Disclaimer: (see previous chapter)

Fallen Angel

Chapter 11

Manhattan was bustling at night. The clubs and dance halls were never short of customers. Deshwitat looked at his "team." It consisted of Serena, Remi and Eiji.

"I love this city," Serena stated as she took a deep breath of metallic air. They all stared at her. "What? I don't get out much." They all shook their heads. Desh almost gagged. He could hardly draw air from the smog that surrounded New York City. 'How do humans manage it?' he wondered.

"So...what are we doing here again?" Eiji asked. Serena growled and made as if to hit him. Remi stopped her. 'Why me?' He shook his head. A man ran by them, screaming about being Vlad the Impaler. "Is that it?" Eiji said. Remi didn't answer. She was running after the madman, with Desh and Serry close behind.

They wove their way through the crowds for about five minutes. Desh realized that they were being led toward the docks: the warehouse district. The man disappeared. They split up, trying to cover more ground. Remi and Serena took one area, and he and monkey-boy took another. Neither he nor the ninja were happy about it. 'I didn't do anything to deserve this...ok maybe I did, but that's not the point! Wait, why am I talking to myself? I must be going in—'

KAAABOOOMMM!

He whirled around. Eiji was staring at smoke and flames coming from where the women had gone to search. He began running, Eiji following in his wake. 'Shit. What did they do now!'

1 Minute before the explosion...

Remi and Serena were looking through the numerous boxes and crates, trying to find the crazed man. 'Figures he would hide in a place like this,' Remi thought as she passed another box. Serena called to her. She went.

"Look at this, Rem. Look at the symbols!' Serena exclaimed as she examined the symbols. Remi stopped her from touching them. "Don't you know that's dangerous, Serry? First, you split us up. Haven't you ever watched Scooby-Doo! Splitting up always is a bad idea!" She was about to continue, when Serena, ignoring her completely, touched the symbols and...

KAAABOOOMMM!

They were thrown on their asses and were covered with flaming debris. When Remi could talk again she said, "Next time, don't touch!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Serry smiled at her weakly. Remi scowled. She was about to flip out on her friend when the insane man from before appeared before them.

"Hello. Did you fall for my mistress's trap like the other fools?" He was smiling pleasantly. 'Nobody's home in him,' Remi thought as she and Serry scrambled to their feet. Remi shouted, "What did you to them!" 'Oh Mother Night! Desh and Eiji!'

"Oh...you'll find out soon enough. No need to talk about it now. I'll just—" He was cut off as a bolt of purple lightning struck him square in the chest, stunning him. He fell to the ground. Remi turned to her friend. She was panicking. We have to find them Serry! They could be hurt or d—

Chill girl. Look behind you. Remi turned around. She saw Desh and Eiji sprinting towards them. She let out a sigh of relief. See? They're fine, Rem. Why were you worried anyways? You don't even like them. Remi blushed slightly. 'I don't know why I was concerned, and that is what is so damn unnerving.'

Desh felt something tight loosen in his chest as soon as he saw that the pair, especially Remi, weren't harmed. He didn't know why, he just knew that was the reason. He didn't want to think about it. "What did you do?" he asked the dishelved duo.

Serena blushed, embarrassed. "I decided to touch. I guess I shouldn't have." Remi glared at her. Desh had a feeling stuff like this happened a lot. Serena collected herself, trying for dignity. "We just grab the guy and go. We can lock him up and settle this in the morning." Desh agreed and was about to do just that when something prickled at the edge of his senses.

"DESH! DUCK!" He turned and obeyed Remi's frantic order. Something soared over his head, smashing into the crated in front of him. 'That was close.' He got up warily and probed the area, looking for the attacker.

"Over here, sugar." He turned towards the feminine voice. A woman was sitting atop the nearest pile of boxes. She had a familiar aura. She was a vampire. The woman glanced down at the crazy man that Serena had stunned. "I felt you harm my servant. How awful of you. I suppose I will have to teach you all a bit of a lesson." She jumped down and was gone. Serena screamed. Desh spun.

They psychic was holding her shoulder. Blood seeped from under her fingers. Remi lashed out to protect her friend and struck something hard, invisible. He reached forward as well and hit the barrier. 'Uh oh. Not good. This is definitely not good.' The vampire was Serena in seconds, tearing at her flesh. Serena fell and didn't get up. This all happened in less than a minute. 'This woman cannot be that powerful,' he thought. 'It is not possible, unless...' He had only heard about sharing your power with another. It was difficult and hard to control. He watched the female vamp lick blood off her fingers.

The air went deathly cold. He could feel a spiral of pure power and at its center was Remi. He had a feeling this was going to get very, very bloody.

Remi felt herself go cold as she watched Serry fall. She felt herself rising to the killing edge. She dropped her shields, the ones hiding her power. She felt numb. All that mattered was that Serry was hurt and that bitch had done it. Another thing flitted across her senses.

