Sorry it's taken me so long... I'll keep working on it, I promise. Now continuing on...
~blah~ = Telepathy.
blah = Thoughts (I like italics... ^_^)
WARNINGS: There's a slight rape warning for this section. There is some violence, strong language and it has the yaoi pairings of Duo+Heero, and Quatre+Trowa, and the yuri pairings of Dorothy+Relena and Catherine+Iria. So if you don't like yaoi or yuri pairings, then don't read this! This also has a completely new and original character, so don't take him, he's mine! ^_~
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. Whoever 'they' are, must be the epitome of human thinking. I wanted to rip out Michael's heart and stomp on it. Or maybe just stick a knife in it. Whatever.
We drove up to Fisherman's Wharf. I vaguely remember being dragged here once. However, the details of that memory are vague and blurry. I don't remember much of that time. I haven't really had time to think about that. Eh.
We got out of our cars and wandered up and down the streets to an old shipping warehouse. It was in total disrepair and pieces of crates were strewn about the area. And apparently from the looks of the wall, the damage hadn't been done too long ago.
Quatre closed his eyes, then pointed upwards and shouted, "Watch out!"
Michael flew down from the rafters, his sword out and ready for slicing into us. He flew through our coterie and slashed left and right, getting who he could. I dodged out of the way, pushing Catherine with me, while Rasial pushed Dorothy out of the way. Sally leaped quickly out of the sword's reach, taking Wufei with her. Wufei seemed a bit out of it lately. Meanwhile, Trowa had grabbed Quatre and leaped away. Iria wasn't so lucky, however. I saw crimson spill onto her white shirt as she screamed in pain. Catherine leaped out from underneath me and went to her.
"Iria!"
I moved instinctively, throwing a powerball in the general direction of Catherine's retreating back, to ward off any attacks behind her. Michael was coming upon them with his sword out, ready to slay the two women. I couldn't let that happen, not while I still had a score to settle.
My powerball missed and I moved to ram him out of the way, but Rasial stopped me. I watched as my attack blew out another hole in the wall, and Michael's sword swung down...
...Only to be stopped by Duo's scythe. Duo and Heero had recovered rather quickly, through some practice I didn't know of (or really care to know of, knowing those two) and were nearly as strong as ever. Michael leapt back and flew up to the rafters, looking down on us. Then he crossed his arms and muttered something.
Suddenly, he spilt into three, then each of them split again. There were 9 Michaels now, circling us and attacking us with swift strikes. On all of us, cuts and slashes were appearing on our bodies without any warning. All of us went back to back, forming a circle facing the enemy, or should I say enemies, that were circling us so quickly that their movement was blurred.
They continued crisscrossing in front of us, swords slashing every which way. Things were getting hectic, and I knew that if we didn't find the real Michael soon, we'd be chopped liver.
I glanced over to see Trowa, Duo, Wufei, and Heero all circled around Quatre. They all faced the outside, warding off any blows to Quatre, or just plain taking the blows. But they stood their ground to protect him. I didn't know why, and at this point, I wish they would just hurry up. One of the Michaels came to attack Duo, and I moved forward, punching him out of the way. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the other Michaels wavered slightly.
Rasial must have noticed it too, because he yelled, "Everyone! Attack that one!"
Sally and Catherine moved forward to help. Dorothy was keeping a shield up over her and Iria. The boys were still in that circle formation... what were they doing, and why did it take them so long?
So Rasial, Sally, Catherine, and I all attacked the Michael that had tried to attack Duo. With every hit we landed, the other Michaels flickered more and more. We knew that all it took was one super hit and this guy would be down for the count. But with all the attacks we were throwing at this guy, we were going to be out of energy for a large hit pretty soon.
"Quick, let's all focus," I shouted. I counted to five in my head, and shot another powerball towards Michael's head. He ducked, and pushed out with his elbow to gut me in the stomach. I flew back a little, but with that little diversion the other three were able to get a good shot in. His shoulder pretty much exploded with the impact of their powerballs; however, it wasn't enough. Michael jumped back up to the rafters and stared down at us, the hatred so readily apparent in his eyes. He wanted us dead, or at least severely mangled.
I watched as the skin and flesh on his shoulder regenerated, flowing back to perfection. I thought the bad guys weren't allowed to regenerate. I looked at Rasial, Sally, and Catherine. The girls were tired, and I was pretty sure they couldn't summon enough energy for another mass attack. As for Rasial... I guess he looked okay. I couldn't really tell any more. Why wasn't he busting out his sword and hacking Michael up into little bits? Why wasn't he using that awesome power that he used against Uriel?
