I only pray to those I trust will listen - Michael [xxx]

He seemed like he tried to understand, yet she knew that he understood nothing at all, solemnly because she had not told him enough to make him understand. All he knew was that she was terrified of being institutionalized, but that did not warrant her being terrified of everything else. He had been told that her stepfather used to molest her; that her mother was considered crazy; the she had lost a child. He didn’t know her, and if he did, he wouldn’t be acting like she was worth saving. Truth be told, she wasn’t even worth considering granting peace, as she herself never thought that to be possible.

She looked at him as he walked closer; his face almost glowing with compassion for the sad excuse of a witch in front of him. She shook her head slightly. “I know it’s in your nature to be so kind and compassionate but... honestly, I think you’re wasting your time with me.” She then admitted, before she began scratching at her fingers again; a bit more gentle than before.
“I don’t want you to do anything, Michael. It would be unfair of me to want anything of you when I can’t give anything in return,” She then said, looking shortly straight ahead, only to realize that she was starring right at his groin. Her gaze shifted away before she drew in a big breath.

“If anything... it would be nice just to have someone to talk to. Explain everything, you know? Just to get it off my chest.” She then said, looking up at his face once more. Of course, he didn’t have to stay and listen to her. She would understand if he rather left than listened to her troubled thoughts or tale of a painful life.

He knew that there were people who needed him, perhaps more than Cassandra did, but it didn’t make this wasting time. She needed someone as well, and right now, he just happened to be that person. “I'm not wasting my time,” he said calmly, wondering if she believed that she wasn't important enough.

He sighed when she said that she didn’t want him to do anything, nodding slowly to her answer as he looked up at the wall. It was humble of her. People usually begged him to do something, to use his influence and power to help them. He looked into her eyes when she said it would be unfair of her. She was wrong for thinking he wanted something in return. He never did. He sacrificed everything for others, not expecting a single thing in return. Besides it wasn’t true. She could give him many things. If not anything personal, then to aid him with magic during missions. Not that it was something he’d ever ask of her. “I wouldn’t want you to,” he just said, letting her know that he didn’t care about the giving being mutual. It was only when there was no other option that he’d ask people for something in return.
“Of course,” he said, before he sat down across of her at the table. He was only happy that she felt comfortable enough to tell him more. “Start from the beginning.”

As usual, he was being far too nice to her. She didn’t deserve a nice person like him in her life, or so she believed. It wasn’t easy to live with that voice in the head, screaming and yelling about being a burden and a bore to one and all. She continued to pick at her fingers, as it was the only physical reaction she could use when he was there. Had he not been there, she would have gotten black-out drunk and cried until her eyes and throat would hurt so bad that she had no choice but sob quietly until she would fall asleep.

She looked shortly at him, as he looked at the wall. It was understandable that she felt some attraction to him; he was a handsome man. Usually, she didn’t see the beauty in men; the sex had been tainted from her former acquaintances, but few men slipped through the cracks and allowed her to see the beauty they possessed. As he sat down across form her once more - returning them to the position they had been at right before they had wandered off to bed earlier - she swallowed quietly as she feared to do the same things all over again. Then, he asked her to start from the beginning, making her nod slightly. What was the beginning? The earliest memory she had? Even that seemed too cruel to tell the archangel…

‘’My mother was the only daughter of the Dumor’s of Scotland… They are a somewhat real version of the Malfoy’s from Harry Potter, in my opinion. The family had many rules and my mother broke as may as she could. Don’t have sex with your mate; don’t marry anything but a witch; don’t have bastards…’’ She said, looking at Michael with some sort of emptiness in her amber-eyes. ‘’My mother fell in love with her mate - my father - and married him.’’ She said, looking shortly down at the table that created what felt like a massive distance between them. ‘’My father had a terrible temper and more often than not, they would fight. One time, he ended up burning her badly, causing her to be hospitalized for months. He left the same day, with no knowledge of my mother being pregnant.’’ She said, shaking her head slightly before she looked back at him. She still felt the abandonment her father chose as a betrayal, although he had known nothing of her.

