My Fallen Demon

Prologue (27 B.C.)

DAPHNE

My wrists, which were bound in metal shackles, turned red from the vigorous rubbing they were subjected to.

I wrenched violently in a futile attempt to free myself. My breaths quickened and my heart clenched when I realized that I would most likely be killed come morning. The cold paired with my incessant writhing caused my scraped and sore wrists to bleed.

I was assigned my first human to guard a day ago, and I couldn't have been more excited to prove myself to my professor. My giddy excitement, however, led to me walking around with a pair of huge, snow white wings on my back. Instead of thinking before I acted, I had instantly willed my angel wings out of existence as soon as I figured out the reason why I had received side-glances from strangers ever since I had arrived in this small town. It was considered weird to walk around with mega wings, but no one was brave enough to come up to me and question my motives as I walked by.

That ceased to be the case as soon as I idiotically dewinged in front of more than ten human witnesses.

A little girl had screamed, while everyone else had taken a few steps back. The panicked humans had skittered away from me, like lightning had struck the place I was standing at and caused an earth-shattering explosion. None of the villagers had ever seen me around before; they worried I had come come to murder every last one of them, despite my loud exclamations stating otherwise. I was imprisoned as soon as the humans regained their composure enough to think I posed a threat worthy of being chained to a stone wall to await my beheading. The urge to smack myself for freezing on the spot and not flying away immediately grew stronger with every passing minute.

I had to wait until morning. My gut told me the chances of me being alive by this time tomorrow were slim to none. Disappointment at myself was the first emotion that hit me as my wrists were forced into shackles, despite my ceaseless struggling. Then came anger. And then, long after the few villagers that were night owls had abandoned the town square, panic began to set in.

How could I allow myself to make such a grave mistake? My first ever official task, and I managed to mess everything up. My professor, Hanna, would be so disappointed if she knew. I hoped that she never found out if I didn't live—I'd rather she think I was killed or ran away than know what I did.

I pulled with all my might once more before sighing. A sore ache spread from my wrists to my arm from all my intense action, and my fingers turned red from the cold. My frizzy curls, more prominent than ever due to being whipped around in every direction, provided little shelter from the howling wind. I huddled in the part of the wall that was most sheltered—although my binds didn't allow much room for moving around—hoping this night would be over soon. I would prefer to face my fate instead of suffering under these miserable conditions for a second longer.

The wind whistled for the rest of the night. When the sky began to lighten, the stars winked out one by one, and I finally thought I was about to doze off so I could enjoy some much-needed sleep, I heard a door creak open nearby. My body caught up with my brain and I scrambled to my feet. My neck nearly snapped as I whipped it around, trying to find the person who caused the noise.

I calmed down as I spotted a young girl, who couldn't be older than twenty, standing on her porch. Her blond hair framed her face like a sleek curtain, and I became all too aware of my own wild mop sitting atop my head. The girl's hair was so straight and sleek that I wondered how it was even possible for it to exist.

A white peplos, not unlike my own, hugged her body. It always surprising how eerily alike humans and angels were, even in terms of style. If I didn't have wings, I could easily pass off as a human. It made sense, I supposed, because the first angels were once humans. Since then, few humans had turned into angels—most of us were born this way. Yet human blood ran in my veins, and it was near impossible to wrap my mind around that thought sometimes. Humans were selfish and destructive. Angels were the exact opposite.