Number 666

Number 666 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Cham, can you stop with the music?" Gabby stated.

Uri and I looked at one another. We had walked into a building. The entire look of the old building seemed to change. There was an open floor plan. I didn't know what to expect but whatever I thought I was going to expect...this wasn't it.

Gabby had been talking to a boy. He was sitting at a piano across the room. It was a baby grand piano. It was actually an old looking thing. The boy however wasn't an old looking thing. He was handsome, light brown skin tone with his hair braised in a long french braid down his back. He smiled at me as I looked over at him. He was very handsome. I had to admit. He looked a little bit like a pretty boy with some feminine features but somehow it worked for him and there was a beauty when he looked over at me.

He had soft eyes that threw me for loop.

"Sorry about that. I couldn't help it. I peed to that song once. It made me feel like my piss determined the fate of the world..."

Uri started laughing. I shot Uri a stare. Uri immediately stopped laughing. I looked around the room. There were desks. It looked something like an office space or something. There were desk and computers but it wasn't exactly that. I noticed a television in the middle of the floor as well. I recognized the person who was sitting in front of the television almost immediately. Raphael. He had turned his face and was paying attention to us.

What kind of office building had televisions and pianos?

"Who the fuck are you people?" I asked.

Just at that moment I realized a girl walk over to me. She was blonde. She was extremely thin. She reminded me of maybe one of the Hilton sisters especially with what she wore. Her outfit seemed really expensive and her thin model-like hands pushed at my chest a little bit. It barely hurt when she did it but she seemed to have an annoyance.

"You were the one who scared the kitties!"

I noticed she had a cat in her purse. The purse was a Dior purse that looked more expensive than anything that I probably owned. I recognized the cat in the bag. It was the Persian cat with the black face that had been watching me outside of my house.

"That was your cat?" I asked.

"Animals belong to no one," she said with this thick attitude as though I had said something that really offended her.

It was Gabby who walked over and pulled the girl back, "Can you not scare the newbies in the first 5 minutes?"

The blonde girl shot me a look, "We have a score to settle."

She walked away at that moment though. Uri was smiling at me again. A smile had spread all the way across his face. I honestly couldn't stand him. He was just finding all of this amusing.

"Excuse Ariel," Gabby stated, "She's a little bit on edge."

The boy playing the piano edged in, "Trust me. She can get very crazy when it comes to her animals. Especially her pussy..."

The boy who had been playing the piano laughed at himself as though he had said the funniest thing in the world. I shot him a glare. He seemed like he was a clown. It rubbed me the wrong way. I had a distrust for people who always tended to want to be funny out of no where. People like that made me uncomfortable. It seemed like they didn't know how to be serious at times. The boy at the piano immediately rubbed me off as that kind of person.

"I asked you a question," I stated, "Who are you people?"

My tone was sharp and blunt. I had turned to realize that they were still looking at me. Raphael was still staring. He had been completely quiet since I had walked into the room. Just the other day he had seduced me into almost coming into this room. Now that I was here he had nothing to say? He just stared waiting almost.

All the eyes had turned to me at that moment. The boy playing the piano, Raphael who was sitting in the chair, the blonde girl who had walked back over to her computer and finally Gabby had turned to me with this unique look on their face.

"We've been waiting a long time for the two of you," Gabby stated.

Uri seemed surprised, "Us?"

Gabby nodded, "I'm sorry if I scared you. You see there were demons onto us that day. We were trying to bring you here. This place has been blessed...you see. They can't get in here."

"Demons?" I asked.

"Demons."

"It's time for me to go."

I turned all of a sudden. I didn't have time to fuck around with a bunch of crazy people. There were too many things going on in my life. I didn't have time to be standing around thinking about this.

"You saw them..."

The voice was coming from the other side of the room. I turned at see a heavy set man. He looked like the only one in the room that was above 25. He had to be probably 30 or so. He had a round belly and was dressed in a suit. For a heavy set man the suit seemed to fit him extremely well. The man had round glasses and a red nose. He was a white man with a pale complexion almost like the cat girl's complexion.

I had stopped though when he said what he said. There was something very knowing about his voice. Uri hadn't moved. Uri looked over at me.

Uri confirmed to me in a low whisper, "We saw them..."

He was referring to the shadow figures that had been outside the building yesterday when we walked out. I had seen them. They were both right. What was even worse however was the fact that I felt them.

