Chapter Four: Angel's Protection

"Um… Jo?"

"No, you stupid girl! My name is Crave, and you are now my prisoner!"

"But they wouldn't leave me behind like that!" I yelled, punching at him as I realised where he was standing through the darkness.

He kicked me sharply in the face to get me on my back again. "They did come back for you, but they were severely outnumbered by my second team. They had the choice of dying to try and save you, or turning back and leaving you here. They chose to live, so now you remain."

I already hated this Crave guy. I could see his teeth as he laughed out loud. He was loving this.

*******

"What the hell happened?"

"Sei, calm down! Is it really that much of a loss?"

Meg rounded on Jo, taking the opposite side for the first time. "How could you say that, Jo? Of course it's a loss! She's one of us now!"

Jo looked as though she had swallowed a thorn as her face went bright red with anger and her hand clutched for her throat as though it had tightened and she couldn't breathe. "One of us? One of us?!"

"She is, and the sooner you realise that the better!" Sei yelled this time. Her hand gripped the sofa chair beside her so tightly that her knuckle went white, but her face was deadly calm.

"An order, Sei? Careful where you step."

"It isn't an order, Jo. It's advice. You have to get used to her whether you like it or not because she is staying with us, got it?"

Invisible flames were sparking from the pair as they stared each other down. A single sound could set them off like a spark in a fire, and the inferno could very well be deadly. Jo was a fast aim with her gun, and she would shoot almost anyone down if her temper reached the point it was breaching.

To calm her down before there was blood, Meg gripped her shoulder bravely and squeezed it to relieve her nerves. "Jo, please go back for her. Do it for me, at the least."

Jo was not even listening to what Meg said. She was unable to understand the fact of this 'child' being let into their group. It had become her family over the years, and she didn't want anything to get in the tight circle. What gave Sei the right to make that happen? What gave her the right to open her arms to a stranger, and a dangerous stranger at that?

Sei's deep blue eyes were penetrating. They never left Jo, even when she took a seat in the sofa. Across from her, Amy looked terrified. It was the first time she had remained silent for over a minute, and everyone slowly began to realise this as she sobbed and whimpered.

Being protective and motherly when the time was needed, Meg crouched beside the young girl and pulled her into her arms. She whispered that it would be okay into her ear, but she shook her head.

"But what about her? What about Rachael? We can't just leave her!"

Jo sighed and threw her hands up into the air. "You as well?"

"Jo!" Sei shook her head in disbelief. "Look, it's you're choice if you go back for her or not. Neither of us can force you. All I ask is that you remember when you first came to this trailer and we began to bond together as a family. Think of how frightening it was, even for you, the tough bounty hunter. You wanted to be accepted, I could see it in you're eyes." She sighed and took in a deep breath before turning away as though to give Jo privacy. "Think about it before you decide."

It was the first time in a very long time that Sei had called them a family, and that alone hit Jo in the heart. The rest of it almost made her eyes water. She had not thought about it for years, but the pain of having to open up to others had brought in a flood of other emotions that she had never had to deal with before. This memory had images with it too. She could see herself standing in that doorway behind her, protectively close to Meg, but her own eyes begged for someone to be there beside her as she faced a new home that would hold a completely new family.

She made her decision then and there. It embarrassed her, made her feel weak, prodded at her heart and made her turn redder than before, so she didn't state it to the others. She simply loaded her guns and left the trailer.

Sei smiled after her and let out the breath she had been holding. "There she goes, off to save the girl… I'm proud of her."

Meg smiled across at the oldest member of the trailer and sighed. "She lost the argument. She won't let you forget that, you know."

Sei laughed before her face became serious again "I know. I wouldn't have it any other way."

******

My phone rang the first time without me even noticing. I was drifting off to sleep against a stone cold wall of cement, my head against my chest as my gruelling reality became too boring and bitter to remain in.

I had received the phone from Sei in the morning before the mission had begun. It was almost always on silent as to avoid getting us caught when the enemy had us in their clutches as was the situation I was in. I had forgotten this fact in my fear of the capture, of course, so it rang out in my pocket without my knowledge.

The second time the ringtone sung, I had my eyes open a crack and I saw my pocket light up. Of course, when you are drowsy from an overload of emotions and you are still half asleep, you tend to think that it is something absolutely unlikely, so I jumped out, crying out that my pocket was on fire.

Silence met my startled cried. Either my captors were all ignoring me, or they were too far away to hear me. When I discovered that it was my phone in my pocket and not mini inferno, I was glad that they cared so little or had such hard hearing. I flipped open the phone and pressed an ear to the receiving bars.

"Hello?" I said quietly into the device.

Sei's voice replied. "Rachael, thank god you're safe."

"Well, I'm not safe exactly, just lucky at the moment."

"What happened?"

I told her everything exactly from the point where they had taken me away from Jo and Meg. They pulled me down the halls from my hair, kicking me every now and then to hear me cry out. They were very cruel and heartless, and my swearing at their faces did not help my case much. They dumped me in this cell where chains were bolted around my wrists that were twisted tightly behind my back. Now my arms and hands were cramping and I was in tears from the pain as the shackles bit into my skin.

"How long have you been there?" Sei asked. She sounded very concerned, and I appreciated the fact.

"A few hours now," I explained. "I'm not entirely sure. There's no way of telling, and I've been falling asleep a lot."

"I see. Where are the thugs now?"

"In the next room," I explained, staring to the hall to my far left where I could see the faint light of the room they were all together in. Their laughter wafted down the hall and remained in my cell, so I was stuck listening to their arrogance as it echoes around in my head.

