My eyes grew wide as I watched him mere feet from where I slept. The familiar feeling of my erratic heartbeat and adrenaline shot through me.

I screamed like I never screamed in my entire life.

I scrambled off the bed, trying to place as much distance between myself and the Tattooed Man, falling off the other side

He was still the same. His white eyes watched me intently through his curtain of long raven hair.

The same man that had murdered Mia and tried to take me nights before was back. Even as I fell off the bed in an unceremonious heap on the floor, I didn't stop screaming bloody murder.

He sauntered like a cat. He took his time as if he knew that there was no way I could outrun him. Somehow, I'd managed to pin myself between the bed and the fireplace in the corner of the room with nowhere else to go.

A loud bang made me turn to the doors.

They seemed to burst off the hinges as a thundering noise came from outside of the room. Something pushed against them with enough force that they seemed to breathe.

"Emmy!" Oren's voice called frantically.

A large crash erupted and again, the doors were pushed. It sounded as if he were running into them with all his strength. I could hear the desperation in his voice and in the cacophony of voices outside of the room. A group of people were trying to get in and the doors were resisting them.

I turned to the Tattooed Man. He slowly sauntered toward me like a predator stalking his prey. I had to do something fast or he'd reach me before Oren and his men could tear the doors open.

I grabbed everything I could get my hands on, and threw it towards him as hard as I could in a feeble attempt to keep him away. He barely moved and still managed to dodge my attempts completely.

The vase full of flowers crashed behind him leaving a mess of glass, water and flowers on the floor. The horrifying noise split in the air making the men on the other side of the door intensify their efforts to open it.

I pushed the hair away from my face. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

He tilted his head like Woof would sometimes do while playing. It was almost comical, as if he couldn't understand why I was screaming at him.

I looked around at my options - trying to make my escape. If I went right, I'd run right into the bed, if I ran left I could make it to the door! It was close enough!

I tried distracting him by grabbing whatever else I could from the nightstand next to me. I threw a glass of water at him with so much effort I thought I'd pull a muscle.

He barely moved again and managed to miss the heavy cup.

There was a reason I wasn't into sports.

The glass shattered on the floor behind him again which he looked at in curiosity.

I made my move.

Running on adrenaline, I bolted as fast as I could toward the doors. He appeared right in front of me before I could make it across the room.

Gasping, I backed away, my heart in my throat.

I looked for anything around me to use as a weapon and grabbed a large poker from the fireplace.

He watched me the entire time, not speaking, not making any expression, only watching in curiosity.

I held the poker in front of me with both shaking hands. "STOP!"

He tilted his head again at my words as if he were considering what I was saying. He looked conflicted.

He took another step.

"STOP!"

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, his unnatural eyes darted from my hands in front of me to my face. But he stopped.

He actually stopped.

I was hyperventilating, the hair in my face blowing with my breath.

On the verge of heaving, I tried to speak. "G-Get back."

He took a step back.

I watched him amazed. Could he actually understand what I was saying? Was he actually listening to me?

As I continued to watch him I noticed something different.

He was different. He didn't have a sword with him. He watched me with an animal-like curiosity, unlike the first time I'd seen him.

How long had he been in my room before I noticed him? Had he been watching me sleep? Why didn't he attack me then?

The air abruptly changed and a sudden popping sound made us both turn to the door. The nails and screws on the large wooden door were popping loose one by one turning into flying projectiles that flew across the large room.

I screamed in surprised causing the man to stand in front of me, blocking me from the door.

I watched him in confusion as he stood in a fighter's stance his back toward me ready to attack anything that came through the large wooden doors.

The large heavy doors began to warp, caving in on themselves like they were just pieces of thin paper. Darkness oozed from where the doors were detaching from the walls, and seemed to envelop all around them as they were suddenly pulled away.

The doors snapped and bent at an impossible angle as they were pushed to the other side of the room crashing against the dresser and crushing it beneath.

Electricity cracked around us in the room and Damien emerged from the darkness where the doors previously stood. Before I could blink, the man was thrust through the air and landed on his feet on the other side of the room. Before he could move again, he was pushed against one of the stone walls making a sickening crack as he did.

