Linda Martin was used to many strange people inhabiting her office. People came with numerous backgrounds wanting help with numerous things. The trip currently sat in front of her wanted help finding their friend. A friend that Linda knew the whereabouts of.
"Doctor, I'm afraid to hurry you. But we have been searching for my sister for quite a while." The blond one spoke up from the couch in front of her. She turned to look at him, he bore a striking resemblance to Astraea. His blue eyes shone with hope and tears. The red-haired man beside his had his arm wrapped around his shoulders. There was a clear divide between the two of them and the third man who sat on the opposite end of the couch, brooding in silence.
"Just how long has she been missing for? If you don't mind me asking." The blond one took a moment to collect himself before responding to her query.
"Around three months now. Martin here was the last to see her." He gestured to the man further away. The mention of him seemed to break him out of his brooding reverie.
"She left my house to return home and never arrived there." He said simply and her attention was brought back to the blond man as he sniffled.
"She's been coming to therapy here for the last month and a half. I'm not her psychiatrist so I'm afraid I don't know all that much. We run into each other in the corridor occasionally. She was flagged as a high flight risk and violent patient a few days ago after an incident at home with her house mate. I accompanied her psychiatrist to the house for a session." She took a breath and sighed, glancing between the three who were staring at her intensely. All of their eyes looked like they were staring through her body and into her soul. It was unnerving, "I shouldn't even be telling you this. Patient confidentiality and all that. I could lose my license."
"Please, my dear. We just want her safe. Please continue." The blond man begged her.
"I suppose it is for her safety. Very well, I'll continue l. As I was saying, I accompanied my colleague to Astraea's session. Something didn't feel right. She looked so scared, flinching at everything Jacob - her house mate - did. My colleague was talking her in circles. Barley letting her speak and twisting her words when she did. Everytime I tried to intervene, I was silenced. Jacob and Melody, my colleague, eventually left to make drinks. I asked if she was alright and she wrote down your number."
"And her we are." The red-haired man finally spoke up, pushing his sunglasses further up his head. Linda didn't see the point of wearing them inside, but to each their own.
"And here we are " she sighed, wishing that this were a normal session. She knew how to deal with those.
"She's safe angel, she's safe." The man brought the blond one close into his embrace, running a hand through his blond curls.
"But she's not, Crowley. She's alive, yes. But she is not safe. Who knows who this Jacob man is and what he's done to her." The blond pulled away and shrugged off Crowley's arm.
"Crowley?" Linda questioned. The name rang a bell. She was sure that Melody had mentioned a Crowley when she was briefed on Astraea's situation.
"Yes?" He seemed to hiss at her. She had the overwhelming feeling that he was glaring at her. Not that she would be able to see it through his glasses.
"Nothing. She just mentioned her during her sessions. Or at least a demon who she called Crowley. She mentioned her brother as well, and a god - no an endless, whatever that is. She couldn't remember their names though, only the demon's. They haunted her in her dreams." Linda sighed again, she seemed to be doing that a lot today.
"Dreams?" The man on the end, Martin, has perked up at the mention of her dreams.
"Yes, well Melody thought they were more likely hallucinations rather than dreams. She's prescribed a tea of some sort to help her sleep properly." She took a sip of her water as the man leaned forward. He rested his arms on his knees and sat in silence, merely staring at her from across the table.
"Doctor, do you know her location? Where she is? And address maybe?" The blond man asked, edging forward in his seat. She looked at him in pity.
"I can give you her address. After that, I know nothing else." She paused for a moment, contemplating something, "should I call the police about this?" It was a reasonable question she thought, this seemed like a situation that would be best handled by the police and not three random men sat on her couch.
"No, no, my dear. We'll handle it. If it gets to that point, then we will call the police. We don't want to risk your license for telling us this." The blond man grabbed her hand and squeezed it, she suddenly felt exceptionally calm.
"Of course." She quickly wrote down the address she had gone to to see Astraea and Jacob at. The three left her office and she was left alone again in her silent office. They were three peculiar men.
Lucifer laced through their halls in hell. The business with Astraea was weighing heavily on their mind. Their visage was constantly shifting with their thoughts. They remembered Astraea from before the hall, she was a sweet angel with a big heart. They had heard that she had almost fallen from the demon Crowley, they didn't know whether they were happy that she hadn't been subjected to the suffering of hell. Or sad that she hadn't joined the hell. It certainly would have made an eternity of suffering more bearable.
Humanity was clearly becoming more interesting if a human had successfully captured an angel and an endless for a century. The king of hell paused in their pacing.
