The Lost Boy Ch. 25

And with that she spun on her heel and stormed towards the door, "Liline...I..." Gabrielle wanted to say something, anything to voice her apologies.

Liline didn't give her the chance, "Don't do it again." She slammed the door shut behind her.

Waiting in the hall, were Katabin, November and Ian. The two boys sitting on chairs beside the interrogation room with November standing impatiently waiting for the Sherriff to hurry up and meet them.

Liline hastily wiped her eyes and rounded the corner, "Sorry about that," she cleared her throat. "Are you two ready?"

Katabin nodded up at November who reached out and helped him to his feet, the boy looking down at Ian again, "You'll still be here when we're done right?"

Ian smiled, "Of course, I'm not going anywhere." Katabin smiled at that then followed after Liline, November at his back, into the adjacent interrogation room.

This space had changed very little in the time since Liline had been here last, which was when she and Ian had their first time together. Not the best of memories for them considering she was a little rough with him, but hey, look at them now. A metal rectangular table with an overhanging light and a two-way mirror for outside viewers, so Ian could also see everything that was going on.

"Go ahead and take a seat." She addressed Katabin, moving around to the opposite side of the table and sitting herself. Kat did as he was told while November stood immediately behind him, one hand on his shoulder to show she was there for support. "Okay...now I'm gonna try and make this as quick as possible. Because I know neither of you want to be here and you need to get a good night's rest after what you've been through."

Katabin nodded, "I actually don't sleep though."

Liline rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, "Well...you should give it a try. I don't have to either but take my word for it, it's strangely relaxing." Again, the messenger looked up behind him at November, seeming to silently ask her for permission to agree or not. Liline made sure to make a note of this in the small pocket notepad she flipped open.

November shrugged down at him, she figured if any of their angels deserved to rest with actual sleep it was Katabin at this point. "Sure."

He smiled, "Okay, I'll try it."

"Alright...now. I want you to know that all Succubi who were involved in the kidnapping, and the 'movie-making'" She made air quotes. "Will be reprimanded for their actions, we have the ones that were on the scene already in custody and any others who may have assisted will be found and taken in. You have my word on that, both of you." She made sure to look them both in the eyes as she spoke, trying to visually express how truthful she was being. "So if there are any you can name or describe to me, that would help out a great deal in our search."

Kat blinked a few times, listening intently to what she had to say but then shook his head. "I don't know any of their names."

Liline nodded, "I figured, but that's okay. A description of them would help just as much."

"But I can't really remember." He answered quickly. "Everything after I first got here is...fuzzy."

That made the Sherriff tilt her head, "After you got here? How soon after you got here, what's the last thing you remember?"

He sat in silence for a minute, trying to think hard about every event he could recall over the last few days. "...Getting off the bus...taking a walk to look around...then...a van."

"A van?" Liline quickly scribbled it down.

"Katabin...the bus was a week ago." November said. "You don't remember an entire week?"

He shook his head, "It's all fuzzy. I remember some things...a blue van...but the rest is hard."

"I think I know why." Liline said, setting the notepad down and reaching under the table. "It's because of this isn't it?" She produced a plastic bag and set it down on the table with a dull clank, inside, a brass collar that looked suddenly very familiar to Katabin.

November quickly leaned forward closer to the table to get a better look at whatever this item was. The bag crinkling on the surface as it was slid across, both Angels' eyes roaming and inspecting it thoroughly. Even now that it was off Katabin could feel its warmth around his throat, the brass becoming like a choker as it was fixed, snugly on his delicate neck. Not once was it uncomfortable, it never chaffed, or felt cold, heavy or anything.

He could remember it fitting so perfectly.

"What is that?" November asked, surprisingly being unfamiliar with the devices make and purpose.

Liline folded her hands on the desk, "We're not sure, I've never seen anything like it." Katabin reached out and carefully picked up the baggie, bringing it closer to his face. "But it's not a typical collar. If any creature touches it, be it demonic or divine, it seems to sap their natural magical abilities rendering them barely more than a mortal."

