Fragile Fury - (Glass Angels book one)

Fragile Fury - Chapter Twenty-Two

I know this isn't much but I've had things going on, and haven't been writting =( I hope you like this though, there are new...softer sides to some of the harsher characters coming through now.

And the song - erm, I was watching Supernatural when I wrote this (Dean <3 *drool*) and I like this song...

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Fragile Fury - chapter twenty two

Anna kicked and screamed before eventually falling limp with a sigh. There was just no way Damon was going to let her go. She could have easily said - if asked - that she was no less than utterly stunned that when Damon jumped into the air with her, that they were not the only ones to fly.

     Jess delicately jumped up after them, gently thrusting blue feathered wings. That wasn't so surprising; after all, Anna had heard whispers about her. The Winter Fearie princess, so flying - Anna supposed - was a natural thing for a Fearie. But Vaughn, the golden eyed guy she thought of as no more than a simple Shade, had jumped up right beside Jess, a gleaming sliver sword drawn. As if he was her protector. He could fly - was flying - but Anna could see no wings. It was a glamour she presumed.

     Damon relaxed his hold on her, seemingly convinced that she was through with attempting to escape. His chest pressed out against her back before his hot breath blew across her shoulder as he sighed. She turned her body as much as she could. She caught a glimpse of his downturned eyes, before he looked away.

     "What's wrong?" she asked, letting her rest on his tense forearm. He shook his head, a fake smile caught on his lips.

     "What's right?" He muttered, "You've not known about us for very long - Fallen angels, faeries, vampires - not any of it. We were all just stories to you, myths and fantasies dreamt up by mortals with over active imaginations. But you, you knew we weren't stories, you just didn't know." Anna frowned, but he didn't stop, "we needed you, you're all of it. The girl who-"

     "Damon, don't," Jess flew closer, taking Anna's eyes away from Damon. "Not now."

     Anna expected him to snap, maybe to tell the faerie to shut up. But he didn't. Surprisingly his eyes fell like a scolded child, his dark eyelashes casting long shadows across his cheeks. He said nothing for minutes, while Anna looked between Jess and Damon waiting for something - anything - to explain.

     "If I let you go, will you fly on your own," he said after a while, "Without going back there?" There was a look in Damon's eyes then that Anna didn't like. He looked lost almost, alone and...She let go of him quickly where she held his arm.

    "I won't go back" she said. "I won't," he nodded once and let her go. She would look at him, every now and again as they flew back to the cave. A second of seeing difference in his eyes had changed him completely to her. He would never be the same obnoxious fallen angel he was before.

     Vaughn raised his sword and began to slow, "we're there," he said looking down. "We are above the cave,"

    "Then let's go," he grabbed Jess' wrist before she had could go anywhere. She didn't protest.

     Together, the four of them flew to the tress, perching on branches as they listen to the crashing of bodies on the ground. "Bloody wolves," was all that was said on the matter. Until a dark figured passed beneath the tree Anna sat in. He looked up at her from the forest floor, his eyes three shades darker than she remembered, almost as dark as sapphires. He shook his head sharply. Asher glanced away as if never seeing her. She tried to stay quiet as he stood beneath them, looking into the forest. He was not alone.

     Besides him stood Luc, no weapons in hand, he was just standing there. His eyes never meeting Asher's, they never drew up from the floor in fact. Then, beside Luc stood a small man with hunched shoulders and skin that looked almost grey to Anna. As he moved, she thought his body looked disconnected, like his bones were working on puppet strings, while his muscles weren't.

     "He's starting already," Vaughn whispered, "how did he know?" Anna watched - confused yet transfixed - as the small man pulled a knife from the inside of his coat. Asher turned his head slightly and looked up at them.

     "I presume there is a reason for you becoming monkeys?" he said, "or would it be birds? You all have wings," There was a shuffling in the tree before Vaughn and Damon jumped down. Jess looked warily down at Vaughn when he held his hand out for her, she glanced at Anna.

     "Do you," her voice dropped to barely a whisper, "do you trust him? The Vampire?"

     "I don't know him," Anna whispered back. She did not look at Jess; her eyes were still on Asher. She had almost forgotten that he was in France with them. She remembered the fight when the wolves attacked them but after that...he had disappeared. She saw him only once or twice in the two weeks that Jordan had been unconscious, and he had always been covered in blood.

     Jess reached out, gripping Anna's forearm the way a scared child might. "But do you trust him," she said. "He's dead, all the vampires are, and they shouldn't exist. They're... not normal." Anna couldn't help but laugh at that.

     "Not normal?" She covered her mouth with her hands, a failed attempt at silencing her amusement. "You're a Faerie," she said, she shook her head once - still in the midst of another giggle, "That's not normal," she sobered up quickly, and leant back, "none of this is normal, I'm not normal anymore,"

     "You were never normal, Anna," she looked down to see Damon smirking at her, "you just didn't know it. Now, come down," he held his hand up to her, more a gesture than anything else, she couldn't reach his hand with her own.

     "And you, Jess," he said once Anna's feet were firmly on the ground. Asher had looked quizzically at her through dark eyes. Anna couldn't stand his gaze. She looked away.

    "No," Jess shook her head, "I don't like this. It makes me uncomfortable. So," she straightened her back, "I'm staying in this tree."

     "Jess," he sighed.

     "No," Asher tilted his head, looking at her. "Leave her," Anna noticed his lips move, only for a second a soft smile touched his face. "I don't like this," he said, sounding almost comforting, "and I have to do it. Would you like us to move, Princess?"

     "Oh," Jess shook her head, her black hair falling past her shoulders. "No, you can stay here, I'm just not going to look, and try not to feel what you do," she smiled sarcastically, "But that's impossible, isn't it?"

     "Indeed it is," Asher sighed, remorsefully, "Indeed it is,"