Emberrzxoxo
The moment the last candle guttered out, the room seemed to exhale-darkness swallowing the edges of reality.
I barely had time to catch my breath before the air rippled, thick and heavy, like heat before a storm.
And then he was there.
Azrael.
Not a myth. Not a nightmare. He stepped from the shadows like smoke made flesh-tall, impossibly lean, with skin that caught the faint light like polished obsidian. His eyes, twin embers, burned straight into me, pulling something raw and desperate from deep inside.
His voice came slow, low, a rasp that crawled over my skin and lodged itself in my chest.
"You called me."