Chapter Twenty-Four

Agnes had a white gown on. She was sitting on the bed, watching him approach.

"You are not an angel," she said.

Seth chuckled. "Thank hell that I'm not."

He looked around the cell. It was the same cell where he was kept. It was the same cell where a lot of things happened. It was where he first met Agnes.

"Does this place remind you of anything?" he asked.

"It's void," she said. "It shows me my fears. You know that, don't you? You were there too."

"How do you know its name?" Seth asked.

"I don't know how," she murmured.

She looked tired. She needed rest and some medication to calm her nerves.

"Alright. Questions are for later. Now, let's get you out of here."

Agnes did not fight his touch when he held her hand. Suli was waiting outside the cell.

"I thought you would do more things in there," Suli said sarcastically. "Now, now, Nes, you look just like before."

Agnes did not ask how Suli knew her, although the question was clear in her eyes.

"I'm your cousin," Suli said. "Suli. Your- Seth here asked for my help."

"No. You forced your help on me," Seth said. "Anyway, let us leave. We don't have much time."

Suli, just like Agnes, had a forceful nature. She was a fallen angel in nature, but for the moment, she decided to still pretend to be an angel until the right moment. Seth had no idea what the right moment meant for her.

Suli and some other fallen angels who were pretending to be loyal to the Base, created a secret passageway so Seth and other fallen angels could come in and out of the Base without any problem. The Base noticed something but had no idea who to suspect since most fallen angels were good at manipulation.

For a thousand years, Seth tried to understand why some angels could not follow the rules of angels, and why some of them felt like they were trapped. From all the information he gathered, it seemed those who were good at manipulation, a trait angels were not supposed to have, usually became fallen angels. In Seth's opinion, most angels knew manipulation, even if it was just a little bit. Some suppressed the temptation and lied, even though angels were not supposed to lie. Angels were not all holy and perfect. Everyone was faulty, some refused to believe it, some hid it, and some embraced it. Those who embraced it refused to follow the simple rules of being good. They were fallen angels.

After Seth and Agnes, the number of fallen angels increased vastly, until Agnes's punishment. Even thinking about that time made him angry. He should have tried harder to stop her from leaving. If she had not left, if it was not for that Jin, she would not have to be punished. No angel could catch her, not even greater angels. Agnes was powerful and more importantly, she was smart. She went willingly, all because of her friend. Seth promised her that he would not hurt Jin ever, or he would have removed him earlier. He would never have helped Jin if it was not for Agnes. Well, he could not call it help actually. Anyway, Jin thought Seth helped him. Agnes would think so too. It was all good for now.

Agnes did not speak the entire way. She looked pretty lifeless. She was not like that unless she thought she could not trust the people she was with and she needed to be cautious without them knowing. Honestly, if someone did not know her, they would think she was traumatized and was quiet because of that. But Seth knew her. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

"I have someone you would like to meet," Seth said.

"Is he okay?" Agnes asked.

"Your friend is better than before. He even gained weight," he said. If Agnes realized he was mocking her friend, she did not show it on her face. She simply nodded. "How did you know it's your friend though?"

"Let's say I'm good at guessing," she murmured.

Suli stayed behind since she could not go missing at the same time as Agnes disappeared from her cell. Suli was a guard. She needed to be there to act like she was also surprised.

Seth used portal magic to teleport her to his mansion. For portal magic, one needed to draw some symbols. Suli drew them beforehand and Seth's whole mansion was built on his own symbols that he made. Later, Jin improved it.

"Are you okay?" he asked and looked sideways at Agnes. His arms shot out on their own and caught her as she lost consciousness. The portal magic might have been too much for her. Right now, she was a human, not an angel. She was not like Alexandra or Theodore, whose bodies were those of angels. Agnes's body was not of an angel. She was a human, even if she used to be an angel.

Seth picked her up in his arms, as he had done so many times before. She did not remember any of it. She had no idea how much he loved her. She did not know how many he killed for her and how many more he would kill for her.

***

Seth changed Agnes's clothes after washing her body. He decided to tell her someone else did it lest she might get angry. It was not like Seth had not done the same thing a lot of times before. But she had no idea.

He placed her in the same room where she had stayed years ago. It was her room. Seth always kept it the way she decorated it the first time. He kept it clean and perfect. The walls were dark purple and the blinds were black. The bed was also huge. Agnes loved big beds. It was not like she moved a lot in her sleep. She simply loved the feel of space around her as she slept in the middle of the bed.

Seth kissed her on the forehead and left the room. He was no angel. Agnes knew that well. Well, not this Agnes. The Agnes who knew him. This Agnes did not know him.

He needed to make her get to know him first.

"When did you bring Nes?" Jin asked. "And you didn't even tell me."

"Well, I told you now," Seth said.

"I want to see her. Is she well? Did they torture her?"

"Not physically," Seth said.

"But mentally? How is that any good?"

"She is strong enough to handle that much mental stimulation," Seth shrugged.

"What did they do to her? Sent her into the void or something?" Jin asked.

"You read about the void?"

"In one book, yes."

Just how many books had he read already? Though it was a new life for Jin, he did not change. He was the same as the Jin Seth met more than a thousand years ago. Jin did not have his memories, but he was the same person he was when he used to be an angel. Just like Agnes.

Angels said when it came to humans, the way they were raised, the things they experienced made them the person they grew up to be. However, it could not be said about Agnes. When she was an angel, her parents were good. They never mistreated her. They thought something was wrong with her, but they never abused her just because she was different. They tried to give her the best life they could. In her current life, Agnes had abusive parents. Their abuse was mostly mental and sometimes physical. Yet, she grew up to the same kind of person as when she used to be an angel.

Seth could have helped her. He could have stopped her parents from abusing her. But he did not. After all, he promised Agnes to not get involved in her life before she turned eighteen.

"It would be weird if you saw me as a kid and then tried to become my lover later on as a grown-ass man," she had told him when it was apparent she would not be an angel forever.

"How are you so certain I would be your lover?"

"I mean, won't you?" she smirked.

"Yes," he said, kissing her lips. "Yes, I will."

"Then, wait till I turn eighteen. Then come and find me. Make me your lover once more."

"What if you won't like me?"

"Will you stop just like that then?"

"No," he said. "I will make you mine. No matter what."