Darker Angels

Isaak winced; shifting even slightly had renewed the aches in his body from the previous night of abuse. He had been trying to shake the deep disgust he suddenly felt for his fellow coven members and worse was the stirrings of true loathing for their leader. He moved his aching shoulders a little, trying to work out the kinks. He knew that Dietrich had to be feeling much worse than he was, being a Terran he wasn’t capable of handling the level of abuse a Methuselah was. More and more the thought of going back to her was making itself prominent in the forefront of his mind. But he also knew that wouldn’t be the wisest course of action. He had no qualms with being a first class bastard nor did he have any trouble using any means necessary to gain what he wanted. He sighed heavily and instantly regretted it due to the pain that shot through his chest. He was mildly frightened because the pain had lasted so long, serving as a reminder of the level of the past night’s abuse.



He felt Dietrich’s presence outside his room before hearing him knock.



“Come,” Isaak said, trying to arrange himself more comfortably in his chair to little avail.



Isaak winced inwardly upon seeing Dietrich limp into his room.



“You shouldn’t move around on that so much,” Isaak pointed out.



Dietrich sighed. “If I stay stationary for very long it stiffens up almost to the point I can’t walk.”



Isaak nodded and there was a heavy silence between the two men for a few moments before Dietrich spoke again.



“You know we’re expected at the club tonight to see what went wrong with the plan to assassinate the Pope and make sure nothing else gets botched.”



Isaak’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the other man through a haze of clove scented smoke. “I’m aware of that, Dietrich. What’s your point?”



“Have you seen the video for the club?”



“Not for the last forty eight hours. Why?”



“She was there, Isaak.”



Everything in him seemed to go completely still. “Are you certain?”



“Yes.”



“Have you informed . . .”



Dietrich snorted before Isaak could finish the question. “And get myself beaten and raped again because he thinks she found out from me? Hell no.”



Isaak flinched a little at the harsh words, knowing full well they were true. Cain *would* presume she had found out from one of them so he understood Dietrich’s reticence to tell their leader about what he had seen.





Abel smiled a little as he strolled through the gardens admiring the late autumn blooming plants. He was still a little sore due to his prolonged comatose state but overall felt quite well. He didn’t notice the man watching him as he puttered around the garden, pausing every once in awhile to look more closely at one of the plants.



Gun pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to where Abel was gazing interestedly at one of the flowers. “It’s good to see you up and about again.”



To his credit, Abel only jumped a little. “It’s good to be up and about again,” he said, smiling at the other man.



“Are you sure you’re well enough to go on this mission tonight?”



“Positive. It isn’t as though we’re expecting any real trouble.”



“At least not so long as someone keeps Ion and Esther on a leash. Though I think they’ve more than learned their lesson about trying to play with the grownups.”



Abel laughed. “I’m sure that was quite something to witness.”



“I’m amazed that Taka didn’t strangle both of them as she’s not exactly fond of Esther in the first place.”



“I believe that is an understatement if what Blaze said is true and I have no reason to doubt her word. Esther is just . . . young. I doubt being raised by a nun helps her knowledge of the world at large. I suppose Esther can be somewhat trying to those who don’t know her very well,” Abel said thoughtfully.



“Speaking of Esther,” Gun said, sounding somewhat hesitant.



“What about her?”



“She seems to be particularly fond of you.”



Abel smiled a little sheepishly. “There isn’t any romantic attachment if that’s what you were curious about. At least not on my part. She’s entirely too young for me and Terrans lives go so fast.”



“That is true.”



“Speaking of romantic liaisons,” Abel said, looking askance at the other man. “What exactly is going on between Takara and Tres?”



Gun sighed. “According to Hunter, whose room is next to Taka’s, just about everything in the Kama Sutra.”





Tres had put himself into sleep mode sometime around dawn with Takara draped over him like a living blanket. He’d had to shut himself down because he kept getting random flashes of strange things that seemed as though it was long stored data he had relegated to old information files and hadn’t managed to upgrade to operate properly with the new working system. He had tried to analyze it and couldn’t grasp the threads of the images and random sounds. It seemed that even in sleep mode these things were trying to process because the information flitted through his circuits at the speed of light.



He was shoved roughly into full alert by a firm voice speaking to him.



“Warrior, awake.”