Did I fall asleep?
I sat up on the bed, wiping my eyes lazily and gazing up.
Only to find the room enclosed in darkness, and the walls filled with lengthy, menacing shadows.
But my eyes shot to the window, where a figure stood; his features slightly illuminated by the moonlight as his black eyes settled on me.
Elias.
"How long have you been standing there?" I asked him.
"A while," he replied in a dark tone. "You look so... different when you sleep."
"You know how creepy it is to watch a girl while she sleeps?" I asked him, smiling a little.
"I've done worse, Alice," his voice was dark, "and you know that."
I just yawned and exhaled, gazing up at him seconds later. "I'm hungry."
He stepped over to the bed. "So am I."
"I'm hungry for food," I told him, "not sex."
"Damn," he said, snapping his fingers.
I giggled, smiling up at him as he sat next to me.
"You sleep a lot," he noticed, lowering his eyes to mine. "Every time I leave you alone... you're asleep again."
I just stared down at his hands that he set on his knees. "I don't usually sleep well, so I sleep during the day."
"Because you're out every night?" he suggested, voice light. "Wow, you have an addiction to murder, don't you?"
I gave him a look, but it didn't seem like he cared.
"Have you ever heard of the story, Sleeping Beauty?" he asked me.
I shook my head.
He just scooted further on my bed and sat against the headboard, raising his arms immediately after and beckoning me over.
I shuffled over to his side and sat against him, setting my head on his shoulder when he patted his sleeve.
I was a good listener.
When I wanted to be.
"Sleeping Beauty is a very famous story," Elias told me, wrapping his arm around my side, "from where I'm from. It takes place in the fourteenth century and is about a girl who was born in a kingdom. The king and queen were very proud and invited fairies to celebrate her birth. Although, there was one fairy that they didn't invite, and she came and cursed her. For when she pricked her finger on a spindle, that she will fall into a deep slumber for a hundred years."
"Did she?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yes, she did."
"What happened after that?" I asked him.
"She'd been asleep for ages," he replied, "until a prince from another kingdom remembered the story from his childhood, and he decided to go to the castle and try to awaken her himself."
"It didn't work?" I guessed.
"No, it did," he told me, fingers lightly stroking my side. "True Love's Kiss, they called it. He kissed her and she awoke."
I gazed up at him, sitting up so I could see his face. "Is true love's kiss a real thing where you're from?"
He just watched me. "I don't know, you tell me."
"How would I know?" I wondered then. "I'm not from there."
He kept his eyes on mine before a smile peeked through his lips. "I didn't think it was real until I met you."
"Until you met... me?" I wondered.
He nodded, sighing. "I do admit, I've made many mistakes. I once tried to go for a girl that wasn't mine and even when she didn't want me, I forcefully kissed her."
My eyes glimmered in curiosity.
"She's hated me since," he told me, "and I don't blame her. I was in the wrong, but I didn't see it until I was too late."
"Too late...?" I said, brows drawing together. "Did you love her?"
"No," he said way too quickly, "I never loved her."
"Then... why? Why did you go for her?"
"I was jealous," he told me, avoiding eye contact, "I saw my friend date another woman and I wanted to love so badly. I wanted her, too... but I never loved her. I just wanted to love someone."
"Like... me...?" I said in a small voice. "Love like how you love me...?"
He gazed up at me in amusement. "Yes, Angel, like how I love you."
I smiled softly, gazing down at his lap. "How is this different than her?"
"I was never fascinated by her like I was with you," he said then, and by how quickly he responded, I knew he was being honest. "I guess with her I just wanted someone to care about me, and she was my friend's, but I didn't care. I wanted what I wanted." He was silent for a moment. "But with you... I'm impulsive. I'm addicted and..." he glanced at me, "lustful."
My cheeks shaded over a light red.
"I've never been so obsessed with someone's personality before," he told me. "Never been so obsessed with how they twirl when they're on the streets... how their lips move when they talk, the color of their cheeks when they're shy, how their personality changes when they kill... like you."
I stared down at his chest then, getting too overwhelmed with all the emotions that were bleeding into me.
"When you killed that boy," Elias said, "James, right? When you killed him... you said something."
I glanced up nervously.
"You said that 'he' knows everything. Who is he?"
I sat onto my knees. "My father."
"You made it seem like he's forcing you to kill," Elias said then.
I gazed up in alarm, but then my face cracked a smile and I laughed.
He arched his brows.
I calmed after a moment. "No, Elias. No. My father doesn't even know I'm killing all these people. He thinks it's you."
"Well, it is partly me," he said then.
I just smiled. "Father never suspects me. He always thinks he knows me and thinks that I sleep at night. He would never suspect that I would kill at a moment's notice."
"You also said that you were forced to grow up at such a young age," Elias said then. "That you never were a child."
I kept my smile. "I was never a child, yes. I was always treated like a burden ever since I was born."
"In heaven?" Elias said.
"In heaven," I agreed, eyes darkening. "They're cruel, heartless creatures, those angels. Only care about themselves. I was forced to fall because I was the only archangel that argued against the angel-daem war. I'd been an archangel since I was a young teen, forced to be by my birthfather. I never wanted to fight for... him."
Elias watched me for a moment. "You've... you're just like Sleeping Beauty."
I gazed up curiously.
"Living in someone else's shadow," he said then, tipping his head to the side. "Always someone's shadow. Forced to put your childhood to rest, forced to live horribly unlike the others around you. And then you fell... you fell from heaven... fell asleep. And now you're living this dream—this nightmare—where you've been kidnapped by a merciless king who wants to sell you off to the highest bidder. One that's probably going berserk right now because his tool is gone." Elias watched me curiously. "You've been stuck in a nightmare, Alice. I think it's time I wake you up."
Before I could blink, he caught the back of my head and tugged my lips to his.
My entire world shattered.
I gave in immediately, threading my fingers through his hair as he slid his other hand down to the small of my back.
So warm... so hot... so sweet... so bitter...
I needed this. I needed this since he pulled away last night.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrGzUEG5hr
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a/n:
warning you... there's gonna be a little steam next chapter haha
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