**Quote: "Don't mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me." ~~Al Capone **

Chapter 18

The bumping of tires over rough road wakes me. For a moment I just keep blinking in the darkness wondering when I got in my truck and how long I've been asleep at the wheel.

Then my mind catches up with me and it takes every nerve I've got to not sit straight up and scream.

I'm being fricking kidnapped! On a school night!

Forcing myself to take quiet deep breaths I slit my eyelids and try to see through the darkness of the van. A large figure sits across from me and I think he's asleep. His head is lolling from side to side and he's breathing a steady deep rhythm. Shifting my head very slightly I catch a glimpse of long hair blocking the identity of the driver.

Now that I know I'm dealing with two Fallen I concentrate on myself. I'm still only in a tight tank top and black shorts, and the chill of my situation seems to settle on my skin causing goose bumps. Corse rope digs into my wrists and the men have tied them behind my back. My ankles are tied together as well and my feet tingle from the lack of blood. Estimating on how asleep my feet feel I don't think that we've been driving very long. A gag chokes off any sound that could come from me and I feel my breath start to become ragged as fear sets in.

When tears start to spike in my eyes I am suddenly angry. I will not show weakness.

Taking a few calming breaths I look back at my captors. Big Fella next to me hasn't moved and Rapunzel up there hasn't faltered in driving. The van is too dark to see clearly and so I use the bumpy ride to my advantage and I roll slightly, as if the jarring of the vehicle had moved me.

A sharp sting cuts into my palm and I smile inwardly. The van seems rather old and lucky for me the sides have started to roughen. To avoid getting an infection from the rusted metal I'll have to heal myself as soon as I can get away. Healing myself now would result in a Christmas light up show.

Keeping my body still I move my bound wrists up and down the ragged metal and I feel the slickness of my own blood run down my hand, as the metal cuts into my skin. Biting my lip to distract myself from the pain I focus on the continuos motion.

I mentally count three minutes pass as I feel the metal starting to finally tear at the tough fibers of the rope. By the time I've made any progress the van starts to slow and again the panic in side me starts to resurface again. I'm not even close to finishing on the rope and I've yet to find a weapon. As the driver finally applies the break and puts the vehicle into park, I think about something Jem once told me in one of our lessons.

"You are a weapon. Sometimes it's the smallest dagger that can cause the most damage. The second you start to doubt yourself is the second that you are killed."

Letting my body roll once more so I'm on my back I take a deep breath and hold it as the driver's footsteps walk closer to the back of the van. Big Fella is stirring finally and he moves closer to the door. As the two doors are pulled open I pull my knees to my chest. A little hint to all women out there; men will usually be stronger than you. But you have the power in your legs and hips. Use it.

And so as I see the driver's face I arch my back and shoot my legs forward. The heels of my feet connect squarely with the man's face and I hear a bone crack as his nose breaks under my force. He rockets back and falls to the ground.

Rolling backwards in the small space I use my arms like a jump rope and suddenly my bound wrists are in front of me. Before Big Fella can regain his sense I crash into his back and wrap the rope, tied around my wrists, around his thick neck. It takes all my strength just to strain against the bulging muscles in his neck.

We shoot out of the back of the van, with me on his back and he falls face first into the dirt. I ignore the burning pain in my wrists as I try to cut off his air. But I'm just not strong enough. All of my energy and adrenaline had gone into kicking the driver and pushing this monstrous man out of the vehicle. As my strength starts to leak away Big Fella seems to gain what I lose.

Suddenly he's no longer sleepy as he pushes up from the ground and raises his meaty fist. I try to jump off his back but he's too fast. With one swipe he's knocked me off his back and sends me crashing into the ground so hard the air leaves my lungs and black spots dart across my vision.

My mouth forms a useless O as I gasp and sputter, to try and get some air into my lungs. Through my spotty vision I see Big Fella climb up from the ground and tower over me. His dark skin blends into the blackness of night so that I can only see the white gleam of his eyes peering down on me. I try to push myself up but his giant hand comes down hard and fast.

My head rockets to the side and I feel pain radiate from my jaw. Big Fella raises his fist again and I want to close my eyes but I don't. Closing my eyes would show him that I am scared. I will not show fear.

As his dark hand collides into my face once more I think about how lucky I am to see stars on such a cloudy night.

