Chapter 3

Alright so I'm happy about the response I've gotten for this story! This update is by far the largest chapter I've ever posted to date, so I really hope you appreciate and enjoy my hard work :D

Most of the questions I got from you guys will be answered within the next chapter and some of you brought up some questions I will NEED to answer. Since no questions were answered this chapter I will give you this: Quinn and Santana are NOT angels. I repeat...they are NOT angels. That's all you get :p

Please review :) Let me know what you think about this! Enjoy!

It was past sunset by the time Quinn and Santana entered the human world. The tear in the fabric of reality landed them directly in front of the safe house secured for them. The house looked completely…normal, if not a bit aged. Quinn looked around her and noticed that there wasn't another house within a mile of the safe house. In fact, there wasn't much of anything but plain overgrown fields, and trees surrounding the house. Nodding in approval Quinn turned to Santana.

"Let's head inside," she said lowly.

Santana nodded, "Yeah, but couldn't this place be a little better than a shit hole?"

"Most likely, but the key is to be inconspicuous. A nicer house would bring too much attention," Quinn said softly as she pushed open the door. She winced when the hinges creaked. This really is a shit hole she thought with a mental groan. Quinn wasn't particularly happy with the house but she would never let Santana know that.

The house itself looked to have been built in the early Twentieth Century. Directly in front of the entryway was a wooden stair case that led up to the second floor. To the right of the staircase, a hallway led into the bare kitchen. To the right of the front door, a door led to the den and located on the left side of the front door, was the living room and dining room behind that.

Quinn frowned at the dust that rose up in swirls at their arrival. She stood still for a moment and let her mental shields down enough to allow her to scan the house for any unwanted guests.

The blonde opened her eyes, "It's all clear. Head down into the basement and get the electricity up and running. I'm going to go find our clothes and those pills." Santana nodded mutely and headed into the kitchen to find the door down to the basement.

After the brunette left, Quinn let out a deep breath she had been holding in and nodded to herself. Squeezing her wings as tightly to her body as she possibly could so she could fit through the doorways; she headed up the stairs and into the master bedroom. The large room had an antique looking fireplace, a large canopy bed and an oak dresser. In front of the fireplace sat a few comfortable looking chairs and a rectangular coffee table. Quinn walked further into the room and noticed a stack of clothes on the bed. The two sets of clothes each consisted of two pairs of jeans, undergarments, and plain black t-shirts. As predicted, next to the clothes was a bottle of tiny white pills.

Just then the electricity powered up allowing the entire house to be brightened. Hazel eyes squinted trying to get used to the new light. Quinn grabbed the sets of clothes and the small container and proceeded to head downstairs to meet her second. She found her in the living room trying to sit down on the couch, but her wings made it nearly impossible to find a comfortable position.

"Here," Quinn tossed the bottle at the Latina, "I found them upstairs along with these," she motioned towards the bundle in her hands. "I suppose we should take the pills before changing into these clothes."

"Should we take off the armor first? We have no idea what's going to happen, and with the metal on our back…" Santana trailed off.

"You're right. Ok let's take all this stuff off and I forgot to ask you to check the plumbing but did you happen to check the water here?" Quinn asked as she started to unbuckle her breast plate.

Santana nodded, "Yeah and I'm so totally ahead of you. There's two cups of water right behind you," she pointed to the dining room table. Quinn strode over, deposited the clothes, and picked up the two cups while the tan woman pulled her own armor off.

Once out of her breast plate, Santana grabbed the bottle and took out two pills. Taking a cup from Quinn's hands and handing the blonde her own pill, Santana stared down at her palm at her own tiny white pill. She was a bit hesitant.

"I don't know about this Quinn. I've never been without my wings…" the brunette said nervously.

"Neither have I, but we have to do this. Besides, I don't think they'll be entirely gone. The Speaker said that this is only to hide them." Quinn stated hoping to keep her own nervousness out of her voice. Truthfully, she didn't feel any more comfortable with this than Santana. But on the Brightside….she would be able to fit through the doorways. Here goes nothing Quinn thought as she took a gulp of water and placed the pill on her tongue. Throwing her head back, she swallowed and stood stock still. Hazel eyes met brown with bated breath.

It took a minute for the two women to feel anything. At first, it was an annoying tingle at the base of their spines. Quinn gasped and dug her fingers into the arm of the couch as heat traveled up her spine, to the base of her wings, and to the farthest point on her wingspan. It wasn't until Quinn had gotten used to the heat that the pain started. It felt like something was physically constricting her wings and forcing them into her back. Blinding white hot pain was pulsating from her back to every part of her body. A particular pulse that reached the base of her skull sent Quinn to her hands and knees screaming from the pain. Involuntary tears streaked down her face. She wasn't sure if the next scream was hers or Santana's but she didn't care at the moment. Quinn felt her body's tell-tale sign that she was about to pass out creeping up her neck but before she succumbed to the blissful oblivion, the pulses stopped.

