Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Nathan

 "Now, Mammon, we shall have a celebratory feast tonight. Please be in the dining hall by six. Trinity included." Eli nods while closing his eyes and smiling. Sammael nods a goodbye and walks around Eli again and leaves, commanding Dominic, who easily obliges, to follow him. Eli turns back to me and approaches, taking my hand and bringing my knuckles to his lips. He is so kind and caring. Was he hiding it in the beginning? He must have been. He lowers my hand and stares at it, thinking. Something catches his eye and he brings my hand up a little and turns it side ways while parting my fingers. He stares at the two dots on the side of my ring finger and then looks up at me.

"He marked you with the Mark of Death?" He questions and I nod. He shakes his head, "I will tell him to remove it at dinner tonight." I smile and nod. "What do you want to do until six?" He questions and I think about what there is to do in Hell. I then think about who is in Hell. Nathan...

"We need to get Nathan out of here." A confused expression crosses his face.

"Nathan is here? How? Where?" He questions. He's been dead for weeks. He doesn't know what's been going on.

"Sammael came to get me and he got Nathan instead. He's in the cell that you put me in when you imprisoned me here." He stares at me with a slight guilty look.

"Let's hurry and get him then. Angels are not supposed to be in Hell."

Eli sets a hand on my lower back and leads me to the door. He opens the door and we step out into a hall. The ceilings are high very high and the walls have a delicate designed wallpaper on them. We walk down the hall and past a couple doors before turning down another hall and walking past more doors. We turn again and walk through a grand dining room to a door on the other side of the room. Across the hall is an open archway that leads to the kitchen and I see servants cooking. We turn down the hall and head toward a lone metal door with a guard standing off to the side of it. The guard nods to Eli and glances at me before continuing to stare off down the hall. Eli opens the door and lets me walk down the stone steps first. The walls down here are stone as are the floors. The stairs come down to the middle of a hall that has metal doors going both ways. Eli's hand returns to my lower back and he leads me to the right. He stops at a door about five down from the stairs and he summons the key to open it. He opens the door for me and stands off to the side so that I can enter first. Nathan is standing, facing the stone wall. He turns around and my heart sinks. It's too late.

"Trinity?" He questions and his dark reddish brown eyes examine me. Just standing three feet away from him, I can feel the similar air that Dominic and Eli have; Demonic. A small smile grows on his face and he holds out his chained arms for a hug. I walk into his embrace and he tightly holds me. "Finally..." He whispers before pulling away. "Where's Dominic? I want these chains off." Nathan's eyes flicker to behind me when I hear Eli's footsteps step into the doorway. He narrows his eyes.

"What is he doing here?" He questions and I look back at Eli who is staring at the new Nathan, remembering the painful memory of him being twisted into a Demon.

"I brought him back from the Pits and now he is releasing you." I reply and he looks down at me, his eyes focusing on me. Eli comes the rest of the way into the cell and undoes the shackles on Nathans right side and then walks around me and does the left. Nathan rubs his wrists while watching Eli closely. He doesn't trust him.

"I'm sorry for what my Father has done to you." Eli speaks honestly. Nathan suddenly lunges at him and shoves him against the wall. Nathan summons a Demon blade and is surprised by the way it must feel different in his hand, but goes with it and tries to stab Eli. Eli uses a passage and gets behind him, putting him in a headlock. "Stop. This is not going to help anything." Eli tells him and Nathan stabs his demon blade into Eli's arm. Eli hisses and shoves Nathan away, summoning his own demon blade. Nathan lunges again and Eli grabs his dagger and disarms Nathan, throwing the dagger to the side and lunging at Nathan ready to kill him.

"Eli, No!" I yell and suddenly drops his dagger and it bursts into flames when in midair. Eli stumbles back surprised, looking at his hand before looking back at me rapidly. He is surprised as am I and Nathan looks slightly shocked too. Eli steps back more and looks back at his hand, clenching and unclenching his hand.

"Why can't I summon my blade?" He questions and Nathan resummons his and moves to attack Eli, but I step into the way and he stops, staring down at me confused.

"He isn't a threat. Please stop attacking him." Nathan stares down at me, tense, before his blade disappears. He looks behind me at Eli and obviously still doesn't trust him. Nathan suddenly turns and walks out of the cell. I follow him and see him open a passage. "Nathan? Where are-" He walks into the passage and it closes behind him before I can finish my sentence. I look back into the cell where Eli is standing, staring at his hands.

"What just happened?" He questions to himself.

"You controlled me just then... You commanded me and I immediately obeyed without any choice." Eli stares into a body length mirror and buttons up a white dress shirt. He lifts his collar and ties a bow tie. His tie is a dark maroon color. His pants are black. He comes over to the bed and picks up a vest the same color as the tie. He buttons it and then looks at me. He turns and walks over to his closet, coming back with a dress bag. He unzips it and pulls out a black floor length dress with a very low back that goes down to my lower back. I carefully take it. He grabs his dark maroon suit jacket with black lapels and walks toward a bookcase. He wants me to change. I watch him as I change out of the pajamas that I am still wearing from sleeping back at Zerach's hut. I put the dress on and its tight fitting. It has lace sleeves and it is lace about five inches from my butt to the ground. It is also lace from above my breasts up. It's a lot of lace.

"Done." I reply and Eli turns back around, his eyes immediately scanning my body.

"You look great." He compliments and I smile and tell him thank you.

"I need some shoes." I state and he tilts his head, smiling.

"I want to see you summon them."