‘’When I was born, my mother was already growing insane. They called it post-partum depression and decided that she was able to handle it herself. She was discharged two days after I was born. Same night, she tried to commit suicide.’’ She said, her eyes fixated on his lips for a brief moment in time. ‘’My mother’s family wanted nothing to do with us… She sought comfort in men that resembled my father, but as a witch that had mated for life, she couldn’t provide her partners consensual intimacy. They forced themselves upon her, and later me as well. I was four.’’ She said, before she looked down on her fingers to avoid seeing the disgust she assumed he would feel.
‘’Every time I ran away, the police brought me back. Jonathan was the friend of one of my mother’s many boyfriends. As soon as he realized what was happening, he tried to get me out of there. One day, he stopped coming around.’’ She said; closing her eyes for a moment as she remembered that day far too clearly. ‘’My stepfather had forced himself upon her and broken her arm in the process. When he didn’t find her amusing any longer, he went to my room. I had gotten my mate-mark only hours before and had yet to discover that both me and my mother were witches. As he tried to molest me, I… I snapped.’’ She said, shaking her head slightly before she looked back at him. ‘’I turned the man inside out with my bare hands… Blood was everywhere.’’ She said, knowing that he either felt pity for her or disgust. Her hands trembled slightly by the memory, the scent of his blood still lingered in her mind. ‘’My mother came into the room and freaked out on me. I ran away, as she tried to kill me again. The police found me walking alongside the freeway, miles from the city, covered in blood. Jonathan had called them to find me, while he cleaned up the mess and packed my bags. I moved in with him the next day…’’ she said, now remembering the little apartment they had shared for a time being.

‘’My mother was institutionalized. At first, it was at an open ward. When she started attacking visitors, she was transferred to the psychiatric hospital right outside Gaia… I moved to Dublin with Jonathan and his sister, as I tried to start a life without that past following me. I managed to finish school and got a job, until I fell pregnant.’’ She said, slightly affected by the mention of her failed pregnancy.
‘’I lost the child and I ran away, ending up in Gaia myself as my mother was dying..’’ she said. She was broken herself, but not heartless. Her mother shouldn’t have to die alone. ‘’I met my father shortly after I moved here. I don’t see him much anymore… My mother died in front of me as she had said her goodbye to her mate, and… Well, I went on a binge-drinking couple of months.’’ She sighed. The traumatic part of her life was for the most part covered, with the exception of a few episodes.

‘’I met my mate. A few months later, I killed him by accident… Then, I ran away again and joined the mafia. My best friend got killed by his father - my boss - after I had spent months trying to protect him by allowing my boss to assault me rather than punishing his son. When I found out what had happened, I cursed my boss. It’s a long story… I ended up abducted and tortured… Raped, broken. Then I met you, the next day…’’ she said, now looking straight into the eyes of the archangel in front of her. Maybe there was a reason she had met him? She doubted it, but the tiny glimpse of hope that maybe their encounter had been planned was to be seen. ‘’As you know, I ran off to Bali for a month, and… Here I am. Sitting at a table, feeling like a huge tease and an idiot for treating you bad when all you’ve ever done for me has been out of good intentions,’’ she said, finally admitting that she had not been fair in any way, regarding his wish to help her.

He leaned back in the chair as she started telling him her story. He only knew about Harry Potter because his daughter had wanted to watch it, making him think that perhaps the witch was younger than he’d originally thought. He tilted his head as he looked at her face with an endless sympathy. Not for one second did he think she deserved any of it and it pained him to think about all the things she described. He had to look down as she said she'd been molested at the age of four, fighting the tears that threatened to run down his cheeks. His fatherly heart was shattering and he felt sick to his stomach at the mere thought. Then he put a hand on his stomach and took a deep breath in, calming himself as she continued her story. He looked back at her as she said she killed her step-father, not having known of her powers as a witch. At least it served some justice that the perverted piece of shit got what he deserved.
He nodded when she explained that she’d moved in with Jonathan, and suddenly it made sense why she married him. He’d been one of the only good people in her life. It was a shame that he turned on her as well.

