Only Human: Angels and Demons

Chapter 76: Cenderion and June

Things are starting to pick up! Please enjoy and don't forget to vote and comment. I love the feedback, and it helps me shape my story when I hear what the readers are enjoying or not enjoying. Please know there will be a list of songs in this chapter. If they are not perfect representations of their genre, I apologize. Feel free to suggest ones that you think would be better fits. Thank you!

-Lucinda Croft

Change of POV

I could not take it anymore. I had to see her, if only to be sure that she did not utterly despise me. The other dryads were all nagging me to give her space and go back to my tree. When I was one with my tree time passed differently. The world around me seemed to move much faster, and what felt like a day could be weeks. But that was the problem. What if she needed me, but didn't know to look for me. I had to be here. I had to show her I was willing to talk. So I remained in my bipedal form.

I sat on the rock in the very grotto I first caught her in. The last time I saw her face it showed she was feeling such pain. I was too far from my tree to be able to feel what she felt, but the hurt was apparent in her tears and shaky voice. She felt betrayed. All that effort I put into proving my intentions were legitimate were scattered to the wind in just one conversation. I should have told her the moment I found out, but I couldn't have. It would have frightened her. She would have blamed me, as if I somehow had something to do with it. Humans were irrational that way. I didn't want to lose her or push her away, but it happened anyway.

I opened my palm and a little bud sprouted and grew from it. When the flower blossomed, it was a delicate white lily. Its petals reminded me of her dress. Unlike the flower, My Lily had so many expressions and emotions that flickered from moment to moment. Her luring smile and her glee filled laughter were things I often sought for, but her annoyed and angry expressions were enjoyable at times as well. There was only one face she could make that I hated, and that was when she was sad. Her light would be dimmed as her tears tore at my very being. To think that I caused that. What kind of king was I? Once again she had made me feel this foreign emotion known as regret.

And who is she to make the great King of Dryads feel such an absurd emotion? Anger quickly started to bubble past the sadness. I was the king of dryads and any other creature on this continent, or any other continent I wager, would be honored to be my bride. I had an attractive form, I was one of the most powerful creatures in this realm, and there was no greater pleasure than laying with a dryad. Why hadn't she fallen for me yet? I had even followed all the clichés that riddled human literature.

She is playing hard to get. My Lily is playing with my emotions. She wants me to crawl back and beg for her like a lowly dog. I wasn't a creature to be taken so lightly. Part angel or not, I was the dryad king. I had power. I had a kingdom that spanned the entire world. I didn't need to beg for anything.

I don't need to wait for her approval. Her heart cannot be won, so I must take it. Lily already belongs to me, and I only need to make her understand that. I had it right the first time. Now that the dryad community wanted her as well, I could use all my power to take Lily and hold her in my branches once again. That was where she belonged, and it was what I deserved.

I will steal her away and make her mine! She will not be able to live without me when I'm through!

Suddenly a pain flared through my chest. I clutched at my breast with my free hand, but then watched the lily blacken and whither away. In its place a black scorch mark remained on my palm. I stood and rubbed at it, but it only started to grow bigger. The pain shot through me again.

"Something's wrong..." I said weakly. I hadn't noticed until now, but I couldn't hear the other dryads. They had been silent for a while. My tree... I had to go back to my tree.