Layers
Chapter Four
By: Brenli and Jael

Serissa gingerly touched her throbbing cheek, the frown on her face growing steadily deeper. The abuse she usually suffered at Judas' hands was nothing new to her. In fact, she had grown so accustomed to it that she was surprised she felt any pain, at all.

Her anger outweighed the pain.

What else could she expect? Judas had never respected her. The countless centuries she had spent in his 'service' had always been the same. But with this new blow, she felt her hatred for her master grow tenfold. Her house was about to become a hotel for a group of very unwelcome Angels.
Did she care about what they might do to her? Not at all. She was a strong, ridiculously capable Vampire. Her only care was for the three children she called her own...

She didn't utter a single word to the Angel and the Vampire who followed her out of Judas' mansion. Tension was still thick in the air, and she knew, without a doubt, that words meant to try and comfort her were running through their heads.

She pushed open the iron gates and saw a group of people standing at the sidewalk. All eyes turned to her.

"Who the fuck are you? Where's Judas?" The little Evil's tan lips pressed and curled into an unhappy, pouting scowl. Her pupils were cat-like slits as she passed Uriel and Jinho the same critical, cruel glare, little hands planted on little hips. "Is this the best you could do, lecher? Because this isn't what I-"

"Serissa will be serving as King Judas' liaison during our time together." The Gehenna Vampire spoke over Lilith's hisses. "We must be grateful for every kindness he has decided to bestow upon us."

Lilith opened her mouth to snap at him, but this time, the Rabbit Queen cut her off. "Of course." She offered a small bow of her pale head to the new woman. "Thank you very much for doing this..." If the one who arranged this entire thing couldn't show gratitude, someone needed to try and make up for it...

"We will be staying in Serissa's home until further notice." Uriel said quietly.

Serissa stayed silent. Without even acknowledging Nema or the others, she went to the shining black SUV that sat at the curb. "I have room for four. The rest can follow me." She punched her four digit code into the little horizontal panel underneath the driver's side door handle, unlocking the car.

Uriel didn't hesitate to climb into the passenger seat, while Jinho climbed into the backseat and sighed as he heard Lilith hiss and whine.

"And how exactly are we supposed to follow you? Are we supposed to run?" It was a valid enough question. Lilith herself had done most of her traveling on her magic alone. Jinho had done the same. Apparently most of the Angels had reached Assiah by ships that had done little more than drop them off, bags and all...

Serissa only glanced at the moody little Evil and spoke plainly. "Hail a taxi or two." She climbed into her car.

The group exchanged glances, some angry, some tired, but Setsuna pulled out his phone. "I got it..."

Jibril laid a gentle hand over his phone and offered a quiet, "Could be cheaper to just take the Tube. It would get us part of the way, at least. And then we would pay less in cab fare..."

"Yeah, right." The little Dragonmaster huffed, giving the black SUV a cat-eyed glare. "Let's stuff ourselves into tubes. Why is that even a mode of travel, here? Tubes? Really?"

Several tired and annoyed pairs of eyes suddenly became that much more tired and annoyed. "You'll understand when we get to the nearest station, Lilith." Jibril sighed as she took the Messiah's phone and began tapping away on it.

A smile crossed Setsuna's lips as he ruffled his grandson's white hair and nodded at Serissa's car. "You should go, kiddo. Keep an eye on your mother, too."

A wide grin pulled on Nathan's lips, and Nema lightly tapped her father's bicep with a snowy fist, wearing a smile of her own. "Go on..." She told Nathan, nodding to the SUV. As her son ran and scrambled into the dark vehicle, she gave Isobelle little Eskimo kisses and Michael a kiss of his own, lingering only briefly. She could tell how tense he was, even as he held their daughter... Not that she could blame him. "You'll be away from Lilith soon." She whispered to him. "Try not to light her on fire just a little longer, okay?"

That was enough to make the Fire Angel suddenly laugh and kiss the crown of the Rabbit Queen's head, which was all Nema wanted from him. She left the group with a wave and a short, parting bow, hearing her son already rambling as she entered the SUV.

"Wow!" Nathan cooed over the smooth leather interior. "This is a nice fucking car!"

Serissa gave Nathan a startled look through the reflection of her rearview mirror, disturbed over the young boy's foul language. "Erm... Thank you." She slipped the key from the pocket of her jeans and started it. The engine purred to life.

Uriel didn't say anything, but he too was admiring the interior of the SUV. Above anything, he enjoyed the smell of it. A mixture of leather and a faint hint of perfume. He noticed something on the floorboard between his feet and lifted it. He stared at a soft, worn stuffed brown rabbit. "... Friend of yours?"