A bright light coming from the boys caught my attention before I could think about anything else. The four guys surrounding Quatre were sharing their energy with him, feeding it to him. Then Quatre opened his eyes like in those dramatic scenes when something really important happens. Which, in this case, was fitting. He jumped up into the air, and a glowing ball of rainbow goodness shot out from his hands. It was aimed right at Michael, and he seemed slightly frightened by the shiny thing. He couldn't stand up to that much power, I thought. We had won!
Of course, the books never say anything about the enemy dodging out of the way. Weren't they supposed to take the last resort hit and die?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michael skip off the rafter and run out the back way. I chased after him, and only caught up enough to see him jump into the air and spread his wings. He flew off into the night, and we were too tired to chase him. I threw a 2 by 4 against the wall.
"Dammit!"
I felt someone's hand on my shoulder.
"It's alright," Rasial said. "We'll get him next time."
I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything at all.
Iria had to be hospitalized. Catherine stayed by her side the whole time, holding her hand and doing the "caring significant other" act. Well, it probably wasn't an act, but she was still doing it. We all came to visit on occasion, especially Quatre. But other than the visits to the hospital, I really didn't get out of the house much. Things in the Shadow Lands were keeping me tied to the desk, so to speak.
And speaking of being tied to the desk, I caught Rasial looking at me as if he wanted to do that. I'm not sure if he wants to tie me to the desk and screw me silly, or tie me to the desk and keep me there while he takes over the Shadow Lands. Or both. Maybe I'm just imagining things... I hope. But given the fact that he lied to me once already, he'll probably do it again. Nowadays, I only trust as far as I can throw him. Wait, that's not a good analogy given me current strength as a vampire... but you get the picture...
Things began to wind down, as Relena and Quatre couldn't sense Michael anywhere. Even Dorothy, using her abilities as a sorceress/witch couldn't forsee anything happening. It was quiet... and as they say, too quiet.
It had already been two weeks. Way too long for no action to be occuring. I was just thinking this as Rasial walked into my room.
"I can give you some action," he said with a slight leer and a smirk on his face.
"Can it, I'm not thinking about THAT kind of action."
"How can I can my affections for you? Emotions can't be canned, you know."
I just sighed. I didn't have the energy to put up with him today. Usually I welcome his teasing as an escape from work, but lately... I don't know, maybe I'm getting too serious. I need to lighten up.
In a sudden flash of movement, Rasial picked me up from my desk and whisked me to my room. He lay me down on the bed and straddled me, pushing his body against mine. His warmth, his power flowed through me, and I both relaxed and tensed at the same time. I felt relaxed because it felt really nice and soothing, tensed because I didn't know what he was going to do next.
"Just trust me," he whispered in my ear. I could feel his lips moving against my skin, and I shuddered. I didn't know if it was because it felt good, or because I was frightened.
He growled quietly, and then I felt his hands moving towards my pants. I started pushing him off, but he kept his legs wrapped around me, preventing me from moving too much. He lifted my shirt up and started nuzzling me inbetween my breasts. I gasped, and I started to move with him. It had been such a long time since I felt the touch of a lover...
Rasial looked up at me, his green eyes full of... full of something. I couldn't quite tell. He slid his body off of me, but kept his legs around me. His hand reached under the line of my pants, and he pressed against me. I could feel my panties getting wetter as he stroked and petted me. I could just give in to him, I could just let myself go and get some action tonight. His hand came back out from within my pants and stroked my stomach, up my breasts to my shoulder. He hopped back on top of me and got up to his knees, barely touching me except for his hands on my shoulders.
"Hilde... I want you."
That's all he said before he ripped my shirt off me in one violent motion. He pushed his body against mine, and I could feel his hardness digging into my thigh. He wasn't kidding this time, he really wanted some. He started tearing open my pants, and this time I really struggled to get away. But he pulled me back down, and leapt on me like a lion pouncing on his prey.
"You're not getting away... It's been too long since I've had a pretty woman in my arms."
I looked into his eyes and saw that he didn't really want to hurt me, but he wouldn't mind risking a little bit of my skin to get a good fuck. I glared at him. He chuckled.
"You're so cute when you're angry."
He nuzzled my neck, and bit down with his vampire fangs. I screamed, and pushed him away, his fangs tearing my skin a little bit. I crawled off the bed and started backing up towards the door. I felt my blood run down my neck, and I saw the hunger in him, the way he moved and the way he watched me as if I was a piece of meat for him to play with and eat. I think now would be a good time for my supposed powers to emerge...
