A/N: now that i'm actually awake I can do a proper introduction. :clears throat: Allright! This is where the story get's nice and tense! For those of you who want to flock to just step in randomly at any moment, hold your britches! You can't just step into these things like the way i stepped in that cow crap yesterday. You have to ease into it. Let is all soak in... ENJOY!!!

Nari Streeter

Chapter Twelve: Flight of the Eagle

Nickoli paced the Cathedral floor nervously. Maybe it had been wrong of him to leave Nari with Wolf. Yet…could Wolf really be dangerous? Sure, he was cocky, full of himself, and a little forward, but he wasn't dangerous. Was he?

A twang of fear thrummed his Nickoli's chest like the strings of a harp as he paused to listen. It had almost been half an hour since he returned from Garden Taverns, and still there was no sign of Wolf or Nari. A horrible thought crept into his mind. What if Eraser's found them? He shook his head, resuming the endless pace from the front of the pews to the back.

How could he leave her alone like that?

After all she'd done for him, he'd left her alone with that creep. After she had accepted him when he needed it most. After she saved his guts and listened to him piss and moan about how horrible his own life was when Nari's misery had been staring him straight in the face. After all…it had been her hand…her hand that helped him to his feet the first day he saw her face. It was all because of her.

The cathedral door swung open with a loud boom.

Nickoli spun on his heels, "Nari?"

It was raining by the time Nari made it back. Her soaking shirt sticking uncomfortably against her numb wings, plastering her hair across her face like an extremely uncomfortably hairpiece that had been fished out of a gutter.

Saint Patrick's looked somber and cold in the bleak weather. It's high stone walls soaring up to meet the black clouds without fear. A little girl splashed heedlessly in a puddle several feet down the sidewalk, her mother standing next to her with a wide purple umbrella.

Nari ignored them, wondering if they'd notice the tip of her wing that was jutting out from under her jacket at an odd angle. The cathedral door's seemed heavier than usual, swinging open with the sound of an iron clapper slamming against the copper bell high above the church.

Her sneakers left wet footprint on the otherwise spotless floor, shining in the dim light like tiny pools of liquid silver. Nari hugged her arms around herself, feeling the pressure around her eye as the skin turned dark with a bruise. Her ribs ached, and she was certain that if she lifted her shirt the skin would be discolored and bloody.

The chapel was silent.

A cold needle dug it's way into Nari's chest. What if she was too late? What if Wolf had beat her here? Maybe Nickoli was already…

The rain pattered against the roof, drowning out the noise of the footsteps echoing behind her. Nari felt the hairs on her arms stand up, a chill rushing down her back. She could just barely feel the hot breath on the back of her neck…

"Nari!"

Nari jumped, spinning around as a small sound squeaked from her throat. Nickoli wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a warm hug.

"Where were you!" he exclaimed, pulling back and holding her at arms length. His eyes narrowed, "Wolf came back almost fifteen minutes ago, he wouldn't talk to me. What's going…what happened to your face?"

Fear flooded Nari's stomach. Wolf had beaten her here. He could be hiding anywhere in the wide chapel room…waiting.

"I tripped," Nari blurted, cursing herself for being so stupid. Yet, she was still clinging to the hope that if she kept on lying, Wolf would let Nickoli live…

Nickoli's brow shot up, "You tripped and fell on your eye?"

Nari nodded miserably, shivering more from fear than the cold.

A loud crack of thunder echoed through the cathedral's domed ceiling, rattling the stained glass portraits in their frames. One of the carved wooden angels fell, crashing against the pews and splitting into two, one of its stubby wings spinning across the floor.

"Nari," Nickoli whispered, "people don't fall on their eyes. What happened?"

Nari's hands rushed to her ears as another thunder blast shook the walls, she shook her head rapidly, screwing her eyes shut and wishing it would all just end. "I can't!" she screamed, "I can't! I can't! I can't!"

