Fallen from Grace

Chapter IV

It had been a little over a week since Eleanora had sold her soul and the Devil became her friend. Apollyon was a very curious person if that's what you could call him. Whenever he came across something, he asks her what it was. He was rather intrigued by how a drinking fountain worked. Eleanora had him try it out and found it hilarious how he didn't understand how to drink from it.

It ends up that Apollyon was instantly coined 'The Bad Boy' while he didn't bother to interact with anyone at school besides Eleanora. She told him that he could go and make friends, but he'd simply pull a face at the suggestion, telling her that they weren't worth his time. When Eleanora had asked him if she was, he'd reminded her that he was bound by the contract.

He seemed like any other 17-year-old guy. Ate, drank, sat and talked like one, however, he was nowhere close to an average 17-year-old. He was unimaginably powerful and could make you relive your worst memories, he could alter your memories and twist your thoughts. He would see a person's life expectancy and their souls. One look at a person and Apollyon could write a whole biography on them.

The day after her soul was sold, she came home to find Mrs. Scott talking and laughing with Apollyon. Mrs. Scott introduced the two, but Apollyon informed her that he studied at Eleanora's school. Her landlady enlightened her about the fact that Apollyon Masters had bought the apartment directly above hers and just one floor below Elliot's.

The Devil apparated to her apartment whenever he felt like it, and even when he was at her apartment, he would apparate from one place to the other inside the adobe. Like he would often apparate from her bedroom to the kitchen, then to the couch, and then back to her bedroom. It annoyed her to no end, but she couldn't exactly do anything about it.

Currently, Eleanora had just woken up from a nap and trudged to her washroom to wash her face. Turning on the faucet, she watched the water run for a second before gathering it in her hands and splashing it on her face. She momentarily glanced into her mirror and jumped back in fright as Apollyon was looking back at her from the mirror with an amused expression.

"God! Don't do that!" She exclaimed as she felt her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Shaking her head, she turned off the faucet and turned to face him, but found them to be standing extremely close, staring at her from a few inches away. Her cheeks heated a little as she sighed. "Apollyon, we've talked about this. Personal space?"

"Right." He nodded as he took a step back to give her the space she needed. "My apologies."

"What's up?" She asked as she wiped her face with the towel.

"Well..." He started as he looked up a the ceiling. "There is the ceiling, then above that is 'my' apartment, then above that is Elliot dancing in some shorts-"

"-Apollyon!" She interjected. "When I asked 'what's up' I mean 'how are you?'. It doesn't mean that you literally tell me what is above you."

"Oh...Right." He understood.

"Wait...Is Elliot really dancing in his shorts?" She inquired as a smile was threatening to spill.

"Yes...To an upbeat song. 'Bringing Sexy back'." He informed as he looked up again.

"Okay." She laughed before walking out the washroom, Apollyon following her. He looked at her curiously as she got under her blanket again, cocooning herself in the warmth that still remained. He gave her a puzzled look as she chuckled and patted the spot vacant of her presence.

"I don't understand." He informed her as he stood on the opposite side of the bed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Sit down?" She questioned in amusement. "Don't worry, I won't bite."

"I am not concerned with you biting me." He spoke while rolling his eyes. "I want to understand why you are asking for me to sit down beside you. Weren't you particular about 'personal space'?" He inquired curiously as he sat down on the bed, bouncing slightly in his spot.

"Well, asking someone to sit down is ethical and basic manners for when you have someone over unless you are really frank with that person and that person doesn't need you to be mannered with them and simply do what they want."

"What do you call those people?" Apollyon inquired curiously as he leaned back against the headboard.

"Best friends." She laughed. "There is a difference between best friends and just friends."

"Like what?" He inquired as he sat up and removed his leather jacket, tossing it to the end of the bed as he resumed his position against the headboard.

