บท 11: Surprise

When Eve returned to Earth, she noticed trails were created and the singing from the birds announced things were thriving. Looking around her, the number of trees were the same, but the people… when did population rise? She was only gone for a few days.

'So time is slower in Hell,' she thought with a frown before letting out a deep sigh.

She was tasked to find a man named Frank to impregnant multiple women. From the looks of it, she didn't think it was necessary since the amount of humans were increasing. Letting out a sigh, she strolled around aimlessly jumping rom shadows to shadows, or what little of it there were.

The sun was bright and the smell in the air was not scorched with death any longer. She grimaced at the thought that many years had passed since she was gone.

How strange time moves.

Hidden in the alcove of bushes, she saw her target smiling at a woman. Said woman looked happy with him and Eve spotted the ring on their fingers. Small and almost missed, but it was there and she felt her heart ache at the future that did not come for her and Adam.

Her light brown eyes watched as the man and woman walked by her hand in hand, as if the world spun just for them.

'Young love,' she thought as both man and woman were in their early twenties.

'Why Frank? Why not some other man?' She wondered.

'Does it matter?' She could hear her father retort with a shrug, 'All humans are the same.'

'Yet he was still chosen,' Eve let out a sigh and forced herself to follow the couple.

Eve slinked into Frank's shadow and whispered against the shell of his ear causing the man to shiver.

"Look at that woman," Eve seduced with her words, "Such a figure would entice any man. You want a taste, just a small one. She wouldn't mind. She does not need to know."

Frank looked over to the woman who smiled at him in return.

"Ah, look how she smiles at you, wishing you would go over and take her. She wouldn't be the only one, would she?" Eve finished with her finger trailing down his back and disappeared as he turned.

"What's wrong dear?" Frank's lover asked with concern.

"N… Nothing," Frank shook his head and offered a smile to his wife as they went to their home.

Eve watched them go as she took shelter in the shade of the lone tree on the hill. Frank was an easy man to corrupt and maybe that was why her father chose him out of the many that were still alive. She kept a vigilant watch on him as the sun slowly set over the mountains.

She needed to find out who this demon was that was trying to overthrow her father. Could it be one of the higher-ranking demons? Maybe Lilith, the demon who her father never chose.

Revenge perhaps?

The flapping of wings was heard beside her and she felt her heartrate picked up. The movement of the wings caused a flow of wind rushing past her hair and played with it before flying off. Turning her head to the newcomer, she felt her lips curled immediately from who she saw.

Standing before her was the angel she was hoping for. Was this a reward for doing what she agreed to?

"Eve," the angel spoke, and she reached out to him.

He reached back.

"Would you remove your hood, Adam?" she said softly wanting and waiting for this for so long.

"I need to know Eve," the angel squeezed her hand, "Why you chose me to love?"

Eve could feel her heart stuttered and her lips dried as the question bounced in her mind. Why did she choose him? She knew that saying she loves him would not suffice for an answer. Gulping down her nerves, she stepped closer to him with her fingers wrapped tightly around his.

"You saw… the first time we ever met," she said slowly and the angel nodded, "You saw what I did, what I could do."

Another nod.

"I was just… so lonely and you were there," she wasn't looking at him as she spoke, "I just wanted a friend. Someone who didn't care that I was a demon."

She paused and bit her bottom lip as she remembered her past.

"I admit I didn't think that I would love you. I just wanted to learn from you and… and be friends with you," she admitted and stepped closer with her eyes to the blades of grass.

"But when you touched my hand," she looked at their hands intertwined together, "It was like I knew how to BE," she let out a laugh, "Sounds so cliché, doesn't it?"

"Would it be any different if it was another boy instead of me who would take your hand?" The angel questioned and his tone told her he wasn't convinced.

"I don't know," she admitted looking into the blur of a face, "I just know that I love you so deeply it is etched into my bones and imprinted in my soul."

The fluttering of a butterfly greeted them with its midnight blue wings dipped with the color of the sun. Flapping around them as if to observe if what she said was true, the butterfly landed on their joined hands. Its legs were barely felt as the butterfly bounced slightly before taking flight again. Off it went and Eve followed the butterfly until it disappeared between the bushes a foot away.

When she turned back to look at the angel, she no longer saw a blur face. What greeted her was beautiful blue eyes and hair the color of sunflowers. Though his appearance changed from his previous life, she would always know it was him through his smile. Dimples and a slight upturn of his right compared to his left lips were what stood out to her.

Always.

"Adam," she breathed out with a smile gracing her lips.

"Even in death," he said gently as he lifted her hand up to his lips, "I cannot escape you."

Lips so soft against the back of her fingers as he kissed them.

"Do you… do you wish-" she hesitated and he touched her forehead to his.

"No," he whispered and she kissed him like she was dying to live again, that his lips would save her.

Before she could enjoy the shared kiss further, she felt a prickle at the back of her neck causing her to become alert. Pulling away, she glanced at the house of Frank to see him leaving his home. Still keeping Adam close to her, she could feel it in the air.

Something wasn't right.

As she thought this, the slash, almost invisible by it's quickness, caught Frank and he fell.

Eyes widened, she quickly teleported to that location of Frank who laid dead on the ground. Narrowing her eyes, she looked around trying to find the culprit. A shift of the light and she rushed to it, only to see the robe.

White and bordered gold.

"He is no longer alive," she heard Adam say and she turned to him.

"Did you know this would happen? Did you set me up!" She screamed aloud as her eyes teared up from frustration and anger. It felt like a knife was twisting in her core and he was hold it.

"No!" Adam grabbed her hands and held them tight, "No, I did not know what is happening. I swear to you."

Closing her eyes, Eve wanted to believe him. She did! Yet… who could that person be? Human? Angel? Demon?

'Why do this?'

"We will figure this out, Eve. I promise," Adam whispered against her face and she found herself agreeing.

"Please don't break my heart," she whispered quietly as her hand touched his face.

"Isn't that my line?" he joked and kissed her.

She delved into the kiss and ignored the bubbles of thoughts knocking at the forefront of her mind. Ignored the way her breath hitched and the way her body flushed.

'I trust you,' she told herself as she held onto Adam, 'Even if it is you who kills me.'