Ethan gnawed on the inside of his cheek as the whip hit his arm, feeling the skin burn. He hoped that would be the only hit.
"You've got one more week, Ethan. One more week to fix your mistake, get rid of the mortal, and squeeze information out of that angel," Dagon shouted, stepping closer to grab Ethan's throat. He coughed, trying not to squirm. "If you don't have news in a week, you're done. I'm done with you."
He tossed Ethan's body to the ground, watching him skid across the floor into the wall. Ethan didn't stand up.
"...you want me to kill her?"
"I want you to do something. After this week, she's gone. Whatever you do I don't need to know. And if you don't fix all of this, you're gone." His boss left right after.
Ethan slowly stood, taking a second to catch his breath.
His arm was throbbing, and his head was spinning. One week? It seemed too soon.
Eden didn't really know how urgent this thing was. Or that she wasn't going to be seeing him again once the week was up.
And because she didn't know, she wasn't even going to see him for the next two days. She'd said she was busy and would call him over when she was free.
Ethan was going to use the next two days to torture the hell out of some angels.
He still didn't know how he was going to fix the mistake of helping Eden without making a deal, but he'd figure that out later. What kind of deal could he have given her?
It didn't matter right now, what mattered was blowing off some steam with torture.
His arm still burning, flesh around the wound partially melted, he narrowed his eyes and approached the iron door.
—
A couple days later, Eden still hadn't called. So Ethan took it upon himself to show up at her apartment—after making sure Daphne wasn't home.
Of course, neither was Eden, so he just sat in her bed and stared at the ceiling.
"What the—"
Eden jumped as she entered her bedroom, seeing Ethan lying there. He smiled as he stood up to greet her.
"I was at work, Ethan. I was going to call for you when I got home," she rolled her eyes.
He just shrugged and gently kissed her, groaning when she pulled away after only a couple of seconds.
Eden furrowed her eyebrows and grabbed his arm. It still wasn't healed.
He just pulled it out of her grasp and walked out of the room, ignoring her calls. She had to chase him and grab it for him to acknowledge her.
"It's not a big deal, Eden," he shook his head, but gasped as her fingertips grazed the wound.
"What happened this time?" She frowned.
He obviously didn't want to talk about it. But she didn't really care.
"Just got some pressure put on me the other day. No big deal, I can handle it." Ethan told her, pulling her into his arms. But she glared up at him, waiting for a real answer. "Alright, fine. You wanna know?"
Eden scoffed, but pressed him to continue.
He paced, running his hands through his hair and tugging on his own horns. This was a lot to tell someone, especially a mortal.
And he was already two days into his seven day limit. No progress anywhere.
Ethan wasn't one to worry much, being a demon and all, but impending death and losing someone you've come to care about can do that to anyone.
It made it worse too, that he cared about her. He'd tried so hard not to.
Caring about mortals was weak and made him vulnerable. Even if it was just one mortal, it wasn't good news and he was lost over it.
"I have 5 days to make up for not making a deal with you, figure out what the fuck the angels are planning, and then I can't ever see you again. And if I don't do all of that, I'm probably going to fucking die." Ethan spit, watching her face fall. "So yeah, that's what's bothering me."
She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, feeling lightheaded from his words.
Five days?
Five days and her life would... go back to normal? Her old 'normal' didn't seem like it would work anymore.
Eden wanted to cry. But there was no time to cry anymore.
"I didn't even know you were in trouble for not making a deal with me. Why didn't you say shit?" She scolded, slapping his good arm. "And why wouldn't you be able to see me?"
"Because you're a mortal, Eden!" Ethan yelled, eyes blazing. "You know this! We've known this the whole time. And Grayson kept warning us, but neither of us listened, and now it's too fucking late."
He paced up and down her kitchen, anger boiling his veins. He wasn't mad at her, he was just mad at everything.
She had no clue what to do. What could she possibly do to fix this?
It didn't matter, because at the end of the day, she was a mortal and it was hard to change that.
Ethan was acting different.