When I come to I am bound with chains. The cold links dig into my already raw wrists. Trying to crack my eyelids open I feel light burn my eyes. Pain and nausea rolls my stomach as I move my head. Big Fella sure did a number on me.

Trying to breath deeply I force my eyes open and I squint at the shapes and shadows around me. The first thing I realize is that the source of the light is fire. The second thing I find is that I'm in the middle if the woods. Last but not least my brain just barely comprehends the many figures are encircling me.

Trying to straighten into a sitting position I marshal my expression into that of coldness and indifference. "I demand you tell me why I am here and on who's orders you are obeying." My voice comes out strong and steely.

Crackling laughter sets my teeth on edge. "Oh, you haven't changed one bit my dear." A toad like man steps closer to the fire and the Fallen around us move back. His greasy hair falls down to his shoulders and his glinting coal eyes stare greedily at me. His plump form walks closer to me and I sneer at him nastily. The man wears a striped suit like he just stepped out of an old fashioned gangster movie.

"Richard. I heard you wanted to see me. You could have just called." Anger ripples through my voice as I stare at the despicable man.

He pulls up a short stool and sits in front of me. His smile shows the nasty corn colored teeth that I remember from my memory. "Years back I would have killed you without thought. But now I know better." His pulls a short dagger from inside his suit and he lays the very tip of it on my collar bone. "Oh Marie." He sighs my name and let's the dagger slip gently down my skin. I fight the disgusted shiver I can feel tingling up my spine. "If you told me long ago how tasty you could be I would have captured your heart long ago."

He smiles at his use of words and let's his dagger outline the spot above my frantically beating heart. I don't flinch. I just stare him down. "So why haven't you taken it yet."

His smile grows and he applies a bit of pressure onto his blade. "I could you know. I could take it right now and let my demons feast on your bones." Suddenly he yanks his arm back and the dagger is gone just as fast as it had appeared. "But it isn't just about you my dear. You shouldn't be so selfish."

Shifting awkwardly I finally realize why Richard is being so bold in coming close to me. I'm chained to a stupid tree trunk.

"So why then? Who else do you want to eat?" I ask sarcastically and hope he's stupid enough to answer.

"The angels must learn my dear. You are all so adamant in believing that you can't be broken. That you can't be swayed or taught. Your dear Nate has killed thousands of my men. He's murdered and tortured comrades and friends." A murmur rises around the campfire. "He's broken some of my strongest men through his cruelty. And you all raise him up like he's some sort of saint. You see I want to teach the angels that they are just like us. They just hide behind their titles. And my dear as much as I'd love to taste your power, I must do something first."

I stare at him for a moment before I laugh. It's bitter and cruel. Something I've never heard come out of my mouth before. "You're a fool, toad! You won't be able to break Nate or any other angel. We are better than you. And you can hurt me all you want. But I'm not going to snap at your will." Even though my anger makes my words strong, my fear makes my stomach weak.

"Oh my dear." Richard smiles at me. "From what I remember you are quite the book worm. From all the pages I'm sure you've turned you should know something by now." Richard leans down to me so I can feel his warm breath on my ear. "Everyone has their breaking point. Their weakness. I know yours and Nate's all too well." His smile finally makes the smirk fall off my face as he flicks his hand to one of his men. "Bring her out."

A cry escapes my lips as I watch two Fallen drag out a plump woman, with blonde hair streaked with a stripe of pink down one side, and wide scared eyes. A gag is stuffed inside her mouth and rope wraps around her wrists.

One of the Fallen behind her kicks the back of her knee so she crashes into the ground and throws her bound hands in front of her to keep her balance.

"You son of bitch! I swear to God if you hurt her-" My furious scream is interrupted when Richard strikes me across the face.

He turns back to the Fallen standing behind Kerri, the cafés cook, and he nods. With that, one of the men beside Kerri picks her up and starts to untie the rope bound to her wrists. They push her back to a wooden pole in the middle of a pile of limbs near the fire. With her back firmly pressed up against the pole they start to tie her hands above her head.

When my mind finally realizes what they are going to do I scream. "No! You can't....you bastards! Untie her now..."

Kerri's head whips back and forth as if trying to scream the word no as well. But the Fallen have no mercy as they walk over to the fire and start to look for a log that's safe enough to pick up but still blazes with fire.

