Before I exited the school I took a breath, Parker stood beside me. It was sunny and beautiful outside. The sounds of birds chirping made me take in the scene and the sounds.

Maybe it was the fact that I knew my time was short that I took the time to appreciate the small things that I wouldn’t have noticed before. I breathed in the air and exhaled.

I searched for Joey and found him leaning against his car checking his watch, then as if sensing my presence his eyes lifted to mine.

No matter how much I wanted to resist what I felt for him. The moment his gaze locked with mine, I felt it stir inside me like a storm. Leaving me breathless and unsteady. Joey straightened up but remained where he was. I took a steady breath, trying to shut down what he brought to life in me.

I took the first step down as I began to put the conversation we were going to have in my head. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him but I couldn’t allow him to believe there was a chance for us. Damien owned my heart. It was that simple. No matter what Joey made me feel, it didn’t compare to how Damien moved my world.

“Go easy on him,” Parker murmured beside me.

He loved his friend and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Joey but I couldn’t allow him to believe that we had a future when we didn’t. If he believe he had a chance he would continue to hold out for me. I couldn’t do that to him.

“I will,” I murmured softly very aware of how Joey watched my approach and the flutter inside me.

It was the sense of something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on that stopped me on the second step as I pulled my attention from Joey to stare into the distance opposite to where Joey stood. I saw Damien. He stood with his arms stiff at his side, his eyes on me. I felt a moment of relief at the unexpected sight of him.

My heart inflated with so much emotion it was hard not to allow it overpower everything else. My relief was all consuming, the same as my feelings for my guardian angel. The one who had saved me. It was hard to look at him now and see the demon who had tormented me for so many years.

I was still thinking about what I had been through when I noticed the sky began to darken. Fear raced down my spine at the realization that the moment had been dreading, had finally arrived. I was fixed to the spot unable to move. Immovable. I couldn’t run or hide. There was no choice but to face what was to come.

I couldn’t say a word or cry out to Damien before the clouds swirled into darkness. Leave lifted off the ground and the wind twirled them up high as the darkness grew, so thick it blocked everything from sight.

“Oh no,” Parker murmured beside me. “Tessa.”

We had no plan, no way to stop the Reaper. I was going to die.

“What do we do?” I could hear the panic in Parker’s voice.

Damien appeared in front of me, taking me by surprise. I wanted to believe there was something he could do, but I knew I was doomed. We hadn’t come up with a proper plan other than the one of killing me and then bringing me back. There was no way to know if it was going to work.

“There’s no time,” he said hurriedly. His hands on my arms.

Just over his shoulder I could see the Reaper step out of the darkness. The mark on my arm warmed and with each step the Reaper drew closer it grew warmer.

I wanted to run, panic gripped me but I couldn’t move. With each step the Reaper came closer I could feel my hope start to weaken. The hope that I would find a way to survive like I had the last seven years.

I couldn’t think of what would happen if I died. All I could think about was how my grandmother would take it. She would be alone.

Damien. My mind screamed what my mouth couldn’t.

The darkness approached with the Reaper. Closer and closer.

“I will save you,” Damien whispered. I wanted to trust that he could but the fear in his eyes revealed he wasn’t convinced.

“Just like we talked about.” His hands lifted from my arms to my wrap slowly around my throat. “Don’t be scared,” he soothed.

He was trying to keep me calm but there was nothing calm about what was happening. I wanted to believe this was going to work.

“I will bring you back,” he vowed.

I wanted to close my eyes and hold onto his voice. I had was scared that these were our last moments.

In that moment all I could think about was all the things we would never get to experience together if he couldn’t save me. A tear slid down my face.

His eyes followed the tear before he lifted his gaze to meet mine. “I will save you.”

It was silent. A quick look across Damien’s other shoulder, and I could see Joey fixed to the spot staring, unseeing at me. At least he was safe from the Reaper.

Then Damien’s hand began to tighten on my throat. He cut off the air as he stared deep into my eyes. Everything else fell away when my lungs burned for air. Right then, the Reaper was forgotten, the only thing that matter was being able to breathe. I couldn’t even claw at his strong hands to suck in air desperately. It was instinctual for my survival.

Damien’s eyes began to glow, the flames grew. His forehead creased as he continued to suffocate me.

Dots appeared in my vision. I needed air but Damien wouldn’t relent.

His eyes grew more red, the flames higher. The veins is face glowed red beneath his skin. It was demon part of him coming out. His expression changes from concerned to satisfaction. His smile triumphant.

Parker stood oblivious on the other side, watching anxiously. His gaze moving from me to behind Damien where the Reaper was approaching.

I watched in horror as the angel in Damien vanished and all that remained was the evil that had haunted me over the years.

“It’s taken seven years but I will finally have finally completed my task,” he whispered beside me, low enough for only me to hear.

There was no time to take in the betrayal or think about the consequences of having trusted him when I shouldn’t have. He smiled.

My vision began blur and all I could think of was how I had been betrayed by the man I was in love with. He had gotten the ultimate revenge.

I had fallen in love with my enemy. That was my last thought before the darkness descended.

The next moment I was on the ground. Each sharp inhale of breath so heated lungs burned from the air. It smelled like death and sulphur. I dragged in another desperate breath despite the pain in my chest as the heat burned my lungs.

I hunched over, and dug my hands into the ground as I tried to inhale again. My lungs starved of air. They felt like they were on fire.

I coughed and spluttered. The pain was indescribable.

Where was I? As my lungs filled with hot burning air I stood, trying to get my bearings.

I remembered Damien. My hands went to my throat which was still tender. He had killed me.

If I was dead, it meant I was in hell.

It was then I took in my surroundings with a new kind of fear I had never experienced before. Every object looked like it was burning. Steam rising from my body was disconcerting.

Flames so high they licked the dark sky.

I was in hell.

Damien had tricked me. I felt betrayed and hurt.

There would be no escape. I was stuck here. Forever.

After seven years Damien had finally figured out a way to outsmart me and I had fallen for it so easily. I was disgusted with myself. How could I have been so foolish?

This mistake, would cost me everything.