He leaped and tackled me, pushing me to the ground, grinding himself against me. Now I wasn't just frightened; I was scared. I struggled against him, but at this point I felt that it was all but hopeless. I stared at him, and watched the pleasure in his eyes as he started licking the blood that had flowed down my neck and my shoulder. He licked it all slowly, staring up at me and watching for my reaction. I admit that it felt really good, but I wasn't about to give in completely.
Then I heard his pants unzip. That dim light of hope, that light that only existed because I thought that Rasial would lay off by now, went out. I screamed.
Suddenly a warm light surrounded me, and I felt like I was being embraced by the angels. Rasial screamed and was thrown into the opposite wall, falling face first onto my bed. I don't know what threw him, but I was glad. I stopped glowing after a while, and Rasial finally got up.
"See, the power was in you the whole time."
I glared at him. "You mean you did all that just to piss me off and get me to use some power that I don't have?!"
"Pretty much."
I chased him out of my room.
"GET OUT!" I screamed while I threw a few pillows at him.
"My apologies, lady Hilde," he said through the door. "You may punish me as you wish."
I heard his steps echo through the hall as he walked away. I didn't know if I should kill him, or torture him and then kill him.
That night, I had a dream. More like a continuation of the same dream that I've had on and off ever since this whole seraphim thing began.
~Help...~
It was the girl with the pigtails again. Why was she crucified? Why was she asking for help? And why did this area seem slightly familiar?
~Sutro Tower...~
I knew that place. But why was she...
I woke up before anything else could be said or seen in my dream. I decided to go to the place in my dream. Hopefully I could sneak out without Rasial noticing. I got dressed quickly and slowly opened my window. I glided outside, and then I ran for it.
Apparently I wasn't the only one who had the dream, because everyone else was there too. Duo, Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Sally, Dorothy and Relena were all here. Wufei looked even more paranoid than usual.
"Lemme guess," I said, "You all had the same dream with the girl with the pigtails?"
Everyone nodded.
"That girl is Meiran," Sally said in a calm voice. She glanced over at Wufei before continuing. "She's... Wufei's late first wife."
They all must have known, because the only gasp of surprise I heard was my own. I didn't know Wufei had a wife... he must have been about 14... wow. No wonder he's got that inferiority complex. [1]
I looked up at the tower and saw nothing. No girl, no lightning, no evil shadows. Just a calm night under the stars. However, given our current luck, this was probably just the calm before the storm. I looked at everyone else. They all seemed a bit fidgety, except for Heero and Trowa. They were always calm and stiff like statues. I decided to just kneel down on the ground and wait for whatever might come.
We all got more than we bargained for. A wind swept up, strong enough that most of us had to cover our eyes. When the wind went away, a figure had appeared on the tower, and looked to have their arms out like they were being crucified...
Wufei recognized the figure immediately. "MEIRAN!"
He leapt up to the tower, bounding off the pillars to try to get to her. The rest of us followed him, to make sure he didn't do anything reckless. Well, that was why I was following him. People do strange things when it's for the ones they love. We made it up to the top of the tower, and now I could see clearly the girl from my dreams. She looked like she had been up there for a long time. Her face was pale, her body frail, and strands of her hair was plastered over her face. She looked like an abused China doll.
Meiran slowly lifted her head up as we came closer. Wufei was by her side, tentatively reaching out to touch her. She smiled softly.
"Wufei... you came..."
I guess her cry for help reached all of us, because it seemed as if she was calling to him and him alone. I was wondering why in my dream she wasn't speaking to me directly. I watched as Wufei slowly inched his way towards her, and then put his arm around her, stroking her and being oh so gentle. I've never seen him like this before, even with Sally. I looked over at her, expecting to see at least a little jealousy, but all I saw in Sally's face was a deep sorrow for her husband. She must know the whole story behind all of this. I'll have to ask her someday.
"How touching."
