The Free Fall

Scarlett

We paused, staring at the house. I listened deep into the house and heard nothing moving. The AC rumbled in the window and the curtains sashayed, but not a living soul stirred.

"We're good. Let's just get this done quick." I muttered and began to move toward the open screen door. Orion followed behind me as quiet as I was.

The screen door opened silently, which I was thankful for. I held the door open for Orion and used my elven eyes to see the dark room in prefect lighting. I scanned the living room and and continued down the hall to where the man was sleeping.

Orion branched off in search of his office, where he might be keeping his work on discovering our kind. I crept into the bedroom silently. I saw his outline in the sheets, with his back to me. The sheets were pulled up passed his chin, which was weird, because it was at least eighty three degrees in the house.

Something twisted in my stomach. I listened, but didn't hear breathing. Something wasn't right. I reached out in the bond with Orion to warn him, but then a hissing sound came from behind me. I quickly jumped, turning toward the threat and was blinded by a sticky, wet coat across my eyes. I gasped, disoriented and was pushed by my shoulders backward, where something tripped me by my heels.

I heard a triumphant gasp, then heavy footfalls run out the way I came. Blinding pain radiated in my eye sockets and blood pounded in my ears. He knew we were coming. He was prepared.

"Orien!" I yelled, trying to warn him. I rubbed at my eyes with the sleeves of my catsuit, trying to rid the substance from my eyes. The strong chemical smell told me it was spray paint. He had spray painted my eyes closed. I got up on my hands and knees, then staggered to a stand.

My arms flailed in front of me as I tried to feel for the doorway. I rounded the corner and paused, listening. I heard struggling from a distance away and began slowly feeling my way to the commotion. I continued scraping at my eyes, trying to get my sight back.

I approached the noises and heard a groan, then blinding pain in my back. I gasped, then rapidly clawed at my eyes. The paint thinned enough and I snapped my eyes open to see Orion on his knees, one wing stripped from him. I screamed, drawing my dagger and charged for the man.

I sliced the arm that he put up to defend himself, then sliced his throat with an upward motion. The man fell, gripping his throat and gargling. I rushed to Orion who was bleeding out of his stomach and back badly.

"Scarlett, it was trapped. There was a trip wire." He gasped. I knelt in front of him, pressing my hands to his stomach.

"It's okay, we're gonna be okay." I felt like I was about to cry.

Orion pinched his eyebrows and raised his hand up to the side of my face. He rubbed my temple where the paint remained. "I like the new look."

I laughed, my throat closing in. "Whatever, asshole." I looked down at my hands where blood was seeping out at an unhealthy rate.

"Hey," Orion murmured lifting my chin, "Don't look."

"I'm gotta call for help." I stumbled with the com in one of my thigh pockets.

Orion smiled sadly, moving a strand of my hair from my face as I fumbled with the device. Everything blurred together from there. I remember somehow getting words out to call for help and it felt like I sat with Orion for hours. Orion leaned against the desk and drifted every second that passed. Our bond grew weak with the life leaving his eyes.

Help arrived as he was slipping away. They quickly brought him into the air and I was taken roughly by the arm by an authority figure. I knew they were angry with having to cover up a mistake. These things were hard to clean up, especially when there was a wing sitting detached on the bloodied ground of the cabin. Us inhuman beings did not bleed red, but blue. Oxygen did not have an effect on our blood and therefore did not change as humans' did when it came into contact with oxygen.

Blue blood would definitely raise flags.

I let the gruff man drag me and push me into a separate aircraft. I hated them before, and this experience was certainly not going to help. On either side of the hard bench sat two men in purple uniforms. They sat rigid with their shoulders squared. It only made my unease worse. Every moment I could feel the bond I shared with Orion weakening, fading. It had become a dull ache in my chest and I wondered if it was because I had his dying blood in my system.

I couldn't help but feel responsible. I was in charge of the mission, and instead of following protocol, I treated it as if it would be easy. Protocol says we are never to stray from one another. We move together swiftly and evaluate before execution. They only send me when someone is beyond mild suspicion, when they cross into the realm of obsession which can only end in execution.

We got back at sunrise.

Everything was quiet as the uniformed men escorted me to the castle. I briefly wondered why we were not going to the compound, where they would most likely be taking Orion. But I couldn't focus on anything other than the fuzzy connection.

We walked in silence through the marble foyer and into her study. Queen Freya certainly held the standards for a queen's beauty. Her skin was porcelain white that matched her stark white hair. She always had a crown of gold intertwined with earth stones and vined twigs. Her elven ears held her long hair away from her face. She was in her mid thirties, yet she seemed a decade younger. Her blue eyes were framed by dark eyelashes which made her gaze piercing.

She stood from behind her desk. "Leave us." Oh, Christ. This can't be good.

I stood between two plush, white chairs. I feared that if I sat down I would leave blue and crimson stains behind me.

She stared at me, from my disheveled hair to the stripe painted across my face. I stared back at her with a strength I didn't know I possessed, refusing to give her anything.

"Scarlett." She sighed, breaking her Queen facade. Wrinkles appeared between her bows as she pinched her nose. "What have you done now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped back, crossing my arms across my chest. 

She released the bridge of her nose and sat down behind her glass desk. "I'm told your wingman is on the brink of death."

Hearing it out loud made me flinch. "The target was much more prepared than we-"

"I don't want to hear it. You're telling me a flimsy human was able to, singlehandedly, take you both down?"

"If we were taken down," I drawled, narrowing my gaze, "I would not be standing here."

"Orion will never fly again." She told me, devoid of emotion. "If he ever wakes up." It was like a hard punch to the gut. It's true, his wing was severed and there was no way to recover it. We could never reconnect the nerve endings to give him control of his lost wing again.

I broke composure and looked at pristine, marble floor.

"While I see this was not at your direct hand, this is still a monumental failure." She steepled her fingertips on her desk. "We are now short our best wingman, and our best jumper is now without a wingman. While the latter is amended more quickly-,"

"What?" I snapped my head up. "You plan to bond me to someone else?"

She seemed surprised, like she hadn't expected me to care for my Wingman of 7 years.

"Well, yes."

"No!" I shouted, "Orion and I are the best match for each other. He will heal and we can find a way-"

"No." Her Queen voice stopped me in my tracks. "You will be reassigned shortly."

"But-"

"But, nothing." She snapped her icy gaze to mine. "It is six thirty in the morning, Scarlett. You will be reassigned and back jumping as soon as possible. End of discussion."

I ticked my jaw. I knew better than to fight with her after she put in the final word. "Fine." I snapped, turning on my heel to go scrub the basted paint off my face.

"I love you." She called after me.

I paused with my hand on the handle, compassion ebbing at my anger. "Love you too, mom." I muttered before ripping the door open and exiting.