Fall Ch. 04-08

Notes: 1) This is a non-erotic urban fantasy story that spun up in my head. 2) If you see this anywhere but Literotica it isn't supposed to be there. 3) It has short chapters so I'm posting it in chunks.

*****

Four

Caimrael was watching with a mix of pleasure and dismay as the dispeller left Cehrael's side. 'The best they have' was what Ezenach had said, the girl had appeared skilled but foolishly open and too trusting. Discovering there was more to her than there seemed, made him think it was an act to keep her below their radar.

The fallen had seen her potential and found their way in. But a door once opened could be opened again. And from what he'd heard she'd been showing it to them every time she called for help in dispelling Ezeviel. Information was just the beginning of what he intended to get from her. The fallen were using her to sway the entire organization of dispellers, that could be used to demonic advantage as well.

But first... He slipped back out onto the street from the abandoned space he'd been watching from. "Cehrael, how long has it been?" He flashed the homeless man a cheerful smile while fishing a twenty from his pocket.

"Not long enough, Caimrael. You look well."

"Thank you, you look like shit." The fallen chose such depressing forms, it suited the despair that could be felt radiating from them. They longed to return to heaven.

The fallen looked at him sternly, his tolerance for pleasantries seemed to have been reached.

"No need to get upset, I simply have a few questions about the dispeller who was just professing her love for you." The pale yellow eyes looking back at him glittered like well-cut gems catching the light. "Did you give her the armor?"

"A question I would also have answered." Ezeviel's icy voice carried as he approached.

"We did not. She was found with some of the markings already in place, it has taken years for her to complete them."

'She was found.' The night she drank herself into oblivion no doubt. "I didn't see them until she spoke the incantation, and neither did he." Caimrael jerked his thumb in Ezeviel's direction. "How would you have seen them?"

"They were visible while they healed. She kept herself well covered, most of the time." Cehrael was looking pleadingly at Ezeviel.

"After Ezeviel murdered her Uncle in front of her she was less careful for a time. I recall something about that." Caimrael couldn't help but wonder if any of the other dispellers were wearing such carefully concealed armor. They couldn't do their jobs and have it completed, but with a simple penned mark in the right place they could be much more formidable than they had previously shown themselves to be. The mark she'd chosen radiated protection without tipping her hand.

If they weren't she might be the beginning of a trend. She wasn't well-liked by the other dispellers but even they knew she was highly skilled. Ms. Alvar had been sent to other countries to do her job and few of the dispellers could boast that. It wouldn't be long before they began to encourage her to start teaching.

"I murdered no one. I have done my duty, as her Uncle did his." There was an undercurrent of annoyance beneath the ice of his tone. "Why are they no longer called Masters? That would keep them from getting so attached."

"They haven't been called Masters for a hundred years or more." Caimrael gave a snide laugh. "No wonder you're so disliked, you haven't spent any time with them. Except, of course, to kill them." Eyeing Cehrael, he spoke pensively, "You, on the other hand, we haven't paid enough attention to you. Seducing a dispeller is a feat few have managed, and to seduce such a skilled one." He tossed the twenty to the ground in front of Cehrael. "Thank you for reminding us that it's possible."

Caimrael set off in the direction Ms. Alvar had gone. She had said she needed to go to the office, the location wasn't exactly a secret. The angels wanted to speak with her, possibly for the same reason he did. Her tipping of the board had been noticed. They would want to use her, to encourage her to continue.

He saw a larger problem, however. The dispellers had been gathering information for centuries. Too much was as bad as too little, they should be drowning in it. But somehow at least one of them was making sense of things and understanding how the board could be shifted. Even if she wasn't doing it intentionally, or what seemed more likely, if she were trying to be subtle, she should never have been able to put all of those pieces together.

Where there was one, there would be more. The last time, it had been the angels that burned their library. This time...

°°°°°°°°°°

Five

"Well, you're going to have to forgive me for ducking in." Verena glanced back to the library door wondering if this really was better than being hunted by the demon.

"Give me a reason." Bile finally gave her a moment to rebut his tirade about irresponsibility.

