Gehenna's Gate

Damocles

Immediately, her heart beat skyrocketed to a painful pace, squeezing frantically in her chest as her eyes widened with fear.

"Vena?" Rae's voice was light, as if the girl's mouth was dry.

A knife was held flush to the blonde's throat, the holder none other than her least favorite male angel, bright blue eyes starting back at her with that typical amused and pleased expression.

"Damon," Vena flatly spoke, knowing despite her fear and anxiety that she had to try her best to remain calm and as level headed as possible right now despite how badly every nerve in her body was screaming for the opposite.

He was quite literally holding Rae's life in the palm of his hand.

"Fancy meeting you here, gorgeous. Missed me?" His face never lacked his signature smug grin regardless of circumstance.

Despite how badly she wanted to spit venom from her tongue, she knew angering him would only put Rae's life in further danger. For now, her best option was to keep him busy and talking, and be as agreeable as possible until help could arrive.

How she hated that this was always her default. How her own life and the lives of those she cared for was never truly in her own hands and that she was powerless to change any of it, forced to  just wait around for someone else to save her.

Hands clenched at her sides, but she swallowed the lump in her throat anyway.

"Why are you here?" Vena kept her voice leveled, eyes never once leaving Damon's, refusing to flinch away or give him the satisfaction.

"For you, of course." The man gave a little shrug of his shoulders, pointing the tip of the knife now directly toward her instead, but his hand still remained firmly on Rae's arm, keeping her frozen in place.

The blonde didn't dare utter a word or move a muscle, far too scared and confused to try.

"Oh, don't look at me with those judgy little eyes. I had to do something to get your attention, didn't I?"

Had he been following them all day? Just waiting for an opportunity like this? How did he know they'd even be here to begin with?

A million questions were running through her mind, but no plausible answers in sight.

"Whatever you want- it's yours. Just let Rae go, please." The words tasted bitter as they left her lips, but she didn't have a whole lot of options.

Anything else was better than what he was threatening.

His expression practically lit up at that, his grin widening.

"Now that's more like it! See, how hard was that?" The man had the gall to tease, causing Vena's jaw to tighten with irritation, biting back the harsh words she wanted to so desperately let fly, but it wasn't worth the risk.

She had to play this as passively as possible.

For the first time, Vena's eyes flicked to rest on Jenna, seemingly unbothered by the entire situation, just an awkwardly uncomfortable look on her face as she stood there silently, another man stood behind her, his hand simply rested on her shoulder.

Why did she look... guilty?

"That wasn't part of the deal, Damon." A rouge voice clearly disagreed, all eyes turning to face the figure approaching, Vena's dread only worsening as the realization set in.