Winged

Chapter 12: The Bellor

My knees buckled and I fell to the floor with a thud. A soothing hand wrapped around my elbow, hauling me to my feet. I was overwhelmed by the smell of what appeared to be fresh paint, which was surprising as I was expecting to smell smoke and dried blood. Shuddering, I took my first peek at hell. I expected to feel fear at being in the place of the demons, but all I felt was a sense of curiosity. I was certain that this was a very stupid idea, but I had no intention of going back just yet.

Torray and I were in a long white corridor. There was no fire, no blood, no nothing. It was too... Ordinary. Large steel doors littered the sides of the walls all down the hallway and behind us, the blue portal continued to swirl. Torray tightened his grip on my arm and began to drag me down the corridor. I was very aware of where he was holding me, especially after what had just happened. I shrugged him off and looked away before I could feel guilty.
"This isn't how I'd imagined it to be," I stated, casually diverting him.
"Shh," Torray whispered, "You have to act like you belong here. Just because you have demon wings doesn't mean everyone is going to see you as a demon. Act really confident and slutty, got it?"
I stared at him in disbelief.
"I am certainly not going to act slutty! I..."
I was cut off as a nearby door swung open. Torray nudged me in the ribs to keep quiet as a flock of demons emerged from the entrance.

I swallowed at the sight of them. There must have been about ten of them, laughing and flirting with each other like they didn't have another care in the world. The men looked as though they could kill me in one punch. I bit my lip as they walked towards us, praying that they wouldn't see through my disguise.

I almost shrieked as I felt myself pushed up against the wall. I looked up to meet Torrays eyes. He began to kiss my neck passionately. I wanted to shove him off, but I couldn't because I didn't want to make a scene with all the demons here. Although it did feel really nice... As soon as the demons left, I slapped Torray across the cheek.
"What the fu...!" I began.
"I can explain!" He cried, cutting me off and grabbing onto my outstretched hands to prevent me from hitting him again.
"Aha, well you had better have a real good explanation for that, because I've got more slaps where that came from."
"I recognised those demons! And as you should know by now, I don't exactly have the best reputation here at the moment. If they saw me, they would instantly warn Norus of my presence. Like I said, if I am going to get you out of here alive, we have to fit in."
"That's your way of fitting in?" I growled.
"Well it's Norus's way..." Sighed Torray.

Before I had a chance to say anything more, footsteps echoed from behind a door.
"Quickly Sydney, in here!"
Torray dragged me into a nearby door and I sprung in, slamming it shut behind me. I exhaled and slid down the door until I was sitting. Torray pulled me up. I let out a cry as I felt a sharp pain in my back.
"Agh!" I screamed.
"What's wrong?" Gasped Torray, his eyes filled with concern.
"I... I think the demon wings are stabbing into my back or something," I winced.
I played around with the wings until the pain went away. Weird.
"Okay, I'm good. By the way, if you hate this place so much, why did you come back?"
I had been meaning to ask Torray this for a while now. He chewed on his lip, and I couldn't help but notice the extremely seductive way he ran his fingers through his hair when he was nervous or irritated.
"Like I said, I have unfinished business with Norus. But first we have to get to him without him catching us. This way."

Torray lead me down another hall and through three more doors, passing a few demons wandering past and some disturbing noises coming from next-door rooms. By the time we came to the large gold door, we had passed so many demons that I was used to their common appearance in the corridors. A female demon stepped out from behind the golden door and sashayed towards us in her elegant heels. At first, I paid no attention to her. Until I saw her hair. I couldn't miss that hair anywhere.
"Mia!" I gasped.
Mia stopped halfway in her confident stroll and slowly turned to face me.
"Sydney?" She whispered, putting a hand to her mouth in surprise.
"What are you doing?" Torray hissed at me.
To his annoyance, I put a hand in his face to silence him. How was this possible? My old friend Mia, who I thought had died, was standing right in front of me in the sluttiest red dress I had ever seen and demon wings. Her hair was dyed red and had been cut short at the front and it gradually grew longer at the back, in a funky style that the Mia I knew would have hated. She had an aura of confidence and bitchiness around her that I would never have associated with her until now.

"I... I can't believe you're here! I thought you died! I... I..." I choked.
Mia gazed around anxiously before replying.
"You can't be here!" She hissed, "It is pretty obvious that those wings are only clipped into that dress. If he finds you here... don't expect to see light again. You have to go. He will find you."
"You mean Norus?" I whispered.
Mia nodded. She looked me over and shook her head.
"What happened to you? You look awful!" She remarked cruelly.
"It's my face..." I replied in annoyance.
She finally pulled her gaze away from me and had a look at Torray. A seducing smile played across her face and she took a step to him, running a finger playfully down his chest.
"Yummy. Where did you find him?" Mia smirked.
Torray shoved her off, as I silently fumed.
"You don't talk to me like that," he growled, "You're just a human dressing up as one of us."
I decided not to mention that I was basically doing the same thing.

Mia's smirk grew bigger, but she was smart enough to leave Torray alone. This was not the Mia I remembered.
"Ooh, playing hard to get. Well it is a bit harsh to tell me that I am dressing up when I really am a demon."
I shot her a confused look.
"I have known you since you were a tiny baby. You are definitely a human."
"Oh Sydney, that's where you are wrong. I came here because of love, and love is a very powerful thing you know. So powerful that I was convinced to get wings implanted properly into my shoulder blades where they work perfectly. It's only too bad that I'm getting bored of my husband. There are so many sexier guys out there."
Mia raised her eyebrows suggestively at Torray and fixed up her dress which was even more revealing then mine. I could not believe Mia had decided to go as far as to become one of these beasts. One thing was for sure, this new version of her was somebody who I could not trust.
"You said you came here because of love. And you are married to a demon. Who is it?" Questioned Torray.
Mia looked at him strangely.
"The leader of the demons. Norus."

---------------------------------------------end of chapter 12---------------------------------------------