Blackened Feathers

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief when Raziel turned his attention, and his flaming sword, away from him. The fire ghouls had burst into the chapel, and Alpha had grabbed Seren. Quinn could see the tendrils of the demon’s magic wrapped around them all like vines. Even though the summoning circle contained him, Inigo’s powers were seemingly infinite.

He steeled himself against the emotions of the room. There was mostly fear and some shock at the appearance of the angel. His quintessential self automatically tried to balance them out, which was a distraction that he really didn’t need right now. 

This was yet another occasion where Quinn resented his true nature. He had learned long ago how to block emotions when he had to. His energies would be much better spent elsewhere, so he threw up the shields that he had so painstakingly built and shut his quintessence self down.

A couple of moments later, that decision proved to be invaluable when Raziel viciously eliminated Zeta, Rho, and Special. The shockwave of everyone’s grief that followed bounced right off him.

Anger burned in his chest like a hot knife, and he used it to focus his thoughts.

Raziel had put down his sword as Inigo taunted him. Quinn stood back and watched as the events unfolded, just as they had in the vision that he’d had mere hours ago. This was always the worst part; living through what he had seen already, being the unwilling bystander and witnessing as the train wreck happened. He just hoped that Seren would make the right choice.

It happened exactly as he’d seen. Raziel spoke to her in a calm voice, the voice one would use so as not to spook a frightened animal. He asked Seren to let him in, and Quinn closed his eyes and held his breath.

The sound of the protection circle breaking and Inigo being set loose reached his ears and he opened them again. Quinn smiled as he watched Omega launch himself towards Seren. She grabbed his hand and in a shower of sparks, he, Seren and Alpha disappeared into thin air.

She heeded the warning he gave her, despite Omega’s anger at him for being so vague.

Quinn allowed himself a split second of elation as the path that he’d seen in the vision veered off course. He sighed and focused his attentions back to the chaos unfolding around him.

Raziel, moving faster than the eye could track, had regained his sword and was fighting off Inigo’s attacks. The flaming blade flashed around him as they fought. Inigo’s own hell-fired blade sparked and sizzled with red flames every time they clashed.

Earth and Air were ushering the Papas, Helena and the other ghouls out of the chapel, leaving the two warring beings, Quinn, and the fire ghouls behind. Earth shouted for him to follow them, but he shook his head. He already knew that he needed to stay, so stay he did. 

The familiar battle calm that he’d experienced countless times before over the centuries descended upon him, and Quinn focused.

The fire ghouls, who were still under the influence of Inigo, grabbed the jars of ghoul blood left over from the ritual. They frantically changed the symbols on the summoning circle, using their fingers to draw ancient runes on the stones of the floor.

A clatter of metal and a frustrated roar brought Quinn's attention back to the fight. Inigo had lost his sword, and Raziel advanced on him with a gleeful grin.

“I’ve never taken out an Elemental before. That’s usually Michael’s domain,” Raziel said, and Quinn could hear the smug satisfaction in his voice. "I'm going to enjoy this. A lot."

Inigo was on his knees before Raziel. The stones beneath his skin scorched from the heat he gave off. He snarled and bared his teeth at the angel, who stood with his back to Quinn.

Quinn silently bent down to retrieve the red hot, fallen demon blade from the ground. He mumbled an Infernal spell to cool down the hilt some, but even though it worked, the skin of his palms sizzled as he picked it up. He gritted his teeth against the pain as he swiftly moved into position behind the angel.

Quinn knew their blind spots as he had fought against plenty of fallen angels in the pits of Hell, but the sound of the sword scorching his skin or the smell of burning ghoul flesh must have alerted the angel to his presence. Just as Quinn moved to make a crippling blow between his shoulder blades, Raziel whipped around to face him.

He had to correct himself mid swing. His chance at disabling the angel had gone, so he aimed for maiming instead.

The dark metal blade sliced through skin and bone. The intense heat it gave off scorched the flesh as it rendered it apart. An unearthly screech filled the chapel as the blade sheared through the base of the angel’s wing, almost completely severing it.

Raziel’s own sword had been aiming for the kill also, but the impact of Quinn’s strike had knocked it off course. It sliced him across the chest. 

Quinn roared in agony and dropped the demon's blade. The pain was so intense that he blacked out for a heartbeat. Angel blades were made for killing demons. Any hell-born creature who received even a minor cut from one would suffer in agony as the poison from it worked its way through their system.

He fell to his knees as the fiery blade cut deep enough to scrape across his collarbone and his sternum before it, too, dropped to the ground. Quinn put a hand out to steady himself and to stop him from falling forwards and landing on his face. He panted in quick breaths through the searing pain from the wound.

Inigo had taken full advantage of the maimed angel and had tackled him to the ground. Raziel shrieked and flailed around, trying to escape his hold. The smell of burning flesh and feathers filled Quinn’s nostrils as Inigo wrestled him towards the summoning circle. When he was a few feet away, he threw Raziel with such force that the ancient stones of the chapel floor cracked with the impact. His aim was true though, and the angel landed dead centre inside the circle.

Inigo touched a finger to the line of blood and the symbols burned orange like streams of lava. Acrid smoke rose from them, leaving the stench of sulphur floating in the atmosphere.

Raziel stood and his eyes burned brighter, glowing white hot with his rage. His broken wing hung at an obscure angle from his back as it dragged along the ground. The feathers that touched the edge of the circle singed and sparked, and his other wing fluttered uselessly behind him.

Inigo prowled around him. He had picked up his fallen blade from the ground and grinned over at Quinn.

“Oh, that was a nice touch ghoul! You should have been a fire ghoul! I owe you my thanks, it seems,” he laughed. Raziel gave Quinn a death stare. Inigo noticed. “You’d better hope he doesn’t get free, quintessence. I think he’s a little angry with you.” He looked at Ifrit. “Get me an Emeritus, little Spark. In fact, bring me them all. And the witch. Bring her to me as well.”

Ifrit raced off to find them. The remaining two fire ghouls stood on either side behind Inigo, watching his back.

Quinn could feel the poison from the fire on the angel blade burning outwards from the cut across his chest. It wasn’t bleeding too badly, but it hurt like fuck. Before too long, the arm that was holding him up gave out. He flopped onto his side and groaned as he hit the hard stone floor. He was shivering and his ears were ringing. All he wanted to do was to go to sleep, but he knew he had to stay awake, so he fought it.

Terzo, Secondo and Helena ran back into the chapel, followed by Earth and Air who came to him. Earth knelt beside him and touched a hand to his face.

“He’s freezing, we need to get him out of here,” he whispered to Air.

Quinn looked over to the summoning circle and Inigo spoke.

“Where is the half breed witch? I want her to see him like this. Caged and broken like a fucking canary," he laughed.

There was a surge of magic and Seren, Alpha and Omega appeared back in the chapel in a tangled heap on the floor. Quinn knew they were okay because Alpha started cursing almost immediately. He thought he was smiling, but he couldn’t be sure because his face had gone numb.

“Ah, there she is! Impeccable timing,” Inigo said, pleased with Seren's return.

That was the last thing Quinn heard before everything faded to black.