Gehenna's Gate

Chokehold

It wasn't until her eyes centered on the form in front of her that an unsettling feeling stirred in her chest, bright blue eyes staring back at her.

"Who knew I'd find you before Scara did? His tracking game is lacking." Damon hummed, one of his hands holding the girl's wrist to the wall.

Vena quickly yanked her arm out of his hold, glaring daggers back at him.

That wasn't who she expected nor wanted. Why the hell were they still following her anyway? Another hope, crushed.

"What part of 'stay the fuck away from me' did you two not get?" Vena spit venom, not in the mood for more of their bullshit, especially since it seemed like Damon was intent on causing more problems.

"How many attempts on your life need to be made before you get this through your skull, princess. You are in danger, and we're all trying to protect you. The least you could do is stop making that more difficult." A smile was hanging on his lips, but it clearly held a hint of irritation, probably annoyed with spending his entire day chasing behind her.

Was it really her fault, though? She'd told them both to stay away, actually.

"Are you dense? Have you not realized that I don't care?" Vena scoffed, arms crossing over her chest with obvious attitude, still glaring daggers up at the man in front of her.

"Oh please, you only got all bratty about this because I told you Xiao's hanging out with his ex behind your back. Sorry I'm the only one with the guts to tell you the truth." Damon gave a shrug of his shoulders, but it was obvious he was getting a kick out of this.

Smug little shit.

"I don't know what game you're playing at, but fuck off. I'm not in the mood for you or Scara's bullshit. Stop following me."

Damon's smile tightened, looking like he was doing his best to maintain it as he took another step toward her, his hand taking hold of her jaw in one swift movement.

"Such a beautiful girl but such a fowl mouth." Damon spoke lowly, not dropping his smile from his face even despite her grabbing his wrist and shoving his hand away harshly.

"Touch me again and you'll have a knife in your throat." The girl warned, looking at him with such disdain and disgust as she gave another shove to his shoulder with her own so she could slip past him.

Her skin was on fire, the urge to physically destroy something only intensified now as she headed back over to the couch to find Rae.

Surely she just needed another distraction and she'd cool back off.

"Vena, there you are! You haven't been answering your phone, silly." Her head whipped around to the other couch, eyes widening with horror as she saw Scara sitting in the seat next to Childe, leaning back casually and stretching his arms behind his head.

This is a fucking nightmare. This isn't real.

"I told him it's been connected to the speaker since you were our D.J," Rae piped up with a smile.

"He was looking for you this morning too though, at lunch."

Vena's expression looked mortified. This morning? As in he'd found Rae and talked to her this morning while Vena wasn't there?

"I figured she'd know where to find you since she's your best friend." Scara beamed a wide yet obviously fake smile, clearly putting on appearances for everyone else present.

How badly Vena wanted to tell him all about himself, but there were too many other innocent sets of eyes that needed to be kept as far away from the world of fallen angels as possible, so at least for now, she had to play along.