She lowered herself to the floor and peered down past Ash to see what it looked like down there. She moved to place her foot on the ladder that lead downwards and began to move. Before she got out of sight, she looked up to see Natara watching her. She held out a small bag to the seraph, “Take this food. You may all get hungry on your way.”
Annalise took the small bag from Natara and tied it around her waist. She gave her old friend a smile, “Thank you so much for helping us.”
“It is no problem, dear,” the fallen said as she smiled down at her. She reached up to close the door, “Good luck down there.” And with that, she shut the door, and left the rest of them in the darkness.
Annalise finished walking down the ladder and felt Ash grab her waist and help her down off the last step. She wanted to insist that she could help herself, but did not want to start any more arguments. She turned to see her friends and struggled to see them in the darkness, “Where are the lights?”
“We will have to find a lamp or switch of some sort along the way, if there is one,” Finlay answered and reached into his pocket to pull out a lighter, “This will have to do for now.” He held out his open hand and a small tree grew over the space above it. He used the lighter to set each limb on fire, it helped light up the small space a little better.
He continued on ahead, Arie close behind him. Annalise reached for Ash’s hand and held it tight. She let him lead her on. “I do not like the darkness. I wish that I had an affinity for fire.”
“Don’t wish that, you’re perfect how you are,” he said and turned to look at her with a smile.
“How will we fight the fallen in the darkness?”
“There are lights around here somewhere. We will be fine.”
She pulled herself closer to him and took his arm. It made her feel more secure. His touch seemed to give her some sort of strength. They continued on, way lit only by the small tree Finlay held up in front of him. Annalise was thankful that the tree wouldn’t burn due to seraph magic. Nothing much was said by either she or Ash for the first hour or so as they walked. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself for that time, so as not to distract any of them. It would be better this way in case they got ambushed. Still, her thoughts continued to drift to the situation with Jaron and she felt the insistent need to speak about it.
“Ash?” she asked and looked up at him. He was on alert, she could see that, but as she spoke he looked down at her and part of that faded.
He gave her a lazy smile. “Yeah?”
She wasn’t sure how to express herself to him, never having to rely on anyone else other than Finlay and Leon. It was something she didn’t think she would do, but there was something about the mortal that made her want to open up to him and share her feelings. “I find myself trusting you. More than I probably should,” she said, settling on that but not being satisfied with it.
“Okay,” he said with a laugh, confusion and amusement coming over his face. “I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not.”
“Oh it is!” Annalise exclaimed and gave his arm a squeeze. “I do not mean it in any other way.”
Ash continued to look at her as if he was waiting for more of an explanation.
“It is just that I-I have never needed to express my feelings to someone else as I think I need to with you. They are so confusing and so many new emotions from this bond. It is difficult to muddle through what is and is not important.”
He gave another laugh and hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her to him, “I make the ladies a little crazy, it’s normal. You will get used to it.”
“Do not put on that show for me, Ash. I am serious.”
Frowning slightly, he leaned into her and whispered, “Anna, really, it’s going to be fine. What’s the matter?”
“It is Jaron…I have never ended someone’s life before. All I knew was that he was going to hurt you if I did not do something, and I had that gun in my hand. I had to, but it was awful.”
“I’m proud of you,” he boasted and wrapped a second arm around her to give her a hug, “You showed him who’s boss.”
“I do not want to be anyone’s boss, Ash. I took a life. That is not okay.”
“It’s not the end of the world. You did what you had to do and we are alive because of it. Don’t you see killings all the time with your reapings?”
Annalise shook her head, “No I actually do not watch that part. Life is sacred and important. It is not something to play with and smother out. Yes, I reap the souls once they are dying, but I do not watch the act itself. I cannot stand it. That is the first time I have seen it, and it was at my own hands.”
“Well you better get used to it,” he replied matter-of-fact, “because there will be many more deaths on your hands as we go through the ninth layer. People who enter rarely make it out alive. The creatures down here won’t hesitate to kill you.”
She let out a sigh and leaned over against his arm. He was right of course, and she hated to admit that to herself. What bothered her most about Jaron is that he had been human. Annalise had expected to kill fallen and monsters, but not mortals. Perhaps she could find a way to forgive herself, and maybe, just maybe, she could find a way to move on from all the carnage they were surely going to create.
“I do not want to be weak,” she said suddenly and looked back up at him.
“You aren’t weak,” Ash said as he stopped walking and turned to look at her. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned into her, just inches away from her face, “You have gotten stronger. You are only as weak as you make yourself. I know you have it in you.”
Annalise nodded and tried to fight the urge to pull herself closer to him as she wanted to do. This was the first time he had gotten this close to her since she had woken up alone, other than the sparing, and she wanted so badly to close the distance between them. She raised a small hand to run it around the back of his neck and push herself up onto her tiptoes. Her heartbeat sped up at just the thought of his lips on hers.
As she closed her eyes, excitement filling her up, Finlay’s voice rang out, “We aren’t alone, friends.”