Quinn opened her eyes and noticed that she somehow ended up sprawled all over the floor and she wasn't alone. Santana had fallen off the couch and was face first in the carpet. The blonde laid there trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, and then started taking into account all of her body parts. After making sure everything vital was in working order, she wiped off the beads of sweat off her forehead and slowly sat up.

"Unpleasant my ass. That hurt like a bitch…" Santana gasped out lifting her head to look at her Commander, "…am I dead?"

Quinn chuckled, "Afraid not," she replied then stood up and offered the brunette her hand. The tan woman groaned and took the offered hand.

Once standing, Quinn's eyes bugged out. Sure she expected there to be a difference in their wings now…but this was bizarre. Santana noticed the scrutiny and looked down at her body, self-consciously.

"What? Is something on me?"

The blonde shook her head, "Your wings…" she whispered softy.

Santana's eyes got comically wide, "Holy shit, they fell off didn't they?" she screeched before looking over her shoulder trying to see her own wings. Which she failed at horribly.

"No, no. They're still there….they're just kinda well…small"

Santana frowned, "Somehow, I feel inadequate now. Come on," she turned around and pulled off her tunic so the blonde had a good view, "…tell me what you see."

Quinn stepped closer and cocked her head to the side slightly, "Well, they're packed really tightly against your back," she ran her fingers lightly over the black feathers, "and they don't move. Can you try and move them?" After a moment nothing happened.

"I..I can't move them. That stuff will wear off right?" Santana asked over her shoulder.

"I can't imagine why it wouldn't," Quinn paused to try and move her own wings, but to no avail, "They wouldn't send us here with a handicap. You look actually human now though."

"I really hope this crap wears off. Now where are my clothes?" Santana asked as she looked around to see where Quinn had put them.

"On the table," Quinn said as she pulled off her own tunic. It felt odd not feeling the weight of her wings as she moved. Quinn felt extremely light and moved fast than she expected. She followed Santana to the table and pulled on the provided shirt. Next, she slipped her long legs into the jeans.

"Hey, these things are really comfortable…no wonder humans like them so much." Santana said as she ran her hands over her jean clad thighs.

Quinn merely grunted, "Yeah, until one of the Void shows up and rips you to pieces. There's hardly any protection with these. Come on, grab your armor and take the room next to mine." Quinn replied as she led the brunette to her room, which was almost identical to hers. She left the tan woman to drop her tunic and armor set off. She had just set her burdens on the bed when she sensed a disruption in the natural energy field.

Quinn closed her eyes, slowed her heart rate, and let her mental shield drop completely. In her mind's eye, she could see the natural energy field. Every living organism expelled small doses of energy, from the tiniest ant to the large animals. Humans' aura was simple to sense. It was one of the brightest and strongest energy signatures of this world. Quinn saw the light blue energy readings of all of the natural beings surrounding her, with the exception of Santana and herself who released a blinding white essence. However, what caught the blonde's attention were empty holes in the continuous energy field. The holes were empty of any type of energy signature, but only gained its energy from the living organisms surrounding it. Quinn knew from experience what that meant. The Void had torn a nasty gash into the fabric of reality and entered the human realm. From what Quinn could tell, there were at least three beasts and they were moving with purpose. Without a doubt they had found Quinn's charge. Shit.

Quinn opened her eyes and quickly grabbed her sword. She grabbed the hilt and set a surge of her pure energy into the sword that caused the metal blade to literally melt into the hilt. Satisfied, Quinn pushed it into her back pocket and quickly left her room to get Santana. When she found her, the brunette had just put her sword hilt into her pocket. Santana turned and met dull hazel eyes and stated the obvious.

"They're here."

Quinn nodded affirmatively, "Yes, and I think they've found Rachel. We need to hurry if we're to get there before they attack.

XXXXXXXXX

"Seriously Rachel, there's no way I'm going to let you walk home alone. Especially if this is your first time." A tall blonde said to the shorter woman.

Rachel rolled her chocolate brown eyes, "Brittany, I'll be just fine. Nothing happens in Lima, and besides I'll take a short cut home." She said. For at least the hundredth time that day Rachel Berry cursed the fact that her car had chosen this specific day to break down on her. Now here she was, outside the hospital, standing by her broken down car, arguing with her best friend.

