Finlay shook his head firmly and put his hand on her shoulders. “I am sorry Arie, but you can’t. It’s too dangerous.”
Arie put her hand inside her slim knee length boots and pulled out an odd shaped gun.
“I still have that weapon you gave me. I can still take Loki down.”
Finlay grabbed the gun from her hands. “Don’t fight with me, you are not going and that is the final word.”
Ash grabbed Annalise’s hand and started to drag her to the chair.
“We better sit down. We may be here a while.” Annalise followed quietly, but he could still tell she was quite engrossed in the fight. Finlay was fighting a lost cause; Arie never backed down. She didn’t get to be a sought after bounty hunter on her looks, though they helped. It was because she was smart, cunning and brave. Thanks to their weekly spars, she was getting to be a better fighter as well. She could think on her feet, she could speak thirty different languages, she knew the entire planet like the back of her hand, and she could change everything about herself to blend in. The list could go on and on, but the truth was, Ash wanted Arie by his side in this. In the past, they had worked together for the keepers. Usually it was to find some criminal or a crazy rebel threat, but right now he knew they needed all the help they could get. Innocent Annalise, here beside him, had never hurt a fly and Finlay would be preoccupied by Loki. Endarial had looked pretty tough, but he couldn’t take on her minions and her at the same time. Ash wasn’t stupid enough to go it alone.
“This is an interesting quarrel,” Annalise whispered in his ear.
Ash noticed how fascinated Anna was with the emotions in the room. He looked at Annalise. “What do you mean?”
She still continued to stare at them.
“He wants her to be safe, but she wants to keep him safe. They really seem to care for each other, but this is forbidden. A union like that is not allowed.”
Ash cringed at the word “union” and shrugged. “Well you know Fin- He never plays by the rules.” He repeated Finlay’s words to him from earlier.
“I wonder if it could work.” She cocked her head to the side slightly. Ash groaned in frustration and yanked on her ponytail gently. She made a slight squeaking sound before grabbing her hair and turning to face him.
“You pulled my hair,” she said, confused.
“Sure did, only because I like you.” Ash tried to reach out to her hair and give it another playful tug but she dodged him.
“You mortal men are so confusing.” Her face was turning a slight shade of pink. Ash put his hand to her cheek and stroked it.
“You look so cute when you’re all embarrassed,” he said, catching her gaze.
Anna froze, even her wings didn’t move.
“I am not,” she said quietly.
“Not what? Embarrassed or cute?” he teased.
She let a small smile reach her face and her bright blue eyes lit up. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by a shriek.
“You are like her? Like that winged mutant over there?” Arie yelled pointing at Annalise.
Ash sighed and ran his hands down his face. He didn’t have time to wait all day for the two of them to catch Arie up on the comings and goings of the situation.
“Oh moons, Arie!” Ash stood up and turned in her direction. He felt Annalise move behind his body, and he instinctively grabbed her hand as he felt the fear roll off her body. There was no reason for her to be afraid.
“First off, she is not a winged mutant. She saved my life. Second, Jedzia is dead and that’s why I need to do this. I need to make things right. Someone trusted you to hunt their leader, Loki- so obviously you can take down some lowlife minion right?”
Her hand shot up to cover her mouth at the mention of Jedzia’s death. They had only met once, but Arie understood how much she meant to Ash. She looked at Finlay.
“Someone trusted me to take down Loki,” she repeated to him, trying to convince him to let her go.
“That was different. You were on your territory. This time, we will be entering his.”
Ash didn’t want to interrupt, as much as he was still mad at them for hooking up, he knew she was a grown woman who could take care of herself. Besides, he wasn’t all innocent himself. He had been pushing away thoughts of Annalise in her tight black jumpsuit since she put it on.
Arie turned to Ash and gave him a ‘help me’ look. Ash only responded with a shrug. He wasn’t about to get on Finlay’s bad side again.
“I can help. This is no more dangerous than what I do every day, but you will leave me here all alone?”
Finlay stopped to think for a moment. What Arie had said made sense to him. He didn’t seem to want her to be left up here alone.
“Fine. You can go, but if you get hurt then, Annalise- you are going to heal her.” Finlay rubbed his hands over his hair and sighed in exasperation. Arie smiled proudly and gave a little victory dance.
“Good.” Ash looked at Finlay, trying hard now to scowl. “Now Arie, lets load up on some weapons; I know you keep them in here somewhere.”
Arie nodded and walked to over to her father’s room.
“I’ll be right back,” Ash told Annalise as he walked over to the old man’s room next door.
He was surprised by the state of the room. It was practically empty. A small bed in the corner, plain metal walls and an old metal dresser. Ash walked closer to the dresser. On the top was a small frame with a picture of Sasha and Arie. She looked to be about twelve. She seemed happy. Her hair was a bit shorter and her body was still undeveloped, but she looked exactly the same. Ash picked the picture up and wondered what Sasha would say about Ash taking his only daughter on this mission. Over the years, he had grown to respect Sasha. Although in recent years, with Sasha’s drinking, that respect had slowly dwindled.
