(Sorry for not posting this sooner, everyone. I told myself I was waiting on more comments, but I think the real reason was I'm scared for my life about this update. Just don't kill me or curse me in the comments, and I'll give you the next chapter tomorrow. Love you all!)

Finny gave me a look of confusion. "Why would he be here? And why would he be after you?"

I shrugged. "He's one of those people that-"

The man, still standing by the door, cut me off. "I'll fill him in once your dead, alright? I'll make sure your boyfriend over there gets a full explanation."

"He's not my-"

"Does that really matter right now?" Finny asked. "Let him think what he wants, and then get rid of him."

"Finny, you can't get rid of him. He has weapons hidden under his coat." Then a thought occurred to me. "How did you get here, anyway?"

"I have my connections."

"Okay, is that the same reason you knew I would be here?"

He nodded.

"What would you do if Maria walked through the door right now?"

"Kill both of you and then walk away."

"What if it was my father?"

"I guess I would have to kill him first."

"I doubt you would be capable of that."

Finny interrupted the conversation. "Is this what went down last time he tried to kill you?"

I thought for a moment, then shook my head.

"Then why is it happening now?"

I shrugged.

Maria's ex pulled out his sword. It shined in the light, and was still stained with my blood from the last time we'd met.

Showing fear got me almost killed last time. I stood on the bed, Finny staring at me. I stared the man down, and he looked shocked by my sudden change.

"Playing tough won't save you."

"I'm aware." I said.

"Then why not just give up now?"

"Because there wouldn't be any fun in that." I was doing a pretty good job masking my fear, but I knew Finny could tell I was scared out of my mind. My hands and knees were shaking, and I knew I would be no match for the man in front of me in my condition; weak from fear and a dying half of me.

My wings started cramping and shaking in pain. Finny stood and forced me back onto the bed. I obeyed, only because I knew he was right to get me out of harms way.

The man laughed, then twirled his sword around is fingers. He saw I was in pain, and I'm sure he wanted to use that to his advantage.

I stood and walked over to the window. We were three stories up, and my wings were going through one of the worst spells they ever had. I looked over at Finny, who nodded slightly. I didn't want to leave him, but I had to find my father, and Finny could protect himself.

I smiled at him, then opened the window.

"You aren't going anywhere!" the man behind me roared.

I turned to face him. "Who said I was?"

Finny looked at me urgently. He wanted me to leave him. I shook my head. "Finny, I'm not leaving you here alone with him."

Finny looked disappointed. The man smirked.

"Well, you had your chance to escape and refused it, so...." he came lunging at me, and I jumped at the last second, causing him to crash into the wall. I grabbed Finny's hand and pulled him out of the room.

We ran back to my room, hopefully safe for a moment.

"Why didn't you leave?"

I looked over at Finny. He was worried I wouldn't survive this, or worried that I would die because of something he failed to do. He would've felt better if I had left, one less thing for him to worry about.

"I told you," I said, "I'm not leaving you here to die. We'll either escape together, or kill this loser."

Finny looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Plus, did you really think I would survive a three story drop when I can't so much as hover three inches off the ground? It was either fall to my death and leave you fighting, or try to get us both out alive. What choice do you think I should have gone with?"

Finny nodded, then put his finger to his lips. He nodded to me. The man was coming.

"Let me try something. If it doesn't work, we're dead, and if it does, we're saved."

Finny nodded, and I walked over and opened the window.

"Dad!" I screamed. "Maria! Help!"

***

3rd person POV:

"Thank you very much for sharing your discoveries," Maria said to the female scientist. The woman nodded, and closed the door, leaving Maria outside.

"Sebastian?" Maria called.

The demon butler stepped out from behind a thick trunked tree, frowning. "They had nothing in their lab that could have in any way been associated with Angelica."

"I see. Well then, on to the next one?"

Sebastian was about to respond when he heard the faintest cry for help.

"Dad! Maria! Help!"

"What is it?" Maria asked, slowly approaching him, fearing the worst.

Sebastian turned to her, fear and urgency clear on his face.

"Selena is in danger."

***

Selena's POV:

I grabbed the small stuffed bear from my bed and sat down on the floor, hugging it. All we could do now was wait. Either Dad and Maria would find us, or the mad scientist would.

I heard the doorknob jiggle and I got to my feet behind Finny. Once it opened, the scientist stepped through, smirking.

"You really shouldn't have yelled like that," he said. "It gave you away."

I set the bear down gently on the bed, then grabbed a knife from what Maria had probably brought over for her to have for breakfast that morning. I lunged at the man by the door. But then I dropped at his feet, falling to the floor in pain.

Finny knew what was wrong immediately, but the scientist had no clue why I was screaming in pain when he hadn't laid a finger on me.

"Ha... ha.. hahahahaha! You can't even stand to fight me? Come on, your pathetic!"

I took deep breaths, tried anything I could think of to try to ease the pain in my wings. Well, anything I could do from the floor with a thirty something year old man towering over me, and Finny standing behind me, not sure what exactly to do.

I looked up at the man, and almost cut the back of my head on his sword.

"Let's see those pretty wings once more before I chop them clean off," he laughed, then took his sword and started cutting the back of my dress.

"Please, stop..." I whispered, but no one heard me. I couldn't do anything but lay on the floor and pray for my father to return.

Once both my wings were visible, and I knew they were, I looked up at him, his face gone from mindless killer to concerned scientist.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Like I should tell you," I said, trying to stand.

The man backed away and Finny rushed over and helped me up and onto a bed. I screamed in pain again, and Finny kept his arms around me.

"Don't stand there pitying me," I said through tears to the man before me. "If you want to kill me, do it now while I can't fight back. Ahh!" I hunched over in pain again. "I'm already dying anyway."

The scientist was frozen in shock. He put his sword back into his lab coat a few moments later, and that didn't surprise me.

"Selena, don't give him permission to kill you..." Finny said, saddened and surprised.

"It's okay, Finny, he won't do it."

"And how do you know that?" The man asked.

"I saw you hesitate the first time. You know what you're doing is wrong. You don't want to kill me. You pity me. But I don't want your pity. If you are going to continue hunting me down every time you think you have built up enough strength to kill a living being, then either stop coming or kill me now. It's your choice, and I won't stop you from doing either."

The man thought a moment, then redrew his sword. He held it out in front of him, and I took a deep breath.

Finny's arms were still wrapped around me protectively. I pulled away from him, and told him not to interfere.

The scientist pointed the sword at me, took a deep breath, and starting moving closer. He pulled back, and lunged at me, his sword swerving down at the last moment.

The sword went straight through my stomach. I screamed in pain, Finny screamed in terror, and the man pulled the sword out of me slowly, causing me even more excruciating pain.

Just as the sword was almost fully out of my body, I fell back onto the bed, my head landing in Finny's lap.

Finny had tears streaming down his cheeks. I wiped some of them away with the little strength I had left, then I turned my head to the man holding his bloody sword. He was smiling in triumph, but had tears in his eyes.

"You... hesitated..." I whispered to him, then slowly drifted toward unconsciousness.

The last thing I heard was the door open, Maria's scream, and my father run over to me, screaming my name.