Nickoli's eyes darkened, his fingers stiffening on her shoulder, "Nari…did he hurt you?"

Everything was falling apart. Nari kept shaking her head, her nails digging into her scalp. There was no way things could go this wrong. It was just unfair. It wasn't right.

Nickoli's hands left her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open just in time to see him walking stiffly toward the door to the vacant corridor, his dark wings swishing in the blackness.

Nari beat him there, slamming her back against the door and spreading her arms open to keep him from passing, "What are you doing!" she shouted, her voice hinted with blind hysteria. Nickoli stopped in front of her, his hands clenched into tight fists.

"I'm going to kill that bastard," he growled, "I swear to God, Nari, I'm going to kill him."

"Not if he kills you first!" Nari screamed over the thunder.

Nickoli wrapped his hand around the doorknob, yanking hard in an attempt to open it. Nari lunged for him, beating her fists against his chest. Anything to keep him back. Anything to stop him from getting himself killed.

"You don't understand!" Nari shouted as Nickoli grabbed her wrists to stop the rain of poorly thrown punches, "You just don't get it!" he voice broke into a sob. Everything was tipping over. Like an endless line of dominos, and at the end, Nari teetering just on the edge of falling over the cliff of overwhelming emotions she'd kept trapped away for so long.

Nickoli hugged her close, her wet skin soaking into his shirt.

"He said he'd kill you," Nari gasped, pushing him back until they hit the benches, "that's why I couldn't tell you. He said if you breathed a word, he'd slit your throat before you got the chance to scream. I couldn't…let him kill you…"

There was a brief lull in the storm, a silent period in which Nari could just make out the slow and steady footsteps of someone coming down the stairs. Ice spilled across her muscles, freezing her to the spot as the last of the dominos tumbled over…

It was so unfair for it to end like this…

Nickoli pressed his mouth to her ear, "We're leaving," he whispered, steering Nari toward the door at a quick trot, "as soon as we're outside, fly, okay?"

Nari shook her head, "I can't."

He pulled her closer as they slipped out the cathedral doors, the rain pouring down from the sky like a waterfall from the clouds. Several cars were stopped in the middle of the road, the drivers behind the wheel too afraid to push on through the storm.

Nickoli's hand slid down Nari's back, his fingers brushing over her wing in one quick sweep. "It's fine," he whispered, turning down a tight side street, "only dislocated. I can pop it back…" he pulled her to a stop, tightening his grip on her shoulder.

"Streeter!"

Nari blanched, almost tripping over her own feet in her haste to turn around.

Wolf was sprinting full tilt down the sidewalk, his wings flared open despite the traffic all around him. His face was twisted with rage, his lips pulled back over his fangs in a furious snarl.

"Run!" Nickoli breathed, pushing Nari ahead of him.

Nari ran. The buildings flashing by in a soaking swirl, the rain bouncing off the sidewalks. Gutters were choked with water, the streets flowing like rivers as the sky split in two. A spit of lightning sparked across the clouds, the monstrous roar of thunder biting at its heels.

"Nari!" Wolf screamed behind them, his voice getting closer with each step they took.

A tangle of underground subway steps rushed up to meet them. Nickoli grabbed Nari's hand, pulling her after him as he disappeared under the sidewalk.

The subway station was almost deserted. A young couple filed onto the open subway cars behind an old lady, hardly acknowledging the two soaking teenagers that leaped over the closed gate.

Nickoli slid onto the subway car just as the doors skimmed shut, Nari's hand still clasped in his own. The subway jerked forward, squealing like a stuck pig as it pulled away from the empty station. A cold drip of water snaked down Nari's face as she pressed herself against the wall, tears welling up in her eyes.

Wolf slammed his shoulder against the door, cracking his knuckles against the small window set into the metal. His rage-twisted face slowly slid out of sight as the subway left the platform behind. Nari watched until Wolf's pale form faded from sight.

His lips formed deadly oaths, but no sound came out…