Shattered Innocence Ch. 04
After lunch, Carmilla had decided to let her daughters forgo the chores so that they could spend some time with Emily.
The Arms Dealer had just finished putting away the last of the dishes when her doorbell rings.
"Hmm?" she exits the kitchen. "Now who could that be?" the woman walks up to her door and presses on the intercom and an image of a familiar Overlord pops up. "Zestial?"
At first, the Spider Demon looks around before noticing the camera beside the door. "Greetings, Carmilla," he bows. "Thy was concerned when you moved the meeting. Even more so when you were not at your office for our usual… appointment. Then your staff tells me that you are what do they call? A workaholic had taken the day off. Just wanted to make sure thou were well."
Carmilla smiles a little. "Thank you for checking up on us, Zestial. There's just something that I need to take care of."
"Perhaps I could be of assist. We could discuss it over some tea."
"It's… complicated. Look, Zestial. This is not the best time."
"Very well," the Ancient Overlord is seen bowing once again. "I shall make my leave," he starts walking away.
The Carmine watches as the man departs and finds herself hitting the intercom again. "Zestial, wait! One cup will not hurt," she then opens the door.
Zestial walks in. "Thank you, Old Friend." He is led into the kitchen where the matriarch already had a pot going.
"My daughters found something unexpected last night," she pours herself and her guest a cup. "I'm just trying to sort things out."
"Is there any way that I would be of help?"
Carmilla shakes her head. "This is a complicated and very delicate matter. We must tread every step carefully. Otherwise, we may not get anywhere."
The Spider Demon raises a brow. "What exactly is thou up to?"
The woman goes to answer but Clara's voice enters the room.
"Hey, Mom! Emily's never seen a movie before," she walks in along with her sister and the seraphim. "Can we borrow the big tv for…" the puffy haired girl stares as she notices her mother staring wide eyed past her and turns to see what was going on.
Emily is trembling at the sight of Zestial. Wide eyed and for the first time since arriving at the Carmine's home, the angel's large eye on the chest opened as well. What was so unnerving about the appearance of the new eye is the fact it seemed glazed over. Her eyes wandered around the room, and they eventually came to a halt in a single direction.
Carmilla has seen that look in people who are desperately searching for any way out and turns to the same direction and her eyes land on the exit to the balcony. "Emily, don't…"
The Angel darts for the balcony.
"Stop! She can't fly!"
Just as Emily had opened the sliding door, she's forced back by something grabbing one of her wings. This seems to send her into a hysteric as the angel starts screaming from the top of her lungs while trying to get away, moving in various directions, completely ignoring the pain of trying to pull away from who has a hold of her limb.
"Zestial!" Carmilla snaps at her fellow Overlord who has a hold of Emily's wing. "You're not helping!"
The Ancient Overlord turns to the Carmine. "Then what does thou expect of me?"
Then to the surprise of everyone, Emily manages to pull away, leaving her wing behind, creating even more unbearable pain for the angel. She backs into the wall and seemingly tries crawling up it.
"Please stop! Stop! It hurts! It hurts! Please!"
"Emily," Carmilla goes up to her. "Please calm down," she tries comforting the girl, but the angel can't seem to be able to register her. The woman reaches a hand up to her but as soon as contact was made, Emily smacks the Carmine and starts making her way back to the balcony. But this time she is grabbed by both Carmine sisters.
Emily is flailing around, wanting nothing more than to get away as the sisters try their best to keep her in place.
"Sorry, Emily!" Clara says as she pulls her head and slams it into the Angel's knocking her out.
The women in the room are breathing heavily while Zestial is looking upon the scene, still trying to figure out what's going on.
"Clara," Carmilla looks over to her. "Help your sister take Emily to your room and please treat her wounds."
Without being told twice, the sisters lift the angel up and started taking her to the bedroom.
Odette then comments. "When I said you should use your head more, this is not what I meant."
"Not now, Odette!" the two then leave the Overlords by themselves.
Carmilla rubs her temples while letting out a sigh. "She's in a worse state than I thought," she then looks over at Zestial. Or rather, what he's still holding. The Woman walks up to him and gently takes the wing from him before walking away. "I think I need a drink."
Zestail follows the Carmine to her home office where she sets the torn wing on her desk before taking out a bottle of whisky and some glasses and immediately pours the drink.
"If I may intrude," the Spider Demon starts as he watches his friend take a drink. "Why is thou harboring an angel and why did she seem terrified of me. I'm used to seeing fear in other's eyes, but this time seemed different. Especially as I doubt she does not know thy reputation."
The Arms Dealer takes a seat and offers her fellow Overlord to take one down. "I do not believe it is you specifically that Emily is afraid of."
"Then what terrifies the child?"