He was scared, which before this, Eden didn't even think was something he could feel. But she was sure of it as she watched him mutter to himself in her apartment, running his mind on overdrive for solutions.
She thought he was scared of dying, but that wasn't it. Not quite.
He didn't want to die, but the biggest thing was that he couldn't come up with an ending where he was happy. Losing her or his life... he wanted neither.
And it just made him more angry, because he shouldn't care about her that much.
"Eden, hear me out," Ethan pleaded, grabbing her by the shoulders.
His hair was a mess, eyes nervous. A bead of sweat fell down his face from how stressed he was. It was strange to see him like this.
But he had an idea it seemed. So she urged him to share it.
He gave her a small smile, flashing his sharp teeth. "Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but what if you became a demon too?"
Ethan was right, it did sound crazy.
She was a mortal, in her early 20's. It didn't look like she'd be dying anytime soon. And she wasn't a fan of the idea of killing herself or letting him.
Plus, not everyone can become a demon. Eden wasn't even on track to go to hell—albeit that was mostly Grayson pulling strings now.
Even if she did, becoming a demon takes hundreds of years, at least. So she didn't know what he was getting at. But he seemed really convinced it would work.
"Listen, I know, I know. I told you it would sound crazy. But I can take your soul with me. And I can help you transform faster," Ethan told her. "Grayson has pulled strings to make sure you go to Heaven still, but if I'm the one collecting your soul he can't stop me. And you know you can trust me,"
It didn't do much good of convincing Eden though.
"That seems like a really big risk to take, Ethan," she whispered. "Why don't we see if we can figure something else out first?"
He looked a bit taken aback, but nodded.
Even if he thought it was a good idea, there was no way he'd forcefully kill her and steal her soul. They'd have to find another solution instead.
The two of them brainstorm but come up short, until switching the topic to angels.
"You can like... get in his head, right?" Eden asked, a lightbulb going off. "Either possess the same body or do some weird thing like when you restored my memory?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess. Why?"
Eden felt herself grinning. "Ethan, that's it! Physical torture isn't working on him, you've gotta play mind games."
Ethan's eyes widened. How could he be so stupid to not even consider that?
Mind games were never his favorite form of torture, but it made so much sense. And it wouldn't hurt to try.
"Oh my god, Eden! You may have just saved my ass," he smiled wide. With interlocked hands, the two rushed to meet the angel.
All he really needed was a different view of the situation, and now, he had one. It was time to test it.
As they entered, Zephyr let out a throaty cough. The only reason his body was sitting semi-upright was because of the chains keeping him that way.
His previously bright white blood was looking slightly translucent now. A sign of weakness.
His energy and power were slowly running out. He wouldn't die, but if he didn't get out soon he probably wouldn't ever be the same. He would be permanently weakened.
"Please..." he whispered, looking to Eden. "I don't know anything else,"
Ethan snickered, grabbing the angels face. "We'll see about that."
Eden watched as Ethan conjured a few chairs for all of them to sit on. The tired angel collapsed into his, looking confused as Ethan healed his wounds.
Of course that wouldn't improve his condition much at this point. He'd need direct contact with Heaven to heal now. It just took away some of the pain, which Zephyr wouldn't complain about.
Ethan sat down across from him, smirking lightly. Eden took the seat next to him as his fingertips pressed the angels temples.
It took a moment to reach Zephyr's consciousness instead of Adam's, but it was worth it.
Zephyr's eyes went stark white, and his body froze. Then Ethan's body did something similar. Eden had no clue what was going on.
This wasn't something she could participate in, so she watched in silence, anticipating.
Zephyr's mouth fell open slowly, tears poured out of his eyes, and as it happened Ethan's grin grew. The angel's body convulsed as time went on.
Inside his mind, Ethan was tormenting him with what he was most afraid of.
Zephyr was watching the execution of his brothers and sisters, over and over, and couldn't do anything about it. He was alone in Heaven, watching demons take control.
Ethan thought it was a boring fear, but he was having fun making it happen.
Zephyr lost track of what was real and what wasn't. He felt hopeless, because what's one angel supposed to do? Being left alone in Heaven was the scariest thing for him. It wasn't enough power to keep things running.
