The Fine Line of Heaven and Hell

A/N: WOW. Busy week. Way busy. So busy, apparently, that I started this chapter far too late to actually post it relatively close to Tuesday. Sorry for the delay….Don’t be angry with me… Be gentle. *hearts*

Chapter 34- In The Fallen City; Ardent
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Blonde curls bounced as Lizoli pounced on Jerrick, Shuey’s eyes narrowing dangerously while Leon sighed in slight irritation. Already this was putting the little Halfling in a hazardous mood. He’d been hoping to keep her mood light; trying to avoid the inevitable confrontation as long as possible. The belly shirt Jessica was wearing rode up just a bit more before Jerrick noticed the faint scowl on the russet-haired woman’s face. Not surprisingly, it made him smile, which in turn made her glower deepen. Easing the energetic girl from his neck, Jerrick made himself clear. “What happened?”

The pout on lizard-girl’s face was enough to bring forth a smirk from Shuey, even though she didn’t realize it herself. The excess hype from Lizoli seemed to drain out of her like water so suddenly that the Halfling was arching a brow at the demonic woman. “Brethmel purchased a house on the outskirts of Sanctuary Ardent yesterday evening. Everyone thought it was strange, but we didn’t say anything because it was none of our business.” Her colony was also on the edges of the Ardent Area. Her and her group had no qualms with the angels, so it wasn’t so unnatural for them to be there. “This morning, though, he marked the gates for attack. We believe he plans to massacre the resident angels.”

Now, while it wasn’t abnormal for demons to attack angels, it wasn’t permitted to attack them in Sanctuaries. After all, even angels had the right to exist. That was in the Council’s Creed. The reasoning behind such an attack was rather incomprehensible. Throw in what could possibly be Shuey’s mother to the mix, though, and it was all crystal clear. The man wanted to torture her more. He had finally pressed passed that boundary of cruelty into the realm of insanity. Shuey’s lips twitched into a deep frown, causing Jerrick’s eyes to flicker towards her in worry.

“Let’s go,” came the Halfling’s voice abruptly, almost startling both Leon and Jerrick. The demonic man opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand, her visible blue eyes shutting with a sigh. “The quicker I can end it, the more time I have to do as I please.” And with that, the beginning of ‘it’ began. At least, that’s what if felt like to Leon. What ‘it’ pertained to, he wasn’t completely sure, but he did know he’d find out soon enough. Jerrick frowned, but nodded anyway, Lizoli’s usually cheery face becoming rather somber in light of the conversation. She went on for a while about what her group would do, and once that was completely settled, Shuey went towards the door, the mist floating about one arm draping securely over the ever-present wings that had yet to return to their previous retractable state.

“Where is it?” was the only question Shuey asked as the curly-headed blonde girl with freaky lizard eyes seemed to vanish out of nowhere. To her surprise, Leon hung back, not leaving the inn’s entrance once they had already breezed by. “What?” she inquired when he showed no intention of moving alongside them.

“I’m going to sit this one out, thanks….. Outcast and all….,” he said with a small smile, pointing to where his missing wing usually sprouted from. Jerrick understood it well enough, as did she, but it was still odd not to have him involved in some way. She opened her mouth to ask if he was sure, but he nodded before the words fell from her lips. “I’m sure. They’d only try to kill me.” Still hating the way he did that, she trailed uncertainly behind Jerrick instead, lips tightening when they came across Lizoli in a lively camouflage vehicle, closely resembling a Jeep. Her demon companion wasted no time in clambering in the monstrous thing, offering a hand to help her up as well.

Ignoring the blatant gesture, Shuey found her own way into the automobile. Noting her irritation, the man decided to leave it well-enough alone, for his own personal safety. Her old silence disturbed him in ways he never would have thought it would; she didn’t even glance at him. Usually, she would at least look at him every now and then, sometimes even venturing to speak to him or touch him in some way. It was almost as though she’d completely reverted back into her formal self. Did she do this when something bothered her? Had she really changed at all, or was it only him that she was different around?

A brush of his hand through russet strands earned him a pair of tensing shoulders and a glare, eyes glancing towards the woman in the driver’s seat briefly before returning to the window. Maybe it was the fact that they weren’t alone that made her different. Settling for that theory, he decided to ask her about it later, letting his hand fall to the seat and run lightly across her knuckles before returning to his lap.

He thought he heard her sigh, but Jessica threw a brush toward him before he could really look at the Halfling sitting with him. “Brush that mess, you look like a crazy person,” she giggled childishly, yellowish slitted eyes glancing at him from the rear-view mirror before returning to the road. Doing as he was asked because he silently agreed, he was surprised to find frail hands running through his hair, rubbing his scalp lightly as the brush was taken from his grasp. Amazingly, the brush separated his hair gently, instead of with Shuey’s natural brusque sharpness.

