Jariel should have known better. Really, he should have. Elise was known for her tricks, and yet he had managed to walk right on in to another one. How could he have been so stupid? Now he found himself tied on to a concrete pole, unable to do much of anything. It didn’t help that both Dawn and himself were gagged, and so he couldn’t even ask her if she was okay. Jariel continued to try his best to get out of the knots that Elise had tied, but was unable to, despite his strength. He could feel the anger boiling up inside of him. He wanted to hurt Elise for doing this, for dragging Dawn in to this when it really wasn’t any of her business. This didn’t even have anything to do with her! Why couldn’t Elise just move on?
Elise returned in the room and Jariel prepared himself for the worst. He didn’t think Elise would finish him off right then and there, she said that she was going to explain first. Sure, Jariel was immortal, meaning that he couldn’t die; however, if another immortal killed him, it was a whole different story. If Elise killed him, he was done with.
“Look at you.” Elise laughed, stopping when she was right in front of him. “You look so helpless. It’s a good look on you, trust me.” Jariel started her down, but she just smiled. “Now, where was I? Oh, that’s right. I was going to tell you why I am doing all of this. Well, it starts with the obvious.” Elise started to pace in front of him, acting like she was all that, when she really wasn’t. “I like to be the center of attention. It annoys me when I’m not. But, of course, you already know that. So, let me fast forward. You’re strong. You’re smart, or well, people like to think that you are. Anyway, you’re good looking. It was only natural that you were the favorite. Only, it really wasn’t fair. You see, I worked my butt off to get to the top, and I wasn’t about to let someone like you take that from me.” She stopped pacing and turned to face him. He glared at her, wanting so badly to beat that smile off of her face. “So, I did what I knew had to be done. I pretended to be your friend. I pretended to like you. And then, at the last moment, I tricked you. You see, though, it’s not really my fault. You never had to go and get those scrolls for me. You should have known they were forbidden, but you went and got them anyway. You’re so stupid.” She laughed.
Jariel muffled something but, seeing how he was gagged and all, no sound came out. Elise looked over at him and let out a laugh. By now, Jariel was breathing heavily. All the anger inside of him was about to explode, and he wished it would hurry up and do so already. He wanted to get back at her for doing this to Dawn. Right now, he could care less about what she had done to him, but to drag an innocent human in to this mess that she had created? Now she had just gone too far.
“Oh, are you trying to tell me something?” she said, her voice full of mock concern. She went over to him and got right up in his face. “It must not be anything important because I can’t hear it.” She stood up straighter and let out a wicked laugh. “You’re so pathetic.” She spat, and then went and stood over by a window. The cold air was blowing in through the open windows, causing a chill to run down Jariel’s body. Snow was blowing in as well, and he brought out his wings and wrapped them around his body, hoping to keep himself warm. Elise saw this and scoffed, but she didn’t do anything about it. Jariel didn’t know for sure, but something seemed off about her.
An hour or so passed; at least it felt like that. Jariel couldn’t really tell. Elise hadn’t moved from her window spot. She looked as though she was deep in thought, but he wasn’t really sure about that either. He didn’t really know what she was planning, or when she was going to do whatever it was that she was planning to do. He just wished she would go and get it over with. He wished that she would let Dawn go. This fight was just between the two of them. Elise had Jariel, she didn’t have a use for Dawn anymore, so why not just let her go?
Jariel was growing tired. He was tired of the games that Elise felt the need to play. He was tired of being in this abandoned building, freezing. He was just plain tired of all the bull crap that seemed to find its way in to his life. He hung his head as he shivered from the cold, despite his wings shielding some of it. He could see his breath in front of him and he was trying to think of a way to get out of this mess, but his mind was coming up empty.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to yell at the top of his lungs at Elise. He wanted to know why she had gotten Dawn involved but, when he tried, all that came out was a muffle, which Elise ignored anyway. He just couldn’t understand something. Elise had him now, and all she was doing was standing around. What was she waiting for? Permission? He just wished that she would go and get this over with.
* * * *
Dawn wished that she could comfort Jariel, but she couldn’t. She was in the same mess that he was in right now. Except for the fact that she was beaten up more than he was. In fact, she didn’t think Elise had punched him since after she had tied him up. She couldn’t understand why, but did it really matter? At least he wasn’t in pain, for the moment. Dawn, on the other hand, was hurting more than words could describe. Her head felt as though a horse had kicked her straight in the face, and the rest of her body felt as if she was ran over by a dozen or more horses. On the bright side, she had stopped bleeding. At least, for the moment anyway. She didn’t know what Elise planned on doing next and, quite frankly, she didn’t even want to think about it.
Dawn couldn’t stop thinking about what Elise had said to Jariel though. What scroll was so important that Jariel would have gotten kicked out for taking? Either way, Elise was a pathetic coward for tricking him like that. And, please, but she worked her butt off to become the favorite? Dawn rolled her eyes. After listening to her for a while, and Jariel’s side of the story a while back, she guessed that she just tricked the other angels as well.
Elise suddenly stepped away from the window and walked over to where they were. Instead of addressing Jariel though, she went and untied Dawn from the pole. However, she tied her feet together, and then re-tied her hands together, before dragging her in front of Jariel and tossing her on the ground before him.
“This is why you’re so damn happy!” Elise yelled, pointing at Dawn. “This piece of trash! She’s not even that pretty.” She took her foot and kicker her, right in the stomach, causing Dawn to let out a muffled yelp of pain. Dawn’s eyes welled up with tears, but she did her best to hold them in. She didn’t want Jariel to see her cry. “I don’t see why she makes you happy though. I thought you said that you hated humans? Or was that a lie?” she let out a laugh. “You’ve grown soft Jariel. I’m quite disappointed, to be honest. I was expecting for you to put up more of a fight when it came to getting this piece of scum back.” Elise kicked Dawn in the stomach again, and this time Dawn couldn’t hold back the tears. The tears came streaming out as the pain radiated throughout her body. Elise continued to torture Dawn in front of Jariel, kicking her, slapping her, spiting on her, and doing anything else she could think of to make Dawn yell out in pain. It was like she was trying her best to make Jariel suffer by giving him see Dawn in pain.
Elise eventually, to Dawn’s pleasure, stopped and tied her back up to the pole. Dawn lied on the cold floor, curled up and in more pain than she was originally. Tears streamed down her face and mixed with the fresh blood that was also upon her face. She didn’t know what this crazy chicks problem was, she just knew that she had some serious issues that she needed to go and get worked out.
Elise left the room, doing God only knew what. The moments that Elise wasn’t around were the moments when Dawn was extremely nervous, because she didn’t know what Elise was planning and what, or who, she would come back with. For all she knew, she had weapons stashed away in a room that she was planning on using. Dawn hoped that this thought was just a part of her wild imagination and that Elise really didn’t have any weapons with her. After all, if she did, why hadn’t she used them yet?
The sun had gone down now, leaving her and Jariel in the dark, with no source of light to help them see what was going on. Only a stream of faint light from the moon was coming in, but that wasn’t enough to help them see. They heard footsteps come in and assumed it was Elise, until they saw the beam of a flashlight and familiar black hair. It wasn’t Elise that had stepped in.
It was Annette.
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Change of Heart (NaNoWriMo 2011)
Random**In The Editing Process!!** Jariel, a once favored angel in Heaven, has been thrown out. Not by his own accord, however. He was tricked, made a fool of, by an angel named Elise, bent on being the center of attention no matter what. Jariel is now s...
