The Virtue Of My Dark Angel, Dark Angels of the Apocalypse Book 3

Chapter Twenty-Four: Hide And Seek

Bethany..

She had been scooped off her feet by a rather recalcitrant Barbatos, who scolded her for coming so far out to find him. Not that she particularly listened. As a point of fact, even if she hadn’t been trying to, she made it difficult for Barbatos to carry her by squirming around. He grumbled at her to be still, but she just retorted that he should put her down. Neither of them got their way, and Ginger only complicated matters by running around them and barking. Barbatos stopped by the porch to release her, but by that time she was fuming.

“I’m not sick, you know.” She snapped angrily at Barbatos, smoothing down her clothes. He snorted.

“Never said you were.” He responded swiftly.

“Then stop treating me like it!” She barked back just as quickly, and he scowled.

“Listen to me, girl. For as long as you carry my children, live on my property and bear my Mark, I will treat you with all the respect the future mother of my children and my lover deserves. Which is to say, if I feel like spoiling you, you will accept it with a smile, and not an attitude, do you hear me, bear-killer?” Barbatos roared. Bethany gritted her teeth, balling her hands into fists. Of course this is what it all came down to again. She only had herself to blame, being ousted by her own children. Is this how her mother felt?

Bethany blinked, temper suddenly cooled.

No. She had promised herself long ago not to be like the people in her life.

She blinked back sudden tears, and Barbatos’ expression changed to one of bewilderment. She could almost see him trying to figure out what he had said to cause her to cry.

“D-Drew?” Barbatos’ uncertain voice caught her off guard, more than any of the arguments they’d had to this point. Even more so than the fact that Drew almost immediately came running.

“What is it? IS it the babies?” Drew gripped Bethany’s shoulders and began checking her over, stopping only when he saw her tears to glare at Barbatos. “What did you do?” He snarled. Again, Bethany was surprised by Barbatos’ apparent helplessness as his mouth gaped open and closed like a fish as Drew watched on.

“Aw forget it.” She finally spoke up, dashing away any trace of her tears. “It’s not important.” Bethany tried to turn away, but Drew had her captured in his hands and wasn’t letting go. “Drew..” She warned.

“No. Something’s obviously the matter. You’ve been crying. And acting weird. Barbatos back me up here.” Drew shot out, but Barbatos floundered, and Bethany’s eyes widened. She had never seen him this way, and apparently, neither had Drew.

“‘Tos?” Drew turned to stare at Barbatos, finally releasing Bethany, which gave her the perfect opportunity to escape. The problem was, she didn’t have a whole lot of places she could go. That thought was particularly potent as she made her way inside, effectively trapping herself.

“Crap.” She spat, looking around, and then she remembered the Nursery. Perhaps there was an unfinished wall or connection to the house or something she could slip through. Maybe a window without any glass, she thought desperately as she made her way there. “Damnit!” She’d been wrong again. Everything in the room was already smooth and finished except for a few finishing touches like caulking up the places the logs didn’t quite meet just right, or placing the rug, blankets and clothes. It was unbelievable how quickly these two men worked. Shelving was in the process of being installed, a small wardrobe was being assembled, it was, all in all, utter perfection, combined with the rustic hand-hewn look of the farmhouse. Bethany teared up, hating the thought of her children growing up here without her.

“Beth? ‘Tos, I swear if you’ve hurt her feelings-Demon or no, I’ll rip your arms off and beat you with them!” Drew growled, and Bethany turned around with the tears spilling down her cheeks to see both men staring at her with wide eyes. She couldn’t stand the tension anymore. The raw feelings choking her were too much, and she shoved past the men to bolt from the house. She was sure the only reason she managed to make it past them, was because the men were caught off guard. Otherwise, either of them could have easily captured and held her. She ran as far and as fast as she could, and it felt as though something inside her gave aid to her flight. Or maybe someone, or someones, because she ran faster than she ever had. Even Ginger, who came racing after her, seemed to struggle to keep up. She made it into the trees and bounced off of some invisible barrier. Her head immediately began to ache. When she raised a hand to it, she felt a lump forming on her forehead. Bethany screamed uselessly, dropping to her knees and pounding her fists into the ground. Ginger whined and circled her, the worry practically rolling off him.