"Please, kill me! Kill me and do whatever you want with me! Don't hurt her, she's innocent!" I scream at the top if my lungs and Richard laughs.

"That's the point my dear. You will watch as a person you care about slowly dies before your eyes. I did my research on this woman. She was with child at seventeen and the father ended up in jail the next month for intoxicated driving. He drove right though a young man's house and killed him. You call this blob of a female innocent?" He leans towards me and smiles widely. "Lesson number one my dear; there is no such thing as innocence." I spit in his face and try to buck up and kick him.

Growling he wipes his face and screams at his men. "Burn her now!"

The two Fallen finally find a log still in flame and they quickly throw it on the pile of wood beneath Kerri. They must have put something flammable on the logs because the flames immediately leap high into the air, covering Kerri completely.

I can no longer see her but I can feel the heat of the flame lick my skin and the light of the fire burns my eyes, but I can't look away. I can hear her screams. They tear through the gag choking her off and they bleed into the night air. I scream and thrash and I feel my shoulder dislocate at the force I am struggling at the chains with, but I don't care. Kerri won't stop screaming and it's rattling my brain so that I can't breath. I cry her name over and over again until I can taste my own blood in my throat. When the smell of burning flesh reaches me I turn my head and retch.

I don't know how long it takes but it comes to a point when I realize that Kerri has stopped screaming and it's just my rattling cries breaking through the still night air. I retch again. When I see Richard coming towards me with a glowing red brand I throw my chin into the air and glare at him. Never in my whole life have I wanted to hurt someone so much. I've always had a temper and there has been times when I've wanted to hit someone, but at this moment I want to rip Richard's throat out.

He smiles at me. "I will break you. And in the process I will break Nate. I am letting you go for now, but have no doubt that I will come for you again. For now, rest my dear. Once you awake I'm sure your friends will come for you. But they better hurry. In only half an hours time I will send my pets after you. I can't make it too easy for you."

My raw throat bleeds causing my voice to fail but I know he sees the words, I wish to say, reflected in my eyes. I will kill you.

The brand in his hand flashes slightly right before it presses onto the spot right above my heart. As the pain and agony overtake my body and seize my muscles I finally fall into the peaceful darkness.

***
There was a time, when I was younger when all I wanted to do was drift into the darkness and never resurface again. To me the darkness would bring comfort and silence to quiet the raging pain that my life brought upon me.

This is not one of those time.

Richard wakes me the first time when he places his meaty hand onto my brand and my eyes snap open as I try to scream. He leans forward and his disgusting breath makes me want to throw up.

"Give my regards to Nathaniel. I look forward to seeing him." Richard talks slowly so I can understand what he's saying through my labored breathing. When he finally relents the pressure off my brand darkness pulls me back under.

As my mind drifts from being barely conscious to unconscious the nauseating pain stays with me. At one point I can just barely open my eyes to see the Fallen retreat into the darkness, taking their supplies and evil leader with them.

The next time I am able to hear the gentle rustling of the trees around me. Nature seems to be unaware of the events happening right under it's branches.

My eyes seem to be sealed shut as I try to pry them open. A numb buzz takes over my thoughts and feelings as I struggle to stay conscious. My ears just barely catch the shuffling of feet through the forest and suddenly I am very alert.

I need to be ready for Richard if he has decided to come back and kill me. Taking a deep breath I try to concentrate on my surroundings. One by one my senses start to sharpen back into focus.

Blinking my eyes I try to adjust to the thick blackness now blanketing the air around me. Without the glare of the fire I can better adjust my eyes. The jagged lines of the trees around me come into focus, the night sky seems to have cleared up as it's lit up brightly with stars, and a fresh cool puff of air brushes past me.

The overpowering smell of burnt wood and something else...something sharper, hangs in the air. My chest tightens and I feel my breathing start to come faster.

When I move slightly the chains clink and blood fills my mouth as I bite my tongue to keep from screaming from the pain. Obviously being an ultimately powerful Healer means I need the energy to heal myself.

Go figure.

I blink away the tears and hold my breath as I try to hear for more movement in the woods. The only thing that reaches my ears are the soft rustling of the trees's leaves and little nighttime creatures scampering through the forest.