November's eyes turned to daggers, glaring at Liline and the collar, "What!?" She reached down and abruptly snatched the bag out of Kat's hands. "Impossible, no such device exists."

"Open it up, see for yourself." Liline proposed, leaning back in her seat. "I've examined it, my deputies have, and your own Cassiel also had a go at it. The results have all been the same."

She glanced again between the Sherriff and the band a few times before accepting the challenge and ripped open the Ziploc seal, reaching inside and hesitating for just a moment. The thought that, what if she was serious, and this was an elaborate scheme to try and weaken her. But her pride won the conflict as she reassured herself that no device could ever hold her power back.

Her fingers enclosed around the band and removed it from the bag, immediately she could feel an intense heat pulse through her fingertips. A strangely soothing warmth as the metal seemed to vibrate through her flesh and swim its way up her arm. It almost calmed her from her intense state, relaxing the warrior and making her heart feel lighter.

But other than that, November felt no change, Katabin sitting beneath her just watching her hold his collar. Seeming to be waiting patiently for her to drop helplessly or something of that nature, only nothing occurred.

She shrugged, "Well? I feel nothing."

"Shoot me." Liline suddenly told her, "Blast me with your most powerful, radiant, guiding bolt."

Katabin's hair whipped with how fast his head turned to look back at Liline, even November looked a bit surprised by this. "...Are you serious?" She asked.

Liline held her arms out far apart on either side of her in a 'come at me bro' pose. "Hit me with all you got Angel."

November snorted at that, well, if this was a ploy, it wasn't a very good one. Because November felt perfectly fine, and she certainly wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to slay a demon. Technically this wasn't betraying the deal since she was willingly throwing her head on the chopping block for her.

So she shrugged, "Very well." She lifted her hand, opposite the one clutching the collar, "Goodbye." Katabin now wildly glancing back and forth between them, quickly throwing his hands together and clasping them tightly to whisper a speedy prayer.

Liline didn't even flinch, she had tested this band extensively already with the others. So when her palm was pointed at her, she just stared back at it unimpressed.

Then a few seconds of silence went by...and a few more...a few more...

"What the...?" November whispered to herself, "Why?" She shook her extended hand a few times, like she was trying to get a tv remote to work. "This...this can't be?" Her hand was turned back to face her, and all that was there was just an empty palm, no divine energy, no golden light. No power. Nothing.

"I told you." Liline said, leaning forward again. "Whatever this thing is, it makes us powerless if we touch it." She pointed to the collar.

November then held up the brass ring again, the feintest bit of odd arcane scrawling could be seen glowing in the inner ring. Some type of glyphs or runes that November didn't recognize at first glance.

That worried her, runes...magical runes that SHE didn't know. There was no magic she didn't know, at least not until now.

"This is...impossible." Quickly she tried to shake her hand free of the collar, only to be surprised by the fact that she couldn't open her hand. Her digits remained closed around the metal, not gripping it tightly, just holding on. Like she had no control of her hand at all, "Get...get off!" She banged the collar on the table, loud 'CLANK' noises reverberating in the sound proof room. "Let go!"

Liline wanted to take a moment to enjoy watching the high and mighty angel fight with this ring for a few minutes, but she knew it was better not to. She didn't want her to fly into a rage and start swinging the thing all over the place, if she touched Liline with it, she would be in trouble too. Plus the young angel boy looked scared and she didn't want him to go through any more trauma then he already had. So instead she reached beneath the table again and pulled out the prepared thick leather gloves that Melody had given her during initial testing. "Okay, okay stop panicking! I'll take it off." She called out, standing from her chair and moving around over to November, practically clawing at the band to try and pry it off.

She came forward and managed to grab the collar in November's grasp, gently inserting her covered fingers in the little gaps between where the Angel's met the metal of the ring. And one by one, she pulled them free until November was able to wretch her hand away from the strange device. The glyphs inside immediately fading as she did so, "What is this devilry!?" November nearly shouted, clutching her hand to her chest. Shocked, appalled, perplexed, and everything in between.

"We don't know, but it's not devilry." Liline told her plainly, quickly picking up the dropped evidence baggie, and stuffed it back inside.

