-= fallen =- (Book 0.5 Of Angel Devourers)[WangXian FF]

10

"Uhm…"

Wei Wuxian was thinking hard of how he should deflect the question without implicating Benzaiten's true identity, when the latter suddenly grabbed Wei Wuxian and she whispered to him.

"You owe me big this time."

Then she proceeded to give Wei Wuxian a big fat smooch right on his mouth.

Wei Wuxian was so surprised, he froze, and when Benzaiten let him go, he was kind of dizzy. No wonder since she was a goddess of love and she exuded love pheromone like crazy.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" She acted like Wei Wuxian's girlfriend, being clingy and all. "I just want to meet my boyfriend here, and you accused him of hiding something? Well, yeah, he's hiding his relationship with me. Do you have any problem with that?" She pointed her red nails at Lan Wangji–who took a step back, because he never saw anyone like this… angry creature.

Benzaiten was acting so convincingly, it took all of Wei Wuxian's willpower not to laugh at the situation. He took a peek at Lan Wangji and the angel seemed to be at a loss of words.

Thankfully Lan Wangji seemed to believe her, as he turned his face around and whispered 'shameless' under his breath. He didn't count the possibility of Wei Wuxian having a girlfriend and thought that the man was acting suspicious while all along he was just meeting the said girlfriend.

Strangely, he felt some sort of sharp prick in his gut, and he had no idea what it was. But it was uncomfortable and it put him into an uneasy feeling.

Wei Wuxian noticed that the tip of Lan Wangji's ears were getting red, and he smiled. Turned out Mister Adonis Angel here really was still pure and innocent, unlike his sinful body.

Interesting.

"I apologize for my mistake, Wei Wuxian, and miss…"

"None of your business." Tenten snapped at him and then she kissed Wei Wuxian's cheek. "I'm off. I will get back to you later, darling." She pinched Wei Wuxian's waist and then winked at him before sashaying out of the alley while glaring at Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji seemed at a loss of words from Benzaiten's unusual treatment of him. He was so used to being worshiped by all of the other angels and also other creatures including humans. To them, he was a venerable one.

But this one beautiful woman–who exuded some strange pheromone all around her–looked at him with such disdain and contempt, he was a bit taken aback by the hostility she had shown.

"Ah forgive her, she's just in a hurry to go… do whatever she's going to do." Wei Wuxian smiled and Lan Wangji's brain turned into mush. "So, since you're here, why don't we look at the places where your… peers were missing?" Wei Wuxian tried to change the subject to the more pressing matter. Who knew maybe this hottie knew something and decided to share, although he doubted it.

"Actually, this is the place where the last angel was reported missing." Lan Wangji pointed at the alley behind We Wuxian. "And all the others were missing from just inside the perimeter of your bar, Purgatory." He looked at Wei Wuxian with a very sharp gaze now. "Care to explain?"

Wei Wuxian took his time to answer, while he tilted his head and scratched his chin. And then he shrugged.

"Well, Lan Wangji, to tell you the truth, we have known for a while that the angels had been missing all around here. But strangely, whatever it was, it didn't trigger any of our perimeter alarms–which we set to let us know if anyone was in trouble. We also have informants that told us that this is all the angels'–your–internal problem, and that we should stay away since we do not want to get caught in another Holy War, or something like that."

Wei Wuxian told him the truth and he was waiting for Lan Wangji's reaction whether he knew that this was his peers' internal conflict, or the man was just as clueless as he was five minutes ago.

He could see Lan Wangji's golden eyes widened for a nanosecond in surprise, but other than that he still wore his beautiful poker face without even a muscle twitching from the shocking information.

"I take it from your silence that you have no idea, do you?"

Lan Wangji took his time to answer this question. He looked like he was contemplating something, before he finally decided to answer him.

"Actually, a little birdie told me as much." He nodded in agreement. "Someone, or rather, some rogue angels have been taking the Samaritans–that's what we call the angels that were tasked to go to earth and help people in need–and erase all the signs of their existence."

"So you think of an organization? Why would they kidnap angels? Are you guys rich? You do look rich." Wei Wuxian gave Lan Wangji a thorough once over that caused the latter to feel uncomfortable. "Any random notes or something of an equivalent? Demand? Anything?"

Lan Wangji shook his head.

"Nothing. That's why we are thinking that our old enemies were the ones who took the angels. You know, old grudges and all."

"Oh? Old enemies? The demons? Or the old gods? Or the mythical beasts? Please be specific since you angels have a lot of enemies." Wei Wuxian grinned to show that he was joking, and not to take his words seriously.

But Lan Wangji once again shook his head, and there was this kind of a faraway look on his face.

"Unfortunately no. These old enemies were super strong–even stronger than the angels and demons put together–and they just… devoured us like candies." Lan Wangji explained with some kind of an awe in his voice that caused Wei Wuxian's heart to skip a beat.

Could it be…?

"And they were some kind of unknown and elusive beings that no one knows where they came from, or who created them. Only that they're very strong and they're immortal. Have you perhaps heard of them?" Lan Wangji suddenly turned back to look at Wei Wuxian with his intense golden eyes, causing him to almost jolt in surprise.

"Uhm, maybe? They sound so… incredible. Who are they?" Wei Wuxian couldn't help but start to fidget. He had a feeling that he was not going to like where this was going, and this was going to be an uncomfortable conversation.

"Actually, they are very incredible. They move like the wind, no inefficient movement–just very precise like a well-oiled machine–and not one innocent bystander got caught in their act."

Wei Wuxian looked amused now. He didn't think that this… angel–the leader of the Holy Knights, of all angels–would sound like he was… admiring the mythical creature that he described.

"Unlike the angels and the demons who didn't care much about the innocent bystander?" He air-quoted the words and suddenly got pissed. "Yeah, remind me why we– uhm no offense–don't like the angels. And this definitely has nothing to do against you. Can't say for your ancestor though."

"I actually agree with you. There's some… things that they should have thought better rather than initiate the Holy War." He looked at Wei Wuxian now. "Are you sure you don't know them?"

Wei Wuxian swallowed his saliva before he answered Lan Wangji, and tried to put on his best poker face, and hoped that the latter didn't see through him.

"Who?"

"The Angel Devourers."