He parted his lips slightly as she ended the story, saying that he met him the next day. He had always known that he was meant to find her that night, but this was all a lot to take in. He lowered his gaze to her collarbone where her mate mark was located, then he looked into her amber eyes as she said she felt like an idiot for the way she’d treated him. “Cassandra, what you’ve been through…. It’s unbelievable… I mean, you’re so strong, and I know you might feel like a complete wreck, but you never gave up… It requires a great deal of strength and courage to continue after something like that,” he said, clearly affected by the stories she’d told. It was beyond cruel to let an innocent child experience those things, and even worse was it that her suffering didn’t stop there. There was no peace, no happiness, just constant horror. “And I’m so sorry you had to go through that…” he said, before he got up from his seat and walked over to her, embracing her in a tight hug. “Don’t ever change,” he said into her hair, before he slowly removed his arms from her. “And regards to how you treated me… I deserved that,” he said as he sent her a brief smile, letting her know that he had no hard feelings about it. He then stood all the way up, letting his gaze stay with her. It was sinful, so he would’ve been punished either way. “It requires an extraordinary woman to lead an archangel into sin,” he said as his smile grew a bit wider, then he looked a bit away from her as his expression got serious once again. “Thanks for telling me everything, Cass,” he said as he looked back at her. “I hope this means we’re friends?” he then said, not knowing if it would work out. He just knew that he didn’t want their goodbye to last forever.

Regardless of her background, she had no reason to appear as weak as she had. No amounts of assaults, molestation or attacks should forgive the fact that she had treated someone she barely knew as pure shit.
She noticed his reaction as he was told that she had been molested by her stepfather. She knew that part hit a soft spot with most people, regardless of them having kids themselves or not. She understood the reaction, although she had decided to stop bother about the fact that it had been revolting as soon as Jonathan had shown her that her pity only would lead to more suffering. As her story ended and the archangel in front of her sat with his lips slightly parted, she had a clear idea of what went through his mind; they had met for a reason. His eyes landed on her collarbone, making her slightly uncomfortable. She knew that she would have to face the fact that she had a new assigned mate someday but… She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t handle the thought of being destined for someone else - she hated fate for the cruel tricks it had played on her up until now. Why trust that this time was different?

As he spoke, she looked at him with a confused expression on her face. Courage? Strength? She saw none of that in herself. She saw herself being a wuss for not just pulling the trigger back when she had the chance. She had stood with the gun in her hand - nothing left in her life but the marks of being used by the mafia. She shouldn’t have wasted those bullets on Jerry - she should have finished what her mother had started and made sure that she ended the line of Dumor’s. she had been too scared, and that had led to her being in the kitchen with him; telling her life-story. ‘’Why are you sorry? You had nothing to do with it.’’ She said, here voice being slightly trembling as she had a hard time accepting what he said. He was being so kind to her that it felt unreal - she was afraid to believe his words. As he got up and walked to her, she froze ever so slightly by pure instinct, before he embraced her in a tight hug. As he spoke down into her hair, she found his words quite unreal. She shouldn’t change? Had he not just told her that she needed a therapist? That she was ill and needed help? Perhaps it was simply the tale of why she was as she was that needed to be told for him to accept that she was broken by default.

He removed his arms from her; making her look at him with a miniscule smile on her lips. ‘’Yeah, you need to at least buy me dinner first,’’ she joked, knowing that it wasn’t what he meant. He did not deserve anything she had done to him - he had been kind and compassionate… She simply wasn’t ready to accept the kindness he provided. Her heart belonged to someone else entirely; she had just needed to feel something else than panic and hurt for a moment, and karma had punished her for her recklessness. ‘’I’ll take that as a compliment,’’ she said, as he indirectly called her extraordinary. She had never been called that before, so that served her well. As he looked away, she shortly feared that he had regretted his words. ‘’I considered you my friend the moment you discarded Jonathan like a used paper-napkin.’’ She said, smiling carefully at the archangel. An archangel and a dark witch? What an unusual friendship that would be.

