"Where there are experts, there is no lack of learners."

- Kiswahili Proverbs

■NATASHA■

The door to the hotel room creaks open and I quickly awaken. Torrin walks in and the smell of blood lingers around the room as he locks the door and goes into the bathroom. Lifting my head up from the small bed I made on the floor, I read the time on the clock. It is 5:38 in the morning meaning that Torrin was gone for about two hours, before coming back here. The smell of blood is strong, but clearly a mixture of someone else's blood. Whoever the other blood belongs to, that person is definitely human. Torrin's blood is thick and strangely smells like rain, it tastes like an unimaginable, and indescribable sweet heavenly nectar. Biting down on my lips, I take deep breaths trying to get the taste of his blood out of my mind. I haven't had blood in a while and if it wasn't for me being in control of my thirst, I'm sure I'd been snap his neck and drink him dry.

The sound of glass breaking snaps me out of my thoughts. Torrin curses at himself, punching the mirror in the bathroom once again.

Kicking the sheet off my body, I rise to my feet and use my speed to get inside the bathroom. Torrin hovers over the bathroom sink, tears falling from his eyes. "Get out." He groans, "Leave me alone, I need to be alone."

"You're making a mess," I tell him. He stares at me through the mirror, sadness engraved in his deep blue eyes. His sadness was like a flowing river, cold and unending. My eyes travel to his hair and my insides shrink when I realize I want to reach out, and run my fingers through it. I inhale sharply, trying my best to focus. "And although you say you want to be alone, I know that deep down inside you don't. We may not be friends, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to help you, with whatever it is your going through."

Torrin turns around, blood dripping from his hands. "Leave." He orders, glaring at me. "This is all your fault. All you had to do was respect my boundaries, but you couldn't even do that. Now you've hurt her!" He yells, slamming his hands down on the sink. "She's mad at me because of you!"

I walk forward, my fist balling up. "Listen here, I don't know what type of shit is going on in your head, but you need to evaluate yourself." Taking another step forward, Torrin takes a step back. "There is a ghost inside your head and it's haunting you. You need to get it removed before it does some serious damage to you."

Torrin sighs and sits down on top of the bathroom sink. He closes his eyes and leans his head on the broken mirror. "Call my brother." He whispers. "I need him, I need him now." Torrin reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone, lifting it up for me to take. "Call him and tell him to bring the bag."

"Okay," I say, grabbing the cell phone. Walking out of the bathroom, I close the door behind me. Sitting down on the bed, my fingers skim pass the beautiful features of the cell phone. This is the brand new EXO 10 plus, and I'm kinda shocked to know that Torrin has one. I didn't even have one yet and I'm pretty up to date with all my phones. Torrin didn't even look like the type to have a phone. Searching through Torrin's contact list, my eyes land on a familiar name. Tapping the call button, the phone rings.

A groggy voice answers the phone. "Hello?" Alexander says, sounding sleepy. "What's wrong brother? Are you okay?"

I clear my throat. "This isn't Torrin, it's Natasha."

"Natasha." He repeats. "What's wrong? Is Torrin okay?" He asks. "Did something happen to him?"

"H...He's fine," I tell him. "We just have some minor step backs. Torrin told me to call you, he said to tell you to bring the bag."

Alexander's breath hitches over the phone. "I'll be there in five." He hangs up the phone, leaving me completely confused. How exactly was he supposed to get here in five minutes? Getting up I walk over to the bathroom, opening the door I see Torrin sitting in the same spot. He glances at me, before looking back at the ceiling.

"Your brother is on his way," I inform him. He doesn't say a thing and only closes his eyes. Opening the cabinet under the sink, I pull out the first aid kit. Sitting right beside him on the sink, I place his shaky hands on my thighs. "This might hurt." Torrin grunts, acknowledging my warning, before sucking in a breath. Holding down his left hand, I pull out a shard of glass. His hands continue to bleed, his blood now on my clothes. Adding some Neosporin to his cuts, I wrap both his hands up.

"Thank you." He whispers, his eyes still shut. "I'm sorry for taking my anger out on you." Torrin opens his eyes, looking up at me.

"It's fine," I mutter, before walking out the bathroom. A knock sounds at the front door, causing me to frown. Tilting my head up, I sniff the air catching the familiar scent of Alexander. For a moment I forgot that he was even coming. Opening the door, I'm greeted by thick dark blond hair and mesmerizing hazel eyes. "Hey, Alex."

"Hey, Natasha." He responds, walking inside the room. "Where is he?" Alexander asks referring to his brother.

I point towards the bathroom, "He's in there." Alex opens the bathroom door and walks inside. Torrin looks up at his brother and quickly pulls him into a hug. They pull away and stare at each other, it's almost like they're communicating with one another with their minds. Alex sets a largely sized briefcase on the counter and opens it. Inside the briefcase, there were two sets of heavy chains and a small bottle filled with some type of green liquid. "What the hell is that?" I ask.

Alex ignores me and bends down to lift up his brother. Carrying his brother towards the bed, Alex says a few curse words underneath his breath before setting his brother down. He walks back to the bathroom and comes back out with the chains. "Bind his feet to the bed, make sure their tights." He instructs, handing me the chains. I do as I'm told and bind Torrin's feet. When I'm done, I watch as Alex binds his brother's hands to the headboard and remove hair out his face. "You should've called me as soon as you heard the voices," Alex tells Torrin. "Keeping this from me was reckless and most definitely selfish."