"Like..." Eleanora trailed as she watched the curious expression on his face. "Like a friend would save the last slice of pizza for you, while the best friends eat the last slice and laugh in your face. A friend would ring the doorbell before entering whereas a best friend would come uninvited. A friend would ask your permission before taking something from your refrigerator, while it is because of your best friend that you don't have any food in your fridge. And a friend would borrow your stuff for a couple of days and return it, whereas a best friend loses your stuff and tells you that they have no idea where they put it. But at the end of the day, you don't get angry at them, and simply roll your eyes because you love them."

"So...what are we?" Apollyon inquired as he kicked off his shoes and sat on the bed with his legs folded beneath him. "Because I come in uninvited. I don't bother to ask for your permission to eat your food, and well...I've never borrowed anything of yours, but to be truthful, I'm sure I would lose it."

Eleanora thought silently for a moment as she pondered her words. He was right, his actions were very much like one of the best friends, and he wasn't anywhere close to as polite and cordial as a friend, so...what was he?

"Um...What do you want to be?" She inquired instead. "A friend or Best friend?"

"Hmm..." He pondered silently as he lay down on his stomach beside Eleanora. "I think...let time decide. We agreed on friends, but who knows, maybe it evolves to something more?"

Eleanora laughed at his words as he chuckled himself. He lay down his head on the pillow beside her's as he racked his eyes over her features.

"You humans are such a peculiar thing. So broken, so flawed and a murderous species. " He mused as he watched her blink. "My father's creation that had me thrown out of heaven."

Eleanora felt a sense of guilt as she knew that he was God's angel, but was thrown out because he didn't agree with humans being held in higher regard.

"I'm sorry." He looked at her in confusion as she spoke those words, his gaze hardening once the words left her mouth.

"Once again, you humans are such peculiar things." He growled before vanishing from his place on her bed, leaving Eleanora to stare at an empty spot where he lay just a few seconds ago.

Sighing, she shifted to be laying on her back before deciding to go about her usual routine. Eleanora completed the remainder of her homework before she tutored the students she usually did. Finally, once she was done with the students, she cleaned her apartment before finally deciding on what to make for dinner.

She had just started to cut the vegetables when she felt a sudden chill wash over her. Momentarily she glanced over her shoulder and shrieked in fright and pain as she accidentally cut a deep gash on her hand, clutching it in the other one in hopes to stem the blood flow.

"Apollyon." She moaned in pain just as she placed her bleeding hand under the water.

"Do you know why God cast me down?" He questioned her as he watched her with a blank expression, and she looked back in confusion at his question. "Because I loved him. More than anything. And then, God created...you. The little...hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before you to love you more than him. And I said 'Father...I can't.' I said, 'These human beings...are flawed, murderous.' And for that...God had my brother, Micheal, cast me into Hell."

Eleanora stared at him with disbelief as her mouth fell slightly open with her hand still stuck beneath the water, the blood tainting it a dull red.

"Now tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially when I was right?" He inquired calmly as he stepped towards her, placing a finger on her arm as the cut sealed, not even leaving a scar behind. "Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing. And how many of you blame me for it."

It fell deadly silent after that, they could hear the seconds tick by from the clock that hung in the kitchen. Apollyon looked at Eleanora, waiting for her to respond to him, but she just stared in shock for a moment, before taking her hand out from beneath the water.

"Apollyon..." She trailed softly and reached out to touch his face, but he simply scowled at the hand, looking at with an accusatory glare before turning his cold gaze towards her.

"Don't." He growled ferociously. "I am only here because we have a deal. I have to be your friend for the remainder of your life, which I can see is a long time." He chuckled humorlessly.

"I wish that you die, soon." He informed with a hard glint in his eyes, not a sadistic one like she would expect. "I wish that you die soon, and painfully."

With that, he vanished once more.

**

Eleanora sat alone in class, taking notes, but her mind was elsewhere. The conversation she had last night with Apollyon haunted her in her dreams and while she was awake. It repeated itself like a broken tape recorder in her mind. His words didn't let her sleep, nor concentrate at all on what was being taught.

Today she had a short day, so after her classes finished, she went over to her locker. While she was taking out her books, a guy approached her with a flirtatious smile.