"There's a war going on boy," the man said, "The dragon is coming..."

The dragon. The dragon.

"The dreams..."

"Dreams?" He asked.

"Nothing," I replied.

"He has dreams," the boy at the piano stated, "He has the third eye...like me."

"Impossible," Raphael finally spoke.

The heavy set man looked over at Uri and I, "Why don't the two of you join me in my office? We have a lot to discuss..."

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Uri and I waited in an office. At first sight it seemed like a regular office in a regular building. There was a window. There was a desk and a computer. There was even a bookshelf. It wasn't until I got up and walked over to the bookshelf that I noticed odd things.

"What are you doing?" Uri asked.

"Relax, I'm not going to fuck with the guys stuff," I stated, "This is weird. These are all holy texts. Different versions of bibles. Ancient scriptures..."

I looked through the bookshelf at all the different versions of the bible that were on there. I had never seen a collection like this. I used to work in a library and I still hadn't seen so many versions of holy books before. The books lined the expanded bookshelf on the walls of this old office. Uri seemed nervous at the fact that I was looking around. I could tell he was because he was shuffling in his seat. Maybe he was just nervous about the fact that we were here in the first place.

"Can you come sit? He said he'd be right back."

"Aren't you interested? Don't you think we stumbled onto some cult or something...look at this..."

I finally felt Uri get out of his seat and he walked up behind me. At first it made me nervous how close he walked over to me. I usually didn't like people in my space like that. Uri was pressed up against me trying to peak over my shoudler at the book.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You mind?"

He was way too close. He took that as a sign and finally took a few steps back. I had to admit it did turn me on to have him so close to me. Any other guy and I was sure I would have flirt a little bit. Uri was different though. Uri scared me for some reason.

As he walked back the big man walked into the room. He had two cups in his hand. Uri raced back over to his seat as though nervous all of a sudden. I didn't though. I looked at the heavy set man and then I looked at the book. I didn't trust him. I didn't trust anything that was going on. He seemed like he knew a lot and I just found his collection to be extremely odd. He watched me as I thumbed through the book. I noticed he had things highlighted here and there. It was almost as though he had been studying it.

"The book of Enoch," he stated.

"Who?"

"He is the great grandfather of Noah," he stated, "You don't have to go through my things. I have no problem telling you anything you may want to know."

Uri shot me a look. I wonder if I offended the man but I honestly didn't care. Everything about him and his band of young adults outside this room seemed to be strange. It made me nervous and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I withdrew from flipping through his things though. Half of my reason was the look that Uri was giving me and the other half of my reason was because I wanted to get this little meeting started. I walked across the room. His eyes followed me as I sat down. I noticed he was staring at me more than Uri for some reason. It had been the same with the others outside. They had an interest in Uri but their eyes were more on me. It was almost as though they were trying to figure something out but I wasn't exactly sure what it was.

"What is your name?" I asked him.

"Raguel."

"Strange name."

"You can call me Rag. For short," he stated at that moment, "Everyone else calls me Rag."

"Stranger name."

He laughed at that moment. I didn't see what was so funny. I crossed my arms.

"You aren't how I expected you to be," he stated looking over at me, "However Uri...you definitely are how I expected you to be."

​

"You've heard of us?" I asked.

Rag smiled at that moment, "Something like that. Why don't you guys have some coffee..."

Uri was immediate to take the coffee and put it in his mouth. I looked at him like he had two heads. I would not just be drinking some coffee from some random stranger in this lifetime. Especially one that clearly worked with two people who tried to basically kidnap me.

"I'd prefer not to drink the koolaid," I stated.

"Come again."

He didn't get the reference. I figured it made sense. The guy seemed to be interested in one thing and one thing only according to his collection. He seemed to be interested in religion. I looked over at Uri. He hadn't died yet. Maybe the coffee wasn't poison. I still wouldn't risk it though.

I crossed my arms, "Did you or did not send Gabby and Raphael, if those are their real names, to kidnap us."

"Those are their real names. I didn't send them to kidnap you. They got desperate to bring you here. We are running out of time you see. There's so much to explain. Where can I begin, ahh...yes...with the names. Michael and Uriel. It's very nice to meet you. I am Raguel as I mentioned earlier. Outside those doors---Raphael, Chamuel, Ariel and Gabriel. Do you notice any common thing about those names. Our names?"

