Unnatural Instinct: Fallen

23.

You snap your eyes open with a start. How is it you can still manage to fall asleep? It's still dark, moonlight gleaming brightly through the window.

'Joel?' you say, your voice muffled against his throat. 'Joel?'

When he doesn't respond, you look up into his face. You raise your eyebrows in surprise. He's asleep. But angels don't sleep, do they? At least according to Joel. Then again, he did lie about his kind not getting tired either.

You smile as you gaze at him—your guardian angel. You touch his cheek. He's so beautiful, particularly when caught in the moonlight like he is now. So much more beautiful than Lucifer, despite all his golden looks. He almost looks like a doll with the hard line of his jaw, his unnaturally high cheekbones and his long dark eyelashes that fan so perfectly over his cheeks. And there's no ignoring those soft lips. Gently, you press your mouth against them. He doesn't wake. 

You sag against him with a sigh, smiling as you listen to the waves crashing onto the beach.

Only two more days. Only two more days and this will all be over. Your eyelids slide shut. You're resting only moments when you snap them open again at a sudden noise. What is it? Staring into the darkness, you focus, listening. When you hear nothing, you close your eyes again.

You snap them open once more. What is that?! It sounds like scratching. Maybe it's just an animal, something that's strayed inside. You listen closely, hoping against hope, but you're no fool. You know it's something more. Something dangerous.

Something evil.

You sit up with a start at the sound of a bang. You snap your head to the right at a childish giggle.

'Who's there?!'

You whip your head to the left at the sight of something moving in the gloom. You squint but see nothing. For the most part, the room is lit by moonlight, but in the corners the shadows remain black and impenetrable. Heavy breathing joins the giggling.

'Joel,' you hiss, shaking his shoulder. 'Joel!'

Your eyes widen and you shake him harder at the sight of a dark figure peeling away from the corner. You watch in dread as it slowly unfolds itself. It's so tall and gangly you freeze at the terrible thought that it might be Satan.

For several moments you just stare at him, your hand limp on Joel's shoulder. Then the figure turns its head and you see that it can't be Satan; there's no snout. In fact, his face looks squashed in. It sends a shiver of horror down your spine, and you're very glad that the darkness conceals the rest of his features.

You go back to waking Joel. You shake him harder, hard enough that the bed bangs against the wall. You yank at his hair and tug hard at his wings but nothing stirs him. He's completely out of it. Something's wrong. This is more than just sleep. He almost looks dead.

With a little choke, you turn back to the shadows. 'Keep away!'

The demons don't move, staying within the darkness. Joel had told you that they don't like the light. You can only hope he's right as you ease yourself out of the cot.

You can feel their eyes on you but they don't move as you make your steady way to the door. Your feet sink in the sand. Your heart thuds in your chest. As you reach the exit, you glance once more over your shoulder. Joel's skin gleams brightly in the moonlight. His dark hair has fallen around his face. He still hasn't moved. He made you promise to put yourself first if things turned bad.

Your chin wobbles as you step outside. The sky is clear with only a few white clouds shrouding the moon. It's so quiet, so isolated. In normal circumstances you would enjoy having a beach to yourself—not now. You'd give anything to have company, even if it were only a stranger. You need noise. You need activity. You need to have some sense that you're not alone amid all this terror.

A shadow sweeps across the sand and you look up. You stumble back with a gasp. Black wings against a bright moon. A dark angel—and not a good one like Joel. He's gliding like a bird, circling over you like a vulture.

Smoothly, he descends, landing with a thud in the soft sand not far from where you stand. Folding his wings at his back, he straightens himself out. He gazes at you with his black eyes. You turn to look behind you at another thud. A second angel lands closer still, identical to the first, the same dark hair, the same black wings and hostile eyes.

Not knowing what else to do, you back away towards the shack. There's nowhere for you to go. They'll catch you no matter what; in the shadows, in the light. Your only hope is Joel.

The shack is dark compared with outside. 'Joel!' you cry. You rush over to him but only make it partway to the cot when you trip and sprawl face-first in the sand. You lift your face with a gasp, clutching at your chest, the wind knocked out of you. Something has snagged around your foot. You look back and discover, to your horror, that you accidentally stepped into the shadows. Though you can't see for certain, you know that it's no snag that's got a hold of you.

There's that giggling again. You scream, raking your fingers through the sand as you're dragged backwards and out of the moonlight. Hands grab at your thighs and arse and back. Claws rake through your shirt and shorts. That heavy breathing returns and it scares you more than the giggling. Something strong flips you over onto your back.

Like they did while on your belly, they tear through your clothes, exposing your breasts. Hands and paws and claws are touching and stroking and groping you. You can't see them, only feel them. Something wet engulfs your right nipple.

All too quickly, you're naked. You thrash and kick and shout but it does nothing; they don't seem to be of solid form, mere phantoms in the night. Heavy hands open your thighs and pin down your knees hard to the ground. You scream as something wet and slimy slides across your opening.

The giggling becomes hysterical. 'He's going to fuck you. He's going to fuck you!'

You cry out as the wet and slimy thing slips inside you. Meanwhile, your breasts are being mashed and pinched and sucked.

Finally, they've had enough and that thing which first gripped your ankle, seizes you again.

'No!' you scream as it drags you further into the darkness.