Broken Angel

Broken Angel-Prologue

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======> Song for Rayne when she realizes what just happened...So far away

BROKEN ANGEL©

"Why won't he die?" Reo grumbled, shutting the solid steel door behind him. Flynn fell into step, silent beside him.

"Someone should put him out of his misery." Reo went on, his shoulders forming a half shrug and confusion colouring his voice. "He's been at it for a week now. I mean, seriously. Have you ever seen anything like that before?"

Flynn shrugged back, grateful that the agonized screams from below were now somewhat muted. He couldn't understand how the man had lasted this long anyway. Their changes had been swift, almost overnight. "We can't do anything about it. Even his sire is dead from trying to turn him. And it is the King's orders ... No touching, no interference with the change." He reminded his friend.

"Damned orders. Damned writ of the Ancients ..." Reo muttered grumpily as they made their way up the long stone staircase. Even though they made quick work of it the pain filled screams still rang out in their ears.  As soon as they reached the landing they sealed the second door shut, leaning against it for a moment before leaving the tortured man below to his fate.

"Out of sight, out of mind, I always say." Flynn grinned in triumph after a lengthy shudder. He tasted the air and nodded for Reo to follow as they headed down towards the village in a swift sprint.

They might as well get something to eat before sunrise, before the King called them in for a rundown of the situation below.

Downstairs, Diego cried out in agony as he convulsed. His muscles quaked violently and he could feel every stretch, rip and tear as his body fought against him.

'It' wanted the change complete... 'He' didn't.

He didn't want to leave her behind and he somehow knew that once he turned she would never be his again. Flashes of her beautiful smile entered his mind. Images of long caramel hair blowing in the wind, a soft echo of laughter that still sounded in his ears, her face-

Diego's back arched painfully and he pulled against his restraints, gasping. Abused writs yanked on the links of heavy iron chains that bound him to this prison even as his arms twisted impossibly in opposite directions, the noisy symphony of metal and brick mocking. He swallowed thickly, shuddering long after the attack, incapable of helping himself.

For a while, all that could be heard was the laboured hiss of air leaving his lips and the grating effort it took him to draw it in again.

Oxygen hovered cruelly around him, refusing to enter his burning lungs. His throat was raw from screaming, his head threatening to explode from the pressure building inside. This may have hurt too damn much already, but he knew that losing her would hurt even more. He'd been fighting this for days now...if he could just last a few more hours-

She was getting closer, he knew it. Felt it. Absorbed her nearness and held it to his faltering heart like a lifeline.

His heartbeat stuttered.

'No, don't fail me now.' He begged silently, but he knew he was losing the battle. Even though his eyes were squeezed shut, he could feel the unnatural darkness taking over. For one tiny moment, Diego thought he'd won. The shaking stopped with abruptness, but then he realized how wrong he was. An icy numbness grew and spread throughout his limbs until his broken body betrayed him and shut down completely.

Grasping for purchase anywhere, anyhow, on anything - he coughed and began to choke on his own blood. A frustrated tear rolled down his cheek turning crimson as it mixed with blood and sweat, desperation evident in each agonized breath. And as the end drew closer and Diego did the only thing he could think of. He held fast to the precious image of her...

A few hundred yards away from the Castle, Rayne dropped to her knees, hopelessness blanketing her even as she fought it. She'd been searching for Diego since he went missing the week before. Although she could feel him still, it was faint and each beat of his heart cried out to her.

Th-thump...

I'll miss your smile...

Th-thump...

You will always be mine...

Th-thum-p...

Love you forever...

Th-ump...

Forever...

And their mind link connected briefly as she heard him whisper his very last words to her...

'I'm sorry my love. Forgive me...'

'No!'  Her cry of horror stuck in her throat even as her wolf burst forth. Rayne let out a bloodcurdling howl instead, pain and anger turning her blind with rage. The putrid scent of the Bloods filled her nostrils momentarily, and then receded. A small golden arc of sunlight lit up the sky and though she got up and raced forward with all she had, the castle still dissolved with the magnificent sunrise, blending slowly into nothingness. Rayne rolled to a stop, disbelieving. The vast landscape glared back at her, unrelenting. She'd wait. She needed to get inside. A lone she wolf against a castle full of Bloods was suicide, but Rayne didn't care.

They'd taken him from her.

...And she was too late to save him.