Wingless ~Book Two of Winged~

History

I follow Etheriel back to the hotel room. In his hands is several bags of take-out Chinese food and I am holding a liter of Coca-Cola. We stop in front of our door and he awkwardly gets the keycard out, pushing it into the lock. The light turns green and I open the door for him. He smiles and hits the light switch, turning it on. He sets the food on the table and I set the bottle on the table beside it. I go to the mini fridge to get the plastic cups off of it and see that the ice bucket is empty.

"I'll go get some ice." I smile as Etheriel looks up from his spot on the ground.

"Be quick." He smiles. I grab the empty ice bucker off the mini fridge and leave, quietly shutting the door behind me and hearing the soft click of the lock setting. I stare down at the intricate designs on the carpet as I walk down the hall toward the ice machine and the vending machines.

"Trinity..." I freeze at the painfully familiar voice and slowly turn to face him. Eli. He stands in the middle of the hall five feet from me; his face is calm along with his eyes. He has his hands in the pockets of his dark dress pants.

"What do you want?" I ask with hostility in my voice. He shows a small smile, but sadness lurks within.

"It's Dominic, I need your help." He says quietly but it seems so loud in this empty hall.

"What's wrong with him?" I ask, slightly concerned since I haven't seen him since yesterday.

"I guess you could say he's become destructive." Eli takes a step forward and I let him. "Please come with me to him." He says and holds out his hand for me to take. I stare at his hand. I am probably to blame, I should fix it. I close the distance between Eli and I take his warm hand. He stares down into my eyes as flames grow around us, making me uncomfortable. When the flames die down, we are in an unfamiliar place. The room is large and grand with high ceilings. A large fireplace crackles in the corner making the warm room even hotter. In front of the fireplace at an angle to be parallel with the fireplace, is a black sofa. There is a huge bed, larger than a king bed or any bed I've ever seen with black sheer curtains surrounding it. I see a few empty bottles on the bed and on the dark nightstand beside the bed. At the foot of the bed is a leather bench seat with books piled high on it. The floors are a dark hardwood and there is a large rug in the middle of the room. Off on the different side of the room is a dark colored table with books piled all around and behind the table is bookshelves that extend all the way to the ceiling filled with books. Dark red candles are burning randomly placed around the room. Eli keeps a strong hold on my hand as he leads me toward the fireplace and sofa. When we round the sofa, I see empty bottles strewn about everywhere and a bunch of glass shards from bottles that were thrown. Dominic. Dominic is stretched out of the sofa, a half empty bottle in hand, and is staring into the flames of the fireplace completely zoned out. Eli drops my hand.

"Dominic." Eli says firmly and Dominic doesn't respond. "Dominic!" Eli says loudly and Dominic slowly lifts the bottle to his lips, taking a long sip.

"Yes, brother?" Dominic says lowly, continuing to stare into the fire.

"He came here two days ago, Hell time, and I am pretty sure he had come from a bar fight in the Mortal Realm. He had bruises and cuts, but they've already healed." Eli says and turns to me. Dominic zones back out, still not realizing I am here. I watch Dominic's eyes closely study the fire. "What happened back in the Mortal Realm?" Eli asks, examining me. I ignore his question and take a small step closer to the sofa.

"Dominic?" I ask quietly.

"Already tried that." Eli comments. I watch Dominic take another long sip.