The feel of silky hair relaxed her a bit, her eyes slowly taking in the shifting shades of his hair as it ran through the light. When she was done, his hand gripped her fingers, lips sweeping across her fingertips before releasing her hand. Smugly, he noticed the way her body didn’t tense up the way it once did when he showed her affection or kindness of any sort. “If I asked you what you thought of me now, would you tell me?” He could see her brow furrow in confusion, obviously not understanding what he was getting at. When she finally nodded, supposing she had nothing to lose, maybe, he grinned. “Well?”

“You still annoy me,” she said softly, turning back to the window without another word. Not sure if he should laugh or be insulted, Jerrick simply let it go, starting up a light conversation with the peppy girl driving the Jeep.

Finally, they pulled into a small neighborhood, demons of all kinds walking about the streets, entering and exiting small stores and doing natural, every-day things. “Welcome to the home of the Independence Faction,” the curly haired woman said, bouncing out of the vehicle and walking straight up to a bulky man with glowing turquoise eyes and grey wings. He looked at them for a moment or two, nodding and turning away shortly after. When she finished, the hyper girl whipped back around, giving the pair an ‘ok’ sign with her fingers. “You know the way to the Sanctuary. If Brethmel sees you come from this way, you know he’s going to suspect it. We’ve got a car for ya in the shed. Mike’s going to get it now.”

Mike certainly got it, pulling up in a small sports car splashed with a racy design on the sides. Surely she didn’t think this would fool the man. “It’s all yours, just don’t ruin it, or you’ll pay to fix it,” was the last words from her mouth before she nearly skipped down the road and into a small building further down. Her mouth set in a thin line, Shuey seemed to accept their fate and moved into the passenger side of the eyesore of a vehicle.

It wasn’t a long way to the Sanctuary. Just beyond the trees that led away from the village-like camp, a large, open archway signified entrance to the once massive city. The remains of buildings littered the ground, making the image Shuey’s imagination had conjured vanish upon the sight of it. What was once a park held a falling-apart swing set, broken bouncy rides, and a crumbled slide. The undecayed mulch was blackened, the soil it covered nearly the same in color. A large boulder erupted from the ground, painted with spray paint. It depicted an angel with only one wing, his arms crossed over a bloody sword. “Seize Justice” read underneath the angel’s feet, made from the blood from the weapon.


Just beyond the shattered leftovers were smaller buildings, obviously rebuilt to hold it’s angelic residents. There were a group of men and women in the midst of it all, Brethmel stood, his hand gripping a chain as he jerked the woman attached to it forward. “Look, our daughter has come…. Or should we call her our offspring instead? Doesn’t that seem a bit more appropriate, considering neither of us have seen her since she was a little thing?” Fearful cerulean eyes looked her way, brown hair swaying as Cerelia’s head moved to face her.

“Shuey…why?” Not sure what she meant, the Halfling merely frowned, hands tightening in on themselves to keep her nerves under control. Tear tracks stained the woman’s cheeks, blood matting her clothes as her hands remained chained in front of her. In place of her angelic wings were two metal bird-like wings spanning behind her like a symbol of deceit.

“You do realize you forfeit your miserable little life by standing there, yes?” came the deep, wicked voice of the High General, golden eyes staring down at them with fierce aggression. The corpses of angels littered the ground around them, the few remaining people around them, plotting their movements even as he spoke. With amazing speed, his hand found its way into Cerelia’s hair, jerking until she stood before him, eyes growing wide as a bullet found it’s way into her chest. One of the defending angels cried out at his own action, moving to rush forward, only to stop, wide-eyed and fall to the ground.

It wasn’t until the blood began to ooze from the hole in his chest that one actually realized that he had been attacked. The General’s speed was unheard of, even Jerrick’s keen eyes not picking up the movement. With a quick fling, Cerelia’s body pitched forward, landing in the stream of blood beneath their feet. “I give you your leader,” he said loudly, smirking as form made blood splash around it and onto some of their clothes. “Lady Cerelia, the Death-bringer. To her offspring, Shuey Brethmel, the Death-Seeker,” he proclaimed in amusement, the gathering around him lowering their weapons in hesitance. “Come, Shuey….Will you kill me? Can you?”

Without a word, dual eyes narrowed, glancing at Jerrick to see him nod as his wings winked into visibility, flaring out as though warming up for flight. “I’ll be with you every step of the way,” he assured, grey eyes holding a seriousness that the Halfling wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before. “I don’t want you to kill him. Just beat him……You can’t handle another power burst.” Glaring at him, mostly for being right, Shuey closed her eyes briefly, allowing a cold calmness envelope her as the mist adorning her wings melted down from them as though it were a liquid. A bird formed, taking the shape of a crane, long neck and legs, elegant wings tipped with a barely perceptible shade of gray. The eyes of the mist grew an eerie green color, shining like a light in the midst of it’s foggy depths.