“I told you you couldn’t leave without my permission.” Barbatos’ soft grumbly voice was barely audible over her wails of frustration. In fact, she felt it more than heard it, as he touched her Mark softly.

“Let me go.” She pleaded, all pretense gone. She had given up. She couldn’t take it anymore. The idea that at any time it would all be over. That she would be forced to abandon her children. “Let me go before you make me leave.” Bethany begged.

“What? Why would you say that?” Barbatos’ confusion sounded genuine, and when she turned to look up at him through her tears, she had planned to plead her case, promise to bring the children back, whatever she needed to, but instead, what she found was a Barbatos that had stiffened. He was frozen with his nostrils flaring.

“Bethany, go back to Drew.” Barbatos commanded sharply.

“What?!” She exclaimed. She wasn’t ready for the abrupt subject change.

“Go back, now!” Barbatos snarled, pulling her to her feet and giving her a shove in the direction of the farmhouse. He spat something at Ginger in what Bethany was sure was another language, and for once, the dog snapped to attention, following after Bethany immediately, hackles raised. Each time Bethany tried to turn back or disobey Barbatos, Ginger was there, shoving on her legs, putting his whole body into the action, leaning heavily on her until she thought she might fall.

“I’m going, I’m going!” She complained, stumbling, as her knees tried to give out on her. She tried to look over her shoulder for Barbatos, but he had already disappeared on her.

Drew..

Drew heard Bethany cursing before he saw her, and dropped everything he was doing to run out to meet her at the edge of the orchard. Ginger was desperately shoving at her, and it appeared that the dog was who she was arguing with, which shocked Drew, because sure, he’d heard her sling insults at the dog, but nothing like this. Worse, Ginger was in an alert state that immediately had Drew’s own hackles up. Ginger’s head was on a swivel, ears perked, fur bristling, tail stiff, and he nearly snapped at Drew when he saw him.

“Whoa Pupper, it’s just me. What’s going on?” He couldn’t keep the worry from his voice, particularly as Bethany’s own irritation and disturbed feelings came through. “Beth?” Drew looked from Bethany to Ginger, and then had to try to keep up as Bethany began babbling about what had happened while a complex rush of anger and fear came from Barbatos. That, more than anything, had him scooping Bethany up in his arms and running with a barking Ginger chasing after him all the way back towards the farmhouse.

Barbatos..

His form fell apart, he couldn’t even stabilize his Demon form. He had two, technically. One he was cursed with when he ‘Fell’ from ‘Grace’ as the Humans would call it. And the corrupted form that his Virtue’s power twisted into a mocking facsimile of what he imagined all those who considered themselves ‘righteous’ thought Demons should look like. Scaly. Extra limbs. Red eyes. Otherwise, he just kept his human shape.

But there were some situations..

Like right now.

The scent of the Deceiver was on the air, and his tails lashed, then there was only one tail to beat against his furry flank, and then none before two again sprouted, scales rasping against his thigh.

He had sent Bethany back to Drew. Drew would protect her and their unborn children. Children Barbatos was certain he had felt send wordless panic his way before he even noticed the scent of the Deceiver. Could they have felt some trace of him in the very large hole punched in Barbatos’ private dimension? And where was the Deceiver? Barbatos could tell he had been here, but where did he go? It didn’t seem as though he’d come within the Dimension Barbatos had built. Why? Why would the Deceiver create such a large opening, and then just.. Leave? Everything in Barbatos screamed there was no way. The Deceiver had to be up to something.

So Barbatos was following the Deceiver’s scent with only one final look back in the direction of the farmhouse where the four most important people in his life remained, and the three he knew Drew would do anything to protect had returned.

Bethany..

