Can Anybody Find Me?

Chapter 19

Gavin was throwing things into the back of his truck, body language tense, face angry and a palpable aura of agitation filling the air around him. The Arc Angel Gabriel stood at the entrance and just watched the young Guardian fret and pack, then tear through the bags for the umpteenth time, reassuring himself that he had everything he needed.

"You're being reckless is what started all this ten years ago." Gabriel said to the lower ranking Angel.

Gavin looked at the other Angel and then snarled, storming over to get in his face. "You feel it for that human upstairs. If she ran, you'd chase her." he stated, a hair's breadth away from hitting the Arc. Gabriel raised an eyebrow, looking the frustrated and furious Angel straight in the eyes, not flinching away from his venemous tone.

"Yes I would." Gabriel admitted calmly, not seeming to care that he'd be violating his oaths as an Arc to do so.

"Then you understand why I need to go after her." Gavin breathed, seeming to calm down when it appeared that the Arc wasn't going to stop him.

"I understand." Gabriel's tone was neutral. "You've Marked her, but now you've found yourself in love with a mortal." Gavin dropped the stare down, knowing that there was no use in lying or denying it. His actions spoke louder than words, and his driving need to go find his Lone was making him frantic. "So you'll understand when I have to do this..." the Arc finished and Gavin felt his eyes roll into the back of his head, body dropping to the floor.

"I'm guessing it's a no-no for that kind of thing?" Rimmon asked, stepping out of the shadows, casually hauling the Angel over his shoulder and following the Arc inside. The fact that the Demon preferred to be the one carrying his reluctant ally up the stairs seemed to stop the Arc in his tracks for a moment, then he frowned and followed after.

Rimmon dumped the Guardian Angel onto Lone's pulled out bed, grunted at the weight of his rival. The voices of his kindred were insulting him in his head for not taking advantage of the Angel's weakness to harm him or get up to a little malicious evil. The Ambassador of Hell couldn't even properly explain to himself why he wasn't being more hostile to the Angel, outside of the fact that he knew any action taken against the useless Guardian Angel would probably only hurt Lone, and not help the Demon out at all. Rimmon looked down at the worried and temporarily unconscious Angel and told his breathren to flip off and leave him in peace. The Demon never even realized how strange it was that he no longer wanted the constant cacophony of his brethren inside his mind with him.

"With or without Lone, we need to strike at the Twisted while it's in the Descended plane." Gabriel stated, leaning against a wall and pulling the human, Belle, into the circle of his arms. Neither mortal nor Ascended could explain their undeniable attraction, but Rimmon was finding it amusing to watch them settle into domestic bliss during a freaking apocalypse. He was perverse that way, it was a character flaw, he knew.

"Because knowing it's a corrupted Fallen changes things." Rimmon stated, still not understanding how it being a fallen angel changed anything.

"Listen wretch, you don't need to know why it changes things, you just need to know that it does." Gabriel insulted, holding Belle closer to him for protection.

"Sure all high and mighty Arc. Go forth and conquer it on your own then. By all means, don't let the wretch slow you down." Rimmon waved with a mocking smile. With his head shaved bald and the facial hair more than a little wild looking, he knew he looked dangerous and demented and was glad to see a flare of fear in the mortal whore's eyes at his demented smile.

Gabriel frowned at the Descended, but when he made to step forward and remind the punk why Arc Angels are feared, Belle gripped his arms, burying her face into his chest. "Please don't leave me too." her words were barely spoken, only a whispered breath but both Angel and Demon heard it. Gabriel wrapepd his arms around Belle even tighter, barely remembering that she had to breathe, and Rimmon cleared his throat, looking away and feeling a strange sense of guilt. He didn't like being reminded of how bad it sometimes felt to be mortal.

"I'll call the Neutral." Rimmon sighed and walked away from the disgustingly cutesy couple. How and Arc Angel could allow himself to get so pathetically whipped by a mortal was beyond the Demon, and he promised himself that he'd give up being a Demon before he allowed himself to act that way.

Rimmon stepped outside and walked over to Belle's apartment. He knocked on the door and stuck his head in, seeing Dumb Coyote looking through Belle's wardrobe, seeming not the least bit embarassed to have been caught snooping. Rimmon still had to laugh though, because the wilely human had a pair of fuzzy cuffs in one hand and was looking at the rigging of a pretty expensive looking strap on as if he couldn't figure out what it was. Tools of the sex trade.

"Gabriel knocked Gavin out. Says we need to go Down asap. Small problem by way of blondie though." Rimmon explained briefly, feeling the Neutral's aura brush passed him, locking away his Otherness once more. Coyote could contain that for a while, hold his own otherness back so Ascended and Descended weren't affected, but he needed to at least be in a different room for that, not the most effective for planning a war. The two of them headed back into Lone's apartment and Rimmon now took up Lone's usual perch on the island. He watched in silent testimoney as Gavin started to twitch, slowly waking up from his forced unconsciousness. Belle and Gabriel were still wrapped up in each other, the mortal no longer weeping, but still reeking of heartache, fear and confusion; some of Rimmon's favourite perfumes.

"So how do we get you two down there with me?" Rimmon asked, voice a lazy drawl as he examined the disoriented Guardian and the lovestruck fool of an Arc.

"It won't be easy." Gabriel said, not looking up from his careful examination of Belle's face.

"It can't be that hard." Gavin said, glaring at the Arc and rubbing his temples as if he now had a massive headache. Which he probably did.

"It'll be easier and harder than you both think." Coyote stated but didn't elaborate.

Rimmon watched the others around him and realized that none of them wanted to divulge secrets of their kind to the others. Neutrals, Ascended and Descended did not usually co-mingle like this. It was unnatural. But just as Rimmon figured he would just toss this project and walk away, he felt Lone lightly brush his Brand on her hip. His entire body tingled for a half second and he could feel the fatigue burning her eyes, the rattle of her ugly car over a dirt road and the tired twang of some country station on her radio before he blinked and was back in his own body. His Lone, his Brand, his job to get her back.

"If I have to get this ball rolling, I will." Rimmon pushing himself off the island and walked forward, every eye in the room on him. "I can get into and out of the Descended plane anytime, anywhere. I can even bring people back with me, so I could maybe sneak Coyote in. But unless I Tempted one of you to turn, I can't bring you across with me." he looked from Guardian to Arc and back.

Gabriel sighed, rubbing his thumb across Belle's bottom lip before speaking. "I can force my way in. I've done it before." he admitted, making Rimmon raise his eyebrows in shock. He hadn't known that any Angel could do that, let alone an Arc.

"And I know how one may sneak a Guardian into Hell." Coyote sighed, holding the biggest surprise for last.

Everyone looked at him, anticipation almost as thick as the dread in the air. As the old saying goes, it's easy to get into hell, it's hard to get in and back out again. Coyote walked over to Lone's window and opened it, letting in the light breeze. The old man didn't turn back around and face them, and Rimmon frowned as he realized just how old Coyote really was. He had the feeling that if his Otherness wasn't suppressed he'd smell the old man's mortality clinging to him like molting feathers.

"You Seduce a Neutral down to Hell and no one is going to care if a whole herd of Guardian Angels stampeded through." Coyote staid and turned to face the room, Angel, human and Demon alike all absolutely astonished into silence by Coyote offering to be their sacrifice.