"How about Ezeviel who tried to approach me in the street and the top shelf demon that got the jump on me in the library. I'm pretty sure he's the one I was warned about. I've never seen him before but this guy was slick and very powerful, and I pissed him off." She fidgeted wishing she'd been allowed further into the library. "And I think I might have shown too much of my hand as far as my armor goes."

"Armor?" The older man looked at her sharply.

"You have been in the old records right? They have diagrams and all kinds of stuff. What do you think I spent so many hours in there for so many years for?"

"I thought you were interested in the history." His eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"I got tattooed. UV ink. You know how the text with the armor diagrams says it has to be traced in sunlight? UV ink works. I put the last symbol on with a regular ink pen."

"How... how effective was it?" Bile seemed to forget his consternation for a moment.

"Very. The demon couldn't touch me and that was without the incantation. But I had to use the incantation to make Ezeviel back off. That bag of dicks spread his wings at me in the street." Verena breathed a sigh of relief as he took hold of her arm and led her toward the library.

Instead of in, he took her past, through another set of biometric doors that he opened himself. The librarians' living area. Vincent was lounging on a sofa in pajamas staring intently at the TV when Bile cleared his throat.

"Master Bile!" He sat up and gaped at her. "Ms. Alvar. She isn't supposed to be here!" His attention shifted back to Bile.

"She's going to be staying with us for a few days. Show her to the spare room and the writing room." His head swiveled to look at her with a frown, "You won't need more than that."

Verena opened her mouth to crack a joke about not needing food or bathrooms but Bile's look strongly discouraged it. "Yes sir. I'll eat my doubles in my room and then finish what I was writing earlier before I was interrupted."

"Doubles?" Vincent sounded almost excited before he remembered himself and mirrored Bile's sternness.

"From the little place a few blocks from the security office. That's where I was going when Ezeviel cornered me, and since I was starved I stopped for food on the way. I saw the demon who'd interrupted me in the public library and tried to slip a phone in my coat going that way. "

"It was so urgent you stopped to eat?" Bile scowled at her.

"I needed to eat. And I haven't yet. I bought the food planning to eat it on the way," holding up the bag she'd had in her hand ever since she'd entered the doors. "I need to figure out why Ezeviel hunted me down, but the more pressing thing for me was getting away from that demon. I need a minute to gather myself, he caught me off guard." She looked at Bile apologetically, "I can't send you anything if I don't have a secure place to retreat to. I thought I was being-"

"You don't know how to be careful enough for this." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Vincent, take her and talk to her about the ideas you had. I'll have security do a sweep to see how many demons are on our doorstep."

"He didn't see me. I'm good at getting around unnoticed when I try. Have them look outside their office for a demon with brown wings and mahogany obsidian eyes. And tell them to be careful, he's not like the ones we usually see."

"You've got a lot to write about. Go eat and drop your things." He gestured for Vincent and began to walk away.

"Have you really been folded under their wings?" Vincent asked quietly, leading her deeper into the living area. "That seems dangerous."

"I have been. I wouldn't let an angel or a demon do it, but the newly fallen care about people. You can feel it." Verena followed him into the room he opened. It looked like a very small hotel room, a private bathroom, a bed, and a dresser with a mirror over it. "Wait, I get my own bathroom?" It came out a little more excited than it should have.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Vincent gave her an odd look.

"I've been living in a tiny windowless SRO where I share a bathroom with I don't even know how many other people." She sat on the bed and then flopped back. No lumps. "You may have to perform an exorcism to get me out of here."

"This is the room no one wants." Vincent was looking at her like she was crazy. "It's the smallest and the bathtub is small and stained-"

"Bathtub?!" She sat up with a jerk and shrugged off her coat, pushing him aside to look into the bathroom properly. "Can I write in here? I mean, in the tub?" Verena climbed into the dry tub with her clothes on and got comfortable. "In fact, when I die, you can just leave my ashes in here. I'm good with that."

"Um... No. You can't write in here. We have a special room with-"

"Can you bring me my food off of the bed? No, nevermind. I'm actually going to run water and have a bath while I eat. Do you have soap? Bubbles? Anything?"