Brittany raised a thin eyebrow, "And I hope you're not talking about cutting through Oak Ride Park…"

Rachel shifted her weight to a different leg, "..Umm…ok I wasn't…"

"Oh my god, ok that settles it. I'll walk you home, but we are NOT going through that park," The tall blonde stated finally.

"Oh come on Britt, if we don't cut through there it will take an extra fifteen minutes. This is just ridiculous. I'm sure we can go through there and be just fine…pretty please?" Rachel pleaded with her round eyes.

Brittany sighed and hung her head down in defeat, "Fine, you win Dr. Berry. Take off your coat and scrubs and put them in my bag," she said while sliding off her backpack and letting Rachel stuff her things in there.

"Let's go short stuff," Brittany said as she started walking across the large parking lot.

"Hey…I'll have you know that I'm just the right size," Rachel pouted and jogged a bit to catch up with her taller friend.

"Uh huh…" Brittany hummed as she slowed down her stride for her friend.

"I'll let that slide for now Dr. Peirce," Rachel narrowed her eyes playfully at the blonde. Rachel had met Brittany in high school, but their friendship didn't hit off until they took their residency at Lima General. If you had asked them when they were younger if they had plans to come back to their childhood home when they got older, they would have laughed in your face. But…yet here they were; back in Lima.

Brittany rolled her eyes and said in a fake southern belle accent, "Well bless my heart…thank you Dr. Berry. What would I have eva' done without you?"

"Hardy Har-har. Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to come over for dinner on Friday?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, I think I can do that. I'm not on call in pediatrics that night. What about you? You on call?"

Rachel shook her head, causing her bangs to fall into her eyes. She would need a hair-cut soon. "No, not any more this week. I was on call for 48 hours a couple days ago. I'm going to make some lasagna."

"I so can't wait!" Brittany said excitedly with a grin.

Rachel huffed taking a deep breath, "Britt…I still can't believe you walk home every night. How the hell do you do this?"

Brittany laughed, "Cardio baby!" and she flexed her arms playfully causing the women to laugh.

By this time, the women had just crossed the threshold of Oak Ridge Park. The park was seldom sued by people during the day and at night, no one dared to cross it. Not that it was dangerous, but because it made the hair son the back of your neck stand at attention. Brittany stopped and grabbed a flashlight out of her bag since the lights in the park were far in between. She clicked on the light and led Rachel into the overgrown park. After ten minutes of walking, Rachel began to notice the shadows seemed….darker.

"This place is kinda creepy…maybe you were right about skipping out on this…" Rachel said as her eyes struggled to see in the dark. She stepped closer to her friend.

Brittany looked down and was going to tease the woman, but she noticed that Rachel was genuinely afraid, "Most likely, but we'll be fine. We've almost reached the end."

Rachel's eyes darted around, half-heartedly listening to the words coming out of her friends mouth. A crinkling of dry leaves caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Did you hear that?" Rachel whispered fiercely, as her eyes strained against the darkness. It wasn't until now that she noticed the silence. She couldn't hear crickets, birds; not a thing.

"…Brittany…I don't think we should be here…" the shorter woman said with a shiver.

Brittany swallowed and tried to steady her hand that was gripping the flashlight in a vice-like grip, but failed completely.

Rachel heard another crackling noise accompanied by a low pitched sound…almost like a moan. She wrapped her hand around Brittany's trembling ones and pointed the flashlight toward where she thought the sound originated from. The beam of light illuminated nothing but pitch black darkness, but something seemed…off. The hairs on the back of both women's neck jerked to attention in alarm. In a blink of an eye, the darkness was gone to be replaced by an old tree.

"Britt! Don't move the light…I think there's something out here…" Rachel chastised the blonde.

"Rachel…I didn't move the light…" came the quivering voice, "I thought you did."

Rachel frowned, "No, you had to have moved it since I didn't do it."

"Honestly, I didn't. We need to get out of here…I really don't think we're alone anymore…" Brittany said as she started to tug on Rachel's arm in the direction they just came from.

Both women froze in fear when they heard a crackling and pop from behind them. The blonde quickly pointed the beam behind them. Once again, the light failed to illuminate anything but darkness. However, as both women watched with bated breath, the "darkness" seemed to move slowly, revealing the path they just recently walked. Cold dread filled Brittany and Rachel.

Rachel tried to get her throat to start working but it was proving to be difficult. The more she swallowed, the more her throat clenched in fear.

"Britt…" Rachel managed a low whisper, "…we are definitely not alone. I don't think it's…what…what are we going to do?"

