Dragonfly

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, I awoke alone in bed and at first I was confused as to why I was alone before I remembered how Lewis had left.

"If we are going to do this than there are somethings that I need to take care off," Lewis had said before he kissed me and left me alone in my home.

Hesitantly, I turned over with a groan whilst silently dreading the revelation of the time. As I moved, I felt the thorns, that penetrated through the skin of my shoulder blades, twitch slightly.

"Ugh!" I groaned as my gaze fell upon the cheap, simple digital alarm clock that rested upon the wood of my windowsill. "Well its early," I muttered whilst staring longingly at the beautiful dark winter sky. Stars continued to glisten whilst the moon prepared to depart and make way for the morning sun.

I sighed as I forced myself to leave the comfort and warmth of my bed, feeling reluctant to let go off my soft duvet.

"Come on Riley, you have to get up!" I muttered to myself as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "Ugh... I hate having things to do,"

With little energy in my movements, I wandered through my home like a zombie as I forced myself to get dressed and ready for the day ahead. As it became time for the sun to wake and take its place in the sky, a knock appeared at the door causing me to jump and drop the letters I had only just picked up.

Swiftly, I grabbed them and began to flick through the countless death threats as I approached the back door.

Looks like people have started hating me and judging me already and its all because of my condition, I thought with a sigh as I glanced over my shoulder and to the unusually large thorns; that had started to take a different form entirely.

I paused at the door as I noticed the black figure that stood there, waiting for me to open the door and yet again, I sighed.

Azazel... my mind whispered his name, the internal voice as soft and light as a feather, geez I'm sighing a lot today. Just shows how fed up I am with all of this. As the internal voice that were my thoughts continued to speak, I unlocked the door whilst staring at the death threats that rested upon the kitchen counter.

As the door opened, my gaze met Azazel’s and hidden deep within the mask, I could see something in his eyes.

Hunger... my mind automatically knew what it was that I saw though I couldn't understand why or how I knew.

He pushed past me and slammed the door shut and locked it before he pulled something out from within his coat.

"Hello to you too," I muttered as he threw the object onto my kitchen counter and glanced out of the window.

"Someone has been following me and it makes it awfully uncomfortable to feed," said Azazel as my mind finally registered what it was that he had thrown onto my kitchen counter.

A blood bag.

His eyes began to glow a terrifying sanguine red as he picked up the blood bag and pierced it with the horrifying mouth full of fangs. The sweet coppery scent of blood invaded my nose, forcing me to feel nauseated.

Though it made me feel ill, I couldn’t help but watch as black veins rose to the surface of his pale skin and the red glow of his eyes vanished as both of his eyes turned to a demonic black. The flesh around his eye sockets took on a fearsome red as the veins became far more prominent there compared to the rest of his body.

Hastily, he drained the bag completely and a sigh of content escaped his lips as he pulled away from the baggy. The red glow appeared in his eyes once again and seemed to vanquish the beast within him as the darkness fled and his veins vanished. Once again, he was a figure that reminded me of a stone statue, carved until it had become absolute perfection.

"Not a pretty sight, is it?" Said Azazel as he threw the empty blood bag in the bin.

"No," I muttered as my gaze followed him around the kitchen.

"Well you need to get used to seeing monstrosities such as myself, you will be seeing them more often than you will care to believe, Dragonfly," replied Azazel, his voice sounding both professional and cocky with certainty.

He seems rather arrogant today... this isn't like him...

"You look parched, when was the last time you fed?"

"I'm not sure," I muttered as he wandered into my front room. I hesitated as I glanced out of the window whilst wondering who it was that had been following him, before I walked into my front room to see him sat on my sofa looking rather relaxed.

I don't even know how to feed...

Looking back at it now, I couldn't have been anymore stupid, feeding was and is something natural and instinctive though it can be controlled.

"You're going to have to feed before you set off on your journey, Dragonfly,"

"How do you know about that?"

"I know many things about you, Miss Riley Jones because I have witnessed the trials you have faced and will face in the days to come," replied Azazel, sounding just as cryptic as he had done every other time our paths had crossed.

"So, would I be correct in assuming that you already knew that everything that has happened to me were things that you already knew would happen?" I questioned as I lifted my eyebrows at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Not everything but you already knew of many of the trials you would have to face,"

"Bull... absolute bull,"

"Well, I guess that you haven't noticed the similarities between your life and the events that occur in your book," said Azazel as a smug smile grew upon his face.

"How do you know about m-" I stopped mid-sentence, unable to continue my sentence as my mind registered his words. Suddenly, I became frozen into place as my mind became engulfed in thought.

The realisation finally hit me and when it did, it pulverised me like a thousand bricks would have done if the sky had decided to rain bricks.