After a long time, they came out of his head. Ethan bounced in his seat with excitement, grinning widely. The angel was shivering as he looked around, and then realized what happened.
He'd spilled all of the secrets to Ethan already. He knew.
"Alright, I t-told you everything," Zephyr winced, Eden lighting up as she heard it. "Please, let me go now."
Ethan let out a deep laugh as he stood up, walking behind him. Without another word, he took his life by using the blade to decapitate him.
Letting him go and warn Grayson would've been a mistake.
So, he pulled out his blade that could kill angels. It left an empty human shell too.
Eden didn't even react, she just wanted to find out what happened and what the plans were.
Adam was already deemed missing, making up a cover story when he showed up randomly again would be too much work. It was easier to just let people forget.
Smiling wide, Ethan pulled her along to find Kazan. It was information he should have immediately.
He dealt with war issues like this, and he'd inform Dagon that Ethan completed the task.
"What are you doing here with the mortal?"
Ethan shook his head. "No time for that, I finally cracked the angel."
Kazan sat up straighter, looking to Eden with intrigued eyes. But he turned his attention back to Ethan instead of saying anything else about it.
Eden was also on the edge of her seat, since he didn't say a word about it to her yet.
"Alright, it's a lot, but he spilled everything. First, they're working on a way to cure strong corrupted souls. So they'd target high-ranking demons. Not make them human, but possibly convert them to angels. That's why they've been tailing some of us," Ethan starts, excited to have finally figured this out. "He didn't know exactly how, just that it involved an artifact they've found recently and removing our horns."
Sounds like it would be painful, basically.
Kazan was taking notes, which almost made Eden snort. It just seemed very out of character for a demon.
But Ethan had more.
"They're also planning a massacre. Anyone they can't capture and thousands of our lower ranks." Man, sure they were demons, but a massacre seemed a little too evil.
Mostly what Eden learned was that angels sucked.
They were pushy, demanding, and didn't help nearly often enough for how powerful they were. They also didn't care that much about anyone other than each other.
At least demons were honest about who and what they were. She'd take that over angels any day. Even if she sounded crazy.
The angels were planning a lot.
It seemed they were trying to eradicate all demons. Whether they would succeed was an unknown, but no matter what, it would hurt.
"Thank you, Ethan. We'll see what we can do," Kazan nodded, eyes a sickening yellow, spinning with ideas. "And a warning: do not bring her back here. At least... not while she's a mortal. Dagon is getting fed up."
They didn't get a chance to protest. Kazan snapped them back to her apartment.
"Ethan, you did it!" She grinned, kissing him deeply.
Boiled down, the angels were planning a full on war. They wouldn't even care if mortals got in their way. It wouldn't be good for anyone involved.
Ethan was a little hurt his brother was planning this, but that wasn't the point. They had information, they could prepare and strike first. They might even be able to stop it before things got out of hand. Sure, they liked chaos, but a full out war wasn't fun for anyone.
"I can't believe he kicked you out like that," Ethan groaned, holding her face between his hands. "This is why you should become a demon."
Eden stopped cold.
He was still on about that? She'd told him no already. She wouldn't mind being a demon, but having to die was her problem. Not to mention the fact that she couldn't be sure it would work.
"Ethan, no. We need another solution," she shook her head and pushed him away.
As she turned around, he'd already teleported in front of her. Which really just made her angry with him.
She tried it again to find him right in her face, again. "Stop doing that!"
Ethan grabbed her arms to steady her, making sure they were making eye contact. If she could make her eyes red she would, just to show him how annoyed she was.
"I won't do that anymore, but seriously Eden, consider it," he pleaded, sharp teeth forming a grin. She groaned and stormed into her bedroom, locking the door. "Eden, come on!"
"Go away, Ethan!"
This was the first time she'd really gotten mad at him. If she said no she meant it, and he should know that by now.
He promised he wouldn't port in front of her anymore, so he was standing outside of her door, knocking on it like a mortal would. It wasn't helping.
