Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (38 page)

The keeper grabbed the fallen’s wrist to keep her from doing it again, “Arie, you used a silver bullet didn’t you?”

“That doesn’t work so well with those of us who have recently had essence of seraph,” she said and jerked herself from his grip.

Annalise felt her anger rise again, angry that every time she wanted tell Ash her feelings that someone would
interrupt her, angry that Endarial kept crossing their paths and ruining their lives. A jet of water shot out of the air and hit the fallen in the chest, each drop as sharp as an icicle as they pounded against her. “You shall pay for what you have done.”

Endarial couldn’t hide the shock on her face as she desperately looked around for something.

“Looking for this?” Arie asked as she pulled the lighter from her pocket and examined it. She let go of it and it hit the ground. Her boot stomped on it several times, “Oops.”

“That is fine. I will rip you apart with my bare hands,” Endarial exclaimed, “Jaron gave us the
alchemy technology we needed to begin experiments to create fallen. He had the keeper alchemist make us these rings too. He gave us intel on both mortals and keepers. Don’t think you can fight me and win. Soon, we will be unstoppable.” With that, she let out a loud yell and lunged forward to grab Annalise. 

But Ash was there, his hand pull
ed Annalise back against him as they fell to the ground. Her jet stream didn’t stop, only became stronger as she cast it at the fallen. She could feel Ash focusing with her, his hands moving along her arms to stretch out as hers did, their emotions mingled strongly once again as he held onto her. The stream became larger as Endarial continued to try to fight against it, struggling as it hit her again and again, each drop stinging her skin as it hit. Another stream of water shot out to the side to create a large funnel of water that swirled around and around, something Annalise had done previously while training with Finlay but was not currently doing. It was Ash who was manipulating her affinity to make it his own and moving it over to engulf the fallen creature. Endarial let out a gargle as her hands went to her throat. Annalise scowled at the girl, all of her hatred towards the fallen, all of the guilt for being part of the reason that Leon had died, all of her hurt and pain for having to leave Ash here in the mortal world and go back home, even though she had been sure at one point that was what she wanted to do.

The red
head’s eyes begged for them to stop throwing the water at her, as it was swirling around her, slamming into each part of her body and making her fall to the floor. Once, Annalise would have cared and wanted to make it stop, never being one to see the death of anyone. All she could think about now, as the water flowed into the fallen’s mouth, was revenge. She knew some of it was coming from Ash, wanting to make Endarial suffer for killing Jedzia, and she was okay with that. She was glad to know that he was getting his revenge, and they would no longer have to deal with her.

“You will have to remove her wings for this to work,” Annalise reminded him.

Endarial’s eyes became wild as she coughed, trying to speak but only water coming from her mouth.

Ash pulled himself away from her and the water faltered slightly, but Annalise pushed herself to the limit once again and forced herself to continue to the swirl of water. She saw her friend, sword i
n hand, move around behind the fallen. Annalise focused on the water to move off of her back to allow him access. He grabbed ahold of the fallen’s wings, cutting them off quickly as she screamed, but only gurgling sounds came from her. Annalise forced herself to watch as he dropped the sword and wings to the ground and held his hands up to help slam the water down her throat. It caught the seraph off guard, and his anger made her falter, almost losing concentration just as Endarial fell to the ground.

She shut off her affinity and took a few
deep breaths to steady herself. Annalise had never used so much of her power, except for when she brought Ash back to life, and she knew that she would sleep for many days when she got back home. He walked over to her and offered her his hand. She took it and let him pull her to her feet.

“You did great, Anna.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cast her eyes to the ground. All of these intense emotions were starting to get to her, “Thanks, you were fantastic as well.”

His hand came up to cup her chin, forcing her to look at him, “I am very proud of you.”

“All those things you said back there when we were at the fallen realm,” she started, nervous to ask him but wanting so badly to know the answer, “Were you being sincere?”

“Annal
ise!” Finlay said dramatically which interrupted their conversation.

She turned to him, irritation plastered on her face, “What?”

“We need to go before Loki gets back with reinforcements. You two can cast googly eyes at each other once we reach the Underground.”

“Finlay’s right,” Ash said and cleared his voice as he turned to walk forward. 

Annalise tried not to sigh, getting very tired of always being interrupted when she wanted to share how she felt. She followed behind them, eyes moving over to Finlay’s back where his wings were missing. It made her sick to see it.  A seraph was meant to stand proud and tall with their wings at their back. She knew that he was hurt on the outside and on the inside, but he would not show it. Both of them had lost their dearest friend, and now he had lost his wings, in such a short period of time. She wasn’t sure how they would recuperate, how she herself would go back to reaping souls each day. It would be nice to have some distance from the mortals, however; the more she was around Ash, the more she became like him. She had become emotional, and she wasn’t sure how to handle it.

Ash

The journey back to the eighth layer was worse than the travel down. Ash couldn’t sleep, he was afraid Loki would show up at any moment and he wasn’t in any condition to fight. Using Anna’s affinity had made him weak. Weaker than he cared to admit. Annalise had to carry all of them up from the tenth layer entrance, and after using all of her power she could barely walk. Arie, in better shape than all of them, would take turns holding each of them up and helping them walk. She didn’t even complain or try and lecture them. Most of her concern was aimed at Finlay and the fact that losing his wings made him vulnerable to death. They didn’t run into anymore fallen, and Ash really hoped it was because they had been scared off.  His hands were stained with blue blood, and he was quite sure they would always have a bluish tint. They had washed off at a waterfall they had found in the ninth layer, but both of the mortals were surprised when the blood left a stain on their skin. Arie griped about the blue tint ruining her career, but Ash loved the reminder of the death he had caused. After washing up, they continued on their way back to the eighth layer. The journey home was tiring. None of them had the energy to fight any creatures they came upon, but they somehow managed. What was worse, none of them knew the way out of the ninth layer to the tunnels under the city. Finlay had taken the lead, torturing creatures for information until they had found their way out. Even in his injured condition, he still fought each one persistently. It had taken all of twenty-four hours to get back home.

