Angel Love

Chapter 5- The Savior and The Wounded

"Bed," he mutters, struggling to catch his breath.

Maree helps him lie down, his imposing frame makes the huge bed look small. His eyes are closed and she can't help but appreciate his handsome profile. The obvious turmoil on his face doesn't deflate his good looks. It's beyond human perfection.

Then Maree remembers the blood, and her appreciation turns into curiosity. A part of her believes that this is some kind of prank on her. After all, who has blood that's literally gold or black? Even royalty doesn't actually have color blue blood. But the other part of her believes it's true, and it scares her.

Of all the people, does it have to be her? She just hopes she didn't put herself in a mess when she helped this man. However, she's already in this situation and he clearly needs someone.

Maree sighs and refocuses her mind to what he might need.

"Excuse me," she softly says, trying not to disturb him too much.

He slowly opens his eyes, and it meets Maree's. There he finds a mixture of emotions he wants to address, but too weak to do so. It's strange he can't read her mind like he would on other humans. It's a thought he has since the day before when he met her in the elevator.

But the stranger thing is, why her? He called out for help and he was expecting Kaya or Gabriel to come to his rescue. But she is the one who heard him, how? By any chance, was he verbally calling out because of his dismal situation?

No matter how many questions he has right now, he can deal with it later. What matters is for him to heal and get his strength back. He feels his wings agony as well.

"Is there anyone you want me to call? Or should I call 911?" Maree offers, unsure of what action she needs to take. Obviously, this man isn't human, or at least not a normal one. She doubts a regular doctor will work on him.

He shakes his head and forces a short smile. He can feel her innocence and purity of heart. She fears him and yet she desires to take care of him, and make sure he is okay.

"Can I have some water?" he asks. He doesn't really need water, but he wants her out of the room so he can reach out to his side table.

"Water," she repeats and exits the bedroom without another word.

Despite the pain, he gets up and open his sidetable where he takes out a jar make out of gold. He takes off the lid and a ray of light emanates from the inside of the vessel. He is running out of the Blood of the Lamb, the only counter to the deadly effect of Hell's Stone.

When he left heaven for his mission, Harrold gave him a jar full of the Blood of the Lamb to aid him. It's not much because no one expects him to get into fights with demons. His order is to find and kill the child. Since he arrived on earth, he has been into hundreds of encounters and he's running out of the cure. In fact, because of the severity of his injuries, he needs to consume everything that's left.

He slowly brings the jar to his mouth.

"I receive your healing through the Blood of the Lamb," he utters in solemn prayer before finally partaking the curing liquid.

He doesn't expect recovery right that moment, but he feels his power and energy slowly returning. Now all he needs is to rest and let his body heal.

In the kitchen, Maree struggles to focus on her task- to get a glass of water. But it's hard when there's a dying man in the bedroom and there are so many questions running in her mind. Her life is obviously not a bed of rose petals. She fights daily to survive, but it's not complicated. She works, she lives. Easy.

What she's facing right now is beyond her capacity to absorb and process. Her mind is in overdrive trying to make sense of everything she has seen.

At last, she finds the glass and fills it with water from the sink.

She holds the glass with shaky hands and walk back to the bedroom. The man's eyes are closed and Maree is unsure if it's a good idea to disturb him. But as she's making a turn back to leave the room, he speaks.

"I'm awake."

Maree turns around and finds his dark gray eyes staring at her. She takes slow steps towards his side, and hands him the glass of water.

"Thank you," he says, accepting the water and slowly sips on it. He hands the glass back to her and swallows hard one more time.

"My name is Lucas," he finally introduces himself.

"I'm Maree. But you already know that," she replies accusingly.

Lucas knows her name and every other human he encounters. But of course they don't know that. Maree does and naturally, she will want an explanation. His protocol for humans exposed to an angel like him is to erase their memory of him. However, he has his own questions to ask.

"How do you know my name?"

"Let me rest, and we will talk," he promises.

"I'm sorry, you're right." Maree feels guilty for interrogating him in his current state. "Do you need anything else before I go?"

"Stay."

He knows it's not a good idea to have her in his home, but he needs to talk to her when he's feeling better. There is something about her he's drawn to. And it's beyond answers to his own questions.

"Why?"

Her question remains unanswered because Lucas is already asleep. She looks around for a blanket and finds one by the couch. She puts it on top of him and touches his forehead to check for fever which finds ridiculous given their situation.

But as soon as her fingers touch his head, a surge of energy course through her body and forces her to step back. Her eyes widen in shock and fear. She stares at her hand and back to him, then back to her hand again.

What just happened? She asks herself.

Maree decides she's definitely not staying. Whatever this man is, it's not safe for her. She doesn't want to entangle herself to something she might not escape from. She grabs her purse from the living room and leave without looking back.

In the elevator, she thinks about what just happened and tries to remember what she saw.

Initially, she remembers the bright light that flashed in front of her. Then there's someone there, a form of a woman. She doesn't know who it was, but she felt she knows her.

In trying to make sense of it all, she only becomes more confused.

"No! No! This is just a dream," she says out loud pinching her arm. But she's wide awake.

Maree leans back to the elevator wall and starts hyperventilating. So much for a Merry Christmas.

As soon as the elevator opens, Maree runs out of the building to put air into her lungs and normalize her breath.

After a few minutes, her legs feel strong enough to walk. She heads to the bus stop without a plan on where to go. It's almost lunchtime, but she doesn't feel hungry. In fact, her stomach feels queasy at the moment. Food is the last thing on her mind.

She can't salvage her Christmas day by shopping for clothes, that much Maree knows. But she still can get some groceries for herself. She needs to something to take her mind off Lucas.

Inside the grocery store, she pushes the cart around absentmindedly, picking up random items. Every minute that passes by, more questions emerges with no clarity.

What is Lucas?

Is the gold liquid on him blood? How about the black one?

Why is there no food in his house?

Why didn't people notice them on the streets?

Who is that person she saw in her mind when she touched him?

What is he going to do with her? Why ask her to stay?

What is she going to do when she sees him again?

"Miss?" Maree turns to her left to find a man glaring at him. "If you're still thinking what flavor to get, do you mind I go first?"

"Huh?"

"Ice cream, I want to get ice cream and I'm waiting for you to finish."

"Oh." She realizes she's standing in front of the freezer and she doesn't know how long. But judging the man's pissed off expression, it's been too long.

"I'm sorry, please go ahead." She walks away from the freezer and ignores the angry murmurs of the man. "Dang it," she curses.

Her cart contains she has no use of- cat food, dog food and expensive canned goods she has no intentions of buying. Painstakingly, Maree puts back the items she doesn't want to get and pick out the ones she can actually eat.

At the counter, she pays for her purchases in cash and feels her spirit slightly elevated. She's never bought so much food for herself before today. Taking the bus is not an option, she ends up taking an expensive cab home. For once in her life, she is not worrying about money.

She puts away her groceries and decides that she will not let the Lucas incident ruin the first Christmas she can actually enjoy.