Chapter Seven
Michael's POV
The breeze fluttered the dark raven tresses away from her moon light kissed shoulders revealing the swanlike neck that I had long lost a taste for. Yet I still find myself wondering what revelations that Onasis that made her choose to serve Lucifer. Thereby falling from grace as the path to Paradiso is barred for her.
Beside me, I could feel Gabriel's white wings fluttering and colliding with mine in a steady manner. The murderous aura emanating from him prickled my skin. He had sensed my nostalgic aura and his exasperated tone didn't hide his impatience, 'Don't go there, Michael. She's no longer a part of us."
I jerked off the hand he laid on my left shoulder hissing, 'Don't patronize me, Archangel. Follow your own sermons. As I recall, you couldn't even let go of your own.'
Gabriel stiffened and his chilling ice blue eyes moved back to Dante then glanced back to the dark haired midget as she continued to hover above Dante. We stood hidden in the brushes ready to pounce for the rest of her companions.
'Who are you?' Dante repeated oblivious to his Italian accent escalating to higher octaves as his frustration and fury boiled in him. It made me shake my head at his temper that can be easily ticked off to explode. The midget made a mistake of letting out one more provoking word as she dropped her trump card, 'How can she not remember you when her aversion to you is so clear or has the Dantes' infinite power gotten to your head and rendered you stupid to not see it?'
Hell, why Dante didn't took care to his plays better. I shook my head some more when a sword appeared right in Dante's hands and he lunged at Rana. They whirled around as Rana struggled to free herself out of Dante's grip. His hands clenched at her throat. And the blade of his sword pressed at her neck piercing it and a trickle of blood flowed.
An unspeakable anger washed over me but Gabriel's wings suddenly shot out to cover us when the building at Dante's back exploded in a flare of anguishing flames. The air filled with smoke from the smoldering flames thereby obscuring my vision. My finely tuned ears sensed four pairs of wing flapping shrilly in the air.
Although my eyes were shrouded with the smoke from the flame, it didn't stop me from seeing the silhouettes with one of them carrying a limp body. I let out a shout, 'No! They have her!'
We leaped out of our corner groping our way in the puff of smoke. To reach Mayla before they leave with her body. A voice cackled in my left ear, 'Rana is pleased to see you again, my love and it's wonderful that you haven't forgotten about us.'
'There was never an "us." I hate you.' I said lying through my teeth. I felt her step back in shock then she leaned back again whispering, 'Rana knows that you love her. So still we meet again.'
I turned to look at her shadow as she disappeared and then heard the heated arguments between Dante and Gabriel in distance. A wave of red colors flashing had me hurrying to grab the two of them at their necks and flew the three of us to the trees.
'Be silent, mes chiens mes freres du diable.' My dogs, my brothers of the devil, I hissed. It made them stop and focus their anger at me. This suited me much better than the two of them harping on at each other's throat to wage a disaster in front of humans.
'Where's Lucien, you mongrels?' Dante ground out.
'You're calling me mongrel? Look at yourself before you speak, fool.' Gabriel retorted.
'I'm here conchons. Not you, Michael.' Lucien's Italian accent sounded from behind me. He was lounging against a huge branch, his clothes tattered and charcoals grimed his face. A mask of tension on his face shielding his fury and displeasure as he relayed what happened, 'Some emerald eyed Nephilim suddenly appeared and shackled Mayla's wrists and legs. She was struggling to open her eyes and you just missed her tortured screaming.'
'Screaming?' Dante's puzzled face became marred by a myriad of emotions. He could never stand to see her in pain. For it'll be her pain too. But my pain had gone beyond his, for Mayla is my sister, the feeling of the flesh on her back being ripped off to sprout her wings...
'When she moved, some douche smacked a long metallic pole at her head. It acted as morphine to numb her to sleep.' Lucien ground out as if it disgusted him to speak the words themselves. I toppled over and began to crash down the branches breaking them one by one then three pairs of hands stopped me. Gabriel suddenly grabbed me to face him and his chilling ice blue eyes looked at me. 'No.'
'Yes...' I closed my eyes trying to suppress the pain.
Dante's POV
'He doesn't mean to say that...' I started to speak but Gabriel cut me off.
'Yes, they're ripping her flesh to shred the wings before they appear.' Gabriel threw Michael's convulsing body to Lucien and faced me. I felt sudden pang of guilt as his scorching gaze bored into mine. He knew that I was relieved about her wings being shredded. I enquired, 'Who are they?'
For once, the stoic Gabriel has agreed with me to settle our differences to focus on the matter at hand. How he and I will ever work on this beats me. I moved to a branch watching the firemen leaping out of the fire truck and gathering hoses to put off the fire consuming the dull white building of the hospital wing. Several people are moving in and out of the building along with patients on stretchers. A panicked screaming inside had me looking to Lucien who shrugged as he held Michael, 'You can't blame me. I was outnumbered and asleep.'
'Some champion our people call you.' That earned me a smirk from him and a retort, 'At least I can be at tournaments and not be the warrior a family is waiting for.'
'Unlike a fool I know, I have a title and land waiting for me.' Lucien shot me a glare before speaking to Gabriel who had stared out to the disturbances outside, 'Who are they?'
'Michael's lady love Rana appeared.' Gabriel replied not turning to look at us. Lucien brought Gabriel's gaze back to us when he replied, 'She spoke of Onasis earlier this morning.'
'Then we have no choice but to give chase to them. Already I can feel Darren's wings fluttering in distance. He's headed this way.' Gabriel nodded to the east of the horizon and a fleck of something is flying toward us with an aura of anger.
One directed at me. And as I can sense, it's aimed at the Archangel too.
'Lucien, we're leaving you to deal with Darren. He has no choice but to take care of Michael. Meet us in the forest after you deal with him.' Lucien nodded in understanding for he knew what Darren can do. Gabriel grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and hissed, 'Get us out of here before I feed you to Darren.'
I grinned at him, 'You forget, Archangel that Darren will not hesitate to eat you too.'
And off we go. My dark raven wings unfurled from my back and ripped to shreds the rest of the tattered fabrics on my back. We leaped up in the air and heard Darren's angry shout, 'Don't you disappear!'
He flew at us at high speed but Lucien threw Michael's still convulsing body at him stopping him to catch the body. Lucien grinned, 'Go. Before the rest of the world could see an Archangel and a Nephilim making up.'
We glared at him and in a swirling darkness disappeared.
