Blackened Feathers

Hello Stranger

Omega left Seren sleeping in her room. Helena and Secondo had come back to give him the protection tattoo. He left the door to her bedroom open so that if she woke up and needed him, he would hear her. Helena was setting out her equipment on the kitchen table and Secondo came over and gave him a brief hug, patting him on the back.

“How is she doing?” he asked.

“Okay, I think. She's been so strong throughout all of this, I don't know how she does it. Please tell me you know of a way to kill an angel, Secondo.”

The retired Papa smirked and shook his head.

“I am working on it. There will be a way, and I’m sure that somewhere in my library there will be instructions on how to do it. I’ve got people on it as we speak.”

Helena had Omega sit down and take his shirt off and she free-handed the design onto the skin over his heart. Before too long, she was inking it into him permanently. Ghouls healed quickly and normal ink wouldn't last long on them, but there was an enchanted ink that worked for them, which is what Helena was using now.

“Will you apologise to Quinn for me, Secondo? He caught me at a bad moment earlier. I didn’t mean to lash out at him.”

Secondo sighed.

“I will, but he would appreciate you speaking to him yourself, I think. He is having a hard time at the moment as well. He keeps it to himself, but I pick up on stray thoughts here and there. Just cut him some slack, si?”

Omega nodded. He knew Quinn complex, and that he held a lot back from the others. Omega was so lost in his own misery that he hadn't noticed that Quinn felt off. He realised it now though and he felt bad that he seemed to have upset him so much earlier. He would find him when Seren was feeling better and apologise in person.

When Helena had finished the tattoo, she handed him a mirror so that he could look at it. It hadn’t hurt as badly as he was expecting. He’d never had one before and he liked it. He could feel the slight surge of magic as it settled into his skin. Secondo nodded, looking satisfied as the magic got to work.

“We amended the original design slightly to include the angels. Previously, it only offered protection from demon possession. My ghouls will get theirs updated as well. I will speak to Terzo about having all the ghouls at the Abbey done.”

“Thank you. Hopefully, it will be enough to stop him from doing something like this again.”

Secondo and Helena packed up and left, and Omega went to check on Seren. It was late now and he left her to sleep some more. He could still smell blood, but it wasn’t as much as when he had first arrived after she called him.

The tone of her voice had scared the crap out of him when he'd answered her call. When he got there and saw the trail of blood drops that led from the bed to the bathroom, he’d panicked. It looked like she would be fine after some rest, thankfully, because the thought of losing her... well, he didn't even want to think about it.

Omega sat down to watch TV in her living room. Hopefully, he could find something to watch that would make his brain switch off for a while. He texted Alpha to see what he was up to. It would be nice to just have his friend there doing nothing with him. They hadn’t seen each other properly for a few days now, which was unusual. 

The reply was instant. He was trying to practice his guitar, but it wasn’t going well. Omega invited him over and after a delay of a few minutes, he replied, saying that he'd head over and bring some beers.

The fire ghoul came bearing snacks. He plonked them onto the table and flopped down onto the sofa beside Omega.

“Hello, stranger,” Omega said dryly and Alpha gave him the side eye.

There was a ripple of something in his emotions, but Omega couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. Guilt maybe?

“Sorry Meg, I’ve been a bit meh the last few days. I took a leaf out of Ifrit’s book and tried to distract myself.”

Omega laughed and tapped his nose.

“Smells like it worked.”

He could smell Ifrit and one of the Sisters who worked in the library on him. Alpha laughed and looked sheepish.

“Yeah, it works for a while. Then I tried the guitar, but I just end up getting frustrated these days and fucking it up.”

Omega glanced at his hand. The scar was almost gone now. He put his arm around Alpha’s shoulders.

“I’m always here for you, Alpha, you know that.”

Alpha passed him a beer and then leaned into him and sighed.

“I know that. I’ve just been in my own fucking head a bit. How is Seren anyway? Papa told us what happened. He called a meeting earlier and said he'd catch up with you tomorrow.”

“She’ll be okay, I think, but I’ve never wanted to kill someone so much in all my life as I have that fucking angel who calls himself her father.”

Alpha’s eyes flashed with orange fire, and he grinned.

“I’m totally on board for that little party.”

They watched a movie but fell asleep before it was over. The next thing Omega knew, he woke up snuggled into Alpha’s side. The big ghoul was sleeping soundly and he looked up to see Seren watching them with a small smile. He sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Are you okay? Do you need something?” he said, extracting himself from Alpha and standing up.

“I just wanted to see where you were. You two are just too cute when you fall asleep like that," she said, and Omega barked out a laugh. "I’m good though.”

Alpha groaned and stretched out his long arms and legs.

“Hey, Seren," he said with a grin.

She looked at him and scowled, walking over to him.

“What’s wrong, Alpha?”

He looked confused.

“What do you mean?” he said, and Omega thought he detected a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

“Is your pendant working okay?”

Alpha grabbed it and stroked it.

“I think so? Why do you ask?”

“It just seems to be a bit... different? Can I have a look?”

Alpha slid his eyes to Omega and then back to Seren.

“I guess.”

He moved his hand away and she bent over to get a closer look. Why did he seem nervous?

Seren stood back and put her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face.

“Alpha, are you going to tell me what happened and why there is a deliberate scorch mark on the pendant? It’s disrupted the magic somehow.”

Omega cursed and stepped between Alpha and Seren. He could feel his eyes glowing with blue fire from the anger he felt as he suddenly knew for certain that Alpha had been avoiding him these last few days. He was definitely feeling guilty about something, something to do with this. Alpha huffed out a breath and ran his good hand down his face, meeting his eyes.

“Fucking hell, Omega, calm down. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know if I should tell you about it or not. I’ve been agonising the last few days, and I thought I could sort it out myself. But I don’t think I can,” he said, clearly pained over whatever this was.

“I swear to Satan, Alpha, you’d better tell us what the hell you’ve done this time.”

The fire ghoul looked up at them both and sighed a resigned sigh.

“Inigo came to see me. He wants to do a deal with me..." His gaze went from Omega to Seren, and then back again. "He said he wants Seren.”