"-El?" Uri answered.

Rag smiled at that moment almost like a teacher in school. I couldn't stand how desperate Uri was to please him either. Uri smiled back. I felt like the odd man out. I wasn't as excited to go through this journey of discovery as Uri. I wanted this fat Rag to just spit out whatever the hell he was going to say.

"The suffix -el means in God," Rag explained, "Are you guys familiar with any religious texts?"

Uri nodded, "The bible of course..."

"Atheist here," I replied.

Rag turned to me. His eyes almost glared. He started to choke at that moment. I pushed over the coffee that he gave me and he didn't hesitate to take a long drawn out sip of it. I guess it wasn't poison after all. Rag clearly seemed shocked that I had told him I was an atheist for some reason.

"You don't---you don't believe---in God?" he asked me.

"Is that so strange?"

"A nephilim who doesn't believe in GOD!" he screamed out.

He had jumped to his feet. He scared the fuck out of me when he did that. I jumped back out of the chair all of a sudden. I blinked my eyes once and all of a sudden the room changed. The room completely changed!

I was shocked at that moment. We had been in an office just a minute ago but now we were somewhere else. Our chairs were in the middle of a room of a desert. The blue sky was over us and the sand was below us. I wasn't the only one who seemed surprised at that moment. Uri's mouth dropped open as he realized where we were.

"What just happened?" Uri asked, "Oh my god..."

His mouth had shot open.

"Behold the power of God," Rag stated.

An eagle flew above us. The world seemed to be so still and so calm. Something was wrong though. The eagle didn't fly naturally. The wind didn't blow naturally.

"It's fake," I stated.

All of a sudden whatever was there before had disappeared. We were back in the office room. It was the same thing that had happened when Uri and I were trying to run out of the building. It had been something like a mirage. It had been a false representation.

"You really do have the third eye," Rag told me and laughed, "You're right. It was an illusion. I am the son of my father, by the same name. Raguel, friend of God. My father grants me power to manipulate someone's eyesight ... even if only for several seconds. My father is an overseer. Just like me."

"Overseer of who?"

"Angels."

"Time to go."

"Wait," Rag stated, "You have to believe it. Whose your father Michael? Uriel who is your father? Think about it."

"I never knew him," Uri stated.

Rag turned to me. He was expecting me to go along with it. It was true. I had never known my father. My mother stated that he died before I was born. He wasn't even on my birth certificate. She just told me that she gave me his name and that was all. She never talked about my father. My mother never mentioned him. I had stopped right in my footsteps at that moment. I had stopped and just stared.

Rag didn't wait for my response, "Uriel is one of the seven archangels. His name means God's light. Michael is another archangel...his name means he is who like God. You both are a nephilim. Half human, half angel. Representatives of your fathers to fight in the upcoming war."

7 angels. My dream had 7 people who had not fallen to the ground. Something had held them up. Had they been wings? Angels wings?

Uri was the one who asked it, "What war?"

I knew though. I had a feeling. The dream.

"The dragon."

"You've seen it?" Rag asked me.

I turned my head. The images that I had earlier that day popped into my head. I shook with uneasiness as I tried to shake the images out. They horrified me. I didn't know what any of it meant.

"Seen what?" Uri stated.

Rag looked over at me. Did he expect me to describe what I saw? I remembered the dream I had earlier. It wasn't just a dream though. A dream would have been easy to describe. I had lived it. In those moments it felt like I had saw my biggest fear expanded all around me. I hadn't even known I had a phobia or a fear of anything. However when I saw those images I realized things had changed. When I saw those images from on top of that mountain it had become clear that there were dark and terrible things in this world.

"I'm leaving, Uri...are you coming or not."

Uri looked over at me.

"No..."

I nodded. I don't know why I felt betrayed. Uri had no loyalty to me. Sure we had come here together but he wasn't my friend. I had made that much clear. I had also made it clear that I didn't even like him. I didn't know why he would assume that because I was now uncomfortable he would choose me over this information this man was feeding him.

Archangels. Demons.

I didn't ask for any of this.

I stormed out of the office room and into the main office area.

"Where are you going?" Gabby stopped me all of a sudden, "You can't just walk out Michael. Where the hell are you going?"

"Let him go..." a voice stated.

