Blackened Feathers

The Lake

Seren tried not to panic as Alpha grabbed her, but it was no use. She could tell he was being gentle so as not to hurt her, but she knew that if she tried to escape his hold that it wouldn’t go well for her. It took all of her composure not to try fighting him off. He was lost to Inigo. Seren sensed that the usual fire ghoul magic he possessed had changed. There was no way he could have gone against the power and the influence that she was feeling from the Elemental demon.

She took a deep breath and overrode the panic, calming her mind as she stroked Alpha’s arm soothingly. She tried to cast a spell to see if she could do something that would break his concentration, but it was no use. 

A movement up ahead drew her eye and she met Omega’s stare. In that moment, she felt the bond that he had been so excited about. It was like a string connecting their souls and she could feel an echo of her own fear, but it tasted like Omega.

His eyes glowed with their icy blue fire and Seren shook her head ever so slightly to tell him to keep still. She didn't want him to draw attention to himself and end up getting hurt. She kept her eyes on him and offered him a subtle smile, letting him know she was fine for now; on the surface, at least.

Fire and Ifrit were under the same thrall as Alpha. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Primo’s Vukan slip in through the open door of the chapel, his eyes glowing with his fire the same as the others.

Raziel and Inigo were speaking, and Terzo chipped in, trying to persuade them to let her go. She admired his bravery, but there was no way anyone would listen to him. It was reckless to even try. That was the moment that things really went downhill.

With a flick of his wrist and a bored look on his face, Raziel took out three of Terzo’s ghouls.

Seren kept her gaze locked on Omega and saw his eyes widen. She felt an echo of the stab of pain he felt as the bonds with his pack mates severed. Omega staggered forwards and cried out, clutching his chest.

She knew she needed to do something, and quickly.

"This does not concern you, Emeritus, and the next time you try to interfere, your favourite will die. I did enjoy our little adventure Omega. You were a very entertaining host," the angel said.

Omega growled back at him.

Raziel reached out to Seren then and spoke the words that she had been dreading hearing ever since the dream where her mother spoke to her.

"Let me in, daughter. Let me in and we can finish this."

Seren closed her eyes, ignoring him, and took another deep breath. She searched for the well of calm deep within her soul.

Quinn's warning rang in her ears as she recalled what the ghoul had said to her; she shouldn't trust the dream. She realised now, those were not her mother's words. Raziel had been trying to manipulate her again.

The world slowed and when she opened her eyes; she watched the scene as if it were in slow motion. Ifrit was rubbing his hand through the blood of the summoning circle and breaking the protection that contained Inigo. Panic threatened to break through the peace that she had found at that, but she forced it back.

A flash of fiery light and a cacophony of noise erupted from the circle as Inigo broke free and flew at Raziel.

Omega dove for Seren, and she leaned forward with all of her strength, reaching out towards him. She gained a tiny amount of ground against Alpha’s near immoveable hold. Her mind was hyper-focused now, and as Omega grabbed onto her, she called upon her power. 

It happened the same way it had when she'd burnt herself out, helping to bring Primo and Secondo back. There was a massive surge of magic and everything went silent.

The shock of the cold water had her gasping for breath. Alpha was coughing as he surfaced from the depths of the lake.

They were in the tranquil place that she and Omega shared.

“Fucking hell! What the fuck? Where the fucking hell are we?? Fuck!!” he yelped as he flailed and splashed around.

Omega came running through the water towards them, and she threw her arms around him.

“You’re okay!” she whimpered into his chest. “Are you okay?”

He hugged her to him.

“Hello? Seriously? What the fuck guys!!” They both turned to Alpha, who had his feet on the ground now, and was glaring at them. Fire ghouls did not like cold water. At all. “Can someone explain to me what in the fuck just happened?!”

She took a steadying breath.

“I dragged you both here. I think. I didn’t think it was possible to bring our physical bodies here, but apparently it is,” she shrugged.

“Are you back with us, Alpha?” Omega asked him warily, but Seren could see that Inigo’s hold had completely gone.

She reached out and grabbed the pendant around Alpha's neck and pulled it off over his head. She felt the magic from it tingling in her fingers and focused on him. There was no trace of Inigo’s magic left on him whatsoever. Since the first time she'd met him when he was in the basement cells, he had always had some whiff of Inigo, even though she didn’t realise it was his influence initially. But now, his eyes were back to their tranquil blue, and she couldn’t feel the Elemental magic at all.

“Well, yeah, I guess so. Fuck.” He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where they were before looking back at Seren. “I’m so sorry, Seren! He had control of us. I couldn’t even try to fight him off. He called us to him and we couldn’t refuse. I just wanted to please him. Nothing else mattered.”

He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.

That was concerning. Seren knew Inigo was powerful, but as far as they had all known, he shouldn’t be able to influence anything outside of the chapel wards. It looked as though any fire ghoul within a mile radius - or who knows how far - would be his to command, whether he was trapped in the circle inside the warded chapel or not.

When Seren glanced back at Alpha, she was sure she saw tears in his eyes, but she couldn’t be sure. Droplets of water ran down his face from being submerged in the lake, so it could have been that. 

Omega waded over and put his arms around him. Tears it was then.

“It hurts so much! Fucking Raziel! How could he be so fucking cold? Rho, Zeta and Special; just gone.”

He buried his face in Omega’s neck and hugged him tighter.

“I know, Alpha, I know,” Omega soothed. Seren could see his quintessence surrounding Alpha like a warm blanket. This place seemed to make magic tangible and she saw it as soft, purple sparks enveloping him. He sighed and seemed to relax slightly. Omega looked over at her. “So we are here in physical form. Wow," he said as he shook his head. “That’s all well and good but, how do we get back? We need to help them. Terzo has been left with only Mist and Ifrit for protection. The other ghouls will protect Secondo and Primo. Terzo isn't their priority.”

Alpha cursed again.

“What kind of protection would any of them be against Raziel or Inigo? It might already be too late for them all.”

“I don’t think so. Inigo went for Raziel. This is between the two of them. If the others leave the chapel, they will be safe enough for now. In theory. I hope," Seren said.

She took Omega’s hand and they walked towards the edge of the lake. She was pretty sure that she could take them back the same way she got them here. Alpha followed them and they flopped down onto the pebbled shore.

The night was a clear one and the air was thankfully warm because they were all drenched to the skin.

Seren prayed with everything she had that she was right in her assumption. She prayed the others would get out of the chapel, because if she was wrong, and Alpha was right, the Clergy as they knew it could cease to exist tonight.