Darker Angels

Tazzy: Abel isn't going to be too happy with what's found in his noggin'. I'm glad you enjoy my writing so much.

Miss Murder: Yay! So happy that you're back. I'll give you the order that the Blaze stories go in if you want. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Or at least don't consider strangling me over it.



*********



Abel climbed slowly from the depths of sleep. The previous night’s dreams had seemed to be so real that he could actually feel tactile sensations from them. He had been lost in the feel of long, red hair brushing over his skin and looking into the loveliest eyes he had ever seen. He opened his own eyes to find himself in a room he didn’t recognize. He frowned, trying to remember when Gun came through the door carrying a tray of food.



“Good, you’re awake,” he said, setting the tray down on the nightstand. “I was beginning to get a little worried since you’ve been sleeping for so long.”



“What time is it?” Abel asked, sitting up and putting a hand to his aching head. “Dear Lord, my head hurts.”



“Probably from the sleep hangover. It’s a little past five in the evening.”



“I slept for eighteen hours?!”



“Roughly,” Gun said, perching on the edge of the bed. He fidgeted with the bedspread for a moment before glancing at Abel somewhat sheepishly. “Ummmm, Abel, I have something I need to tell you.”



Abel frowned a little at Gun’s hesitant tone. “What is it?”



“It’s probably another part of the reason you have a massive melon pounder as Tante Star so eloquently puts it.” Gun breathed a heavy sigh. “You know my dad is a master level telepath, right?”



“Yes. I’m aware of that,” Abel said slowly. He was wondering why Gun had mentioned this about his father.



“Well, he sort of took it upon himself to do an in depth scan of you. That’s probably why you slept for so long. Anyway, Mom read him the riot act for digging into your mind without your permission. What he found could be really useful to us because I’m not so certain you were even aware of it yourself.”



“I feel a *but* coming on,” Abel said steadily. “Come on, Gun. How bad is it?”



“Honestly, it’s pretty bad. I won’t lie to you.”



Abel sat up a little straighter and a frown suddenly creased his features.



“I’ll let Dad explain because I don’t know if I really understand all the implications of the situation.”



“I’m not so sure I want to talk to your father just now, Gun,” Abel said, sounding somewhat defensive.



“Don’t worry. Mom hit him pretty hard so I don’t think he’ll be going on any more forays into your brain without asking your permission first. I think you’d better eat something before we go. This could prove to be a long conversation.”







Reicher was pacing the bedroom he shared with his husband, his thoughts growing darker by the moment. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this whole conflict could turn out very *bad* if Abel couldn’t manage to fuse the two sides of himself. At full capacity 02 functioned as a completely separate entity from Abel and had no recognition of anything or anyone. 02 had only one purpose when not under Abel’s conscious command, destroy that which could be construed as a threat. Unfortunately, a threat to 02 seemed to be whatever contained an equal or greater power level than itself. Meaning he didn’t see allies or enemies per se and that could be very dangerous in a combat situation.



Circe had mentioned that Gun had gotten 02 to stand down in full angelic mode and that was rather puzzling considering the circumstances at the time. 02 would most certainly have seen Gun as a very *major* threat at that point in time.



All of this bothered him far less than finding Cain firmly planted within Abel’s mindscape. It was not one of the ethereal images on the fringes of the mindscape that usually marked someone who was thought of often. Considering that Lilith had practically taken up all available space in that area it was hardly surprising that there was little room for anyone else. Gun flitted in and out of that area along with Circe and the members of AX but none of them took up the vast amount of space that Lilith did.



What made him worry the most was that Cain’s figure seemed to be just as solid as Abel’s Crusnik form. His frown deepened because he knew what a form that solid in someone’s mindscape usually meant; whomever it was had access to the other person’s mind. In this case, that was a very dangerous thing considering the power struggle between the two men.



His thoughts were interrupted when his husband stuck his head in the door. “Gun’s back with Abel. They’re in the library,” Oracle said. He took in his spouse’s somewhat frazzled demeanor. “Are you certain you want to tell him all of this?”



“I don’t want to but it has to be done. It could be a life or death thing if Abel can’t manage to pull himself together. And I *really* don’t like the way Cain is presented in his head.”



“For good reason. It’s never a good thing when an enemy is *in* your head.”



They walked into the library to find Abel sitting on what was left of the couch, Gun perched on the edge of Blaze’s desk and Skye seated in the chair. Abel was staring rather hard at Gun’s father, comparing and contrasting the two men. Reicher seemed to be a slightly older version of his twin sons. But that was where any similarity between he and Gun ended. Gun seemed to get the vast majority of his personality from his mother.



When Abel finally spoke, what came out of his mouth was not what he had originally intended. “Why would you go through my mind without asking?”



Reicher merely lifted one eyebrow and looked completely unabashed by the question. “There’s a simple answer to that. You’re romantically interested in one of my children,” he said, noticing the faint blush that colored Abel’s cheeks suddenly. “What kind of a parent would I be if I didn’t go through your head, since I have that ability?”



During this little speech, Skye had gotten up and walked over to stand next to the father of her sons. On his last statement, she slapped him in the back of the head hard enough to make his ears ring.



“You’d be a parent who allowed their adult children to live their own lives. Now, if you’re finished being overprotective, can we proceed?”



Reicher rubbed the back of his head and glared at Skye. “Scheisse, lieb, did you have to hit me so hard?”



“Be thankful she hit you somewhere that wouldn’t actually cause you that much pain,” Oracle said dryly, causing Gun to snicker a little.



Reicher sighed and started telling Abel what he’d found in his mind and what it all meant in layman’s terms. Abel was startled to find he considered 02 to be a separated entity from himself. He was completely stunned to know that Cain had access to his mind.



“Actually, that makes perfect sense,” Skye said. “It explains Cain’s knowledge of Abel’s movements either major or minor before he ever makes them.”



Abel looked mildly terrified. “How do I get him out?”



“That’s the tricky part. Someone would have to find out how he got there in the first place. This seems to be a long time placement so extracting it could take some work,” Reicher said.



“How much work?” Abel asked, feeling like his stomach had sank to his knees.



“We have several master telepaths here. It shouldn’t be *that* difficult,” Gun said, trying to diffuse Abel’s rising panic.



“I’m sure we’ll come up with something, Abel. Don’t worry,” Skye said, patting him on the shoulder gently.







Hunt and Circe were in the garden talking when she suddenly went completely rigid.



“Sis?” Hunt said, looking at her worriedly.



She glanced at him and sat down hard on the ground. “Incoming.”



“Scheisse. Who?”



“Lilith.”