Serissa gave him a dark look as she took the rabbit and passed it back to Nathan. "Put this in the back for me, please."

Nathan eyed the rabbit for a moment before tossing into into the back of the SUV. "You got kids?"

"'Do I have kids?'" Serissa's lips tugged into the smallest of smiles as she corrected the young boy's terrible grammar. "Yes... I have three." In the reflection of her mirror, she saw Jinho's eyebrows raise.

"How old?" Jinho asked quietly.

"Seven, nine and twelve."

"They as pretty as you?" Nathan asked, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands.

Again, Serissa was taken aback by Nathan and his... straightforwardness. She couldn't help but smile. "They're adopted."

Uriel threw a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. Children? Adopted...? Suddenly, her reservations about letting them stay at her home made a lot more sense. He clicked on his seat belt and listened as Nathan continued to charm Serissa with his questions and bright-eyed innocence.

"That's an awesome tattoo!" He said, reaching out to touch the tattoo that covered the majority of Serissa's left arm. "What's it of?"

"A Hindu God. Shiva the Destroyer."

"Never heard of her."

That just made Serissa smile a little bit more. "Him."

The little Rabbit boy's mouth opened up again, another off-the-cuff question ready to be fired away, but his mother's laughs stopped him. "Look at you, running your mouth like crazy...! Do I need to get your Dad to talk to you about girls, now?"

Nathan was positively mortified. "No! I'm just saying...!" He huffed, his face gone red, as he assured Serissa, "Don't listen to Ma; she's a silly woman."

"I'll show you silly." Her snowy fingers tickled her son's snowy neck, and she laughed with him. The boy sighed when the tickling was over, and Nema smiled at Serissa, briefly catching her eyes through the rear view mirror. "Three children is quite the feat...!" Nema could barely manage two. The thought of three overwhelmed her...

"It doesn't feel much like work." Serissa said.

Uriel watched her fingers tighten on the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. She fell silent and focused only on the road before them. He frowned as he wondered what had made her shut down, all of a sudden. She had seemed so hard and stubborn until Nathan began to speak to her, and then, he got a brief glimpse at the woman he assumed she really was, on the inside. A kind woman who loved a trio of children enough to adopt them and call them her own. A woman strong enough to endure abuse from a man who owned her. A woman who let the bright-eyed innocence of a child melt her icy exterior. And then, as though somebody had flipped a switch, she was moody and quiet again. Like she had quickly thrown up a wall and boxed herself in...

Uriel knew what she was doing, and it made his heart ache. It killed him to know, and to see, exactly what she was doing. After all, hadn't he been using the same tactic for years, now?

She turned on music to keep the chatter down as she drove the rest of the way to her mansion. She parked out in front of the sterile-looking, white three story home. Uriel unclicked his seatbelt and stared out the window at it. It certainly made his mansion in Hades look like something Dracula would live in... The hedges out front were perfectly trimmed, flowers of every color blooming in the flower beds in front of the wrap-around porch.

"This is a lovely home, you have." Jinho's cane tapped against the ground as he spoke softly, his ink-black eyes drinking in the view of the prestigious mansion.

"Technically, it isn't mine." Serissa said. "It's Judas'. I just live here with my kids."

"Still," Jinho removed his top hat and held it in his hands, "To be given such an amazing home...? I imagine there aren't many in Judas' employ that can make such a boast."

To that comment, Serissa gave the Gehenna Vampire a wry smile. "He's always told me I'm his favorite creation. So no... there aren't."

"His favorite creation?" Uriel couldn't do anything to hide the bite in his voice. He clenched his jaw and looked away. He only saw her as a creation? No wonder he treated her like she was just an object. His property.

Serissa climbed out of her SUV, the others following her. She watched as the young Nathan ran around in her front yard, oohing and aahing over her fountain and landscaping. Serissa found another smile tugging on her lips as she twirled her keychain and isolated the one to her front door.

"Sessy! Sessy, you're home!"

Serissa nearly dropped her keys. A little girl with long black hair had thrown open the front door to Serissa's house, charging for her, a piece of paper flapping like a flag from her hand.

"June!" Serissa grunted when the girl all but tackled her. She scooped her up and laughed, letting June wrap her little arms around her neck. "What are you doing home so early?"

"Early release day, remember?" June giggled when Serissa propped her onto her popped hip. "I drew you something!"

"You did! Let me see!"

As June showed Serissa her little crayon drawing and babbled on about her day at school, the others looked on. None of them felt the need to interrupt; after all, how could they? The sudden difference in Serissa was staggering. The moment June showed up and threw herself into Serissa's eager arms, she had begun to glow. Her smile was easy, carefree and genuine. The little glimpses of that smile Uriel had seen when she watched Nathan had broken through, and it had shattered whatever mask of melancholy she had worn before.

