“Everything happens for a reason,” Sebastian echoed, his voice dripping with mockery.  “Sure, I won’t argue with that.  The question is -- does everything happen for a<span style="font-style: italic"> good</span>reason?”<br/><br/>Then the angel made her first attempt at resistance.  As her hand seized his wrist, Sebastian laughed, and the sound fell from his lips like sparks jumping from a raging fire.  He could have easily torn free from her weak grip.  But for a moment, he feigned obedience, and halted his caress.  “So, there’s still some fight left in you after all.”<br/><br/>Maliciously, Sebastian shifted his weight, so that his knees now exerted painful pressure on the wings pinned beneath them.  “Let me explain something to you Eliana.  Today,  you actually have a choice -- and you should appreciate that choice, because you won’t get many more.”  Again, Sebastian slid his fingers into the angel’s hair, but this time he used them as hooks, twisting her face toward him.  “You can lie still and submit to what I’m doing.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll even enjoy it a little, if you let yourself.  I’ve been told that I’m a great lover.  At least, that’s what my halfwit apprentice says.”<br/><br/>Again, Sebastian dug his knees into the angel’s wings.  “Or...if you continue to struggle, I can go downstairs and get a cleaver from the kitchen.  Then I’ll come back up here and use it to hack off one of your pretty white wings.”  Releasing his grip on the angel’s hair, Sebastian let her head fall back down against the pillows.  “I promise, I’ll do it with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.  Do we understand each other now?”