03. The Green-Eyed Stranger

ERIN

He scowled on seeing me, a deep frown that narrowed his brows. I wondered what he was going to do to me now – I just saw him smash a chair with minimal effort.

I quickly rose from my crouched position, getting up on my feet and gulped, swallowing nothing. "H–hello, I just uhm…I got lost." Nervousness gripped my throat, and I just spluttered whatever blabber that came to my lips.

However, to my surprise, he simply scoffed, shrugging his shoulders in unconcern and then he looked away from me. 

    I released a breath I didn't know I was holding when I was free from his intense stare and then I could finally have an inner gush about how beautiful his eyes were.

Sea–green aquamarine eyes, they shone like two emerald crystals yet held attached to their gaze, a sinister appeal. Yet, they were the most gorgeous pair of eyes I had ever seen, adding even more to the mystique of his enigmatic aura.

I figured that I should be leaving now and returning back to the ball, Alpha Axel may have returned by now and I need to relay my message and start heading home.

   But just as I was about to leave, something on the man's hand caught my eye. A splinter of wood.

It was stuck in his palm and I could see it sticking out, blood dripping from the injury as well. Was he not feeling the pain?

I changed my mind, deciding to walk up to where he stood at the middle of perimeter. He turned to face my direction as soon as he heard my footsteps, his scowl deepened even further at my nearing presence.

I got to him, picking up his injured hand. Now that I was closer, I saw that he had busted knuckles too.

They were freshly bruised and stained with blood, definitely indicating that he had either gotten into a fight or punched something hard.

"It's bleeding. You have a splinter." I pointed out and he looked down on it, showing no reaction whatsoever. "Your knuckles are also bruised, did you fight?"

He didn't say anything and instead flicked his hand away from mine. All he did was wipe away the dripping blood with his other palm and went back to smoking.

I furrowed my brows, wondering what kind of stoic person this man was, what his father must've said to upset him so much? What had caused his busted knuckles? And why he didn't even bother to take out the splinter?

I looked up at him, the smoke from his cigarette emitting and quickly fizzling away in the chilling night air.

He seemed present yet so far away, those green eyes of his stared blankly at the night sky, not even paying mind that I was right beside him.

All he did was take in drags of the cigar, puff out the smoke, insert it back between his lips and repeat.

 

I have never smoked before, my father has a strict policy against vices like this that I have to follow.

However, I've always been inquisitive – they say it makes you so high that you can temporarily forget about your problems. How much power does it have?

"Why do you smoke?" I asked. A moment passed and he didn't even make a move, his eyes still remained fixed at the moon.

"To forget about my worries." He answered, his back still turned against me and the first time he had uttered a word since we met.

His words confirmed the popular notion from people about smoking and his voice was low and measured. It was hoarse, like a stone grinding against the floor but in a nice way – those were the only words I could use to describe the flow of his voice.

"Can I have a go?" I don't know if it was the four shots of whiskey I downed in a space of twenty minutes, or I was just feeling generally rebellious today, but why had I just offered to smoke a stranger's cigarette?

He craned his head to look at me, his brows constricted as he eyed me with caution. Despite how intimidating and disapproving his gaze was, I wasn't relenting – I wanted that cigar.

He shrugged his shoulders again and simply stretched the cigarette to me. I looked down at it, now feeling nervous and apprehensive at my impulse decision.

Well, it was too late to back down now so I mentally sighed, bracing myself for what I was about to do.

With a slight tremble in my hands, I took the cigarette and inserted it between my lips. I mimicked what I had seen him do, so I took in a drag.

I kid you not, immediately I did that, it felt like smoke from an exhaust pipe filled up my throat, tightening it up and restricting my air flow.

I was choked and began coughing, spitting out the cigarette as I did so.

"What the fuck? Have you never smoked before?" He exclaimed, stepping backwards from me as I started to cough feverently.

I motioned to my mouth, gesturing to the cup, "Wa..ter." I managed to croak out amidst the coughing.

I saw hesitation and reluctance play in his cold, green eyes for a minute before he turned around and ran down the stairs – hopefully going to get me water and not leave me alone to die.

   My chest was irritated and it gave a stinging feeling as I struggled for breath, dribbling out saliva, nearly coughing out my lungs. What was taking him so long? And why was he hesitant to go get me water in the first place?

At that moment, he came back in with a glass of water. The instant he approached me, I yanked the glass from him and downed the water immediately, not caring that a complete stranger had given it to me and it could be drugged for all I knew.

I gulped the whole thing and let out a breath as I was done, my chest heaving as I panted. "Thank you." I said, stretching the glass to him.