“If I ever see that unicor
n again; I am going to kill him,” Finlay said as they stumbled into Arie’s house. The unicorn had taken them around in circles for almost two days, but no one could figure out why.

“Maybe he enjoyed the company,” Annalise decided. Ash gave her a look of disbelief. He had known from the
moment he laid eyes on the unicorn that there was something wrong with him. He shook his head in frustration. He had to agree with Finlay. Annalise had been so quiet on the walk home, Ash didn’t know what to think. There had been so many times when they had connected, and after they had worked together to kill Endarial the connection had only grown stronger. He had a better grip on her affinity and emotions now. He could tell she was changing too. She had started to show more emotions, both the good and the bad, and the annoyance of the flow of emotions had grown considerably less. She hadn’t mentioned her plans for the future, but Ash knew he couldn’t be without her. Her beauty was just an extension of who she was. Her kindness and caring kept him grounded, kept him from screwing everything up. If she hadn’t stopped him from yelling at Arie, he was certain they would all be dead. She made him a better warrior. This was how they were supposed to fight, with their partner at their side. They finally made it back to the eighth layer and decided Arie’s home was the safest place to be while they recuperated.

Ash watched as Arie gave Finlay a hug. He was happy for them both.  Finlay had really shown how far he was willing to go to protect Arie and in Ash’s book, that made him an alright guy again. Arie examined the blue blood that had dried and stained the back of Finlay’s shirt and pants. His wound had started to heal, but still looked nasty.

“I will get you something to clean your wounds.” she said. She stood up to walk to the kitchen. Finlay reached out to stop her.

“I am fine. I will heal quickly,
” he tried to assure her. Arie only glared at him and stubbornly spun around on her heel to get the medicine anyway. Annalise excused herself to go freshen up in the bathroom, leaving both of the males sitting awkwardly in the living room. Ash looked at the ceiling and put his hands behind his head to stretch. He wanted them to go back to being friends again, before all the secrets and girls complicated things.

“So…” Ash told Finlay. He looked every
where but at his friend’s face. “I guess I should apologize for being such a jerk lately. I understand how much you care about Arie now.” He gave his friend a smile, he usually hated these kinds of talks but lately it seemed like he was having them more often than not. The way Finlay was willing to give his life up for Arie; there was no way he could try and keep them apart.

Finlay nodded, “It’s my fault. I should have told you about me and Arie instead of sneaking around behind your back…..and I’m sorry for almost getting you killed.”

Ash sat up forward and put his elbows on his knees. “That was seriously messed up. You put both me and Arie in danger. Your Elders are all screwed up. Who gave them the right to say who lives or dies?”

Finlay didn’t say much, he just stared into empty space.

“I mean,” Ash went on, “You aren’t gods or anything. You’re just a race. A much more evolved and stronger race, but we mortals have our own say in life.”

Finlay ran his hands down his face and sighed like Ash was saying things that he already knew. “I agree, but what can I do? The Elders have had us guarding souls until they need them for
almost two thousand years.”

Ash crinkled his brow, “What do they do with these souls?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even think Annalise knows. I know you don’t like the Elders, but they aren’t that much different from your Officials.”

“And if your Elder
s asked you to let Arie die?”

Finlay’s jaw tightened, this was something that had bothered him. “I am certain-

Finlay was interrupted by a knock on the door. They both stood straight up and pulled their weapons from the table. Arie didn’t tell many people where she lived, and she certainly didn’t live in the type of neighborhood that got friendly visits. Ash and Finlay both walked over to the door. Finlay grabbed the handle to open it while Ash stood at the opening ready to fight. He hoped it wasn’t another fallen, they would be stupid to attack in such a public building. He remembered Endarial breaking down Jedzia’s door, which eased the dread in his stomach. Fallen do not knock.

Ash kept his eyes open as the door swung open. He blinked in disbelief as the figure before him walked in without an invitation. The figure wore a long black robe with a dark hood pulled down over the front. Ash lowered his sword and nodded at Finlay to do the same. He knew who the visitor was; it was a face he knew quite well. How could he have forgotten that they were looking for him?

“Official Sune,” Ash said with a nod. Sune reached up to lower his cloak and reveal his long black hair pulled tightly against his neck. The Officials always wore cloaks when they left the conservatory. It kept their identities hidden. Sune didn’t smile, his jaw was tight with concern.

“Ash. We have been looking for you.
We were told that you were seen walking into your redhead’s home.” His voice was stern. Ash felt like a child being scolded. Behind Sune stood two other Officials hidden under matching cloaks and six keepers in uniform, who stood outside the home.

“Yes.  I heard there was a bounty out for me,” Ash lowered his head. As much as he wanted to tell the Official to go away, the man was and always had been the head of the keepers and therefore Ash felt nothing but diminutive around him.  He had caused disappointment and sadness to those he had grown up around. Though they didn’t act like a family, the keepers were the only family he had ever known. Ash had carelessly gone to Jedzia’s home and brought the fallen behind him. He knew this would be coming when they got back, he just didn’t think it would happen so soon.

Sune put a hand out to rest on Ash’s shoulder. “My Ash, it pains me to do this. We must take you home, so that you may answer for your crimes.”