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Chapter 3: Sneaking Suspicion


"I think we should send Garfield into the demon fortress," Richard stated. The attack from Raven had really startled all the angels. Nobody knew what the demons were doing or why, and it was leaving the holy folk community in a uproar. "He's the only one who really know what we're looking for."

"But," Kori protested. "He has been injured. Perhaps it is best to choose another."

"Garfield asked to be chosen for this mission," he said. He was unsure about sending his friend into the demon fortress, even if it had been at Gar's request. If he lost his teammate, he would have to survive a guilt trip that would last a lifetime. "He seemed set about going."

"Yeah, but he's our pal." Victor shook his head in rejection. His life would be pretty dull, if he didn't have the string bean to make life interesting. "You know that they have to many guards surrounding the main building. There is no way he will be able to get in there, and put the seeing spheres all over the place. He'll be caught before he even makes it inside."

"I know," he whispered. Gar hadn't given him much of choice in the matter. The green tinted angel said that he would go, with or without his permission. 'If he gets out of the demon stronghold alive, I'm going to kill him.'


Pain overwhelmed Raven as they whipped her soft, pale back. The pain was immense, so she buried herself in her own little world. It was the only thing she could do to keep from crying out in agony. Barbilos cackled, "have you had enough, little missy?"

This was her punishment for not killing the angels. With every new strike of the whip, she could feel more blood trickle down her spine. Every strike seemed to last an eternity. She wasn't sure she would be able to make it to the end. "………………………"

"Not speaking to me, aye'" Barbilos counted the whips strikes as he went. The punishment for the young demon was fifty lashes, and he didn't want to overdue it. "Serves ya' right though, making your father angry like that. You're just lucky ya' ain't hanging from a stake.

Her body gave a nervous shudder, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She was on the verge of unconsciousness. This was her own fault, it was her own weakness that put her here. She let out a small moan of pain. As part of her punishment, the wounds were even going to have to heal the natural way. "………Ugh…….."

"There ya' are." He softly pulled the whip away from the girls back, and unchained her hands and wings. She fell to the floor in a worthless lump of flesh. "Come along now, it ain't so bad. You go get that back scrubbed, else you'll die from a infection."

She couldn't have healed herself, if she tried. To ensure that she did not heal her wounds, she had to wear a bracelet that discontinued the use of all magical energy. Nobody else could heal her either. The bracelet disarmed any power that was within a five foot radius. "Shit."

"Don't be mad at me, lass." Barbilos looked at Raven with pity, as she attempted to stand. She finally managed to struggle to her feet with difficulty. "It ain't my fault, your pa ordered me to."

She focused on the sounder of her rustling feet to keep herself conscious. Her legs finally stopped working halfway to the bathing water. Her body refused to move, and she softly placed her face against the warm dirt. She could hear somebody grunting as they climbed over the fortress wall. Everything was going dimmer as the seconds past. "Stupid bastard."

Gar grunted as he managed to swing his leg over the wall. Demons could sense the movement of wings, so flying across the wall was completely impossible. 'Now I just have to make sure that I don't get caught.' That was going to be hard, there were already at least thirty guards surrounding the main building. He flopped down off the building, and kept his feet quiet. Now all he had to do was keep his eyes on his surroundings. "This isn't going to be so tough."

His feet collided with a dense object, and he went sprawling a pit full of mud. He had tripped over a demon laying on the ground. 'Great going Gar, you haven't even been here a minute and you've already made a fool of yourself.' He raised his hands to battle, but the creature wasn't making a attempt to fight back. 'Is it dead?' He softly poked the demon with his shoe. The creature whimpered, "Who?"

He recognized the creature, it was Raven. She was obviously hurt pretty badly. He hesitated a moment. 'Should I talk to her. It is against the rules,' he thought. 'Nobody will ever find out, anyway.' "Who did this to you?"

"Dad." He softly picked her up and pulled her to her feet. She didn't even seem to comprehend that he was a angel. Even if she was demon, she needed his help. Picking her up bridal style, he looked for a place to take Raven, so he could heal her. There was a couple unguarded buildings on the grounds, he could probably reach them easily. "Pain."

"I know," he said softly. He walked slowly to the closest unguarded building. Walking was more inconspicuous then running, even if it was slower. He held his breath as he opened the door. "Everything is going to be okay."

He softly pulled her into the building. It was a abandoned library. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs that made him sneeze, but at least it meant that they wouldn't be bothered. He softly placed her at the end of one of the isles. She asked again, "who?"

Her words were becoming more drawn out. If he didn't stop the bleeding soon, she would die. Holy power licked his fingers as he lowered it to her side. The moment he went near enough to heal her trembling body, his powers stopped working. Swearing softly, he tried again. "Shit! Why won't this work?"