"Hey, beautiful." He greeted flirtatiously as Eleanora rolled her eyes.

"Dylan." She responded monotonously. Dylan was a guy who approached her every single day and asked her out. She always declined, but he just couldn't take a hint. "Listen. Let's not do this today. I'm tired and I just want to go home."

"Oh." He realized, feeling slightly disheartened before perking up. "Maybe I could give you a ride?"

"No...." Eleanora trailed uncomfortably. "It's okay. I have my way home."

"Come on. Let me drive you home."

"It's okay, Dylan." She spoke uncomfortably. "I am fine. Really."

"Please. I insist." He pleaded, taking a step towards her. "Come on, it'll be worth your time."

Eleanora's face heated at his words and just as she opened her mouth to retort to him, a hand slammed into the locker between the two, causing both of them to jump back in fright. Everyone's attention was redirected to the two at the noise as Apollyon stood menacingly in front of Dylan.

"Are you deaf?" He growled at Dylan. "I think she has been repeatedly saying 'no' to your good for nothing offer."

"A-Apollyon." He stuttered nervously and backed away in fright. "I haven't seen you all day."

"Good thing, too," Apollyon growled. He seemed just about ready to punch Dylan but simply scowled at him as Eleanora had pinched the fabric of his leather jacket, gently tugging at it to urge him to get going and leave him alone.

Without saying anything, he turned on his heel and marched away from him with Eleanora walking beside him, everyone whispering secretively.

Both of them stepped out of the school building and into the parking lot as Apollyon walked over to his Harley Davidson Fat Boy, assuming that Eleanora was right behind him. He turned around to give her the helmet but was surprised to find empty air. Looking around, he finally spotted Eleanora halfway across the parking lot and heading towards the sidewalk.

"Eleanora!" He called out to her as she didn't falter in her steps. Groaning, he apparated in front of her and prevented her from leaving by spreading out his arms to cage her. "Let's get you home."

"No." She shook her head while clutching the books closer to her chest and taking a step back. "You can't do this."

"Do what?"

"You can't simply leave me guilty and bothered by your words and then act like everything is okay." She informed him, glaring at his chest. "It's not okay! I know how it feels to be unloved and unwanted. Believe me, I do. And it's not okay to be best friends with the freaking Devil!"

"I am being patient with you. Answering every single question you have as best as I can, and I want to help you, but how can I if you continuously have these frightening mood swings? One minute you're laughing with me and the next second you look like you're about to show me my worst nightmare again. You can't hold their death over my head! I was only 6! I didn't do it!"

"Don't you think that I wish that I had died there with them? So that I didn't have to be continuously shifted from one orphanage to the other because no one wanted me? I have been a freak my entire life, and I just want it all to stop." She spoke quietly. "Don't you think I miss them? They were my only family. I don't even want to celebrate my birthday because they aren't there!"

"I already have enough screwed up s**t to deal with, and I honestly can't handle your attitude any longer," Eleanora whispered softly as tears started to fall down her cheeks. "I am giving you what you want."

"You're free. No contract. No friendship. Nothing." She continued as the tears streamed down. "You can keep my soul for all I care. But you can leave me."

"Consider my soul as a parting gift." She murmured, not even meeting his gaze for a second as she sidestepped his large build and hurriedly walked away.

Apollyon stood still in his place, looking at the spot she had been, just a few moments ago. 'She wouldn't even look at me, she was that repulsed by me', he thought silently. 'Why do I have to make everyone I care about hate me? Why does everyone I care about, leave me?'

He had a poker face sported on his face as he stuffed his hands into his pocket. Silently he walked over to his Davidson and picked up the helmet that lay on the seat. Slightly turning it, he looked at his reflection in the glass, seeing his eyes flash to their black and red before returning back to normal. Scowling at the helmet, he threw it to the side with such force that the glass broke.

Mounting his bike, he started the ignition and drove out of the parking lot, and in the opposite direction of where Eleanora had disappeared. The engine's roar reverberating throughout the street.