Devil's Advocate

When Angelique opened her eyes, she was having a hard time remembering what had happened. She was sitting up in a chair? Where was she? What had knocked her out? She went to move her hair out of her face, but found she couldn’t move her arms. That knocked the fog right off her brain. Struggling, she realized that her arms were bound behind her back, and her ankles were bound to the legs of the chair she sat on. Scott must have caught her.

She swore under her breath, doing everything she could to get free. She tried to stand, knocking around the chair as much as she could in an effort to break free. Or break the chair. That would work for her.

“I don’t think you’ll get loose that way.” She heard a voice to her left, and she jumped, her head snapping towards the sound. Scott. She took a deep breath and stared him down.

“What happened?” she asked him slowly. He smirked at her, the expression leaving a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I knocked you out. Ken gave it away that he was working with you while we were talking. Said ‘we’. That’s when I figured you were somewhere in the house. I knocked him out, set him as bait. Then smashed a glass on your head.” Angelique froze for a moment.

“That glass wasn’t a tumbler for alcohol was it?” she asked.

“Does it matter?” Scott was confused now. Angelique shook her head.

“Nope, it doesn’t.” She sighed. “Katherine. Did she get away?” Scott glared at her.

“Almost.” He stood over her. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to actually track her down? She had an insane head start. That was your fault you know.”

“Where is she now?” Angelique ignored completely the fact that he was blaming her for Katherine getting away, as though it would be a bad thing. He shrugged.

“In my trunk.” He answered, his tone casual despite the anger that still lingered in his eyes. Angelique felt her face pale a bit.

“Is she still alive?” She all but choked on the last word of her question. Scott grinned again, but didn’t comment on her concern.

“For now. Until she suffocates in there. But she is of no use to me now. It was you I was really interested in.”

“Why?” Despite asking, Angelique dreaded his answer. Scott sat down beside her, as if they were old friends having coffee instead of two people who were hostile with each other. Angelique looked at him warily. He didn’t answer, but instead punched her right in the face. Angelique felt her lip split and her nose break, and she let loose a pain filled shriek before she could help it, gasping through her mouth as blood trailed down her face. She groaned as the pain reached its peak, and then groaned again as she felt the strange and slightly painful sensation of her body healing the damage. The whole time she noticed with bleary vision that Scott was watching her with an almost demented smirk on his face.

“That. That is exactly why I’m interested in you. How on earth are you able to do that?” He was calm, with a clear and almost twisted fascination in his tone. Angelique coughed, spit out some remaining blood in her mouth to the side, and made direct eye contact with Scott. She wouldn’t show this man fear, despite the pounding in her chest and the panic driven ringing in her ear.

“It wasn’t a skill I developed on earth.” She answered, breathing heavily. Scott tilted his head for a moment, looking at her like he was trying to dissect her with his eyes.

“I don’t understand. Are you an angel or something?”

“Or something.” She murmured. Scott slapped her, the back of his hand connecting harshly with her cheek. Angelique didn’t cry out this time, despite the pain making her vision go white for a second. Scott swore at her and stood up, pacing a bit.

“How did you get my file?” he asked her. Angelique decided to play dumb.

“What file?” She asked. Scott picked up a manila folder off of the table and threw it at her, hitting her in the face. Angelique gasped in surprise, then glared as the papers in the file spilled out all over the floor. She could see from a few of the pages, that this was the file Lucifer had given her. Or rather, Scott’s copy of that file. Angelique took a beat to ponder why Gabriel used the manila folders, but she let it go quickly.

“That file.” Scott answered. Angelique nodded, staring at the fallen papers.

“Ah, yeah. That one. I highly doubt you’d believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Where’s Kenneth?” she asked, trying to change the subject. She didn’t like making him feel like he was in control by letting him lead the questioning. Scott jumped, as though he genuinely wasn’t expecting her to ask any questions.

“He’s here.”

“Where?” Angelique insisted. Scott smirked at her.

“You in love with my brother?” he asked. Angelique glared; he was teasing her. She shook her head once, sharply, and hoped he got the point. He did not.

“You’re sleeping with him then.” It wasn’t a question, therefore she didn’t even think to treat it like one. She wasn’t willing to give him the satisfaction of claiming she protested too much, despite there being no truth in his words. She redirected his questions again.

“Where is he?” Scott rolled his eyes, like he was being severely inconvenienced. He stomped over to the living room, and pulled Kenneth in.