"Men," she takes another drink.
"Men?"
Carmilla nods. "From what I can piece together, Emily had an encounter and it seemed to have left her traumatized," she then turns to Zestial. "And you grabbing her wing seemed to have triggered PTSD."
The Ancient Overlord blinks. "What is thou saying with the last part?"
With a sigh, the woman tells him. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I've seen it many times with similar cases. When triggered it's as if they are reliving the worst moments of their lives and rarely know what's truly going on around them. Those who experience it, men or women, would often harm others or themselves."
"Why is thou so interested in this angel? Surely she cannot be so interesting."
The Carmine sets her glass down and walks over to the whiteboard. "There are a lot of things that I will put up with in Hell just because it's Hell," her brows narrow at the sigh of the stained cloth. "But what she went through? That is something that I will never stand for. So many had their lives destroyed by this one event!" a hand is softly placed on her shoulder.
"It sounds as if thou have personal experience?"
Carmilla refuses to answer.
"Very well," Zestial bows. "I shall make my leave. It would be best to not be in her presence if the child is to be better."
"I can't completely isolate her from all men. She won't truly heal. The only way is if…" Carmilla's eyes glance over at the only male presence in her home.
.oOo.
At first, Emily's head was in the daze and as soon as she registers the pain in her back, the poor girl thought she was in that place again. She jolts up and starts backing up only to be stopped when her back meets the bed's headboard, causing her to shout in pain.
"Emily," a voice calmly says.
Looking up, the angel finds that she's in the presence of the Carmine sisters. "Clara? Odette?" both have worried looks in their eyes.
"It's okay, Emily," the puffy haired carmine calmly tells her. "You're safe."
Odette then asks, "May I check your bandage? I want to make sure you didn't strain your wound too much."
The seraphim leans forward, and the spectacled Carmine lifts the bandage where the middle right wing used to be. Aside from a slight increase in the amount of blood, the wound does not appear any worse than what it had been. Might need to change the bandage out sooner rather than later though.
A knock comes at the door. "Emily?" Carmilla can be heard. "May I come in?"
"Yes!"
The matriarch walks in and takes a seat next to the angel. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yes, no… I don't know," Emily looks away. "It felt as if I was back there. Feeling every moment. Every pain." A set of arms is wrapped around her.
"That will happen from time to time. I'm sorry," the woman then backs away. "I would like to properly introduce you to someone. Just understand that he's a good friend of the family."
The seraphim flinches at the word "He?"
Clara tries to assure her, "Don't worry about Zestial. He's a great guy."
"Emily," Carmilla gets her attention. "I will not force you to do anything that you do not want to. But I believe this will help you. You've had a very negative experience. My hope is that you may be able to move on if you could have a positive experience. Will you be able to do this? Not for me but for yourself."
Emily looks down, closes her eyes and decides to try swallowing her fear before nodding.
The woman turns to the door. "You may come in."
The door opens to allow the Ancient Overlord into the room.
At the sight of Zestial, the Angel tenses up and wants nothing more to get out of there, causing her chest eye to open once again. But hands are placed over her shoulder, and she turns to see Carmilla trying to comfort her. Then, two sets of hands gently grab one of hers and Emily finds that both Clara and Odette are trying to do their part to keep her calm.
Zestial bows. "Apologies for the intrusion, Young Emily. I had not meant to frighten thee."
"It, it's fine," Emily had managed to get out as her breathing starts to slow.
"There is also a matter of your wing."
"That was mostly on me. I just really wanted to get away and couldn't think cleary."
Zestial has visually been examining the angel during their interaction. He notes all the bandages across her body and even. The Sinner can also see that despite being calm, the girl is still unnerved by his presence.
"I shall make my leave," he bows once again. "Pleasure to meet you, Emily," the man then turns to the matriarch. "Shall I see you for the meeting tomorrow, Carmilla?"
"You know that I don't like to reschedule these things twice, Zestial," the woman gives him a small smile.
"I shall keep that in mind," Zestial smirks before leaving the room.
Once the Ancient Overlord was gone, Emily releases a breath that she didn't know she was holding and her large eye closes back.
Carmilla asks the angel. "Will you be okay, Emily?"
"Y-yeah. I think so."
The Arms Dealer runs a hand through her hair. "Now, what's this I hear about you never seeing a movie before?" she softly smiles at the girl.
.oOo.
The four are now sitting in the living room watching one of Hell's few family friendly films.
Despite enjoying the movie, Emily often finds herself shying away from the screen every time a man appears.
Carmilla notices this and wraps her arm around the angel to make sure that the girl knows that she's still here.
NOTE: I had a hard time keeping up with the way Zestial speaks. I really hope that I did alright with it.