He didn’t understand her reaction for him being sorry. Why was it so hard for her to accept that someone was sorry for what she’d been through? He couldn’t possibly be the first one to feel bad for her. Truth was, he'd rarely heard a story as traumatizing and horrific as hers. “So all your scars… did you get them from the torture after you cursed your boss?” he asked carefully. He’d been afraid to ask about them earlier, but now that he knew her story, he thought she might be okay to talk about it.

He chuckled as she said he needed to buy her dinner first before he nodded. She was obviously joking, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d accept his invitation. He knew he’d felt something when they kissed, but also that it was dangerous to pursue, that if he stayed here much longer, he might risk letting his guard down again. “I’ve got many more,” he said with a truthful look in his eyes. It was easy to find compliments about her, but he was sure she got them all the time. A few moments passed before he looked away from her, knowing that he’d looked into her eyes for too long, then he leaned slightly against the table and sat half-way on top of it. He knew that she probably saw him as more than an acquaintance, but after what they’d done, he didn’t know what they were. A friend seemed fitting and the least complicated. “Is there nothing that you’re curious to know about me?” he asked as he looked at her. He felt like he knew a lot about her, yet she knew very little about him and now that she’d admitted to them being friends, he figured that she might be interested in getting to know him better.

In some weird way, she felt like the question was too personal. Her scars told stories she didn’t want to. Of course, she understood the curiousness behind the question, as her body was covered in different types of scars; making her look more like a tigress than a half-dragon. ‘’Some of them was from that,’’ she said, tilting her head slightly. ‘’I had a stepfather that enjoyed physical punishment for when I didn’t comply to his demands. Usually, it was a belt being flogged against my back or stomach,’’ she said, not really looking at him. She didn’t like to tell others about her stepfathers. They had been a darkened part of her life.
In a way, she understood that he sought intimacy with her. She just didn’t see it like he did. She was not a beauty, she was not worthy of his desire. She didn’t understand what he saw in her. That was why, when he said he had more compliments, she simply giggled lightly at him. ‘’Then save those for a rainy day, my friend,’’ she said - the most calm and collected thing she had said the entire time they had known each other, in her own opinion. She then decided to show him some of the scars, simply to enlighten him in the matter of the body she possessed.

‘’This one,’’ she said, as she stretched out her right arm and revealed a long straight scar following her lower arm from the wrist to the elbow, ‘’this was when I used blood in a ritual for save my best friend… This,’’ she then said, pointing to the three roundish scars beneath her collarbone, ‘’this was when that same friend attacked me and nearly killed me.’’ It sounded unbelievable, but it was the truth. The story was so confusing that it might had been fiction in some people’s opinions. She knew that it had all been a little too real.
Then, she got up from her seat and turned her side to him. Alongside her jawline, a faint scar showed how she had been sliced open with something like a razorblade. She closed her eyes for a moment before she then stretched out her hands; showing them in the light. It was faint and almost unnoticeable, but long slim scars followed her fingers and up on the back of her hands. ‘’When I was taken, they spent hours pulling me apart; breaking limbs; ripping skin,’’ she said, relaxing in her fingers so that he could see how crooked they had become after been broken repeatedly. ‘’The worst scars aren’t even visible,’’ she said, shaking her head slightly. She had been beaten and broken to a point where she wasn’t able to fix herself any longer.

She then smiled calmly at him. ‘’There are at least a million stories in my scars, Michael… If I had to tell you them all, you would have to understand that some of them are self-inflicted and with no other purpose than to make sure I still was able to feel something,’’ she said. She knew how that sounded, but in the time she had been sitting next to her dying friend in the hospital, she had been useless. She was a ghost, and to prevent herself from being completely lost, she had tried everything. Papercuts had been helpful for a while, before simply scratching at her hands had taken over. Then, it seemed like they had kept eye contact for a second or two too long, as he needed to look away. Was he still feeling some of the attraction from earlier, even now when he had gotten to know why she feared intimacy? She wasn’t sure.

