Page 72 of Hunted By Fear

His words carry on the wind, freezing me in place, and it has nothing to do with the temperature.

“Leave the mortal alone. She is not yours, and I will not allow you to hurt Ruin. You’ve done enough damage.” The venom in his voice is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

I whip back around, wide-eyed and heart pounding, but he’s not there. I stand alone, not another soul, but the hairs on the back of my neck rise, and I feel as though I’m being watched.

This is ridiculous. This is my home. I am the highest-ranked angel, second only to God himself, and I fear no one.

I breathe in the crisp, clean air and center myself. There is no pollution, only perfection, perfection that I am a part of, and no demons are going to stop me from getting what I want, what I’mowed.

The castle is beautiful, and having Ruin here is nice. Between him and Bast, I’m never alone, but I don’t see much of the others.

It’s been three days since Rome has visited me in my dreams, and by some fucking miracle I’ve been myself for every one of them.

Bast said he thinks it’s from the mating bond. He believes that’s what stopped Rome from touching me in my dream, but there’s no real way to know.

I hope that’s true. I hope that I never have to fall prey to him again, but deep down I know that’s not how life works.

All I can do is enjoy the moment and hope that Lucifer is able to help me through my next ‘episode.’

Which is why I’ve decided to explore. I’m not allowed outside of the castle walls, but that’s fine; there’s more than enough to keep me busy here. Not to mention, sometimes when it’s quiet, I can hear things outside, like Lucifer’s hounds, and other things I can’t even begin to guess.

Let’s just say I’d rather stay inside if that’s what’s out there.

After three days of walking around, we find ourselves in the library, where Bast quickly finds me some books.

How Not to Get Eaten by a HellhoundandDealing with the Devil.

I laugh, but also take them because they both sound helpful.

I wonder if they have any on psychopathic angels who think they own you and how to get them to fuck off…

No, probably not; if they did, I imagine we wouldn’t be hiding away here still.

The table is full of old papers—parchment, I think, would be the word for it—and books with one of those old-school feather pens. Someone has been here, often by the looks of it, but whoever that is isn’t here now.

Probably Asta or Kai; they tend to be the ones who avoid me. Though, after the last few days of only seeing Ruin and Bast, I guess it could be any of them.

Did I do something wrong?

I push the thought away, unwilling to go down that road of self-loathing right now. Lucifer seemed to like me just fine the other night.

Nope, that’s not much better.

I focus on the papers on the table instead, finding that instead of words, there are mostly symbols written on them.

Shit, I hope I can read these books. I flip to a random page in the book from Bast and let out a sigh of relief when I find it’s in English.

“What’s up, Sunshine?” Ruin asks from behind me. I whirl around to find him coming down ‌a staircase I hadn’t noticed previously.

“Oh,” I step away from the table, feeling as though I just got caught doing something wrong. I mean, I might have; who knows what this stuff is.

Damn, what’s that saying about curiosity and the cat…

“Um, I was just looking at the papers. Writing with a feather pen is awesome, but then I realized everything on the paper is symbols and was worried I wouldn’t be able to read the books, but they’re in English, so we’re all good.” I plaster a smile on my face as I take a deep breath in through my nose. Definitely just said way too much, but I couldn’t stop; it just kept coming out like word vomit.

Ruin’s brow pulls in confusion before he makes his way to the table and looks at the same paper I was just snooping at.

A smile pulls at his face, and he shakes his head as he lets the paper drop again.