“Is he doing any better?” Ash asked as he gently put the photo back down.
“He didn’t come home again last night,” Arie mumbled. She was digging through the back of a closet, pulling out holsters, gloves and a few knifes. Ash walked over to where she stood and gently put his hand on Arie’s back.
“He’s a grown man. I’m sure he is okay.”
“I’m sure he found a lead on a bounty and left without thinking,” she said, though her voice was uncertain. She turned around and slammed a bag into his chest.
“Here, take these.” She refused to look him in the eye, but went back to pulling items from the closet.
“Arie,” he said. He knew she was angry with him and he was sure it was over Finlay.
“How long did you know?” she shot back, while still refusing to turn around.
“About Finlay? I just found out yesterday.”
Her shoulders dropped in relief before turning around. Her arms were full of emergency items.
“Finlay understands me. Don’t fight on my account,” she told him and went back into the bedroom. Ash really wanted to be alright with the two of them together, but he knew how carelessly Finlay treated woman.
She was right, though, he had let his anger take over and cloud his feelings regarding Arie. Ash had been angry with Endarial, not with Finlay. He should keep his anger focused on the person he hated right now. Plus if he killed Endarial, he would also be helping Annalise’s reputation among her Elders.
Walking from Sasha’s room, Ash went back to where the other three stood, going through weapons.
Arie threw a small gun at Ash, which he promptly caught with one hand.
“Really?” he raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
“What?” Finlay held up his own gun and opened the chamber to reveal five small silver bullets. “It took me a long time to get these made… Shoot a fallen with a silver bullet. It will weaken and stun him.”
Ash shook his head. “No it can’t be that simple.”
“I didn’t say it would kill them, but it gives you an advantage. We also need to get some special weapons in order to kill a fallen, which I can get us.”
Annalise took her own gun and examined it.
“It makes sense. We do not have silver in our world because our world is focused on nature.”
Ash stuck the gun in a holster, even though they were having some differences, he felt as if he could trust that Finlay was right.
He winced as he pulled his hand from the gun. He noticed that the blood was now dried and covering his right palm. That would be the last time he hit Finlay. He tried to think of something else so Annalise didn’t feel his pain. He would never get used to this connection they shared. It felt like an invasion of privacy sometimes. She gave him a worried glance, but Ash tried to ignore it.
“You know where the fallen live?” he asked Finlay.
The male seraph nodded. “We have a double agent. She has gotten close to Loki, and will help us get in.
Chapter Eight
Annalise
Sometime later, Annalise found herself once again in the Underground and surrounded by the oddly colored smoke. This time, she was able to focus more on her surroundings since she wasn’t set on demanding things from Ash. However, she held on to his jacket, feeling uneasy in the tight space, her wings once again hidden away. She felt cramped and concealed, which is what she assumed keepers and bounty hunters normally felt like it. There was no light and nature in this space. Metal and darkness prevailed deep underneath the planet’s surface at the eighth layer. It was more packed on this night than it had been on her previous visit, wall to wall with people. The lights were multicolored as they shined around the room, only lighting it up slightly. All the tables were packed full of people, except for a single metal table near the bar. There sat a familiar face, one that Annalise had spoken with several times back home, though it had been a while since she had seen her in person.
The woman stood up, tall and thin, and smiled widely as they approached. Her hair was still long and black, straight, and matching her eyes. Her mocha skin looked just as healthy as it had when she had last seen her, the job as a double agent not appearing to affect the seraph at all. Annalise couldn’t help the smile that spread over her face as she walked up to her old friend, “Natara, it’s a pleasure to see you.”
The taller seraph wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. “Annalise, what a surprise. I hadn’t expected you to be a part of this secret rendezvous,” she whispered before letting her go, her smile not faltering a bit.
“It is quite the surprise for myself as well. It has been an interesting few days,” Annalise responded with a laugh as she tried to make a joke.
No one caught on, however, and she couldn’t help but drop her smile as they all sat at the table. She would never get the hang of the way humans spoke.
“I’m surprised Leon let you out of his sight,” Natara said, slight concern in her voice.
Looking up at her with surprised eyes at the mention of her counterpart, the blonde shook her head, “Oh he did not have the choice. The Elders were not very happy with me when…”
“Don’t even worry about going into that again, Finlay has caught me up everything.” Natara turned her attention to Ash, and looked him over before glancing back at Annalise, “I can see why.”
Annalise looked at her with a blank stare, unsure of what she meant by that and why she had looked happily at Ash. Ash spoke up, causing her to move her eyes over to him. He leaned over the table, whispering as loudly as possible over the music playing, “Listen, I don’t mean to be rude, but we aren’t here for conversation. We need to know where to find the fallen, and quick.”
“I don’t think you need to rush into such things,” the dark haired seraph laughed, “They are vicious beings when they are hungry.” Her face fell serious as she closed her eyes, opening them to reveal that the whites of her eyes had turned into jet black depths in her face.