‘’There’s loads of things I am curious about, Michael the Archangel,’’ she said, pronouncing his name with a teasing elegancy. She winked at him. ‘’But I prefer not to ask, for then I only get to know what I think is relevant. I would much rather that you told me about yourself, regardless of my curiousness,’’ she then said, smiling at him with a warm smile. finally, it seemed like they were getting somewhere with something resembling friendships. As they stood here - him half-sitting on the table and her standing in front of him - she couldn’t help but feel like the had shared much more than stories in the past hours. It almost felt too real for her to think about in the moment.

He shifted his position when she admitted her stepfathers had abused her, feeling sick to his stomach again. It was awful - the evil that walked this earth. He looked at the scar on her right arm as she explained that she’d saved her best friend with a blood ritual. His gaze moved up to the scars above her collarbone and stopped at her eyes when she said the same person tried to kill her. “What?” he said, clearly confused to why her friend would do that. Then he realized that it was most likely because the friend was a dark creature. When she got up from her seat, he looked at her jawline before lowering his gaze to her hands. He gently grabbed her hand in his and rubbed his thumb carefully above her slim scars. Her mention of ripping skin and breaking limps gave him a flashback to when he was tortured in hell;

The surroundings were dark and the texture cloudy. There were chains everywhere, stretched from place to place. A loud thunder was heard, then lightning would flash up the scenery. He looked to the side and noticed other bodies chained up in the distance. Screams of horror drowned everything around him. He closed his eyes at the unbearable pain he felt from his arms and legs being hooked through his flesh. He was utterly terrified and the blood in his mouth reminded him of the punches he’d gotten minutes earlier. The chains started to pull at his body, extending it until the skin started to rip. “HELP! NO! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” he screamed. Then he fell into a pitch-black room - the highly secured and sealed cage made by Lucifer or some high-ranking demon. They needed to hold him there because of who he was and the powers he possessed. A tall demon walked in with a long blade, giving him the offer to torture souls that day. It was the deal, either get tortured or be the one torturing others, but once you chose to torture others there was no going back. Michael sat in the corner of the empty cage as he slowly looked up at the demon and refused his offer. Afterwards two new demons walked in and started to torment him, making him scream loudly again.

The flashback made his hands tremble and he removed it from her to place it on his forehead. He closed his eyes and tried to shut the thoughts out. “Trust me, I know…” he said. He massaged his temple before he placed the same hand on the table. As she explained that some of her scars were self-inflicted, he looked into her eyes with a sad expression. He figured that was why she scratched at her fingers, to feel something. “And your mate mark? Why do you keep it covered up? I mean you’ll know when you meet the person, won’t you?” he asked.

Michael thought she hadn’t cared to get to know him, but apparently it was because she expected him to tell about himself. It wasn’t quite what he thought a curious person would say. There was a reason he hadn’t told her about himself. He didn’t want anyone to get close to him, but it seemed that him and Cassandra were past that. Maybe his story didn’t matter, but he felt like it was only fair she knew more about him after everything he knew about her. “You’re not making it easy,” he said with a small smile before he thought about what he should tell her. He’d already told her some personal things the first time they met, but it wasn’t like she’d asked about it. “I’ve already told you about my job, so I guess you should know that I live in Gaia because my daughter just started at the academy… If it wasn’t for her, I’d travel to a new country every month,” he explained. “I don’t have any money. I don’t have time for a regular job on earth… so I have to lie. I obtain information by subterfuge and commit credit card fraud,” he admitted. It wasn’t something he was proud of, and if he had the opportunity to get money another way, he did. “But I guess you’re participating in illegal acts all the time, being part of a mafia,” he said.

Sometimes she forgot that it wasn’t the way family was supposed to be. She simply forgot that she was a freak and that her childhood had been tainted. To her, it was the norm - she knew no different. That was why she wasn’t having children herself; she wasn’t going to bring a child to the world with those conditions; a history of maternal craziness. She noticed how he changed position as she explained how she had been abused by one of her stepfathers; a reaction that forced her to understand once again that how she had been treated wasn’t right. She chose not to react too much on it, as she had been through worse anyway.

