Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (2 page)

“By the way, you wanted details?” he asked Maize as he downed the last of his drink. “Keep a weathered eye out tonight, something is about to go down.”

“What are you speaking of?” She leaned in and spoke softly so that no one else could hear.
                                         

“There are bounty hunters here tonight. I think they may be looking for someone.” He stood abruptly and thanked her for the drink before throwing down a few gems for a tip. Maize looked around the bar. Her face became paler and more uncertain.  She gave him a tight smile and went back to making drinks for the other customers.

“See you around,” she called out. Ash knew that Maize would take him seriously. Whatever Arie and her father had planned, Ash didn’t want his old friend to get caught in the middle. He gave her a short nod and walked away. The crowd was beginning to die down as curfew approached, so it was easier to maneuver across the bar. The curfew was set by the keepers as a way to lower the crime rate. When curfew time came, all of the electricity was turned off. Ash took a startled step back as he came face to face with one of Maize’s new waitresses.

“Hey, you looked so great out there tonight,” she told him, offering him a drink. Ash politely declined the drink and instead grabbed her by the waist.

“I’ve never seen you before.” It was true. He knew all of the waitresses, and there was no way he would have forgotten this raven haired beauty. She blushed at the sight of Ash looking her over with his baby blue eyes.

“My name is Della, I’m new here.”

“Well, Della. Find me later? Maybe we can spend some time getting to know each other better?”

Ash took the opportune moment to slip past the speechless waitress.  He loved to mess with the girls here. He knew he could have his pick of just about any girl in the bar, but tonight he was only interested in his best friend. He was finally able to get to Arie’s side of the bar. He scooted close to her and leaned in so she could hear him over the loud crowd.

“Looking good Raines,” he whispered in her ear. He knew flirting with her was wrong, but he just couldn’t help himself. However, he would never jeopardize their friendship by hooking up with her. He lifted his hand up and smoothed down a lock of her curly hair.

Arie bit her lip, before teasing him with her sultry brown eyes. “Careful Ash, Daddy is watching.” Ash cocked his head to the side and slowly turned around to look at the space where her father sat earlier. Sure enough, Sasha had turned around and was now eyeing the two of them. Ash turned back to face Arie and ignored her father. Sasha could stare all he wanted; Ash knew to keep his hands in plain sight. He didn’t want to get on Sasha’s bad side. Arie leaned back against the railing and stretched her arms over her head.

“I am so bored,” she whined. She slipped the dagger she had been twirling earlier back inside her black boot. Ash’s eyes trailed up her leg. She wore a pair of tight black pants and a
matching vest. He knew she had a gun hidden somewhere under it all. She never left home without it.

“Who are you looking for?” he asked.

Arie kept her eyes on the crowd while she spoke. Unlike Ash, she never let herself get distracted from the job. “A fallen named Loki.”  She was always so serious when it came to her contracts. He figured it was the one thing in her life she was proud of. Growing up in the eighth layer of the planet, she didn’t receive many breaks. Not like he did, or so she always reminded him. Ash had grown up on the surface, and considering how many lived and died without ever seeing the suns, he could see how that might make him privileged. Nevertheless, Ash still envied her. Arie was allowed to make mistakes; she was allowed to be human. Ash was allowed nothing but rules, duties, and training. It was the reason he had enjoyed sneaking down to the Underground so much. Here he felt like he could relax and have fun.

Ash climbed up beside her and scanned the crowd. The staircase behind them carried people who came up from downstairs where the card tables were, so minus the threat that someone could sneak up behind them, it was a great scoping place. From
here; he could see almost the entire bar. Patches of smoke moved across the bar like clouds, covering a few patrons, but most of the crowd was in plain sight. Why was she looking for a fallen? The fallen were the evil counterparts of an ancient extinct species, the seraph. As far as he knew, the fallen never really existed. He had never met anyone who had actually seen one. It was mainly rumors and hearsay, although some of the older keepers did believe in the species and spoke of them often. For some reason, in spite of his doubts, tonight his interest was piqued; he wanted to catch this Loki.

“Who wants a fallen? Are you sure this isn’t a joke?” He tried to keep his voice even and nonchalant.

Arie laughed, “Don’t be sly. You know I can’t talk about that with you. Trust me though. They are real.”

He shrugged, it was worth a try. She had to keep her client list confidential.

“I can tell you that someone has a very big grudge against this one, and if daddy’s sources are right, he is supposed to be here tonight.”  He could feel her foot tap along the railing impatiently. A nervous tick that always made him cringe. He reached out and put a hand on her leg to steady her.

She was tense, more so than usual, she was scared of capturing a fallen. He didn’t blame her though, not too often do you come across an immortal species who could take you out with a blink of an eye.

“How do you plan to capture him if he is immortal?”

Arie patted her side to show the gun she carried in a holster.

“Apparently they aren’t really immortal. I have a weapon to stun him. He is wanted alive. By the way, where’s your partner in crime?”

It took Ash a moment to realize that she was talking about Fin
lay. Finlay was Ash’s sidekick in the Underground. Finlay scheduled his fights, and they both had an unquenchable taste for ale and women.

“He’s around somewhere. He ran off after all the bets were paid out. I bet he has already found some random girl to
dance with.”

A
rie snorted loudly in response.

They sat in silence, and scanned the crowd. He had never seen a fallen before, or even a seraph for that matter. If he could catch a fallen, Ash was sure that his status among the keepers would be restored. They were so mad at him
right now; maybe this could work out in his favor. He remembered some of the ancient stories; keepers who claimed a seraph had healed them or protected them, and seraphs that could control elements such as water or fire. He had even heard a few rumors that fallen had eyes as black as night. That was all he had to go on, so he sat there scanning the fading crowd for a face with black eyes.