For days, Drew hardly let Bethany out of his sight. He slept with her in his arms, at least one hand wrapped protectively around her stomach. He hovered over her, and jumped at every noise, keeping a weapon close at hand. Ginger was just as bad, fur always bristling, a low growl vibrating his sides as he snarled at any movement of the wind.

They were smothering her.

That was why she found herself trying to escape them more and more frequently.

It’s not that she didn’t understand Drew’s fears. Barbatos had taken off on her and still had not come back, but she couldn’t take the practical babysitting by the dog and human, like she was some irresponsible toddler. And if it kept up for much longer, she was going to scream.

And that was what led her to standing on the porch, staring off at the distance, after having Drew basically force-feed her breakfast and dog her from room to room afterwards. And speaking of dogs.. Ginger prowled around the house, hackles raised, head swiveling, ears and eyes on the alert. Bethany rolled her eyes.

“You’re both nuts.” She muttered at Ginger, who merely wagged his tail once, and continued his rounds. He stopped every few passes to walk up on the porch and stand beside her for moment, glaring off into the distance like he could see something she couldn’t. Then he’d lick her hand or nose at her abdomen and prowl around the house again. After the third time that happened, she danced out of reach, flinging her hands skyward.

“Ok, you’ve got to stop that! It’s creeping me out! And pissing me off!” She snapped, and Ginger looked up at her balefully like she was the crazy one. “Stop it!” She hissed, pointing at Ginger, and edged slowly away.

“Weirdo.” She mumbled under her breath, but apparently Ginger heard, and looked over his shoulder at her almost sadly before making another lap around the house.

The thought occurred to Bethany that while Drew was busy inside and Ginger was around the back of the house, she could slip away and no one might know. She rubbed her slightly rounded stomach, It wasn’t enough to slow her down yet.. Ginger snuffled his way around the corner of the house and raised his head to look at her accusingly.

“Never mind, you’d catch up to me.” Bethany grumbled at the dog, who sneezed, and kept walking. Bethany took that as an accusatory ‘yes’, but regardless, found herself taking a step or two off the porch and away from the house. Was she being ridiculous? Part of her felt like she probably was. But another part just couldn’t stand the smothering.

Another step carried her a little further away, and she longed to keep going. Part of her was missing the freedom of her old life, wandering around, calling everywhere and nowhere home.

Except for those slavers.

Bethany frowned.

It hadn’t been the first time she had been captured, or nearly captured. She’d just gotten lucky nearly every time. She was resourceful, and Ginger was sneaky. Speaking of which, where was he? Shouldn’t he be back by now? She turned to look for the dog, her frow deepening. There was no way Ginger let her out of her sight for long. Especially not now. Bethany’s hand skimmed her abdomen, and she took a cautious step back towards the house.

“Ginger? What happened to you, you overgrown furry nanny?” She grumbled, walking towards the corner of the house. A different sort of sound made her stiffen. It was the sound of someone cursing. An unfamiliar voice. Bethany tried to backpedal quickly.

“Oh no you don’t.” A strong hand caught her by the arm and she jerked, automatically ducking and twisting, trying to escape.

“Whoa! Hey! Don’t let her escape!” Yelled a voice.

“I can’t help it, she’s slippery!” Responded the man trying to hold onto her.

“God’s sake, this dog took off half my fingers!” Cursed another voice, and Ginger’s limp body was heaved in her direction by a third burly man with a large scar under one eye and over his chin.

“I keep telling you it’s you. You’re gonna get yourself killed going after the beasts like that.” Tsked a fourth. He had a rat-like face and Bethany instantly disliked him. To top it off, his red hair was something like the horror-doll stories her grandmother used to tell her to make her behave. When he smirked in her direction and kicked Ginger, Bethany decided she hated him, and her face must have shown it because he chuckled.

“The look she’s given’ me.” He smirked, and Bethany christened him ‘Chucky’ in her head. “Aw, are you sad we killed your poor puppy? Poor wittle girl gonna cry?”