Ash pulled back from her as if nothing had happened and took her hand to lead her closer to the rest of the group. She tried to hide the disappointment as she followed him, fear threatened to come over her as they stepped up beside the other duo. She did not want to know what was there in the dark. Even though she thought she was prepared to fight, the time was here and she was worried she wouldn’t do well.
“Who goes there?” a voice came out from the darkness.
“Harper Finlay, seraph guardian,” Finlay called out, his voice loud and intimidating.
“Ahhhh a seraph,” the voice said, curiosity flowing from it, “you should be thankful the fallen have not found you before I have.”
“We have met, unicorn,” Finlay responds, “You should know I’m not worried about running into a fallen.”
The unicorn laughed and the lights flashed on, that all too familiar florescent sound filling up the small tunnel. Annalise slammed her eyes closed, the light flooded through the area and was painful to her eyes. She would really be happy to return to her realm where there was sun instead of harsh fluorescents.
“Is that Leon’s counterpart I see there?” the voice asked, a little closer now.
“I don’t see why that’s any of your business,” Finlay said sternly.
“Unicorn?” Annalise exclaimed and moved closer so she could see what stood in front of her. There was a tall creature in a humanoid form, long multicolored hair flowing in waves down to his waist. He was very pale, the whitest form she had ever seen, red eyes standing out in the stark, bland face. He was taller than any of them, thin yet muscular from all of the running she knew that unicorns tended to do. In the center of his forehead was a short golden horn. That part of him, she knew, was deadly and poisonous.
Annalise pushed past Ash and tried to get around the other seraph, but he grabbed ahol
d of her arm and would not let her past. “Let me be, Finlay, he will not hurt us. We are lost and he will help us find our way. ”
Still, he would not let her go. She knew of this creature, he had helped Leon on many a journey. Unicorns were rare and normally very evil creatures. They could shape shift, but always carried the same color scheme in any form they took. However, they could make you see what they wanted you to see. If you wanted a beautiful short female or a tall slender male, they could make you see that. They lived off of the essence of other beings and expected that in return for their services. They could drain a being in mere seconds if they wanted to. She had heard horror stories about the species, and they were incredibly dangerous. Still, Leon had told her about this one and had trusted him on several occasions.
“Why, it is Miss Annalise,” the pale creature said and bowed slightly at the hip, “What brings you down here where others are forbidden?”
“We seek out Endarial the fallen.”
The unicorn shook his head, still no expression crossing his face, “She is a dangerous one. I think that you should leave that to your counterpart.”
“He is not a part of this,” she clarified, “would you be willing to help us reach the tenth layer?”
He cocked his head to the side and considered her words, “And what would you give me in return?”
Somewhat fearful to get near the creature, she looked at Finlay and begged him with her eyes to let her go. He did so, and Ash was beside her quickly, “You’re not going near that thing alone.”
“Who is this?” the unicorn asked curiously.
“This is my friend, Ash the keeper.”
“A keeper, hmmmmm?”
“Would you stop telling him everything he wants to know?” Ash asked, clearly irritated that she was doing so.
Annalise turned to him, using the same method of convincing he had used back in the tunnels with Jaron, and mouthed, “Trust me.”
She took a few slow steps forward and could feel Ash right behind her. “You may have some of my essence in reward for your help.”
The unicorn closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of her as she got closer. It made her slightly nervous on the inside. She knew that he would not hurt her, that as long as she was honest with him, that he would help her. Leon would have his head if he laid a hand on her or anyone in her group. She knew these things, yet she couldn’t tell anyone or she would give herself away. Unicorns expected nothing but truth and sincerity from those they mingled with, even if they did not give the same treatment in return.
Once she reached him, she held out a hand to him and tried to ignore Ash hovering silently by her side. The unicorn smiled at her devilishly, rows of sharp teeth showing as he did so. Ash opened his mouth to say something, but the unicorn’s mouth was lowering to hers, stopping before it touched her and drawing out the essence she had offered.
It caught her off guard, as it flowed from her mouth into his, flashes of his lifetime in her mind, a small child left alone in the darkness, battling to survive until he was fully grown. All of the mortals he had seduced and stolen life force from. It was painful for her to watch, yet she knew Leon had seen the same thing. She felt Ash’s hand on her shoulder, ready to pull her back, when the unicorn let her go and stepped back.
“Ahhhhh delicious,” he said, closing his eyes and inhaling once again. He opened them, red and intense as he looked at her, “I will help you, counterpart of Leon. Follow me and be diligent.”
She turned to look at Finlay and motioned for him to follow. He looked at her, shocked that she was still alive and taking Arie’s hand to keep her safe. “Do not get near that thing. I’ve seen him in action and he is not to be trusted,” he whispered to the redhead, who nodded in response.
The unicorn walked ahead of them, and Ash leaned in to Annalise, “That guy is a creeper.”
“A what?”
“He’s creepy, Anna.”
“I do not care,” she whispered. She knew that the unicorn was quite odd looking but she did not understand Ash’s reference fully.
They continued to follow him, however, and she was pleased when the tunnel opened up to reveal a larger space for them to walk through. This space was scarier, though, and looking more like a jungle than man made with plenty of places for fallen to hide. This must have been more of what the whole planet looked like before the mortals took over.