"Maze!" A demon appeared from the shadows and bowed to her king.
"Yes, my lord?" She looked up at them as the king of hell smirked down at her.
"We're going on vacation to earth."
Astraea brushed down the counter tops, removing the crumbs of toast from breakfast. Jacob sat at the table, a newspaper in his hand. The kettle began to whistle and Astraea poured the water into the cups. The teabags floated to the top and were then shoved back down by the milk that was poured on.
She placed the freshly made cups of tea on the kitchen table and sat across from out of the window, she saw a small bird flu past and into a tree in the garden. If she squinted, she could just about make out the form of a nest resting on the branches.
"Thank you for the tea, my dear." He grabbed his cup and began to blow on it to cool it. The term of endearment tickled at something in her memories, but what? She couldn't remember.
Her hands wrapped around her cup, letting the heat comfort her from the strange feeling.
"I was thinking of going out today." Astraea muttered into her tea. Jacob's hands tightened on the newspaper and she winced at the sound of it crinkling.
"Astraea . . ." He sighed out, almost sounding disappointed in her, "you remember what Dr. Lohan said. You can't leave the house until you're deemed safe."
"But I am safe, swear I am." She hastily said. She looked crazed, her hair was oily from lack of washing and exceptionally tangled, her eyes had dark bags under them and her arms were covered in bruises from the countless injections that she had had. Dr. Lohan believed that it was better for her medicine to be injected instead of drank through tea, to make sure that she actually took it. The injections left her arms constantly in pain, and Jacob was never gentle with them.
"Really? Name the members of your family." He glared over his cup at her as he set the newspaper down on the table.
"W-well. There's me, and mum, and my brother." He cut her off, slamming his cup down onto the table. The tea spilt over the edges and Astraea immediately got up to fetch a cloth to clean it.
"Astraea. You do not have a brother!" He stood up and pulled her body away from the table where she was cleaning the mess. He grabbed her by the arms and shook her, shoving his face into her own, "you are an only child! Your mother died when you were four. Do you understand, Astraea?" He shook her again, "Do you?"
She nodded frantically and he let go. Her legs buckled under her and she collapsed to the ground. Tears streamed down her cheeks as he walked around her towards the front door.
"I'm going out. I'll be back in twenty minutes. This better be cleaned when I get back."
"I'm sorry." She whispered through the tears. His footsteps stopped and began towards her. She saw him crouch in front of from the corner of her eye.
"Astraea, look at me." He hissed at her. Her eyes stayed stubbornly attached to the floor, "Astraea, I said look at me."
The venom in his voice caused her head to raise, scared of the repercussions. Her head snapped to the side as his hand made contact with her face. A searing pain flushed out across her cheek, her hand raised to touch it, but was caught in a crushing grip before it could reach her cheek, "When I tell you to do something, you do it the first time."
He stood from his position on the floor and continued his previous journey towards the door, "Twenty minutes, Astraea. I want it cleaned." He left.
Astraea curled into herself and began to sob into her knees. She was scared and hurt. She knew that help was coming. She remembered giving Linda something that would help. She couldn't remember what it was though. There were so many gaps in her memory. It hurt to focus on them and drained her more than she would have liked.
She eventually picked herself off the floor and began to clean the spiky tea from earlier.
When Jacob arrived back at the house, he returned with a bouquet of roses. She was sat at the table with a freshly made cup of tea to replace the one that had gone cold. She eyed him wearily. He placed the roses on the table and moved in front of her. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him.
"I only do was I do because I care about you, Astraea. I want you to be safe." He let go and her head dropped, her hair falling over her eyes. She breathed heavily, scared to move too much. He sighed and moved away from her.
He looked towards the table and grabbed the bouquet of red roses, pushing them into her hands, one of the thorns pricked her finger and a small bead of crimson blood came to the surface, he brushed it away with his own finger, smearing the red into a streak. "Please forgive me Astraea. Let me keep you safe and cared for, my dear." That name again. It still left her with a funny feeling, it felt wrong coming from his mouth. She nodded her acceptance.
"Good girl." He smiled down at her, "why don't you go and sit in the garden for a while? It's a lovely day out."
"I'm allowed out?" She questioned, her eyes wide with hope, she looked a bit like a bug with how big they had got.
"Only the back garden. I called Dr. Lohan and she seems to think that it will be okay." She grinned up at him, "It is restricted to when I say, though." Her smile dimmed at that but returned at the prospect of going outside. She rushed out of her chair and into the garden. She could hear Jacob laughing behind her.