"Oh please, only a devil could come up with something for this kind of purpose." November protested.

Only to have Liline shoot back, "It is not devilry because it affects us too." She zipped the bag closed and plopped it back on the table, circling back around it, across from Kat and sitting in her seat once more. "If any supernatural creature touches it, me, you, Ian, Cassiel, or Katabin, anything that is not human touches it, it somehow siphons all the magic within them out of their bodies." She explained, "And that's just touching it for a few moments, Katabin had it clasped and sealed around his neck, now I'm not sure but our theory is that due to his prolonged exposure to it, perhaps it had some type of effect on his memory."

November approached the table again, "Is that true Katabin? Can you remember anything about having this...thing, put on you?"

Katabin stared at the ring before him, remembering when it was first put on.

Her alluring call to him, curling her finger, beckoning the young angel to come to her van. Her shining white smile and glowing symbols on her skin. Voluptuous body, curving in all the right places, the intense beauty of her glowing green eyes, and long fiery red hair...

"Katabin?" Liline asked quietly, "Do you think you could ID the Succubus who put this on you if we found her?"

The angel paused...remembering every fine detail of her beautiful face. "I...don't remember." He spoke, barely above a whisper.

Liline sighed, "As you can see, it has a strong effect on supernatural beings, and they seem to be lasting on your messenger. Only mortals seem to be unaffected by it. Or something nonmagical." She explained, "My friend Melody had already tried to dispel it's effects or to find an alternate way to remove it without having to come into contact with it. And so far, no luck, only mortals or nonmagical means are able to remove it." November scowled at it as Liline reached across the table to collect it again. "We're going to keep it for further testing, we're hoping Melody can track the origin of this new magic and to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. But until we know more, you two can go, if you remember anything please tell us right away so we can bring them to justice."

That was one thing that November and Liline agreed on, both of them wanted justice for this heinous act.

The Sherriff stood up, straightening her shirt and removing the gloves. "We're going? Now?" Katabin asked, turning back to November again.

She nodded, "Yes, we're going back to the motel, where you can try the sleep thing we talked about. You'll rejuvenate even faster if you legitimately rest." November reached out and patted his shoulder.

"Well my...my lady I...I wanted to ask..." Katabin began, long pauses between words like he was nervous.

November tilted her head, "What my child?"

He almost looked to be blushing as he asked, "Could...that boy...Ian...could he come home with us?"

At the same time, both Liline and November said, "What?"

The door to the interviewing room opened and Ian immediately looked up, he had been staring off into space for the last ten minutes or so just kind of in quiet contemplation about what had been going on.

He couldn't stop thinking about both the collar and about what Katabin kept asking him after he as first rescued.

Asking for his mommy over and over again, who could it be that had done this?

For a few minutes he actually suspected that his own biological mother might have been the culprit. She was one of the few in town that Ian knew had done something like this before, he himself being the victim of her madness. Months ago she held him in a basement, chained to a wall to be fucked by an assembly line of Succubus.

Which...in all honesty wasn't that bad, it was just exhausting. But she had long since wizened up to her actions, the more time they spent together the more 'sane' she became. That didn't mean though that she didn't lose the capacity to do brash things to meet her own needs. If she got the urge to get some angel ass, would she hold back from doing it? She had said that Ian was all she needed, but ever since his brother arrived in Shelter, Sin had been spending less time with him.

Again, that wasn't a big deal at first. It was a nice break from the molesting nature she had, especially when Ian wanted to take a break from sex for a while and to just be with Liline.

But what if this break, she had given him was her running around kidnapping angels?

He didn't know, but he didn't have time to think about it anymore as the others emerged from the interrogation room.

Liline first, followed by the two Angels, "Hi sweetie."

"Mommy." Ian smiled, getting up and approaching her to hug his lover around the waist. She returned the gesture, stroking his hair for a second. "How did it go? Did he remember anything?"

"Well..." Liline started, "Actually about that, he's still not at one hundred percent yet." The couple parted from their embrace and Liline looked back at Katabin and November. The latter of which looked impatient, arms folded across her chest waiting for an answer, while Katabin looked anxious and hopeful. "Aaaand...I was wondering if I could ask for your help?" She started tentatively.