"Open the door!" Ethan sighed, banging against it again. His voice cracked, revealing he was actually panicking just a bit. "Eden, please open the door! Can we not fight? I know you're scared, I've been there. I can help!"
"Scaring her off finally?"
Ethan whipped his head around to find Grayson, standing in the living room.
It was a really good thing Daphne was at her boyfriends, because they'd probably have to wipe her memory again if not.
Grayson didn't look happy. His eyes were already white, halo accompanying him, and his wings this time too.
Eden, hearing another voice, came out from her room.
"Which of my angels did you kill you bastard?" Grayson bellowed. "I felt it. I know you killed one of them, but which one was it?"
Ethan had kind of forgotten angels could feel the death of their own. But he didn't care.
He shrugged his shoulders, staring down his brother. There was no way he'd give in without a fight.
But Grayson knew that, so instead, he grabbed Eden and yanked her over to him.
Pressing one hand to the side of her neck, he asked again which angel was killed. She rolled her eyes—as if she'd tell him willingly.
"Zephyr, who had been inhabiting the body of Adam."
Her eyes widened as she spoke involuntarily, moving away from the unhappy angel.
Of course he had some trick to force her to tell the truth, he was an angel. Ethan should've remembered, but his angel knowledge was a little rusty.
"Dammit," the angel muttered, composing himself. "So you found out."
"Hell yeah we found out. You think you could place a spy and not have us notice?" Ethan spit, yanking Eden over to him now.
"Hey, can we stop playing tug of war with my limbs?" She snapped, crossing her arms to stand away from Ethan and Grayson. They both looked at her briefly, then focused on one another again.
She wasn't too happy with either of them right now. Grayson because... well, that was self-explanatory. Ethan because of the whole, 'die for me' charade he had going on. Sure, it was coming from a thoughtful place, but it was too extreme.
"So why'd you kill him? Just because he was a spy?" That was Grayson asking if he spilled, trying not to give anything away.
"Because he was a spy, and because he wouldn't tell me anything important. And after last time we saw you, I wanted to piss you off," Ethan lied straight through his teeth.
They didn't need the angels to know they were onto them, that would ruin everything Ethan worked for.
Grayson's muscles bulged as he flung Ethan across the apartment. Eden's neighbors had to hate her.
"I don't know why I bother with you, Ethan." Grayson laughed bitterly as his brother groaned. Ethan stood and went to fire back, but was stopped prematurely, struggling to find air.
"What are you doing?!" Eden gasped, watching Ethan crumble to the floor again.
"You used to have compassion," Grayson said, kneeling in front of the incapacitated demon. "You used to care about people even if they couldn't do something for you. Even if they weren't fucking you."
Eden held him in her arms, watching his face redden as he coughed but failed to intake any air.
The way he insinuated Ethan only hung around Eden for sex made her blood boil, but she didn't dare yell at him right now. There was nothing she could do. She was a weak mortal.
Of course not being able to breathe wouldn't kill Ethan, but it wasn't the greatest feeling. He couldn't do anything to counteract it, effectively rendering him helpless. If he couldn't breathe, he couldn't focus enough to fire something back at Grayson.
"I guess it makes sense, that becoming a demon, losing that good piece of your soul, would do that to you," he shakes his head, tightening his fist to make Ethan's throat close more. "But I had hope. I had hope I could save my stupid, naive brother. And that was wrong of me, because even before you were a demon you weren't alright. You've always been the fuck-up."
Grayson left after that.
As soon as he did Ethan was able to breathe again, feeling lightheaded and sinking into Eden's soft arms.
Of course instead of being upset, he was just angry. How did Grayson have the audacity?
And again, Eden was just in shock that angels were such dicks. Where did he get off saying things like that?
"Ethan, you need to tell me why you let yourself fall."
He swore he felt his heart stop.
It wasn't something he liked discussing. It made him feel vulnerable and he didn't want to think about it again.
But Eden wasn't going to let him get away with the secrecy anymore.
He knew that, shaking his head with a sigh. They both sat up, cross-legged on her living room floor. He considered leaving, but knew he'd have to tell her eventually.