I explained a few more things to Sei to calm her down. I knew that she was scared for me, and her emotions shocked me a little due to the little time I had spent with her. Still though, I was flattered, and it gave me hope for becoming a good asset to the group. At least I had one friend so far. I wasn't entirely sure how the others saw me yet.

"Alright," she finally said, her voice holding less of a strain this time. "Jo is on her way right now. It shouldn't take her too long to get there. Just sit tight, okay?"

"Okay," I muttered quietly as I flipped the phone closed. I leaned back against the wall. How could this happen to me? It was my second day for crying out loud! What sort of luck was that?

My thoughts of anguish seemed to attract the thugs, for a pair of them came stumbling down the hall, laughing and punching each other drunkenly as they used everything they could find around them as support to keep themselves standing.

It took them a few moments to notice me once they stepped into the cell and headed towards the door. The slightly smart man stared at me for a good minute before he recognised me. "Hey, it's that girl!"

The other turned and nodded furiously, his face a mask of dumbfounded idiocy. "It is her! Woooow… you're a young one 'aint ya?"

I wished I could melt into the wall behind me as the men stared at me suspiciously. The malice in their eyes did not make me feel comfortable in their presence, and I started to fear that they would bring themselves upon me.

As the man whom was the first to spot me took a step forward, I got to my feet and pressed my back against the wall. "Hey, back off!" I growled, summoning some unknown courage that I didn't even know of myself. I balled my fists up and brought them forward to rest against my sides, making sure that the men could see them and realise that I was a threat.

They only laughed at me.

"Look at 'er, tryin' to scare us off, 'ey?" the closest replied stepping closer until he was only a metre away from me. He spread his arms out. "Come on then, hit me!"

As I stared at him I felt my mind seem to reel suddenly forward. My eyes became ore acute and all of the senses inside of me were growing until I could smell the sweat of the men. I could immediately recognise the shade of fear on the face of the second man, though he tried to hide it. I tensed as the one before me made a single movement, and as his hand reached out to me I moved with impossible speed that no human should possess.

"W-what?" Blood spurted out of the severed limb that was his arm. It was hanging by a thread as it bled so heavily it left a deep red pool on the floor. He was as pale was snow as she took a startled step back and fell down onto his back.

The man behind him ran, screaming out that I had turned onto a demon. I could not help but wonder if he was right. I couldn't control myself anymore. That attack held power I had not possessed before. I could feel it burning in the palms of my hands and reached up thought my arms until it hit my heart. It thundered in my chest and drove me to finish the soul before me whom pleaded like a dying child.

"Step away from him!" The man named Crave stepped out of the shadows towards me. Behind him at the end of the hall were the rest of the thugs. As they spied the bleeding man on the ground they all gasped with horror and stepped further back into the hall.

Crave swore as she saw his fallen thug comrade. "Damn it, Kent! What the hell happened?"

With a shaking hand, Kent pointed a finger at me. It shook so wildly he could have been pointing at anything before him, but he muttered out 'her… she's evil' before his eyes closed and his head fell back against the floor.

Crave lost it as Kent took his lat breath. Without a word he flung himself at me with his fist reaching for my face. Everything seemed to slow and I had a moment to stare into his face. To note the lines of anger that stretched across his face and the racked and broken teeth that clenched together and grinded. Almost as suddenly as it had come, my power fled me, and I was left with no amount of energy at all. My legs collapsed like sticks and I slid to the floor. The timing was brilliant, though, and Crave's fingers broke against the concrete wall.

He screamed and howled, kicking at the wall and examining his bleeding knuckles. By this point the thugs had decided to get the heck out of there, leaving me along with Crave. Only this time I had no hope of defending myself. All I could do was stare in fear at the man as he turned to me with a murderous fire in his eyes.

He pulled a hidden knife from the inside of his jacket and plunged it into my stomach before I could even react. I could barely feel the pain as the shock protected me like a shield. I could see the blood though. It spurted from me like a punctured orange. I felt suddenly weaker and felt myself beginning to tremble…

Then I saw it. An angel. A wingless angel…

Her wild white hair was a halo around her head as she slammed through the door leading out to the warehouse. There she stood, enshrouded in the shadows. I could see her eyes, crimson and burning, as they peered out through the darkness. She looked so calm and controlled, yet so strong and ready.

"W-who are you?" Crave cried out, reflecting my own thoughts.

The woman did not answer him. Instead she ran straight at him with a strong burst of energy. Her hands were shoved deep into her pockets, and from them she withdrew a pair of heavy silver pistols. She fired two shots into the thug's chest, and it was over in those mere seconds.

My vision was blurred by this point. I had used too much of my bodies strength in the sudden outburst of Satan, and my bleeding wound was not stopping. I collapsed completely onto my stomach with a strangled cry of fear and pain. Out of the corner of my eye the woman approached, and I shuffled away in fear. What sort of angel was this, emptying a pair of bullets into a man's chest so fast? I appreciated the fact, but the speed and confidence she held had rattled me. Weren't angels supposed to be graceful and calm?

I felt her hand wrap around my waist and I was heaved to my feet. She was so strong she didn't seem to have any trouble at all, but me on the other hand could not find any balance due to my faint state. I fell back, but she caught me tightly and let me rest on the ground. Her phone began to ring, and she answered swiftly.

"Yeah, I've got her Sei."

I couldn't believe it. "Jo?"

That was all I could manage as I fell unconscious in Jo's arms. In the arms of an angel.