Chapter 13

Innocent laid in the bed that Tobias was kind of enough let him use; he turned over and stared out the window. He wanted to sleep, but he dreaded sleep because when he slept, visions of the future plagued him and memories of the past haunted him, preventing him from receiving even a little nap. He knew that in the next room over Blake was laying in bed with Tobias; he could hear the small sobs that were escaping Blake’s lips as he tried hard to silence them.

Poor Blake…I wish there was something I could do to help him; after all, he always helped me when our master punished me and that usually resulted in him being beaten more than usual. I hope he’s okay and I hope that Tobias is taking care of him.

Innocent yawned slightly and closed his eyes; hopefully, he’d be able to talk to Blake tomorrow evening after he had time to recuperate. He rolled over so that he was now facing the direction of the door with his back to the window; though he couldn’t see the person watching him, he knew the young, former guardian angel was watching him and trying—without breaking the rules—to protect him.

He smiled and remembered what Azrael had said about this angel; he had been his guardian, but had been forced to abandon the position because of a High Angel’s order. Azrael had also told him how he had once been a guardian angel, but was banished from Heaven because he decided that interfering to save a soul was more important than following the rules; Azrael had told him how he had interfered because he had loved this person and because this person would protect him. It had been several years and this person still remained a mystery to him…this person hadn’t protected him.

This person hadn’t been there for him when Dimitri had tortured him; this person hadn’t been there when Dimitri had carved the word ‘dusk’ into his back. No, this person had never been there to protect him as Azrael had said and he believed that this person was never going to be there for him; he had come to believe that God had abandoned him…forsaken him for reasons he did not know.

As he drifted into the dreamland that was sleep, he realized that he would receive no peaceful dreams tonight nor would he be capable of drowning out the slight cries that still issued from Blake and Tobias’ room.

Bowing, he chanced a glance up and saw Blake standing behind Dimitri; Blake’s usually flawlessly pale skin was sporting a fresh bruise. Innocent returned his gaze to the floor after he met Blake’s kind, red eyes; the look in those eyes had told him not to push his luck today because Dimitri was already in a bad mood.

“Fetch me my knife,” his hissed out in Blake’s direction. Innocent’s head shot up and he focused on Blake, whose face now possessed a shocked, worried look of disbelief.

“Master, I don’t believe that is a wise decision…I mean, he’s still just a child!”

“Which is precisely why I shall do this…since he is just a child, he will have plenty of time to get used to the new name. Now,” his tone took on a dangerous tone, “fetch me my knife, Midnight.”

Blake stiffened at the use of his vampire name; it was the name Dimitri had given him decades before he’d been turned…with that one little name, Dimitri could control him more completely than imaginable. Lowering his gaze to the floor, he merely whispered, “Yes, Master.”

He left the room and returned moments later with the ebony dagger that his master had requested; that was the knife that he had used to carve the symbol that he bore on his left arm…this was the knife that he was going to use to carve a new name into the young boy’s back.

Dimitri grinned showing his sharp, yellowed fangs; he had used this dagger only twice before and he knew he would enjoy using it on the small, defenseless boy that bowed before him. The boy would have a few years to adapt to having a vampire name; true, he wouldn’t be able to control him by saying the name, but he would train the boy to respond to it.

Dimitri removed Innocent’s shirt and smirked as he felt the boy tremble; he pressed the blade to the boy’s back…

“I told you, Blake! You’re not going back there!” Innocent’s eyes opened slightly as he heard Tobias’ voice take on a harsh tone that he wasn’t used to hearing. Sitting up, he glanced out the window and noticed the sky was turning a gray-lavender that heralded the morning; he guessed that he had only been asleep for a few moments. Yawning, he decided there was no harm in listening to the conversation since Tobias had so rudely shouted and woken him up.

“B-but, Tobias, if I don’t go back, my Master will be angry with me,” Blake said in a soft voice that was barely audible.

“I don’t care! You’re not going back to him after what he did to you!”

“He might come after you, though.”

“I don’t care what he does to me!” At this, Innocent heard Tobias slam his hand into the wall; he made a mental note to ask Blake later if he had known about Tobias’ temper. “You’re staying here and that’s final!” Innocent heard Blake sigh in resignation and could practically see Blake nod his head. Tobias’ voice took on the kind, loving tone he was accustomed to hearing, “Blake, I’m sorry I shouted at you…I know you don’t like loud noises.”