She let out a sigh and used her wings to pull herself up off the ground slightly. Her feet were tired from all of the walking, it had been several hours since they had left Natara’s home. Although she was glad that they had not yet been attacked, she was very bored and needed to rest. Perhaps it had been the lack of food, since she had not eaten much for several days now, but she was thankful to be out of the manmade area and back into nature, even if there was still fluorescent lighting above and no sunlight to be seen.
Hearing a stick crack, Annalise froze and dropped to the ground to look around, “Did you hear something?”
Ash nodded and pulled her to him instinctively, and then reached into his pocket to pull out his blade.
Arie ran up to them, pushing her back up against Ash’s and looking around, gun in hand, “What was that?”
“Some beast I’m sure,” Finlay said and came to stand with them. He pointed ahead of them, “The unicorn isn’t stopping.”
“We do not need to lose him,” Annalise said and pulled herself away from the group to continue forward. She encouraged them to follow her, even though they weren’t sure what the noise had been. If the unicorn continued on, he would not turn around to wait for them if there was no reason to stop. Unicorns were selfish creatures, worried about themselves and nothing else. The only reason that this one was helping was because of his connection with Leon and getting more seraph essence for himself. He would not help fight, and he would not wait up if they stopped because they were scared.
Several minutes later, a low growl made them stop again. The unicorn stopped as well and turned to them with his face still void of emotion, “That sounds like something you should take care of.”
At his words, a large black wolf leapt out of the trees. It was twice the size of a human, muscular and terrifying. Its mouth hung open, showing row upon row of fangs, two sets of golden eyes set in its face. The wolf pulled itself up onto it two back legs, showing just how monstrously tall and strong he was. The tail swished back and forth anxiously as it crept towards them. A low growl came from its throat as Annalise backed up. She held her hand out in front of her, “Ash, that is a big creature.”
“Oh for crying out loud,” Arie growled and stepped up beside them to aim her gun at the wolf. She pulled the trigger and sent a bullet straight into the head. It let out a shriek of pain as it fell over and began to whimper. The redhead looked over at the seraph, irritated, and continued on in front of them. Finlay stepped closer to the beast to examine it.
“This is a lycanthrope. I’ve heard of them, giant wolf creatures, I didn’t realize they still existed.”
“That isn’t all you should be worried about,” the unicorn whispered as his eyes looked over to the left.
A ball of fire came flying at the group and Ash pushed Annalise to the ground as it whizzed by. Finlay ran forward and grabbed Arie just as another one came flying by and moved her out of the way just in time for it to miss her.
Annalise looked up to see a large, dark-skinned fallen stepping into view. His head was bald and he wore a long brown coat that was tattered and torn. He appeared to be angry, fireball sitting in his hand, a lighter in the other. The third ball came flying at them. In response, Annalise pulled together a ball of water and flung it at him to put out the fire. The fallen continued to come at them as he threw balls of fire that they had to dodge. Annalise was terrified and knew she probably made him even more angry when she had put out his fire. She continued to send water towards him, trying to get him to stop, as the others ran forward to fight. Arie was the first to reach him, much to Finlay and As
h’s dismay; she dodged a flame and reached out to cut him with her silver knife. The fallen let out a menacing yell as he backhanded Arie, sending her to the ground.
Ash called out to her and she didn’t answer, so Annalise ran over to her and dropped to the ground beside her. She turned her sight away from the others as they began to fight the fallen to tend to their friend.
“Arie?” she questioned, her hands going out to shake the young girl. When she didn’t answer, the seraph placed her hands over her and began whispering her blessings to heal her before any more damage could be done. The fight going on behind her worried her, she did not want Finlay or Ash getting hurt, but there was nothing she could do to help as long as she was healing this girl.
Arie took in a deep breath and sat up, knocking Annalise over to the side. She continued to breathe hard as her eyes went to the seraph in shock, “Thank you. That fallen is tough. I couldn’t even get a hit in.” Her words paused as she heard Ash cry out. She pulled her gun from her pocket and aimed it at the fallen, jerking the trigger back and hitting him right between the eyes.
“Moons, I really wanted to save these bullets,”
she mumbled. Annalise jumped up and ran over to where they were to see Ash holding his arm.
“Are you okay?” she asked frantically, as she grabbed him and looked at him with worry. She didn’t know what she would do if he were hurt and she was unable to help him.
“I’m fine, just a scratch,” he said, and showed her the spot on the edge of his arm where the fire ball had burnt the side of it.
“I will heal you,” she said quickly, set on her actions and placed her hands over his arm.
He put a reassuring hand on hers to make her stop and look at him, “No time for that, we gotta go before he gets up.”
“Already got that covered,” Finlay said.
Annalise looked over at him to see the fallen’s wings in one hand and the bloody silver sword in the other. He dropped the dark feathered wings to the ground and plunged the sword into the fallen’s heart. Annalise looked away, not wanting to see the carnage they had to create in order to stay safe. She knew Finlay was not bothered by it, being one to battle fallen and other creatures on a daily basis.
Ethereal Underground Page 20