"I think Master Bile wanted you to write." Vincent was very clearly trying not to laugh, an improvement as far as she was concerned. "I'll get you anything you want for a bath when the workday is done, though."

"Wait, you get rooms like this, and you get a day that has a set end?" She watched his face sour.

"And you get to leave the library." His arms crossed and he leaned in the doorway.

"Wanna trade? I'll throw in a double and the keys to my SRO." Verena lifted her eyebrows at him and tried to look hopeful.

Vincent's lips twisted. "I can't, but I'd still love some outside food if you're offering."

"It's cold, but you're welcome to split it with me. I usually share with either the newly fallen or one of their friends, I've learned to get two of everything if I can afford it."

He helped her out of the tub. "You didn't mention that you see them that often."

"They look out for me and I try to return the favor, keep things balanced. It doesn't hurt that I don't stick out that much with the homeless."

"When I read where you said you can find them, I wondered how many times I'd met them without realizing it." Vincent perched on the bed next to her as she unwrapped a cold double for him. "I didn't realize there was such a concentration of them here."

"I don't know if there was. Some of the homeless have talked about a change that happened a few years back. A few of them can tell." She took a bite and took her time chewing it. Numphreon tried her best to look after the ones she called 'touched' but sometimes they didn't seem to want the help. That the fallen had other tasks kept her from doing more for them, but Verena had gone out of her way to arrange things for them. Helping to keep them fed and warm felt like the least she could do.

"In other cities they've sent dispellers out to look for them." At his words she pulled herself out of her thoughts. "They're there too. Among the homeless and other places, one was a social worker, and there were two nurses they found."

"Anywhere kindness is needed. When you get to know them, it's impossible not to respect them." She noticed that he was almost finished with his and she had barely started, it encouraged her to try to eat more quickly.

"But they are dangerous." He studied her face as she tried to swallow and answer him.

"If you're trying to get them off of someone they're sitting on, absolutely. But if you approach them respectfully or leave them alone, they won't come after you, not like angels and demons will."

"Do you see angels on the street often?" He'd finished and was ready to question her it seemed.

"No, almost never. But if you walk into a house with one in it, even if you're just there for a consultation they get nasty fast."

There was a tentative knocking on the door and then it opened cautiously. "Ms. Alvar?" A boy of maybe fifteen was peering in at her sitting on the bed with the pajama-clad Vincent. "You're being asked for in the writing room."

Unceremoniously shoving the rest of her food in her mouth, she gestured at Vincent to take her there, patting her pockets for the envelope. Talk about the newly fallen would probably be put on the back burner, she needed to start talking about that demon.

The writing room wasn't terribly far from her room, and Vincent held the door open for her, not following her inside. The boy did, guiding her to a cubicle with screens and mic/headset. When she sat in the comfortable computer chair the boy flipped a switch and stepped away hurriedly, leaving her to blink in confusion at the faces appearing on the screens in front of her.

"So... when they said writing room I thought there would be desks and pencils or something."

A few of the faces peering at her smiled. One square with a face in it lit up. "You should push the button when you speak so you're easily identified."

"Button..." Looking down and around she noticed the almost game show-like domed button in front of her and pushed it experimentally, jumping as a bright light flashed at her. "Ok, I don't like that."

Another face lit up. "You'll get used to it."

A woman's face lit up. "We don't usually get to pick a living person's brain. We've got a lot of questions and you've got a lot of information. Do you want to start at the beginning?"

Pressing the button cautiously and wincing at the bright light in the dimness, she offered, "Why don't we start with what happened today, that might be more important."

°°°°°°°°°°

Six

After three months of having her brain picked thoroughly, Verena was starting to get antsy confined to the back of the library. Vincent had begun to tease her for gaining weight, nearly ten pounds in those three months was noticeable. Not sharing every meal had made a huge difference. It did make her feel guilty about the difference that it would be making on those she usually shared with.

When Bile suggested she help the librarians clean the library and reshelve books during a slow hour, she leapt at the chance. Cleaning didn't bother her.

Few of the other dispellers were there, Jack avoided her and left promptly, but Valentino and Aimee tried to chat with her. They'd been the ones sent to her SRO to clear it out.

