Wings & Horns

Chapter Six

His gaze skimmed over the empty street, eerily gothic with its lamps flickering slightly, golden light washing over the bricks and old-fashioned buildings. "You disappeared, Leo! No one knew where you were...if Zerces hadn't been able to track down your hunting signature to that woman..." Leo saw Zerces golden hair shine in the lamp's light, but it was his hard stare that Leo felt boring into his soul. Leo narrowed his eyes slightly. "My hunting signature...I see." She studied him carefully. "What happened to you, you asshole?" Red sounded more exasperated than annoyed. "I...I don't know." Leo answered, refusing to meet her eyes. "Two days?" Sighing, he looked up at her. "I'll need to catch up on work." Red glared at him. "You think of work at a time like this?" Leo didn't answer, he tried to get an idea of where he was. "Z?" Zerces inclined his head slightly to the side. "Thanks." Leo said carefully, unfurling his wings. "Don't try to fly right now. The Wendigos are twisting up a storm, remember?" Red pointed out. "Right..." Leo nodded, blinking. "...how are we supposed to get back?" She rolled her eyes. "We walk."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Zerces and Leo walked next to one another. The past half hour had been a silent, uncomfortable one. Red walked ahead of them, obviously familiar with the streets. She knew the city. Leo was somewhat surprised he didn't know that.

Leo's mind was racing. He hadn't Hunted Humans in a while, and the rush was making him think faster, act quicker, be better. Leo was residing deep in his own thoughts. Images of Kelsio, deFleur, and the woman he'd Hunted came to him. Kelsio's mysterious tattoo...a symbol he'd have to track down...

"We're at the main road. If you wanna go anywhere, tell me now." Leo nodded. "Where would deFleur be?" Red shrugged. "Gone. Oblivion." Leo nodded, disappointed. However he looked up suddenly. "Marketh." Red looked curious. Leo remembered Elisabeth Von Marketh. Pale blue eyes, stormy grey azure, dark skin, and wild curled hair,, all made and done to make her look noble and higher than everyone else.

The soul...

"Red, where's Ryn?"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Leo found himself on Dante Avenue yet again, the second time in a month. Confusing. He knocked the Witch Doctor's door, but it did not open this time. Leo exchanged a glance with Red, before knocking again. After several minutes, he gritted his teeth and pushed against it.

The door fell in.

"It looks like an Archangel ran a massacre through here..." Zerces muttered as they stepped inside. Leo couldn't help but agree. Scaffolding from the walls had fallen on the floor, scratches in the dry walls indicating a fight, and more than half of the stairs a heap of splintered wood. Most of all, however, there was a trace of a prescence Leo had not sensed in a long time. "Ryn." He breathed out.

Red ran through the hall, the only sound in the creeping silence of her thudding boots. Leo slowly walked through the hall. It was wrecked beyond repair, and if it wasn't Ryn's handiwork, it was no one's. Leo knew it... "It's his." Red said grimly.

Zerces looked between Leo and Red. "I'm sorry, who's Ryn?" He was skimming the room, trying to figure out who could wreck so much. "Ryn's my Demon pup." Zerces nodded slowly. "Right. So, you didn't think raising a Demon pup would cause problems?" Red's eyes flashed like fire. "Shut up." She snapped. Leo studied the presence's trail carefully. They needed to get out of here, and after Ryn. If he was in full Demon mode, and was not the cute little talking Schnauzer...there would be problems.

Steps from above cause the bickering two to silence, and Leo inclined his head upwards.

Angel.

The steps were getting closer, sounding nearer and nearer to the stairs – or what remained of them. Silently, the three masked their Auras and slinked back, away from the view of the stairs.