Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (24 page)

“We need to talk about what just happened.”

Annalise shook her head. “Not now, not with everyone in the room.”  Her eyes focused on Arie who sat comfortably on a chair only a few feet away.

“Trouble in paradise?” Arie asked. She raised an eyebrow and gave them both a suspicious look.

Ash took a moment to gather his thoughts.

“We don’t need to worry about the keepers looking for me. We need to focus on killing these fallen so Annalise can get back home. I am the reason she is being banned, so I will make sure she gets back there.
If that is what she wants.” He looked at Annalise from the corner of his eye. Back home was the last place he wanted her to go, but he wasn’t about to assume anything right now. He didn’t deserve her; he had no right to ask her to stay.

Arie nodded in agreement. “They won’t send too many people down this far- plus I’m the one who they usually hire to find traitors. I won’t hurt you.” She gave Ash a quick wink. It was typical of her to flirt with Ash, but this time it only made him feel awkward.  He looked at Annalise again, but she refused to look his way. She stared at the wall, deep in thought.

Ash cleared his throat to fill the awkward silence. “I hope Finlay is okay,” he muttered.

Annalise let out a loud but short laugh.

The others all looked her way, it was so unusual for her to be so loud.

“Finlay is used to cleaning up your messes,” Annalise explained.  “After all, he was your guardian.”

“What are you talking about?” Ash asked. He remembered her explaining what the different seraph roles were, but she had never mentioned Finlay’s role.

“Finlay is, or was, your guardian. Who do you think has been there making sure you do not get into
too much trouble or get hurt?”

It made sense, Ash thought. Finlay had been in the right place at the right time when they met in the underground and since then he always seemed to pop up when needed. Except for the one time he didn’t; the night Ash was supposed to die.

Arie’s eyes were lit up with excitement. “Do I have a guardian too?” she asked.

“Did I miss anything?” A voice appeared from the front door. Finlay walked in covered in a red clay like substance. His usual blonde hair was dark and matted against his head and his clothes were singed along the edges. Arie rushed over to his side.

“What happened?” she exclaimed as she picked off some of the red stuff from his shirt.

“I threw Jaron in a volcano,” he boasted.

Natara walked in from the kitchen to see her friend tracking in dirt all over her floor.

“Jaron? Oh my- Finlay you are covered in dirt. In my home!” Ash could have sworn he saw her eyes flash black for a split second before she waved her hand at Finlay. A gush of wind tore through the room causing books to fly off the shelf and a mirror to fall off the wall and break. Arie let out a small yelp as Finlay pushed her against a wall and Ash instantly put an arm out in front of Annalise. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but he was certain Natara was about to try and kill them all.

The wind hit Finlay straight on, but it didn’t seem to faze him. All of a sudden, all of the terrain, soot, and dirt drifted off of him and lifted from the ground. Natara threw her hand back behind her pointing at a small potted tree in the corner. Finlay looked cleaner than before.

Everyone’s mouth dropped in amazement as the particles fell into the pot.

“That- was- amazing!” cried Arie, she ran up to the brunette and started to pester her with a dozen questions.

Ash felt more scared than impressed though. He turned to Annalise who seemed to have a similar look on her face.

“Too strong for a fallen stripped of her powers,” he whispered. If Natara could use her powers so easily like that, what could Endarial dish out, or Loki, for that matter? The fallen were supposed to be weaker.

When she didn’t answer, he retreated. She obviously needed some more time to sort out her feelings.  Confusion
and anger still drifted off of her. Seeing Finlay so clean made Ash long for the same.

“I’m going to take a shower before we eat.” He walked away, leaving her to pout in the corner.

Sometime later, Ash stepped out of the small bathroom feeling relaxed and refreshed. He hadn’t realized how dirty all this traveling had made him, and he felt pretty embarrassed that Annalise had seen him so dirty last night.

He retreated to the bedroom he and Annalise had shared the night before and laid down on the bed. He couldn’t be around her right now. The entire time he was in the shower, he kept feeling her disappointment and it was killing him. He wanted so badly to just scoop her up and ask her to teleport them to some far off planet and never come home. He wanted to say screw duty, but he couldn’t. He wanted to protect her, but he also wanted to kill Endarial.

He felt a small smile appear on his face as he heard a quiet knock at the door before opening.

Looking up, he saw Arie’s red hair instead of the blonde he was expecting. He tried not to look disappointed as she sat down on the bed.

“You need to come eat.”

“I’ll be out soon; I just need some time to think.”

She nodded. She knew not to press the issue, and began to walk back towards the door. She made it only a few steps before she swung back around and put her hands on her hips. “Is there something going on between you and Annalise?”

Ash sighed and threw the pillow over his face. He didn’t want to discuss this with her. “It’s none of your business, Arie.”

He felt her reach over and grab the pillow that blocked her view.

“I knew it.” she smiled broadly “You and the seraph are doing the hissy.”

“I said it’s none of your business.” Ash sat up, annoyed that Arie was prying. She rarely pried; in fact she usually tried to keep the subject off of the females he and Finlay would pick up at the bar.

“Oh, s
o who I date is your business, but not the other way around?”

“Yes,” he said, “Finlay is way too old for you. You are nineteen. He is like a thousand years old.”

Arie just stood there staring at him with a dumb look on her face. Of course, he knew it was because Annalise was just as old as Finlay.

