Falling ~Book Three of Winged~

Awake

Etheriel

I stare intently at Trinity. It's too quiet and the suspense of waiting for her to wake up is killing me. Dominic groans loudly and my eyes flicker to him as he pushes himself up into a sitting position, rubbing the arm he fell on. Ziel opens his eyes and stares down at Trinity's still unconscious face. My eyes go to Malachai who is completely rigid, squeezing his eyes shut while continuing to tightly grip Trinity. I narrow my eyes at him. What is up with him?

"Malachai..." Ziel whispers and Malachai stands suddenly and quickly leaves the room, slamming the hotel room door behind him, but not before I could see his eyes. Red and Black. My eyes go to Trinity, concerned that she has not woken up yet.

"Is she okay?" I squeeze her hand tightly.

"She's fine. Maybe a little damaged, but she's fine." Ziel replies and Dominic stiffly gets to his feet, confused on how he got on the ground until his eyes land on Nathan sitting where he was once sitting.

"Asshole." I hear Dominic comment as he stretches toward the sky. I look back at Trinity and I must be holding her hand too tightly because an expression of pain crosses her face and her fingers start moving, trying to figure out what is happening. Her eyes open barely any and she stares at Ziel before slowly looking around at the room.

"Etheriel?" She whispers, rasping slightly and I wonder when is the last time she had some water. I drop to the floor beside the bed, still holding her hand tightly.

"Hey..."

Trinity

"Hey..." Etheriel whispers gently, kneeling beside me. I struggle to smile at him and my whole body feels achy and weak. Smiling is a whole task on its own. The bed shifts beside me and I figure that it's Nathan getting off the bed.

"Etheriel..." I repeat and tears begin to well up in my eyes, blinding me. I killed people... so many people. I had sex with Eli... But I killed people. Innocent people. Etheriel quickly sits on the edge of the bed and pulls me away from Ziel and into his arms where I break down. I sob loudly and cling onto his shirt weakly.

"Shh... It's okay." Etheriel whispers softly into my ear. I continue to cry loudly like a baby as he holds me tightly to him, continuing to whisper softly, telling me that everything is okay, that it will always be okay.

"I killed people..." I whisper barely audible and I feel Etheriel nod while rubbing my back soothingly. After I finally calm down, Nathan offers me a glass of water and I take it and sip at it while staying in Etheriel's embrace. I haven't been held by him in so long. I fall asleep in his arms.

I wake up being held tightly by Etheriel in the dark. A lamp is on in the corner and I see Dominic staring out the window, leaning against the window sill. I carefully slip out of Etheriel's arms and stand, expecting Dominic to sense me and turn, but he doesn't. He continues to stare out the window. I slowly walk up behind me, still expecting that at any moment he will turn and face me. He never does and when I am standing behind him, I wrap my arms around his torso from behind and rest my cheek against his smooth muscled back. His whole body tenses before relaxing again when he realizes it is me.

"Trinity..." He whispers lowly to keep from waking up the three angels in the room although one is missing.

"I'm sorry..." I whisper into his back, keeping my arms around him.

"You have no reason to be sorry... I am the one who should be saying sorry. Me from the past did all that to you. I got you into this mess." I tighten my hold on him and his hands slide down my arms to my hands, making goose bumps rise on my arms in the process.