Then the creeper gives away his position when he breaths right on my neck. I throw my head to the side and am satisfied to hear a painful crunch.

"Damn it, woman! Stop hitting me!" The familiar voice I hear does nothing to comfort me. "Is this how you make friends?"

Jasper steps in front of me and glares as he holds a hand to his bleeding nose. I want to strain away from him but the pain I am in warrants no extreme movement.

Not sure whether I should scream my head off or beg him to release me I settle for the option that brings me the least amount of pain. I glare the hell out of him.

Jasper opens his mouth to say something when a friendly voice snaps out of the darkness. "You idiot!"

I swing my head up and look around the deserted camp sight. A hiss escapes my lips as the freshly burned skin on my chest pulls taught. Dots appear in my vision but I breath through the nausea just in time to see a tall red head step from the shadows.

Eliza is dressed in complete camouflage. Instead of her usual bright attire she wears a dark green tee and camouflage pants. The bottom of the pants are tightly tucked into her combat boots. To complete her soldier look she wears a black jacket that looks strangely heavy.

She stomps forward and scans the area. "Make sure no one followed us. The last thing we need is an ambush." Eliza orders quietly.

"Come on, Red! We weren't followed. If we were do you think I would have gotten so close to this bully." Jasper speaks in a nasally voice as he holds his throbbing nose and points at me.

Eliza glares at Jasper. "Quiet you fool! There could be Fallen near."

At this point I'm tired of being ignored. My wrists are rubbed raw from the chains, my chest and shoulder burn like Richard is behind me, and continuously pounding a red hot poker in my skin.

I glance in the direction I had purposefully been trying to ignore. What I see causes the most terrible rasping sound to erupt from my throat.

Still tied to the burnt post is a blackened body that used to be my friend Kerri. Something in my chest tightens and then shatters, it's sharp edges piercing my heart and shredding me to bits inside.

Richard has no idea what he was talking about. Kerri had been raped by that drunken driver. It wasn't her choice to have her baby but she still took responsibility of the little innocent soul. After giving birth she had trouble finding a job, so she dropped out of school, and she lived at her parents house for two years. Her mother died of cancer later that year and her father had a heart attack weeks after.

She was all alone and yet she hung on to the one thing that made sense in her life. Her baby. She started to work two to even three jobs a day to pay the bills. Everything she earned went to her son. After everything she's done and she gets killed to prove a point. Jake no longer has his mom because of Richard.

Suddenly my pain turns to something else. Something very dangerous. Something ready to pounce out and strike.

Richard will die. At my hand.

"Marie?" Eliza squats in front of me and her calm voice washes over my frayed nerves. Her gaze stays glued on my chest where I know the brand must be puffy and gross.

When her eyes flick back up to mine I know she sees past my defenses. This is my best friend. The person I talked to about everything. The person who would listen to me rant for ten minutes about how the movie wasn't like the book. The person who held me when I cried over what my mom had made me believe.

My best friend knows me better than anyone else.

Her eyes seem to be a cloudy grey in the dark night. "We will make him pay Marie. You and I will find him and make him regret his decision." The smile that crosses her face would have had pirates running for their mommies.

I find comfort in it.

"Right now I need you to try and gather your strength. We went searching for you a few hours ago and the Fallen seem to be crawling all over this forest." She takes out some strangely shaped metal picks out of a pouch in her jacket. Quickly she sets to work on the chain capturing my right hand. "You must stay quiet until we can reach a secure part of the woods to camp in."

"C-camp." The cold has seeped into my skin now and I shiver. The chill doesn't help my speech anymore than my shredded throat does. Just that one word brings blood back onto my taste buds.

"We're a few miles from Ciely but it's too dangerous to fly. As far as we know there are hundreds of Fallen infesting these woods. I find it strange that we didn't know about their movement before." She fades off leaving her meaning clear.

"Look Red, Richard and I aren't exactly close. He tells me almost nothing." Jasper glares at Eliza and pats his pocket as if searching for a cigarette.

Eliza ignores this and she makes one final twist on my right chain and it clinks open. My wrist falls out and I keep it dangling at my side as my dislocated shoulder is protesting greatly to any movement.

I try several times to speak again but all that comes out is wimpy little wisps. Eliza stops in the middle of picking the left lock and she holds her hand out to Jasper.

