Leo blinked as the cold water splashed over his head. He opened his eyes widely as he shook out the icy water, droplets flying. He turned his cold green eyes in the direction of the person who had thrown the water at him.
Red stood there, grinning smugly. Leo glanced around grumpily. "What do you want, you crazed sadistic villain?" Red rolled her eyes. "Don't be a drama queen Leo. Besides..." She said, slyly glancing towards the bar counter. Leo immediately grew suspicious. Red was a friend, an ally. Even so, he couldn't help but feel suspicious around her. Leo glanced around. "Who've you hired to poison me now?" He asked, his tone sarcastic, but his eyes casually darting around the pub. Red examined her nails. "No one. If anything, I helped you gain power and wealth, and saved your source of revenue." She scoffed, reaching down to scratch Ryn behind the ears. The large pup let out an amiable bark.
Leo smirked. "Revenue? Finally been reading the old geezer's books, eh?" Red rolled her eyes, almost seeming offended. "A friend told me how popular Charles Dickens was these days. He gave me his book collection for free." She said bluntly. Leo raised his eyebrows. "Really? You didn't happen to borrow them, did you?" Red rolled her eyes. "Shut up. It was. . .a favor." She said, sliding a note to him. "This was left for you." She turned on her heel, not waiting to see his reaction, and walked back over to the pub counter, Ryn following at her heels.
Leo turned to the note. Whoever wrote it had been in a hurry. He could tell by the rough lines of the drying out pen, sometimes fading in curves or lines. It was scrawled close together on a large neon yellow Post-It. Leo's green eyes skimmed over it quickly.
To whom it may concern,
The High Council has been informed of an information breach. We've tracked it down to you, Mr. Malvent. Your previous status has been noted, and your current profession as well. We would like to hire you, as much as we'd prefer not to. You will go to New Haven Inn at 1 o'clock sharp,then tell the innkeeper you wish to pay your respects to the Angelic infuences in the world. She will lead you to the third room to your left, in which you will find a spare bed, a dresser, and an antique boudoir. You shall remain there until an Angelic official comes to receive you.
With hope of your reverting to our ways,
The High Council of Angels,
Leo quickly folded up the note neatly. He turned the request over in his head.There were many incentives if working with Angels, not limited to their blessings, gifts, and good graces. However, there were many more disadvantages. The Angels were only one form of Monster, if a powerful one. And all other Monsters had either been created, originated, or had their origins linked with Angels in some way. None of them were happy about that.
Leo was pulled out of his thoughts as a burly man with a shady expression and a seemingly permanent smirk walked over, stopping and sitting down at the table. "Can I help you?" Leo asked, eyeing the stranger over warily. The man merely chuckled. "Maybe Leo. Quit the games. My name, you must have heard of. I'm Shadow." Leo shook his head, feigning confusion. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you are." Shadow's smirk disappeared.
Truth be told, Leo did know. Shadow was a known Higher Demon, and a powerful one. They said he'd battled with the legendary Lucifer once, and won. That sort of Demon was a being to be afraid of. And Leo didn't get scared easily.
"I'm Shadow, a legendary higher Demon.I've battled with Lucifer and won." He said shortly, summarizing his reputation well. "Indeed. What can I do for you?" Leo responded coolly, no change in his impassive expression. Shadow leaned forwards. He wore a large black biker jacket, and had one silver lip piercing. His eyes were in some parts black, in others melding to dark grey. But most of all they were gold. They looked to be full of shadows, reminding Leo of his namesake. He propped his head up on his hand, which had a strange and nasty scar running across it. "I know the Angels have contacted you. Makes you wonder what those hoity-toity pompous buffoons have on their hands that would make them desperate enough to call a Fallen onto the scene."
Leo reacted in no way. Shadow was provoking him, if subtly. "I can't say I wondered about it." He said finally.
Shadow continued, unfazed. "Why not help our people on this side of Earth, eh? We would never curse one of our own." Shadow wasn't wrong. The Angels were a political, back-stabbing, sly folk. Demons were as well, but not to their own. Demons had a code. "I'm not one of your people. I'm Fallen, not Demonic." He retorted, fully aware the Demon Code did not extend to the likes of him.
Shadow shrugged, losing all faked courtesies. "You're telling me you don't want them to pay for what they've done? For what they did to you? For making you Fall?" The Demon's voice had deteriorated to a mocking sneer.
Leo winced imperceptibly at the barely hidden disgust of the word 'Fall'. It did still sting as well. He remembered watching and feeling the utter pained torture as his wings withered, feathers curdling as though having been burnt, blackening at the ends, and finally falling away. And the Fall itself . . . Leo shook the thoughts away. He needed to be thinking clearly at the moment. Not to mention that even the vague memory was fleetingly painful. He focused on the Demon sitting across from him.
"What's your real name, Shadow?" He kept his voice firmly questioning, frowning slightly as a small tremor quivered into his speech.
Shadow smirked knowingly. No doubt he heard. "Well, if I told you that. . ." He said, his voice relaxed yet warning. ". . .there'd be no more fun." Leo mentally cursed the Demons and their tendencies to create chaos for 'fun'. He did the same, but not like this. Leo tilted his head to the side. "Truly? I won't help you otherwise."
