Chapter 18

" I've told you this and I will keep on telling you until you believe me. I can't forget what happened, I don't want to forget. And you trying to make me feel less guilty by not bringing it up isn't helping! " Victor said. His voice low but edgy. 

Then he stretched his hand Nuriel clasped onto it, letting him help him up. They were breathing a little hard from the practice. And it had managed to make Nuriel forget just a bit. 

" You know unlike you, all I want is to forget, " Nuriel said as he ran a hand through his dark hair. " Those memories make me feel... I feel trapped in the past. Unable to truly move on! "

Victor placed a hand on Nuriels shoulder. Offering silent comfort he knew was needed. 

" I know brother, I know, "

They stayed like that for about two minutes. Then Victor recalled the main reason he had gone there. 

" Actually I came to tell you about the recent murders, " he was all business now. The emotions set aside and his features a mask of seriousness. 

"What about them? " Nuriel went to the shelf on the other side and picked up a towel, throwing one to victor as well. 

" I think you'll have to see for yourself in order to understand. But I guarantee you that this is more serious than we first thought, "

That did not sound good. Nuriel made a note to go to the town right after the council meeting. 

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to oversee the training of the new army recruits, those bloody Dreimars can cause significant damage if left unsupervised, Have a good night, my king, " Victor said and did not even wait for Nuriels response before he walked out. 

He might not show it, but Nuriel was certain the angel had been affected by their argument. 

But now was not the time to worry about that. It had been three hours since he saw his Doseth, and he missed her a great deal. Although he was aware that he was the last being she wanted to see. 

                               🌼💮🌼💮🌼💮

Two hours after Flame walked out on Nuriel, she was still trying to find her way back to the room she had been in earlier. One hallway just led to another which led to an even longer one. 

It was as if she was trapped in a maze. She took a turn, and what do you know... Yet another hallway. 

She stopped walking and blew out a long needed breath. All she wanted to find was one staircase. Just one.

A short breeze blew past her, forcing her to look back. It was dark there. And suddenly she got the feeling that she was indeed being watched. But she decided to not pay too much attention to it. It was probably the mental exhaustion catching up with her. 

She walked a few steps down the dark path, it was most likely evening already. And she could not believe it but she sort of missed the angel. He made her feel safe. Something she was not at the moment. 

Another breeze blew past her, accompanied by a shadow. She gasped and turned around. That was not her imagination. 

" Um.. hello? Anyone there? "

She was not the superstitious type. She did not believe in ghosts. But when you think about it, she never used to entirely believe in angels either. For all she knew, that was the highschool maths teacher she had condemned to death before waking up to news of her car accident the next week. 

Mrs. Withers had been her name. Yes... there was a very possible chance that it was Mrs. Withers stalking her. 

Or maybe it was a vampire. That was also a likely possibility. Flame tried to not panic. Then she chose to stick to the wall. She was less visible that way. 

She might try to appear tough on the outside but she was still a very normal human being who possessed the ability to feel fear. And the dark was not one of her favourite things. Especially not after what she had been through in that cursed mental asylum. 

Another shadow. 

She stopped. Leaning back against the wall. It had been nothing but a quick flicker but now she was sure someone was there. Maybe the house was haunted. 

She managed to get to another turn. Then she closed her eyes for a second and swallowed past the lump of fear threatening to choke her. 

" Come on Flame, you can do this, " she encouraged herself before she peered around the corner. 

It was even darker than the one she was currently in. But there did not seem to be anything out of the ordinary. So she decided she would make a dash for it. Just run as fast as she could until she found a way out. 

Oh angel, where are you? She asked herself as she got ready to run. 

" Okay, three... two..... one! " she ran as fast as she could. Unable to get past the feeling that someone was not watching, but following her now.She was even unable to look behind her. 

She ran past the many paintings on the wall which she could hardly see, the many doors on either side of the hallway, some sort of statue,.... Wait. What was there a statue in the hallway. She could not recall seeing one when she looked around the corner. 

