Annalise had spent, as promised, two days in hell. It was good to have some space to think. To separate herself from the situation, allowed her to look at it with some objectivity. And that's how she came to the crux of the issue. Victoria wasn't wrong. In fact, Annalise agreed wholeheartedly with her.
Annalise wouldn't know what they'd been through. She simply hadn't lived that long. That was all there was to it.
But, the situation at hand was something no one had ever seen before. Full integration of supernatural kind, should be prioritised. People don't just forget. Especially, events like what had transpired at the Lower Marsh Market.
Shit like that stuck. And now, there were videos, live streams, pictures and twitlongers now on what had happened.
There was no turning back, like victoria seemed to want. If they reached out first, to show them that this was not who they were, what they are. Then maybe, just maybe they would have a better chance.
Just as they had agreed, Annalise was waiting at one of their old hangouts. Dressed head to toe in black, face covered with a hoodie. Her face had been plastered all over the internet. It would do no one any good if she got recognised.
It was in the woods, a small opening where logs had been placed in some semblance of small cabin. It had long since rotted, and decayed. But Annalise could vividly remember putting them there alongside Noah and Mia. The werewolf and Fae. In hindsight, she probably should have realised that there was something different about them. Not every 12 year old could lift heaping logs with little to no effort.
It made her wonder, did her mum know? Did she know her child was playing with werewolves and fae, since she was 5. Did she know, her own partner, was a fully fledged demon?
That thought only dredged up more confusion. On her second day in hell, Annalise had asked Astaroth, why hadn't Hell done anything about Amorous. He was a fully fledged demon, interfering with human affairs. That went strictly against their code of conduct. Which was kind of bizarre in and off itself, you wouldn't expect Hell of all places to have standards.
Astaroth was reluctant to answer, finding different distractions each time. And at the end, Annalise never did get a solid answer. Why was he, and this angel, suddenly the expectation to the millennia long rule?
Annalise frowned, taking her phone out of her pocket. It was taking them some time to get here, considering it was only a 30 minute walk from where they all lived. Or, in her case, used to live.
1:00 pm.
Weird. Annalise looked to the sky. It was going to rain soon. That would suck. She'd be going back to Harvey's tonight, so she couldn't wait for too long. She pushed herself off the tree she was leaning on, walking around the clearing for too many seconds before inevitably going back to resting on the same tree.
She sort of felt like an aimless sim.
But as she reached for her phone to check the time again, two hands reached out from the tree, shoving a piece of cloth in her mouth. She chokes for two seconds, wriggingly, and struggling against their grip. Annalie reached back, hands turned into claws as she ripped at the perpetrators face. It caught, and she could feel the blood pour onto her hand. In her struggle she managed to get the cloth off for a moment.
"Get the fuck off--" Her voice trailed off, muffled once again, her vision clouded. And like a stone. She dropped to the floor.
----
Eugene yanked the door open, he'd done enough of waiting lately and he couldn't stay still any longer. Annalise was due back today. It was approaching evening, the lamp posts were just starting to turn on. The air was chilly, and brisk.
He'd hoped spending time with her Auntie would've helped, and maybe, back in hell they had something better for bullet wounds than Harvey's limited magic.
It had still been bothering her, when she'd left. It was traumatic enough for him to watch her being shot, let alone being the actual victim. That minute, that second, replayed in his head like a broken record. He knew it bothered Harvey still.
To his utter disappointment, it wasn't Annalise at Harvey's doorstep. No. It was Noah and Mia.
Eugene's heart sank.
He knew. He just knew.
The looks on their faces told him everything he needed to know. "Eugene." Noah greeted, looking around outside nervously. "We need to come in.". Without words he let them in. Gesturing for them to sit down. Cassius and Raul stood up from their positions on the sofa, letting them take their place.
Noah sat down, but Mia refused, standing up with her hands folded across her chest defensively. "It's Anna." Because of course it was. There was no other explanation that made sense. "We were meant to meet up today. We were going to this place. When we were kids, we built a little cabin thing there and-" Noah rambleded, his shoulders tense and stiff as though he was preparing for something.
"I don't need an essay. Tell me." Eugene demanded, rising up to his full height.
"She's gone." Mia interrupted abruptly. "We went to see her. And she wasn't there.". Eugene eye them speculatively.
"What if she was just late?" He offered, hoping against hope that what they were about to say wasn't true.
"No. No, there were signs of a scuffle. There was.." Mia hesitated. Eugene urged her on. "There was blood on the floor. Fresh blood, Eugene." His mouth went dry, and hands began to clam up.
---
Annalise was beginning to get fed up. Like, really fed up. The kind where you screamed into a pillow hoping no one could hear, but undoubtedly, yes everyone did. First, she comes back from Hell, to find out her friends eye has been taken out, then she gets shot, and next she gets kidnapped.
Talk about wanting a break.
A man stood in front of where she'd been put. A small cell, with thick padded walls and heavy duty door. She peaked out of the small window of the door to see him. A standard police officer. Thats all he was.
Had she been arrested?
Annalise doubted that, not that she'd ever been arrested before, but it was the usual thing to chloroform the criminal before shoving them into a cell.
"Hey! You! Let me out of here!" Annalise demanded. The man didn't even react, or flinch, calmly ignoring her as if she wasn't even there. "If you don't let me out right this minute, ill force my way out and y-". She could feel the heat in her chest, the tingling sensation running down her arms and stretching out into her fingers. The tell-tale sign that she was going to pull the cursed flames from hell.
But before she could, the door swung open, almost knocking her off her feet. It wasn't the Police officer, but a woman, guarded by four people dressed head to toe in fancy black suits.
"Hello, Annalise Redwood. I have an offer for you," The woman greeted, with a smile so cold and dead it reminded her of a corpse.
------------
Authors Note:
Hey guys! Sorry for the late update again, if I'm going to be honest, i've been struggling a lot too write lately. I don't know if its just writers block, but i sort of just feel like this series isn't what i want it to be? Does that make sense? It's been a bit of a struggle lately.
But that being said, i will still be updating this series. Im going to finish this book if it kills me lol. So dont worry about that! Id love to hear what you think about it.
I will be updating Royally F**ked this week too, so if thats something you guys like, keep an eye out!
Thank you so much for your patience and for reading. It always means so much to me. And thank you for the love on the first of this series! 14k likes to me is insane!!
Lots of love,
Sam.E
YOU ARE READING
The Vampire And The Demon
Romance[BOOK TWO OF The Vampire and The Ghost Series] Hell, it turns out, wasn't half as bad as it seemed. It wasn't half as bad as earth. As being human, Annalise would come to find out. Having been thrust down under, quite literally, by her new found Aun...