She understood his rather confused expression as she explained what had happened with her friend and her. She was about to explain even further when he grabbed her hand and gently rubbed her slim scars. Whatever he had done, it had pulled her in hard. Everything had disappeared, only leaving a cloudy texture with chains hanging from every possible direction. A thunder-crash sounded, and lightning lit up the scene; making the witch flinch. Screams drowned the thunder, before an unbearable pain jolted through her limbs - like being torn to shreds. Skin ripped, blood dripped. Then, everything silenced as they both collapsed in the dark room. An offer was made and refused; resulting in more pain and suffering.
All of a sudden, they were back in the kitchen, and like nothing major had happened, the archangel rubbed his forehead and announced that he knew. She stood there, feeling the blood run from her mouth, although there was none. She could taste it still. What had she just witnessed? Usually, it was her own memories. Had Michael just shared his past with her? Was it on his own accord or by accident? Who had caused it!? - she was trembling slightly. ‘’I… I don’t want to know,’’ she said. ‘’I don’t want to know the name of the person unfortunate enough to be destined to be my mate,’’ she then said, slowly pointing at her tape that covered the mark. ‘’I feel like I will obsess over the name if I ever learned it.’’

As he with a small smile told her that she wasn’t making things easy, she winked at him. ‘’It wasn’t my intent,’’ she said, teasingly. She listened to his explanation; he had a daughter at the academy which kept him in Gaia for now. He dabbled in fraud… that little hypocrite! She smiled a bit jokingly at him for a moment, before he actually pointed out just what she had been doing herself. ‘’I killed, stole, tortured.’’ She said. Somehow, she didn’t try to justify it. She had done those things with no remorse. ‘’And I would do it all again, if it was needed to save someone I love,’’ she then said. She wasn’t merciful when it came to her protecting her loved ones. She was a fierce lioness; ready for the kill to keep her dear ones safe. ‘’But I’d never hurt someone that didn’t deserve it,’’ she then said, looking straight at him. It was a lie, since she had killed her former mate. It had been an accident, so she thought that to not count in that tally. ‘’So, you’re a dad? My, my. I guess I’m not the only extraordinary woman on earth then,’’ she said, winking at him - simply teasing him a little. It was better to lighten the mood, as she didn't want to mention that she had just seen what she assumed was a memory or flashback of his.

He looked at her for a long moment, wondering if the name really mattered that much. At some point she’d meet her destined mate. It was inevitable. She said she’d probably obsess over the name if she knew it, so he just nodded. “Okay,” he said. He had never been appointed as someone’s mate, or met many witches for that matter, so he was unsure of how it really worked.

He was surprised at the way she bluntly confessed to stealing, torturing and killing, but when she explained her reasons, he understood her. “Me too,” he said. He’d killed many in order to protect himself and others and he’d just admitted to stealing strangers’ money as well. He wondered how she judged whether the person deserved to be hurt or not. People varied greatly in their perception of this. “So… you’ve never killed someone in cold blood?” he asked, wanting to know how far down the road she'd gotten. She probably already knew that he had. Sometimes people that hadn’t deserved to die got in his way, but he’d always been there to ensure they went to heaven and perhaps even resurrected as an angel on earth. Sometimes he’d been too focused on his end goal to care and other times God had commanded him to do something that dragged innocent souls down in the fall.

He smiled slightly at she said she wasn’t the only extraordinary woman. He’d lie if he said he hadn’t given in to temptation out of marriage before. “If you were the only one, I’d marry you, don’t you think?” he said with a teasing smile before he winked at her. “Truth is, she left me when my daughter was three,” he admitted and looked down at his hand where there once had been a wedding band. It seemed that one way or another, he always let down the people he loved. He was still eternally grateful for the happiness she had brought into his life, but he had to believe that God hadn’t meant for him to stay with her. That Erin had been the real purpose as the next Guardian of the world. “And then she died in a car crash when my daughter was fourteen…” he continued with a wistful expression, looking a bit towards the wall as he reminded himself back on the day it happened. He'd never been able to forget that first night, the agonizing pain at the sound of his daughter's endless cries. He clenched his fist on the table as he returned his eyes to Cassandra. He knew that her soul rested peacefully in Heaven, but it hadn’t been fair to take her life in such a way. “Anyways… I know you don’t think of me that way, you just got carried away because I kissed you,” he said.

