“What are you doing here?” Though Sarah’s voice was lowered now, it was still biting. Mandy had no other choice but to follow Sarah, prepared to do any damage control that would most likely be necessary once Sarah was through with him. “Are you some kind of stalker or something, because my uncle is a lawyer, and he will sue the shit out of you.” Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest, obviously expecting some kind of response from the man.
“Well, truth be told, I am trying to whisk Mandy away on a Caribbean vacation, but she continuously refuses my advances,” Paul said, glancing over at Mandy before returning his gaze back at Sarah. Though he assumed many people found this young woman to be intimidating, Paul certainly didn’t. He had seen humans, angels, demons, far worse than she could ever hope to be.
“God, take a hint and get a life,” Sarah snapped, bobbing her head as she usually did when she tried to explain something she saw as so obvious to someone who just wouldn’t understand. “She’s obviously not interested in you.”
Paul hid a smile, amused at how flustered this woman was getting with him. “I will take you advice into consideration,” he finally said, nodding his head a couple of times.
Sarah looked at him, contemplating whether or not to believe him, but returned to the counter. Customers might start showing up anyways, and she wanted to be prepared for them. However, Sarah’s departure now meant that Paul and Mandy were alone together. Mandy felt awkward at the prospect, but it didn’t seem to be bothering Paul whatsoever.
“Listen,” Mandy murmured, reaching up to place her hand on the back of her head. It was something she unconsciously did whenever she was nervous or thinking about something. “I’m really sorry about what she said. I honestly had no idea she was going to do anything like that. So…” She dropped her hand, prepared to leave, when Paul grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving.
“I need you to know something, Mandy,” he said, referring to Amanda by her nickname for the first time. It sounded different, but right. He swallowed and continued. “No matter what you say or what you believe, I will be around to protect you.”
Mandy sighed through her nose. Somewhere inside of her, she was happy knowing that he would be around, but there was a part of her that was frustrated by his insistence. “I don’t see any danger,” she told him, pushing his brow up as though this meant that she was right and he was wrong about the entire situation. “No one even knows who I am, what I can do, or anything else for that matter. I haven’t seen any strangers lurking in corners. I haven’t seen any people with wings like yours. There’s no need for your protection.”
Paul’s pale blue eyes flashed into midnight blue in a matter of seconds. Mandy tensed; the man could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be. “There is a need,” he told her softly, tightly. His jaw was firm, and he was still holding onto her wrist, though it should be noted that he wasn’t gripping her to the point where it hurt.
Without warning, vibrations coursed underneath the Coffee Bean. It began softly, almost as though this was just another typical California earthquake, except it didn’t stop after fifteen seconds. In fact, if she was being honest, Mandy believed that it was only getting worse. Every second, the earthquake got rougher until lights wiggled, the clock fell from its place on the wall, and people started diving underneath the tables. Mandy thought she heard Sarah scream, but she couldn’t be sure…
“They’re here,” Paul murmured to himself. Oddly enough, Paul was the only person who remained cool, calm, and collected throughout this entire ordeal. But then again, Mandy shouldn’t have been surprised. He was a demon after all, and he expected this. Which meant that he was right about everything he had told her about.
She really was in danger. What should she do? No, that wasn’t the question – what could she do?
Well, she had been in enough fire drills to know that the first thing she needed to do was to jump underneath a table before things started falling from the ceiling. That, and to block out the sound of babies crying, women screaming…
“Do you trust me?”
Mandy’s head snapped in Paul’s direction as she tried to maintain her balance, but that was getting harder and harder to do, and the earthquake was only getting worse.
“Do you trust me?” Paul asked again, this time with more urgency laced in his voice.
Mandy knew she didn’t have a choice. “Yes,” she replied.
With that, Paul pushed himself up in a standing position, wrapped his arms around Mandy, and his wings spread, bold and beautiful. And just like that, they were flying, as the Coffee Bean all but collapsed.
Eight
It was almost like a blur.
Just feeling Paul’s arms wrapped tightly around her, pressing her close to his body – Well, she couldn’t help feeling safer than she had before, and she was glad – lucky – that she knew Paul. Without thinking, her hands balled his t-shirt into fists, and she clung tightly to him. It was only when they were three feet in the ground did Mandy finally realize that they were flying. She tilted her head downwards, to look at what she was leaving behind as Paul continued upwards, his wings contrasting brilliantly with the sun. It was only when Mandy saw the destruction the earthquake had caused – the Chinese theatre completely destroyed, the Kodak theatre beyond repair, and the Coffee Bean, where she had worked for a long while, collapsed – did she let out a scream, and Mandy had never been a screamer. Not on fast roller coasters, not in haunted mazes with ghouls trying to scare her, but now… Now, she saw her hometown completely destroyed.
Without warning, her eyes started to tear up and she managed to tear them away from the wreckage, pulling herself closer to Paul and burying her face into his chest. It didn’t occur to her that her tears would most certainly be ruining his nice, white collared shirt, but she wasn’t really thinking about that. Her thoughts were focused on Sarah – did she survive? Was that even possible? Paul had pulled her away just in time, just before the ceiling fell… If Sarah had survived, could she ever forgive Mandy for being uninjured? For leaving with a stranger she barely knew? For leaving Sarah?