It was Rag. He was standing at his office door. Right behind him was Uri. They looked at me. The others looked at me as well. I stared back at the group. Was I supposed to believe all of these people were children of archangels? Was I supposed to believe that there was some other purpose they were all gathered in this room.

"You ignore the call of God?" Raphael asked me at that moment before I left out.

I paused only to turn as dramatically as I could, "I said it before and I'll say it again. Those are fairy tales and if you choose to believe them that's on you. There is no God."

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It had been several hours since Michael had left them and the group had been on edge. Uriel had stayed around and by the end of the night he seemed to have talked with the others and seemed to be acknowledging his more and more. Most of the others had gone. Uriel was still there though. He was so eager to learn and the person who clutched onto him as his teacher was Gabriel.

Raphael watched from behind observing Uriel as Gabriel said goodbye to him. He watched how Uriel stared at Gabriel and how Gabriel stared back. Once a long time ago Raphael would have gotten jealous over something like this but now things had been different. He didn't have time for things like love and jealousy...not with what was coming. Those were luxuries that his kind would not be able to afford.

As Uriel and Gabriel left a presence stood behind him. Raphael didn't have the third eye like Chameul but he had great intuition. He knew who it was before the person even got close.

"Uriel is learning fast," Raguel told him, "Did you see the flame earlier that he made. None of us learned that fast. He's...special. Uriel is learning faster than any of us."

Raguel was the overseer of the group. He always kept an eye out watching, judging and helping. He had much more patience than Raphael.

Raphael shook his head, "Michael isn't."

He crossed his arms.

"Patience. I remember when I first found you. You remember that?" Raguel asked him looking down at him with unfocused eyes, "I remember. There was anger there. There was anger just like there was with Michael. Be patient with him."

"What if we made a mistake? What if he isn't from the archangel Michael?"

"Chamuel saw it with his third eye."

The third eye. It was gift of premonition. It came to Chamuel in multiple forms. However Chamuel got his visions didn't matter because they came to him quick. Chamuel had been with Rag since the beginning. He had helped Rag locate all the angels. It wasn't the visions that Raphael didn't trust however. It was the interpretations of those visions.

"Chamuel has made mistakes in the past," Raphael countered relatively quickly, "Would you be willing to bet this isn't a mistake now? Because it looks like one. He looks like a mistake."

"Give it time."

"Time for what? What if the trumpets sound. What happens when the battle begins? Will I wait until my body is rotted on a sidewalk for Michael to finally come save me?"

Raguel was studying his face, "You sound angry Raphael..."

"Furious, actually."

"Why?"

Raphael shook his head. He stared at Rag. Rag wouldn't understand. He thought about telling Rag about how the boy Michael had kissed him. He thought about telling Rag about the fact that he had seduced Michael. Raphael felt guilty. He felt dirty. He felt like a sinner.

He had liked it. Even now when he touched his lips all he could think about was Michael's kiss.

It made him so uncomfortable.

Instead of mentioning his own sins, Raphael shook his head violently, "He doesn't even believe in God. What kind of angel doesn't believe in God?"

"We aren't full angels Raphael. We are half angel," Raguel corrected him, "That means half of him is human and all humans make mistake. You know what that means don't you? Being human. It's a beautiful mistake really. But mistakes will be made. So teach him Raphael. Guide him. One day he will guide us all."

Raguel was so sure that Michael was from the archangel Michael. The archangel Michael who would lead them against the wrath of what was coming. Michael was supposed to be the powerful of all archangels. If this was the right boy there didn't seem anything particularly powerful about him...nothing except his kiss...

Wasn't that how Paradise was lost?

Raphael would not be Adam. He refused to be seduced.

Raphael walked away from Rag. Raguel was the overseer of them all. That was true but it was Raphael who had kept the group together for this long. Where Rag had been weak, Raphael had remained strong.

He didn't argue further with Rag but he didn't believe there was anything holy about Michael. Michael had kissed him and made him feel something that was beyond sinful. There was nothing holy about Michael. Raphael had decided that already. Raphael's own angelic abilities were the abilities of healing but if Michael crossed them in anyway Raphael would be ready to do the opposite of heal.

Raphael was prepared to kill Michael.

========================================================================================================

"How did you meet my father?"