He slowly takes a pack off of his back and removes a water bottle. He tosses it to Eliza and she immediately tries to push it up to my lips. For a moment I resist, knowing the pain that it will cause.

But when Eliza gives me her I mean business look I let a little liquid travel it's way down my throat. At first it relieves my dried, swelled tongue. Then it slowly burns it's way down my throat.

I do this several more times until Eliza seems satisfied. She puts the bottle on the ground and sets to freeing me.

"Army...w-why not fight." My word are still a ragged whisper but at least I can speak somewhat.

Eliza narrows her eyes at the lock in her concentration. "This isn't the fifteenth century, Marie. If a group of winged soldiers started to battle other winged soldiers, then people notice. We can't have a world spread panic over Dooms Day approaching." She glares at me for a moment. "You humans are so over dramatic."

"Red, we need to move." Jasper comes to stand next to Eliza. His face is serious for once as he keeps his eyes on the woods.

Eliza stills for a few seconds and cocks her head to the side as if listening. I can't hear anything but her enhanced senses must tell her someone is near. "Leave, we can't risk you being seen with us. Your cover is too important, I can deal with this. Get a message to Nate, telling him I have the Phoenix and we'll meet at the dead drop in two hours." The left chain finally clicks open and my arm falls.

I try to get to my feet but I only succeed in stumbling into Eliza. Good thing she's both tall and strong. By the time I've straitened Jasper is gone.

"We need to move and move fast. We need to get at least a mile away from here. I know a place we can go but you can't stop." Eliza starts to take off her dark jacket and she hands it to me. I gratefully slip on the heavy duty jacket.

My fingers are shaking so bad that I can't zip myself up. I bite my lip in frustration and push back the tears I feel prickling in the back of my eyes. We aren't out of the woods yet. Literally.

I need to stay strong until we're safe. Then and only then can I break down.

Eliza's pale fingers wrap around mine and help me gently pull the zipper up. The fuzzy inside lightly chaffs against my burn. When I look up into my friend's eyes I see determination burning in her irises.

"You can do this. One mile and then we can make camp. You'll get to see Nate soon." She grips my shoulders and waits until I nod. "I need to set your shoulder and I'm not going to lie. It's going to hurt. Are you ready."

She places firm hands on my injured shoulder and I barely get time to nod as she jerks my shoulder roughly and a loud crack echoes across the trees. I whimper at the pain but I manage not to scream.

She grabs my hand and together we set off at a fast pace through the woods. She doesn't stumble or falter once in her stride. Even when I strain my ears I can't hear her light footsteps.

Me, on the other hand? I sound like Bigfoot's mother playing a game of tag. I'm trying my hardest to stay quiet but I seem to step on every twig and crumbly leaf, causing a terrible alarm giving away our position.

Usually I'm very light on my feet and quiet. I've scared many people by unintentionally coming up so quietly behind them. But being deprived of my shoes and proper pants does put a damper on my creeping skills.

After about two more minutes of this Eliza turns around and glares at me. Without saying a word she grabs my arms and hoists me onto her back. Good thing I don't weigh much.

She continues at an even faster pace. As I cling to her back I try to shut my brain off. But that's the thing, when there's something in our head that all we want to do is just forget, our brain constantly hits replay just so we can think about it again and again.

Every time I blink my eyes I can see the flames flickering in the darkness. Kerri's desperate screams seem to fill the air around me. The desperate feeling of helplessness and anger wells up inside me, and I'm surprised I don't just explode. My lungs tighten and my breathing becomes labored. I work to keep my eyes dry but I can't seem to stop the emotions.

I've had nights like this before. When all I want is to just be left alone. Left alone without having to feel so much. Without having the pain pound at my head relentlessly. Some people don't realize how tempting the quiet darkness can be.

Suddenly the flames aren't all I can see. When I blink my eyes I see a flash of silver, a smooth sharp edge so tempting to run your palm across. To test how much pressure it takes to break the skin.

Reminding myself to just breathe I place my forehead on Eliza's shoulder and I push the image out of my head. I don't need to go back to that dark place again.

Just as I'm starting to relax Eliza suddenly stops and stills. Not even her breathing is audible. Her rigid figure makes me think of what a rabbit looks like while being hunted, right before the hounds close in.

