Ancient Blood: The Fallen (13 page)

Slowly, with the sound of rushing blood dissipating within my ears, I began to move away from the offensive odor that was causing my, yet unsettled stomach, to continue rolling.

I found myself stilling again though, as only having gained several yards of distance, the harshness of a voice I recognized as Sirrus’s brought me up short as it barked out an expletive.

As I wasn’t one to eaves-drop, I found I was in a rather awkward position, for I could go no further forward or back without revealing my presence.

Then my indecisiveness was all but forgotten as I heard Sirrus state, “…so she’s still in jeopardy then!”

Another pause from Sirrus occurred as Dante quietly murmured something I was unable to make out.

Sirrus, it seemed, was trying to get himself under control, and apparently failing, as his voice came out practically drenched in anger, “you damn
fool
…of all the idiotic…”

Words drawling to a stop, Sirrus blew out a breath as he raked a hand through his hair, then voice nearly an octave lower hissed aghast “so,
that's
your
plan
…”

Dante and Sirrus began to walk away, and anything further said between them was quickly absorbed in distance.

Puzzled, yet worrying Sirrus’s words around within my head, I turned then gasp, for though I’d never heard his approach, and with features uncharacteristically drawn and tight, Arreon stood not inches behind me, his mouth pulled taut in a frown as he gazed towards where Dante and Sirrus had been.              

Crap,
I swore silently, I couldn't pretend I hadn’t heard anything, for what I read within the depths of Arreon’s eyes showed clearly his suspicions that I had!

Slowly, staring me directly in the eye, Arreon asked seriously, “what did you hear Kira?”

With a shake of my head, I muttered truthfully, “I don't really know…bits and pieces… nothing that made a damn bit of sense actually…” then “why, what is going
on
Arreon?”

Slowly, Arreon drew in a deep breath, then shaking his own head muttered, “in time you'll know…”

However before he could say anything further, the crackling lash of Dante’s voice barked, “
Arreon
…!”

I saw pure anger flare in Arreon’s eyes, then whipping around he glared at Dante, a silent communication passing between them, before with a jerk, Arreon turned and stomped off, ignoring the smoldering look aimed at his back from Dante.

An endurance race had been occurring within me. One between pain and anger, both having taken their place center stage over what felt like my whole life, and it seemed the competition continued on uninterrupted, for even now they ran neck and neck.              

Each emotion shared equal space within my heart and mind, neither leading, but equally strong as they rioted within me, and all it took was what I considered to be one stupid question of, “so I’m taking it by your words you heard some of what Sirrus and I were discussing?” from Dante to tip the scale in angers direction.              

              However, not to forget its pal pain, it drug the emotion right along with it as both burst out at once, coming down in a hail of moisture and vocalization as, with tears running rampant down my cheeks at the fact I was obviously being lied to and deceived about
something
, I lashed out at him with my tongue, “my God, what a brilliant deduction Sherlock!”

Then, practically spitting the words I snapped, “since you won't let Arreon tell me what the hell is going on, why don't
you
tell me!”

The laugh and the sarcastic words of, “because you're not ready, at this point you could
never
grasp the full implications. Nor have the capacity to understand if I
did
” that issued from Dante incensed me to the point I reached out and slapped him, the loud echo of my palm connecting with his cheek sounding about us as, hurt that he was implying I was
stupid
, I snarled, “take a flying leap into
hell
Dante!”              

Glaring down at me, he laughed mockingly before snarling, “darling, the minute you came into my life Satan made a reservation under my name!”              

Struck dumb with the pain that began rolling off me in waves, I turned my back on him, then through the sheen of tears that coated my eyes I began to stumble off, only to still as I heard him hiss, “wait…I’m sorry okay...”

              Sucking in a breath, I shouted, “take your apology and stick it up your…” only I never finished my sentence, for I was suddenly airborne as Dante picked me up in his arms and roared, “you want the truth…then you’re fucking going to get it!”

Firmly encased within his grip, I began to kick and scream, my actions only halting when Dante sniffed then barked, “what the
fuck
is that smell!”              

