Chapter Eighteen - word count 2369 - Download PDF
18.
      The front doors blasted open and Drew was nearly flung off her feet.  An angel came skidding in as she landed, nearly falling.  She folded her ebony colored wings, rolling her shoulders to retract them.  
      “Wow, now that was a graceful entry.” She chuckled.  
      Selphie rushed past Drew.  
      “Oh Ren, I’m so glad you made it.”   
      “For Dar I’d come from hell itself – wait that’s exactly what I did.”  Her blue eyes twinkled.  “Does Jesse have him?”
      “Yeah.”  
      Ren moved past Selphie towards the infirmary. Drew could see the dress the angel wore was a backless halter neck.  That had to come in handy when you couldn’t just pull your shirt off to deploy a set of wings.  
      Ren stopped turning back to Selphie.
      “Ross?”  
      “In there with them.  They need his healing skills.”  
      “Yeah, they need mine too, let me get my backside in gear.  Talk to you later Selph.”  
      
      “Drew, you’ve just had the pleasure of meeting Renegade.”  Selphie headed back to the kitchen.
      Drew stared after the very strange angel.  
      “And who is she when she’s at home?”
      Selphie smiled.  “Come lets get a cup of coffee and I’ll explain.”
      She poured them both a cup, handing Drew’s to her.  
      “Renegade is Ross’s aunt.  His mother’s twin sister to be exact, but unlike Gabriel and the rest of the angels Renegade isn’t Forsaken, she’s Fallen.”
      Drew pointed a finger at herself “Clueless here.”
      “I keep forgetting you don’t know all the ins and outs of the Mythos.  I’ll tell you quickly before Cole gets here, once the wolves are here you will be busy.”
      She motioned for Drew to sit on the wooden bench.  
      “When Lucifer left heaven to build a condo in hell, his demons were all for wiping humanity off the face of the earth.  A group of angels opposed this and fought Lucifer, protecting humans, but there was another faction of angels, who believed that humans should be left to defend themselves.   These angels were high up on the hierarchy and led by Michael.  
      He was seriously peeved that he’d been defied when he’d ordered the angels to stay out of the fight between humans and demons, so he pulled out some obscure rule that allowed him to banish the angels that had helped mankind.”
      Selphie wrinkled her nose. “I still say he was the first lawyer.  Anyway, he couldn’t strip them of their powers, but he could, and did kick them out of heaven.  These angels are known as the Forsaken, because heaven turned its back on them.”
      “That’s fascinating.” Drew sat forward, enthralled by the piece of history.
      “Uh huh, but what will really get your interest, is that the Forsaken were led by Gabriel.”
      “Our Gabriel?”  
      Selphie nodded
      “Wow!”
      “Yeah, wow about sums that story up.  And he’s still protecting humanity, even today. Only now he protects mythos too.”  
      “And were do Fallen angels fit in?”  
      “Ah, that’s a little different than the Forsaken.  Sometimes an angel chooses to give up heaven willingly.  They fall from grace, becoming a middle ground between angels and demons.   For reasons only she knows, Renegade gave up heaven before the conflict between angels.  Now she’s our main liaison with the demons.  She’s a consummate diplomat.  But if you listen to her when she’s not playing politics, you see where Ross gets his wit.  Let me warn you though, fallen angels aren’t always nice guys.  Some of them can be pretty evil creatures.”  
      “How would I know I’m dealing with a Fallen angel and not a Forsaken?”  
      “Easy enough to know if you see their wings.  Fallen angels always have black wings.  Normal and Forsaken angel will have many colored wings, but never black.”  
      Drew nodded, taking a sip of her coffee.  
      “There is so much to learn about the Mythos.”  
      “Yeah, but you’ve got forever to learn.” Selphie smiled.  
      
