Can Anybody Find Me?

Chapter 24

Gavin felt it the moment Lone started to focus on the bond between them. It was strange but for a moment it offered him peace and a breath away from pain. And then she retreated and he felt the poison on the spikes flood back into him, stealing his vitality and starting to rot him from the inside out. The goal was to drive him mad before they killed him, the pain would only increase the longer the poisioned spikes were kept in his body. He knew from the echo of their bond that the purple eyed demon was still with Lone, and that put his mortal in fatal peril. His Guardian sense screamed with the need to get there and protect her. Just like so long ago, his body warned that Elonore Priest was about to die.

 The Guardian Angel remembered that moment, mere moments ago to an Immortal like him, when Elonore was a little girl and dying in his arms. He had been willing to give anything to save her and had spent the next few years trapped without his body. Now to save her again, he had to another sacrifice of himself. Only this time it wasn't his corporeal self that he was going to lose. Gavin took a deep breath in, calmed that inner turmoil and then screamed as he started to pull himself away, the spikes stapling his wings to the floor. It was time to tear free. Gavin had dealt with vast amounts of mortal pain in his duties as a Guardian. Anything short of decapitation and he would eventually recover. He'd even had his head crushed once and still survived. He imagined this is how the Queen Alien felt in that Sigourney Weaver movie. The pain sharpened to a high point as he used his inhuman strength to tear himself free of his wings. Something roped from his gut, a low, hot pain that seemed to strengthen him against the pain in his back. With a final scream of agony, he tore free, climbing to his feet and panting in pain, swallowing back the nausea. On the ground were his wings, still dusky black and beautiful. Mangeled and descecrated now as they lay bloody on the floor. His back burned with pain and Gavin shuddered as his entire soul settled into place, the pain searing into his very essence. He heard something at the door and reached down, easily grabbing one of the spikes up and snarled at the door. Deciding that he was tired of waiting, Gavin tested the door and pushed it open to see a very surprised Chalice before he found himself ramming the spike down into her gaunt, ghoulish chest.

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Rimmon and Gabriel had both started screaming at the same time, the Demon and the Angel dropping to the floor while the mortals in the room floundered on what was going on. Rimmon's screams cut off suddenly and he was shuddering on the floor, steam visibly rising from his darkly flushing body.

Gabriel had gone pale and cold next to him, shaking and lips blue. The Arc Angel was tangled in his own wings, the white feathers seeming somehow etched with gold and shimmering lights.Belle settled her Arc Angel's head onto her lap, her touch seeming to settle whatever attack he was undergoing. Coyote's touch however, only seemed to make Rimmon's condition worsen, so the Neutral kept himself on the other side of the room until both men stopped their thrashing and gnashings as suddenly as they started.

"I'm starting to get really sick of this. What the hell is going on?" Belle demanded, her voice hoarse from anxiety, stress and exhaustion.

"You know the game, katamari damacy?" Rimmon gasped.

"Where you roll around and collect everything you touch?" Belle asked, completely confused sounding.

"Yeah only in Lone's case, the longer she's with someone, the stickier she is to their soul. And vice versa. We love her. Because of that, we are hooked into her and reciprocate back. But the thing is, she makes us all stick to each other too. Something has happened to Gavin, and through all these damn links, we're being dragged into it too." Rimmon explained, voice strangely wet sounding.

"Gavin's dead. I don't feel him anymore." Gabriel said weakly, and Belle gasped softly, covering her mouth.

"No. He ain't dead yet. Lone won't let that happen without a bigger fight. He's Fallen." Rimmon sat back on his heels, looking more moble than Gabriel still.

The Arc Angel opened his eyes and groaned. "He had some of my power. Son of a bitch."

"There are worst thing than death. Being slowly tortured to death but still being alive to see the woman you love tortured, raped and murdered before you're ever even offered the mercy of death. That, that's worst." Rimmon offered the Arc a hand to help him up.

"Let me guess, that was your plan." Gabriel still took the proffered hand and Belle gracefully rose on her own and tucked herself under the Angel's arm.

"Not anymore." Rimmon shrugged, not entirely sure when the plan changed for him. But it had and now they were all going to have to stage an even more impossible mission; rescue.

"We're out of time." Coyote stated, tugging on his own hair while he thought. The Neutral stopped for a moment, a look of incredulous realization on his face. "We summon him."

There was no special emphasis on the word him, but the Arc Angel and the Demon Ambassador both hissed in response. Belle just curled around herself, huddled away from the non humans even though she had a near overwhelming urge to keep cuddling Gabriel.

"You want to summon him?" Gabriel asked slowly, voice dripping venom on the word.

"You can't even be sure." Rimmon started to argue but Coyote cut them all off with a hand gesture.

"We all know that the reason Lone's been targeted is because of what she is. They want it for their own uses and that means Azazel. He's the only one with enough balls to grab a Fallen. But we have the components necessary to summon even him." Coyote argued.

"It's a suicide drill." Gabriel hissed.

"It won't work." Rimmon tried to argue.

Belle just raised her hand. Every male looked at her and when she had their complete attention, she gave the room an arch look. "If it'll help Lone. Count me in." After that there was only one thing the men could do.

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Lone felt Gavin's pain and the horror she felt when all sense of him disappeared bent her over her own knees, sobbing. Her Guardian Angel was gone, the hole his sudden absense left had Lone feeling like she was off balance or bleeding to death.

Even as she felt the tears pouring down her face, Lone pushed herself up and crawled towards the door, refusing to believe he was dead until she saw his body for herself. Even then she wouldn't entirely beleive he was gone. Not before she could figure out what it was between them without all this insanity going on. Her heart was definitely screaming one thing at her, but her head was telling her something else entirely. And her hormones were just begging for her to give in to one of them and soon.

Lone reached the door and placed her palm on it, other hand dropping to put palm to brand. Lone pulled on that sense of her Demon and let it flood through her, and leak from her palm to the door. It unlocked with no sound or sign, the door simply creaking open. She used the door frame to pull herself up and woodenly looked out into the hallway.

Her hand crept up to weakly brush the mark her Angel had placed there but she sobbed when it wasn't responding to her touch. Instead of letting the grief drown her, she grabbed all of the swirling emotions and rammed it into the brand, trying to use her will power to open the link between her and Gavin again. And just faintly she felt it pulse back.

That was all she needed, that faint prompt enough hope to propell her into running. She was chasing a whisper of the pulse back to where she hoped to find Gavin. And yet she still almost didn't believe it when she ran around a corner and there he was. She sobbed when she saw him, hard ass demeanor falling away when she found him alive but bleeding. Abandoning the detatched facade, Lone ran up to the injured man, hugged him around his waist and kissed him.

Gavin didn't need any encouragement. His Lone was alive, she was still alive and if they could get out of here, Chalice wouldn't be healing herself any time soon. He lacked the knife to behead her, and he no longer had the strength to rip her head off. So instead he had returned the favour and nailed her to the floor. They had a small window of opportunity. But he didn't rush the kiss, a hand cupping Lone's head and he drank in her emotions, a different bond between them opening now that he was no longer a Guardian Angel.

"We need to get out of here." Gavin said when the kiss finally ended.

"Agreed." Lone nodded and looped his arm over her shoulder, not needing to be asked for help to offer it. He needed her help and she was going to be there for him. It was that simple. Now they only had to escape hell. That should be easy. "We're doomed." Lone added sarcastically. Gavin just grunted in agreement.