Fall From Grace, part 2

Levana hadn't had time to identify the other two shadows in the cave with Belial, but she identified one immediately when they spoke. "Belial, as much as I don't want to interfere with your entertainment, we are on a schedule. Neither you nor I can be gone too long."

That voice was one she has heard countless times and caused her no little anguish to hear in her current situation. It was Azazel and hearing his words, she was both glad that whatever was planned was to be concluded quick but despaired because she understood that it hastened her death.

Belial shot Azazel an angry look, before casting his eyes back on to her, making Levana feel like she was nothing but a disgusting worm. His expression spoke volumes of the revulsion he held for her and echoed in his cold voice, "Well, we can't kill her too quick. Don't you want to be sure?"

His green eyes glimmered dangerously as his face twisted into a cruel smile as he continued, "Don't you want to know if she's the little voyeur?"

Azazel grimaced as he could hear the teasing in Belial's tone, but Levana could neither see it nor know that Belial had enough intuition to read her like an open book and had been mocking Azazel about this admirer. For Belial to be mocking him now, was quickly wearing on Azazel's patience and throwing fuel on the fire.

"Just do your part," he growled back at Belial.

"Tsk, no fun," Belial complained, "You don't have to be so serious all the time." He looked down on Levana and cocked his head to the side as his green eyes narrowed while judging her.

"She isn't exactly ugly," he commented before adding more ridicule, "You could let her appreciate that aspect of her idol before she dies!"

Belial burst into laughter and the third shadow seemed to laugh as well, but Levana couldn't recognize them, as they quickly left the cave. Azazel had become furious and the other accomplice seemed to be smart enough to know when he should escape.

The shadow flashed in Levana's distorted vision and Azazel roared at Belial, "GET ON WITH IT!"

That evil guy wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he replied, "So impatient." Turning his attention back to Levana, he sneered, "It doesn't really matter what she has or hasn't witnessed. I can tell from her fear that she is the one from that night. That same stench is unmistakable."

With his assessment done, Belial coolly got up from the crouch to look Azazel straight in the eye. "I'm going back as Raphael has been paying a little more attention to me," he darkly remarked and then left.

Levana's heart had plunged into deep despair as Belial disseminated the truth. He had recognized her and hadn't straight out killed her himself, but left that matter to Azazel, right?

Would he spare her? She wondered but couldn't make out Azazel's face, thus couldn't even begin to try and read him. Yet, a flicker of hope was born with Belial's departure.

Azazel moved swiftly and grabbed her by the arm roughly and dragged her up off the ground. Levana gulped and tried to find her voice to ask, but pulling her along as they left the cave, she was blinded by the sunlight.

Her balance was shot, so she stumbled and heard Azazel's growl of annoyance followed by the rustle of feathers. He then tossed her over his shoulder without a care while she screamed from the pain of her broken wing's bones being pulled upon by her bindings.

The world contorted in her vision from both the effects of the drugs and the pain, but she could feel that they had left the ground and that Azazel had taken flight. He was taking her somewhere and that made that seed of hope grow a little bigger.

'Maybe?' she thought, 'Maybe he likes her a little? Without Belial or the other around, will he save her? Hide her?' she silently prayed.

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[[****WARNING! DARK CONTENT AHEAD!****]]

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[[****NOT APPROPRIATE FOR THE FAINT OF HEART****]]

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[[****QUESTIONABLE RATING FOR CONTENT FOLLOWS****]]

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His flight didn't seem to take long and as he hoisted her up off his shoulder, she began to anticipate, but that was shattered. The world blurred as Azazel threw her with all his might and she slammed into stone with enough force for her non-crippled wing to be shattered along with a few ribs.

Levana coughed up blood from where one of the rib fragments had pierced her lung, but she could only cough with eyes wide in shock. She slumped to the ground of what she found to be the base of a cliff. Her dazed, golden eyes seem unfocused as she lifted her head in the unvoiced question of why.

Azazel closed the distance and his grip closed in around her neck, strangling her as he pinned her there. He was close enough that she could see his expression despite the drugs and what she saw made her blood run cold.

It was like he had dropped the mask he had been wearing for years, his grey eyes were filled with hostility, but not quite the same way that Belial's. Where Belial was filled with cold disdain, Azazel's seemed to burn with wild savagery. How could this be mistaken as a hero?

He sneered, "Like what you see?"

His grip tightened, choking her and keeping Levana from being able to do anything but soundlessly gasp for air as blood trickled down her chin. Azazel's cruel, mocking laugh cut at her heart as she realized she had been betraying herself all along.

Spare her? What savior?

Her sight blurred as she was thrown again. Colliding with the ground, the impact elicited a scream as she was able to breathe with great labor and pain assaulted her.

Something flashed and she felt her binding loosened, but she also discovered that her clothes had been cut too, leaving her exposed. She tried to curl up defensively, but the attempted defense was torn apart as he trapped her between him and the ground.

Horror engulfed her and she tried to fight. Even if she was going to die, not this! Anything but this! Her mind reeled with disbelief and desperation, in spite of the pain and the power of the drugs, she struggled as he forcibly mounted her.

The years of buried hate and frustration that Azazel had, he vented it all in the most scarring way possible. Levana cried and tried to scream, but a rock would come flying from one of her sides to strike her in the head. He was using earth magic!? Was this not abusive enough!?

His crushing weight of his body only made the condition of her lung worse, and the thrusts dragged her pinned, broken wings about the ground. Azazel was beastly rough in violating her.

When he was done and freed himself. Levana was not much more than a husk of a person. It was as if her soul had abandoned her broken body, while it still had a faint flame of life.

Satisfied that she was dead. He meanly commented, "You should clean up," before he picked her up by the neck and like a ragdoll, threw her in the nearby river.