A week had passed since I had been to the old building. I was at a table with my mother. The Bull was next to her as usual. He always was. I wanted to have this conversation with her alone but at times it felt like my mother didn't trust me around her. Maybe she thought I was such a sad, lost cause that my depression would somehow rub on her. I wasn't depressed though. Nothing about me read depression. I was just mad as hell.

"Where is this coming from Mike?" the bull asked.

"My name is Michael and I was talking to my mom."

He shot me a glare. Usually I backed down from him but not today. I needed to know that I was losing my mind. I needed confirmation that everything those weirdos in that old office building was saying was some sort of lie. That would make more sense to me. People lost their minds all the time. It was normal. Right. I should have gotten help a long time ago for this kind of thing.

My mother hesitated when she talked as though the words she meant to say had gotten lost in her table wine.

"What was the question?" she asked.

It was as though she hadn't heard me. She was sitting right there. She was right across the table from me.

"How did you meet my father?"

She paused at that moment, "It's a little embarrassing to say."

"I can handle it."

"I didn't know him very well," she responded, "I knew his name was Michael. He picked me up one day and I was very taken by him. The next day he was gone and that was the last that I heard from him."

So she was a liar and a slut.

I stared her down, "So how do you know he died?"

"Excuse me?"

She paused and looked up at me. I'd attempted this conversation with her before but she always tripped over her words. Clock work. It would just be a minute before she changed the subject and attempted to talk about something else. Where was my confirmation that I was losing my mind.

The dinner was cold. It was a quite a sight to see us three. I stared my mother down. The Bull had abandoned his meal and stared me down. The only one that was still eating was my mother. She was eating intentionally fast as well. You would think the cold, wet potatoes were the best thing she'd ever had in her life. She was struggling to avoid eye contact but she knew I was watching.

She knew I was watching.

"How do you know my father is dead?" I asked.

"Because I do."

This had to be a joke, "Is that your answer? After 21 years of me on this Earth that is your answer. It's so simple to you. My world is going upside down and you have the nerve to be ---short----with me."

"You need to respect your mother," the Bull stated, "I'm not having this kind of talk at my table. You hear me? I won't tolerate it. Whatever happened to your mother in the past is in the past. You're right. You're 21 years old now. You're a grown ass man. Start taking responsibility for your own fucked up behavior and stop trying to blame your problems on a man that was never there."

"Your pitbull has a bite," I stated.

"I can't fucking take this," The Bull stated.

He hopped up out of his chair. I could see my mother gathering him. I watched as she pulled him in the other room. They exchanged words. She was calming him down no doubt. She was probably saying things like, 'You know Michael has always been troubled' and 'he just had it rough' and 'be patient with him.' By the look on the Bull's face as he turned his head back into the room I could tell he wasn't buying whatever bullshit she was feeding him. I looked down at the disgusting food. Whatever she was feeding him had to be even better than these cold potatoes.

Luckily at that moment the doorbell rung.

I got out of my chair and went over to it. I needed a distraction from them. I needed a distraction from my weak mother with all her secrets. I needed a distraction from the man she didn't love but kept around to keep me in check. That was all he really was. He was a there for discipline because she felt like she couldn't handle me as well. Maybe he knew it as well. Maybe that was why the bull compensated so fucking much.

I opened the door to see a familiar face. Just because the face was familiar however didn't mean I was excited to see the face or that this was the face of a friend.

"Uri."

"Hey."

I looked at him for a moment. I knew he must have known where I lived. I was fucking his roommate after all. Once or twice I think Uriel had even dropped Dwight over at my house. That was before we actually knew each other.

It was cold outside. The cold winter's breeze from the DC air hit him on his back. I thought about letting him stand there but that would require me to be cold as well.

I stepped back for a few steps into the front area of the brownstone. he followed me inside. I stood at the banister of the steps that lead up to the main bedroom and bathroom. Uri looked nice. I had to admit. He had on a winter sweater that fit his strong muscular frame. He had on fitted jeans and boots. He smiled with that annoyingly friendly smile of his that seemed so white I could have thought they were veneers.

"I was just in the area," Uri replied, "I came to check up on you...make sure you were safe."

"I'm alive."

I was better than a live. It had been almost a week and nothing weird had happened to me. I hadn't had any dreams. I hadn't seen any scary figures. Nothing weird had happened at all. Everything had one back to normal and I liked normal. Normal was ok with me.

