The day of Grandma's surgery.

The unusually eerie mood only added to my nervousness. Grandma was, for the first time today, smiling. I took it as a good sign that everything would go smoothly. The doctor said she was ready to go in an hour and that the surgery would last at least two hours. I stayed the last remaining hour with Grandma by her side. We were having a casual conversation when she suddenly started to cry.

"What's wrong?" I asked, holding her hand.

She looked me deeply into the eyes, like she was searching for something inside them. "If the surgery doesn't end well, please promise me you'll marry Rowan." She said quietly.

I shook my head, squeezing her hand. "The surgery will go smoothly and perfectly." I smiled.

She frowned and let go of my grip. "But if it doesn't, you have to marry him."

I sighed and walked to the window. It was pouring again. The droplets splashed the window wildly. I followed their trace with my gaze as they all changed directions. Their purpose changes every second. And so maybe it is mine.

"It is my decision of who I'll marry, and a liar is not one of them," I said, facing her.

She looked away, not knowing what to say.

"I don't want to argue with you right now, but we will have a conversation about your lying." I massaged my temples, hoping the pain, striking like electricity, would stop. It didn't.

A knock on the door tore my attention away. The door opened, and Rowan stood at the threshold with a bucket of flowers in his hand. "I hope I'm not disturbing you." He said to Grandma and glanced at me. I returned my stare out of the window.

"Of course not. Are those for me?" Grandma asked as Rowan came closer.

He chuckled. "Yes, those are for you. I apologize I didn't come sooner, but-" Silence filled the air. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "I'm so sorry. It is completely my fault for what happened to you."

"No, no, child. It is not. I kept this away from Lily myself. You only kept your promise to me, and I highly appreciate it." Grandma whispered.

I secretly looked over my shoulder to see how bad of a shape Rowan was. Darkness under his eyes, his hair messy, and his clothes wrinkled. Was I the cause of it?

I coughed, and both of them looked at me in unison. "C-Can we have a word?" I asked, staring at him. He nodded, and unhurriedly, we moved to the hall. I walked first to the vending machine and picked up two coffees. We both needed it.

Rowan had already sat in the waiting room with his elbows resting on his knees. I sat next to him, holding the coffee in front of him. He took it after a few seconds and thanked me. Nobody else was in the waiting room except for us. I became nervous.

"I sincerely apologize for yesterday. I'm so ashamed." He said and huffed.

I took a sip of the coffee, and it entirely burned my tongue. "Uhm, I was acting like a bitch as well. Sorry." I said.

Rowan turned to me, his ocean eyes so beautiful, despite the rash shape he was in. His hands intertwined with mine, and my heartbeat changed its pulse. His presence was so raw.

"Don't push me away, Vivienne. Or I'll crumble, and nothing will be left of me." He softly said, with his pleading eyes.

"Pure? Are you so blind that you cannot see his true nature? If he was so pure, he wouldn't kill a human. He's a goddamn angel!" Death's words echoed in my head like a church bell.

Nobody is truly innocent. Or at least humans are not. We are imperfect. But angels should be, right? But Death was once an angel, and now he's the fallen one.

Rowan squeezed my hand and pulled himself closer to me. His lips were inches from mine. I swallowed hard, feeling sweat dripping down my spine.

I gasped as his lips touched my cheek. My heart raced, and a wave of heat flushed through my body. He then stared into my eyes and lightly smiled. I'd have to be blind to deny his beauty. My cheeks began to burn, and I had to get up so he wouldn't notice how flushed I was.

"I-I'm going back to Grandma." My voice skipped a few octaves. When I strode out of the waiting room, I could hear his quiet laughter, and I once again felt like a child.

• • •

The hour passed like a second, and Grandma was already accompanied by nurses who took her to a different room.

Rowan came back, but he acted like what he did didn't happen, and I was glad for that. My mind had no space for it. I didn't want to think about it at all.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the window. I was hesitant to look to see who it was, but I did it anyway. I opened the window wide and pushed my head out of it.

"WIFE!"

My head flinched, and it hit the window frame. Keliah was hovering in a dark mist right in front of me.

"Are you mad? Someone could see you!" I whisper-shouted.

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"Don't worry, princess. I'm careful." He blew me a kiss and a wink.

I rolled my eyes and made room for him, beckoning for him to slip inside. He crashed right into Grandma's bed, supporting the back of his head with his arms.

Rowan straightened his posture and took a step forward toward me. The tension between them had not yet vanished.

"Chill out, Mr. All Perfect. I have some news to tell you." Keliah said, and he was already on his feet in front of us.

Cold spread through me like a plague, and I told myself it was just Keliah's presence, but this coldness felt different.

Keliah's fingers dragged along my cheek, and I was awoken from my thoughts. His bright red eyes glared at me for a long second before he took a step back and focused his attention on Rowan. He was frowning like a bull at him.

"Jealous? You should be. We-" He wrapped his hand around my waist and smashed me against his body. "are married." I slowly tilted my head up to meet his gaze.

His smile was so wide, he looked like a Joker. His other hand was attached to the back of my head, and we were pressed against each other like magnets. His hair blocked the view of Rowan's face, and I was happy about that. I had no idea how to explain that my gay demon 'friend' is a psychopath who likes to do whatever he wants with me.

"Keliah." I could recognize that voice everywhere.

It only took that voice for Keliah to pull away from me. And I began to wonder: how could I not realize how much he likes Azra?

Azra stood next to us with his hands folded, clearly angry. I moved quickly to Rowan and fixed my hair.