'Him...her aura reeks of him.' She knew she was loosing it. She looked at Desh as she shattered the woman's barrier. Take Serry and Eiji away from here Desh. Call the others; tell them to bring medical aid. Tell them to bring the healers. She watched him shake his head 'no.' Her power flared, she was slipping. She watched his eyes widen. She sent one last message before she went to the killing place. Run. She slipped into the abyss.

"Run, monkey-boy! We need to give her some distance!" For once, the ninja didn't argue with him. Eiji picked up the bleeding Serena and followed him away from the battle.

"You're really going to leave her there?" Eiji asked.

'Am I?' he question himself. 'No. I won't.' He turned to Eiji. "Stay here and call the others. Try and stay out of the way." Deshwitat ran back to the battlefield.

He came upon a disturbing scene. Silver and black flames surrounded Remi and the strange vampire. Remi had the woman on her knees a blade to her throat. Both looked torn up. Remi flicked the sword down the woman's neck, making a shallow, but painful, wound. The woman whimpered and tried to move. She couldn't. 'A binding?' he wondered as he got closer. The look on Remi's face was blank. Her eyes were cold.

"Where is he? Where is Xavier?" Her voice could have given a Romanian winter a run for its money. She cut the woman again, deeper this time. "TELL ME!" The woman stayed silent.

"Just kill her if you're going to Remi. She's not talking." He tried to move closer to her, to take the weapon away from her. It didn't seem safe for her to be armed. She turned slowly to him. 'Damn. I don't like the look on her face.' He prepared himself to fight her as she took a small step towards him, but she froze. A strange look crossed her face and she turned away from him. Her voice sounded a little more normal when she spoke. "You're right, Deshwitat," his name sounded hesitant, like she was trying to remember it, "I will have to try it the other way." She put the sword down and put a hand on either side of the strange vampire's head. Both began to glow silver and black, like the flames. The vampire screeched. Remi's eyes snapped open.

The girl stood and summoned fire. It began to consume the vampire. 'I never thought she would have the stomach for torture. I guess there is something behind the idiot that she normally is.' He heard the burning woman scream. "So you're the one! Such power! He was right! Xavier was right!" She screamed no more as the fire vanished along with her body. Remi just stood there. Desh turned as the others arrived. 'How are we going to explain this?'

Rett watched Remi pace the length of the room again. He couldn't take it anymore. "Kid? Why don't you go take a walk? We'll come and get you as soon as there's news." She turned and gave him blank eyes. He shivered. 'What's wrong with her? Is she in shock?' She left the room. He looked over at Beryun, Millenear, and Desh. Beryun shrugged and Millenear said, "Maybe I should go after her?" She made as if to get up, but Desh pushed her back down and followed the girl out of the room.

"What's going on between those two? They haven't said a word since we picked them up!" Millenear looked between him and the monk. He realized that she really wanted an answer.

"I don't know, Millenear. Desh didn't tell me anything either. Remi has been mute and Eiji is too worried about Serry to say anything useful." He didn't like it. Whatever was going on, it was more than just someone hurt. Much more.

He found her crying in the same clearing she had received her powers in. He stood at the edge of the trees not sure what to do. 'I don't know what she needs? Why did I even follow her? I should have let Millenear handle this. What in the world possessed me to come here?' He watched her sink to her knees. He decided to leave her alone. He was just turning away when a quiet voice stopped him.

"I know you're there, Desh. Come out." Her voice sounded as empty as her eyes had looked back in Manhattan. He approached her. He decided that making her angry might make her act normally again, since anger seemed to be her favorite fall-back emotion. He was coming up with something when she started to sob again. He knelt down next to her.

"Would you quit it!" he yelled at her. She didn't look at him. She made an attempt at stopping her tears. It didn't work. He was getting pissed. He had no clue why she was so upset. 'The healers had said that Serry would be fine when they were done with her, so why is she crying?'

It was him! The message hit him hard. He looked at her. He's the one that killed my mom! He's the one that got away before I could kill him! He was the leader! It was him! Her tears came faster now. "Who?" he said quietly.

She turned to him. Her tears leaving tracks down her cheeks. "Xavier..." she whispered. Her voice broke. "That bastard...I'll kill him...that bastard..." Her sobs became so violent that she shook and couldn't talk. He just knelt there. 'I have no idea what to do! What do I look like? A psychiatrist?" He watched her curl in on herself. He caved in. He put a hand gingerly on her shoulder. She flinched and didn't look at him. He realized that she was reliving her memories. He put an arm around her. He also realized that, for all the power she may have possessed, she had a huge emotional weakness and that she was like him in a way. They had both watched someone they cared about murdered in front of their very eyes. For that reason, more than anything, he stayed with her. He stayed until she fell asleep, into nightmare he didn't even want to imagine.