Turning neon pink from my ears to my toes, I remained mute. I was unwilling to further embarrass myself, as pulling air in through his mouth, so as not to further offend his sinuses, Dante turned and headed the other direction.

Vile curses spilled from his lips at my movements, however he never slackened his hold on me even as I squirmed and fought against his hold until finally, with all the fight draining from me, I whispered, broken and desolate “what is it you
expect
of me!”

Coming to a stop, Dante lowered himself to the ground, and roughly perched me in the natural hollow between his folded legs, his grip still tight about me, for my body was trembling against his with the urge to flee, forcing him to snarl, voice harsh “right now I expect nothing but for you to
listen.
”

Jerking upright I breathed, incensed, “I
have
been…and you know what I’ve heard…nothing… absolutely
nothing
that makes a damn bit of sense!”

Trying to settle me back against him as I pushed and shoved on his chest in an effort to loosen his hold and gain my feet, Dante snarled, “hold still will ya…” then face darkening and hardening he hissed “remember me telling you of the Universe?”              

My eyes widened with disbelief, then began to darken with ill humor. Dante seeing the growing enragement within their depths barked, “you wanted answers, so by God you’re going to listen…” then rubbing at his neck, his voice lowering he hissed “as I explained, the beginning of mans existence is still under great debate between the Scientific world and the Christian society…”

Then with a breath, as if to impatient to finish his words Dante began again “their are many beliefs of how man came to be…”

Dante’s words abruptly ended, his head whipping up, and with the unexpected pause, I used it to my advantage, for thoroughly insulted by now, as well desperately hurt that he was still avoiding giving me a straight answer, I jumped to my feet.

Glaring down at him, my eyes again filling with tears I shouted, “why do you keep
telling
me this…this…
crap...
” then turning I fled, straight into the arms of a demon that with one leap, carried me up into the trees.

The evil laugh that rang from his lips joined the roar that came from what sounded to be from the very depths of Dante.

* * *

I was falling
. Dropped from the treetops much as what might occur had a hawk or an eagle lost its prey.

My downward spiral remained undisturbed as I slipped, impossibly and with several close calls through openings in the branches and limbs that left me with detailed knowledge of the gray and brown hew of the barks rough texture that I passed, plummeting uncontrollably until I came to an abrupt, breath stealing stop, my savior, a spindly, sick tree limb.

I gasped and wheezed, my lungs searing from lack of oxygen as, struggling, I fought to draw a breath, rapidly blinking to clear the film of moisture, as well, the dancing black dots from my eyes, as cranking my head I tried to peer upwards.

I wanted to decipher exactly where it was that Dante and the creature fought high above me in the treetops, the blasphemy that spilled forth from above, vulgar and ripe to my ears.

A war was ensuing above my head, one fought with one intention in mind…death.

I could hear the impact of the battle, then the crackling thunder of what sounded to be the whole top section of the tree breaking free, making my already bulging eyes nearly bug from my head, sweet Jesus, I thought frantically, was the whole section coming
down
?

Another evil laugh rang out, loud and frightening as Dante’s body suddenly came plunging past my perch, doing one hell of an imitation of a free-falling skydiver, head down, body stretched out, long and taut as he hurtled toward the ground.

However, the evil laugh was drown out by my own screams, when I felt the spindly limb bend beneath the weight of another body as hands began grabbing at my ankles.

I lashed out with my feet, then began crawling away from their touch like an inch-worm over the limb, the branches size and durability the least of my concerns as I scaled it's ever decreasing width in my fright, only coming to my senses when behind me a voice barked, “
stop
dammit!”

The force of the command ripped me from my fear-clutched state, and slowly turning my head, I found myself gazing confusedly into the fiery eyes of Dante.

How in the hell, my mind grappled, had he gotten here, when only few seconds ago he was sailing past me. However, the strangeness of the occurrence became the least of my concerns as, above us, I heard my name called in a singsong, eerie, spine-yellowing chant.