"We don't have much time left. Let's go." He said, and confusion took over my and Rowan's face.

Azra let out a long, exaggerated exhale and rubbed his temples. "You haven't told them?" He asked Keliah.

Keliah looked as confused as we did, but then he jolted and clapped his hands. "Oh yes!! Now I remember. Haha." He whirled at me and Rowan with a smile. "The demons are here." He announced.

My mind shut off for a good ten seconds.

"Uhh, what?!" I squeaked.

"You mean the wild demons?" Rowan asked with urgency.

"Yes, all of the five remaining and some new, unfortunately, are inside the hospital as well as outside. Such great timing, isn't it?" Keliah said.

If my head were a plane, all the buttons in the cockpit would be pressed at the same time. A rock fell into my stomach. It was hard to stay still, and the panic quickly settled.

"W-What n-now?" I stuttered, holding the sides of my head.

Rowan's hands enveloped me. "Just breathe, okay? Vivienne, inhale-" I did. "And slowly exhale." I exhaled so slowly that no air was left in my lungs.

"Do not worry, Vivienne. We will get rid of them before they cause any damage. We should separate into two groups." Azra said, and he eyed us all.

"Me and Vivienne will go outside, and you two stay inside." Rowan suddenly proclaimed.

Azra nor Keliah protested against the decision, and I was more than happy they could finally agree on something.

Before we parted ways, Azra reminded me. "Don't touch the weapon with your bare hands, ever."

I kept the dagger in the hospital with me in case I needed it. It was hidden behind the nightstand.

I nodded, and we parted our ways in the hall. Me and Rowan sprinted outside as fast as we could. Although there were few patients in the halls, nurses and doctors walked through them constantly. I wanted to warn them. But how could I explain that a bunch of demons are trying to kill me for an unknown reason and that they might try to hurt them in the process of finding me?

We stopped running when we were behind the hospital. Rowan noticed how I pulled out the dagger from my hoodie pocket.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, peering at the dagger.

It was still wrapped in a piece of cloth because I didn't want to risk it touching my skin. When my hand was encircled around the hilt, I recalled how heavy it was.

I awkwardly smiled at him, and he still had shock splashed onto his face.

"You stole it from me when I was working at the bar?" He took it from my hand and analyzed it. I frowned and clutched it in my hand. None of us pulled away, so we stared at each other.

"Yes, because Azra thought it would be great-"

Rowan laughed in my face, and my eyes narrowed. "I have to protect myself, and Azra believes in me, unlike you," I said, and I yanked it from his grip.

"Who said I didn't believe in you? But you have no idea what you're dealing with. The last time we fought them, it was a miracle; we came out of it unscattered. You weren't trained for killing demons, Vivi." It was the first time he said my nickname. He had never used it before.

My voice softened. "I do understand our differences. However, I want to help this town and myself."

The sound of numerous footsteps alerted us. We both spun around and caught sight of the three demons in front of us. The first one had a dark blue mohawk and yellow-glaring eyes. I could not detect any of his facial features due to his charcoal skin. The second demon had long, ash-brown hair and a fully pierced face with green flashing eyes. The third demon was the one that horrified me the most. His face wasn't exactly a face. Just remains of it. He must've been burned.

They slowly crept to us, like we couldn't notice them. Then they teleport behind us and smack me to the ground. At least there was grass, not small rocks.

My breath drew out of me, and I had to take a deep breath to get it back into my lungs. When I looked over my shoulder, Rowan's wings were widely spread, and he was already fighting two demons.

The third one with a burned face was missing because he was in front of me.

I jumped to my feet, searching in the hoodie pocket for the gloves Azra gave me. However, they weren't there. I looked swiftly behind me and found them many paces from my spot. I had no time to get them. I grabbed the dagger anyway, with the cloth wrapped around its hilt.

The demon circled me like a lion in a den. I didn't know if he knew what I held in my hand could kill him, but I suppose he didn't, because he would've killed me right away.

I glanced in Rowan's direction, and one of the demons was hurt. The other mohawk demon was perfectly fine, and I wished someone competent would help Rowan.

After all, he was right. I'm not trained for this.

As my head was in the clouds, the demon shoved me, and I flew meters away from him. The dagger fell out of my hand, and I had no idea where it was. I sat up, holding myself by my forearms, peering at him.

"The taste of your flesh could grant you a quick death, human." He said with his throaty voice.

"Yeah, I will pass that offer, but thank you. Perhaps another time?" I said, smiling.

I immediately turned around and lifted myself. I scanned the ground for the few seconds I had left. The sound of his heavy boots and terrifying groaning quickened my heartbeat by every millisecond.

Just when I was about to lose hope, I found the dagger by the bushes. However, the cloth was gone.

The demon's hand gripped my shoulder, and I wheezed in agony. I was crushed to the ground by his large hand. Tears collected in my eyes. He hovered above me like a devil, and I really thought my life was over.

No, my life will not end like this, I thought.

I snatched the dagger with my bare hand and stabbed the demon right to the center of his chest. In a mere second, there was nothing of him left but black ash.

I wanted to celebrate and scream out of happiness when I realized my hand was entirely red with flames. Then I started screaming and shouting at the top of my lungs. The pain was indescribable. I was captured by Satan's hand. I thought I saw flames shining from my palm. The world went black, and I could only see the darkness. Until I sensed the ice-cold breeze and a slender hand intertwined with mine.

"I'm here, Mademoiselle. Let me destroy the pain for you."