Page 23 of Touched By Darkness

“You said I erased the past.”

“The past timeline, yes. You didn’t magically grow back your hymen.”

“I can’t exactly go up to Daemon and say, ‘Hey, you’ve never met me, but you took my virginity a while back.’”

“This is why I always say not to mess with timelines,” he teases, walking past me.

“So what do I do?” I call out, and he stops in the doorway.

“You made him fall in love with you once. You can do it again.”

“I didn’t make him fall in love with me. He kidnapped me, remember?”

“Yeah, that’s not going to work now that you’re an ordinary fallen angel like everyone else.”

“Exactly. So what do I do?”

“Not my problem, Angel. You’ll think of something. Your room is the one I showed you earlier. Help yourself to the clothes in the walk-in closet. If you get hungry, let me know, and I’ll arrange to have a human sent to your room.” Then he disappears and I stand there, confused as fuck by the day’s events.

I sit back down in the armchair and bury my face in my hands. What the hell am I going to do? I can’t even fathom what this all means, never mind try to think of a plan moving forward. I’m stuck here now. Oliver is dead, I’m a fallen angel, and Daemon and the others don’t know who I am. As if that’s not bad enough, I’m living with Amenadiel and his son.

I let out a frustrated screech, then rub my eyes vigorously.

Everything is a fucking mess.

* * *

I wake with a startled, muffled scream when a warm hand presses over my mouth. Dmitriy’s hard eyes glare down at me, and he snarls, “I don’t buy my dad’s story. Why are you really here?”

I try to speak, but it’s muffled beneath his palm.

“I’ll remove my hand if you promise not to scream and alert my father.”

I quickly nod my head, and he carefully lifts his hand but keeps it hovering, as if he doesn’t trust me not to scream. His dark eyes burn with such distrust that I wouldn’t be surprised if he kills me on the spot.

“Hear me out, okay?” I scoot back on the bed and pull the blanket with me. “You’ve met me before.”

“Don’t you think I would remember you?” His deep voice rumbles like thunder.

“I’m gonna try to explain, and you won’t believe me, but I’ll tell you anyway.”

“Then what the fuck are you waiting for?” He grabs me by my throat, and I yelp.

“Okay, okay… I’ll talk. Listen”—I bat his hand away—“I’m from Eden.”

Dmitriy frowns and starts to withdraw, so I rush out, “I snuck out of Eden and was kidnapped by Daemon and his friends. They took me to Hell. One thing led to another. Your father tried to kill me, and I locked him in my mind and escaped back into Eden. Then I committed the ultimate sin to be let back out and it created another tear in the fabric that allowed your father to escape, but his reality is now linked to mine. And so—well, we’re back in time to before they kidnapped me.”

His mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. He simply stares at me. Then he shakes his head as if to clear it and gets out of bed, but stops short when he comes face-to-face with his father in the doorway.

“It’s true,” Amenadiel says, and there’s such dominance in his voice that the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “Every single word.”

Dmitriy rears back. “She’s crazy, Dad.”

“Is she?”

“Yes,” Dmitriy breathes in frustration. “She’s manipulating you.”

“To what end?”

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