Angel's Wrath

Chapter Two

Fumbling in his tatty trouser pocket, Erik managed to get his key out . He opened the door to his past, the memories flooding back in. The ugly memories: his first argument (major one anyway) with parents about his stupid ex girlfriend, the good memories: family nights, crowded around the fire playing monopoly, and various other memories.

"ERIK!" A loud voice shouted. "HURRY UP! MEETING!"

Back in the present, Erik moved like the speed of light up the stairs, ran into his bedroom and flung himself onto his bed. Tears flowed down his face and onto the duvet. Pressing his nose in, Erik inhaled the comforting smell of home, his parents and more importantly, happiness. Erik Finn Swan's eyelids drooped, and slowly he began to fade away from the presents into dreamland.

"Poor kid must've dozed off. No wonder, it's been a hectic day. First he finds out his parents are dead, then he's told he's moving to another country, this is not good," broken English, perhaps Russian, the voice was definitely feminine . "Don't go too hard on him just because you missed that  stupid meeting." 

Stephan Angel grabbed Erik's shoulders and started shaking the rest of his body aggressively. "I missed a very important evening because of you, a punshiment seems only fair!" Angel hissed, his voice full of venom. He clutched Erik's arm, a piercing pain entered Erik's body, he glanced down. What he saw disturbed him; Angel was injecting an unknown substance into his own body. Due to the unbearable pain, Erik shrieked out in agony. He could tell Angel was happy to hear him in pain. After what seemed like hours the pain stopped.

Heavenly relief.

"Night," whispered Stephan as Erik fell into another sleep, but this time a deep one.

Six hours later, Erik woke up. He looked around taking in his surroundings, he was lay in a clean bright room on a really comfortable double bed. The room contained a desk with what looked like a very expensive laptop. There was a wardrobe in the far corner with sliding glass doors, along with a fair sized plasma screen TV and an en-suite! With a lot of effort, an  exhausted Erik managed to heave himself off the bed, which seemed to be crying out for him to stay, just another five minutes. "Wow, it's pretty hot for England," thought Erik walking over to the window. Slowly he drew back the curtains and gawped at the view before him. Even though the landscape was beautiful, facts were facts - this wasn't England. The cloudless sky was a bright blue and he could see a clean ocean bordered by white sand. Clever! Stephan had injected him with some sort of 'mega sleeping potion' so he could travel with  Stephan  abroad. Angel must have thought that it would have been easier to get Erik in Spain asleep with no objections. 

Realising he was starving, Erik rushed to the door. As he reached for the handle, the door opened abruptly, hitting Erik's nose. "Ouch!" moaned Erik looking up at the culprit.

"Oh I'm sorry young sir," a Russian voice apologised. The accent was similar to the woman's when Angel injected that strange fluid into him. The woman had silky blonde hair pulled back into a neat braid. She had pale skin, red lips and to finish the look off she was wearing a short black dress.

"I had no idea you were there Erik, I'm sorry. Here," she spoke softly whilst her hand rummaged in her bag. It reappeared clutching a tissue. Gently she began to dab his nose and when Erik glanced at the tissue he saw blotches of blood. Putting the tissue down, the woman started searching for another tissue when Angel walked in. As soon as he spotted Erik's bloody nose and the emerging bruise, he enquired, "What happened my dear boy? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I was just going to open the door when this woman opened it and accidently hit me," replied Erik casually.

Angel started to glare at the woman, his lip quivering with anger. "Dakota, outside. I need to speak to you." Angel ordered.

"But, I-I didn't mean to hit him. Honest." Dakota explained looking genuinely scared.

"Dakota. I. SAID. OUTSIDE. NOW!" bellowed  Stephan.

Shaking slightly, Dakota made her way outside the room, bowing her head low, with  Stephan  following her.  Stephan  slammed the door behind him, to make sure Erik didn't hear a word he said. But, Erik would not let  Stephan  keep any more secrets from him so he quietly crept to the door, resting his ear on the key hole.

"Dakota, we've been through this. We cannot inflict one single scratch on him if we want to use him as the subject for Project Angel. Do you understand? Angel hissed.

Erik was certain that if he wasn't inches away from them, Angel would have screamed at her. Sweat was pouring off Erik as he heard his name in the sentence. Angel called him the 'subject for Project Angel'. What was Project Angel? What did Erik have to do with it? Realising the voices had stopped Erik stepped backwards, away from the door, waiting for it to open.  

When the door opened, only Angel walked through it. He now looked more calm: his face was back to a normal colour.  Stephan  smiled, looking at Erik. "So Erik, are you hungry? It's practically lunchtime."  Stephan  quizzed.

"Yes. Actually I was about to come and ask for something: I'm absolutely starved." Erik answered, his stomach making noises as he spoke. 'What comical timing.' Erik thought.

"Well, dear boy, what would you like? Our chef will make you anything; dishes from India, Spain, China and lots of other countries. It's your choice."

Erik couldn't help notice that  Stephan's smile looked fake. He then made a mental note to be careful around Angel. "Erm, please can I have cheese on toast?"

"Are you sure? Chef can make good quality dishes, rare ones too, and yet you choose a common dish?" Angel smiled to himself.

"Positive," assured Erik, getting annoyed about the number of times he had to clarify his answer. 'Don't get annoyed he's just trying to wind you up,' thought Erik calmly. 

"Right, get dressed and be downstairs in ten minutes. Don't be late; you know  I don't like to be kept waiting," snapped Stephan.

"Don't worry I'm sure my punctuality has improved since the last time." Erik said meekly, remembering his Godfather's short temper. When Erik glanced up to check if  Stephan was still glaring at him, he noticed that Stephan had disappeared and sighed with relief. Stephan Angel had a weird presence, he made Erik extremely nervous.