The stone beneath him shattered and crashed to the floor, raining around him as he lay limp on the floor. At once, Damien was on him. His alabaster hands were around the even paler man's neck lifting him high from the ground.

Oren raced inside, sparing me a glance before making his way to Damien. He was yelling at him placing his hands on Damien's shoulders, asking him to stop.

The man dangled helplessly, gasping for breath as he thrashed around.

He was going to kill him.

I rushed towards them just in time to watch Damien push three men and Oren off of him in a massive show of power halfway across the room.

"DAMIEN!"

I passed the men around him as they groaned trying to get up off the floor. The energy around Damien was thick, angry. It was like trying to move through molasses. I could barely breathe as I got closer to him.

I managed to cling to his arm as he continued to choke the man who was slowly starting to turn blue.

"Damien, stop it! You're killing him!"

He wasn't listening to me.

I couldn't reason with him.

I'd never seen him look so dangerously unnatural. His eyes were the same dark color I'd seen just nights before taking over most of his features. He was straining from the effort he was putting on the man's neck.

"Please, stop! He never touched me!"

Damien's obsidian eyes shifted toward me suddenly and in the next moment the man fell on the floor.

The air changed and suddenly I could breathe again. I fell to the floor and coughed air back into my lungs.

"Take him," I heard Damien snap as he walked away from view. "Just take him away from her."

Feet shuffled around me and I watched from the floor as a group of men heaved the man from the ground and dragged him out.

He didn't put up a fight.

A pair of heavy boots appeared in my vision and something heavy and soft was placed on my shoulders. A gentle hand was on my back as I continued to cough.

"It's okay," Oren soothed. "Just breathe. It's over."

When I was finally able to breathe normally again, he gave me his hand and helped me off the ground.

His caramel eyes were full of worry as he watched me. "Are you all right?"

My eyes locked onto Damien. He had his hands on a table in the corner of the room close by, his back toward us.

I nodded at Oren. "Yes, I think I'm okay."

He smiled and rubbed my arms over the coat. "Let's get you somewhere else. Preferably with doors."

I laughed at his joke and started to walk away with him when a force pulled us apart. I was barely moved two feet and was able to regain my balance quickly but Oren was dragged out the door and down the hallway.

"Oren!" I tried to move but couldn't. My legs seemed to be completely glued to the spot.

The doors that had crashed against the antique dresser were suddenly pushed against the doorway back good as new as if they were never ripped off the hinges in the first place.

I turned my attention to the sulking figure in the corner of the room who still didn't face me.

I was able to move once the doors were in place.

I spun towards him. "Damien, have you lost your mind? That was Oren! That is your head of Guard! Why did you just attack him?"

I watched him, his muscles tensed under the black robe he had on. His hands were both in front of him on a table that seemed to creak under the pressure he was placing on it with his hands.

"I know," he hissed. "Who that is."

"Then why did you just attack him?"

His voice was so low I barely caught it. "Do you have feelings for him?"

I watched him in confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You didn't answer my question."

I crossed my arms. "I'm not one of your subjects, Damien. You can ask me a question and I don't have to answer."

The wooden table broke under his hands making me jump. He turned and began to leave the room.

I raced to the large doors beating him to them. I turned towards him. "No. You will stop ignoring me and answer my question."

His face was stoic. His eyebrows set low in fury and anger. His lips were set in a thin line as he watched me.

I'd never seen him so mad in my life.

His square jaw was tight. His familiar violet eyes were intense. His shoulders were tense under his robe, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

His eyes scanned me where I stood, taking into account that I was in front of the doorknob. "This is childish, Em."

I squared my gaze, straightening my shoulders trying to make myself taller next to him. "No, you're being childish. You're leaving to avoid answering my question."

"Em..." he said low, warning. "Remove yourself."

I crossed my arms in defiance, Oren's large heavy cloak hiding them underneath it. "I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking."

He sighed, irritated, running a hand through his long black hair. I could see the angry energy rolling off of him in waves as he did.

"Why are you acting like this?" I couldn't stop the question before it stumbled out of my mouth. "And what was up with that question anyway? You're acting like you're jealous or something, what's going on?"

And then he said it. The one word that made my heart plummet to the bottom of my stomach and made my blood run ice cold through my veins.

"Yes. Yes, I'm jealous, Em. I'm in love with you."