Demonic Influence (I hate my co-workers)

Vanilla Candles

Whirling around, Brett was met with the blank eyed stare of Gabriel. Almost immediately, he straightened up, fixing his slightly rumpled attire and standing at attention. He did his best not to gulp too noticeably. "Gabriel," he responded, voice only shaking a little.

Meanwhile, Eddy was doing his best to wriggle free from the ropes trying his wrists to the chair. Being a demon, he actually had quite a lot of experience with wiggling. He would never tell you what kind, but it involved a couple of very awkward games of charades. Fred was there. They still didn't guess the answer. Eddy may or may not have cried.

He had been struggling with the wiggles for almost two hours now, concerned about numerous parts of this situation. His first concern had something to do with the fact that he hadn't been killed yet. Now, usually this wouldn't be an issue for him, but it just seemed wildly improbable. Okay, maybe concerned wasn't the right word. Confused was much more accurate. Why hadn't he been murdered in cold blood by this point? Eddy felt the ropes start to give slightly as he tried to work his hand through them. It was a tight fit, but he would have to pull his hand through if he was going to get out of them. I hope I don't have to dislocate my thumb.

His second concern had to do with Brett himself. He had heard the angel storm out of the house earlier, and he was ninety percent sure that he had yet to return. Again, Eddy wasn't complaining about this either. It just gave him more time to escape. Well, it would, if he wasn't so picky about dislocating his thumb. Come on dude, it's not like it's going to have any long term effects.

His third and final concern was, ironically, the most pressing of the three, in his opinion. Every couple of minutes, Eddy could feel his nose begin to tingle, and he let out a small sneezes periodically. He couldn't be completely sure what was causing this, but he suspected it had something to do with the vanilla candle in the corner. This was disappointing, seeing as Eddy liked the scent of vanilla. Maybe if he asked Brett nicely he would get rid of it.

Just as he felt another sneeze start to come on, Eddy could hear the door slam again. This would not be an issue, if not for two things. The first thing was that he was tugging fairly hard backwards, still trying to slide through the ropes without dislocating his thumb. The second thing was that he was not expecting the loud noise. Now, some people are lucky enough in the fact that they're able to keep their composure when scared. Eddy, however, is not one of those lucky people. He let out a small squeak, jumping as far back as the ropes would allow him to, and them let out a larger squeak as the chair began to very slowly tip backward.

Eddy went down with a crash to rival that of Brett's front door, choosing a couple more choice profanities to express his feelings on the situation. Immediately, there were footsteps on the stairs. Oh, great, Brett was running down the stairs.

Eddy looked up, around the chair, locking eyes with him once more. Brett looked almost as frazzled as he felt.

"What are you doing?" The angel's tone was incredulous as he stared at Eddy, still lying on the floor. He ran his fingers through his short, coarse hair.

"Um... I'm escaping." Eddy gave him a tentative grin.

Brett didn't seem like he knew what to say to that. His brow furrowed for a moment, and the ghost of a smile crossed his face for only a moment. Then, he crossed his arms, still looking down at Eddy. "You can't do that."

"Sorry."

Brett just let out a tiny giggle at that. It didn't seem to be aimed at anything in particular, and seemed more relieved than anything else. Very slowly, he walked to Eddy's side, looking down even further to maintain eye contact. His eyes were so piercing...

"Enjoying looking down at me for once?" Eddy asked, without a second thought.

Brett didn't even try to resist rolling his eyes as he propped Eddy back up, nodding at his muttered thanks. "You should have just dislocated your wrist," he informed him.

"I wanted to do that, but I was worried about long term damage," Eddy muttered, a little bit of a flush covering his cheeks. You know it's bad when your captor is advising you how you could have better escaped.

"You weren't worried about long term damage if you stayed here, with me?" Brett inquired.

Eddy legitimately thought about that for a moment, before finally shaking his head. "No, honestly. No offense, but you don't really seem to know what you're doing."

Brett was just about to take offense to that when he remembered what Eddy was talking about. "Fair enough."

It was Eddy's turn to giggle. "Honestly, I was told that all angels were heartless, stone faced monsters who would hunt us down with no remorse, but if I'm being honest, this is the most pleasant kidnapping I've ever been a part of."

Brett rewarded him with a small smile, and Eddy felt his heart flutter. "Well I was told that all demons were equally heartless, sinning, killing machines," the angel fired back.

"I guess we both have a lot to consider, then," Eddy said.

Brett looked almost stunned as he considered that. "Yeah," he responded, much more timid than before, and suddenly quite pensive. He started to turn away. Oh, so I guess this conversation is over then, Eddy thought.

The last thing he was expecting was for Brett to turn back to face him. Eddy cocked his head and waited for the angel to speak. When he finally did, his tone was far more demure. "Is... is there anything I can get you to make you more comfortable?"

Eddy sniffled slightly. "Yeah actually, if you don't mind, could you please take that vanilla candle elsewhere? I think I'm having a slight allergic reaction to it."

Brett looked quite surprised. "Of course." He moved almost robotically, blowing out the candle and grabbing it from the tableside. Eddy couldn't be sure, but he was pretty sure he heard Brett fondly mutter allergic to vanilla, comical, under his breath.

As Brett turned to leave a second time, still quite deep in thought, Eddy spoke out one last time. "I did like the smell though, if you have another you'd rather keep down here, I wouldn't be opposed. It's actually quite soothing."

Brett, halfway up the stairs, stopped, nodded, and finished walking up the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, Eddy let out a huge breath he didn't even realize that he was holding to begin with. He let his head thunk back against the backboard of the chair, closing his eyes. He was tired.

Another sound began to ring through the house, this time with pitch and a melody. It was... actually quite soothing. Eddy didn't know quite where the pretty violin music was coming from exactly, but that didn't make his eyelids droop any less. He would only sleep for a moment. It was important to conserve his energy anyway, this was a tactical decision.

When he next awoke, a cinnamon candle burned bright in the corner. Eddy smiled sleepily at it. 

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A/N: Hi guys! I hope you're enjoying the story. I just popped down here to say wow these are some unrealistic expectations I've set for myself. One chapter a day?  Yikes. 

I hope Brett's little chat with Gabriel went well.