Ian blinked and shrugged, "Of course, what is it?"

She gave him a sheepish smile, "How do you feel about a sleepover?"

Hourly Inn

"Hello mortal!"

"Noooonono, he's not a mortal can't you smell it?"

"You smell like them, but I can feel a soul within you?"

"What are you?"

"You do smell good."

"What's your name?"

Ian was bombarded with a lot of questions and invasions of his personal space, he tried to just smile and be friendly, but he hadn't been surrounded by this many people interested in him since his last gang bang. "Uuhmm, hi, hello, I'm Ian." He tried to address them, they weren't grabbing and feeling him like the Succubi most likely would, but they still got very close. Seeming to be inspecting him from head to toe, sniffing him out, more curious then anything else. "I'm here for um...for Katabin. Just..."

"For Katabin? Why for?"

"Have you lived here for long?"

"Are you Katabin's not mortal friend?"

"Are the Succubi as nice as they seem?"

It was like a paparazzi. So many questions and voices with no time to address them all, Ian actually giggled a bit at their excited and curious nature. He couldn't lie, it was quite refreshing to have people just asking him questions in wonderment rather than groping and asking whether he liked it hard or soft. This was after all the first time the angels had been here, so he had to remember that they were strangers in a strange land. Plus they'd only been here a week, so they obviously would flock to him with questions. He remembered Cassiel bringing up that the angels were very curious and he answered what questions he could, but they had many more.

But before he could answer any more, he felt a hand interlock it's fingers into his own and pull him through. "Come on, my rooms this way!" Katabin called through the crowd, tugging Ian along and trying to escape his angelic brothers and sisters.

"Hey!" Some of the angels called after and followed the two, "Mortal hog!"

"He's not mortal!"

"Sort of Mortal hog!"

Ian laughed at that this time, it was like being among a group of middle schoolers and he was the popular high school kid. Being lead to safety by the angel whom he would be spending the night with.

However, a little ways back, watching near the parking lot were the warrior angels, November and Manachiel. The latter, was furious.

"What do you think you're doing bringing one of them here!?" He angrily asked his superior, keeping his voice quiet enough so the younger ones wouldn't hear, but loudly enough to voice his rage.

November stood fir with her arms crossed, "It was by Katabins request that he have a friend for tonight."

"A friend?" Manachiel asked, followed by scoffing, almost in a chuckling manner, "You're joking, you must be joking."

"He may be with the demons but he is still mortal, and he also contributed in the rescue of our angel so I will allow it this once."

Manachiels fist hit the wall of the building behind him, "Are you mad!?" This drew November's attention back to him in the form of a razor-sharp glare. That made him remember who he was talking to, just the one look was enough for him to bow his head and close his eyes. He tried to take a few meditative breaths, barely able to withhold his temper. "I believe it is my duty to remind you my lady...that he may be mortal...but you surely can sense the presence of demonic energy within him..." His voice tried its best to remain even, although she could detect to slightest trembles of his anger trying to come out.

"This is not a permanent thing Manachiel." November's voice was stern, obviously not amused with his immature outburst. He had such a short temper, even shorter than her own, and that was saying something. "And I believe that it is my duty to remind you that we are here to save mortals who can be saved. And all mortals can be through God's grace, just because he has the scent of them on him does not mean he is beyond redemption. And if any mortal in this town can be saved I believe one who saved one of our own would be a prime candidate."

She tried to reason with him, but her words seemed to fly right over his head as her rationalizing just served to fuel his anger. "The boy is not savable, any who lie with spawn of evil are NOT to be saved!" His voice raised in volume to nearly a yell.

Now he was pissing November off, and she turned to face the taller warrior, "Stand down Manachiel...this is my decision."

"You are making a wrong decision-" He tried to yell only for November to yell louder.

"I SAID STAND DOWN WARRIOR!" Her voice booming in a loud womanly echo, her power laced in her words. Silencing Manachiel where he stood and creating a very tense, quiet atmosphere between the two. "That's an order..." She ended with.