Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Distrust

  "Weather is still shitty I see." Zerach stands closely right next to me as Azrael walks around the place, looking at stuff and commenting on things. I look at him confused as he slowly walks up to one of the boarded up windows.

"You were here before?" I question and he turns and looks at me.

"I was. Just for a short while to see you." He stares at me and waits for a reaction. When was he here? Zerach would have sensed him and definitely would have said something to me. Azrael's eyes slowly slide down my body and stop on my leg, the bandage tightly wrapped around it. I glance down at my leg and then up at him rapidly.

"You were on that rock?" I question and he slowly smiles, slowly taking a step toward me before appearing right in front of me. Zerach immediately puts his arm in between us and pushes me back away from Azrael, stepping in front of me. I look around Zerach and look at Azrael, who is staring dully at Zerach.

"Still don't trust me? If I was going to kill Trinity, I would have already, you know I would have and could have." Zerach doesn't move an inch and I hesitantly rest my hand on his shoulder to let him know that it's okay. I believe that if he was going to hurt or kill me then he would have already. Zerach glances back and then moves out of the way a little. I look at Azrael wearily. Although I don't think he is going to kill me, I don't know what his true intentions are. I shift my weight off of my leg with the cut. Azrael looks down at my leg. He quickly approaches me, too fast, and I stumble back slightly. He stops and stares at me. He slowly smiles. "Trust me." He approaches again and stops in front of me. He kneels down and starts to undo the bandage around my leg. Zerach watches closely to make sure that he doesn't try to do anything. The bloody bandage falls to the ground and Azrael examines the deep cut. He slowly and gently runs his thumb along the cut. It's bleeding slightly and his thumb smears the blood. He covers the gash with his hand and he looks up at me before shutting his eyes. He opens his eyes and stands up, removing his hand from the gash. I look down and I immediately see that the cut is gone, completely healed. No scar and no mark that it was ever there.

"What... How did you do that?" I question and look up at him quickly. He reaches out and grabs my hand with the cut on it. It's scabbed over and pink around the edges. He examines the cut and traces one of the creases in my hand.

"I..." He clasps my hand with both of his and shuts his eyes, "... am awesome." I roll my eyes and he lets go of my hand. The cut is gone and like the one that was on my leg, there is absolutely no sign that it was ever there. Zerach looks annoyed with Azrael. I look at my palm closely, looking for even the slightest scar.

"That's so cool..."

Etheriel

"Where is he?" Dominic storms into the hotel room and looks around rapidly. "He massacred an entire bar. Way more than just ten people. It's all over the news." The TV turns on without him pushing a button and it flips to a local news channel. A newscaster stands outside of police tape in front of a bar. The bold title under them saying: 23 People massacred inside local bar.

"He's in the bathroom washing the blood off..." I reply and stare at the screen. Is Azrael still with Trinity? Is he upholding the promise that Malachai risked his sanity on? Dominic briskly walks to the bathroom door and begins to bang on it. Why hasn't Azrael came back yet? I look at the TV again and then back at Dominic who has began to yell in Latin through the door at Malachai. He will not be happy to know Azrael went to see Trinity. Azrael is pretty much like Dominic except probably worse and yet he is still classified as an Angel. Malachai doesn't answer the door and Dominic grabs the door knob about to break it off.

"I'm not paying for that." I warn and he looks at me and then lets go of the knob. He backs off the door and approaches me a couple feet.

"Did he contact you yet?" Dominic questions and the look in his eye tells me he is worried about him being around Trinity too.

"Yes..." I answer slowly and his eyes narrow slightly.

"What did he say? Where did he go? Where is he now? Is he going to help us?" I glance at the TV out the corner of my eye to see that they are announcing the people's names that were found dead inside the bar.

"He said that he was going to go introduce himself to Trinity." The TV and the shower running are the only sounds in the entire room. The TV shuts off and the screen cracks across the screen. He is pissed.

"I hope Zerachiel killed him." He speaks lowly and then disappears through a passage, on his way to see Trinity. I let out a quiet sigh. I wish I could just up and go see her.

Trinity

I close the fridge and turn around, stumbling back and hitting it hard when I see Azrael standing right behind me. These Angels really need bells around their necks. Azrael's eyes drop and scan the container of sliced fruits in my hands. He takes the lid off and picks up a slice, looking at it before putting it in his mouth.

"Shouldn't you leave and get back to Etheriel or something?" Zerach says from the other side of the island. He continues to watch Azrael's every single move closely. Azrael picks up another piece of fruit out of the container and looks at it closely, like he isn't quite sure what fruit it is.

"Papaya..." I comment and he looks at me and nods. He takes a small bite from the piece and looks at the piece in disgust. "Not good?" I question quietly.

"Gross." He replies and holds out the rest of his piece to me. I look at the piece with the corner bitten off and then at him. He wants me to eat it? "Taste it." I hesitantly eat the piece out of his hand and slowly chew, making a slight disgusted face in the process.

"It's not ripe." I comment.

"This island is suddenly feeling very crowded." Zerach says and I look at him to see him turned around looking at something. I look around Azrael and see Dominic standing there staring at the back of Azrael's head.

"Zerachiel... You should have killed him as soon as he came." Dominic says and Zerach glances back at Azrael, who stares at me for a second before slowly turning around to look at Dominic.

"Are you going to try and kill me, Asmodeus?" Azrael speaks with a bored tone, not threatened by Dominic at all. Dominic doesn't reply and Azrael steps to the side, turning sideways and gesturing to me. "I have the one thing you care about." Dominic's eyes move to me and he scans my body for any injuries before making eye contact.

"Trinity..." He says quietly and he looks concerned. I brush past Azrael and walk around the island, heading toward Dominic.

"Is something wrong?" I question and before I get to him, he uses a passage to get in front of me and smashes me in a hug. I wrap my arms around him tightly. His familiar scent brings back memories and comforts me slightly. I miss being around Etheriel, Dominic, Nathan, and Malachai all the time. I pull away while Dominic tries to continue hugging me tightly. I look up at him, slightly worried since he has yet to respond to my question.

"Everything is fine..." He stares down at me before his eyes flicker up behind me just as I feel a chill run down my spine. I glance back and jump slightly at Azrael standing there suddenly.

"He is here to see us; you and me. He probably thinks that I am going to kill you." Azrael speaks slowly and I feel him mess with a piece of my hair. Dominic slowly looks down at me, debating something in his mind.

"Malachai slaughtered 23 people in order to get Azrael on our side and not to hurt you."