Throwing her hand over her mouth, Annalise jumped in her seat, her other hand grabbing Ash’s leg under the table in fear. It didn’t make sense to her why her friend could look like that, how she had not been made aware that her friend was no longer a seraph. It also surprised her how much her hand on the mortal’s leg made her feel comfortable and safe. “But how can you be fallen?”
“It was a choice I had to make,” Natara said with a shrug, her eyes returning back to their normal state, “I could not be seraph and travel in the pack with the fallen. I chose to have my powers stripped of me, sought out Loki, and got in good with them. It’s almost been a year now and I have found out much needed information. It is difficult to live without the ability to teleport or hide my wings; I have to bind them when I go out. However, Loki has made me a ring in order to restore my powers…well, slightly.” She held out her hand, showing the group her ring. It was large on her small hand, white gem glistening and set in a golden band. It was then that Annalise noticed her old friend did not have on the normal seraph golden bangle. Perhaps that had something to do with becoming fallen.
“I do not understand.”
“It’s spelled, Annalise, some sort of alchemy they have learned to allow us to manipulate our once given powers. Watch.”
Natara pointed to the single plant in the entire underground, a vine that sat beneath the bar and twisted upwards on the metal beam. It began to twist away from the beam swaying back and forth in the wind, although there was no wind to be found in the underground. She was manipulating the air around them in order to use her affinity. It was similar to how Endarial had manipulated the fire from her lighter earlier.
“That’s amazing,” Finlay said, laughing as if he was a boy in a candy store, “But don’t you miss this?” He picked his hand up off the table, a vine growing out of the metal table and following his hand up several inches. He looked around at the group, excited, eyes beaming with joy. That was just a small show of what he could really do, but he was happy with himself.
“That’s just ridiculous,” Arie said, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms.
Annalise could tell the girl was still uncomfortable with what they were. It made her thankful that Ash had been more understanding, more open to the other species around him and not acting like a child. “These things will come in handy,” she said, eyes set on the redhead trying to make her understand before she turned her attention back to the group. Everyone else had stopped using their powers and were whispering among themselves.
“These rings are a new development since you checked in last. I am surprised that Loki has gotten ahold of alchemy magic. Who is helping the fallen?” Finlay asked with a worried look in his eyes. Natara didn’t answer immediately; a smile left her face.
“I don’t care, we need to go now,” Ash insisted, growing more impatient by the second. She could feel him weighing his options, part of him wanting to go on without them if they continued to sit instead of acting, but the other part of him knowing they would need his help.
“We should do as he asks,” Annalise agreed, trying to show him that she was in agreement, “The sooner we are able to get this over with the sooner I can go home and we can all get back to normal.”
He looked over at her, clearly disappointed and trying to hide it, but she wasn’t sure why. She thought they were on the same page. This was something they needed to get done, and they were doing it together. Then they would go back to their lives, even though that meant being separate. There was nothing between them, he had made that clear to her. It would never work. Still, she wondered. All these feelings had her so messed up, and she would not make a rash decision without getting them under control first. Especially if he did not want her to stay here with him. She had seen mortals in love, those wanting to be together, and this was certainly not it. Really, she wasn’t even sure why he was looking at her like that…or what it meant.
“Okay then,” Natara agreed, “But first, tell me what you know about killing a fallen.”
“Well nothing. I know that silver bullets stun them for a limited amount of time. They seem tough but I love a challenge.” Ash said, eyes moving over to look at Ann
alise and then back at the fallen in front of him. She looked at him puzzled, wondering what he had meant by that glance. She wished she had a book on mortals, or had paid more attention to these subtle cues while she had watched them in her globe.
Arie interjected, clearly irritated at the way things were going, “I’m sure little Anna here knows about challenges, huh? She’s the reason we are in this mess.”
The seraph narrowed her eyes, irritated that the girl that she barely knew and did not get along with was shortening her name. That was a pet peeve of hers, and only her closest of friends were permitted to use it, “My name is Annalise, and no I did not cause this.”
Natara interrupted the conversation, putting it back on track, “It doesn’t matter who started this, so forget the bickering. What you guys need to know is how to deal with the fallen. Annalise, how do you kill a seraph?”
The seraph was shocked to hear Natara asking her such things. Of course, she knew the answer, but it wasn’t something she cared to think about. Absent mindedly, she raised her hand to run it through her ponytail and took a few slow breaths before answering, “A sword. It must be a silver sword or one dipped in silver. Some of our power comes from our wings. Once removed, we somehow loose our ability to remain immortal. They will grow back over a few days, but during that time we are incredibly vulnerable. If one were to cut off the wings of a seraph, they would only need to kill them as if a mortal but with that same weapon. That would end their life.”
She dropped her eyes to the table, not wanting to talk about the subject anymore. It was enough to worry about losing Leon, seeing as she had no idea what he was doing. Every time she thought about it, she paused to see if she could feel anything. If he were to die, she would know it, feel every second of it, and put everyone else at risk.
Natara picked up where she left off to explain the rest, “That is the same way you destroy the fallen. With a silver sword. That should do the trick.”
Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) Page 15