Ethereal - Part Two

Chapter 40 - Deceptive Dreaming

Although I had been experiencing excruciating amounts of pain, it wasn’t my wounds that had woken me up. It was an urge to get revenge for what those demons had put me through. But when I opened my eyes and was about to get off the bed, I felt a hand grip my wrist.

I turned back and saw Azriel. He had a deep worried frown etched into his forehead when he looked over all the injuries I had sustained. “You aren’t here. You’re not really here” I whispered to myself, my eyes tearing up at the sight of a familiar face.

“I am, Mira. I came here for you, to save you” He said softly and reached his hand out towards my face. “No, I can’t do this. You aren’t really here”. “I really am Mira, it took me some time because I had to find a portal and… never mind, the details are not of importance, you are. Come here” He gestured and I gingerly inched closer.

Once Azriel’s arms engulfed my form, I burst out in tears. I cried for everything that I had to go through. I cried for wanting to be more wild and free and abandoning the option of staying home and going clubbing.

I cried for meeting the fallen in the first place, for growing attached to them, for accepting them as they are, for loving them. I cried for my deceased family, the mother and grandmother I never got the chance to meet, a father who wasn’t my own, my father that didn’t love me enough to stick around and tell me the truth about my identity.

I cried for being betrayed by the brother of someone I thought of as a friend, for being brought here and for every single injury I had. For every pain I felt and for every drop of tear I wasted without a purpose.

“Oh, Mira. I must apologise, for your family, your mother…and not keeping you safe, even though I promised you I would do so” Azriel said and ran his large warm hands up and down my back. It was so comforting and so…real.

“Do you hurt?” He asked as he wiped the fresh tears away. I moved slightly away from him to look into his eyes. I couldn’t talk about that, now wasn’t the time. I needed to know if I wasn’t dreaming Azriel to be here. “Azriel, I was stung, again”.

“I know, I noticed the mark on your neck. But you fought off the compulsion. You must have a new form of strength now that you have accepted your new form”. “You know that I am Nephilim?” I asked him. “After you were taken, you father descended and…”.

“My father?” I asked, sounding downright shocked. As in my Angel father. If that was true then there was truly no way that Asmodeus could have known that, which had to have meant that…

“Azriel?”. Azriel frowned slightly as he looked at me and asked, “Yes?”. “You are here. You really are here! How did you get here, and past the guards?”. Azriel looked slightly confused and then as it dawned upon him, he smiled.

“You thought it was a dream produced by Asmodeus?”. I simply nodded my head and smiled shyly. “Well, I reached here through a portal that we found on Earth hidden in a demon nest – no, sorry – we reached here through a portal, the others are outside. As for the guards, they are no longer alive”.

I laughed then, wholesomely and freely. Azriel grabbed me back into his arms and let out a long breath of air. “I have missed you dearly Mira. Not a moment has passed where my mind had not wondered to you”. He kissed the top of my head and then moved away, his hands now resting on mine.

“I know we have matters to discuss, but first we need to get out of here. I have a promise that I made that I intend to keep” He said with a wink and then got off the bed, pulling me with him.