The artifact, vaguely as it sounded, was stored in a 13x4 inches red mahogany box with weird symbols carved all over it. If Kye didn't know it was indeed a box, she would've easily mistaken it for a solid block of wood. It didn't have any lock, keypad, or opening slit. It was also deceptively light. Besides the fact it was quite beautiful to look at, there was nothing that indicated this was the box that held one of the most powerful weapons that had ever been made. Kye only learned from Ruby that it was some type of close combat weapon that could kill anything it came in contact with, mortal or immortal, a true Michael's masterpiece. The Resistance was in the process of collecting any heavenly or supernatural objects it could use to "tip the scale toward us" as Bobby, Ruby's handler, said.
The Resistance, or The Red Serpent Resistance in full, used to be a small grassroot movement among other similar groups and organizations. For some reasons, it was able to withstand many seek-and-destroy operations from the angels to be the only one left standing in the Western Hemisphere. It has caused major chaos and a nuisance for the garrisons and their councils to deal with in the past decade.
Kye understands the artifact's importance to Michael and the angels, but what is her importance to the Resistance? It took them 5 years and many well-trained, devoted-to-the-cause men and women to acquire that artifact. It doesn't make any sense they would be willing to give it back to Michael, right after they just got it, in exchange for her. She doesn't know a whole lot about their other plans either. She has only been in contact with them for 4 months, solely through Ruby and her handler, though she heard the guy was a big shot in the organization. They would contact her when she's needed, not the other way around.
How she got herself here, you would ask. It all started with a nothing out of ordinary business dinner. Kye accompanied Michael to a restaurant located between Aax District and Steel Heights, a more industrial area of Ayham city. He was going to meet Fergus Crowley, a businessman turned politician that somehow managed not only to survive but to thrive after the War. He was a Council member and a man who knew how to play all of his cards right. A lot of people saw him as a disgrace to humankind, who would sell his mom out for half a cent but Kye thought the guy was quite witty and resourceful. He could be downright funny and charming when he wanted to but don't get the wrong idea that he was your friend. Crowley was only on Crowley's team. Cross him and you'd die, or live to suffer.
Michael was listening to Crowley's plan about opening the harbor, how it would revive the city and help its miserable citizens. Angels didn't need food and supplies to survive but humans did and the city was in bad shape. That was the root of all the crimes and riots. The Resistance was also just waiting for an opportunity to incite more uproars and violence. They might seem like a bunch of backcountry idiots just having death wish but they got bolder and more creative each day that Michael agreed the angels should not underestimate these creatures if they wished to govern Earth in peace.
They were about to conclude the meeting when Alastair and his men came in gun blazing. His cold gray eyes locked onto Crowley's surprised face for a moment before moving on to Michael's. The angel didn't show any emotions but his left hand grabbed Kye's wrist with such a force the moment he saw the door was kicked open. His eyes never once left Alastair. He was going to teleport them out of there before a silver-looking bullet hit him on the shoulder. Alastair gave them a chilly triumphant grin, his whole demeanor reminded Kye of a predator just located his prey and was ready to pounce.
While a lot of people wished death on the angels and their councils' members, only a few had the muscles to carry out the threat. Alastair happened to be the guy with enough resources and connections, and he meant business. He and Crowley used to be partners, but something went wrong between them and there was just bad blood ever since. Alastair recruited a lot of competent people to work for him, one of them was a young woman named Charlie. She was a weapon engineer who obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry and material science at the age of 16. Her family used to dominate the biotechnology industry until they were all killed in the War. No one saw or heard about her after that, all the way until she resurfaced again, working for Alastair.
During the War, there were a lot of casualties on both sides. When an angel died, he or she would leave behind a weapon known as an angel blade. The blade was made of grace-infused celestial steel. It was considered an extension of an angel. The battlefield was filled with these blades. Alastair had ordered his men to collect them because he thought they might be of use in the future. When Charlie started working for Alastair and learned about his extensive collection of angel blades, just sat there taking space and collecting dust, she decided to turn them into something more familiar to humans. She melted them into different size bullets and strengthened them with Enochian sigils.