That voice, those two words that were so filled with hatred and mockery, made my spine tingle. It was a deep voice, but with enough of a baritone pitch to it that it may have sounded sexy if he had used it in a different tone. We all looked up to the source of that voice. He had a black cloak on, with a black body suit covering him. He had black boots, black gloves, and three black wings, just like the seraphim. However, I got the feeling that this guy was the big kahuna, the boss. Looking up at his face, I could see an evil sneer that he must have practiced over and over again, and a spider tatoo on his cheek. It was a spiral with eight legs coming from it, so I'm pretty sure it was a spider. His eyes appeared black, but with the moonlight being ever so strong tonight, and me being a vampire, I could see that there was a hint of redness to his eyes, like a demon. His hair was a deep blood red, shoulder length, and very messy from the looks of it. This stranger was standing on on of the pillars, not holding on to anything. He apparently had the mad balancing skills. [2]
The sound of flapping wings turned my attention to the right. Michael had arrived to partake in the gathering. He smirked at us and shouted, "So, how does it feel to be losers?"
I glared at him, as did the rest of us. Especially Wufei.
Michael hopped over to stand next to the new guy. "Master Lucifer, why don't we show these humans our true power?"
Lucifer? This was too weird.
The aforementioned 'bad guy' patted Michael on the back in a comrade-like gesture. "We? Who said anything about we?" With those words he thrust his hand into Michael's back, his hand coming out his chest. We could see the shock in Michael's eyes before Lucifer let his dead body fall from his hands like so much garbage. The blood on his hand glistened in the moonlight.
Then he turned to us. "Well well well, looks like I surprised you, didn't I? Behold, the event that will unfurl before you today!"
The winds started blowing, and Wufei was suddenly thrown off the tower, away from Meiran. Sally caught his arm, and pulled him back up. We all watched in horror as the dark seraphim shot bolts of lightning at Meiran's spirit, causing her to scream and writhe in agony. I didn't want to watch, but I kept watching anyways. Meiran seemed like a strong girl, and if she could be strong, then so could I. It would be dishonorable if I turned away.
Wufei was struggling to move, but Sally and Duo kept a hold on him.
"Let me go! I have to... have to help her..."
One last scream pierced the air, and suddenly Meiran's spirit form began fading from sight. Since she was a spirit, she was already slightly translucent, but now her form was really waning.
"Wufei... I..."
She disappeared in a flash, the particles of her being floating towards the sky.
Wufei screamed. "MEIRAN!"
Lucifer chuckled. "My my, I wonder; what was she about to say?"
I believe Wufei snapped at that point. He threw off Duo and Sally and leaped up the tower, bent on revenge. He lifted his hands into the air and started summoning... something.
"Mizuno... ryuu!" [3]
A large water dragon came from seemingly nowhere and headed straight for Lucifer's head. But all he did in defense was smirk. As it was about crash into him, a small force field surrounded him, and I could see energy crackle around him as he repelled the dragon. Wufei looked quite shocked.
"No..."
Lucifer gave a long, hearty laugh. "Sorry, no free shots today." He raised a hand towards Wufei, and shot several red lightning bolts at him. Wufei screamed as he was envoloped by a blanket of red. Sally moved to help him, but as she got close to Wufei, a bolt shot out from him and hit Sally square in the chest. Iria and I caught her as she started to fall.
"Don't come close, Sally!" Wufei yelled despite all the pain. "You'll only get hurt! Just get him!"
"You cannot possibly hope to reach me, if you cannot even reach him," Lucifer said as he laughed again, and then released his hold on Wufei. Wufei started to fall, but Duo caught a hold of him, putting his arms around him. Heero was nearby in a split second to make sure that Lucifer didn't try anything funny. The rest of us also kept an eye on him.
"My mission here is complete. Sayonara." With that, Lucifer leaped up into the air and blinked out of sight. We all glared at the spot where he had disappeared.
"Damn..." Wufei whispered before passing out.
The same thought ran through my mind as well. Damn.
Back to:Part 5
[1]: My dad was e-mailed a joke from his friend and then told me the joke... basically, God and Eve are talking, and Eve is bored about being the Garden of Eden all by herself, just her and that silly snake. So God says, "I'll give you a man, who looks silly when he's aroused, likes to kick a ball around and likes to fight a lot. But I'll only give him to you on one condition." So Eve says, "What is that condition?" God says, "Since this man will be proud, self-admiring, and arrogant, you have to let him think that I created him first. You know, this will be our secret, woman to woman." So my dad replied to his friend, "It figures that God is a woman. Now I know where my inferiority complex comes from." Hehehe...
[2]: Think about Seishirou from Tokyo Babylon...
[3]: Well, for those of you who watch Magic Knight Rayearth... You know. And for those who don't, this means "Water Dragon." It's one of Umi's first spells in MKR.
Gomen nasai that it has taken me so long... eh heh... Ackem, I really didn't want to do that to poor Meiran... Anyways, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?
Copyright reserved 2001 Top Ace