"Sessy, who are they?"

"June. We're going to have some company over for a little while. Do you want to say hello?"

June's cheeks turned red and she buried her face into Serissa's brown hair.

"Oh, now you're gonna be shy." Serissa gave the others a small smile and an apologetic shrug.

But a charming, smooth smile curled upon Jinho's lips as he stepped closer, stopping two paces away from Serissa and the half-hidden June. "Please, don't be shy, little lady June." His smile widened, his fangs on display as he sweetly spoke, resting his top hat over his heart. "We won't do you harm or treat you poorly..."

Nema smiled as the Gehenna Vampire worked his charm, brushing her snowy hair over her shoulder and calling out to her son. "Nathan...!"

"What?" Nathan hadn't even looked up, too preoccupied with poking a water strider across the fountain's pool of water with his pale little finger.

"Come here and meet June!"

Nathan looked up, and it was only when he realized that the girl was around his age that he grinned and ran over, white hair bouncing in the breeze. "Hey...!" The boy was small and young, and yet his presence was so bright it seemed to overpower Jinho's, who only laughed and stood when the boy held out his hand for a handshake. "Name's Nathan. So you named after the month or something?"

"I don't know..." June said shyly, and Serissa set her down.

"Are Aaron and Chiyo home?"

"Yep. Aaron started on his homework, already... I think Chiyo's getting our, um... dinner ready."

"She's what?" Serissa's eyes narrowed and her tone hardened.

Suddenly, June seemed flustered. "She just wanted to help! She knows that you don't like-"

"Come on." Serissa took June's hand and lead her inside. She assumed the others would have followed. Whether they did or not was of little concern to her in that moment. "June, go upstairs and start your homework. I'll bring your dinner in a bit, okay?"

"Okay..." June said softly, and she ran up the set of stairs in the entryway that led to the upper levels of the mansion.

"Chiyo?" Serissa turned and headed for the kitchen, unaware of Uriel staying close behind her. After all, none of them really wanted to lose sight of Serissa. The interior of the mansion was huge, and obviously easy to lose your way in.

"Sessy, is that you?" A voice floated out from the kitchen, and a girl, no older than twelve, rushed out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. "You're home!"

Uriel froze and gaped at the girl. She had stark white skin and red eyes, and the white hair that was the trademark of an I-Child...!

The Earth Angel wasn't the only one who was in shock. The Rabbit Queen's mouth had dropped open just slightly as she looked down at the young girl. There was no mistaking it... this girl was an I-Child. But it had been years since a Rabbit had chosen to live on Assiah. Nema herself had been such an odd case, no one had thought she was a Rabbit until she she started making light bulbs and flower vases shatter... And those other few that had sought refuge here had done so for just that - desperate refuge in the heat of the Rabbit Hunting. Given the choice, so many preferred to live in Heaven...

Nema's hand automatically went down to run through her son's hair, and her ruby eyes swiveled back up to meet Serissa's. "Is she...?" She knew she wouldn't have to finish the question. The question was loud enough, all on it's own.

"An I-Child?" Serissa said, her mouth tight with a restrained frown. "Yes. She is." Serissa stepped toward Chiyo and noticed the red bag of fluid the girl held in her hand. She went rigid and her face turned slightly... green.

Chiyo hid the bag behind her back. "I'm sorry, Sessy...! I just wanted to help...!"

"I know, baby." Serissa said, swallowing back her nausea as she held out her hand to take the bag from Chiyo. "But you know I don't like you handling any of this. You're not-"

"A Vampire, I know. But it makes you-"

"Go upstairs, okay? You need to do your homework."

"... Okay." Chiyo finally took a moment to look at the others standing behind Serissa. A very tall, tan skinned man, another man in a top hat... and two people with coloring just like hers. "Who are they?"

Serissa frowned, but offered up introductions, anyway. "Chiyo, this is Uriel, the Angel of Earth. Jinho, a Vampire from Gehenna, and... Nemaelle and her son, Nathan."

The moment Serissa mentioned Nema, Chiyo recoiled, taking two full steps backwards as she stared at Nema, eyes wide. She seemed... frightened. Angry. "What is she doing here?!"

"Judas says they have to stay here for a while, Chiyo. Just for a little while."

"I hate him and I hate her!" Chiyo exploded with angry yells, and her face turned pink when she glared at Nema, "You stay away from me! I watched my mother burn because of you!"

Serissa's frown only deepened when Chiyo turned and ran for her room. Uriel instinctually reached out a hand as the girl charged past, but stopped himself from grabbing her. From interrogating her. Where had that come from?