The bullet that shot Michael was one of these Charlie made. It didn't kill him but it wounded him severely. He could only get Kye and himself to an alley 2 blocks away before passing out. Kye had the fear of her life when Michael gave her a drowsy smile then went limp in her arms. Blood poured out from his wound turned his pristine white shirt red and started to soak through his suit jacket. She tried with all her might to lift him and drag him deeper into the dark alley. Michael's shallow and shaky breaths were the only things letting her know he was still alive. She prayed for the people back at the restaurant to somehow get away unharmed but she highly doubted it and then was not the time to worry about anything or anyone else. Michael still leaned on her heavily. Her dress and heels made it very difficult to move. They were vulnerable out there in the open. She needed to get them into a safe place and wait for the help to come. By then, the people who worked for Michael should already be aware of the situation.
That's when she heard a familiar "Psst, kitty" before seeing a silhouette emerged from the dark. There was Ruby. She looked just like the last time Kye saw her about three and a half years ago, in a burgundy leather jacket, black top, and dark jeans, gracefully leaning on one of the back doors' frames with some concern in her eyes but a familiar confident smirk on her lips. Kye always found it endearing. The fact that Ruby was standing there, though unusual as it seemed, calmed Kye down greatly. She strangely felt the weight on her shoulder and the knot in her stomach slowly disappeared.
Ruby had been Kye's best friend and family since Kye was 7 years old, right after her dad died. After supposedly signing up for the domesticated companion job together with Kye, Ruby just disappeared. No goodbye or explanation. It drove Kye crazy looking for her, trying to find out what happened and where she might've gone but all Kye got were false leads and conflicting information. After a while, with everything going on in life at the loft and back home, Kye had to give up on the search and just prayed that wherever Ruby was, she could make the best out of life. Ruby had always been a survivor so Kye could only try to find peace with that.
Kye looked at the other girl, the whole situation just seemed unreal.
"Ruby, how...why are you here?" Kye asked under her breath. Her voice sounded strange like it was from someone else.
"Later, Kye. Right now we need to get your feather boyfriend somewhere safe" Ruby straightened her back up and walked away from the door frame, hands in her jeans pockets.
"He's not...Ruby, where are we going?" Kye panted with Michael's long body draping on her helplessly, asking Ruby who walked a few steps ahead of her.
"Sorry" Ruby turned back. She put Michael's other arm over her shoulders to share the weight but didn't answer Kye's question. They walked for a few minutes before stopping at the back of an empty store. Ruby pulled out her phone to type in a line of numbers. The heavy metal door creaked open.
"Cool, huh?" Ruby looked slightly proud.
They dragged Michael up the stairs which were right behind that door. They led up to the second floor of the building. There was another red door at the top of the stairs. Ruby opened it with a similar method to the last one. When they got inside, Kye took a moment to observe the place.
The whole floor was open, empty, and covered with dust. All the way to the other side was a twin size mattress with a single pillow and blanket on it, a small fridge, an old tv with two antennas on top, a chair, a laptop sitting next to a desk lamp on top of a wooden table that littered with empty beer bottles and take out boxes. The street lights outside shone through several large casement windows gave the space an orange hue.
"Nice place..." Kye said uncertainly.
"Thanks, but put your boyfriend down here, I only have one bed. Don't want to sleep in blood". Ruby threw the laptop on her twin mattress then proceeded to sweep all of the bottles and take out boxes to the floor with her free arm. They dropped Michael on the table. Luckily it was long enough to take most of his tall body. Ruby went over the windows, carefully looked outside before closing the thick sand color curtains. The darkness swallowed the whole place. She picked up the desk lamp that fell on the floor and turned it on. Ruby then pulled out her phone again.
"Hey Fig, got a favor to ask, please get your cute ass over here...Yes, the bird nest. Hurry up!" Ruby said impatiently before hanging up and turned to look at Kye.
"He's not gonna die, y'know..." Ruby said. Kye knew her face must've looked God awful, she had tried so hard to hold everything in since they got to the alley, so she looked up and gave Ruby her best attempt of a smile. Ruby rolled her eyes hard and groaned loudly.
"Please, don't give me that heartbroken lover look like you're gonna die with him. His kind is tough and he's an archangel for God's sake, that bullet does nothing to him! Beer?" She opened the fridge and asked Kye without looking back.
"No thanks, maybe later... Do you have something stronger?" Kye sat down on the only chair in Ruby's place next to the table. She took Michael's hand in hers. It was always cold to touch but she couldn't feel his grace prickled at her hand as usual. She frowned at the thought of what it could mean.
