Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Proof

Trinity

"I feel like you are cheating." I look at Zerach, confused and see him intensely focusing on the blocks.

"How?" I exclaim and watch as he carefully reaches forward and tests one of the blocks.

"I don't know, but you are." He replies and slides the block out of the tower, carefully setting it on top. I roll my eyes at him.

"I don't even think someone can cheat at Jenga." I reply and lean forward, looking at the tower. I tap one of the blocks lightly to see if it will budge and then push it through to the other side before retrieving it and setting it on top beside the piece Zerach just set down. He taps one of the pieces and then moves to a different piece, testing it. He tries to pull a piece out from the middle and the whole tower tilts before crashing against the table loudly. Zerach stares and processes for a second before starting to rebuild the tower again.

"Do you want a drink?" I scoot back in my chair and start toward the fridge. He doesn't reply, too focused on rebuilding the tower so I grab two cups and fill them with fresh hand squeezed orange juice.

"Be careful with your leg. You shouldn't be putting weight on it." He doesn't even glance over as he speaks. I walk back over and set a cup by him and take a sip of mine. He finishes the tower and gestures for me to go first while taking a drink of the orange juice. I lean forward and move to get a block. Zerach watches me closely as I start to push the block out of the tower.

"Don't cheat."

Etheriel

I roll over and sit up immediately, looking around. Trinity. I miss her. I look around the room slowly and my eyes stop on Malachai, sitting on the foot of his bed rapidly tapping his foot. He is covered in blood, staring at the wall. Another person, leaning against the wall staring at me, grabs my attention and I look at Azrael. I get up quickly and Azrael just stares at me.

"Malachai... What did you do?" I question harshly and he stands quickly, turning and facing me. His eyes are wide and instead of their usual different colors, they are dark red.

"It's okay. This was for Trinity... Trinity..." People walk by the window and Malachai's eyes flicker over and watch their silhouettes pass. "Trinity is safe now. He... Azrael will protect her. She's okay now." He slowly pulls his eyes away from the window and looks back at me. He killed those ten people Azrael wanted him to.

"Malachai... Zerachiel is protecting her; that was the whole point of taking her to that island. You didn't have to kill those people... You shouldn't have killed those people... They were innocent." Malachai's hand twitches and Azrael leans away from the wall and takes a step forward.

"I'm going to go say hi. Got anything to say or give to prove I'm with you guys." Azrael tilts his head and I stare back at him. I really don't want him anywhere near her. He narrows his eyes at me. I let out a slow breath and then walk over to my suitcase, unzipping one of the pouches. I slowly pull out the dark metal necklace that I gave to her around the time when we first met and then the ring and then lastly, the necklace with the vial of Dominic's blood. I stand up, staring down at the jewelry and then turn. Azrael is standing right in front of me. His eyes slide down to the necklaces and ring. He holds out his hand and I hesitantly place them in his hand. His hand tightly closes around them and he looks back up at me.

"Tell her I love her." He nods and he is gone. I look at Malachai who is staring at the window. Someone passes and his eyes follow them even when you can't see their silhouette anymore through the window. He is only seeing people's souls, not the person. He starts mumbling to himself. He is losing it.

"She is safe..."

Trinity

"You should stop walking around so much... The cut on your leg needs to heal more." Zerach says from the kitchen and I stop walking and turn to face him. He stares at me and I look down at my leg. Before I can even say anything, the look on Zerach's face changes and he goes alert. I get confused as he slowly sets down the knife in his hand. He looks at me and I become extremely confused.

"Someone is on the island." He whispers like someone else might hear him.

"That would be me." I spin around and catch a glimpse of a guy dressed in all black before Zerach is standing in front of me with his wings out, blocking me and acting as some sort of shield. Zerach is holding an angel blade that is slightly longer than a normal angel blade.

"Azrael..." Zerach whispers and his wing hovers back closer to me. "How did you find us? What do you want?" His wing pushes me close to his back, protecting me.

"I'm on your side now. I made a deal with Etheriel. I'm here to introduce myself to Trinity." I stare at Zerach's back as the guy speaks. Before Zerach has the chance to reply, someone grabs my wrist and yanks me back, away from Zerach. Zerach whips around instantly, but the person who was in front of him is now behind me, holding me tightly against their chest. He has one arm wrapped around me tightly, trapping me, and the other reaches back and retrieves something from his back pocket. He dangles necklaces in front of my face. I recognize them immediately.

"Etheriel gave me these as proof." The guy speaks behind me and releases me. I immediately take the necklaces.

"What are those?" Zerach asks carefully, edging toward us.

"A necklace Etheriel gave me and one Dominic gave me so I wouldn't get sick being around him." I reply and smile down at the necklaces.

"Also..." I turn and look at the guy for the first time. I am startled immediately. His dark red eyes stare down at me. I am too busy staring at his eyes to notice him reach into his pocket again. He hold out his closed fist and I open my hand and he drops a ring into my palm. I smile again and slide the ring onto my finger. He carefully takes the necklaces from me and unclasps one. He stares behind me at Zerach as he reaches around me and puts the necklace around my neck and does the same with the other necklace. I stand stiffly and stare at him. He is taller than anyone that I have ever met. His skin is pale and flawless. His black hair is messy and unkempt yet looks good in its own way. He is wearing black combat boots, black tight fitting jeans, a black tight fitting v-neck shirt, and a silver chain necklace. His red eyes flicker down to me and he tilts his head.

"I'm Azrael, the Archangel of Death." A slow smile spreads on his face as he holds out his hand for me to take.

"Trinity..." I say slowly and hesitantly take his hand. As soon as my hand comes into contact with his, chills run up my arm and goose bumps break out. I feel cold all over and it feels like someone is squeezing my heart. He slowly shakes my hand and doesn't let go. His unblinking eyes stare intensely into my eyes and I can't look away. In fact, I can't move at all. My muscles all tense up and I start getting lightheaded. I can barely keep my eyes open. What is happening? What is he doing?

"Azrael, enough!" Azrael's eyes flicker back to Zerach and he lets go of my hand. I'm slammed back to reality and I stumble back away from him. I look back at Zerach and he looks like he is on edge.

"By the way," I look back at Azrael, "Etheriel told me to tell you that he loves you."