"The bracelet," she murmured. His eyes were drawn to the metallic piece of jewelry attached to her arm. With a click flick of the arm, he attempted to break it. There was no damage to the bracelet, but he was pretty sure he smashed all the bones in his hands.

"Hold on," he cried. The look in her eyes made him want to save her. Her eyes were full of intelligence and thought. Those were the eyes of a creature who could think, feel and love. 'What if we have been wrong all these years,' he wondered. He peaked his head out of the library to see if there were any witnesses. There wasn't another demon in sight, so he took of running. There was no way he could climb the wall with Raven in his arms. He was just going to have to fly, and if he flew fast enough, he might avoid being seen.

"….Unh." Her eyes rolled into her head as she finally entered unconsciousness. He had to get over that wall, and he had to do it fast. Jerking his eyes shut, he spread his wings and soared over the surrounding fence. If they had been seen, then he wouldn't have known it.

There was the remains of a old village belonging to some of the extinct creatures. The houses still had some livable circumstances. He said to comfort himself. "Everything is going to be fine."


The early morning light fluttered through the window. She felt comfortable wrapped up in the warmth of a silken blanket. There were birds chirping cheerfully outside of the window. At the demon fortress, there were never any birds. "Where am I?"

She slowly ambled out of the bed, and walked towards the door. 'Somebody wrapped up my wounds,' she noted. There was fabric tightly strung across her back, where the whip marks had been. "Where do you think you're going?"

The voice belonged to a male and it was close by. The door creaked open, and showed her the hidden speaker. It was a man about her age with green skin. He was also a angel. "Stay back."

She backed up in panic. 'Great, just great.' There was no way she could beat a adult, male angel in her condition, she was royally screwed. She backed herself into the corner, and gave her best glare. He slowly began to make his way towards her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He softly touched her arm gently. 'This is just a ploy,' she thought. With a angry growl, she tried to push past him. "Get out of my way."

"I saved you from dying, and this is the thanks I get." She tilted her head at him curiously, but said nothing. His hand still rested firmly on her arm. Her legs gave a sudden shudder, and she fell to the ground. His arms were the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor. "You've already manage to hurt yourself."

"Why are you helping me?" He gently eased her back into the bed. This was the first time anyone had done something this nice for her. All this kindness was beginning to give her a funny feeling in her abdomen, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

She tilted her head. His eyes were full of honesty sincerity, but her trust did not come that easily. She gave a mighty sigh and crossed her arms. He murmured, "I…. I don't know, actually."

He gently placed a bowl of steaming hot soup in front of her. She glared at him suspiciously. 'It's probably poisoned,' she mused. Picking up the spoon, he made a attempt to hand-feed her. She growled, "I can feed myself."

He chuckled, "suit yourself."

His face began to look surprisingly familiar. It was prying at the back of her minds, but she couldn't place it. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Pretending to look offended, he began to chuckled. "Yeah, you paralyzed me on the battlefield the other day. You can eat the food, you know. I haven't done anything to it."

"Yeah, right." While glaring at him, she picked up the silver spoon. 'Bottoms up,' she thought. She clamped her eyes shut, and poured the soup down her throat. No burning nausea, or painful seizures followed. It did, however, make her realize how hungry she really was.

"I told you so." She was still glaring at him as she politely swallowed the soup. His constant watchfulness was beginning to make her slightly nervous. "If you don't like it, I can make you something else."

"It's fine." Her eyelids were beginning to droop slightly. This was the most tired she had ever been. She could feel his fingers pull the blanket up to her jaw bone, and she could almost swear that he hugged her.

"Goodnight Raven." He ran his fingers through his messy hair. If he got caught helping her, he was going to be slaughtered. He told himself that he could bring this girl to safety and forget about her, but that wasn't happening anytime soon. There was something about this demon that was unforgettable. He sighed, "I'll be back tomorrow."

Her eyes were already shut, but he could tell she was listening. With a unhappy sigh, he walked outside and sighed. 'How am I going to pull this off?' The angel home was a walking distance away, and using his wings would take more energy then walking. Flying was more for long distance travel, since they slowed him to go much faster. The twenty minute walk back to his angel house seemed to fly by. Before he knew it, he was standing directly in front of his home.

"Honey, I'm home." The moment he walked through the door of the angel housing development, he was overrun by angel hugs. His mind had been on Raven, so he was taken by utter surprise. Kori, Richard and Victor were smiling like mad. It was almost like Christmas had come early. "What's up?"

"We are elated to see you well," Kori squealed. The hug choked all the life out of him. He wasn't particularly interested in their greeting, he was to wrapped up in thinking about the she-demon. "Are you not well? You do not seem to be your regular self?"