"Are you safe though?"

I shrugged, "That's all relevant. Isn't it? When is anyone truly ever safe?"

He laughed, "True."

"You haven't been to work in a week."

"You've noticed?" he asked, "I decided to quit."

"No two week notice. No going away party?"

Uri shook his head at that moment, "There was no time for that. I think you know why. I've been working somewhere else." Uri paused to look around before continuing again, "I think you know where."

I rolled my eyes.

"Good luck with that..." I stated, "Was that all?"

"You should come back."

"Did they send you?"

"No. Of course not. They want to give you space," Uri explained, "But you'll have to come back. Something is coming Michael. You know something is coming. And Michael...it scares the fuck out of me..."

"Why don't you pray?"

"Please don't mock me..."

"Look here,'" I started crossing my arms as I stared back at Uri, "You came on my steps. You came here. I didn't ask you to come here. I'm good. I was losing it for a while but I'm better..."

"Losing it?"

"Mentally."

Uri laughed at that moment, "Is that what you're thinking? Michael, seriously? You think you're losing your mind? Michael there are things out there. Regardless of whether you believe what Rag told you, you have to admit that there is evil out there. There ----"

"You're touching me."

He had his arms on me. Uri had been passionately going on and on about this. Maybe he was trying to scare me. It wasn't working though. I didn't know why he was here pretending like he cared about me. He didn't even know me like that. We hadn't even talked that many times. He said Rag hadn't sent him but I doubted it. You mean to tell me he took it upon himself to show up at my house.

"I apologize."

"You can save your apology," I replied before crossing my arms again, "You can save your explanation as well. I don't need any more friends I've let you know this."

Uri nodded.

"Fine. Just because I can't be your friend. Doesn't mean I have to be your enemy. I have something for you."

I watched reluctantly as Uri pulled out a candle.

"You're joking."

"Watch."

He waved his hand. Immediately the candle stick lit up with the red flames that I had seen before. He had done it with little effort at all. It seemed almost second nature to him. The flame flickered in his eyes.

"I'm trying to get away from things like this."

"Things like what?"

"Abnormal things," I replied shaking my head, "If you expect to impress me with that you've failed. I could do the same thing with a old fashion match."

"Rag explained something to me yesterday. The flame is not my ability. It is the light," he stated and allowed the candlelight to flicker in his hand, "You see this light here? It's special. It keeps them away."

"I dunno. Whoever. The dark. The demons. Whoever. Just people who don't mean you well. That's how it was explained to me anyway. I haven't had much time to discuss the who with Rag. Maybe he doesn't trust me with it yet. I just know it keeps them away. The light."

"How?"

"It's a holy light."

"No. How is that light holy?"

"You're mocking me again---aren't you?" Uri asked.

I shook my head, "I am just trying to figure out why you are so quick to believe that something is what it is without proof. That's the thing about you religious people isn't it? Where is the proof. Where is the how? Where is the science?"

"Somethings you just have to believe," Uri explained to me, "Look."

He took a step towards me. He was so close to me. He had stepped so close to me that I could smell his breath. The only thing separating us was the candlelight. My heart was beating having Uri this close to me. Even with me trying not to be I had to admit I was so attracted to his. I wanted to lean in and kiss those brown lips of his. I was stuck there for a moment staring in his dark eyes. Why was he looking at me like this? Why was he making me want him so badly?

"What are you doing to me?" I asked.

"I'm showing you. See---you are near my candlelight. That means you don't mean me harm," he explained, "Your thoughts aren't as bad as you think they are..."

I looked him up and down. The things I would do to him---

"I wouldn't be so sure."

I licked my lips. He didn't step away. We stood there and it was only a second of awkwardness. I knew it was only a second but to me it felt like a full hour.

"It's getting late," I heard a voice say.

I saw it was the Bull. He had walked out of the kitchen and into the front hallway. He saw Uri and I. He must have noticed how close we were. I could tell by his face. He never said anything about my sexuality but every time I brought a male friend home he would give me the face that he was giving me now. It was that look that said that he was judging me without even trying. I hated that look.

The bull disappeared back into the kitchen leaving Uri and I standing there.

"You should probably leave. He probably thinks we're about to fuck or something," I replied.

Uri laughed. I didn't find what was so funny. I was very serious.