Brittany shook her head, causing the curls to fling everywhere, "I d...d…don't know. I don't know."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Even at a fast pace, Quinn knew they would be cutting it close. If only they could have used their wings, but neither of them could figure out how to reverse the effect. That left them with only one option; run.

They approached the area from the South and had just leaped over the nine foot fence enclosing the park when they were mentally assaulted with the full aura of the Void's creatures. Quinn skidded to a stop and motioned for Santana to halt as well. With this much power radiating from the creatures they must be within a hundred feet of them.

Quinn kneeled and whispered to her second in command, "They don't know we are here yet. They must be focused entirely on their targets; which is good for us. Keep your shields up until the very last second. Without our armor and wings, we are at a disadvantage and we need all the help we can get. You see that rise ahead of us?" at the other woman's nod, she continued, "they must be just over there. Keep to the shadows and follow me."

Santana nodded silently and followed Quinn up to the top of the small hill in front of them. Both women made sure not to make a noise. Just below them two humans were being surrounded and corralled by three lower level Void demons. The creatures themselves lacked a solid shape; they continued to fluidly shift from shape to shape. Quinn and Santana's enhanced vision could clearly see what was occurring below.

Quinn narrowed her eyes down at the scene unfolding. She couldn't tell which of the humans her charge was. But just then she heard the smaller one call the tall blonde one Britt. So, that petite woman is Rachel Berry, Quinn thought as she raked her eyes over the scared form of the small woman. From this angle and distance, the only feature she could see was the color of her hair. Hazel eyes jerked back to the creatures when she felt the energy of the beasts' spike. Just then, one of the creatures appeared behind the women and stood there openly before slowly moving out of sight. The blonde's eyes widened, they want the humans to know they're there and are feeding off their fear. Quinn reached into her back pocket and pulled out her sword hilt in preparation. She met Santana's eyes and nodded slightly. The dark woman steadied herself and retrieved her sword as well. Back down below, the creatures mutated their forms to develop appendages with deadly looking claws and mandibles appeared on their heads. The creatures let out an ear splitting scream and prepared to pounce on their prey.

Quinn jumped to her feet, followed by Santana, and dropped her shield down completely. Just to make sure she had the beast's attention, she sent a psychic pulse of her energy at the monsters. The creatures below paused and screamed in rage looking up in their direction. Gripping her sword, she let another pulse flow through the hilt that caused the metal to reform with a bright shimmer.

"Now!" Quinn yelled before leaping off the rise and running at full speed toward the monsters with her pulsating glowing sword raised high.

Rachel thought for sure she was going to die the first time she heard that gruesome roar from whatever was stalking them. Her life even flashed before her eyes. She saw her childhood, family moments with her fathers, high school, prom, graduation, college, med school, everything up until this exact moment within a millisecond. With a death grip on Brittany's arm, she accepted her fate. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes as if she could actually see what was happening. Another roar rocked her to the core but she could tell it wasn't directed toward her and Brittany. Her eyebrows furrowed and she noticed a flash of white light speeding towards her before clashing with something massive.

Another light appeared just behind the first one and hit what Rachel could guess to be, a black wall. Rachel thought she heard a feminine voice scream 'run' but she didn't have time to ponder that when a black…creature appeared in front of them with a roar. The…thing was large and muscled, with arms and legs and a head that had pincher-like mandibles dripping with putrid saliva. Rachel couldn't tell if she could see eyes, but her fight or flight response kicked in and she pulled Brittany up with her to haul ass away from whatever that thing was.

Quinn's sword clashed with the creature closest to her. Warm sticky black liquid squirted out across her chest. The demon screamed and swiped a massive claw at Quinn, but the blonde danced out of the way. She spared a glance at Santana who was fighting her own monster, but she only saw one. That meant that the third was after the humans. Quinn's eyes widened in panic and she quickly dodged another claw and drove her sword to the hilt deep into the creature's chest when it left itself wide open. Without a second thought she lifted her head to the humans. The last demon was gaining distance on the two women.

"Runnnnnn!" Quinn screamed loudly before being knocked the earth. The demon she had just skewered managed to swipe a clawed arm across her chest while she was distracted as it died. Pain seared across Quinn's chest and she looked down seeing blood start to ooze out of the scratches. With a groan she stumbled to her feet and retrieved her sword from the dead figure. Once the sword was removed, the creature discombobulated into black liquid.

With one hand clutched to her chest to ebb the flow of blood and the other clenching her bright sword, Quinn paused for a heartbeat to think. There's no possible way I can make it to them in time in this condition. Not by running. Shit. No…No I will not fail. Not again. I won't let them die! Quinn thought angrily as her once dull eyes flashed for the first time in ages with emotion.