"I'm just fine," he gave a fake smiled. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and fall into bed. He wanted to forget about the demon fortress, yesterday's battle, but he did not want to forget about Raven. "I'm just a little tired."

Richard almost laughed in relief. "We're glad you're alright."

"I didn't get any of the seeing spheres planted." He didn't care about the seeing spheres, it all seemed like nothing compared to helping the she-demon. "There were to many guards around the demon fortress. A fly couldn't have gotten in there untraced."

"You took to long getting back here," Richard frowned. If he couldn't get into the main building, then why did it take him so long to get back here? He was also acting extremely odd. 'There must be something Garfield isn't telling us.' "Did you run into some trouble getting out of the fortress?"

"Nope," he said. 'Why is Richard looking at me like that?' His black haired friend was looking him up and down, as if he were sizing up a enemy. 'Crap, he's getting suspicious. If he finds out about Raven, then I'm totally screwed.' "I'm starved," he lied. "I'm going to get me some grub."

He wasn't hungry in the slightest, but he didn't like the way Richard was looking at him. He didn't even feel like he was acting that differently. 'Maybe Boy Wonder can read minds.' Kori interrupted his thoughts with her cheerful gibbering. "I have prepared a pudding of wellness! Do you wish for some?"

"No, thanks." That pudding of wellness was bound to make him sick. He couldn't be sick, he had to take care of Raven tomorrow. Tomorrow seemed so far away when he had something to look forward to. "I'm more tired then hungry. I'll just hit the hay now and have a big breakfast."


There was a great deal of bustling outside of his door. He slowly made his way towards the living room, and glanced about curiously. There were quite a few angel guards standing in the living room, arguing with each other. He asked Kori, "what going on?"

"The demons are quite aggravated with us." She turned to him, frowning. Her emerald eyes no longer held her mesmerizing sparkle. "However, they have been mistaken."

He cried, "why?

"They believe the we have done the kidnapping of the daughter of Trigon," she whispered. He gulped nervously and began to cough, choking on his own wad of spit. Turning to look at him, everyone in the room became dead quiet. "Are you alright, Friend Garfield.?"

"Yep," he coughed. On the outside he was okay, but on the inside he was panicking. 'Shit! You've really gotten yourself into the crapper now, Garfield.' He had to talk to Raven about going back, or he was going to be put into the Saturday night stew. "I was just a little surprised."

"I was quite surprised, also." She patted his back. "It is peculiar that she would merely disappear into the air."

That settled it, he had to talk to Raven. 'How could I leave without looking suspicious?' Everyone was still in obvious disquiet about the situation, and angels got suspicious when they were disquieted. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Do not be to long! Richard and I have prepared a fabulous feast." He wasn't sure how long he was going to take, and he didn't care. He flew to the cottage this time, he needed to get there as fast as possible. From a distance, he could see a figure standing out in front of the sunlight.

"I've been expecting you," she said. Her head tilted towards him in a abnormal way. She walked towards him with graceful, elegant steps. It was almost like he was entertaining the presence of great royalty, and she was the mightiest of them all. "Thank you for saving my life."

"No problem." He wasn't in a hurry anymore. Her presence was the most calming thing he had ever experience, but he was pretty sure she was using her powers to suppress him. She obviously did not trust him quite yet. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I am." Her eyes made him shiver. They were completely emotionless, it was almost like looking into a pool of unmoving water. He knew she could feel, he had seen emotion in her eyes before. "I know that my people are attacking the angel fort because of me. I must head back to the demon home."

He gripped her arm with his hand. There was a strange feeling lingering between them, he could feel it. As he touched her, feelings of uneasiness grew in her amethyst eyes. "Wait. They're not going to hurt you, are they?"

"Only a little," she responded. "I'll be fine. They can't kill me, I'm the only offspring of Trigon. I wasn't in any danger of dieing when you found me, my father just wanted to scare me a little. That's why there was such a uproar when I went missing."

"How did you know what was happening, anyway." Talking to Raven was just like playing with fire, you were going to get burned. Her eyes were flickering back to life. "Did one of your demon friends find you?"

"No, I have extreme empathy." She leaned down to pick up a flower on the floor and it died in her fingers. Even if all she had destroyed was a daisy, he could see the sadness in her eyes. All he wanted to do was hug her sadness away. "I could sense your turmoil from a distance away. I read your mind to find out why you were so upset."

"You can read minds?" 'Crap! I've been thinking of some things that a angel shouldn't think,' he thought. There was another lump caught in his throat. 'How do I always get myself into theses things?' "I didn't know that."

