Lilium

Seventeen

Seventeen

He didn't remember waking up again, only the sound of his own neck snapping and the blackness that had lapped at him. And yet... here he was again. Standing. Breathing.

Everything was tinged with red. Every sound Oliver heard sounded as though it were coming from underwater. Each voice was too distorted to pick apart. Each time someone moved, it was like they were moving at half speed.

"Wait!" he wanted to call when he saw Lilith get shoved into Rei's arms. "Don't leave me!"

But he couldn't say a word. Invisible clamps held his lips together and fire scorched his vocal chords.

What's... happening to me?

Against his will, his nails pushed their way past his fingertips. Embers erupted from the site and danced through the air, hypnotic and dangerous. Only then did he feel the heat in his palms. His sight zoomed in on Raphael.

"Magi!" he tried to scream, just as he lunged forward. Each moment was an eternity for him, though he was sure he dashed in at full speed. Maybe he was. Maybe that Scourge had warped it all.

They collided in midair when Raphael's wings knocked Oliver to the side. He watched every agonizing second as he flew slow-motion into the fireplace. Every brick he hit had its chance to imprint itself on him. Oliver was sure he'd wake up later with a map of bruises on his back.

Eons later, one of Raphael's winged hands lashed through the air and grabbed Oliver by the neck. He was too weak and dizzy to feel the pressure the Magistrate man must have used on him, nor the weight around his neck as Raphael hauled him into the air. This didn't stop the faint tugging sensation in Oliver's feet, though, nor the blackness that crept into the corners of his vision and moved inwards.

Raphael's lips moved, but his voice was too distorted by the time it reached Oliver's ears. Oliver could've sworn he heard his name, though. The reds in the room grew brighter.

This isn't a rampage. I have no clue what this is. Shouldn't I have blacked out by now?

Before he could dwell on it any further, his mouth opened of its own accord. "Come back, Little Dove!" he found himself saying – though the words carried an edge to them that raised the hair on Oliver's arms.

That's not my voice. These aren't my thoughts... With sudden clarity, it hit him. This is just like when I died.

He still remembered the smell of his own blood, thick in the air. He could remember the last moments he'd had in the bath tub, just as it had opened. He still remembered the way it felt to float, half inside the tub and half out of his own body. And worst of all, he could still remember the way Lilith had screamed.

He took over me then, and he's taking over me now.

Tingles shot across his brain and seized him by the spine. His entire body went rigid. A warm gust of moist air tickled his ear.

Oh, Abraxa's voice purred in his ears, a body to inhabit? And just my size, too!

The muscles of his shoulders rippled and a smile split Oliver's face in two. Stones dropped into his stomach. His tail lashed back and forth behind him.

"So, Magic Man," he found himself saying. "Care to dance?"

One of Raphae's wings hands pulled back and clenched into a fist, which he drew back and aimed straight at Oliver's head. It was stopped a hairs-width from the tip of Oliver's nose, quivering as it pushed against an invisible force. Raphael's eyes flashed with a murderous gleam and air hissed through his teeth.