Blackened Feathers

Ifrit

Omega was frantic. He tried to get up, but he was just too weak and the most he could manage was flopping over onto his side. He almost passed out again when his head started swimming. Seren tried to help him, but he shrugged out of her hold.

“Papa no! It wasn’t Alpha! The Clergy did something to him!” he croaked out.

He knew he shouldn't speak, but fuck that. He heard the roughness to his voice, like he’d smoked sixty a day for the last sixty years. The sound barely carried and his abused throat silently screamed at him to shut the fuck up. His eyes leaked hot tears and a sob escaped from his throat as he clawed at Papa’s sleeve, warring with himself. Did he want comfort from him or did he want him to hurt?

Seren stroked his face and put her fingers over his parched lips to quiet him. He bared his fangs in a snarl; he didn't know how to act or what to do and he was almost delirious with his sorrow.

“I know, Omega! I know this now! It has been tearing me up these last few days! But he had completely gone, there was nothing left, and I saw what he had done to you and I made the decision. It was heading that way anyway, but this was the final straw. We very nearly lost you, Omega. The witches threw everything they had at you, and you’ve still been completely out for four days. It was only this morning that we knew you were going to make it. You were losing the battle right up until then. And then, after it was done, Seren told us what had happened and about her suspicions. It was already too late by then. I had already performed the ritual."

Omega was shaking with impotent rage at the unfairness of it.

“When?” he gritted out.

Terzo was openly crying now and he wiped his sleeve across his eyes to dry the tears.

“The night you almost died,” he whispered.

“What happened? He was fine. He was back,” Omega sobbed. “He hadn’t been that calm for months, and then he suddenly tries to kill me? Something doesn’t add up.”

“Omega, your voice. You need to rest it. You could cause permanent damage," Seren told him softly.

“I. Don’t. Fucking. Care,” he growled. “I need to know what happened.”

His throat was burning, and he could hear a rattle in his chest with every breath. He coughed and noticed blood on the sheet next to his face.

“That’s enough. You either calm down and shut up or I’ll get the Sister to put you out,” Seren said sternly. She had moved to stand behind Terzo, who sat next to his bed. He glared at her, but he did as she told him and he stopped talking. “That’s better.” 

He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. All he could see was the image of Alpha from before they went to sleep, curled around him and smiling contentedly. If that was the Alpha that Papa had sent to the Pit, then right about now, he was being eaten alive. The mindless ghouls who had lost their sanity were the only beings who enjoyed life in the pit. The others were completely at theirs and the demons who oversaw its mercy with no hope of escaping.

Omega wasn’t even sure if anyone was speaking to him by that point, so lost was he to his misery. He retched as his stomach threatened to expel the little that must have been in there. Every sob that escaped his throat made it feel like it was being ripped open all over again. It felt like hours had passed before he finally lost consciousness again and the peace it brought was welcome.

The next time he woke, he smiled. He was so cosy, so warm. His fellow ghouls were curled around him and each other on the bed. It took him a few moments to realise where he was and why he was there and the raw pain, he felt at the loss of his friend and bandmate, of his brother, dug its claws into his heart once again. A hand stroked his face and he leaned into the touch. Mist was stroking his hair and she kissed the top of his head. His head rested on her stomach as she sat with her back to the headboard. Omega looked up and met her sad green eyes and he joined his family in mourning their lost brother.

They lay quietly for what seemed like hours before Special spoke.

“Papa summoned the new fire ghoul. I can feel him. He’s hurting,” he said as he rubbed his chest. “I want to welcome him in, but I don’t know if I can.”

“Get him," Omega whispered. “He needs us. This isn’t his fault.”

Special nodded and extracted himself from the others to get their new member. Before too long, he returned, and Omega looked over to the door. He nervously entered the room, looking at them each in turn. His bright blue eyes darted from one ghoul to the next.

He was small and muscular, and he was strikingly beautiful. Omega could feel his sadness and his pain at being summoned to Earth under these circumstances and then left to his own devices because his new pack could not accept him straight away. His eyes met Omega’s and he sent him a little touch of his mojo. It was all that he could manage in his weakened state, but the fire ghoul gave him a small smile and walked towards him.

“This is Ifrit, our new fire ghoul. Ifrit, this is Omega,” Special said as he introduced them.

Omega held out his hand to him, and he took it. He pulled him towards him and whispered in his ear.

“Welcome, brother.”

He felt the new ghoul sigh and watched as his soul quieted and he took his place with the others around Omega’s bedside.