Chapter 28

"How are you feeling?" Kyriel asked, walking on unsteady legs toward Aya.

Aya was getting sick of that damned question, however, for some reason he couldn't manage to snap at Kyriel like he had the others. He felt more like he should be dropping to his knees and begging forgiveness for making the angel worry. That feeling bothered him more than anything. He wasn't the type to go kneeling and begging!

"Just be glad that you feel this way about an angel and not a demon," Kyriel said, like he had read his mind. The Seraph sat down next to him and looked him over.

"Its because you healed me?" Aya asked. He hoped to hell it wasn't, because if it was then it was permanent!

"Yes, I'm so…"

Aya held up his hand to silence the apology.

"Did the steaks help?" Kyriel asked, offering him a small smile.

"You know they did," Aya all but growled, but then suddenly stopped, feeling like his heart was beating a mile a minute. Shit, was it going to feel like he was going to have a heart attack every time he did anything disrespectful around the angel?

"I actually was not sure, as I have never…given blood to heal before. I have heard stories but I have never done it myself," Kyriel explained.

"Thank you, Yuki," Kyriel gave a small bow of his head to the demon as she set another plate of steak in front of him. He ate quickly but neatly.

"If you'd have taken my blood you'd be stronger," Devi said as he took a seat to Aya's right.

"I insisted that you take mine instead of his because it is far more dangerous to take a demon's blood, plus it would put the Revlis clan as a whole with a claim on you, whereas my blood only gives me a claim on you. And I'm sure you know I would never abuse that claim."

Aya was glad. The mere thought of being part demon and possibly being some demon's bitch just didn't sit well with him. He'd had enough of being under another's power when Schwarz had caught him.

"I'll bet I taste better than Kyriel anyways," Devi teased, winking at Aya.

"I'll take your word for it," Aya rolled his eyes at the demon.

Kyriel chuckled and then winced as his wing jerked to the side painfully.

"That's it! Back to bed!" Silver all but growled at Kyriel, taking him by the arm.

"As you say, my dear Silver," Kyriel sighed, following her.

"Another steak? You're going to get so fat," Ken snorted as Aya started eating.

"Where are you putting all that?" Yohji teased, kissing Aya's temple as the swordsman ate faster than he could ever remember. He hoped he didn't look like a slob.

"I told you, man, its all going to go to his ass!" Ken laughed, dodging when Aya turned to swipe at him.

"Any word on Schwarz? We can't just leave them out there to hurt more people. We have to take them down," Aya pushed his empty plate aside and folded his hands together.

"There have been a few demon attacks, but Silver has some teams looking into it. No sign of psychic energy or anything, though. I don't know what to think, really," Omi explained, trying to discreetly look Aya over to see how his injuries were healing.

Aya could feel a tick start in his right eye. He was getting sick of people staring at him! Getting tired of constantly being asked if he was alright, and even more so, getting tired of feeling so damned weak!

"Rem said that he couldn't smell Schwarz anywhere, either. He even took his other form to sniff around," Yohji's hands closed on his shoulders and started to dig deep into the muscles, rubbing them. Aya all but sagged under the touch. It felt so good.

"He got a good scent of theirs from when we found you, and has it kind of locked in his memory," Ken added. Aya noticed the boy had shied away from the word 'rescue', he was glad of it. He already felt pathetic, it was even worse to have been rescued by his teammates!

"Tomorrow we're going to go looking for them," Aya decided. He wasn't going to sit around and wait for them to come to him!

"Only if you're on your feet. We aren't going to take you with us if you're still exhausted," Yohji chided. Yohji was one of the few people who could get away with talking to him like that. It still irked the hell out of him, but he would put up with it for now as long as the man didn't take it too far. He would only be pushed around so much before he started pushing back! And, of course, if he were at full strength there would be no pushing at all. But right now it wasn't exactly like he could fight him on it.