      The double doors opened again.  This time the energy of lycos roiled through the house.  Drew felt the fine hairs of her neck prickle with it.  She recognized Bastien in the crowd of lycos, and he saw them too and came over to greet them.  
      “Must be bad if Gabriel has called in the wolves?”  
      “We haven’t heard anything yet, they’ve been in there a half an hour already.”  Worry creased Selphie’s brow.  
      “I’m sure they will let us know soon.  Drew, you haven’t met my brother yet.”  
      He gestured Cole over to them.  The siblings were nothing alike.  Where Bastien was blonde Cole’s hair was midnight black.  His eyes were so dark Drew couldn’t even see where the pupil ended and the iris began.  
      Drew held out her hand.  “Pleased to meet you.”  
      He enveloped her small hand in his large one, bowing his head slightly.  
      “So you’re the famous Drew, I need to thank you.”
      “For?”  
      A grin played around the edges of his mouth.  “I think Veronica suits the blue circles around her eyes and in my opinion the crooked nose makes her much prettier.”  
      Drew felt herself blushing.  “How did you know?”  
      Bastien chuckled.  “One of the other wolves saw you do it, and told me about it.  Way to go Drew.”  
      “What’s this?” Selphie looked from one to the other, her curiosity peeked.  
      Drew tried to warn Bastien with a look not to say anything, but he didn’t understand or chose to ignore her.  
      “After Veronica taunted Seth at the club, Drew cornered her and head-butted Veronica breaking her nose.”  He laughed.  
      “She deserved it.” Drew mumbled guiltily while Selphie stared at her in open mouthed astonishment.  
      “Does Seth know?”  Selphie tried not to laugh.
      “If he didn’t, he does now.”  Cole was looking over Drew’s shoulder.  
      She spun around to find Seth standing behind her.  
      He was staring at her with a look of amazement on his face.  
      Shit.  Drew cursed, the last thing she wanted was Seth finding out about her head butting Veronica.  Damn Bastien and his big mouth.  
      Seth was astounded.  Drew had done that for him?  Veronica was Du’call and much taller than Drew, but Drew had willingly attacked the other lycos out of a sense of loyalty to him.  He wanted to try and sort out how that made him feel, and what that meant about Drew’s feelings for him.  But now was not the right time.  So he said nothing to her.  
      He spoke to Cole instead, he’d sort this all out after Darius was out of danger.  
      “Thanks for coming Cole.”  
      “How is Darius?” Cole dismissed the thank you.  Seth should know it wasn’t necessary.  The cats had come to help when his wolves had needed it.  
      “Not good, the vampires were using silver. He’s hanging in there, but its touch and go.  He’s going to need all the energy we can give him.  The angels are going to need some too.  They’re taking strain.”  
      “Sandamar’s vampires?”
      “Yeah.”
      “And the dragon that brought him back?”  
      “He’s ok, he was beat up pretty bad, but he’s bouncing back fast.” Seth ran a hand through his hair.  
      “I think we should line the hall down to the infirmary.  Everyone knows the drill.”  
      “Yeah.”  Cole turned and went to speak to his wolves.
      “What are we going to do?”  
      “Come,” Seth slipped his fingers through Drew’s pulling her down the hall to the door of the infirmary. “We need to give Darius and the angels some of our energy.” He stepped behind her laying his hands on her shoulders. “Communicate with your cat, ask her for some energy then push it forward through the doors, towards Darius and the angels.”  
      Drew felt warmth brush her spine as Seth pushed his energy forward.  She closed her eyes and pulled the energy her creature was giving, pressing it forward.  
      Soon she felt more energy joining hers and Seth’s.  A low hum filled the corridor and the hair on her arms stood from the amounts of power passing her.  It was astounding what these lycos could do when they worked together.  Drew reached for more power she must have taken a little too much because she swayed as a wave of dizziness hit her.  
      “Easy now.”  Seth murmured in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest.  “Don’t take too much.”
      Drew gratefully sank back against the firm muscle of his chest and let his strength support her.  She wasn’t going to question him holding her, she made up her mind to just enjoy it while it lasted.  
      Seth grinned when Drew’s over exertion gave him the excuse to hold her.  She felt so good in his arms.  It was a good thing that he’d been reminded how dangerous women could be, because when he held Drew he could forget all that in a heartbeat.  She was just completely different, he was still trying to sort out what he felt about Drew attacking Veronica for him.  Drew probably didn’t realize it but she had done what he couldn’t.  If he touched Veronica he would kill her.  Something Gabriel had forbidden him to do.  Yet  Drew had punished the lycos without killing her.  Giving Veronica a little pay back.  
      Seth pulled Drew tighter against his chest, his arms curled around her waist his chin resting on the top of her head.  She smelled heavenly, like lavender and spring.  
      This woman left him stunned and confused.  He had no idea what to make of her and what she made him feel.  He pushed thoughts of what might happen out of his mind and concentrated on giving energy to his wounded friend.  
      
