Chapter 4

Delway, North Carolina 2055

Caspian

I woke up to someone screaming. I bolted up and my eyes flashed around. The girl had screamed. I relaxed and sat up. “Hello there.” I said. The girl looked terrified, well that was to be expected. She was probably wondering why I didn’t kill her. “Hi.” She said. I needed to make it clear that she was my prisoner, so she didn’t try to run away because then I would have to hurt her and I really didn’t want to do that. I had to bring her to the council, there was something about her I couldn’t place, but even if there wasn’t that, she did try to kill me and I wasn’t going to kill her. I also couldn’t leave her for Lydiana, she was vicious and cruel, I couldn’t let her experience that painful death. “I’m sure you have lots of questions, but let me make this clear, you are my prisoner and I intend to make you suffer for your feeble attempt to kill me.” I said. The girl just sat there staring at me. “Do you have any questions? Now would be the time to ask.” I told her. She opened her mouth, she probably had tons of questions, but what she asked surprised the shit out of me. “Who are you?” I blinked, what? Did I hear that right, no one had ever asked me that before, not that I've really talked to a human before, but still. This was one strange human. I wondered what her name was. “My name is Caspian.” I said. The girl just sat there, it looked like she was lost in her thoughts, she also had a silly cute grin on her face. Then I left the room, she could ask more questions later. A minute later I heard he screaming for me to come back because she had more questions, I smirked. I needed to come up with a plan on how to do this. I plopped down on the couch and turned the TV on, I grimaced at the sight, Lydiana had been busy, three more cities were demolished. I stared at the cold, dead bodies, it was a sad sight, that's why I used bombs, there was no evidence left. I switched the channel to a movie about a detective, then started thinking about a plan. Eventually, I fell asleep at some point and when I woke back up it was the next day. I through a white shirt on, that was lying on the table, then I got up from the couch and went over to the bedroom, where the girl was. She blinked tiredly as I walked in, I had forgotten to untie her from the bed, she was still bound. I walked over at sat at the edge of the bed next to her and undid the ties. She placed her hand in her lap and rubbed her probably sore wrists, I felt guilty for hurting her. She turned to me. "Why did you bandage me?" She asked, confusion in her voice, her head tilted in wonder. "Because you were injured." I simply said, it was true she had been injured, but I also didn't want her in pain. She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you intended to make me suffer." She said, skeptically. "I do, but I can't do that if you're dead, it could have gotten infected." I said. Lie. I didn't intend to make her suffer at all, but I was not telling her that, nope, she would run away and I didn't want her to, for obvious reasons and one I didn't want to admit to myself. She nodded then asked. "Why? Why did you take me prisoner and where are you taking me and what are you going to do to me?" She asked. “Because you tried to kill me and now you will suffer, I will bring you to the council and they will decide your fate. It will take about a month or two to get there. I have never killed a human directly before and I ran out of bombs, so I took you, prisoner. We will probably stay here for a week or more.” I said then got up and left the room. It was getting late, and I should probably make food, I could last a bit without any, but humans were more delicate than angels. I heard some rustling around in the bedroom, she better not be trying to escape, not like she could accomplish it anyway, she had feet, I had wings, she couldn't outrun me, plus I could track her scent, which was actually really weird, not one human I had met had stood out to me but her. I took out some pots and pans and set them on the stove. I opened the cupboard and grabbed a box of spaghetti noodles, the went to the fridge and got some meatballs and sauce. I set everything up and waited for it all to heat up then placed the food in. Once it was all settled I went to go check on the human, the shower was running in the bathroom, I suspected she was in there. I knocked on the door, no one answered, I knocked more. Dang it, did she run away? There was a window in there. I took a step back and kicked the door down, the wood splinted and I stepped in. "Human!" I shouted, where did she go, I didn't see anything, I hoped she was ok, really Caspian? She probably ran away. Then a voice screamed and the shower curtain fell down and someone landed in a heap on the ground wrapped up in the curtain. The girls face peeked out, she was covered in soap, she looked at me horrified. I held in my laughter, she looked