Right when I'm starting to think she's imagining things she drops me to my feet and her wings explode out. Their vibrant colors seem to brighten the dark trees around us.

"Give me my jacket and stay behind me." Eliza's voice rumbles quietly through the dark and I waist no time in slipping her heavy jacket off and handing it over.

My human ears finally pick up the sounds coming from all around us. The scurrying of feet and bodies hurriedly rushing towards our position. If I'm not mistaken, by the time they get to us will will be surrounded.

Suddenly, what Richard said to me before he branded me comes back to mind; 'In only half an hours time I will send my pets after you. I can't make it too easy for you.' Demons. Richard must have raised more of them than we thought.

Fear and anger set my stomach rolling. This was some sort of sick game to him. He wanted to see how long I could survive this without breaking down.

"They're demons. Richard sent them to attack us. He wants to test my strength." I whisper at Eliza as she reaches inside her jacket and pulls out two silver battle axes. They're both short in length, with smooth wooden handles. On one side of the axe is a curved blade, and on the other is a long shiny spike.

I swallow nervously at the sight of Eliza with her weapons. I would never have any reason to believe that my friend would hurt me, but looking at how deadly she looks now I almost feel bad for the oncoming demons.

"Stay. Behind. Me."

No sooner had she said that than more than a dozen demons burst from the trees around us. I expected them all to look like Cass, with his demonic smile and crawling skin. How wrong I am isn't even funny.

Some have more than two limbs. Some have more than two eyes. Some have heads that seem to be screwed on the wrong way. Some have skin like an alligators or a fish.

All of them have glowing eyes.

It's not even them I'm really scared of at the moment. It's more like I'm scared for them. Eliza twirls her battle axes in her hands expertly and a few of the demons flicker their long tongues out, as if to taste the air and test how dangerous this one angel could be.

She holds no restraint as she moves to meet the creatures in their charge. Within five seconds she's taken down three full sized demons, with two powerful swings at their necks. Surprisingly the creatures burst into what looks like black ash.

The other demons don't hesitate in attacking her like animals, holding no restraint in using their teeth and claws.

Soon she's so surrounded by most of the demons so that all I can see are random flashes of silver and red hair.

This seems to shake something inside me. My pain becomes a distant rumbling in the back of my mind and I feel that familiar cold sensation take over, like someone else is stepping into my bones.

"Marie! My jacket!" Eliza's yell comes from somewhere in the middle of the fighting.

Looking down at her heavy black jacket I curse myself for being so slow in realizing she left it there for a reason. Diving for it I run my hand inside it and a smile crawls over my face as the smooth cold blades of about five throwing daggers meets my fingers.

Hastily pulling them out I quickly survey the scene around me.

Six demons circle me, I'm not sure why they haven't struck yet but I have a feeling they like to play with their food before they devour it. I can tell from their hungry expressions that they are about to pounce at any second.

I can take out four easily and hold onto the last dagger so I won't be unarmed for the last demon. The cost will be Eliza's life.

Eliza is surrounded by nine demons. They all keep pushing and shoving, trying to get closer to her. For some reason they seem to sense how powerful she is. It's like they almost know that the more demons there are, the easier it will be to take her down. And even for Eliza, nine demons is pushing the limit of her skills. I can see her now, fighting violently to take down the creatures closest to her. But the demons are much swifter and stronger than I first assumed.

I can throw all five daggers at the demons closest to her to give her a little breathing room to fight off the rest. I know that four demons won't really challenge her. After that, I can try to keep the demons around me busy long enough for Eliza to get free. The cost will be my life.

The choice is easy.

I throw the daggers so quickly my hands are blurred for a few seconds. For a moment everything is still as the demons stare at five of their buddies, their hands clutching their throats where silver daggers are currently buried.

All around Eliza a shower of ash burst into the air and I smile at Eliza's look of surprise. Not wasting the moment of surprise I turn to the demons surrounding me and I charge one.

Of course, my luck is having charged the one who would recover the fastest. His foul face turns towards me and I see a furious hunger gleam in his eyes. This one has yellow glowing eyes and he's almost bald except for random tufts of green hair. His skin is scaly like an iguana's.

His eyes widen and he leans forward to intercept me. Right before I get to him I jump in the air and bring my heel down across his face. Sadly he seems to be faster.