The conversation had turned into something rather unexpected. Besides joking and teasing each other in a friendly manner, they actually shared thoughts and information about themselves. She had not expected him to even tell her anything remotely related to his family, so knowing that he had a daughter made it slightly more painful for her. Even he - the archangel - had a child. Of course, he had existed far longer than any other being she knew of, so it could come as little to no surprise to be honest. ‘’I would know it, of course… A witch can’t hide from their mate, but… I can try.’’ She then said, eluding to the fact that she didn’t even want to meet her new mate. She didn’t care to. In all honesty, she was terrified of it, purely because of what had happened to her former mate.

Of course he understood her motives as she said she would do all of those unforgiveable things all over to save someone she loved. He would do the same. Then, he asked her if she had killed in cold blood. She looked straight at him; directly into his eyes. ‘’Of course I have.’’ She answered. She killed Jerry, only because he had been an aid in torturing her. She killed people when she hunted - just for fun. Although, she had never hunted innocent or good people. She usually accepted the death-row inmates that the authorities would allow for her to use - or the connections the mafia wanted eliminated. She didn’t care to explain that to him, though, since killing usually was considered unjust and cruel.

Then, as the subject for a brief moment returned to something lighter than killing, they both smiled. His reply to her question made her scoff at him. ‘’Don’t be silly now,’’ she said. In honesty, her brain had just started churning again; making her mildly panic. Did he seriously just mention marriage like it was the most common thing in the world? She tried to not let it show that she honestly felt utterly terrified by the idea of marriage. He winked at her, and she scoffed once more with a crooked smile on her lips. He then admitted to the mother leaving him with the girl at a young age, making the witch gentle place a hand on his as he looked down at what she presumed had been where their wedding-bands would have sit. ‘’I’m so sorry,’’ she said, as he explained that the mother had died in an accident. As his hands turned to fists, she removed her hand from his. She understood loss and mourning to some extent.

As he looked back at her, she had opened her mouth to say something, but got stopped by his words. ‘’Don’t assume something you can’t possibly know, Michael,’’ she said, warning him slightly that he shouldn’t think he understood her reasons for going along with his approach. ‘’I would never just get ‘carried away’ because of a kiss. I do like you, but as a friend. A friend I might just have tried to sleep with, but still… Sometimes, the body wants something else than the mind.’’ She said, smiling calmly at him. She then leaned in and kissed him gently on his forehead. ‘’So, there has been at least two extraordinary women in this world,’’ she said with a teasing tone. ‘’Don’t you think that your father is simply testing you? He couldn’t have chosen a witch to be destined for you anyway. He wouldn’t dare to.’’ She said, still teasing him ever so slightly. The truth was, however, that even if fate decided for her to be with Michael, she would refuse. She was in love with someone else - she as just too scared to pursue it.

He knew that she couldn’t hide from her mate forever, but there must be a reason for wanting to. “Why would you try to hide?” he asked. The way she admitted to killing in cold blood almost made shivers run down his spine, but somewhere he’d expected her to say it. A dark witch with her past, it was only a matter of time before the darkness took her there. His smile turned slightly wider when she called him silly. Is that how she viewed marriage? She’d be surprised to see how it was in the past, how quickly a man would fall to his knees and propose when he found an extraordinary woman. When she said she was sorry, he breathed out. “Yeah, me too,” he said.