Kenneth was hogtied, his hands behind his back and his legs bound at the ankles, the two areas linked by a single rope. His left eye was black and swollen shut, and dried blood rested on the corner of his mouth. His other eye was open, and he shot a hate filled glare at Scott before he turned to look at Angelique. The look in his eyes asked very clearly if she was alright, and she gave a subtle nod, brushing it off as her trying to get hair out of her face. Clearing her throat she turned her attention back to Scott.

“How could you do this to your own brother?” She asked. He glared at her, stepping forward in a slight rage.

“How could I? How could he side with the thing that is trying as hard as it can to kill me?” It took Angelique longer than she would care to admit to realize that when he said ‘thing’ he was talking about her.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not human.” He said it in an accusatory tone. Angelique chose to grin at him, her expression dark.

“You’re right. I’m not.”

“We’re getting off track.” Scott said through clenched teeth. “Who gave you the file?” Angelique considered jerking his chain some more, but she took another look at Kenneth on the ground. She didn’t want to do anything to get him hurt further. She took a breath and made eye contact with Scott, so he knew she wasn’t lying.

“Lucifer gave it to me.” She said. He blinked at her once, slowly.

“Lucifer. As in the devil? You really expect me to believe that?” he asked. Angelique couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“This coming from the man that got his copy of the file from the angel Gabriel?” Her tone was flat. Scott’s eyebrows rose.

“Who told you that?”

“No one. Gabriel warned me himself he was going to give it to you.” Scott squinted at her, like he was trying to see through her to see if she was being honest. Angelique stared him back down, giving him nothing. Finally Scott nodded once, a look of acceptance on his face.

“Alright. So that begs the question. Why did the devil give it to you?”

“So I could kill you.” She stayed with the honest approach. It was Scott’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Yeah, I guessed. Why?”

“At this point, I can’t blame her no matter what reason the devil gave.” Kenneth now spoke. Scott whirled around and kicked him hard right in his arm, the sound solid. Kenneth groaned but otherwise made no sound. Scott kicked him another two times. The last kick Angelique swore she could hear something crack.

“I didn’t ask you!” Scott screamed at him. She looked up at him, her eyes blazing with anger.

“Hey! You leave him alone.” She growled out. Scott whirled around, snarling in anger.

“You’re right. It’s not him I’m irate at. It’s you.” She reared back in slight shock, her heart pounding in her ears.

“What could you possibly be irate with me for?” She was definitely baiting him. She glanced down at Kenneth on the floor, who had his back to her. He turned his head and made eye contact with her, then tried to glance over his shoulder, like he was looking at where Scott had kicked him. Her eyes darted to his arm, trying to see if anything was clearly broken. Wait. No. That wasn’t what he was looking at. He was trying to see his hands. He had almost worked one of his hands free. Angelique glared back up at Scott, intent on distracting him until Kenneth could get free.

“What reason do you have for trying to kill me? I didn’t do anything to you!” Scott was saying. Angelique stared at him in disbelief.

“Seriously? You shot me. In the head.”

“You weren’t supposed to be home.” Scott defended his actions, though his voice was admittedly softer than it was a moment ago. She glanced back at Kenneth. He was making progress, but very slow progress.

“And that is an excuse because…?” she asked. Scott picked up a knife off the table.

“You weren’t supposed to be home!” He screamed in her face. She stared him down.

“But I was. And you should have to pay for that.” Scott didn’t answer, but instead stabbed her right in the shoulder. She screamed, pain ripping through her body. Her shoulder got hot, and pinpricks of pain centered in the area as her body began to try to heal itself. Scott however left the knife in her shoulder, letting it go and watching her body heal itself around the knife. Angelique groaned, the pain spiking and holding as her body tried to figure out what to do with the foreign body in her shoulder. She watched morbidly as her body healed itself around the knife, and just when it began to slow the healing process, Scott tore it out again. Which tore another scream from Angelique’s throat. Scott smirked at her.

“I’ve changed my mind. I think I need to deal with Katherine in the trunk. I’ll be back soon.” Carrying the still bloody knife, he took off outside. Angelique jerked forward, like she could do something still tied to the chair. She waited until she heard the door slam behind Scott, her vision fading a bit. She had taken too much damage. She was about to be useless.

“Kenneth.” She whispered. The edges of her vision were completely dark. She desperately tried to hold on.

“Yeah, I know. I’m almost out.” He said, clearly distracted. “I brought your tumbler. Your favor. Do you hear me Angelique?”

“Get free. Then break it.” Angelique didn’t hear what he answered, or if he even answered. Her vision finally faded and she was back unconscious once more.