Allette's POV
It all happened so fast. I followed the tour group and its unnaturally beautiful leader into a beautiful castle. That's when I felt something wrong. There was an atmosphere about the place, and it reminded me of a graveyard. Not in a good way, like the familiar and well-kept churchyard where my grandmother was buried, but like a rotting, bone-filled necropolis. The room we were entering was large, and there were three men sitting in what looked like thrones on a raised platform. They looked like they had lived forever, sitting upon their thrones and ruling from within their castle. I thought they were beautiful, until the middle one opened his mouth to speak. I didn't understand what they meant at first. "What pretty things you have brought for us to play with!" And then, I was knocked to the ground by something that moved with lightning speed. I hadn't had time to think before he swept me up into his arms and sped me away faster than I ever thought possible, faster, it seemed, than the speed of light. The only thing I managed to process was his eyes. They were a dark, dark red, but behind their distinctly unusual colour was a great and powerful longing. He looked at me with such adoration that I couldn't bear to struggle or try to save myself from what I was beginning to understand was my ultimate death. I let him take me to a small room, and when he sank his teeth into my neck I didn't fight him. He was apologising to me in the only way he could- through his beautiful expressive eyes.
The pain that followed was almost unbearable. I almost screamed, but I could feel his coldness in the small space, and I dared not upset him. My body jerked almost without control. The pain took over every sense and impulse. I knew nothing but pain, and I had no knowledge or memory of anything else but the white-hot agony radiating through my veins. The only thing that was sure was the coldness that was a constant presence beside me. Time ceased to have meaning. All I knew was that if not for the frozen angel beside me, I would never have been able to survive.
After what felt like a lifetime, the pain changed. It still burned, but now it was an icy flame that licked my shoulder blades and my chest. The pulse of the flame was slowing, and I was more aware of my surroundings. I knew that my angel was on my right, but he didn't feel so cold any more. In fact, he was the same temperature as I was. As I noticed this, the shuddering, dying flames inside me leapt up again, rocketing me to my feet and setting my shoulders on fire again with renewed intensity. And then…. I exploded. Feathers brushed my back and arms and face. And I knew they belonged to me, no matter how impossible that thought seemed. I felt them as part of my being, like I felt my limbs as part of me. And my angel, who had rushed to my side when my body had exploded, was more beautiful than I had ever imagined.