“Plus,” he continued, “I am more responsible
, mature, and grown up than you are.”

Again, Arie gave him her blank stare. Of course, Arie was all of those things. Ten times more those things than he could ever be. Ash silently cursed himself.
He couldn’t think of any excuses. He just didn’t like the fact that Arie was with any guy. He wanted to protect her.

“Just don’t fall too hard for him,” he said after a long pause. “I know Fin and he is not a one woman kind of man. In fact- the guy doesn’t stop at women if you know what I mean. He’s just about hit up any species that has walked through the Ethereal and then-”

Arie put her fingers up and held them against Ash’s lips.

“Shhh. I don’t want to hear anymore. I didn’t jump into this blindly. I know he doesn’t care about me the way I do him-
Natara told me that seraphs don’t have the same emotions we do but I waited too long for you Ash. You made it very clear that you didn’t do relationships- that you weren’t allowed. You’re not a keeper anymore. Does that change anything?” She looked into his blue eyes searching for an answer. Ash closed his eyes and sighed. He did not want to have this conversation with her right now. He had too much on his mind already.

“No, Arie. It doesn’t change a thing. You are like a sister to me. It would be too weird.” He patted her right shoulder and stood up to leave the room. He didn’t want anyone to think something was going on. Arie looked hurt.

“I’m sorry,” he said, stopping at the door. “I really care about you Arie, but right now my heart belongs to someone else.”

“I knew it- I knew it!” she hissed
with an accusing finger out. “I got you to confess,” she taunted.

Ash groaned again. Arie was manipulative; she had to be in her line of work.
He should have known.

“So that whole speech?” he asked.

“Yup, just a way to get you to confess. If you haven’t noticed there is a blonde seraph out there that I’m crazy over. Just be careful, we all need our minds clear if we’re going to be able to win this fight.” She reached over and opened the door to leave. “I’m starved.”

Ash followed her into the main room toward the lofty smell of something delicious.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Finlay and Annalise huddled on a chair talking. He didn’t like how close Finlay was sitting to her. He also didn’t like it when Finlay reached out and squeezed her knee. Ash swallowed his anger and watched as they both noticed his presence.

Annalise jumped up. She was nervous, she must have told him. The thought of her sharing their most intimate moments with anyone, especially Finlay, made his blood boil.

Ash stared coolly at Finlay as the blonde strolled over to where he stood.

“You better watch yourself,” Finlay warned. Was Finlay threatening him? Was he referring to Annalise or Arie?

“What are you talking about?”

“You are playing with fire here. Annalise is very new to this world- she doesn’t understand the carelessness of mortals. Watch yourself.” Ash started to open his mouth, he wanted to tell Finlay where to shove it, but he really didn’t feel like having another broken hand. Luckily, Natara interjected just in time.

“Come eat. I made human food!”

Ash
slowly turned sit down, he was hungry and right now his hunger was more important that his jealousy.

Chapter Nine

Annalise

She watched with a slight irritation as she heard Finlay give Ash his version of threatening someone. As she crossed her arms across her chest, she tried not to show any kind of concern. That was difficult for her, hiding her emotions. She had always been the kind of seraph to wear her heart right on her shoulder, but this intense ache in her heart is where that had gotten her and she was determined not to let it happen again. If she was going to survive, make it back home in one piece physically and emotionally, she would have to toughen up. She only wished Leon was here to help her with that, he would know what to say and do. Only, he wouldn’t be happy with what had transpired the night before with Ash. She closed her eyes and tried to erase those thoughts from her mind. Every time that mortal man came near her, she thought about how soft his touch had been, how sweet he was to her. He had shown her the ways of love, and it had been one of the most wonderful experiences she had since being in the mortal world. That was, before she woke up to find herself alone in the eighth layer of the planet; scared and confused. She had found herself going to look for him when she woke up and found him at the hands of Jaron. After hearing all of the shocking revelations from the mouth of the madman, Annalise wasn’t really sure who Ash was anymore. Even worse, she had killed for him, and it made her sick.

The seraph remained away from the group and watched as they ate their breakfast. Natara had gone out of her way to prepare a large meal for them, most of it was made out of plants and fruits, but Annalise knew the girl had a knack for making anything taste good. Finlay was even eating his fill, preparing for the battle to come. She wasn’t hungry though, the thought of food ma
de her stomach flip in an unpleasant way. Ash sat in a seat with his back to her, which made it easier for her not to try to catch his eye, or have to fight to avoid it. Still, Finlay had been right, if they were going to go down into the dangerous parts of this world, all of them had to work together. He had tried to teach her about battle and sticking together. If she continued to ignore Ash instead of focusing on their strengths, it could put all of them in danger. One of them could end up dead because of it, and that was certainly not something that she wanted to happen.

When everyone was finished eating, Natara brought them over to where Annalise stood, “Are you ready to train before you go? It will be beneficial for you to learn how to fight, and you and Ash to practice using your connection.”

“I suppose,” Annalise responded and continued to try to hold her emotions in check as the others came to stand beside them.

“It’s settled then,” Finlay smiled
and moved to stand in front of the group, “We shall go outside and do some sparring. You mortals need to learn how to defend yourself against a fallen.” He gave Annalise a wink and helped himself to the back door and waved his hand as if to ask everyone to go outside.