Dante broke eye contact as he jerked his head up, judging where the demon was, then glancing back at me, he ran his eyes over my length and hissed, his voice urgent and low, “are you capable of turning and coming to me?”

Shaking away the remainder of the light, hazy state that still held me within its grip, I took in my situation, analyzing if it were a possibility, then muttered, “yes, I believe so.”

With an abrupt nod, he stretched out his arms and breathed, “then
come
baby.”

His head rose slightly once again, nostrils flaring as if scenting something repugnant to him, but never took his eyes off me as I eased my way into a sitting position.

Suddenly a crack echoed forth from the limb as, with a shudder it moved, and in slow motion, tipped and tilted until it dangled straight up and down, clinging with fierce tenacity to its parent branch by several life saving strips of bark.

Before I was even able to come to terms with the fact my savior was faltering beneath my weight, Dante was leaping in my direction, and jerking me free of my precarious position of hanging full length, and adhered like glue to the sadly sagging appendage, he was pulling me tight against him, tucking my head against this chest so I wouldn't see the ground beneath looming beneath us as we fell.

Even as I abstractedly thought of how the impending impact was going to hurt like hell, it seemed our descent miraculously slowed before the ground reached up and thumped us to its girth, however, incredibly for how far we had fallen, the blow wasn’t nearly as horrendous as I'd feared.

Hastily lifting me away from him, Dante set me aside as, sucking in several huge breaths in an effort to re-inflate his lungs, he rotated his shoulders a little as if he might have injured them slightly upon impact, then unsteadily gained his feet, rasping, “we need to move!”

Taking another huge breath, he reached out and gripped my wrist, pulling me to my feet where I uttered a sharp cry at the searing hot flame of pain that shot through my ankle.

For the count of a heartbeat he stared at me, then turning his back to me he croaked, “get on!”

“
What
?” I breathed, disbelief lacing my voice.               With his back still towards me, and apparently having regained full use of his lungs, he roared, “we don’t have time for this! Now get
on
!”

I clamored onto his back without further protest and Dante, gaining a grip on my legs, began to run.

The creature in the trees let loose with another malevolent wail that sent what few birds remained within the trees screeching and flocking from within the depths, the horrendous cry causing me to scream, “holy mother of God” as horror spread through out my body, wrapping me in a coat of icy chills!

Even as my mind frantically grappled with the terror behind us, Dante made a quick turn, nearly throwing me off his back as he headed deeper and deeper into the trees, before coming to a complete stop, where easing me towards the ground, his eyes scanned the area around us as a sense that something was wrong, terribly wrong slithered like a snake across my consciousness.

The pain in my ankle forgotten in my panic, I pivoted in a small circle, taking in the eerie silence that encompassed us within its unearthly coat, and I uttered a small whimper of unease.

Dante jerked his head back in my direction, focusing on me and staring so intently I began to feel like a bug under a microscope and I began to fidget and squirm, before finally he glanced away, peering to our right, something unseen having apparently caught his attention as his shoulders drooped.

I looked as well to our right, however my eyes were unable to see what his apparently had.

Then the shadows began to shift and waver, taking shape and a sense of overwhelming fear shuttered through me as a scream ripped its way lose of my throat.

Gripping Dante by the arm, I began to tug and pull at him, frantic to find any direction to run that would provide us protection.

A strangled, hiccuping sob emitted from between my lips, a sound filled with desperation.

Dante dropped my hand, and lunged towards the shadowy figures that were filling the spaces. Spaces that, only a few seconds earlier had been empty, and I began to frantically try to push forth a shield of energy to hold the figures at bay.

However, I only managed a small spark before I felt the clutch of hands wrap around my shoulders. Squeezing my eyes tighter, I pictured the orange glow I sought.

Saw it within my mind as it burst forth in a roaring crackle of fire, and suddenly I felt the hands upon my shoulders blown loose as a heartfelt yell of pain roared out behind me then, in an agonized wheeze, Arreon enunciated “holy shit Kira, get a hold of yourself, it’s me dammit!”

Even as the words circulated around within my brain, it still took several more seconds before they registered as I squeaked, “Arreon?”