Blood & Carrots Ep. 28

It was a few days later and I find myself in the training room with you. "You insisted upon accompanying me to the lower levels during my training. I told you I would put you to work if you did so, but like a loyal pet you chose to follow me." I grin and level the halberd I was wielding at you. Of course, it was not a full-sized one. I had crafted the polearm myself, then had it properly detailed.

I see you awkwardly hold the sword in your hand and almost feel bad for you as I lunge forward, making sure to be slow in my movements. I gently bat the blade away with the tip of my polearm, flinging it to the ground. You fall to your backside and I drive the tip of the halberd to the ground, leaning on it as I loom over you with a grin. "Do you wish to stop?"

My tail flicks as you stubbornly backup and collect your sword, standing and shifting back into the awkward stance. I smile and think if this was how Katrina felt when first teaching me. "So diligent... very well. Come practice upon me, I will simply defend."

The concern in your eyes was obvious and I gave a genuine giggle at it. "My sweet, there is simply no danger, I assure you. Do your best and I may even feed upon you a little when we are done, you would enjoy that, yes?"

My teeth bare in a grin at your eagerness. You lunge and I parry, my halberd deftly striking away or deflecting your blows. We keep this up for several seconds before I see you becoming winded. "I forget how quickly mundane's grow fatigued, let us pause."

You lower your sword with a pant on your breath and I flourish the polearm, spinning it over my head a few times to show off, then plant the base hard into the ground. I sway my hips as I go to collect a bottle of water and pass it off to you.

"Would you like me to tell you about my first time visiting the Celestial council? I could do so while I practice my form." I ask you curiously while retrieving my halberd and shifting to a stance I used when drilling myself in strikes.

I grin and nod before starting my regimen of swings. "Of course... it's simple when one doesn't rely so heavily upon breathing."

My polearm blurs as I swing it, giving off a bright maroon wave of color while I practice. "So! Like all things bureaucratic... it took time to secure my first visit... nearly a year of time..."

My ears lift at your question and I tilt my head. "Gloria? Oh... Yes, she spent the first few months meeting and greeting with the various houses in our region. Nothing international though. After that, she settled down with her own room here at the mansion. She wasn't an official family member, more like Alex. She was an important liaison between us and the celestials."

"As I was saying..." I huff out and spin my halberd before thrusting it in practiced movements. "Nearly a year later, I finally received clearance to come speak to their council about matters..."

#

"So, you want us both to go? Won't your denizens be a little troubled about me walking amongst them? I do have some notoriety with them." Lorelai folded her arms over her stomach, cocking her brow while speaking to Toroah.

The archangel smiled upon the arch-vampire and opened both his hands, showing his palms. "I have spoken to my children. They are apprehensive but will offer you no hostilities."

"Well that's a relief, you understand the position this is putting us in, yeah?" I had my arms folded like my lovers and tilted my head up at the divine rabbit.

Toroah fixed me with a neutral gaze. "You were the one that wished to come to the table, Countess, I simply fulfill that wish. You will have your time to speak but you do so under the duress of millennia of strife and ill will on both fronts. The other two archangels were extremely hesitant about this and it took me much time to convince them."

I frowned then bowed my head. "I'm sorry to make things problematic for you. Of course, I am grateful for your efforts, Toroah."

"I never would have believed you got your stubborn brood to listen to reason. I should give you more credit, rabbit." The sheep flicked her ears and pointed a finger at the angel, her teeth showing in a grin.

The angel looked upon the ancient vampire and his lips formed a smile. I saw his posture relax as if he were speaking with an old friend. "It warms my heart to meet your approval, sheep."

Ancient creatures of power or not, I recognized the body language between them. Something was or had happened between them. I lifted my ears curiously and raised a finger. "You two... just how well do you know one another?"

The larger rabbit stared at me contemplatively, as if deciding if he should answer the question. Lorelai answered it straight away. "We tried dating about five hundred years ago, you could say." The sheep huffed the words and cut her eyes towards me.

"Wow! You hooked up with an archangel, love? Damn..." I spoke the words with respect in my voice, looking between the two of them.

Toroah cleared his throat. "H-hooked up? We did little more than hold hands and embrace. There was nothing vulgar about the relationship, Countess Alice."

