BORDER

Chapter Fifteen

ANAKIN

I eye down Nerissa as she sleeps. She is shivering beyond comparison. It is bluntly obvious. However, I don't move closer to her to warm her. I just keep eyeing her down, taking in every feature. I hate that it is her who helped me. Why couldn't it have been somebody else?

It's a pain for me. Not just emotionally but physically, as well. The pain in my left shoulder thrums like a heartbeat. My fallen sign.

When did that bitch not hurt though? It constantly feels as if it is screaming at me nonstop. I don't know how to fix it either. Which makes shit way worse. It doesn't help that since I've been around Nerissa it feels like it could implode my shoulder. In a good way, if that makes any sense.

There is something about her that I can't shake. She rests inside my mind like she has always belonged. It is an unwanted and uninvited feeling. Nerissa Solely is my Russa in angel form.

I continue to observe her and she moves forward in her sleep. She settles onto her stomach as her shoulder sleeve gets pulled down by the movement.

I notice it.

Her right shoulder has a similar symbol as mine. Was she? No, that is highly impossible. She is the princess of the angels – of risen. There is no way she has ever been fallen, there is no way she ever will be.

The difference in her symbol makes me forget how we are all marked. All of Phanes's creations are, but especially ones made from royal bloodlines. She is royalty which is why it lies there.

I cringe at the thought of having a matching mark. I do not want to be anything like her. Naive, trusting, and blind by her faith to a God who refuses to show it's face. I turn away from her. It is all a reminder.

I close my eyes as I try to sleep. The attempt is quickly interrupted by Nerissa as she tugs the blanket over her in her sleep, not paying any mind to me or my comfort. She is on the inside of the tight sleeping bag. Contrary to her belief, there is not enough room for us to comfortably sleep next to each other. Maybe if she slept in my arms but there is no way that shit is happening.

So, this is me facing the repercussions of not carrying two sleeping bags. It is already tight on me considering I am six-foot-nine. I gape down at her small figure in annoyance as she pulls the blanket completely off of me. A part of me scolds myself for being so selfish. There is no reason I could not have brought two. Some of the guards in the castle would not even notice a difference because they're all dipshits.

Fucking hate those guys.

Those guys are the reason we all have a bad reputation.

A growl causes me to slip myself up and away from Nerissa. She is sound asleep and doesn't even move. I go closer to the fire pit I had constructed.. I grab a stick and torch it.

"Hello, my pretty boy." The agonizing voice, I hate and know all too well, whispers over the wind. Of course she would be creeping in the dark like the succubi she is.

Megara.

A well-known demon on this side of town appears out of the shadows. She comes around, seduces men of all kinds, just to feed off of their flesh. I am not stupid to fall for her tricks more than once. I can admit there was one time but I had only been seventeen at the time and I was a foolish boy. Now, she gives me the fucking creeps.

Her hips sway side to side as she approaches me. I should just let her lead me behind the next few trees and allow her to think her touch affected me. I like to think I know how to put on one Russa of a show. In truth, Megara isn't my type, I don't think anyone is really. At least no one from my past. I have never cared for a woman, or man, for that matter, in a manner that goes beyond friendly.

Calytrix made sure of that. I am the way I am because of her and him. I run my fingers through my hair as that feeling of suffocation riles through me. It is the flash of golden locks that pulls me back. Nerissa sleeps soundly away from Megara and I am going to make sure of it.

She smirks as she tries to seduce me. "And what is the late son of our all-mighty king doing all the way out here?"

"Well, it's not like I come here often."

"Oh, I am very aware of that."

"Oh yeah?" I nodded in agreement as I shoot her a lazy smile. Tricking her, reeling in the soul sucking demon. "Why is that?"

"You look like you know how to please a woman and there are no men around here that can do that. I just so happen to be looking for some... what's the word? Fun." She says before pulling a corner of her bottom lip in between her perfectly straight teeth.

I walk to her, moving my hands over each other, as I rake my eyes up her figure. She did have a nice body, even I have to admit that as a man with eyes "Is that so?"

"You are always so fun." Megara pulls down her dress strap so that it drapes on her lower shoulder.

"I am a lot of fun, aren't I?" I reach behind her dress, secure my hands at the bottom of her back, and pull her close to me. She sinks into me, her nose nuzzling my neck, and I have to fight the bile clawing up my chest

"Until you grew a conscious." She says gleefully. "Ruined all the fun."

"Let me help you with that," I say as I smirk. I lead her into the trees, darkness wipes away any form of naivity. Her hungry hands run up my body before I turn her around, roughly.

"I forgot, you like it rough," Megara laughs and I join inletting her think she is going to have the upper hand. Memories flood back from that night, freshly seventeen years old, innocent for whatever that means as a fallen, my hatred of the world burning and yet I thought this seductress in the woods was someone I could trust. I had saved a woman from her death once, I thought Megara would be another one. She was not.

"Hey, Megara," I grip the dagger from my back pocket, "I do like it rough," and then I force my knife in her back. I stab her repeatedly in every spine vertebrae I can get my blade through.

I don't do well with women touching me.

She shrieks before dissolving into her true form of a raging demon. Megara gawks at me, eyes full of fear and rage, as I kick her down. She hits the ground hard, after bouncing off a trunk and landing on her back. I watch as life leaves her eyes.

I go to the edge of the mountains and I allow the bile to win. I double over and spew anything inside of my already empty stomach to cover the ground. When I am done, I wipe my mouth and look down at myself. I am a mess. Her blood coats me from my hair, down my body, to my shows. Some places I can't see at the moment but can feel. Stripping, I get into the ocean knowing the next challenge is arising sooner than we think.

And I still didn't get any fucking sleep.