Mandy felt her shoulders shudder at the thought, and it was only a moment when she realized she was sobbing. Not just crying, but full-on sobbing. She couldn’t comprehend why she was reacting like she was; she had always been able to control her emotions even in the most difficult situations. Maybe this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That was what she got for keeping her emotions bottled up for a long time.
Paul glanced down at her as he tilted his body, heading east. He knew exactly where he was going; he had an apartment outside the city, just in case he did manage to find the One. This way, he had somewhere to take her in order to prepare her for his Creator. It would probably be a couple of hours, and the best thing Mandy could do was sleep everything off. She needed rest.
It actually surprised him that she was crying, but he knew it shouldn’t have. This was a lot for her to take in, and he knew that even though Mandy might have believed he was a fallen angel, she had been struggling to believe that she was in the center of a war. And she was so much more than she could ever know…
Paul had always been talented at disassociating himself from people, to keep things professional instead of personal, to simply not care about people he came in contact with. He naively thought that it would be the same when he came in contact with the woman who was destined to marry Satan. In fact, Paul believed that since the key to his happiness rested in her union with his master, she would be quite easy to not care about. In fact, if he wanted to be human, he couldn’t care about her whatsoever.
And yet… Paul couldn’t help but care just a tiny bit for the woman in his arms. Not enough for him to change his mind about the entire thing, however, but enough to sympathize with her at seeing her home destroyed by this war. He had known Mandy for just over a week, and he couldn’t help but be fascinated with her. In fact, if she wasn’t the woman he was looking for, he might have
come back to visit her as a human, just to see if maybe she…
But no, he couldn’t think about that. Mandy was the One, and there was no disassociating himself from it. Sure, he liked her, but he knew he would like being human more, and there were plenty of other women out there that were probably better than she was.
But she wouldn’t be her…
Immediately, Paul banished the thought from his head and focused on other things. Yes, Mandy was a great woman – from what he knew of – but besides the fact that she was very pretty and had a nice smile, he didn’t really know that much about her.
Except that she was crying right now, and he didn’t like the sound. Not because it was annoying, but he didn’t like the sound of pain. What kind of pain didn’t seem to matter.
“Now, now,” he murmured in her hair, and honestly couldn’t help but notice that her hair smelled very faintly of jasmine. Before he could stop himself, he raised one hand to cup the back of Mandy’s head and pressed it against his chest, holding her gently beneath his fingertips. “Rest now, love.”
And just like that, Mandy was asleep.
She wasn’t supposed to dream, but she did.
The first thing she noticed was that wherever she was, it was hot. Ridiculously hot. She blinked her eyes once, twice, hoping it would tell her just where she was, maybe give her some kind of hint. Her nose twitched, and clear as day, she could smell smoke. Her eyes glanced downwards, looking underneath her feet. She was on pavement. She looked to the left – and there was fire. She looked to the right – and there was fire.
Her heart pounded against her chest, as though it knew she should be afraid, and yet, for whatever reason, her mind wouldn’t allow the fear to slip underneath her skin and take advantage of her.
She was alone. Completely alone, and she had no idea where she was.
A low whistle caused Mandy to snap her head up, and her eyes widened when she finally managed to make out just where the whistle was coming from. It looked like Paul – black wings and all – falling from the sky. His body was limp, and Mandy forced her thoughts to maintain that he was merely unconscious. Hopefully. She knew it could be much worse.
Why wasn’t he flying? Why wasn’t he doing anything?
Just before she could see what happened to him, a hand clamped on her shoulder, causing her to jump and turn. It was a man who had tried to accumulate her attention, a man with what appeared to be a dark smile touching his features. Mandy unconsciously took a step back. She wasn’t sure who this man was, though he appeared to be looking at her as though she should know him, but something inside of her told her that he was not to be trusted.
“Who are you?” she asked him, her brow furrowed. Fear had yet to touch her, and as a result, she had the courage to confront the man before her. Her body tensed, preparing for any sort of attack she might have to endure.
He laughed, a hollow sound that caused the hairs on Mandy’s skin to stand.
“You are amusing, girl,” he said in a velvet smooth voice. “No wonder he picked you for me.” The man took a step closer, that dark smile littering his face once again. “You see, we are to be married.”
Mandy grit her teeth, preventing any sort of retort from falling out of her mouth. Instead, her eyes purposefully took in what he looked like. With jet black hair and a chiseled, square shaped chin occupied by a well-maintained goatee, the man before her was nothing short of handsome. He was wearing a sharp, three piece blue suit complete with a vest, a leather belt, and even matching shoes. Every lock was combed perfectly into place. He obviously cared a lot about his appearance, and judging by what he was wearing, he was also probably incredibly wealthy.
But pushing that matter aside, that didn’t give him the right to confront her with a marriage she knew nothing about. She didn’t remember him proposing, and she sure as hell didn’t remember accepting any marriage proposal.
