Between Angels and Demons

Chapter 3: Secrets in the Dark

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Seto was walking through the park, his hands jammed into his pockets as he did so, his long white trench coat flaring out behind him. His dark chocolate hair shifted in the slight breeze and his deep azure eyes shifted over the landscape. He stopped at the sight of a beautifully blooming rose bush. Mokuba had once told him to stop and look at the roses sometime. He smiled at the memory of his younger brother. Sometimes he missed Mokuba. If only he had been there when...

Suddenly Seto was sent careening into the ground as a tall blonde ran full into him. It was obvious by the way the boy looked shocked at seeing him that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

"Yo, I'm sorry!" The boy stood and reached a hand out to Kaiba. "I'm Jou, nice to meet you... I'm sorry!" And with that the boy named Jou was off and on his way, running again.

Kaiba watched him run before retrieving his cell phone and calling for his car. The car pulled up in no time at all and Seto ordered the driver to cut off the young honey blonde.

~*~

Jou was worried. He had been looking for his younger sister Serenity for hours, and on top of it had run into and knocked over someone on the way. Someone he'd been watching for years in high school. Someone named Seto Kaiba.

"Damnit Serenity... You are gonna owe me big!" he growled to no one in particular.

Suddenly he heard a car horn and then he was cut off by a large white car. The door opened and Jou found himself looking in at Kaiba.

"Well are you getting in Mutt, or no?" Kaiba looked at Jou impatiently as he carefully got in the car. "Now what was the rush that forced you into me?"

"It's my little sis Serenity... She hasn't come home yet, and she never stays out this late without me. I mean, I know she was with her girlfriend Anzu, but since she was hiding her relationship, she always came home. That way Dad wouldn't say something or try to stop her."

"I see. Well, where would she go with this Anzu girl? Is there a common place for them?"

"Yeah... it's the old abandoned record warehouse downtown. They always go there to..."

Seto nodded and instructed his driver to go to the warehouse and sat back for the silent ride, watching his chocolate colored eyed companion.

~*~ Back At The Warehouse ~*~

Yugi and Malik straightened quickly when they heard a slight scuffling noise in the warehouse shadows. They looked up to see two pairs of eyes glowing at them and they gasped.

"M-Michael? Raphael?" Yugi asked quietly.

The two shadows moved slowly into the light, their shinning clothes glowed as their wings rustled.

Malik sighed in relief. "Oh thank you! You can h-"

"No we can't. This is your doing. If you had done as instructed and escorted them back we cou-"

"BUT IT'S YOUR FAULT TOO!"

Everyone looked at Yugi, in shock at his protective outburst.

Michael stepped forward and placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder. Yugi quickly shrugged it off, his eyes filled with tears as he looked up at the dark haired angel.

"You BANISHED them! They had no choice! They can't live here on their own energy! They have to do things like... THIS!" He motioned to the bodies of the women at his feet. "They can't help it..." He was practically sobbing and Malik went to hug him and hold him gently.

"He's right Michael. You could have kept this from happening." Malik added quietly as he comforted his friend.

Raphael looked them over. "Is that what you think? You think they didn't have a choice? What about their victims? Did they have a choice?"

Yugi looked up sharply. "They have to feed! They can't just die!"

Raphael looked at him hard. "Not those victims. The ones that caused their banishment!"

Michael sighed and sat on a crate heavily. "They all have different reasons for their banishment, but they all had victims of sorts." He sighed heavily again and motioned for them to sit. Yugi and Malik carefully huddled on a crate across from Michael.

"You three were never told the whole story about the incubi, which was a our mistake. And since Ryou is not with us, you'll have to tell him yourself.

"What I have to tell you, I know you will hate and not want to hear, but for yourselves, you must hear it."

The two young angels looked at him and nodded, waiting patiently. They were silent and fearful of what words would be coming from Michael. After all, it was a VERY rare occasion when he would leave heaven, and rarer still to see other angels. What ever it was he felt needed saying, was definitely important and not to be taken lightly.

"I'll start with the first one to have fallen. Bakura, the Angel of Hate. There really isn't much good that he had done being the angel of hate, but when he was good, he was a great ally. But once he was tempted, he fell hard, and brought Yami and Marik crashing with him.

"His first sin was his desire to taste power. He was very proud, as proud as he is beautiful. He believed in his power enough to go so far as to lead rebellions and encouraged thievery both on earth, and in heaven. He sought to steal the Sennen items (Fox: Yes the "millennium" or Sennen items will be important later) from under the eyes of the gods. He believed possessing them would be the key to becoming like Lucifer was before his fall. he wanted to be rivaled by none in power and beauty.

"His second sin was lust. He found in his hate blood and the blood lead him to lust. He found it stimulating to taste blood, to revel in its scent. He found that this blood gave power, and power attracts lovers. His first was a blood lusting human. And once he was considered fallen, he offered himself to Marik who gave himself to Bakura willingly, and he took Yami forcefully. This caused them to fall."

Michael stood and began pacing. "He continued his lust for blood, sex and power to the point of almost exposing us to the human world. He used his power to influence people to do things for his own desires to be fulfilled.

"Yami's sins aren't so many. He was raped, but later turned to Bakura for sex as a release. But that wasn't his reason for banishment. He was banished because he felt he had the power of god since he alone controlled the powers of death. This drove him to actually call out in front of the gods that he renounced them. For that he became a fallen."

Yugi's eyes were wide in shock and sadness. He had never imagined Yami to be that way.

Michael shifted toward Malik. "Marik... was lustful, but he was more consumed with his own desire for blood. He would bathe in it on occasion and even drank it like one would drink ambrosia. He felt the power that lies in the blood and became greedy. He gathered the power from the blood before a battle and would then use it to destroy as much as he possibly could. This power was unholy and evil in its roots. We were forbidden from drinking blood, but he would do it anyway. He would then take an innocent, be it angel or human, and have intercourse, creating hell spawn and fallen by the hundreds, then drink from them. It was disgusting." Michael closed his eyes. "The only reason they aren't dead yet is because of their power. If their power had been taken away, not even their living off of the essences of humans would keep them alive."

Yugi and Malik sat silently, letting the information sink into their minds as they did so. Michael nodded to Raphael, who stood and stretched out his wings. "We'll leave you to think, but don't linger. Human's will be here soon." and with that the two high archangels flew up and away from the warehouse, leaving two stunned archangels to gap at the bodies and think.

Suddenly the sound of a car pulling up was heard and the sound of two pairs of feet approached the door and a sudden gasp caused the angels to stir. When they looked up their eyes met that of a pair of mortal's… One had honey blonde hair, the other deep chocolate.

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Fox: And so the plot thickens.

Seto: Finally the good characters have made an appearance.

Bakura: What do you mean?! I am one of the good characters!

Seto: *shrugs* Whatever you believe.

Please read and review before they kill each other…