"Nothing vulgar? What's the fun in that..." I cut my blue eyes to his, giving him a playful grin, both our sets of white ears flicking about.

"Relationships are not always about sex, Alice." Lorelai mumbled the words at me and put a hand to her forehead, pushing her white locks away from her horns.

"You two seem friendly with one another still... what changed?" I asked curiously.

"Must we?" Lorelai grit her teeth and gave me a haughty glare. "I will regale you with the gossip of he and I later. Must we do it right in front of him?"

"I do not mind, Lorelai." Toroah spoke the words, the amusement in his silken voice clearly present. "I am surrounded by stuffy sorts all day, every day. Light talk like this is refreshing."

"Well I mind." She huffed out and fixed me with a fussy look. "Save the personal questions for later, Alice. We are here on council business."

I frowned but felt her will push with the words and nodded my head. "My apologies, my lady. I will keep it professional going forward."

"Thank you." She gave the angel a sharp look. "Toroah, there is one small problem with visiting."

"Yes... our realm is bathed in perpetual light." He nodded as if already aware of her concern.

"It's always sunny there? Do you guys live in Philadelphia?" I hummed the words playfully but drew blank looks from both of them. I rolled my eyes and let them keep talking.

Lorelai looked upon me. "Do you remember the light Ezikiel used upon you?"

"Yeah, it was awful, it made me feel sick and weak. Is it that kind of light?" I asked curiously.

"Yes. It's not true sunlight, so it wouldn't simply turn us to ash, but it is powerful enough it would incapacitate you in seconds and me within a few hours." Lorelai spoke the words to me then looked back upon Toroah.

"I have already planned for this contingency." The angel waved a hand and a large black parasol shimmered into reality and landed in his grasp. He presented it to Lorelai who collected it and looked it over. "It is an artefact that shall give you immunity to the light of our realm, so long as you remain within its radius."

"It's cute... but why a parasol? Wouldn't something like a coin or ring be simpler?" Lorelai asked him curiously, already spinning the handle, making the top twirl around, frilly black lace bouncing against the base of it.

Toroah gave her a gentle smile. "Because you like parasols."

Lorelai gave a sharp bleat at the words and I showed my teeth in a grin, seeing the scowl on her face, her cheeks darkening. "Wow, pretty smooth... I approve." I hummed the words up at the angel.

"Alice! Do not encourage him!" The sheep fussed the words at me and slung the parasol over her shoulder with a frown.

"Let me craft another for you, Countess Alice..." The angel flourished his hand but I pushed up against the sheep and hugged her.

"Don't bother, I will just share Lorelai's." I grinned at her and flicked my tail.

She gave me a haughty look but pulled me closer in a possessive manner. "It is just as well, I had no intention of you leaving my sight during this trip anyway."

I saw a look in the archangel's eyes, but I couldn't tell if it was sadness or happiness at the sight of me holding her. "Then you are set. I will open the gates to our realm for you, please enjoy the sights of our citadel until we are ready to meet with you, we will summon you at that time."

"And your residence will not harass us?" Lorelai asked him in a stern voice.

"They have been ordered to treat you as guests. They will not offer aggression but I cannot force them to welcome you with open arms either, Lorelai." He frowned as he spoke the words.

"A lack of aggression will keep me from removing their throats. That's all I want out of this, a peaceful exchange. They don't have to like either of us, but if they speak ill of my rabbit..." The sheep gave the larger rabbit a defiant glare.

"Rest assured, they will not." Toroah waved his hand and a shimmering gate opened before us, not unlike the kind I had seen Kazemde open. We both winced at the radiant light that poured out, showing a large square before us, old European style buildings all around looking of ivory and gold.

"So you will summon us when the time comes?" Lorelai asked again, pulling me closer to her.

"Yes, please enjoy the sights in the meantime." The angel gave a polite bow to us.

"With me, Alice." Lorelai took a step and I followed with her. I gave the archangel a glance over my shoulder, trying to read the look in his eyes from us leaving arm in arm together.

We stepped into the square and the portal behind us slipped closed. "Woah... t-this is weird... it's been so long since I've seen things in daylight..." I blinked my eyes several times, trying to adjust to the bright colors.

