Undecided

12.

Alice came back to the present, hesitating to continue their conversation on the couch. She feared her friend would think she was unwell, and honestly she was scared she was as well.

"I know this is going to sound insane," Alice began, "But when I went with Samael outside, I saw him become some kind of creature?" The dark haired woman avoided the word demon, cringing inwardly at how it sounded.

"What?" Elena questioned, her eyes wide.

"I'm not sure if it was just the mushrooms, but then it almost felt as though he was trying to take my soul?" She explained with little confidence, "Ah, this sounds so stupid."

"It doesn't sound stupid, Alice." Elena reassured, "But I would try not to let it bother you too much, you were under the influence and maybe the last trip was still in your subconscious."

"It made me feel like the last trip may have been a warning."

"You know, it may have been. I would just be careful and take things slow with Samael. Maybe this is your fear manifesting. After Aiden, I know the possibility of getting hurt again is terrifying." Elena reached out to gently rub Alice's arm, "Metaphorically speaking, Aiden kinda took your soul for a while."
The blonde was trying to decipher what Alice's trip could mean. All she wanted was to help her make sense of it and ease her stress. Elena could never have guessed how literal it all truly was.

"You're right, you're right. It just all felt so real." Alice sighed out, but then a sheepish expression made its way onto her face, "As for taking it slow, it may be a little late for that because we definitely...."

"You sly dog!" Elena teased, "Good for you! How was it?"

Alice felt her cheeks heat up as she recalled the event, "It was incredible."

Elena raised an eyebrow as a smile spread across her features, clearly noticing her friend's red face, "Mmmhm. It seems so."

"Oh god," Alice placed her hands over her cheeks, "I'm in danger."

Elena chuckled, "I think this is good for you."

Ding.

Alice's phone buzzed. She peeked at the screen and there was a text from Samael.

'What are you doing tonight?' It read.

"It's him!" Alice squeaked.

She quickly texted back, 'Nothing in particular!'

'Would you like to go out tonight? :)'

'Sure! :))'

'Pick you up at 5?'

'I'll be looking forward to it. <3'

"Oh gosh," Alice whispered, "He asked me out tonight."

"And so she bagged tall, dark, and handsome," Elena chuckled.

"Don't jinx me!"

"Just promise me to be careful." The blonde stuck out her pinky.

"Promise." Alice confirmed, connecting her pinky to Elena's.

The evening crept up on her fast. Alice had dressed herself in her signature cute, but comfy outfit. She sported some baggy, black jeans with holes at the knees and a matching black jumper. Her raven hair was tied up in two loosely braided pigtails with white ribbons on the ends. Black lipstick painted her full lips, and cat-like liner uplifted her eyes.

She paced in her room while she waited for him to arrive, nervous to see him again.

Samael's energy lingered in the air around her. He watched her every move with an intensity that could not be wavered. Since discovering who she was, he has not left her side. It was strange to see her in the body she resided in. In hindsight, he couldn't believe he hadn't recognized her energy sooner. Maybe it was willful blindness. The curse placed on the both of them had made it impossible to find her and rendered many of his abilities useless in assisting him with anything related to Alice.
He had convinced himself he would never see her again. Samael made himself shut her out, let her go. It was the only way he could go on.
There was a period where he had driven himself mad searching for her, scouring through time and space. He never wanted to end up like that again. The fact that her human state was so fragile was like a cruel joke; at any moment, she could be taken from him once more. If that were to happen, who knows when he would find her again.

She was the one and only key to breaking the curse. Samael scolded himself for missing what was right in front of his face this whole time. Disgust and shame bubbled inside of him at the way he had been treating her. He had long lost his respect for human beings, they were now his food after-all. Humans were just as damned as him, bound to this plane of existence until they redeemed themselves once more by returning to the source. However, few did so. It was his job to tempt them, to challenge them, to feed off of them. It wasn't meant to be easy. He represented the shadow of their being, meant to be mastered within. Some of them he even owned, such as Leon, and they resigned to never move on. This was his domain: The Matrix, Hell, The Underworld, or whatever one wishes to call it.
Unless a human resigned their being to him, he was forbidden to reveal this knowledge to them.
A rule that he broke many moons ago for Alice, before she was even known as 'Alice'.
That broken rule which the Archons cursed them both for.

When the Archons created the physical plane, it was never meant to be as it is now. It was meant to be the beginning of a new immortal race that ruled over their own paradise. They loved to watch their creations create. However, their ways could be cruel. The type of detachment you gain when you can give and take life at your leisure. Power beyond even Samael's.
They created two humans: Adam and Lilith.
Lilith was meant to belong to Adam, and as you can imagine, her lack of choice over this was something she didn't appreciate.
Samael had originally been at the right-hand of the Archons. A holy being assigned to watch over their new creation. However, the more he observed, the more it all left a bad taste in his mouth.
Adam was cruel to Lilith. He didn't care for her wants or needs. The human man only saw himself. Though Lilith was given to him as a partner, he was not able to see her as an equal.
Samael watched Lilith cry by herself day in and day out. Her misery was hard to watch, he felt himself ache for her. Her loneliness was consuming.

He knew he could not expose himself, as it was against the Archon's rules, so he decided to take the form of a snake that way he could speak to her without giving himself away. Samael desperately wished to lessen her suffering. The least he could do was provide her with proper company, to lessen her feeling of solitude.