The known stranger

8. And

The living room was dark when I woke up on the couch, alone. I had slept so heavily that it took me a while to figure out what time of the day it was, rubbing my eyes, I got up and tiptoed to the large stairs, upper floor was dark as well.

"Ethan?" I called out, without even thinking.

"Yes?" he breathed a second later on my shoulder, materialising literally out of nowhere. I turned around and took in his features for a few seconds, his gorgeous eyes held a mischievous glint as he looked down on me and a small smile was spread across his face, "how are you feeling now?" I realised that my voice came out as a whisper, so I cleared my throat.

Get a grip Ella.

"On the contrary, I should be asking you that, so, how are you feeling now?" He said mockingly.

"I've never felt so well rested in my life, thankyou" I said in a similar tone, he looked at me doubtfully for a second but then let it slide, I did actually feel good.

"I enchanted the whole place while you were asleep, you are not to leave this property unless I tell you otherwise" He said matter of factly.

"Till when?" I asked patiently.
"I don't know" he said, looking away.
"What do you mean you don't know?"I started to freak out, how would I manage school and studies ?
"You heard me" he said bluntly.
"Come on, give me a rough estimate at least" 2 days? 2 weeks? I needed something.
"I..I can't say Ella" he had no answer, I was absolutely shocked.
"No" I folded my arms, who does he think he is to house arrest me?
"What do you mean, no?" He inched closer to me.
"You heard me" I said bluntly, he sighed.

"Listen Ella, now isn't the time for your childish whims, there are creatures out there who want to kill you, do you want to die by a stepping out of this property!" He spoke agitatedly, did he really expect me to take this lightly?

"Who are these creatures ? And why would they want to harm me?" I tried to maintain my voice, I still couldn't understand why was I getting drawn into this mess? Why did he need to put me here at all?

"They'll want to harm you because they've seen me with you, on more occasion that once! Because you always end up being in danger and run into me at the same fucking time, there are Azazel's spies everywhere!" He whisper yelled, both of us fell silent and just looked at each other challengingly.

He spoke everything as if he regretted helping me, saving me, I tried really hard to make my face look devoid of any emotion at that moment, but I felt drained and beaten up all of a sudden.

"You're not stepping out of this goddamned house till I fix this mess, I'll tie you up if I have to" he said boring his eyes into mine and turned around.

"What about my family, aren't they gonna lookout for me?" My voice was cracking, and I felt pathetic, for breaking in front of him.

"For how long ? For how long do I have to endure this?" I was shaking due to mad worry and anger, I'd rather die than give up my freedom like this.

"I don't know" he said.

"Maybe" I whispered "you should've just left me be, if you regret being there so much now" I squeaked when my throat was actually very heavy.

"What?" He stepped closer, glaring at me ragingly, instinctively I took a step back.

"What do you even know Ella? You're just a clueless person oblivious to what's happening around you" his words cut me every bit, just as he had wished to. I was just a liability to him, someone he was forced to protect out of his conscience.