Page 14 of Roman

He started down the stairs, Charlotte once again popping into his mind as he headed down a long corridor lit up by fluorescent lights.He peered into the empty, barred cells as he walked, trying to forget how warm her body had felt under his, how soft her breasts had been.The agonizing screams coming from the room at the far end caught his attention.

“I suppose it is like a dungeon.”He laughed to himself as he opened the door, stepping into the room.

It looked like a massacre had taken place, with blood streaked across the roof and walls.The two angels looked menacing, their backs facing him, and their black wings, splattered with blood, hung loosely down their backs, the ends trailing on the bloodied floor.They turned, grinning at Roman, giving him a glimpse of the demon, or more accurately, the human body the demon had possessed.

He was a dark-haired man, looking to be around thirty.Despite having his face beaten to a pulp, he was still laughing and grinning at them with his one good eye that hadn’t yet swollen shut.Magically enforced chains tied his hands and legs to a chair, and it appeared that the fallen angels had already used a pair of pliers to rip off all his fingernails.

“I thought I gave you strict instructions to wait till I got back,” Roman said, a little annoyed.

“We couldn’t help ourselves.”Phoenix grinned as they faced him.Blood splattered his sandy-colored hair, and his golden amber eyes glowed slightly with fire, which usually happened when the angel experienced any type of strong emotions.This mixture of blood, fiery eyes, and the scars on his face made him look frightening.

He must really be enjoying this.

“Come on, Roman.We thought you were going to be gone for hours.”Lucian smirked.His pitch-black hair clung to his head, and his face was streaked with blood as his ice-blue eyes glanced back toward the demon.Lucian had noticed the demon flinch, his smile slowly fading at the mention of Roman’s name.Lucian laughed.“That’s right.You did not know whose dungeon you were in, did you?”

“Please… I will tell you what you need to know.Just keep him away from me,” the demon whimpered.

Rumors of Roman’s torture techniques had made it all the way to the depths of Hell.His frustrations at not being able to get to Lucifer and make him pay for everything that had happened to him and his fellow fallen often made himmajorly lose his shit,as his brother liked to put it.

He would often tear demons to shreds, taking out thousands of years of anger on them.It wasn’t pretty, and it even made the other fallen angels squirm when his infamous temper reared its ugly head.Every few hundred years, he’d lose control and go on demon-hunting massacres.

Theserampages,as the angels liked to call them, were Roman’s most shameful moments.The amount of innocent possessed humans he had killed haunted him.They had ways of sending the demons back to Hell while saving the humans they possessed.But if Roman was in a mindless rage, he only saw the demon.

When they happened, he couldn’t control himself.No one could stop him.What even his brother didn’t know was that each time, it was getting harder and taking him longer to rein himself back in.He had been careful for the last century or more.He’d kept his inner beast in check.Kept it buried deep down inside of him.Until tonight… until Charlotte.

If only they really knew what I was.He quickly shook the thought away.

Roman stalked forward, memories flooding his mind, especially of his younger brother crawling out of the gates of Hell, covered in blood, his wingsgone.

He delivered a powerful blow, smashing his fist into the demon’s face, causing the chained chair to slide across the floor and hit the wall.The demon yelled in pain.

Calm your shit.Roman’s memories of the fall and his tortured brother brought his anger forth in waves.He was breathing heavily, his fists clenched so hard he thought he might break his own fingers.He could feel his eyes burning as they glowed the eerie red.

Roman realized Lucian and Phoenix had taken a few steps back.The few angels over the eons who’d tried to calm Roman down in his fits of rage had learned the hard way to just stand back and keep clear.

Twice now tonight, he’d lost his cool.He was beginning to feel agitated that he couldn’t keep his emotions in check.

“It’s okay,” he snapped, trying to get a grip.

“You sure, boss?”Phoenix asked wearily, the flames now gone from his eyes.

Roman took a deep breath.“Yes,” he answered, finally getting a hold of the anger, calming himself just enough that his eyes returned to normal as he walked toward the chained demon.

“Wait, wait!Just tell me what you want to know.I don’t want to go back to Hell,” he pleaded, his good eye slowly starting to swell shut.

“Why are there suddenly so many demons roaming the streets?What are you looking for?”he asked angrily.

The demon shook his head, whimpering.“No, no, no, no,” it muttered.

Roman punched it in the face, its head snapping back, hitting the brick wall.The sound of the bricks cracking made Roman smile.He was pretty sure he just fractured the demon’s skull.

There’s a person in there, remember?

“No more… no more.A girl, a girl, a girl,” the demon rambled.

Roman straightened, looking at the other angels.They both shrugged.

“That’s the first time it has said that,” Lucian told him.“We’ve been working on him for a bit, and he has given us nothing.”

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