Drowning (1st book)

15. The Blood of an Angel

Asher coughs and sputters water.

"Asher!" I exclaim.

He glances up at at me. He looks like he's been sedated, or he's high. If he's high it wouldn't surprise me.

"I could use a little help here!" Asher says with urgency.

I walk slowly on the ice, trying not to slip.

When I first see Asher I inwardly gasp.

What happened to him?

He has astronomical gashes that are either slightly open and bleeding, or have scabs that are oozing puss.

He has scars and bruises all over his face.

I help him to his feet. I see blisters and blood all over his chest. I see disturbingly deep, slightly scabed gashes in his skin.

He slips a few times getting up.

I carry him off the ice and onto the dewy, green grass.

I won't let anything happen to Asher.

My Asher Dorian.

He moans and groans a few time because of the excruciating pain.

Once we get to my house's front door, I ask him a question.

"Won't you wake up my family?"

His eyes slightly open.

"I charmed them, they won't awake until I make them."

I'm usually not okay with him doing his voodoo demon magic on my family, but he needs my help. Whether he loves me or not.

I take Asher to my room and lay him on my bed.

I address his wounds and put a cold cloth on his forehead.

----------

Two hours later, I come from the bathroom and walk into my room, to see Asher sitting up in my bed.

"Asher?" I quietly ask. I'm scared of the response.

"Come here, sit by me," he says emotionless.

I sit by him.

He stares at the window.

One minute goes by. Two. Ten. Fifteen.

I finally break the silence.

"Did they hurt you?" I whisper.

Asher chews on the inside of his cheek a little.

"Let's be pragmatic, Rose. Of course they tortured me."

I look at my hands. I have to remind myself he doesn't love me.

"For about half a year," I respond.

He turns his head to look at mine.

"That long? I thought it was only two months," he says bewildered by my statement.

"Yeah, these last few months have been horrible for me," I blush furiously when those words tumble out of my mouth.

Asher closes his eyes and takes a sharp intake of breath.

"What did they use?"

Asher doesn't answer me.

Like a fucking idiot, I try again.

"What did they use?" I try again.

Asher turns his entire body to face mine.

"Rose, you can't use regular weapons to torture a demon, we can simply heal ourselves. The weapons are dipped in angel blood. It's the only thing that can hurt us."

I want to hug him, but I'm too scared it would hurt him.

"Rose, I'm dead," he says looking out the window with an extremely cloudy face.

I give him an abashed expression.

"Of course you are, you died. Now you're a demon."

"No," he says deeply contemplating his sentence."I'm dead because they killed me. They killed my soul. My human soul."

Tears slip down his face.

"When I became a demon, they trained it out of me. Now look what I am!" he spits.

I am silent.

"It took me until I was rotting in a prison cell with tons of chains dipped in angel blood to see that I could have kept my soul! But I was too damn excited to be a demon, I practically volunteered! I just wanted to get back at Rose," he finishes.

I look at Asher and his entire body is shaking, his hair is sweaty and matted to his head, and his crying has turned into a violent sob.

"You didn't get back at her though, right?" I ask horrified he would try and hurt her.

He shakes his head.

"No."

I breathe a sigh of relief.

I take his hand and gaze into his ice blue eyes.

Except, instead of seeing the usual, ecstatic and vulgar Asher; I see nothing.

I see nothing but death.

Asher's P.O.V

Her beautiful chestnut hair falls in loose strands around her face. I want to reach out and touch it, but that would complicate things significantly.

Rose bandages the wounds around my body. She touches my stomach gently, sending a sharp pain to my gut; but I don't mind.

A crimson blush starts to creep up her cheeks as she wipes grime off my face. She avoids my eyes.

"Rose, thank you," I whisper to her.

Her body tenses.

"No problem," she says. Her voice is melodic.

To think, she cares so much about me, she would carry me out of the ice and onto her bed. She truly does love me. That scares me.

You love her, my subconscious screams.

Don't listen, I tell myself. You can't.

"Rose," I whisper. I love the way her name rolls off my tongue.

She whips her head around to look at me. Her green eyes are blazing with concern.

"Yes?" she asks.

I sigh. I don't want to hurt her, but I can't avoid this.

"There are consequences to loving a demon, it's not allowed. Prepare to pay them," the words burn as they come out of my mouth.

She doesn't say anything. She just stares at me.

I hurt her, or she's confused. Either way, she'll figure it out eventually.

I can read her thoughts.

What? she thinks.

I sigh.

She'll understand eventually. She's a smart girl.

He'll never love me, she thinks.

Oh, but I'm pretty sure I do.

Rose sits by my bed and combs through my hair with her fingers.

I close my eyes and let sleep slowly drag me away.

"Never leave me," she whispers thinking I'm already asleep.

"Never," I reply to her shock.

"Never," I say softer and I let sleep overtake my body.

I dream of the beautiful Rose White.