His clawed hand shoots out and rakes across my bare leg. I land and stumble a few feet back. My mind refuses to process any pain at the moment, but I can feel, rather than see, the thick blood running down my leg. I won't have much time, but I need to buy Eliza more.

Releasing a battle cry I surge forward once more.

Before the demon and I can even clash, an emotion, so strong it feels like someone hitting me with a bat, runs through me and I crumple, gasping to the forest floor.

Nate is livid. And I don't mean the angry you get if someone eats the last cookie. I mean the kind of fury that literally kills you with a glare. I'm not even sure how I know the feeling is coming from Nate, but...I just know it is.

Despite me knowing it's Nate I start to shake. As the demons look at me, almost disappointed I would give up so easily, I glance at the sky and wait for the dark angel I know is about to descend.

And when Nate does land...the ground vibrates beneath his feet.

Even with the white tips, his dark wings are barely visible in the night sky, so he looks like he's got two giant shadows carrying him through the air. He has a long heavy, medieval-looking sword in his hand that glints with already shed blood. His clothes closely resemble Eliza's, but it makes him seem even more intimidating as it makes it difficult to fully see him in the woodsy scenery.

The look on his face makes the demons around me hiss and back up. They almost seem to be bowing to him. Behind Nate more angels land and I start to worry before I notice how they uniformly march up to Nate.

Shaking myself out of my stupor I decide as much as I'm glad Nate's here, I'm not going to be the damsel that needs saving.

Feeling the violent throb in my leg I ninja roll over to the piles of ash that used to be demons, before I killed them of course. Quickly grabbing up the two silver daggers closest to me, I throw them at two of the demons who had been encircling me. They crumple to ash in an instance. The other four demons don't even get a chance to widen their eyes in surprise as a blurred figure rushes past them.

Suddenly Nate is standing to the side, his sword gripped in both hands, and dark blood and ash dripping off his sword. Behind him are four fresh pils of ash.

Taking all of one second he rushes over to Eliza and beheads the last two demons in one swipe.

Eliza nods at Nate and she listens to whatever it is he's saying to her. She throws me a glance and I know they are talking about me.

When a hand touches my shoulder I flinch and bring my elbow around to strike the offender.

"Whoa, there little warrior. I'm a friend." A kind lightly-southern voice greets me and a strong hand stops my elbow from connecting.

Looking behind me I see an older dark skinned man staring at me through kind brown eyes. Wrinkles stamp time across his face and his eyes hold stories not yet told. I feel myself leaning towards him like he's my grandfather.

"I-I'm...sorry." My horse voice seems to shock him as he helps me lean forward.

"Hush, don't talk yet. Let me heal you, little warrior." I blink at him in surprise as he slides his worn, calloused hands gently over my throat. His second hand lightly touches the side of my leg, where a demons claw marks still freshly bleeds. He chuckles at me. "Yes, I am a Healer. There are very few of us these days."

Worried that I should be remembering him I try and rack my brain for a hint to his identity. Something nags at the back of my conscious, but nothing I can clearly identify. Luckily he doesn't seem to notice or care that I show no sign of knowing his name.

"My name is August miss, but everyone calls me Gus." Scratch that, Gus appears to have noticed my total lack of knowledge. And what's with the miss?

"I was a servant to you and General Evanson for a few years back in..." He scrunches his nose up as he thinks back. His healing powers finally start to flow over me and I gasp at the sudden loss of pain. "Oh my, it was the nineteenth century I believe. So long ago."

I stare at him shocked that he answered another one of my unspoken questions. As I look at him I can see his eager eyes, happy to be helping me. How could I ever have a slave? I've always been able to do things myself without forcing someone else to do it for me.

Gus takes his hand away from my throat and he suddenly looks hurt, with his scrunched up eyes. "Oh no, miss! I was never a slave. You and the General freed me! I asked to stay and be your servant. You even paid me a full wage and gave me a room to stay in. Do not worry, the General has already informed me of your...predicament." His twinkling eyes wink at me.

"Stop that!" I breath out at him, finally able to speak. His story sounds familiar but just because he's telling the truth doesn't mean I'm not going to freak out.

"What's wrong?" He looks genuinely concerned and he reaches for me but I jerk away.