"Don't look so upset," she scowled. "I only read minds when it's absolutely necessary."

He sighed, "Good."

"I really have to go." She spread her wings in preparation to take off, but Gar forced her back to the ground. Her eyes widened to in surprise. His fingers still kept a firm grip on her body, keeping her from flying off. She barked, "What?"

"I want to see you again." His muscles contorted in a effort to keep her on the ground. If her body hadn't been so weak from the whipping, she probably could have flown off. "Just to make sure they don't end up hurting you."

"Why? I'm a demon, you're a angel. It isn't right." He slowly released her arm, as he realized that she was no longer trying to fly away. "If we get caught, we'll both be killed."

"What is all we have been taught is wrong?" He needed to find the answers more than anything. 'What if our leaders have been lying to us.' "Please…. I think you understand, why we need to do this."

"Fine," she groaned. He was pleasantly surprised that she decided to meet with him. Her eyes were still skeptical of him, there was still no trust. His insides were flopping with joy. She barked, "be here Wednesday at eight. If you're not here, I'm leaving."

"You mean eight at night, don't ya'? He had never been a early riser. Richard, Kori and Victor all knew that he would never get up at eight because of his own free will, they would begin to get suspicious. "The other angels would be suspicious, if I woke up that early. It's like achicken chasing a fox, it just doesn't happen."

She groaned, "That's just great."

"Could we meet at two o'clock in the morning? The other angels will be asleep by then, and it will be easier not to get caught." He usually stayed up late into the night, and awoke later in the day. It wouldn't be irregular for him to be running around at two. "Unless demons are nocturnal or something."

"Of course we're not nocturnal, you unintelligent fool." Weariness was reflected in her eyes. This wasn't going to be easy on either of them. "It doesn't matter what time I sneak out, there are always guards one place or another."

"Do you think that you'll be able to get out?" If she was going to get hurt in the process, then he definitely didn't want to attempt a meeting.

"Of course," she leered. "I've been sneaking out for years."

"Okay," he hesitated. With a flick of her hair, she flew off into the sky. He gave a energetic wave towards her figure in the sky and smiled. "Goodbye."

This was turning out to be one unordinary week.


"Is it just me or has Garfield been acting a little strange lately?" He had never seen Gar behave so dissimilar. Logan had always been cheerful, but now he was abnormally blissful.

"It's not just you," Victor replied. "He hasn't played the Game Sphere with me for over a week. I hope the green bean hasn't gotten himself into any trouble."

"I to have seen such difference." Kori gave a soft sigh. "I believe that our young friend has encountered a female angel."

"It is possible." Gar would have told them, if he had potentially mate spotted. 'Maybe he was embarrassed,' he mused

"I believe so," She smiled. "I was as blissful as he, on our ceremonial night."

It could happen. Garfield was a young angel, and there were many female angels looking for a mate. In a world caught in the middle of a war, it made things easier to have a warm face to see at night. "It seems so out of character for him not to tell us."

"Perhaps, he is wishing to give us the surprise."

"Maybe," he said. 'There is something more going on, I can feel it.' "But, why was he so hostile to our angel leaders. He was angry at them for some reason, and hostility does not come with being in love."

Everyone was silent. There was no happy answer for that question, something was going on. "I do not know, but I'm sure he has a good reason for being so irate. It is not in his nature for him to be upset without reason."

"Vic, do you still have the seeing spheres Garfield gave you?" If there was something unusual going on, they were going to catch it. "I want you to plant those in Gar's room."

"I don't know, man." Victor frowned at the floor. "Isn't is a invasion of privacy?"

"If he is doing something he shouldn't be, then we can stop him before the angel leaders find out." He hoped that Kori's theory was true, but he doubted it. Gar was drawing away from them, as if they were the enemy. "Don't you want to help him?"

Victor sighed, "I don't know."

Even though they fought, Garfield and Victor were extremely close. He knew that Stone felt like he was deceiving his pal. He said, "If Gar finds out, I'll tell him that you weren't apart of it."

"I guess." He let out a sigh of relief. Since he was the leader of this squad, it was up to him to make sure his teammate wasn't in trouble. Even if that meant bending the rules of privacy a little. Victor groaned, "I can have them up in a hour. If Gar comes home, don't let him in his room until I come out."

"Gotcha." Gar had said that he was going to be gone all afternoon, so he wasn't worried about him coming home. 'Where the hell could he be?' "I doubt he'll be home."

"Are you sure that it is proper to do the bugging on our friend?" It looks like he was on his own in this. It wasn't like he wanted to watch Garfield's every move, but he didn't feel like he had a choice.

"What other choice do we have?"


Glossary of Terms

Seeing Sphere: A device used to record audio and visual information.


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