"Indeed... the parasol is a boon, but it does not protect our eyes. Let us stay here a moment and give our vision time to adjust." The sheep grumbled the words, her hand on my hip drawing me closer to her side.

I rested my head upon her shoulder and hugged closer to her. "We've... you and I have been through some crazy things over these last few years love, but this takes the cake..." I spoke the words gently towards her.

Lorelai looked at me, her soft brown eyes looking bright and extra beautiful in the daylight. "It's true... I never dreamed of stepping foot into the citadel, you have given me a first, Alice. That is something that is truly rare these days."

"I have also given you my love." I cooed the words and moved forward, pressing my lips to hers for a quick kiss. She returned the gesture then pulled from my mouth to grin.

"We have already gathered onlookers, let us not encourage more..." She whispered the words gently to me and took a few steps. I nodded and paced with her as we began to walk from the square.

The citadel wasn't as populated as I had imagined it to be. It was huge with large buildings and sprawling roads, but for its size it looked rather devoid of a population. Consider walking through a large metropolitan area in the height of the day. You would expect to see thousands crowding the streets, not hundreds. That's how this felt, there were plenty of beings to see, but not the volume to match the area.

"It feels a little more empty than I imagined it would." I spoke gently to my sheep while we walked, every passerby taking a glance upon us.

"You may not know this, but organized religion is losing its grip on the modern world. As technology brings people closer together, it also melds the various faiths together and blurs the lines of definition. The miracles of the past are debunked every day and faith in the supernatural wanes as mundanes begin to explain away the mysteries of their world." She spoke the words casually while I walked and clung to her arm.

"So divinity isn't pooled from a specific god or pantheon?" I asked curiously.

Lorelai shook her head, her curls bouncing about. "No. The divine is drawn forth from the collective belief of the mundane as a whole. All of the divine beings share in it. That also means all of the divines will suffer the effects of a lack of belief."

"So they are dying off?" I asked curiously.

The sheep set her jaw and nodded. "All of us are, Alice. The mundane grow stronger by the day and slowly discover more about all of us. Like all things, our time will eventually pass."

I shuddered and hugged closer to her. "I don't want to lose any of you..."

"I speak of things that could be millennia in the making, if they ever come to be, my rabbit. Do not even concern yourself with these things. We have a long, long time ahead of us together. I swear to you." She stopped her walking and turned to face me, putting a palm to my cheek and gazed into my eyes.

My forehead pushed to hers as I looked into her eyes and nodded. "Alright... I will try not to let it weigh upon me."

She gave me a smile and we continued to walk. Eventually, we shifted to simply holding hands together. After some time, Lorelai called out to me curiously. "Do you still have the ring?"

"I do." I lifted my hand, the gold band on my marriage finger. "I slipped it on from my pocket shortly after we stepped through the gate."

Her cheeks darkened and she held her own hand up, showing the band on it as well. "You read my mind, then. These types will show a little more interest and be less judgmental if we claim to be married vs simply being lovers"

I huffed and lifted my ears, sticking my nose up. "I didn't put it on for them, I put it on because I'm with you."

Lorelai grinned and squeezed my hand, pulling me back to her and putting her arm around me. I grinned and flicked my tail while hugging her tightly. "So go ahead and ask, I know it's tearing at you."

With a giggle, I hummed playfully. "So you and Toroah? How did that work?"

The sheep sighed. "After our fight came to a conclusion he asked me to have tea with him. I do not think there was any intent behind it, but things just happened."

"Yet the two of you never...?" I showed my teeth in a grin.

"No, it wasn't a sexual thing, we just wanted companionship." Lorelai huffed the words, her small tail flicking rapidly.

"He's pretty damn hot though... I'm surprised you didn't go for it." I practically purred the words into her ear. "Even now... I wouldn't blame you... damn... bring me along for the ride, my wife..."

The sheep bleated out and glared at me with dark cheeks. "Alice, must everything turn to sex with you?"

"Yes." I hummed out playfully and moved in for her throat, nibbling at it eagerly. "Ha... I would even play along and let you be dominant if you didn't want him to see that side..."

Toroah just was there in a blink, next to us with no warning. Both of us jumped and I pulled my mouth from her throat, my tongue still lolled slightly. Lorelai bleated out sharply then glared at the angel. "Y-you! Were you listening to us?!"