“Keep telling yourself that,” he said with a teasing look in his eyes. The body and mind were much more closely connected than she led on. She was in denial for saying she only liked him as a friend, but it was a good thing that she told herself that. It made everything easier, and soon it would become true. He looked into her eyes after she kissed his forehead. “Maybe… but my father doesn’t plan every detail of my life. I mean he didn’t predict that I’d fall in love with… never mind,” he said, knowing that he was close to telling her one of his secrets. He then leaned away from the table as he walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the pen once more. “I should leave,” he said as he wrote his phone number down on the same piece of paper where the therapist’s number was. He needed to see a friend in the police about some strange murders, having promised to meet up with him first thing in the morning. “If you ever need me, here’s my number and address,” he said as he finished writing and placed the pen back on the counter. He looked out the window, seeing how the darkness slowly disappeared from the skies. He hoped that she wouldn't be in danger again, but he also had a feeling that the unfortunate events didn’t stop here. He turned around to face her before walking a few steps closer. “Take care, Cassandra,” he said, sending her a warm smile.

His question made her look down shortly. Then, she looked back at him; something darkened in her eyes. ‘’Because I don’t trust fate to grant me a mate that doesn’t want to harm me. As a witch, if a have sex with my mate, we are bonded. My mate dies; I die. If my mate is a witch as well, my mate could commit suicide and take me down with them. There’s a reason for my bloodline not to marry our mate or even have a relationship: we don’t have a death-wish,’’. She said. She sighed, shaking her head slightly.
As the conversation kept at the cold-blooded killing, she chose not to comment further. He knew what she worked with; of course, she was a killer as well. That part of her would never change.

‘’Oh, I will. Every second of every day, until both my mind and heart agree,’’ she said, in a way acknowledging that she indeed might be feeling more than she led on. she simply didn’t want to confuse the buzz of the alcohol and the tenderness she had felt for him with any form for love. After the kiss on his forehead, they shared eye connection for a moment, before he spoke. ‘’Love is unpredictable, darling,’’ she said, a crooked smile landing on her lips. ‘’Love can’t be forced, predicted or dictated. But just as I have a destined mate, you might have something similar. It wouldn’t surprise me. What would surprise me, however, would be the irony of your father deciding to match you up with a dark witch and me up with an archangel.’’ She said, looking at him with a rare sincerity in her eyes. Maybe she did believe in his father after all, even though she would never admit to it.

He then walked to the counter and proceeded to write something new on the note he had left for her. All of a sudden, it felt like she had done something wrong, making him leave. She looked slightly confused at him, before she nodded; hiding her disappointment with a little smile. ‘’Well… Thanks for the help last night.’’ She said, crossing her arms in an attempt to create some mental distance between them so that she didn’t felt abandoned once he left. She wasn’t good at being alone for the first hour or two after someone left. Almost like a dog, needing someone to talk to and do things with. Pathetic. Then, he walked a few steps closer, making her take a half-step backwards. ‘’Take care, Michael. And thanks again,’’ she said, nodding at the note on the counter. ‘’I’ll send you a text later, so that you have my number as well.’’ She said, calmly, although she felt rather unsteady by the thought of being alone. A thought passed her; she needed to fix that bathroom door.

He knew about the consequences of having a mate. If the situation was reversed, he’d probably never try to bond with one, so he somewhat understood how she felt about the whole mate-deal. “Well… If your mate harms you, they don’t deserve to live,” he said and was quite serious about this. He sincerely cared about Cassandra, and the last thing he wanted was for her to be put through anymore harm.

He nodded as she said she’d keep telling herself that. “Good,” he replied. He listened to her talk about love, smiling faintly as she said it was unpredictable. “Indeed. It’s very unlikely,” he said as he looked at her. He knew that she was the type of woman he could develop feelings for, but also that it certainly wasn’t written in the stars for either of them. “Anytime,” he said as he tipped his head, before he stepped even closer and wrapped his arms around her, ignoring that she’d stepped back. “Great,” he said as he sent her another smile. He slowly removed his arms from her and looked into her brown eyes. “Goodbye, Cass,” he said as he walked towards the door, looking over his shoulder at Cassandra one last time before he opened it, walked out and closed it behind him. He took in a deep breath of fresh air, already feeling like he missed her, but forced himself to keep walking.

//Out <3