A tale of Frost and Storm (male/male)

Chapter 10

The creature staggered towards Sía, just as if it had not yet learned how to walk properly. Soon however, its steps grew steady and it eyed the girl with a hungry gleam. With a disgusting, smacking sound, a pair of bone wings broke free from its back, smearing blood all over the floor behind in the process. A nasty smell filled the air, reminding one of death and rotten flesh.

"Urgh..." Jace covered his nose with one hand for a moment. His bloody fingers left a golden smear on his face and where Ashen's blood touched his skin, it tingled faintly. The ravenhaired man was too busy to notice it though. By now, he had gotten rid of almost all the glass shards and Ashen's back was bleeding heavily. Jace pulled off his own shirt and pressed it against the injured skin to lessen the blood flow. At that point, he didn't even care that the scar on his chest was clearly visible now. "Don't go leaving me here..." he told the angel seriously. "You've still got to repay me for messing with my mind like that."

It was actually supposed to be a joke, but Ashen's eyes slowly opened and he turned his head, looking at Jace with a grimace. "I won't die from something... simple... like that." he managed to squeeze out. His fingers folund Jace's and he gave them a soft squeeze. But as his eyes came to halt on the black scar, his eyes darkened a little bit. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and touched the scarred flesh with his finger tips. "They dared to go this far..." he murmured sadly.

Jace froze, but remained in place. Eventually, the angel would have found out anyway, right? He sighed and took Ashen's hand in his own. "Don't..." he told him softly. "That's something I have to deal with."

But suddenly, a huge explosion interrupted them and Sía slammed into the wall next to them. "Sh*t!" Jace cursed and jumped on his feet. How could he have forgotten? "Ashen, can you look after Sía?" he called out and unsheathed his daggers.

"Be careful!" the angel told him in return, before he painfully made his way to the collapsed girl. One of her wings was obviously broken, since it hung down in a strange angle. Also, her body was covered in various cuts and she was breathing heavily.

"Jace..." she gasped. "You can't handle him...!"

The ravenhaired turned around and looked at her with an encouraging smile. "I know." he told her gently. "But I can keep him busy for a while... Figure something out to get rid of him." And then, he charged at the creature and pushed it back with a series of attacks. His daggers were merely a blur in human's eyes and they slashed through the creature's flesh, leaving deep wounds. However, as soon as he inflicted them, the cuts closed up again.

"He's not immortal..." Sía panted and pushed herself into a sitting position. "It's just his regeneration speed is so freaking fast. We can't inflict enough damage to take him out."

"We will need to finish him off in one blow then." Ashen replied and steadied her with one hand at her back. "But we do not have enough power to do so... you are injured, I have lost most of my powers and Jace alone is not enough."

Sía watched him deep in thought, then suddenly her expression lit up. "Alright, let's do this: Jace distracts him, while you and me get to the remains of the tank. If it's anything like the usual research equipment, there should be an emergency destruction device on it. You will get it to work and I will open a hellgate. Once we activate it, we will jump in and let the device blow up the whole catacombs."

"Sía... this might crush the whole building, do you know that?" Ashen asked with one raised eyebrow.

"Isn't that great!" she beamed. "It will go *kaboom* and everything will be gone. This place doesn't deserve anything better anyway..."

"It might cover up things for humanity..." the angel mused, being more down-to-earth than Sía. "We can't have them find out about demons just yet. Alright, we will do this."

"Jace!" Sía called out and got up. "Keep him busy for a few more minutes, can you? And if I tell you to run, you RUN towards us, got it?"

"Got it!" Jace panted heavily. He was already bleeding from various wounds, but managed to stand up to the creature for now. His daggered were glistening in the dark from the disgusting smelling blood and his whole clothes were soaked in it. While Sía and Ashen made their way past him, he charged at the creature again, pressuring him with countless dagger slashes. He would... no HAD TO buy them enough time to do whatever they had planned.

But suddenly, he felt a piercing pain in his chest and as he looked down he realized that one of the creature's claws had pierced right through him. Black blood was seeping out from the scar, where it had gotten him. How ironic... that it had been able to get his least human part. Was this how he was going to die?

"No!" Sía yelled. Her face was illuminated by the red light, that emerged from the hellgate below her hands and showed incredible panic. Ashen beside her seemed just as shocked as her, frozen in his movements.

If Jace's heart still had been human, he inevitably would have died here. But suddenly, a tentacles made of sheer darkness broke free from his chest and slammed the creature away from him. Jace staggered, trying to stay on his feet, but eventually collapsed on his knees.

"10 seconds until self-destruction mode." a mechanic voice announced into the sudden silence.

"Jace, run!" Sía shrieked. "You have to RUN!"

The ravenhaired watched her in wonder, his whole mind was feeling kinda clouded right now. It was as if he was drowning in an ocean of darkness.

"Jace!" Sía yelled once again.

"5 seconds until self-destruction mode."

The girl jumped on her feet, dashing towards Jace and trying to pull him towards the hellgate. "Ashen, catch him!" she yelled and pushed the staggering man towards the angel. Ashen's arms immediately wrapped around Jace and he pulled him into the hellgate.

"Sía, hurry!" the blonde called out, as the hellgate already started to swallow him.

Slowly emerging from his clouded mind, Jace blinked and opened his eyes. His gaze fell on Sía, who gave him a sweet, loving smile.

"Self-destruction mode set."

And then the hellgate closed. As they fell through the darkness, Jace struggled in Ashen's arms, trying to get back to the surface. "Let me GO!" he yelled. But the angel only kept him pressed to his chest firmly, until they finally reached solid ground. "You assh*le!" he immediately yelled at the blonde, angry tears sparkling in his eyes. "We could have saved her! We need to get back! She might have made it!" But even so, he knew that was just wishful thinking.

"It was her wish to save you." Ashen softly told him, as Jace broke down on his knees. "She wanted you to live more than anything..."

Suddenly, a rumbling sound echoed through hell's plains and a second gate opened up in front of them. This one however seemed to be shimmering in a soft golden color. Ashen's eyes went wide and he stared into the incredible brightness in disbelief. "My Lord father..." he whispered. Then, he looked at Jace again. "I will bring him with me." he said firmly. Listening to an answer, only he could hear, the angel nodded.

He gently picked Jace, who wasn't able to stay on his feet anymore, up and carried him towards the gate. And then, they went through...