"Yeah I'll get going. Hey. I want you to keep this. Just keep it burning. It'll keep the baddies away..." Uri told me and took a step back, "If you ever need me to come back and you know...light your candle...or whatever...you know...just call me."

"I don't have your number."

"I have yours. I'll text you."

I was going to ask him how he got my number but then I remembered that he did live with Dwight...the guy who I had sex with every now and again.

"Goodnight Uri...be safe."

"Don't worry. God is with me," Uri stated.

I watched as he walked away. I had never noticed the cross he had dangling from his chest at that moment. Uri had always struck me as somewhat religious but I guess I really didn't put much thought into how religious he could be before that moment. Uri winked at me.

He was so attractive that I thought hell maybe there was a God and he had created someone so fucking handsome just to fuck with me on purpose.

Maybe God had a sense of humor.

===============================================================================================

The dreams had come that night. In this dream I was surrounded by darkness and there was nothing but a blue sword in my hand. And then all of a sudden the darkness came at me. I couldn't see who the darkness was but I grabbed the blue sword and they were flames. There were flames everywhere. They were blue flames.

The flames cut through the darkness over and over.

This dream was different from the others. In this dream I felt powerful. In this dream I felt like I had a defense against those things that came at me.

All of a sudden I woke up. I didn't wake up screaming like other times. I woke up out of excitement.

"Oh shit."

I looked around the room to realize that something else had happened. My bedroom was in ruins. The curtains in my bed room had completely been cut in half. The walls seemed like they were all slashed or something! The sheets that I were sleeping on were all ripped to shreds.

I thought that it was. It wasn't until I looked carefully that I saw my mirror had a crack in it! A fucking crack in my mirror. I looked at it in the next moment the entire mirror shattered sending shards of glass everywhere.

What the fuck was going on?

"What's going on in there?"

Suddenly the door opened. It was the Bull. He was standing at the threshold of my door. He looked into the room. He saw everything at that moment. How the fuck was I going to explain this? I didn't even know what happened my damn self.

"Um...I was...just ...erm...fucking around."

That was the best I could come up with? I was just fucking around?

The bull looked at me. He stood at the threshold of the room and examined it. He looked shocked. He was studying the walls. I noticed them as well. They were all clawed up like I had taken a knife and cut lines into the wall. There was something else. The lines were outlined in something like ash as though they had been burned almost.

"What are you up to..." he told me, "I'm so fucking sick of you."

"Likewise."

"What did you just say to me?"

"Come closer I'll say it again."

"You rude mother---"

The bull took a step into my room for a second but then all of a sudden he stopped. He stopped and all of he stared. He wasn't staring at me though. He was staring past me.

I looked behind me trying to see what the Bull was staring at.

He was staring at the light behind me. I had placed the candle stick that Uri had given me on my nightstand. The light from the candle had trickled across the room. I noticed where the light ended was where the Bull stopped walking. It couldn't have been a coincidence. He just stood there.

He just stood there and stared at the light. All of a sudden his face got dark. I had seen a face like that before. I had seen the same face on Nina. Of course since that day Nina acted weird she had called off sick from work. I hadn't seen her again to ask her what that was about. I remembered the face though. The Bull had on the same face that Nina had on. He looked at the light almost with this...distaste. That was the only way I could describe it. It was probably the same expression that I would have used if I saw a rodent or something unpleasant.

"Why don't you come closer?" I taunted him, "Why don't you come into the light...I can't hear what you were saying..."

The bull looked at me. He was standing in the darkness away from the light of the candle.

"You come to me."

His voice was different...deeper...darker...

Was this what Uri was referring to when he said there were things out there? This voice that was similar to the voice that I heard from Nina. It was almost as though the Bull wasn't himself any longer.

Someone else was there...something else...

"Sure, I"ll come to you."

I walked over to the candle and grabbed it. I took a few steps towards him testing this situation to understand if this was really just my imagination or not. No. It wasn't.

The Bull had taken a few steps back from the light.

He was retreating! He was fucking walking away from Uri's flame.

"Nevermind. Go to bed. It's late," he stated.

With that the Bull shut the door and I heard his footsteps walking down the hall away from me.

I slept with the candle extremely close that night and lay in the bed. It was at that moment that I realized the darkness that Uri was talking about was closer to home than I ever thought possible.

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