She was feeling exhausted earlier, but after everything that happened, the adrenaline woke her right up. She should be asleep, but here she was instead, talking to Ethan like usual. Her sleep schedule was a mess, but at least she could always rely on coffee. She'd missed a lot of class lately catching up on sleep though.
"I don't know, it's kinda stupid. Angels just fucking suck, y'know?" Ethan chuckled, but there was a lot more to it than that. "Grayson mentioned I was always the 'fuck-up'. What he meant was that I was never really good at being an angel.
"I just didn't care, really. Keeping order and doing mundane tasks, especially in the beginning of humanity, was so boring. We weren't really allowed to do anything interesting, so I'd always break the rules." That sounded like Ethan.
There were a lot of mythical tales that spawned from 'bad' angels tricking mortals. There were just as many about demons, but those ones usually ended with more death than the former.
"So I'd consequently have to deal with stuck-up angels and punishments after. Which I guess I dealt with for a while but... then we had to spread a plague just because we were told to. For population control. And we couldn't help anyone, though I don't really care now that I'm not an angel, but I just realized that being an one wasn't what I wanted. We couldn't do anything fun or anything that mattered, so... I fell." Ethan shrugged. "I know, a big decision to make just because I was bored and unhappy, but being a demon is just so much more me."
Eden sat, taking it in for a moment. She understood, being an angel sounded like a boring and unfulfilling existence. Although, she wondered why he was so sensitive about the subject. It wasn't some big fight or war, he didn't do anything bad, at least in her eyes.
The reason for him was just that telling her meant whatever they were doing was... real, in some way. And he had to think about it again.
A long, never-ending life filled with only thinking about his past that he hated wasn't fun. It especially reminded him of the transformation.
Becoming a demon when you've always been an angel was no easy task. Most angels who attempt it don't survive.
It took Ethan 103 days of agony to fully transform. 103 days of burning from the inside out as his wings shed.
To become a fallen angel, an angel must tear their own halo off and destroy it. And then see if they can survive the shedding of their wings, and the growth of new horns.
103 days was a relatively short transformation, but he spent all of it miserable. However once finished, he was met with immediate respect and power he hadn't felt in a long time.
So Ethan thought it was worth it, but did not want to think about those days again. Or any days that came before.
"Have you ever regret it?"
"Nah," he told her, standing to his feet. "In fact, I think it's the best decision I ever made."
Eden bit her lip, taking in his appearance. The horns, the red in his veins, his overall attitude. She knew he was powerful.
But then she thought back to just earlier, seeing him struggle to breathe, collapsed on her floor..
And she couldn't do anything.
Maybe she wanted a taste of that power—being around it wasn't enough for her anymore. Maybe she deserved a taste of that power. His proposition sounded better and better the more she really thought about it.
"Ethan?" She hummed, teetering on her feet. "I'll do it."
It took him a second to realize what she meant, but when he did he was ecstatic.
"Really? Right now?"
Eden gave a slow nod, smiling at him despite the nervousness bubbling in her stomach. That was natural, but she felt right about this.
"You won't regret this, Eden." He winked, pulling her close.
She let herself relax in his arms, accepting what was about to happen. She'd wake up feeling brand new.
Ethan counted down, placed his hands on her head, and then snapped her neck. Eden's body went limp and fell against his feet.
THE END..?
She woke up panicked, surrounded only by darkness and having forgotten what just happened for a few moments.
As her memory flooded back to her, she only felt more worried.
Eden didn't feel powerful, she felt weak and scared, and that's how she knew something was wrong. She made a deal with the devil, and it backfired.
Heart rate increasing, unable to move more than a few inches, she felt herself begin to cry. Attempting to calm herself she decided to focus on her immediate senses and surroundings.
Red eyes in the darkness. The sound of her own heartbeat. A deep laugh echoing off of the walls and heat creeping in on all sides.
A/N
obviously this is not the end!!!!
a lot happened in this chapter and all i can say is im absolutely NOT sorry but i do love y'all <3 vote n comment if you feel like it