Nema's breath had caught short in her throat. She... wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting. In some ways, she'd heard these claims made before, but from the mouth of a child, in that moment...

"What the fuck was that about?" She heard her son snap.

"Nathan-"

"Make her come back! Make her say that shit again!"

"Nathaniel!"

Her son turned livid, fiery red eyes up at her, hands balled up into little white fists. Nema pointed in the direction they'd come, hoping her arm wasn't shaking. "Go. Now. I'm going to talk to you outside."

"She's fucking dumb, Ma-"

"Now."

Nathan didn't fight her, not this time, not with the way his mother's voice wavered. His feet dragged as he angrily left, a bundle of curse words he'd picked up from his father dripping out of his mouth.

Nema tried to look Serissa in the eye, but somehow, that was a much too difficult thing to do. "I... I'm s-" She wasn't even sure what she was apologizing for... She turned on the high heel of her knee-high boots and followed after her son.

Suddenly the room was silent in a way that pierced everyone's ears. "... Let me wait for the others. I'll be sure to escort everyone in once they've arrived." Even Jinho couldn't quite hide the shock in his silky voice, and he quickly bowed his head before striding away, calling for Nema.

Once Jinho had left, Uriel found himself standing alone with the brunette Vampire. The awkwardness of the young girl's comment left a certain air of tension in the room, even after everyone else had left.

"Dare I ask what that was about...?" Uriel asked, trying his level best to keep his voice steady and soft.

Serissa sighed and swept her tattooed fingers through her hair. "It's complicated."

"It seems that you and I will be spending a lot of time under the same roof. I'd like to hear it."

She jerked her head towards the kitchen, urging Uriel to follow. He did so slowly, watching her as she put the bag of blood on the counter and filled a pot with water. "Chiyo's parents were I-Children. They came to Assiah before the Hunting started. A group of Hunters came down here... looking for Nema, it seemed. Anyway, they found Chiyo's parents and killed them. Right in front of her." Serissa took the pot full of water and set it on the stove, pausing for a moment. The next words were so hard for her to say. "... She was about four years old."

"Why didn't the Hunters kill her too?" Uriel asked softly, sobered by story.

"I don't know. But they just left her there. I found her some time later... She was... next to her mother. Her corpse had been set on fire and half burned. She was bloated from rot and Chiyo just kept... trying to wake her up."

"How can you let her remain so filled with hatred? It wasn't Nema's fault." Uriel stepped up beside Serissa, purposely coming closer so she would look up at him. "It isn't... healthy to let a child hate someone as much as she obviously hates Nema."

"Who am I to tell her what she should think?" Serissa said, staring up at him with a strange... blankness in her gray eyes. "She's surprisingly well informed. And she isn't the only Rabbit to feel the way she does. Hence, your little problem in Heaven, right now."

"But isn't a parent supposed to protect a child from the things that make them angry? The things that hurt them?"

"I would do her no favors, shielding her like that. I have no idea what that girl is feeling. I don't know, and neither do you. I can't tell her what to think, or how to deal with the things that cause her pain... only she can do that."

"And you would do nothing to guide her...?" Uriel stepped back when Serissa stepped by him to retrieve a second bag of blood from a refrigerator stocked with the several more.

"When it comes to matters of overcoming a traumatizing past, I would be a poor teacher. She doesn't talk about what happened. I don't even know the finer details. How can I help her when the real events of her past are all but a mystery?"

"I can't exactly argue with that. You seem to have your own baggage."

"What makes you think that?"

Uriel selected his next words very carefully, watching her intently with each word he slowly spoke. "You're a Vampire... and the sight of blood makes you queasy."

Serissa stumbled and nearly dropped the red bag into the boiling water. How did he...? She had kept that fact a secret from everybody except those close to her for centuries and this man... This man had noticed it immediately.

"I imagine there's a story behind that," Uriel said softly. He knew that hearing such a story would be a silly thing to hope for, but still he watched her, knots clenching in his chest. Moments stretched on and felt like hours as Serissa only watched the pair of red bags float and tremble in the pot.

"You'd be correct in assuming that. But incorrect in assuming that it's a story I'm willing to share." Serissa removed the bags from the boiling water and poured the steaming red liquid into a pair of glasses. "We all have our demons, Earth Angel."

"Truer words have never been spoken," he muttered quietly. "I have quite a few of my own." He even felt the faces of his demons bubbling in the surface of his mind, like the bags had done in their little pot of water. He felt words on his tongue that could have described them to her. If all she did was ask...

Serissa lifted the pair of glasses and gave him one last, lingering look, before leaving him alone in the kitchen.