Hide and Seek in the Dark (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 20

20

Gabriel

She stood there as the rain poured down on her, her back to him, all alone in the cold, wet night. Her dark hair stuck to her, cascaded down her shoulders in thick, dripping locks. Her breath was visible in the blackness; a thick, white puffy cloud before her, hanging still in the air for a moment before the cool air blew it away and it faded into the night. The only sounds aside from her quiet breathing were the sounds of the rain pounding against the concrete, and the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance.

Gabriel's heart leapt for a brief moment and a second later he was running to her. His feet pounded against the hard stones, his boots crunched over shards of shattered glass. His mouth formed her name before he could think and he called out to her, "Christine!"

I knew it, he rejoiced. I knew that she couldn't be dead. I just knew it!

When he reached her, he grabbed her arm, ignoring the chill it caused him and turned her around, a triumphant grin on his face. He was ready to chew her out for getting lost on him and give her a nice whack upside the head for good measure even. But, his smirk faded almost as soon as it had formed when she faced him.

The whites of her eyes were red, as if a vein had burst, there were heavy bags underneath, like she hadn't slept in days. Her skin was so pale it took on an unhealthy grey tone; her lips were chapped and bloody, along with her nose which was oozing so much blood it ran a dark, messy path down her chin. There were bruises around her neck in the shape of a man's hands, bright red with a purple undertone. Someone had hurt her, badly.

"Christine?" His voice wasn't nearly as triumphant as it had been moments ago. He wanted to know what happened, where she had been, but when he opened his mouth again, no words followed.

Her eyes were dead when they met his gaze, dirty brown irises surrounded by pools of blood. One dirty hand grabbed at the hem of her sweater shakily before slowly pulling it up to reveal her belly. Pale skin, bruised all shades of purple, black and yellow, Gabriel felt sick just looking at it. But was made him want to turn away the most was mark burned onto her naval. Black and bloodied blisters formed together to create His seal.

"The Sigil of Lucifer." Gabriel's words came out in a whisper so quiet it was nearly drowned out by the rain.

Christine continued to watch him with dead eyes.

Shaking his head back and forth in disbelief he willed himself turn and leave, to seek help, but he didn't move away from her. Instead, he found himself taking a small step forward, hand outstretched to touch the retched symbol. His fingertips brushed against hot, burnt skin for a brief second before he felt her abdomen harden and something small reach out from behind her flesh to touch him back.

He flinched away, quickly casting his gaze to Christine in time to watch her eyes turn completely black. She opened her mouth and small fangs erupting from her gums, blood-tinted tears dripped down her cheeks and she let out a horrifying shriek.

_______

"Wake up!" Someone's voice ordered beside his face, their hand holding his shoulder in a tight grip.

Gabriel reacted before he thought; he grabbed their wrist in his own grip, yanked him forward roughly as he sprang out of his chair and shoved him down onto the desk he had been seated at. His arm pinned behind the intruder's back painfully, wrist locked between the shoulder blades.