A/N: Wooo! Double update! I think I'm gonna pass out!

Nari Streeter

Chapter Eleven: Garden Taverns

Garden Tavern's split into three rooms. The first room glittered and sparkled with shattered crystal remains. A large chandelier hung crookedly from the ceiling, the cord holding it up molded and frayed. The deafening throb of music pounded relentlessly from two massive speakers sitting on the ground next to a massive fireplace in the second room. The last room was jam packed with people; their bodies stank of cheap whine and booze.

Nari felt hyperaware of the sheer amount of people pressing in all around. They were everywhere. Young teenagers and middle-aged wash-ups, each one with a bottle containing some kind of alcohol glued to their palms. A girl slipped next to Nari, her arms splayed out in every direction as she fell dizzily to the ground.

Sick to her stomach, Nari scanned the countless heads. There was no way Max would be stupid enough to pack in with all these people. There was no place to escape. No room to fight. Nowhere to hide if bad came to worse.

Stupid.

A large crowd of people shoved past them, their arms held high above their heads, pounding in time to the music. Nari sucked in her breath, Wolf's grip around her waist disappearing as the crowd swept her away.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Nari shoved hopelessly against the crowd, panic swelling in her chest as she tried desperately to stay on her feet. There were too many people. A man with bloodshot eyes stumbled into her, his hand pressing hard against her back, running his fingers through her feathers below her jacket. His eyes widened in drunken surprise.

Nari ducked her head and squeezed away from him, fighting her way to a void in the crowd next to the speaker. She took a deep breath to calm her shaking nerves. Wolf was nowhere to be seen, his white hair drown out by the sheer mass of colors and faces.

A tall girl with dyed purple hair pulled back into a tight braid swung her arms around Nari's shoulder, her breath stank of alcohol.

"You're so beautiful!" the girl sighed, taking a long drag of her cigarette, "I'd kill for hair like yours," she touched Nari's hair attentively, her eyes filled with longing.

Nari pulled away from her, pressing her back into the wall and resisting the urge to spread her wings and take flight. Two other girls with wild make-up joined the purple haired girl, all of them swaying drunkenly.

"Speaking of gorgeous," the short one slurred, "check out the Pale Prince over there," she leaned against the wall next to Nari, her eyes fixed across the room, "God! I'd kill to get a body like that."

Nari glanced over to where the girl was staring. Wolf's lean form was pressed against the wall on the other side of the room, his teeth gritted as heavy man offered him a swig of his half-empty beer bottle. Nickoli stood next to him, his face scrunched up in concentration as he scanned the crowd for Nari's face.

"Forget the freak," purple-hair snapped, "I like the one next to him. I don't think I've ever seen such a pretty face on a boy," she rolled her head back exaggeratedly, "he could be a freakin' angel."

The short one gasped, giggling dizzily, "Don't say that! You know what happened here!"

Nari froze, her heart kicking in her chest, "What happened here?" she shouted over the music, unwillingly sliding closer to the short girl.

Purple-hair leaned against the short one, her eyes half-lidded, "Well, a few months ago, there were these kids that walked into this restaurant, back when it wasn't condemned, and pissed a few people off. They phoned up the police, but before the pigs got here, they took off!" he swished her bottle in the air, "spread their wings like angels and broke through the ceiling. The hole's still there if you want to see it."

Nari squinted against the dim light. The glass-domed ceiling was hard to see in the dark, but if she looked at it just right, a spot in the sky could be seen through the glass. Almost as if there was a giant hole the glass…

She shoved her way back into the crowd, elbowing and kicking her way without caring who she hit. Nickoli's face lit up when he caught sight of her. He pulled away from Wolf's side and slipped into the crowd, sliding between people like a shadow.

"Are you okay?" he shouted in her ear, fastening his hand around her wrist.

Nari nodded, clinging closer to him as he made a path back to wall. Wolf jerked his head toward the door, his eyes flashing furiously as he shouldered his way past a group of men surrounding a scared looking girl much younger than them.

Open air had never tasted so good.

Nari sucked in a shuddering breath, goosebumps gathering across her back. She didn't even realize that she was still clinging to Nickoli until they had walked back to the parking lot. She uncurled her fingers from his jacket and tilted her head back to look at the sky.

"Max wasn't there," Wolf said matter-o-factly, turning to face her.

Nari nodded miserably, "There were some girl's there, they said that some kids broke through the ceiling several months ago and flew away. That must have been her."

Wolf stared at her in disbelief, "Several months ago, Streeter? Months!"

Nickoli stepped in front of her protectively, his calm eyes locked on Wolf's face, "She didn't know," he insisted, "we all make mistakes. I think we're all just tired."

Wolf stood there for several minutes, the muscle in his jaw working over and over again. Finally, his shoulders seemed to relax and he took several steps back, his hands held up in surrender. "Fine," he said curtly, "that's fine. Nickoli…you head back to the Cathedral. I need to talk to Nari."

Nickoli hesitated, his face full of distrust.

Wolf grinned, "Come on, Nick. What do you think I'm gonna do?"

Nari gritted her teeth. No. No. No. No! This couldn't be happening.

Slowly, Nickoli glanced at Nari and then back to Wolf, the distrust in his face washing away. "All right," he nodded, stepping down, "I'll meet you back at Saint Patrick's." Wolf nodded silently as Nickoli slipped off into the darkness, his sneakers tapping lightly against the sidewalk.

Silence took over. Blanketing the parking lot like a heavy snow.

"Wolf," Nari started, wringing her hands, "it was a mistake. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt Nickoli…"

He hit her…hard.

The world spun as she hit the concrete, the skin on her cheeks grinding into the asphalt painfully. She opened her wings in panic, landing awkwardly on top of one, twisting it in a way it should never have twisted, spots of blood springing up along her jaw line. Tears sprung in her eyes as she laid in the parking lot, staring up at the sky, completely dazed.

Wolf's face filled her narrowed vision, satisfaction glowing across his completely calm face. "Get out," he said, his voice dangerously low.

Nari pulled herself to her knees, already feeling the pressure around her eye as the skin swelled up. "Wolf," she gasped, drawing her legs underneath her.

"Get out of here!" Wolf roared, landing a strong kick to her ribs.

Nari hit the ground running, her feet slapping the sidewalk as she poured on the speed. Her vision narrowed until she only saw what mattered. Her feet flying out in front of her, each time they make contact with the cement taking her one bound farther from his twisted anger.

Her wing throbbed, sticking out from under her jacket like a dead thing, limp and unmoving. Panic fluttered under her breastbone, fueling her aimless flight across the darkened streets of New York.

She ran for as long as she could, until finally…she had to stop.

A car honked its horn angrily as she stumbled across the last street, painful breaths wracking her body as she struggled to get more air. The sky was spinning dizzily, the stars twisting like a distorted picture. Like her dreams just before they ended.

Nari collapsed against a rusted dumpster and choked, her stomach heaving emptily, trying to throw out the breakfast she had never eaten.

It had been a stupid idea.

Going to the Garden Tavern's had been the worst idea ever.

If Wolf hadn't figured out her stupid dreams…none of it would have happened. She would be back at the Cathedral with Nickoli, sitting in the pews with her wings in the open. Laid out like a book so only the God she didn't believe in could judge her.

The breath snagged in her throat.

I'll slit his throat before he gets the chance to scream.

Nickoli…