      
      Darius was draped in a sterile sheet his bloody and torn clothes had been cut off.  
      Jesse stood with his hands over one of the worst wounds in Darius’s side.  
      His brow was furrowed as he knit the flesh together deep inside the wound.  The angels around him were deep in concentration helping him heal the wound.  The silver in the blades the vampires had used was hampering the process. Silver molecules made a lycos body misread chemical signatures.  Darius’s natural endorphins were being viewed as an infection by his body and killed as they were released.  So the pain Darius was enduring, even in his unconscious state, was immense.  Jesse had to concentrate on suppressing Darius’s immune system as he worked.   
      Every now and then the unconscious lycos would moan in pain.  When ever he did Jade would tense from her place in the corner of the room, she was trying to ease his pain, but the wounds were bad enough that she was struggling to keep Darius from feeling anything.  
      Ross was on the other side, cleaning wounds with a saline solution, while he helped Jesse and the others knit the wounds closed.  He suddenly looked up and smiled.
      “There is the first wave of energy.”  He felt it before the angels his lycos half picking up on the lycanthrope  energy.  
      Darius relaxed on the bed as his beaten body accepted the energy pouring through the room.  
      Renegade breathed a sigh of relief,  “It’s about time, I was starting to think the lycos would never start sending energy.”  
      “Done.” Jesse moved onto the next wound.  Things would start going a bit faster now with the extra strength from the mythos outside.  “Onto the floor S’rief.” He ordered the lion.  
      The sentin had been lying on Darius’s legs and had at first refused to be moved, but the lycos energy seemed to be calming the lion and he willing jumped down now.  
      “Those vampires damn near killed him.”  Gabriel frowned when he sensed the depth of the wound they were working on right now.  
      “He fought bravely and with honor.” Dragon leaned against the door jam.  
      “Lord Dragonselen, please, you need to heal, for that you need rest.  Go back to your bed.”  Jesse looked up to frown at the dragon.
      “I can not rest until I am certain that Darius will survive this.”  
      “I think he is past the worst danger now.  You brought him back in time.”  Jesse looked down at the wound and resumed his concentration.  
      “They got Namara?”  
      “Yes, they must have assumed we were dead, when I came too she was gone. ” Dragon bowed his head. “You were right Gabriel, she should have stayed here.  I will never forgive myself for this.”  
      “They’ve captured her, but they won’t get to keep her.  We’ll get her back.”  
      Gabriel took Dragon’s arm to lead him back to his room.  
      “Come, get some rest. We can discuss this when you’ve had some time to heal up.”   
      
      Gabriel came out of the infirmary with a smile on his face. He addressed the long line of lycos in the hallway.  
      “Thank you all for your help.  Darius is healed and resting peacefully at the moment.  S’rief has disappeared back to his quarters.” His voice carried down the hall.  
      That told them more than anything else that Darius would be fine.  If the sentin had returned to his room then the lycos was past any danger.  
      “I’m sure that Selphie has turned the kitchen into a haven of sweet things and warm drinks if anyone would like to go and get something.”
      Gabriel stopped by Seth. “We need to start discussing a plan to get Namara back, as soon as possible. So get to the kitchen, as soon as everyone has gone we’ll talk.”  
      He raised an eyebrow at Seth, who still had his arms wrapped around Drew’s waist.  
      Seth chose to ignore the ‘I told you so’ look.  Gabriel had the wrong idea anyway.  
      “Ha! Wrong idea - my ass.” Gabriel grinned as he read that thought and moved towards the kitchen.  
      “And now? What’s Gabriel talking about?” Drew asked Seth.
      “Just Gabriel being Gabriel.” He said evasively, he didn’t want her to know that Gabriel was convinced Seth had feelings for her.  
      Seth reluctantly let go of Drew, there was no need for him to hold her any more.  They have given all the energy Dar would need for now.  
      “Shall we go get some of that chocolate cake I know Selphie’s must be done baking now?”
      Drew nodded and walked ahead of him towards the kitchen.
 
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