Shadow remained unfazed. He crawled under Leo's skin. He was too . . . too . . . too powerful. He knew too much. He was too much.
Shadow got up, the third person to sit down and leave at this table in search of Leo. ]He stopped as he turned on his heel, and inclined his head in Leo's direction. His eyes were glaringly gold, now glinted with specks of red that dotted his iris' like blood. The aura surrounding them was a strangely golden red, but ominous.
"You will. When you do, you'll find us at the Gravestead."
Not bothering to explain, Shadow disappeared, slowly in small bits and pieces, like he was crumbling from old ivory stone. The last to disappear were those eerie eyes and dark twisted smile.
Leo stood up abruptly. Staying at this accursed pub named perhaps prophetically as 'The Demon's Horns', it would only cause more trouble. That didn't mean he didn't find it curious. Whatever was going on, both Angels and Demons had involved him. Not to mention Red's odd behaviour. Although Ryn was often sent after him as a spy, it was normally a joke.
Whatever this all was, it had something to do with her.
He just had to figure it out.
Leo got up, once again crossing the space between him and the bar counter. He dodged several Vampyres, Wolf-Men, Demons, Bloodbeasts, Fallen, and Angels. He glanced to Red, who, once catching his eye and nod to the side, used a hand as support to jump over the counter, walking towards him. "Can we take a . . . walk?" He asked casually. She nodded, although more apprehensive.
Leo led the way outside the pub. "Red, what's going on?" He asked, surprisingly blunt.
The usually suave and knowing bartender looked uncomfortable. Disturbed. Surprised. He watched carefully for any emotional reaction, but saw none other than what he'd already noted. "What do you mean?" She asked, her red eyes watching him intensely. "You know something about all this. Somehow, you're involved in all of this." She shifted her scarlet gaze away, towards the crooked sign. The pub's name was written in some medieval font, as that was probably when it had been put up there. Emblazoned above it was a heart, split in two. The right side was blood-red, small cracks carefully painted on it. With a small space, there was a feathered gray wing. An angel wing. It was all surrounded by a warm golden aura.
The other side wasn't as light. The heart was blackened, dead, and had bloody red dripping down from small cuts made across it. There were scars stitched up as well, some open and bleeding out. The blood pooled past the end of the sign, or so it seemed. Like the wing, there was a bat-like wing, gray and fearsome. A Demon's wing. It was surrounded by a dark, ominous aura, and had nothing else.
It was eerie. Strangely, what they could call the 'Angelic' side was on the left and the 'Demonic' side on the right. Almost like a metaphor. Red's eyes burned into the sign, as though inner turmoil was storming within her.
She blinked rapidly, her eyes strangely shiny. Leo narrowed his eyes, his curiousity heightening as he saw what it was she was blinking away. Tears. "Red, what is it?" He asked, keeping his voice soothing, comforting.
She shook her head. "It's nothing. And your suspicions are incorrect. I'm as clueless as you are as to what this is about. Maybe more so."
Leo backed off. He was certain there was something going on, but she seemed to be off for some reason. He would question her eventually, but not right now. He put his hands into his pockets, looking down, his midnight black hair covering his face from her eyes. She wouldn't see the curiosity or suspicion still plain to see on his face.
"I'll go then. Say bye to Ryn for me." He muttered quietly, glancing back at Red, this time worriedly. Her pale hands were clenched tightly into fists. "I will." She answered stiffly. Leo nodded, gently bouncing off one leg to gain liftoff as he opened his wings. The wing span was large. He hadn't been any other Angel . . .before. He looked at the spiky shaped feathered wings with a frown, ruffling his black feathers before pushing upwards, feeling the air hit his face as he gained altitude.
Leo sighed, his expression relaxed. This was nice. Truly.
He leaned back on an updraft, using it to glide across the sky gently. He had no real destination in mind. Leo had no home, no sanctuary. Other than this of course. The sky was his sanctuary. He would fly, and fly.
However, peace was not on his side. Darker thoughts interrupted his relaxation time, as memories of the Fall came back. They were blurry flashbacks, not lasting more than a second each time. He remembered her. Her smile, gentle, kind, stormy and furious. Her hair, as it caught the wind. And her wings. Her wings. He saw a flashback that lasted a bit longer. He was holding a pure gold feather in his palm. It was soft to the touch, strangely comforting yet haunting to hold.
It sent a jolt of pain, and Leo opened his eyes in surprise as he began to free-fall, his wings bolting around him. He wiped at his eye, feeling a tear. What was going on? The pain. It made him want to shrivel up, stop existing. It was worse than the Fall. That had been physical pain. Physical pain hurts for a short period of time, and eventually ends. No, this was emotional. A sharp ache, horrible and hurting.
Heartbreak.
Loss.
Grief.
Anger.
Outrage.
Fear.
Sadness.
Hurt.
Leo wasn't sure if there had been any reasoning to it, or why he was so hurt, but he let out the knot in his throat. He'd been silent too long. He screamed, a loud shrieking, piercing sound. It was pained, saddened, grief-struck and heartbroken. All the pain and emotions he masked let out like a torrential flood, horrifying to behold. He fell, and the memories of the Fall crashed down on him, like torrential waves of paining emotions.