Ruby gave the sight a thoughtful look before walking over to a corner, kneeled on one knee, and used her pocket knife to lift one of the floorboards. "I hide all of the good stuffs down here," She said while pulling out a tall glass bottle with clear, amber color liquid inside. "Whiskey, neat?"
***
That night, Kye first learned about what Ruby really did in the time they were apart. She joined the Resistance right after Kye was selected to work for Michael. Turned out, it was Ruby's plan all along to encourage Kye to take the job, waited for her friend to settle in before going out on her own. She knew Kye would never agree to join the organization with her. After Kye's dad died, she had vowed to never be like him, went out and died for some cause, some "greater good", and leave behind a broken family. Her dad was a medic. A bomb exploded under his unit's van when they were on their regular route to find and rescue people who were stuck in the war zone. It took Kye, her mom, and her brother Nick a long time to pick up the pieces and rebuild as a family after his death.
Ironically, the War was almost over then. Humanity was forced to enter a negotiation, more like a surrender to the angels because there was really not much else to do. Earth already depleted most of its resources. People who didn't get killed during the War struggled to survive with food shortages and diseases. It was hell. Kye's family took Ruby in around this time. She was this skinny, dirty thing wrapped in rags with eyes that had seen too much. Kye's mom found her wandering the street all by herself, eating scraps on the ground. She must've looked miserable enough for a woman with no means to survive and 2 mouths to feed already decided to take her in.
Listening to Ruby just left Kye in thorough disbelief. One thing to be an occasional trouble maker but an entirely different thing to actually go join a rebel group. She never, in a million years, took Ruby for the type. She was not some doe-eyed naïve girl or an idealist who would die for a cause, no matter how good the cause was.
Ruby leaned back on the table and sighed. "My life's shit anyway, Kye. Maybe I can do some good before leaving this Earth. This is no way to live under these sky assholes. I'm not gonna play house with them. No offense to you." She looked down and bit her lower lip. "By the way, I would not make a good pet either. Probably get my ass smitten if I didn't find the way to kill the fucker first." Ruby chuckled sadly.
"Then why did you encourage me to sign up for the job if you thought angels were assholes? Which by the way, most of them are! You just left me high and dry!"
Kye was getting very upset. Ruby made it sound so light the way she was just up and left everyone behind.
"'Cause what else were we supposed to do, Kye? Ma's health ain't getting any better and Nick was growing bigger every day. We needed money, food. There were not a lot of job options out there if you haven't noticed." Ruby scoffed "My job at the bar ain't cutting it so I had to figure something else out, fast. They were hiring companion jobs for some hotshots just rotated down from Heaven so I figured, why not? It's not an honorable job but the pay's great. Maybe suffer a few beating here and there but other than that, don't have to do much most of the time, and if the angel likes you, you're getting out of the shithole. Like I said before, I'm no angel's pet, but you could be. You hated the everyday hustles in Eastwick and rather just stuck to your dead-end job at Donn's store getting abused by that asshole every day so I thought this might be the way out for both of us. I could go join the Resistance with peace of mind knowing that you're taken care of."
"That's real thoughtful of you, Ruby." Kye said sarcastically, "Mom worried sick about you. Nick didn't leave his corner for days blaming himself that maybe he annoyed you so much that's why you left for good, and I," Kye shook her head, her eyes started to fill with tears of mixed emotions, "I went looking for you like a maniac. We had no idea what happened to you. We thought of the worst-case scenario, because if you were alive, why didn't you contact us? Why didn't you come home? You're something else, Ruby" Kye chuckled humorlessly.
Ruby sighed with an apologetic look in her eyes "Look, I know I've been real shitty to you guys. I never meant for it to be like that. But it was dangerous ok? What I decided to do was dangerous. I was not even sure I did the right thing, so the less you knew, the better."
She came closer and kneeled on one knee to be on eye level with Kye.
Her sister continued shaking her head. There were so many things left unsaid between them, so many questions Kye wanted to ask. They stayed like that for a long moment, staring at each other before 3 crude knocks threw them back to reality.
Notes:
I wondered why this chapter took so long to complete. Turned out It was as long as 2-3 chapters combined after I did word count. I didn't want it to become so long so I decided to cut it in half and save the rest for the next update. Work smarter, not harder lol :D Hope I won't bore you guys to death! Give me some feedback and suggestions, lovely people! Thank you so much!