Chapter Twenty-One

Ethan scurried every corner of every street in Paris looking for Angella, slowing down only when he reached the end of each road he searched, to just start all over again and end up empty once more. It had become an awfully bad habit of theirs, him to be always on the pursuit and her to find herself in the hairiest situations and in need of rescue all of the time. It was a vicious cycle which never seemed to meet an end. 'Acting on our impulses was really reckless. What was she thinking?' He thought to himself when putting himself in Angella's shoes, though that was kind of hypocritical on his part.

For a moment he stood on his bike, scanning the area with a blank stare. His bright, clear blue shade of eyes darkened as several thoughts crossed his mind. He burned each building, each road, each alley, each square with his gaze only. He couldn't help but think of the worse. He couldn't help but imagine Angella curled up in some alley, fighting for her life, alone and scared. It broke his heart even the thought of having the people he cared about getting hurt, much less her, the one who held his heart. He felt like he was useless. All he wanted to do was to rid the world of its filth and provide her with happiness and security. It had always been like that with him.

He loved her and would always want what was best for her. He would move mountains for her despite her acting like a real little brat sometimes. Sure, he annoyed him sometimes, but that was part of her charm. Angella had this effect with her stare and smile, to make any and everyone feel wanted and desired. How he missed her voice right now.

She was everything to him and everything related to her had this compelling force over him and his willpower. If she were saddened… if she cried her heart out at night in her bed… if she suffered even the slightest… it kind of felt like he was responsible for it. After all, he made her a promise that he would always protect her, although, he was seemingly failing. And that infuriated him even more.

Angella had become a weakness of his ever since he had lay his eyes on back on the first lifetime they lived together and he never thought he would be catching feelings for a human and so fast, for that matter. He knew that was wrong because love between a human and an angel was forbidden. And he was supposed to watch over her and not meddle in her life, much less fall in love with her. Their love story was clearly a mistake but, he didn't seem to be able to walk away. After all, the heart wants what it wants.

Everything felt so surreal to him. Especially after finding her again, and in Paris of all of the places, he even had to question himself a few times if he was truly sane and down-to-earth. And now, being almost in the verge of losing her again, he was furious. Rage consumed him inside.

Ethan grabbed the handle tighter as he tried to suppress the intrusive thoughts from dominating his mind. His breathing start to quicken, blurring his vision from within the helmet, forming a hot fog over the visor and compromising his own driving.

Right at that moment, he realized that if anything were to happen to her, he would tear the world apart, taking down with it whomever would come between him and his goal. Be it his father, his bothers, or mere civilians. He would bring up Hell to Earth. And this time, he would atone for his past mistakes. He wouldn't let her down. He would protect her, whatever the cost.

So, with all the power and anger that he had bottled up, he allowed himself to be truly carried away by raw, human-like emotions, and turned down on the handlebar, letting the motorcycle picked up some speed. He drove calmly and acted composed despite the turmoil that was his thoughts, at that moment.

His priority was to find Angella, everything else came in second plan, and that meant putting himself and whatever he was feeling on the bottom list. Even after everything that happened to them, in this life and pasts ones, they still end up finding their way back to each other. So, today won't be any different.

As Ethan rounded a curve, he had caught sight of someone sprinting up to an alley on the far side of the central square, where a few industrial buildings were stationed. He slowed down his motorcycle momentarily, concerned that his mind was playing tricks on him, and then followed that person to the site. Not long after he saw a group of men tailing this person too. That could only mean one thing, he was on the right track.

So, he tried to be as quiet as possible. He parked his motorcycle behind one of the warehouses and headed up to the lot he saw the group from before entering. The moment he stepped inside the building, he could tell something was misplaced. The air was heavy and musky, the wet, instable floor gave him clues to where his target might have gone. There were distinct footprints. Large and greasy prints following smaller ones in turn to the backrooms. And acknowledging its ominous presence, and it immediately gave him ickiness all over his body. When he thought about it, he simply felt that something terrible might have happened there.

The biker boy slowly picked up a pipe that laid conveniently on the floor nearby and then cautiously approached the door, readying himself for all and anything. At last, he opened the door, but was surprised to find that it led to a hall full of many other doors.

Ethan relaxed his shoulders for only a spare second then, resumed his stance gripping tightly onto the pipe and keeping it low, and moved forward. It had only been a full minute when suddenly, a scream echoed in the hall and being quickly muffled by something right after. The sound of horror turned extremely loud in the former angel's ears. A dangerous flicker flashed across his eyes, and he sprinted down the hall towards hence the scream came.

He had to knockout a few thugs on his way down but, once he kicked down the door, he was met with Angella's eyes. He noticed the scared expression on her face. She looked visibly shaken. Tears cascaded down her cheeks, begging for help. Words were trying to come out of her mouth, but she barely made a noise.

Knowing someone had tried to purposely hurt her, and he wasn't there to protect her, the look of terror and shock in her eyes broke him. She was there… hidding from the world, scared witless. Angella was—helpless. And as he thought things couldn't get any worse, then, he noticed that guy being overly touchy with her and trying to force himself on her. All of those thoughts from before were correct. She had gone through Hell that night and he wasn't there. He was almost too late.

'How dare he lay a finger on Angella?' Now, he was going to pay for everything he had put her through and more. Violence turned to be the only response he knew to react to rhat situation. All he saw was red.

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