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“I laid her down as gently as I could and went to help Cole. He was on the ground then, and they were kicking him, cutting him again and again with their blades. Not deeply, just enough to cause him pain. I shifted and went for them. I wasn’t going to… I just had to stop them.” He took a deep shuddering breath. “I pulled one away, but one took a swing at me, and I ducked.”
He closed his eyes. “The blade missed me, and sliced across Cole’s back, cutting into his spine. He tried to crawl away, but he couldn’t… his legs wouldn’t…”
I thought back to the charming man at the computer desk with the easy smile, and the wheelchair he now sat in, and I felt sick.
“They were fucking laughing,” said Alastor. “Laughing. I was distracted, and got a hit to the head, and went down for a moment. They must have thought that would be enough to keep me down. I lost consciousness for a few moments. When I opened my eyes, they’d stripped him naked, and one was in the air, holding his ankles and hanging him upside down. He was screaming.”
My voice was little more than a dry whisper as I asked, “What happened?”
Alastor looked at me. “They were laughing and saying how the only way to cure an incubus demon was to cut his cock off. They were discussing how they could do it without one of them havingto sully his pure soul without touching it. I…” He paused, and for a moment, his gaze flicked over my shoulder to Theo.
Alastor sighed. “Hellhounds, we have the fire of hell running through our veins. It makes us… temperamental at best. We’re taught from a young age to keep control of our beast at all times. To never let them free, because they are driven by pure primal instinct.”
I nodded, guessing at what came next.
Alastor opened his eyes, the glowing red demonic pupils of his hound shining through the darkness. “I lost control,” he said simply. “And when I came back, they were all dead. I’d torn them apart.”
“Alastor…” I breathed, reaching out to where Carlisle’s hand had been. I needed to touch him, needed for him to feel my touch, but he stepped back out of reach.
“Five years." Alastor's voice was rough with raw emotion. "Five years he's been in that chair. Five years he’s had to learn to live with what was done to him, by those that were meant to help. Five years of fighting pain, of fighting his own body, of the darkness that grew in his mind. Yes, Sariel. Yes, I killed five angels. I tore them apart and covered the street in their blood and feathers.” His eyes were like coals as he fixed me with a gaze so intense I couldn’t breathe. “And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.”
I swallowed, reason and duty and emotion raging like a battleground in my mind. The thought of Alastor committing such an act sent shivers down my spine. Killing an angel was not just taboo; it was a sin that defined you as an enemy of Heaven.
"Alastor, that's..." I struggled to find words. "That's one of the worst crimes. If Gabriel—"
"Let him find out." His jaw was set, unyielding as the stone around us. "They were butchering Cole. Torturing him, for fun, as the world burned around us. They deserved what they got, Sariel. Justice isn't always served by the hands of the righteous.”
"Alastor," I whispered, "I..."
But how could I finish that sentence? Offer empty condolences? Assure him his actions were justified when they defied my very nature? My heart pounded in my chest as I looked at him. I should report this to Gabriel the very moment we reached the surface. I should punish him myself, cut down the hellhound that dared take the immortal lives of five heavenly warriors. I should abhor the very air he breathed. And yet, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around him and hold him until the pain and memory faded. I had a desperate need to take away the pain and to see that snarky, cocky smile that so often drove me crazy.
I wanted to drag him away, out of this darkness, and up into the light. But I couldn’t. And Alastor wouldn’t want me to. He already couldn’t stand me, that much was clear. And on top of my own shortcomings in his eyes, I was an angel. The enemy. And not for the reasons I’d believed. Shame, and guilt filled me like a heavy wave, even though I knew I hadn’t been there, I felt as though I was responsible. I wondered if Gabriel knew what his angels had done. A horrible suspicion formed in my mind that even if he did know, he wouldn’t care. I knew how Garbriel felt about any demon. How we’d often talked about the coming Rapture and their extermination. I felt sick, and dizzy. I looked up at Alastor, silent in the dark.
"Alastor, Gabriel isn't known for his leniency," I managed to say. My feeling of dread increased at the thought of Alastor finding out it would be me sent to deal with him if Gabriel ever did find out.
"Neither am I." The words were hard, final. Alastor turned away and set off down the tunnel. Clearly, the conversation was over.
Theo gave a low whistle. “Well, that was intense.”
I took a shaky breath, and Carlise reached over and took my hand, squeezing my fingers gently.
“You ok? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to get that far.”
I nodded. “I’m ok.” I glanced down the tunnel. “Is he?”
Carlisle looked after him and nodded. “He will be. He doesn’t talk about it much, and it eats at him. The hound… it’s part of him, but he’s afraid of what it will turn him into.”
“He thinks he’s a monster,” I said slowly.
“Yes.” Carlisle let go of my hand and we started walking again, leaving a decent distance between us and Alastor. “That’s why he always tries to keep such a tight grip on his emotions. He's been around a long time, and thought he was in control, but when it was Cole… that was different.”
I looked at Carlisle. “Cole and Alastor have been friends a long time then?”
“They have,” he confirmed. “And to be honest with you,” he glanced back at Theo, who I saw nod at him. “There’s more to it as well.”
I blinked. “They’re a couple?”
Theo snorted. “That would need Alastor to pull the stick out of his ass and actually let someone in.”