He gave a small nod and reached for it. As he collected the glass from me, his hand brushed mine and at that moment, my amulet began to glow.

"Interesting." He said, his attention attracted by the glowing, lavender light. His expression however, betrayed any signs of amusement.

I nodded and looked down at the amulet, clutching it, and I wondered why it was glowing at such a time. Magnus didn't tell me about it, had I done something to trigger it?

I released the necklace, averting my gaze from it and was back to facing the angry stranger and those eyes of his.

I would gladly talk about how gorgeous those green orbs of his were forever, should eternity permit me.

Remembering that I had been staring at him for a bit too long, I cleared my throat and spoke, "Uh…thank you for the water." I said awkwardly, rubbing my upper arm.

He arched his brows, "You've said that twice." I felt my cheeks flush red in embarrassment as he pointed it out.

I gave a nervous chuckle, "Well…uh, yeah. I'm just saying that again because you—"

"Okay." He intercepted my statement abruptly – rudely too, if I may add, and I gave a small frown. "Next time, just learn to smoke a cigar first."  He added, finally collecting the outstretched glass from me.

   With that, he turned around to face the dark horizon of the night sky again. Only that this time, he had no cigar and all he did was simply stare into the darkness again.

The wind of the night whistled in the air as it blew, the breeze hitting my skin and rustling my hair. I stood behind him, watching him closely and seeing as his amusing white hair ruffled in the wind.

I knew he was done talking to me, but for some reason, I felt unsatisfied with the way our conversation ended. I wanted to speak with him some more.

He seemed interesting yet mysterious. He appeared deeply layered, covering up so many things deep inside and only letting out the surface. Barely so, even.

I knew I wouldn't be able to uncover anything about him tonight, but there seemed to be something inside me that was nagging me to know more about him.

I pushed a strand away from my face and stepped forward to him, "What is your name?" I asked, inwardly praying for his response.

He tilted his head around to look at me and then his eyes centered on me again, "Axel." He simply said and looked away.

My eyes widened in realization immediately when he said that name. It was him! He was the one throwing this ball and also the one who I had heard his name in my vision.

The one who would die tomorrow!

"You're the one who is hosting this ball? Where have you been? Why not attend your own gathering?" I questioned, unable to control my apprehension and anxiety and I let the emotions seep into my tone.

My eyes lowered and I looked down at him, noting his sandals and creased shift again, clearly seeing he wasn't even interested in going for the ball. "And why aren't you dressed for it?"

He turned fully to look at me, and the expression on his face had changed from an emotionless deadpan to a scowl of growing annoyance.

"Because I don't want to attend it. I didn't throw the ball, my father did." He answered in a stern and curt tone, the coldness in his eyes seemed to have grown even more sinister.

I didn't mind that he seemed angry, my curiosity prompted me to know exactly what had happened.

"So he forcefully wants to select a mate for you?"

He stared at me with a gaze that shot daggers and I found myself taking a cautious step backwards.

"You ask too many questions. It's bothersome." He said, his voice streaked with annoyance. 

I sighed – so much for hoping for an answer. Nevertheless, none of that mattered.

The most important thing was that I told him about what was going to happen tomorrow. However, seeing the kind of person he is, would he believe me?

Well, I won't know if I don't try.

"Axel, I have something important to tell you and I don't know if you may be able to beli—" In that moment, the strangest thing happened. It seemed like I was temporarily snapped out of reality and to a subconscious state at the back of my head.

There, I saw Magnus, and he had an angry frown on his face and a menacing red glow in his eyes.

The expression on his face sent fearful shivers down my spine as I instantly recognized it, it was the look on his face whenever he was possessed by the Demon and about to get violent.

As quickly as I had been snapped out, I was suddenly returned back to reality within a split–second and once more, it was Axel in front of me. What had happened?

He had his arms crossed, an impatient glower on his face. "I do not have all day now, you had better spit out whatever you have to say."

"Right. I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to me." I gave another nervous laugh and quickly apologized, cleared my throat and began speaking again, "I had a vision last night, tomorrow you're going to —"

At that moment, the amulet began to glow an almost–blinding light, much brighter than before and I shut my eyes.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, I started hearing voices in my head. It was Magnus.

"Erin!"

"Erin!"

"Erin!"

His angered voice continually yelled my name and it overwhelmed my senses, occupied my brain and the loud timbre of his voice in my head reverberated in me.

I slapped my two hands against my ears, shutting them and I let out a scream, "Leave me alone, Magnus!" I yelled, but instead the voices got louder.

   I couldn't take it anymore and I ran, quickly going down the stairway and away from Axel.