Chapter Six

"I understand completely, Azarel," Dawn's therapist said to him. "She just went through a traumatic event and she's still a teenager, so she is acting up. I'd love to say that things will become easy soon, but I don't think that'll be the case. Her behaviour is very likely to worsen."

"Thank you for understanding," Azarel said right away with a sigh of relief. "I thought I was going to lose her."

"The court had your background well-researched," the therapist said. "We know you'd never do something like this. In fact, I was told that they've never seen someone with a cleaner background."

"Thank you for believing me," he said. "I think this is only the way she knows to cope with her loss."

"Of course. I trust that you will have the current situation settled? All those sex toys need to be gone."

"Yes," Azarel said. "I swear I will resolve everything."

"It seems to me that you might be having a hard time managing Dawn."

"It's my first time, please understand."

"If you don't manage her well, I'm afraid that the court might take Dawn from you."

"What?" Azarel said in horror. "Please, no."

"She still has an uncle after all. He has much more experience taking care of children, given his occupation. The court only chose you because he expressed disinterest in taking care of her."

Azarel stayed silent, fear crowding into his mind. "What are you saying?"

"Azarel," she said. "Dawn may be taken away from you if things don't start looking up."

❃❃❃

"I said, where the fuck are my sex toys?!" Dawn yelled at Azarel.

"I packed them all up and threw them away," Azarel told her. "Handing you my credit card like that was foolish. I'll never make the same mistake again."

"Fuck you! Give them back to me!"

"You're never seeing them again, trust me on that. I was hoping to be more amicable about this, but I'm going to start setting some ground rules for your sake."

"For my sake? Don't make me laugh!"

"First, if you want to buy anything, you go through me first. Second, you're not leaving this house without me by your side. And third, if you want to get more freedom, you better start to demonstrate through your actions that you can be trusted."

Dawn let out a piercing yell. "I hate you! You're ruining my life!"

"I don't want to do this, Dawn," Azarel said with a volume that was slightly raised. Fear sank into his emotions. "I'm not losing you as a ward, I don't care if the world is going to end or not, that isn't happening. And trust me, you don't want your uncle as your legal guardian. But that's what will happen when you continue behaving like a spoiled brat."

"You fucking adults! You guys think you rule the world! Go to Hell!"

"You're already 19, why don't you start acting like - " Azarel was in the middle of saying when Dawn's hand closed round a CD from a shelf nearby. She took it out and flung it directly at him, and it struck him on his forehead.

Silence hung in the air for a while as they both processed what happened and Dawn raised her hand to her mouth in a gasp when blood trickled down his temples to cover his cheeks.

As an angel, wounds healed the moment they formed, but when angels were masquerading as humans on Earth, their bodies were built so that the wounds stayed open and bled normally, like they would if they had been on a human. It was purely to keep the disguise up.

His blood dripped to the wooden floor. "I-I'm sorry," Dawn said.

He stayed silent as he went towards her. Her eyes shone with fear as he towered over her. He raised a hand up and her entire body flinched hard. "I won't hurt you," he told her. He touched her hands and held it between them.

There was a hint of blood on her finger, caused by the force she used to throw the CD at him.

"Wait here," Azarel said before disappearing to fetch the first aid kit. When he returned to her, he held her hand in his lightly as he applied ointment onto her scratch.

"You're bleeding! You - "

He wrapped a plaster over her scratch and covered it up, making sure to apply the plaster crookedly so it would stick to more skin and stay longer.

"Why are you - " Dawn said but did not finish.

"You mean the world to me, Dawn. I won't take my next breath without being absolutely sure that you're unhurt and I will break the gates of Hell for you. Do you understand?"