Despite her better judgement, she stopped on her tracks. Took some time to figure out what she wanted to do, then she slowly turned around. 

The statue was still there. And it looked like an angel. It was still unmoving so she figured there was no harm in taking a better look at it. She moved closer to it and her breath caught. 

"Wow, " she whispered when she was steps away. 

The statue was in the form of an angel. One with Golden Wings wider and longer than the only other two pairs she had ever seen. They seemed to glow in the dark. She did not resist the urge to move closer. The statue looked awfully real. And his eyes were open, unblinking as they stared straight ahead. 

Flame noticed that the angels eyes were also golden with a black pupil. Phenomenal. Not to mention his heart breaking appearance. She reached out a hand and ran her fingers across its wings. Then she frowned. They were real, actual feathers softer than the finest of silk. 

And they also felt warm. 

" Wait a minute, " she said before waving her hand in front of the angels eyes. He still did not blink. She snapped her fingers at him and she got nothing. 

So she went back to admiring it. Besides, it did not seem possible to be that good looking. She pondered on whether to touch it again. Then she lifted up her hand and touched his cheek lightly. 

It felt real. 

She tapped it a few times, her frown still intact. Then just for fun, she punched it's face. 

The statue yelped and moved aside. Flame basically jumped away, a hand covering her mouth to stop her scream. 

" Why in the seven bloody dungeons would you do that? " the sta-, angel asked but Flame was too busy being freaked out to answer. 

" You're real! " she accused and the angel rubbed the spot where she had punched him. 

" I am? Why, I had no idea, " he answered sarcastically as he examined the damage she had done to his magnificent face. 

" Why did you punch me? " The angel asked. He had a rather honeyed voice. Seductive in a very unresistable and charming way. 

" I thought you were a statue!"

" So you go around punching statues? That sounds truly entertaining, "

" Why were you stalking me? "

He scoffed, finally looking at her. Flame noticed that his dark hair also had streaks of gold. He was.... beautiful. 

A strange word to define a male but nothing else seemed to fit. If good looks could kill then the angel would be unsafe for the entire population. 

" I was not stalking you. All I was doing was following you around from a distance without your realisation. Those are two very different things, " 

What the hell? He literally just defined the word 'stalk'.

" Well you shouldn't do that! It's just wrong! " she told him and he looked at her as if she was crazy. 

" But I like doing what's wrong. It's more thrilling, " he casually stated and Flame shook her head. 

" Anyway, what are you doing here? No one resides in these quarters, "

" If no one stays here then what are YOU doing here? " Flame shot back. The angel started slowly walking around her. Vanilla and spice. That's what he smelled like. 

Like sweetness and danger. Mischief and kindness. Innocence and.... very deadly passion. All those things crossed her mind as he came closer. 

" I was delivering the ghosts I caught to the suction cellar, but one got loose, " he said seriously. 

Was that some sort of sick joke. 

" What? " 

" You heard me. Maybe you've seen her, she's about this tall.. " he leveled his hand slightly below Flames head. 

" Has grey hair in some ridiculous corkscrews..." he ran a hand through her hair slowly. 

" I believe she was dressed in a plain yellow dress with the most hideous knitted sweater I have ever come across, " he added. 

Flame tried not to acknowledge the fact that his description reminded her a lot of Mrs. Withers. 

" Mrs. Withers, yes, I believe that was her name. So you HAVE seen her? "

" What the? Are you reading my mind? " 

She was sure she had not said that out loud. 

" Of course not, that's not even possible. You just said her name, " he sounded so believable. 

" No I didn't, "

" Yes, you did. So.. have you seen her? "

Flame could not believe this. Was he playing games with her? He did seem like the type that liked to joke. 

" Joking? About something as crucial as an escaped ghost?.." The angel asked, sounding astonished and offended. " I would never! " he finished off sternly. 

" You ARE reading my mind! " She took a step back and pointed at him.