adorable, I was happy she hadn't tried to run, well at least not yet. Then I remembered humans, were very sensitive about nakedness, she was covered, but still, she was probably uncomfortable, I stiffened and took a few steps back, but before I could exit, she brought her emerald eyes to my face and smiled. "Hey." She said. “I couldn’t find you, I thought you might have run off, now I have seen that you didn’t, um finish up, I made dinner.” And with that I left, shutting the remainder of the door and going back to the kitchen. I finished up most the food, only the pasta was still cooking, I slowly stirred it. About a minute later I heard footsteps approaching. I turned around to find the girl, I laughed. She was wearing a large man's shirt as a dress with a belt, and her golden hair was in a messy bun. She still looked beautiful, she would look beautiful no matter what she wore. I glanced at her and laughed again, it was funny looking on her petite body, she was tall for a girl but the original owner must have been like seven feet. “What are you wearing?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. She ducked her head, biting her lip. “I, there was no other clothes so I, improvised?” She said, looking embarrassed. She walked and stood next to. “Whatcha making?” I asked. “Pasta.” I told her. “Oh, also my name’s not human, it’s Adelina.” She said. “Adelina.” I repeated, slowly sounding it out, it was beautiful. I nodded. “You can go sit down, the food's done.” I said. “Ok.” She went over to the table and sat down. I scooped the noodles into a big bowl and put the sauce in it came over to the table with a bowl. I had put a bunch of small meatballs scattered around the pasta as well. I set a plate in front of her and scooped some on my plate and handed her a fork. “Thanks.” She said, smiling. I sat next to her and got a plateful for myself. “Caspian.” She said, biting her lip again, I had noticed she did that when she was nervous or sad. I looked at her. “Yeah?” “I’m sorry I tried to kill you.” She said, not meeting my eyes. Was she still hung up on that? I had forgotten a long time ago, well like yesterday. “It’s in the past, it’s not like others haven’t before.” I said I was used to it by now, there was always ambushes. “Others have?” She asked, her voice almost breaking. I nodded. “I didn’t want to do it. In the town we have this forced lottery and I was chosen along with this guy but he killed himself. I had a sort of plan, but as you know that did not go as planned. I’m so sorry, I know sorry doesn’t cut it, but I am, I never even harmed a single thing before. I didn’t want to hurt you, or anyone else.” She said a few tears slipping down her face. I knew she was forced, poor thing, I brushed the tears off her face, resting my hand on her soft cheek for a brief second, I didn't understand why some humans were so cruel. “There is no use in feeling sorry or crying, I told you it’s forgotten and forgiven. You never know how long you are going to live. You mine as well live it to the fullest, because what is the point of living the rest of it unhappy.” I said, that's how I liked to think about if I actually could have a life, and if I could actually get out of this, which was not very likely. She stared at me. “I kind of get why you are exterminating us.” She said. I stared at her, was she insane. “Some of us are cruel, violent, disastrous. Me included.” She said, the latter so quietly I could hardly hear. How could she think that? She did not deserve to die. Then she stood up. “I’m going to sleep now.” Adelina said, walking in the direction of the bedroom. I sighed, then cleaned everything up, once I was done I went to go check on her. She was nowhere in sight. Seriously? She picked now to run. I let out a frustrated yell and dashed out the open window and spread my wings, I quickly caught her sent. I could hear the rustling in one of the trees. I landed and took out my dagger, I was going to regret this, but I had to teach her a lesson so she didn't run away again. I threw the dagger and there was a sharp scream, and a body fell out of the tree. I felt so guilty. I went to go get her. She wasn't there. I saw her running a bit up ahead, the dagger sticking out of her leg. I ran after her, then I saw her fall down the steep hill up ahead. Crap. I spread my wings out, beating them as fast a possible. I found her knocked out on the ground full of gashed, and the dagger was still in her leg, my chest ached. I picked her up carefully and flew back to the house. I carried her to the bathroom and filled the tub. I took her clothes off, leaving her underwear on and cleaned her up, took the dagger out, and bandaged her all up. After all of that, I laid her on the bed and tucked her in. Then I got all washed off. Once I was done, I laid down next to her on the bed, facing her. I reached out and touched her face, it almost looked like she was glowing. "I'm sorry." I whispered.