The Angelic Paradox

Tiresome Repitition

CHAPTER ONE artemis p.o.v.

Hey readers, this is my first real story and I will take positive and negative feedback because I want my writing to be the best it can be. I'll try to update pretty frequently but sometimes school and homework just don't allow free time so I will do my best. Thanks so much! ¢=

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The toddler clings to my crimson tie, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. I hold her awkwardly, unaccustomed to unassuming little girls. Footsteps slowly echo down the hardwood floor just outside the small wardrobe where we are so desperately concealed. I need to think, to meditate, but the panic is building so quickly in my chest that I can hardly breathe as it drowns out my uncharacteristically scattered thoughts. It is as if the child locked in my flimsy embrace is transmitting her own clueless terror into my mind. I hold my breath as the ominous tap-tap passes our pathetic excuse for a hiding spot.

I feel her heart pounding rapidly through her soft, cotton pajamas, and her chocolate brown eyes are wide with fear. My own fright that is swaying my usual calm though pessimistic demeanor is tangible. So palpable I can feel in every square centimeter of my body, down to the very tips of my raven colored hair. Guilt floods over me for getting this quite innocent two year old girl tangled up in my twisted world I'm attempting to save for the eighth time. Calm down Artemis, I tell myself, you well know chaos does not solve chaos.

The door swings open ever so slowly, soundlessly as if on freshly oiled hinges, but in reality it is just Sabriel using his angelic powers to make his dastardly acts even more dramatic. Fallen angels are always very melodramatic. It's their nature. Some angel, this villainous figure is, tormenting helpless mortals and making Miss Koboi appear as an infant with multiple playful vendettas. Above us stands Sabriel, fallen angel, his eyes the color of bright, undaunted sun rays through Fowl Manor's best crystal glass filed to the brim with the same whiskey I traded to that sprite a couple of years ago in Ho Chi Minh City. Ireland's finest whiskey. Stubble dots his jawline, his narrow, pale face framed by long, waving copper-colored locks. I hug the girl tightly to my scrawny chest, as if my skinny arms could shield her from his aforementioned angelic power.

"Come to kill me, Sabriel? Or to fail once again?" I snarl venomously.

He grins devilishly down on us, sensing his impending victory. His gaze lands on the girl grasped in my pathetic embrace and he chuckles, finding innocent toddlers terror humorous, "Oh Arty. You finally got a real human girlfriend. That little romance with a certain elf didn't turn out to great, huh? Well, it's a pity it's right before you both die. Plus, I think she's a little young for you."

"Go on then," I retort, "Kill me. You are, after all, a devil of your word."

He laughs, "Oh Lucifer. Hate to break it to you, Arty, but god of Hell is a demotion from my current occupation."

"Sway-bee-ell..." the little girl whimpers, her face buried in the collar of my suit.

That strengthens the grin plastered to his aggravating face, "Ah, Emerald Tate, one of the two people who could ever stand a chance at foiling my plans. And by now, I think we know the other is you, my boy. Why, aren't I just so fortunate to get to kill both of you at once?"

"Quite fortunate indeed," I respond, my voice oozing with my trademark sarcasm. Emerald sobs into my shirt.

"Arty, Arty, Arty. You never know when to shut that sarcastic trap of yours, n'est-ce- pas?"

"I could say the same for you, Sway-bee-ell," I smirk despite my heart hammering inside my chest. Despite the fact Emerald's and my deaths are inevitably near.

"Oh, but I, unlike you and your little sweetheart, cannot die. So I can spout sarcastic nonsense whenever I deem it necessary, Mister, excuse me, Master Fowl," he chuckles again, seeming to find this whole ordeal absolutely hilarious, his golden eyes glinting with evil and demented delight.

"Very well," I say evenly, "Get on with it, you sad excuse of an angel."

"Oh, Ah-temis, so eager to sacrifice yourself. Such a gentleman. But gentlemen also believe in ladies first."

He snaps his fingers and Emerald falls limp in my arms, her breath and heart beat silent. And I can only think one thing.

Here we go again.