“No,” Mandy said, shaking her head so that her hair followed her, creating a halo effect of sorts. “No I’m not. You have the wrong person.”
“Actually, I don’t,” the man told her, taking another step towards her so now they were only a few inches apart. “No, you are going to marry me whether you want to or not.”
“That’s a lie,” Mandy said firmly, her voice compensating for the doubt that was slowly beginning to leak into her subconscious. “I would have remembered agreeing to such a thing. You have the wrong person. Paul, where is Paul?” The question she murmured to herself, glancing around without moving her head. “Paul is supposed to be protecting me.”
Apparently, the man found this to be quite amusing because he was laughing once more. Before Mandy could confront him about it, the man abruptly stopped and narrowed his eyes. “Protect?” he spat. “Who do you think brought you to me in the first place?”
Nine
It wasn’t long before Paul had reached his apartment. It wasn’t as big as the previous one he had had back in the City, but it was all he needed. Once he reached the balcony, he folded his wings and turned the young woman in his arms slightly so it was more comfortable for him to carry her into the shelter. His pale blue eyes glanced down at her, and the corners of his lips curved upwards. She actually looked quite peaceful when she was asleep. Quite endearing, if he was being honest.
Upon that thought, Paul forced his eyes away from her and focused on carrying her into his bedroom. Maybe if he knew he would actually have found the One, he might have opted for a more spacious apartment. Of course, Paul had been at this for at least five years, once his Creator felt Paul was trustworthy and had the ability to find the woman He was looking for. To be honest, Paul never expected to find the woman, and the money had no consequence to him since he had no use for material things, he hated paying for a luxurious living space only to be alone with it. There was a couple of times he had brought humans with him back home, women, when his desires were burning through him. But they were never the One, and he was always gone before they woke up.
Love had eluded him, it would seem.
But it didn’t bother Paul all that much. He had a job to do anyways. Maybe when he returned this woman, Mandy, to his Creator, he might actually have ample opportunity to fall in love.
Of course, the irony of the situation did not escape him. The one time he acted a bit selfish, preferring a small apartment, did he finally find the woman he had been looking for for a long time. He knew he should be happier at the prospect; humanity was only a few moments away from him.
And yet, he wasn’t. And it completely baffled him.
Paul eyed the young woman currently occupying his bed. He was sitting on a chair nearby, knowing that if he wasn’t there when she woke up, she might forget what had happened and who she was with. It wasn’t like him to take a liking to a person especially when he knew he would never hang around long. But there was something about Mandy that he couldn’t help but be interested in. He enjoyed her laugh, he realized, and there were certain things that she did that he was most definitely amused by. In the week he had known her, he had observed her quite thoroughly, picking up little quirks and habits she was used to, that she probably didn’t even realize.
Like when a customer aggravated her, she got overtly nice. Nobody could tell, of course; she was quite good at hiding her frustration. But what gave her away were her flared nostrils and her locked jaw. When she saw someone she found attractive, there was something in her smile. He couldn’t quite explain it, but she just smiled differently. And when she was tired, she would change her weight thoroughly. It almost looked as though she was bouncing, but in reality, she was keeping herself awake. Paul wasn’t sure why the woman didn’t just drink coffee – wasn’t caffeine supposed to aide with tiredness? And when she was curious or thinking intently about something, she would tilt her head ever so slightly to the side. It was adorable, if he was being honest.
Paul smiled at the thought, but it instantly vanished. Okay, so he liked her. How could he not? He knew a lot about her in just wat
ching her this past week. He thought that this job would just be so easy; that all he had to do was take her back to Hell, and in a manner of hours, he would be a human and forget all about her. And yet Paul couldn’t just swoop in and steal her. For whatever reason, he wanted her to make the ultimate decision to leave with him.
And he knew that he would not be forgetting her any time soon. He wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or not.
Despite his general fondness for her, Paul knew he still had to go through with his job. And being a human was more important than one human. It was a life for a life; that was the way it worked.
But she was pretty, wasn’t she? If Satan wanted to corrupt humanity, Paul probably couldn’t have picked a better specimen. Okay, so that wasn’t exactly true, but she kind of reminded him of an angel; not the warriors, of course, but the watchful ones, the guardians. Rumor had it that they were beautiful, it was hard to look upon them. Yeah, he imagined they would look something like Mandy. Or maybe it was the other way around.
His eyes skimmed over her freckles, a trait they shared. It actually made him smile once more. Her hair reminded him of a lion’s mane; wavy, thick, and untamable. It was easily messed, but he kind of liked that. And her lips… All thoughts stopped when his eyes came across her lips, save for the one thought that had yet to leave his mind; how he wanted to kiss them in order to see if they were as soft as they appeared. He wanted to taste her, to see if she was as sweet as she seemed.
It wasn’t new for Paul to desire someone; the feeling was a natural occurrence, even in fallen angels. But he knew that it was wrong for him to desire something or someone that wasn’t his. No matter how beautiful. No matter how badly he wanted to explore her.
Killing by Captivation: A Gods & Monsters Prequel (Gods & Monsters Trilogy Book 0) Page 4