"You keep answering me like you can read my mind. I don't like it! Stop it." I feel bad for being so rude to someone who just helped me, but I can't help my already frayed nerves from making me even more wary and upset.

"Oh my, I was doing it again? My apologies! It's so natural now it feels as if you are simply speaking out loud." Gus smiles at me, thoroughly amused.

"You can read minds?"

A few of the angels closest to us laugh and glance at me strangely. Gus carefully stands up and holds his hand out to help me up.

"No, miss. The good Lord has gifted me with the ability to hear the questions thought by people. So many keep the questions they should be asking out loud, silent and hidden from others who may benefit from them. It's quite useful, but I find it gives me a headache at times." Gus's jovial expression makes me relax slightly and I grab his offered hand.

"Thanks. For helping me up and healing me." I smile, suddenly shy of all the angels around me. At least seven fill the space around me and they are all looking curiously at me. The ages, genders and races range differently in all of them.

One moment they are all standing there staring at me, and then the next they are moving aside for someone else to move through them. I barely process the dark blur before I'm captured in Nate's tight embrace.

Gasping slightly I jerk in his hold and he immediately loosens his grip. Gus had done his best to heal me, but the brand Richard had given me must have been too great a wound to fully heal.

The flesh around the brand seems to have broke during my fight because it's started to bleed again. Now that I've finally gotten to look at it properly it seems to be in the shape of a flickering flame. Of course, I won't be able to really tell until the inflammation and torn flesh goes away.

Nate tightens his grip on my arms, and I can feel his fury lace through me. Putting my hands on his face I try for a comforting smile but it falls flat. Looking at the brand makes my thoughts flicker to Kerri and my mind still isn't ready to comprehend that. I let my hands fall to his shoulders and he finally musters up a smile.

"I don't know if I'll be home tonight. I'm going to be a bit busy with work." He takes his jacket off and gently slides it over my bare shoulders. I immediately relax as his familiar warmth and smell wraps around me.

"Lots of paper work?" I try at a joke to break his unwaveringly dark glare from my brand.

"Oh, yeah tons. Work is hell." His weak smile falls away and he wraps his arms once more around me. "I'm taking you home myself, but I'm afraid I need to know what happened tonight before we go. I need to know why Richard is suddenly making his move so boldly."

I hesitate. Telling Nate everything right now is out of the question. I'm not ready to tell him about the innocent woman who died tonight just because she was caught in this stupid war. But telling Nate close to everything in front of some of his men isn't going to happen either.

If there was a chance I might tear up, I'm not going to let them see.

Nate seems to see the turmoil on my face as he grips my arm and leads us several feet away. When we stop I take a few deep breaths and then I recount everything that happened from the moment a Fallen drugged me, to the second I passed out from the pain that Richard inflicted. I tell Nate about Richard's "lessons" and his collection of men. He seemed to have more than just a simple gang.

Of course, I leave out Kerri. My voice broke when I told Nate about the "no one is innocent" lesson. He seemed to understand that there was a part of the story that I really didn't want to divulge into right now. Thankfully he didn't press me on it.

After I've finished talking Nate is back to his stone face look. I wait a few seconds for him to reply but he says nothing. When I start to feel the slightest bit of impatience a sudden yawn overcomes me. I close my eyes and cover my mouth as it stretches in a silent expression of exhaustion.

When I open my eyes again Nate is smirking at me and my bones feel like they've suddenly turned to jelly. My adrenaline is slowly leaking away from me and it won't be long until I pass out.

"It's time to get you home." Nate opens his arms for me to step into but I have to do something before I let him take me home.

The flash of red hair appears and I smile tiredly at Eliza. Her scowl deepens. "You're such a moron! You shouldn't have waisted the daggers on helping me. I would have been fine. If Nate hadn't of come you would probably be dead."

"Come on now, have a little more faith in me than that!" I take a step closer to Nate satisfied that she only looks to have a few scrapes and scratches, which are already healing. "Besides you're just grumpy with me because you love me, and were worried about me."

Her eyes widen a fraction before she starts towards us in a threatening way. "Oh, I'll show you love."

All the soldiers are laughing by the time Nate has us catapulting through the air. He's flying so fast that I have to keep my head pressed to his shoulder, and I miss her expression.

**Quote: "Hurt me with the truth, but never comfort me with a lie." ~~Unknown **