“It’s okay…I shouldn’t have argued with you,” Blake mumbled in a tone that Innocent usually only heard from him after Dimitri beat him to a bloody pulp. Innocent could practically see Tobias wrap his arms around Blake in an effort to comfort him; he could also imagine Blake pulling away slightly because of how scarred he was from being with Dimitri his whole life.

“Blake,” Tobias crooned softly, “you can argue with me about everything else…except when we’re talking about him. Okay?” Blake said nothing, but apparently nodded because the next thing Innocent heard was, “Good. Now, you should be okay to sleep in here during the day as long as I keep the blinds closed; just let me know if you get hungry.”

“I’m a vampire; I don’t eat,” Blake replied quizzically. Innocent smiled and shook his head; Blake could be naïve sometimes.

“That’s not what I meant, love,” Tobias laughed. “I meant if you need blood, let me and I’ll be more than happy to oblige.”

“You mean you’d let me drink your blood?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” If Innocent hadn’t been listening closely, he probably wouldn’t have heard what Blake said next.

“Because I was with my Master.”

--

“Azrael, I know you care about her, but there’s nothing you can do,” Michael said as he reached for his coffee cup. They had decided to go to Earth for some coffee at a favorite café of Azrael’s and because Azrael had wanted to talk to Michael alone.

“You don’t understand! The only reason she was even bitten was because I couldn’t interfere,” he replied in a slightly hoarse voice. “If I had been allowed to interfere, she wouldn’t have been bitten and she wouldn’t be damned.”

“You can’t know that,” Michael replied, hating the idea that he was acting as the voice of reason. “Besides, she’s already bitten which means she’s damned so there’s nothing short of a miracle that could save her now.”

Azrael slumped in his seat and frowned. “You’re right; she needs a miracle.”

Michael frowned. “C’mon, Azrael, cheer up! You know I hate seeing you depressed! We’re young, we’re on Earth, and we’ve got coffee! Let’s have some fun before we have to go home! Whaddya say?”

“I guess you’re right,” Azrael said, allowing a slow smile to grace his face. “Why bother dwelling on something I can’t change?” He raised his coffee cup. “I propose a toast to having fun!”

“To having fun!” echoed Michael as he gently knocked his cup against Azrael’s. He watched as Azrael drank the coffee; he could tell that his friend was planning something and he had no doubt that it wouldn’t end well. “Hey, Azrael?”

“Yeah?”

“I think you should talk to your mentor about this.”

“C’mon, Michael! Why should I talk to him?”

“He is your mentor; he should be able to help you work through your problem.”

With a sigh, Azrael nodded. “Fine; I’ll talk to him when we go back, okay?”

--

“Why would you do something like that?!” Raphael shouted, after he realized that Azrael had gone to Earth and interfered in Ankita’s life. “You know the penalty for interfering in someone’s life without God’s permission!”

“I had to do something! If I hadn’t have interfered, she would have continued down that self-destructive path and I couldn’t let that happen!”

“If you were following orders NOT to interfere, then of course you could let her continue doing what she was doing! You had your orders, but apparently you can’t follow them!”

“I love her!” His words echoed around the empty room and he met Raphael’s stern, cold gaze.

“What? You love her?!”

“Yes, I do and I don’t mean as a guardian loves their charge; I love her the way a normal man loves a woman and I don’t care what you think!”

“You fool! Because you love someone that cannot love you back, you have just sacrificed everything! Your wings, your powers, your title as a High Angel! Doesn’t any of that matter to you?!”

“Not as much as she matters to me!”

Azrael moaned slightly as he opened his eyes, chasing away the memories of his past; he glanced around the empty, dark room. He winced as he tried to move his right wing; he had forgotten that the bone had broken the other day. He leaned against the wall; his captor hadn’t been down in awhile and, the last he had heard, Raphael had betrayed him. What was he going to do now?

“I wonder how Kaiya’s doing…does she even know I’m missing? Probably not; I don’t bother her everyday…do I? I really have lost it if I’m talking to myself, though Noel did say that talking to yourself is a sign of mental stability; of course, he could have been making that up.” Azrael pondered a moment longer before shaking his head. “I wonder if Michael’s ever forgiven me for spilling coffee on his favorite shirt twelve years ago. He was never one to hold a grudge, but he was pretty mad at me…”

Azrael closed his eyes and decided that he should try to sleep while his captor wasn’t around; hopefully, his memories would allow him a few moments rest before they forced him to relive days he longed to forget. His captor hadn’t tortured him aside from breaking his wing; in fact, he had hardly even been down there since capturing him. Why? What was he plotting? What was Raphael scheming and how did it involve Kaiya?