AZRIEL

CHAPTER NINETEEN

It had turned out Julian had been sent by Azriel to ask me that very question - if I wanted to go back to the mortal lands to see my sister and father.

I guess it must have struck him how much I had seemed to think about them recently, especially with the Christmas months drawing in. It was a time I cherished with them both every year- although this year was about to be very different.

The following morning after myself and Julian's talk, I found myself in front of my dressing wardrobe rummaging for something to wear that wasn't black, tight or revealing in line with true Velastillian fashion. I was compelled by Azriel to give Cirse the morning off in order to keep our plans about visiting the human realms quiet.

Julian sat at my window seat, his back slouched against the wall with his long legs sprawled as he watched me.

"So, what does one wear in the human lands?" He said.

I continued to rifle through the endless dark clothes in my wardrobe, growing frustrated due to how every time I'd think I had found something suitable to wear - it would end up having a plunging neckline or be cropped at the stomach.

"Layers," I answered without sparing a glance in his direction. "Just wrap up - its never warm in my area of the human world."

"And which area, to be exact, is yours?"

"A village. A small village who believe many things about your kind." I paused on a black dress, but after seeing the length I tossed it onto the pile of rejected clothes I had accumulated. "They probably believe I've been murdered already either by a monster or a pack of wolves. I was their sacrifice."

"And a very good one," Julian raised his brows as I continued to toss clothes into a pile on the ground, "I don't think anybody would have reacted this well in your position, Adeline. I think that is why Azriel's found it within himself to risk everything just to let you visit your family."

I sighed, pushing the brunette hair out of my face. "I just hope it's worth it."

He slowly rose from his seat, tall and overpowering thanks to the steel and leather armour he wore on his body, and begun to head to the door. "I'll be waiting for you downstairs alongside Azriel. Try to make your journey downstairs discreet if you can." He took a step outside the door, and before it shut he popped his head back in. "Oh, and that black blouse would look killer on you."

I chuckled to myself as the door shut behind him and pulled off the satin black blouse from the hanger. No cuts, no plunges, and not too dramatic. Perhaps he was right.

Standing in front of the mirror, I tugged the blouse over my head and buttoned the cuffs before adjusting the fitted sleeves into place. For below, I pulled on some simple black pants and stared at the complete outfit in the mirror - although the outfit wasn't what I noticed first. My eyes instead darted to my ears, still pointed. I hadn't looked at my reflection in the mirror for so long that I had almost forgotten my identity  - and my ears, my fairy ears. I also noticed my physique and how I didn't look so starved, so sullen any longer - a positive.

When I finally made my way down to the reception room by the entrance, I found Azriel and Julian waiting for me. Azriel was dressed similar to Julian- with steel and fighting leathers. Their wings were out too - dark and broad.

"Relax," I let out a small laugh inwardly, "No need to armour up so much, it's only the human realm."

Azriel raised a brow. "They were able to throw a girl into the forest on the basis of salvation. Gives me a good enough reason to believe they're radical, no?"

Prick.

I rolled my eyes and started to walk towards the main door, but still managed to catch sight of the smirks Julian and Azriel had exchanged between one another before following behind me. 

"A couple of things to take note of, though," I heard Azriel call out behind me as I descended down the front marble steps of the house and into the courtyard with the two males not far. He waited for me to pause in my step and turn to face him before continuing, and I noticed how his voice was a lot lower - more secretive almost. "First thing I'd like to make clear, wherever you go either Julian or I will have an eye on you. Don't try anything stupid, or try to run because a fallen angel will outrun you. Secondly, you mustn't give your family any information on Velastille, the war or what you've seen here. And lastly - we return back to Velastille at the end of the visit. This is non negotiable. Don't make me regret taking you, Adeline."

"Were you planning this pre-adventure speech in your room last night or something?" I arched a brow at him, and Julian chuckled a low laugh while Azriel snorted dismissively. "Anyway, how are we going to get there? Do you guys even know the way? We can't possibly go on foot can-"

The last thing I saw and heard was Azriel click his fingers before my vision instantly faded into nothing but stars and blackness. My legs felt liquid - and I could no longer feel the support of the ground beneath my feet. Sharp winds blew thick between my hair, then blinding sunlight towards my eyes - so blinding I succumbed to squinting, then shutting my eyes completely. 

And then the winds retreated, and my feet finally felt stable ground. Land. Human land. My home.

Hesitantly, my eyes flickered open to meet the blazing sunlight above us and I quickly shifted my gaze away from it and towards my surroundings again. We were standing at the clearing of what appeared to be a deep forest, and when our whereabouts finally registered in my head I froze.

We were in the west wood. The same wood I had been mercilessly thrown into as a sacrifice by my village.

My eyes frantically scanned our surroundings, and through the thorny brambles of the bushes where the three of us stood hidden away was when a house caught my eye.

My house.

My family's once decaying, crumbling home had been transformed into something now so warm and beautiful. The once chipping paint had now been replaced with fresh, glossy coats of white - and same with the porch and front door. Bits of evergreen and holly adorned the outline of the house's windows, and also the village's street lampposts. Houses on the same street as mine appeared to be in the same condition, glossy and refurbished, adorned with wreaths for Christmas. A smell lingered in the air - the strong scent of slow roasting turkey, or perhaps a stew. Something thick and stodgy but flavoursome.

The sacrifice had worked in their favour.

"I told you," Azriel's murmur from behind me snapped me into reality again. "If you agreed to fight, this is what I'd do for your village and your family. Not a trace of a famine in sight."

My teeth grit. "It's not as though this village deserved it. They were all evil, evil people."

"Well, I proposed the promise and you agreed. So here we are."

Deep down I knew I was grateful to Azriel for this - because I knew my family had also benefitted from this wealth, and so I didn't argue with him. With my hood up and fingers tucked into my fur-lined pockets, I made my way to the front door of my house. I made it my priority to keep my head down - avoiding eye contact from the butcher up ahead or the newsboy on his bicycle racing past to deliver a few Christmas cards.

My heart drummed in my chest as I left a sturdy few knocks on the main door. Further behind, hidden between the darkness of the tall trees in the wood, my two companions waited and watched unseen. I told them it was best if I met my father and sister alone at first.

A few moments passed with no reply at the door. I shivered, wrapping my wool coat tighter around my body. The cold temperature in Velastille seemed to be nothing compared to the negative temperatures of the north of the human world. Either that, or I had grown far too used to the Velastillian winter.

Still waiting, I spared a quick glance towards where Azriel and Julian remained hidden in the shadows. From the outline I could just about make out, I saw Julian jumping up and down on the spot in perhaps an attempt to generate heat in his body, while Azriel just stared in confusement at his friend's daft efforts. A small smile subconsciously appeared on my lips as I watched them.

And that was when the door opened.