The Land of Angels

Part 6

He opens the door and there are some stairs. We walk up and he opens the door to the outside world. We're still in a forest but it's not as thick as where we entered yesterday. 

"How far is this bar?" I ask.

"Not far," He says, "Stay close to me, you'll be fine as long as you're with me, a lot of criminals hang out here."

I feel a bit nervous now, but follow him through the woods. There's an old looking pub like building on a lonely road. Voices are heard from inside. Walking inside people stare at Damien and I. 

He starts walking and I follow him sitting next to him at the bar. 

"Your strongest bottle of vodka." He says to the barkeeper.

The man nods and grabs an unnamed bottle of vodka, Damien pays up and chugs the bottle. I'm still shocked that his body can handle that much alcohol. I'm a SUPER lightweight, the very few times I've drunk I got drunk within second. 

Once he's finished the bottle someone puts their hand on his shoulder, he pulls out one of his swords and spins around pressing the blade to the man's neck. The man chuckles and says, "Relax Damien, I just came to say high, after the mess you left last time we didn't think you'd be back, especially with a gorgeous woman like yourself," He says the last bit to me, Damien growls and he puts his hands up, "I don't mean anything, last I heard you were dead. So what're you doing in town?"

"None of your business Jase," He growls, "I want a room though."

"Already got it sorted," this 'Jase' dude says, "Could you maybe put your blade away?"

He slowly takes it away from his neck and puts it back in it's holder. He gets another bottle.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom." I say, honestly I've been busting all day.

"Alright," He says, "Be quick."

I nod and get off the stool walking down the hall into the girls bathroom. Something that looks like it's never been used before. I do my business then wash my hands and step out of the bathroom closing the door behind me. Two hands go on the wall behind me beside my head.

A man not as tall and buff as Damien but still huge compared to me says, "Hey there Baby Girl."

"Um, excuse me, could you let me leave?" I ask moving to leave but he grabs my arms and holds me there. 

"Well how bout you and me get out of her and ditch that boy you came with." He says smiling in a gross way at me. 

"No thank you," I say firmly, "Now let me go."

He smirks at me and says, "No."

I'm acutely aware of Damien standing a few paces behind him, "Alright, well I'm going to count to three, and after that if you don't let go of me you'll regret it."

"Is that so?" He chuckles,

"3.." I say, "2...." I take a deep breath giving him a chance to let go, "1."

Damien grabs his shoulders surprising him so he lets go of me. He throws him all the way down the hallway like he weighs nothing. He stalks down to where he's groaning on the floor and kicks him in the stomach sending him flying into tables and chairs in the bar. The bar isn't super busy so he doesn't hit anyone. 

Damien starts beating his face in. I'm worried he's going to kill him so I gently touch his shoulder telling him to stop. The guys face is already bloody and swollen. He slams his fist into his face one more time effectively knocking him out. 

The man who owns the bar shakes his head at Damien, he passes Damien a key and I follow Damien up to a nice room with a bed and bathroom. 

"What's out plan for tomorrow?" I ask.

"We're going to go through the city, it'll probably take a few days." He says.

I pull off my cloak and ask, "Where are we going to sleep?"

He shrugs and says, "We'll figure it out."

"Alright..." I say, "I'm going to bathe if you don't mind."

"Yeah, you need it." He answers cheekily. 

He elbow him but he doesn't even react. I shut the bathroom door take a good amount of time getting clean. I step out of the tub and wrap a towel around myself. Stepping out of the room Damien glances at me and passes me his old shirt. I smile at him and throw it on with some underwear. 

I crawl under the covers. He's facing the same way as me so I can see his back. They're slashes, deep and long. Random too. 

"You want to ask don't you?" His deep voice asks out into the dark room.

"Yeah but I won't." I reply. 

He rolls over in the bed so he's looking at me. I try not to stare at the scar on his face, "Do you know about the Hallowfield mines?"

"The Death Camp?" I ask and he nods, "Yeah I do..."

"I spent the last hundred or so years there." He says.

My eyes widen in shock, "That's horrible. Why were you there? And how did you get out?" I can't help the questions from pouring out of my mouth

"I was hired to kill the governor,  I did it but it was a setup. They didn't execute me but I got sent to that camp with thousands of other people, humans died the quickest, the Akeirie always had these handcuffs on which numbed our magic." He looks at me cautiously, "I knew they were finally hiring new guards. So I took these drugs which killed me temporarily. They threw me in a pit with all the other bodies. When I woke up I climbed out and escaped through the woods. See the old guards wouldn't have fallen for something like that, but the new guards weren't as wise."

"I'm so sorry Damien, that must have been terrible." I say.

"I didn't wait 100 years to try and escape you know, I tried tons, I killed MANY of the guards and got very close some of the times, every time I broke the rules they'd whip me. It was the same for everyone, they'd whip you if you were just moving too slow or didn't get enough resources for them." He says, "That's not where I got the face scar from." 

I nod not wanting to push him, he didn't have to tell me all that but I feel privileged that he trusted me enough to tell me. I lie on his chest and he puts an arm around me, I hear him sigh and murmur, "You're going to be the death of me."