Torrin nods, hearing his brothers words. "I know and I'm sorry." Torrin whispers. "It won't happen again."

Alex glares at Torrin. "It better not T." Alex threatens. He sighs, his face turning neutral. "I love you, bro." He says, kissing his older brothers forehead.

"I love you too," Torrin whispers, wet tears falling against his cheeks. This was a heartfelt scene to watch and I felt like I was intruding by being here. Besides that, never in my life did I ever think I'd see Torrin being so emotional. Alex takes a syringe out of his pocket and picks up the bottle with the green liquid inside. Sucking up the liquid with the syringe, Alex injects it into Torrin's arm.

Alex sets everything down and quickly latches onto my hand, walking us both out the room. He takes a seat on the hotel stairs and lets out a deep breath. "You okay?" I ask, sitting beside him.

"Not even close." He mumbles looking at the sky. The moon surrounded by stars seems to lighten up the night, bringing forth stars that shone and hung in the blackness sky. "I'm sorry for ignoring you back there, I was just too focused on helping my brother.

"It's fine," I assured him. "Although I do have to ask, how'd you get here so fast? How'd you even know where we were?"

"One of the scientists in my kingdom built this thing called M.A.X it's a machine that transport you to any place you desire, just as long as you have an address," Alex explains. "My brother and I both have trackers inside of us, and that's how I already knew where you guys were."

I nod. "What about the things in the suitcase?"

"The green liquid is Newtonian fluid. What it does is paralyze Torrin's brain, giving him enough time to travel outside of this world plane and to the other side." Alex tells me. "Once he's there, he talks to... someone and then he comes backs."

I frown. "Is that someone, the woman that happens to be haunting his mind?"

Alex's eyebrows raise. "Yes. How'd you know?"

"Torrin was having a bad dream and he wouldn't wake up, so I did a spell that put me inside his dream. And let's just say I saw the woman whose haunting him." I explain. "Who's the woman anyway?"

Alex scratches the back of his head. "That explains a lot. Please don't do that again, it really causes a lot of problems." Alex looks up at the sky. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but considering the circumstances fuck it. My brother wasn't always the way he is now. Even though my piece of shit of a father was an abusive fuck towards Torrin, Torrin didn't let that get in the way. He went to angel school, graduated at the top of his class. Just like my mom did, he always wanted to make her proud." Alex sighs. "Torrin was promoted to beta angel and that's when he met Haley. One thing led to another and they fell in love." Alex pinches the bridge of his nose. "When Haley was seven months pregnant, she died. My father killed her and made Torrin watch as he did. See my father always blamed Torrin for my mother's death. And so he waited until Torrin reached a point in his life where he was extremely happy to rip that happiness away from Torrin. Garrett wanted to prove, that he'd never let Torrin be happy and that he was in control of Torrin's life."

"That's horrible," I say, saddened by Torrin's story. No one deserves that.

"After Haley died Torrin went on a killing rampage. Zeus doesn't allow any of his angels to kill and since Torrin was a beta angel who in fact killed, he got kicked out of heaven."

"Which is how he became a fallen angel," I say, putting the pieces together. "Why hasn't Torrin killed Garrett yet? I mean what's stopping him?"

Alex looks down at his shoes. "He doesn't believe that's what our mother would've wanted him to do. See Torrin would do anything to make our mother happy, that's the only reason why he's dealt with the abuse for so long. But Garrett's days are number, soon my brother will take care of him."

I sit back for a moment, taking everything in. There was still something that didn't make any sense. "Your father blames Torrin for your mother's death, but it seems like there's more of a backstory to that. How exactly did your mother die?"

A painful expression marks Alexander's face. "We don't talk about my mother's death, I told you that already. It's forbidden." Alex stands up, offering me his hands. "Come on, Torrin's back to his normal self."

Taking his hands, he helps me up and together we walk back to the room. Opening the room door, my eyes land on Torrin. He's passed out cold, blood pouring from every opening of his body. "Is this normal?" I ask Alex.

Alex starts to take the chains off his brother. "It is. It's a side effect to the green liquid. And it'll keep on being a side effect until Torrin decides to get an exorcism." He puts everything back in the briefcase. "I have to go. But make sure when he wakes up, he takes his pills and tell him to call me as soon as he wakes up." Alex turns to leave but stops. "Clean up the blood please, and try not to wake him up." He scratches the back of his head. "Don't mention any of the things I told you to Torrin, he'll kill me if he knows I told you."

He turns to leave, but I grab his hand. "Can't you stay? I'm sure everything would be a lot easier if you did."

Alex shakes his head. "I can't do that. My father will be looking for me in the morning. Plus, it's bad to leave the kingdom unguarded with no prince."

I shake my head in understanding. "Alright." I pat his shoulder. "See you later."

He grins at me. "See you later Natasha." He opens the door. "You and Torrin may be too blind to see it now, but you guys are good at working together." And with that Alex closes the door and leaves.

Sighing to myself, I walk into the bathroom and grab a cloth. Wetting it with warm water, I sit on the bed and start to clean the blood off Torrin. My fingers skim pass his scar, and I can't help but wonder how he got it. His scar is a raw chasm of puckered flesh, paler than the tone of his skin. To him, his scar is probably like a permanent reminder of his own failings. But when I look at it, I see bravery.

"Don't worry Torrin, you'll find peace soon," I say, brushing his hair out of his face. "You'll see."

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