Wishing she had the dagger that she usually carried, Shuey could only hope something would happen without her actually knowing how to use her powers. Did she command them? Did she have to do anything particularly special, or had Leon done that just for show? Simply thinking about the way that the shards of ice had attack Decara made her wonder if maybe her powers simply ran on instinct, and that maybe nothing she did to train would make them controllable. Frowning at that thought, she merely charged forward, barely seeing the flash that was Jerrick move beside her.

Before she knew it, Brethmel had caught her by the throat, thick fingers gripping it tightly in an attempt to strangle her. A slash of an archaic sword to his arm, and the appendage loosened it’s grasp, his blood spattering on her face as she jerked backwards. Wide eyes gazed into golden glaring ones, the sweep of his body nearly unseen as he grabbed the thing and held it to the stump from which it came.

To her amazement, the skin from the fallen article and the skin from the wound began to meld together, sending Shuey’s stomach into a whirlwind of nausea. “Cerelia’s dead, why are you still here?” he asked mockingly, flexing his fingers to test the movement. “Isn’t she what you came for?” The unsure angels had long-since backed away, probably hoping the insane pair that had arrived would kill the man before her murdered the entire Sanctuary. Using his temporary distraction, her wings flared, lifting her into the air and allowing her to drop back down, her leg connecting with the side of his neck, quickly hitting the only spot she knew would do any damage.

By sheer luck, golden eyes widened in surprise, a small smile forming on his lips before he fell to his knees, on hand clenching the spot in which she’d hit him. “Clever girl,” she heard him murmur before he passed out from the hit, leaving Shuey nearly sinking to the ground in relief. She wanted to finish him off then; it would end all her troubles right then, but a cool hand steadied her own instead. Lips pressed against her jaw from behind her, Jerrick whispering small congratulates into her ear.

“Leave him here. If the angels don’t get him, that man has more luck than even you do,” he murmured, taking her arm and tugging it away from the bloodshed, pulling her along with it as Lizoli and her team began to pour in, the bouncy blonde popping out of her camouflage Jeep and surveying the scene.

“Made a mess and left us with nothing, huh? Typical man,” she jibbed at Jerrick, nodding to the vehicles that had trailed after her and watching them as they began to exit. “Leaving us to clean up? What do you want us to do about him?” Her head nodded at Brethmel, mind already knowing the answer but wishing to confirm it. When Shuey merely shrugged and Jerrick only apologized and they took their leave, it left the woman slightly confounded. What? As they walked away, the demon’s hand took hers, a misty crane flapping over Shuey’s shoulder happily at the realization that it didn’t have to do work. Instead of yanking her hand away from Jerrick’s offending one, those lithe fingers only gripped the hand tighter as they faded into the trees hiding their gaudy ride.

Lizoli sighed, turning around to face her task, and frowning when the body of a dangerous man seemed to move slightly. She would have to let him go in order for the demons to keep their peace pact with her and her tribe, but at least she could hold him briefly so that Shuey and Jerrick could have a little down-time. How long until the Council found out, anyway? For all they knew, Brethmel would be dead.

Shuey felt as though something had been resolved; for once she had seemingly one, even if it were by luck. It was possible that some peace was due to her, for the first time in a long time. Though she still didn’t understand many emotions, she decided to enjoy the ones she did have before moving on to find the next. After all, a person only lived once, but it seemed she had a long time to live that once out. There wasn’t any hurry now, was there? Not when she had someone she cared about, and even friends to be around.

Yes, life was good sometimes. It should be lived that way, maybe.

A/N: I’m not sure…..but it seems….. I dunno…. Well, there it is. I’m very tired now… So I’m going to post the review replies without much comment here. *smile*


Alicat: Yeah, they can. Even if they don’t have powers, they can still live out a mortal life; they just don’t have the natural lifespan of an angel. *grin* I’m glad you asked that, though… I thought about it for a long time. It seems Leon is too…..I don’t know, but maybe chicks just don’t dig him. I like him, though…… *shrug* He just got the short end of the stick, I guess.

DarkMoon: I’m glad you liked that chapter…. I thought it was a little iffy, but at least you liked it. ^.^ It makes me happy to know I’ve got another reviewing reader. Thanks for inflating my ego as well. I love you all for it sometimes… It helps me a lot at work, too. People are much more prone to buy from someone who acts as though they know everything there is to know about what they sell. O.o How writing bleeds into my work, even I don’t know, but there you have it. ^.^ Thanks again for reading.


As always, thanks to all my non-reviewing readers, too. I appreciate the hits you give my story. *hearts*