The blonde centered herself. She pushed away the throbbing pain of her chest. She pushed away the fatigue and exhaustion eating away at her and dug deep within her reserves. With a loud scream, Quinn released a power filled pulse from deep within her soul. The powerful energy ripped through her body overwhelming the drug induced restraint on her wings.

"Come on, run faster Rachel!" Brittany panted out trying to elongate her stride to go faster. The brunette was lagging behind her slightly. They had just made it to one of the few light poles in the park when she heard a thump. She looked behind her and noticed that Rachel had tripped and the animal that was after them was on all fours stalking the fallen woman. Brittany skidded to a stop and ran back to her friend just as the creature got a hold of the brunette's leg. With as scream, Brittany swung the flashlight and hit the creature over what she assumed was its head. The animal looked up at her unscathed and roared. With a swipe of its claws the blonde was sent flying several feet, landing with a loud thud. Brittany gasped and struggled to move but pain speared through her body making her immobile. Blue-green eyes looked on hopelessly at the sprawled form of her friend.

Quinn's eyes narrowed at the scene below her. She angled her wings and dropped down on top of the creature, slamming her sword into the creature's torso. The demon screamed in pain and buckled flipping the blonde off its back. It reached an arm behind it and knocked the sword out of it's back. Quinn stood up quickly and ran to pick up her fallen sword, the creature hot on her trail. Her fingers brushed against the hilt and she twirled around faster than a human eye could see. Using her massive wings she effectively pushed the demon back and with a high pitched whine, swung her sword at the momentarily stunned creature. With a clean swipe, Quinn decapitated the lesser demon.

Rachel couldn't get her mind wrapped around what she was seeing. For the second time in the last ten minutes she was almost eaten. And then, here she was, lying on the ground, helpless when this…woman literally fell from the sky with a glowing sword. On top of that, this woman has wings! Beautiful black wings Rachel thought absent mindedly.

Quinn looked down in disgust at the pile of black bile that used to be the demon. She wiped her sword on the back of her jeans, on her calves. Next, she lifted her hazel eyes to the figure sprawled out in the dirt. She took a step forward and winced as the gashes across her chest made themselves known once again. Ignoring the pain the best she could, Quinn walked over to the brunette and kneeled beside her. Wide chocolate eyes stared back at her.

"Are you alright?" Quinn's husky voice asked as she set down her sword as to not scare the woman more than necessary.

Rachel nodded speechless as her eyes racked over the blonde's long hair, her flawless skin, the scar across her face, the red blood seeping across the black shirt, and of course….the powerful black wings that restricted the brunette's vision to only the blonde.

Quinn cocked her head to the side at the woman's glazed eyes, "My name's Quinn and I mean you no harm. I'm here to protect you, do you understand?"

Rachel cleared her throat, "Yes, I do. What…what happened…what..who…are you?" her soft voice asked.

"We will discuss that later, but I need you to come with me. Will you agree to come with me?" Quinn asked softly.

"I..think so. I'm sorry, just having some difficulty here with the…the wings and all. Are they real?" Rachel stuttered.

Quinn chuckled, the woman was kind of cute, "sorry about that," she hugged her wings closer to her body, "..and yes they are. Come on, let me help you. We need to leave before more of these things show up," She offered the prone girl her hand.

When their palms touched, Quinn almost dropped the poor girl from shock. Without her permission, a pulse flowed from deep within her and into the other girl causing a static charge.

"Sorry," Quinn muttered quickly as she pulled the brunette to her feet.

"It's alright, I hate static electricity." Rachel said completely oblivious. Her eyes searched out Brittany. "Britt!" she screamed, "…Quinn we need to help my friend."

Quinn looked over Rachel's shoulder and noticed the other blonde laying on the ground. She could sense that the blonde was still alive, "She is still alive, don't worry. I'll have my second look after her, but I need you to come with me."

Rachel looked back at Quinn puzzled, "Your what?"

Just then another figure materialized, with a swoosh of wings, from the darkness. Santana dropped down and fluttered her wings for a moment to balance herself, before letting her wings settle restlessly.

The last coherent thought that crossed Rachel's mind was there's two, before her eyes rolled up to the back of her head and she succumbed to a blissful sleep. She didn't even feel two strong arms catch her before she collapsed.

Silly Rachel...but I don't know. I'd prolly pass out too if I almost died. More than once lol

Reviews are soooooooo welcomed you have no idea. :D stay tuned!