A teenage girl opened the door hurriedly after a single knock resounded. Well, not a knock. More of a kick, really.

Once she opened the door, her eyes met an unprecedented sight. The image of a fallen angel with golden hair and a body covered in bloody slashes. Even for a clinic that specialized in severe cases, she hadn't seen someone who had taken as much damage as the tall man that a woman enveloped in darkness was carrying. There was so much blood pouring out of the man that he should've been dead in minutes, but somehow he still seemed to be breathing.

The woman looked down and saw the puddle of blood on the ground. There was a swirling black mixed in it. She stepped back and was about to close the door.

Then came the woman's voice. "Please," she said, and the girl looked at her face, covered in streaks of water from the drizzle and probably from her eyes as well.

The girl let out an exhalation before fully opening the door and letting the woman inside.

***

Gadreel spun an ink pencil in his hand while looking through some reports in his workroom, located in the former Royal Castle. Everything was calm everywhere, it seemed. Or maybe the branch managers were just lying. It was possible. He could feel his iron grip starting to slip. He had to do something in the near future to keep everything rolling smoothly. The memories of humans were so short and biased. Reminders were necessary, even though his previous displays should've been unforgettable.

He sighed and looked to his side, where Sherridan appeared not long after. "How'd you know?" she asked.

"How'd I know you were coming?" Gadreel asked back before shrugging casually. "I don't know. Maybe I smelled you or something." He waved his hand in front of his nose, warranting a glare from his assistant.

"I've got news," Sherridan said with a bit of displeasure in her tone. It meant good news.

Gadreel leaned his cheek on his fist. "Do go on."

"The son of Ares triumphed against the twins. A lot of blood was found at the scene, however. He is likely in a very bad state right now."

"Aha, alright. Anything else?"

Sherridan tilted her masked face down. "The twins are dead."

"Yes, I would assume so."

"And next is?"

"Well, we probably don't have his location right now or know his state since the spies didn't want to get too close while he was on guard, so what can we do?"

"You don't mean that."

Gadreel raised his brows. "Sure, I do. We're leaving him alone for now. He needs time to recover and he's worked hard. Also, after the twins, I'm sure he'll ramp up his training. Sending any more bounty hunters in the foreseeable future would be distracting. Oh, and I'm thinking we ought to give him a little gift."

Sherridan tilted her chin up, looking down at Gadreel with those terrifying eyes of hers. "A gift?"

"Yeah," Gadreel said as he spun the ink pencil a couple rounds before dropping the damn thing and looking up at Sherridan. "Although the timing will be a little tricky with it, I'm sure it'll work. The kid will be delighted!"

Sherridan backed up a little with slow steps. Maybe she recognized the expression Gadreel was wearing just now.

***

Aurelius breathed in. Then he breathed in a little more. One more time. Next came a fit of coughs. He tried to keep his body jolting to a minimum, though. Every single move hurt like a stab to the heart.

There was a comforting warmth, though.

Aurelius strained his neck to look down at his hand that was wrapped up in Cade's gentle grasp and pressed by her head. She was sleeping while sitting, her face serene with her eyes closed in a relaxed manner and her lips a straight line. Aurelius frowned at the purple spots on her cheeks and the bandages on her forehead, though.

He tried lifting his other hand to touch her head, but before he could manage to move, the door to the room opened, and a young girl with bright eyes and curly dark hair walked in.

Her expression seemed to be a mix of shock and joy, her eyes open and her lips curving up. It was weird, considering that Aurelius had never seen the girl before. This wasn't Aleyah's place or any other place Aurelius had ever laid his eyes on. The room was yellow, with a single window so small that it seemed to have no purpose. The bed was angled to keep his upper body upright and it had guardrails that would keep people from falling.

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Cade had brought her to a hospital. How could she? It wasn't safe.

"Relax; nobody knows you're here," the girl said as she walked in and sat down on Aurelius' other side. "She made sure of that," she said, nodding at Cade's sleeping figure.

Aurelius exhaled and relaxed his body, a burst of pain following his sudden movements.

The girl turned to look him in the eyes with wonder. "You really are still alive. That's incredible. Having lost the amount of blood you had, I saw Cade's words about you certainly surviving as a simple delusion. But here you are. Awake after just four days. Even after you showed signs of improving, I was sure, you'd be asleep for a long time."

"Ah, thank you," Aurelius said, glancing at Cade, making sure not to move to wake her up. He wasn't sure what he would tell her. He looked back at the girl and asked, "What did you do to me? How am I alive?"

"Blood transfusion," the girl answered, and after seeing Aurelius' very well-informed expression, she launched into an explanation. "It turned out that yours and Cade's blood is compatible and she was able to give you her blood since you were running really low. It took a lot out of her. She's been sleeping a lot lately and looks really pale."

"Why'd you make her do it then?" Aurelius asked, his gaze on Cade.

The girl smiled. "Oh, I didn't make her. We have blood in store for these types of situations, but she insisted. Something about her being a strong essence user. I'm not sure if essence has anything to do with this stuff, but who knows? It may. You certainly should've died, given your injuries."

"My injuries? What exactly?" Aurelius asked as he looked down at his bandaged body. Everything was sore. He couldn't really tell what pain was coming from where. It was all too constant.

"You had somewhere around forty cuts. Most weren't very deep, but a lot of your muscle tissue has been damaged. Tendons as well. My father spent the whole night sewing them all shut. You'll be left with a lot of scars, for sure, but none on that pretty face of yours," the girl said with a smile. Her expression got more serious pretty quickly, though, as she said, "Now I'm not sure what rate you are able to heal at, but I'd say that you'll need to be in recovery for maybe half a year."

Aurelius smiled and said, "I'll be fine in a month." He proceeded to cough a couple of minutes later.

The girl showed a soft smile as she stood up. "I'll leave you two to talk things out," she said.

Aurelius followed her gaze and noticed his coughs had woken up Cade, who was raising her head, a part of her still in dreamland. When her gaze met Aurelius', though, all her drowsiness faded like vapor. Her skin was like polished marble.

Her jaw shook as she reached out a hand. Aurelius stuck his own hand at her, grabbing a hold of Cade's.

Her head tilted to the side, and a sad smile formed on her face. Then she was embracing Aurelius tightly. She was as fast as ever. Aurelius smiled, not paying any heed to the extreme pain, as he leaned his head on her shoulder.

No words were exchanged. None were needed.

They both knew what the other had to say, so it was all unnecessary. Both were sorry and regretful. But all that mattered was that they were alive and together.

Aurelius slowly raised his hands to his sides before wrapping them around Cade and closing his eyes.

"I never want you to leave me," Cade said. They were words that surprised Aurelius in the comfortable silence.

And even though Aurelius hadn't known it, those words were all he had ever wanted to hear.

"I won't," Aurelius promised.

A promise he never meant to break.