"There was a newly fallen in your room. You let them in there?" Aimee stared at her like she was insane.

"They took care of the place when I was away now and then. I hope you were polite?"

Aimee sighed with annoyance and Valentino reassured her, "We tried. We told it you weren't coming back and it had to leave. But it got agitated, it wanted to know where you were and we couldn't tell it. We had to dispel it."

"Who was it?" Verena rubbed her face. Looking up at their confusion, she asked more clearly, "What did the eyes and wings look like."

"Pale grey eyes and spotted wings." Aimee shrugged.

"Vaemius. She worries."

"You know them all by name?" Valentino asked curiously.

"Not all of them on earth, but the ones you're likely to meet in the city, yes. If you see any more tell them I'm safe, even if you can't tell them more. If you tell them that and that I've put on ten pounds from being fed regularly you'll make them happy."

Valentino smiled and nodded but Aimee shook her head and scoffed, "Making them happy isn't something any of us should be concerned with."

"Cleaning is what Verena should be concerned with, not chatting with dispellers." Bile offered pointedly coming up behind her.

"Yes, Master Bile." She watched as Valentino and Aimee moved elsewhere leaving her to her tasks.

Checking under the shelves for stray books was how she found the devices. It wasn't like they could call the bomb squad, Verena pulled them carefully out ignoring questions and commands to leave them alone and evacuate alike as she loaded them onto a library cart and wheeled them directly out. Once outside she couldn't get back in. Her codes had expired. No coat... the important thing was to get this as far from the library as she could before-

"Child of breath!" The urgent call in the empty night street made her look up.

"Stay back! These-" Verena was swept up and carried bodily away from the cart. She was crushed into the entranceway of a nearby building as the cart exploded.

"Have you gone mad?!" Vaemius stepped back checking her over. "You risk your life, and caution me?"

"You worry about me and I worry about you. I'm sorry I couldn't warn you-"

"Child." Vaemius beamed and embraced her. "If the demon hadn't continued to hunt you we would have thought you dead."

"I might still end up that way, I've got no way to get back in to safety and no coat." Verena shivered trying to get closer to the fallen.

"I will get you to a safe place. Cehrael-"

"You aren't taking her anywhere." Aimee snapped closing at a jog. "I brought out your coat. We have orders and we need to move."

"I'll accompany you." Vaemius glanced around them pulling Verena out of the doorway and pushing her toward her coat. "They will have been watching to make certain-"

"No. As far as we know you had those sent in to draw her out." Aimee yanked at her arm. "Verena, we have to move."

"They wouldn't have done that, and even if they tried it they couldn't persuade a dispeller to agree to it." Verena held onto Vaemius and let Aimee drag them both along angrily. "That was something a demon arranged. I'd bet my life on it. They came to help someone in way over their head and-"

"Ms. Alvar, how lovely to see you again." The demon she'd met months before smiled brightly blocking their way and shaking out his wings. The sight of a demon with his wings spread always made her feel queasy. When they were folded they looked as normal as giant wings could look on a person, when they were spread they looked like they belonged to something dead. The feathers were sparse and patchy the flesh beneath was a burned and ragged grey.

"Oh god." Aimee turned to dry heave.

"Demon wings are definitely not pretty, but get yourself together, Aimee. You can throw up later." Verena muttered, pushing her behind and hoping the other dispeller had something with her.

"Vaemius, leave us. I'll even let you take the other dispeller, but this one is mine." It held out a hand to her as if in invitation.

"Caimrael, this one is-"

"Valuable to you. And a threat to me. She'll come willingly or I'll kill you both and drag her. You know me Vaemius, you know I'm stronger." Caimrael's smug smile as he beckoned made her feel colder than the biting night air. "Your choice, of course, Ms. Alvar."

"No harm comes to either of them. They can get themselves to safety. You guarantee that and I'll be a lamb and follow along for now. Caimrael, is it?"

"You have my word."

"Aimee, listen very carefully, take Vaemius into the library. I want her to speak with my roommate."

"Are you-"

"Fucking DO IT!"