The angelic rabbit frowned and blinked at her slowly. "Uh... I came to gather you for the meeting... I told you I would, remember?"

I heard my sheep huff out and could hear her heart pounding, despite not needing to. I cut my eyes back to the rabbit and showed my sharp teeth in a grin. "Speak of the devil, and they will appear?"

"Alice! Behave yourself..." Lorelai spoke the words with a huff and quickly jerked her eyes from the large rabbit before us.

Toroah gave us both a clueless gaze and tilted his head. "Is this poor timing?"

"No, it's fine." Lorelai huffed out and her composure was set again in an instant. "Let us go."

#

I expected something more elaborate but when we stepped out of the new gate Toroah had made for us, we were in a large windowless room. There was a long table run along one wall with a series of five normal looking desk chairs. One moment they were empty, the next they all had been occupied sans the fourth one from the left.

Lorelai didn't bother putting the parasol away and kept it on her shoulder, as if wanting something to have as a diversion, spinning it casually. I only recognized one other member in the room, it was the platinum blonde fox from a year ago. It took me a moment to recall her name before I spoke out to her.

"Ah, it was... Dame Rachel, isn't that what my Master titled you as?" I gave her a polite bow.

The fox lifted her ear and gave me a courteous smile but didn't return the bow. "It was, yes. Now I am High Bishop."

I frowned and put my finger to my cheek. "I'm not sure what to address you as, would it be your bishopness?"

Lorelai snorted out a laugh at me before gripping my arm. "You would technically refer to her as her eminence." The sheep cut a glance to the fox then back to me. "Only if you wished to."

The fox chuckled and shook her head. "You are not part of our family, I do not expect you to adhere to formalities. Please just call me, Rachel if it pleases you, Countess."

I folded my arms and frowned. "Fine, but only if you drop the title on me as well."

"That's quite enough pleasantries, can we move this talk along?" The central most figure in the chair spoke out in a strong tone of voice.

I looked upon him to see he had a similar set of wings to Toroah's. He was dressed in a flowing white and gold robe, his hands folded upon the table, covered in large gold rings with various gemstones laid into them. His head was bald and two large heavy black ears hung down from the sides of his head, a large thick black tail behind him. He looked heavy of build at first but then I realized it was just his stature, he appeared to be of a species of st bernard, or something similar.

Toroah cleared his throat before speaking out gently. "Let me make quick introductions then. Alice, you've already met High Bishop, Rachel." He gestured a palm towards her in the first chair, then moved to the far one, gesturing to a black cat. "This is our second High Bishop, sir Gerald."

The black cat had dark skin that almost matched the color of his fur and bright yellow eyes. He gave me a silent nod while keeping his hands resting upon the table. His build was fairly small and similar to Rachel's.

The angelic rabbit motioned to the being in the second chair, a large stocky bovine woman with platinum blonde hair like the fox. She had heavy white and black ears, I could see her wiry white tail with a large plume of black fur at the tip flicking about impatiently. Like Toroah and the bernard, she had massive wings on her back. "This is archangel, Samantha."

The large curvy woman fixed me and the sheep with an irritated look and snorted through her nose. "I share Ichiro's will in this matter. Let us get this over with."

Toroah frowned and moved his hand towards the central figure. "And this is archangel Ichiro." The rabbit took the fourth seat after making the final introduction.

Lorelai spun the parasol on her back and sighed. "Never thought I would see the day I would be in a room with all three archangels and both High Bishops. My, my, how the fates love their twists."

The large bovine woman spoke out dryly. "I do not think any of us did. Regardless, can we cut to the heart of the matter?"

Lorelai looked to me and cocked an eyebrow. "My wife is the one here to speak to you, not I." The sheep stepped back a pace.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and stepped forth before the five of them. I rubbed the back of my head and sighed. "Uh... so I thought about this big impassioned speech to give all of you, something to try to explain how I felt. However..."

With a grin, I spread my hands and flicked my tail. "Look, let's just be realistic here. None of us benefit from trying to kill one another. Let's just all get along and work this out!"

An awkward silence hung between the seven of us before the black cat purred out a laugh. "How childish..."