Annalise

Standing up from her spot on the soft green grass, Annalise couldn’t help but smile widely at her own creation. In her 1,500 years, she had never tried her hand at gardening, always relying on those seraphs blessed with an affinity for verdure powers to make sure her crops were sowed correctly. This season, however, she had gotten it approved through the Elders to try her hand at growing her own crops. Sometimes when she wasn’t reaping she would help out in the market, but she wanted to do something for herself. Gardening was something the others were always boasting about, and she had always adored walking through the rows of crops and flowers, picking out what she wanted to adorn her home with and filling her basket to the brim.

Today, the sky had been the bluest and the ground the softest so she decided to give it her best shot. In her world, it never rained, the sun never set. In fact, there was no set location of what was lighting up the sky. If one wanted to see the night sky, they had to leave this realm and travel to that of the mortals. She had never seen one in person. Leon, her counterpart, had told her about the dark blue sky with stars and moons scattered across it, and she longed to see it one day. Only guardian seraphs were allowed on the surface of the planet to watch over their charges there. It was rare that
reapings took place there, due to it being the home of the planet’s government and their ability to keep the surface’s inhabitants safe. On the rare occasion that someone died there, a guardian would bring the deceased to a separate layer of the planet. The reaper would then go retrieve the soul. This protocol kept the female reaper seraphs safe. Annalise wished for the opportunity to go there. This unfortunately, she knew, would never happen. Seraphs were not allowed to spend time in the mortal world, unless duty called them there. Still, she had found herself sheltered compared to the others, and it had recently been pointed out, much to her confusion. She had never felt that way herself, but now it made her wonder.

Annalise pushed the negative thoughts out of her head and gave a small giggle. As she did so, she stretched out her hands in front of her and felt the rush of power go through her body and out the end of her palms. Small droplets of water appeared over the ground, falling in the precise spot where she directed it. Her laugh grew louder, one that was infectious to others when she was around, even though she was completely oblivious to her own charm.

She was pleased with herself and wiped her now dirty hands on her pale yellow dress and her forehead with the back of her hand, smearing dirt across it. It was a gesture she had seen humans utilize after hard work, wiping the sweat off their brow, though it was just pantomime as seraphs don’t sweat. She had found herself watching them from inside of her home on the globe, eager to learn more about gardening without having to ask Finlay for help. He was a close friend of her and Leon, although he rode the fence of what was appropriate for a seraph and was often very boastful. She couldn’t wait to share her success with him when her plants sprouted. 

Annalise heard the familiar foot steps behind her and knew that Leon had returned home before he cleared his voice, a small amount of amusement held in his words. “The garden is looking good, Anna.”

Turning around, she gave him a big smile and ran toward him, stopping just a foot away and looking up into his green eyes. He was taller than her by several inches, broadly built and handsome. His light brown hair stood up slightly in the front, down all over the rest of his head, a consistent five o’clock shadow across his face. His sword was across his back resting in its hilt, his magnificent wings rested behind him, slightly gray and brown in color. His clothing was similar to all the other male seraphs, simple. His pants were a dark crimson red and his shirt was brown. It was slit up the back for his wings to go through when he needed them. In fact, there was rarely a time when his wings were not displayed openly and proudly. He had no reason to hide them, because he only went to the mortal world on missions and duties. Leon had been her counterpart for almost two thousand years, the one that shared her home and her life, her best friend. He understood her in a way that no one else did, made sure she was safe while he was around. He was partially the reason she hadn’t seen as much of the world as she wanted. Since she had been created, Leon had led her along the righteous and straight path. He taught her how to stay loyal to the seraphs; how to follow the rules and not be cast out of their realm.  This wasn’t out of the ordinary. All seraphs were paired up, reaper to guardian, pairs to live together and help keep the balance in the universe. As a way to keep the females safe since they didn’t have fighting skills, they were paired with the male seraphs and lived together in small homes across the realm. There was no emotional bond, just loyalty and a sense of protectiveness to each other. Bound by duty, each seraph had an affinity for a force: fire, air, water, verdure and more, as well as a set position, guardian or reaper. Leon was a guardian seraph, set to watch over his mortal charges and makes sure they were safe and following the path set before them. Other times, he would help fight alongside the other guardians when he was needed as a warrior. Thankfully it had been centuries since he was called for a large scale battle. Annalise herself was a reaper, a seraph sent to capture the soul of an individual as they die, sending it to the afterlife where it belongs before other forces could steal it for their own dealings. They were to do their duties, never stray from them.

Before she could say anything to Leon, he raised his hand up to her and brushed the unkempt blonde hair out of her face, “I think you have more dirt on yourself than the plants
do.”

“It is called pouring yourself into the soul of the garden,” she said, as way of explanation that she could tell he didn’t completely understand. She d
idn’t care that she was covered head to toe in dirt; she loved nature. Still, he would give her that look, a small roll of his eyes, and a broad smile as he shook his head and looked down at her in adoration. He didn’t always understand her, but he accepted her, and that was enough to keep her happy in her own little world. She turned around to head to the house, thousands of questions on the edge of her tongue about his journeys, but not sure where to start. Annalise knew that they were one of the most revered pairs in all of the land, on the straight and narrow path, lifted up for their loyalty to the cause. Many of the pairs were envious of their relationship, many of them losing a counterpart to evil ways and the fallen throughout the years.