eyes in feigned courage which he seemed to notice with the small arrogant smirk that graced his lips.

I moved without a second thought to my action, I threw the contents of my slushy cup unto his his pressed white dressed shirt, the dissolved sweet drink splashing on his face and chest causing him to snap his face to the side, away from my assault.

"Fuck both of you" I smiled sweetly at him. My smile dropped an inch as he slowly turned to me, his smirk still on his face. Only that it didn't look arrogant anymore, it looked fucking crazed. As if I had just fallen into his plans of doing something that would annoy him enough to stab me with his blade.

I just poured my drink on a possible serial killer with a fucking dagger....maybe Castiel wasn't so wrong about me being foolish with my decisions . Oh I'm fucked.

I acted on impulse, side stepping him one more time, about to make a run for it into the dark depths of the woods when what faced me got me to an immediate halt. You know what? scratch the first two times I almost had a heart attack...this time it was for real. My chest tightened enough to make me know that I wouldn't make it alive this time.

The creature that stood before me had the form of a man but wasn't a man....it's skin was pitch black, scaly even...like some reptile. It was long and willowy, with too long limbs, hanging by it's side loosely with digits that ended with claws that were raised about to slash at my throat. My stomach lurched as I stared at it's face....it was faceless. It had no eyes or features , just two narrow slits where it's nose is supposed to be. Below that was a sickingly wide mouth that stretched from edge to edge , lined with rows and rows of sharp teeth that would probably sink into my flesh any time soon. It opened it's mouth wider and let out a screeching scream, revealing it's seemingly endless teeth and abnormally long tongue. The smell that hit me almost had me retching on the forest floor before I met my death....it smelled of rotting flesh and decay.

Yhup....this was my end alright. My eyelids lowered on their own accord, my vision blurring over. It was flight or flight and yet my body decided to fucking pass out. Castiel was absolutely right this time. My breath was knocked out of my body , snapping me back awake when a force hit my torso , sending me flying away from the monster unto the dead leaves that coated the forest floor. I vaguely realized it was Azzy that pushed me away since my body decided to give up on me. My vision sharpened , suddenly pulled back into reality ...how the fuck did he have so much strength, the push literally sent me flying to the very edge of the forest, where the pavement of campus was just a few feet away.

I sat up as I watched Azzy face the thing with no sign of fear on his godly face.

"Run , damnit !" Azzy yelled at me, looking absolutely mortified that I was still there. Well you didn't have to tell me twice. That was all my body needed for adrenalin to kick in. I scrambled off the floor , out of the woods and bolted down the street, ignoring weird looks from all the people I run past. I didn't stop running until I collapsed on my bedroom floor, a shaking mess and my door locked.

Things just got realer.