Wandering around the apartment, I went in search of something that might help me. There were no phones, no electronic devices, nothing that I could use to alert someone to where I was.
A solitary tear trickled down my cheek as I stood by the window in my bedroom. The view was incredible yet I could not find any love or passion for it. Usually I would marvel at the beauty of the land yet now that my heart was in pieces, I could not.
Something clicked against wood, I turned and saw Arcaedia setting a plate onto the dressing table.
"You have to eat sometime Emily, a month is long enough. Eat it or I will bind you and force it down your throat."
"Fine. Go away."
"I'm not an idiot Emily. You will eat it in front of me."
"Where would I put it? You've taken any power I had away from me, I can't just zap it into oblivion. Maybe you'd like to be my taste tester, go on have a sample of everything on the plate."
Deep purple eyes bored into me, Arcaedia huffed and stalked out of the room. Walking quickly to the door I watched as he returned to his own room, slamming the door shut. Closing the door, I picked up the plate and sniffed it, wondering what he'd put in it. He wasn't an idiot and I wasn't a fool.
I'd eaten a meal in the first few hours of arriving at the log cabin. Well, it wasn't a meal, it was a hot chocolate that Arcaedia said would warm me. With one sip I was drowsy, Arcaedia suggested that I lay down and rest. I woke several hours later and realised that I had no powers. I was not going to be tricked again.
Sitting on the bed I crossed my legs and put the plate of food in front of me. Concentrating I tried to think about the food disappearing, imagining it leaving the plate and appearing in a garbage can on the street below. Cracking one eye open I saw the food sitting there, taunting me with its presence.
There was something about the month marker that had Arcaedia in a bad mood, clearly the sedative was about to wear off. Or maybe it was what we were running from, the demon that had been near the log cabin. I wish that it had been Brannon, that he had been looking for me but I knew it was foolish to hold such hope. He would not look for me, he had moved on with Chloe.
His parents had obviously told him to go back to school, to get his mind off me and Chloe had seen the lost and broken man and swooped. I can't say as I blamed her for it, I figured that she has wanted him for a very long time. But rebound relationships were always filled with issues and if it was me, I wouldn't be going in so early.
A cooing of a dove roused me from my morose thoughts. As I picked up the plate and set it onto the bedside table, I looked at the white dove sitting on the window ledge. One bright red eye looked at me as it tapped on the glass, I lowered to the window and looked at it.
"You're a demon dove." I whispered. "Can you hear me?"
The bird tapped its beak against the glass again, pacing back and forth.
"I am Emily, Brannon's friend. I'm trapped here, can you tell your master where I am?"
It stopped, not moving its body but its head kept moving around. Slowly the dove lifted off the ledge, hovering over it without flapping its wings. As the red from its eyes disappeared and became black, I turned and saw Arcaedia crossing the room. His hand was out in front of him, his fingers looked like they were wrapped around something.
"Don't hurt it." I begged.
Arcaedia's lips were moving without a word being said, when he was done he smiled at the bird and then me. His fingers let go of the grip and I turned to watch the dove fly away.
"Angels do not hurt animals Emily, I thought you knew better than that."
The dove kept going, flying away from me.
"No, I freed the demon. Now it is nothing more than an ordinary bird. See what happens when you try to escape Emily? The devil has lost a demon and you've cursed it to a mortality as a city bird. Well done."
Wiping away a tear I felt anger surge through me, I stood up and stalked to Arcaedia.
"You are no angel, you are a monster."
I pushed against his body which did nothing except make him laugh. With a waggle of his brow I felt the binds of entrapment slowly wrap around me.
"Dinner time Emily."
"I'm not hungry."
"Yes you are, it has been a month and we both know that you are at the end of the allowable time for an angel to go without sustenance. Now be a good girl and open up."
Arcaedia held the plate in one hand and the fork in the other. The fork slowly made its way to me, my mouth opened even though I did not want it to. Everything was in his control, I had little choice.
The food was placed into my mouth and it did nothing. Realising he expected me to deal with the food from then on, I closed my mouth and huffed a slight laugh. Arcaedia narrowed his eyes at me, no doubt wondering what I found amusing. Spitting the food back at him, I sneered, watching as he growled in frustration and wiped the food from his face.
"I don't want your food."
His hand gripped in the air, constricting my throat.
"You will eat Emily and now that you've been a filthy little animal, we will do things my way."
Tears rolled down my temples as my head moved backwards, my mouth opened and the food was forced into me.
"Fight me all you want but know that I will always win."