There was a sudden gunshot and the man with the scar under his eye fell to the ground with a howl.

“Beth!” Drew bellowed, bursting from the tattered remains of the door with a shotgun. But it was too late, because another two men leapt the railing and bludgeoned Drew until he fell to the porch unconscious while Bethany screamed and struggled to get free. It took Chuck and the remaining standing goon to hold her.

“Are you sure this is the Demon’s human, boss? Why were there two of ‘em?” One of the men shouted over Bethany’s wailing as she watched Drew’s blood seep slowly into the porch. His face was misshapen, and the wrong color, and he wasn’t moving. He’d gotten in a few good hits himself, but these men came prepared. Bethany saw one of them pocketing something that looked like a needle and syringe. Where would they have gotten that? Medical supplies were coveted, and extremely hard to come by. Especially sterile supplies. She was horrified again at the possibilities of what could happen as she sobbed, staring at Drew.

“Doesn’t matter. Men are practically useless to us. Women are what we look for, you know that. If she’s not already knocked up, we’ll make sure she gets a Demon spawn bun in that oven soon enough. Anybody seen any sign of hybrid kids?” Bethany’s nemesis ‘Chuck’ drawled. She turned her head and spat at him, and received a hit upside the face that made her ears ring for her trouble.

“I have orders to bring you back alive.” He hissed at her. “That doesn’t mean it can’t be brain-dead.” Bethany’s eyes watered, and she watched as the two men who’d beaten Drew shoved their way into the house through the broken door. She could hear them stomping around inside on the hand-hewn wooden flooring before they came back out, one with a triumphant grin.

“Looks like that Angel gave us good info. She’s probably preggers, or they were planning for her to be. They’re preppin’ for kids in there. Cribs an’ everything in the works in there.” He patted a gun that was slung across his chest by a strap proudly like he’d done the deed himself from impregnating Bethany to building the nursery.

“Prepping could be the key word. We’ll have the kid check to be sure. Still, could be a stroke of luck. Hate dealin’ with those horned and winged freaks.” ‘Chuck’ said the last sentence under his breath, but Bethany bared her teeth at him.

“That’s not what they look like, and you should know that by now.” She spat. He smirked at her again and she struggled to free her arms, wanting to smack the look off his face.

“I guess you’d know. You’ve been extra up close and personal with one, haven’t ya? Heck, maybe even more than one.” Chuck sneered. Bethany’s temper flared, but Chuck raised a police baton. Is that what he’d hit her with earlier? “Try me, girl.” He challenged. Bethany snarled. His use of the word ‘girl’ wasn’t anything like the way Barbatos used it.

“Hey boss whadda we do with this one?” One of the men kicked the injured man on the ground, who was bleeding badly. He groaned weakly. From the looks of it, the shotgun blast had driven wood from the door into his torso, and Ginger had indeed taken off several of his fingers. The blood had stained his clothing and was soaking into the ground. His skin had gotten sweaty and pale, and Bethany wondered if he was in shock.

“Kill him, and bring the body. Dispose of the blood. We don’t want any evidence that those magic fuckers can trace back to us, now do we? And the Warding only covers so much.” Chuck responded unsympathetically. Bethany gaped. Suely not. The injured man could probably still be saved! But then she stifled a scream as the man in front of her complied, simply putting a single bullet through his compatriot’s head. Bethany stared at Chuck.

“How could you-?” She began, but he shrugged.

“He probably would have died before we made it back anyway. And even if he didn’t, he woulda slowed us down. Now, let’s go before your ‘friend’ comes back.” The smirk was back on Chuck’s face, and all-told, the whole operation probably took less than thirty minutes, even with Bethany trying to make it difficult for the kidnappers. The last thing she saw was the farmhouse before they men disappeared with her into the trees. Somewhere down there, the most faithful friend she’d ever had in the world lay dead. And next to him, one of the best lovers she’d ever known lay most likely dying. She loved them both, and Barbatos too, and her heart broke, imagining that she’d never see any of them ever again.