The Fallen

Chapter 2

Sudden movement outside peeled my attention away from the winged man, a shriek escaping my throat when a blur flew by my broken window. I ducked, hands above my head, eyes frantically surveying the dark street below. The night was silent once again, the foreboding feeling coating the air around me making it hard to breathe.

Beside me, the stranger groaned, mumbling something my frantic senses could not decipher. He turned on his side, eliciting another shriek from me. In my haste to get away from him, I fell on my back, hands landing on either side of me. I winced in pain, a shard of glass broke the skin of my palm and embedded itself into my flesh.

As if he could smell my blood, the man rose to his knees, eyes focused on my wounded palm.

“You're hurt.”

His voice was deep and gravelly, and a shiver that had nothing to do with fear danced across my skin. I gasped at the sight of him as he finally faced me, my eyes taking in every single detail of his heavenly face. His skin was tan and smooth, his eyes a light hazel they almost appeared gold. His hair was tousled, some strands sticking to his forehead with sweat.  Something tugged at my heart at the sight of him, a mirage-like thought flashing in and out of existence in my mind. I tried to hold on to it, to grasp it and unravel its contents, but it slipped through my fingers like the desert sand.
Massive arms reached out to me slowly, muscles rippling with every move.

The movement finally pulled me out of my trance, and I scurried back, yelping in surprise. He might be the most beautiful man I had ever seen, but he was still a half naked stanger who broke in through my window at 3. a.m

“Don't be afraid,” he said, his eyes softening as he looked at me. “I won't hurt you.”

I didn't say anything, too busy staring at his wings to articulate a full sentence. They were massive, taking up half of the room now that he was upright. In the dim light of the street below us, some golden feathers shimmered a little, and a part of me wondered what they would look like in the sunlight.

He must have noticed I was eyeing them up, because he took a hesitant step back. Still on his knees, he rolled his shoulders back, his wings swiftly disappearing under his skin.

I gasped, unconsciously reaching for them with my injured arm. The sight of them was jarring, to say the least. But somehow, the loss of them left me reeling. The man’s eyes landed on my palm, and before I could react, he grabbed it. His touch was soft, almost like a whisper, the feeling of his hand on mine unlike anything I had ever experienced before. All of the panic and fear and foreboding I felt up until that moment vanished with his touch, replaced by an all encompassing sense of peace.
He ran his thumb across the gash on my palm, and I watched as a soft golden light stitched my torn skin back together, the pain vanishing instantly.

“There.” He patted my palm one more time before letting me go, and the sudden loss of his touch almost made me cry. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

I looked at him, then at my shattered window and the glass that surrounded us. Finally finding my voice, I gestured towards the multiple scratches and wounds on his chest. “Me? You're the one who's hurt.”

“Don't worry about me, angel. I will heal in no time.” The smile he gave me was so beautiful I almost lost myself in it, but the nickname he called me danced across my brain until my ears started ringing.

“What are you?” I whispered, standing on shaking legs.

“Sienna-”

“How do you know my name?”

“You don't have to be afraid of me. I won't hurt you.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Samael.”

Samael. An echo of a memory I wasn't sure was mine played in my mind, the name morphing into another I couldn't quite grasp. He watched me carefully, as if he was expecting me to recognise his name, and his face fell when I didn't react.

“What are you doing in my room? And why are you hurt?”

I pointed at his multiple wounds, some of them too deep to have been caused by colliding with a window. Something else had happened to him before he landed on my floor, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the shadows I saw earlier.

“I'm here for you.” He took a step toward me, and I held up a hand to stop him. Fortunately, he nodded, standing firm in his spot. I let out a deep breath, looking up at the strange man. He was massive, both in height and size, and something told me that if he wanted to hurt me, there was nothing I could do to stop him.
But he was keeping his distance, and he was looking at me like I was the most riveting thing he had ever seen, and I couldn't shake this feeling that I was safe with him.

“I've been looking for you for so long, angel.” His voice was soft, a low hum against my skin. His eyes never left mine, a beautiful smile arching his lips upwards.

“Why?” I whispered, trying to comprehend why this gorgeous man was looking for me, and why he kept staring at me, and why he was smiling so happily despite the blood that was dripping down his abs.

Suddenly, a flash of movement wiped that smile off his face. In less than a second, he was beside me, his wings surrounding us like a protective shield. Samael held my face in his palms, his hot breath dancing across my face.

“I'll explain everything later, angel. But right now I have to get you out of here?”

“What? Why?”

“You're not safe here, Sienna. They're coming for you.”

I shook my head, my eyes peeking through his feathers to watch the commotion outside. I couldn't make anything out, it was too dark and the movement was too fast, I half hoped this would turn out to be a dream after all.

“Who are they?” I asked, my voice shrill with panic.

Samael caressed my cheeks with his thumbs, pressing his body closer against mine. He surveyed the neighborhood outside, then looked down my dark hallway for a minute before turning back to me.

“Listen to me, Sienna. I promise I will answer all of your questions once I get you somewhere safe. For now, I just need you to trust me, okay? I need you to let me take care of you. Can you do that, angel? Can you do that for me?”

I didn't know this man. I had no reason to trust him, or to believe his words. He was a stranger to me, a stranger who broke into my fifth floor apartment with his massive golden wings and claimed he was here to protect me. For all I knew, he could very well be the danger he was warning me from.

And yet, I found myself nodding, trusting Samael with my life.